The day after Agnes went Nellie was distressed to hear that Nurse McCann had died. She was greatly mourned and the wreath collected for in Johnson Street was one of dozens from grateful patients.
On the day of the funeral the streets were lined with people standing bare headed and silent as the funeral cortege drove slowly to the cemetery with many women, including Nellie, in tears. She felt that she had lost her last chance of asking advice.
The following day Nellie met Nurse McCann’s sister and they spoke about the funeral.
‘She loved flowers,’ the sister said, ‘but I think it might have worried her to see so much spent on wreaths. Now, while people are living so close to the bone.’
‘But everyone wanted to show how much they thought of her,’ Nellie said. ‘Everyone gave willingly.’
The sister smiled sadly. ‘It’s a comfort to me to know she was so well thought of,’ she said. ‘Sadie always spoke her mind and some people don’t like that.’
‘She only said what was true,’ Nellie said staunchly, ‘and she done it for people’s own good.’
‘That’s true,’ said Miss McCann. ‘And ill as she was she was very pleased with the flowers you brought her that day. I’m just sorry that she wasn’t well enough to talk to you.’
‘So am I,’ Nellie said more fervently than she intended so she added quickly, ‘I’m glad she liked the flowers. She saved our Tommy’s life. I wouldn’t have him if it wasn’t for her.’
Nellie walked home slowly, thinking sadly of Nurse McCann and of Agnes. She was so deep in thought that it was only when Tommy shouted, ‘Mam,’ that she noticed him. Katy had made him change from the good clothes he wore for school into a patched old pair of trousers and shirt and he wore plimsolls on his feet.
Nellie was horrified to see how rough and dirty he looked and to see how he scuffled in the gutter with the other boys.
‘Come home for your tea, Tommy,’ she called sharply but he shouted back, ‘I’ve ’ad it at me Auntie Katy’s,’ then ran into the entry and a moment later she saw him running along the back walls with the other boys.
Katy had seen her walking down the street and she was waiting at her door with Tommy’s school clothes.
‘I made him change,’ she said with a grin. ‘They’re playing in that house what fell down, getting covered in muck.’
‘I called him,’ Nellie said, ‘but he said he’d had his tea with you and run off up the walls in the jigger.’
‘Saving his face,’ Katy said shrewdly. ‘He wouldn’t like being shouted for his tea while he was with his mates. They start young round here being the big hard buckos.’ She was laughing but Nellie found it hard to smile in return.
‘You’re not worried about him, are you?’ Katy said. ‘It’ll do him good. Toughen him up a bit, like, Nell.’
She looked anxious and Nellie said quickly, ‘No, I’m just feeling down. Nurse McCann – and the maid in work got took to hospital yesterday. Poor old thing. It’s the workhouse for them or going where they’re not wanted when they’re too old to work. I’m glad I’m married, Katy.’
‘Aye, I suppose you’re missing Sam too,’ Katy said.
Nellie nodded, feeling that if she spoke she would cry, and went off to her own house. She sat on the sofa for a while resting her swollen feet and thinking about Tommy.
It must have started weeks ago, this running wild, she thought, then while Sam was at home he went back to his old self. I’ve neglected him, working all hours at that place and for shirt buttons, hardly seeing him while the missus was using me to kid her friends she had a big staff.
She felt bitterly angry when she remembered Tommy running along the backyard walls and the rough way he had answered her. I’ve put them Duncans before me own child, she thought, and if it suited them they’d throw me off tomorrow.
She thought over the day she had spent there, starting by clearing up the breakfast dishes while Susan helped Mrs Taggart with the rough cleaning. Then helping to prepare lunch and serve and clear it away, then start immediately making tiny sandwiches and fancy cakes for Mrs Duncan’s At Home.
‘Good job they’re dining out tonight,’ the cook had whispered to her as they worked. ‘When the butcher’s lad brought the meat he said he hadn’t got to take no more orders until the bill was paid.’
‘Go way,’ Nellie exclaimed, ‘does she know?’
‘Yes, I had to tell her. You’d almost feel sorry for her. She went the colour of chalk but give her her due she took it on the chin, like. “The impertinence,” she said. “I shall withdraw my custom.” I’ll bet there’ll be high jinks when his nibs comes in tonight though.’
Nellie had left as soon as she had tidied up after the At Home and now she thought she was glad that she had. It meant that she had been able to see what was happening to Tommy.
He came in a little later but Nellie only said, ‘I’ve brought your school clothes home, lad. You’d better get a good wash.’ There was still hot water in the kettle which she had boiled to make tea and she poured it into the bowl in the sink. ‘Start getting washed and I’ll come and finish you off,’ she said.
It was only when Tommy was in his nightshirt, drinking a cup of cocoa, that Nellie said quietly, ‘I got a shock when I seen you tonight, lad, and the mates you was with.’
Tommy looked down and shuffled his feet. ‘They’re beltin’ mates, Mam,’ he said.
‘Some of them,’ Nellie said. ‘But I seen some hard knocks there an’ all. I don’t want to make a sissy outa you, lad, but I don’t want you to be no roughneck neither. Your dad wouldn’t like it.’
Tommy said nothing. He now slept in the front bedroom with his mother and she still took him up to bed and tucked him in. When he was in bed and she bent over him, tucking in the bedclothes and saying gently, ‘Goodnight and God bless, son,’ he suddenly put his arms round her neck and kissed her.
‘Sorry, Mam,’ he said and Nellie held him close.
He was still her good little lad, she thought, and from now on she was going to make sure she watched over him. I’ll look for another job, never mind staying there to save Susan’s job. I got landed with this because of trying to keep Jane’s job but from now on me own come first. No matter what happens or what she says I’m going to keep to it too. Even if I have to be out of work I’ll manage on Sam’s money.
She set off for work the next morning full of her resolve but when she arrived she found the house in Balliol Road in a state of wild confusion. Mrs Taggart sat at the kitchen table and as soon as she saw Nellie she screeched, ‘Oh God, Nellie, what a night,’ but the cook transfixed her with a glare.
‘I’ll tell Nellie, Mrs Taggart. I was here.’
She pulled forward a chair. ‘Sit down, girl. Do you remember I said yesterday about the butcher?’ Nellie nodded. ‘And I said there’d be high jinks when the master come home?’ the cook went on. ‘Well, it must’ve been the last straw. He topped hisself!’ Her voice ended in a scream and Nellie screamed too.
‘Oh God, no,’ she gasped. ‘Not dead?’
‘Dead as a doornail and I was the last one what seen him alive. He come in and she took him in her little morning room. I’d come up outa me kitchen to see was the dining room fire all right. I couldn’t trust nothing to Susan and when I come out into the hall he was just turning up the stairs. His face was like tallow but I’d heard the missus carrying on at him.’
‘And what did he do?’ asked Nellie. ‘And where were the girls?’
‘At a tennis party, them girls. The missus went up to get ready for going out and me and Susan was in the kitchen. We heard this noise, like, and I said it sounded like something fell. I sent the girl to see and she found him. Hanging from the banisters. He must have put the rope round his neck and jumped off the chair.’
‘Oh, poor Susan. Poor kid,’ Nellie exclaimed. ‘What did she do?’
‘Screamed blue murder and I run out in the hall and the missus run down the stairs. I run to the door and be the mercy of
God there was a bobby just down the road. He cut him down then he blew his whistle and more came and a doctor.’
‘And the missus – what did she do?’ Nellie asked.
‘Don’t talk to me about her,’ the cook said in a disgusted voice. ‘Poor Susan went into a fit, and no wonder, I didn’t know what to do with her but when the doctor come he only took one look at the master then he started to look after Susan and do you know what that one said? “Never mind her. Attend to my husband.”’
‘The faggot,’ Nellie said.
‘Aye, but she got her answer off the doctor. He told her he couldn’t do nothing for him but the child needed his care. Shut her up. I was feeling sorry for her till then.’
Mrs Taggart could restrain herself no longer. ‘And they was going to leave Cook in the house on her own only she sent a lad for me and I come up and we’ve sat up all night, haven’t we?’
The cook agreed and told Nellie that Mrs Duncan’s brother had come and taken her to his own house for the night. The body had been removed and Susan had been taken to hospital. She had seen nothing of the daughters and assumed that they were with their mother.
Mrs Taggart had made tea and as they sipped it she said that they had done nothing but drink tea all night.
‘I had to sit up,’ the cook said. ‘If I’d of laid me head on a pillow I’d have gone outa me mind. The sight of that poor man. I only hope the butcher feels sorry now.’
‘You couldn’t blame the man trying to get his money,’ Mrs Taggart said. ‘God knows how much they owed. Speaking of which, do you think any of us’ll see the colour of their money?’
‘I wouldn’t like to bet on it,’ the cook said. ‘I haven’t had me quarter’s money and neither has Agnes.’
‘She never paid me before I went off,’ Nellie said. ‘Said she’d no change but I wasn’t worried because of Sam being home with his pay-off.’
‘She tried that gag with me, having no change,’ Mrs Taggart said, ‘but I told her I couldn’t stand outa me money. I had me rent to pay. She soon found it when I stood up to her.’
‘I’d made up me mind I was going to tell her I couldn’t stay late,’ Nellie said, ‘when I seen our Tom running wild with some real hard knocks yesterday.’ She shuddered. ‘I’m glad I did go early and missed seeing that.’
‘It’ll be with me till me dying day,’ the cook declared. ‘His face!’ She began to describe the dead man’s appearance but Nellie put her hands over her ears.
‘Don’t, don’t, Cook,’ she begged.
The cook stood up. ‘Well, being as I was left in charge, like, I’d better see what needs doing.’ She bustled out and Mrs Taggart leaned over the table to Nellie. ‘She won’t have no need to worry, girl. She’s been feathering her nest for years while there was plenty of money here.’
‘But how could she?’ Nellie gasped.
‘Oh, there’s ways and means, girl. Fiddling the tradesmen’s bills and getting backhanders off them. She’ll have a nice little nest egg, don’t worry,’ whispered Mrs Taggart.
The cook came back. ‘You do the steps, Mrs Taggart, and Nellie do the fires in the dining room and drawing room. Don’t light them. Just lay them.’
‘I’ll do me work today then I’ll have to see,’ Mrs Taggart said aggressively. ‘Don’t forget, I’ll be leaving here empty-handed.’
Nellie snatched up her sacking apron and her cleaning box and escaped into the dining room, too agitated as she went through the hall to think of what had occurred there the previous night.
The cook had disappeared when she went through the kitchen with the ashes and Mrs Taggart had finished the front steps and was scrubbing the kitchen floor.
‘I think she’s packing,’ Mrs Taggart said with a wink but a moment later the cook came back.
‘What about the other fires, Cook?’ Nellie asked but the cook sat down and sighed heavily.
‘I wish someone’d come and tell us what’s happening,’ she said. ‘We don’t know where we are. Never mind them other fires, Nell. Make us a fresh cup of tea, there’s a good girl.’
‘It give me a turn when I come back through the hall,’ Nellie said. ‘I could picture him there, like. No wonder you couldn’t stay here on your own, Cook.’
‘Yes. I couldn’t of stayed here without you, Mrs Taggart,’ Cook said to the charwoman, who was now sitting by the table.
Harmony prevailed again as they sat drinking tea and discussing their futures.
‘I think she might have give me the sack when I said I couldn’t stay late so I’m no worse off,’ Nellie said. ‘I’ve got Sam’s allotment but this was just to fall back on, like, if it was held up.’
‘You could go as a cook general,’ the cook said. ‘You’ve got a real light hand with pastry, Nell, and that’s a gift you’re born with.’
‘I couldn’t live in though, Cook,’ Nellie said. ‘I’ll try to find some cleaning.’
‘I’m not worried neither,’ Mrs Taggart said, laughing. ‘When Lady Muck cut me down to two mornings a week I got another two with a lady in Merton Road. That’ll keep me going until I get sump’n’ else. What about you, Cook?’
The cook shrugged. ‘I only stayed here to oblige and because it suited me,’ she said. ‘Remember, Nell, that fellow from the Cotton Exchange and his wife what often came to dinner? He spoke to me a couple of times. Praised me dinners and half-jokingly said to let him know if I felt like a change. He give me his card though.’
‘You’ll have no trouble getting another job, Cook,’ Nellie said.
The next moment they were amazed to hear a noise at the front door and heavy footsteps in the hall. They all jumped to their feet and Mrs Taggart whipped the teacups into the sink. Nellie snatched up her cleaning box as the door opened and a portly man looked in.
‘Ah, Mrs Shufflebottom,’ he said. ‘In the morning room, please.’
‘Yes, sir,’ the cook said, hurrying out as he turned away, ignoring Mrs Taggart and Nellie. They looked at each other and Nellie put her fingers over her mouth to stifle a giggle. ‘Mrs Shufflebottom!’ she said. ‘No wonder she told me just to call her Cook.’
Mrs Taggart only nodded then went quickly and lightly up the back stairs.
It seemed only a moment later she reappeared, her arms full of sheets and pillowcases and a pair of men’s shoes. Swiftly she whipped off her sacking apron and wrapped the articles in it then slipped out the back door to reappear without the bundle.
Nellie was still standing open-mouthed with shock and the charwoman said grimly, ‘What I don’t get in cash I’ll take in kind. Run up and get something for yourself, girl. I’ll keep douse,’ but Nellie shook her head.
‘I couldn’t, Mrs Taggart,’ she said. ‘I’d be too frightened. They might send a scuffer after me.’
‘Don’t be a fool to yourself, girl. They’ve got that much they won’t miss these. Haven’t they robbed everyone blind anyhow to get where they are now?’ She pulled a silver cigarette case and a small box from under her voluminous pinafore. ‘Here, which do you want? This or the cufflinks?’
Nellie was still shaking her head when they heard the morning room door open and Mrs Taggart thrust her booty back under her pinafore. The cook came back, looking important.
‘Mr Thomson says you can go home, Mrs Taggart. I told him as you’d been up all night with me. He says you can come back tomorrow and see what’s needed.’
‘And wharrabout tonight?’ asked Mrs Taggart but the cook said she would be all right now that she was over the first shock. She turned to Nellie.
‘Go and light the fire in the study and dust it,’ she said. ‘Someone’s coming to see Mr Thomson and then you’ll have to answer the door to callers. Tell them Mrs Duncan and her daughters will be staying with Mr Thomson and his wife for the present.’
Both Nellie and Mrs Taggart were amazed at the sudden air of authority assumed by the cook but they said nothing. Mrs Taggart only asked mildly if she should do the study fire so that Nellie would be ready
to answer the door and the cook agreed.
I wonder what will disappear from there, thought Nellie, but she found it hard to condemn Mrs Taggart. It’s the way our sort of people have always got even, she thought. I’m just too much of a coward for it.
The expected visitor came and was in Mr Duncan’s study for several hours with Mr Thomson and when Nellie took coffee to them she saw that the roll-top desk was open and the table littered with papers which the two men were poring over.
After lunch she was kept busy answering the door and she grew tired of repeating the formula she had been told to use. Some of the callers were genuinely unaware of the tragedy but others Nellie felt were drawn by vulgar curiosity.
She remembered the way the cook and Mrs Taggart had fallen on her like starving men on bread, so anxious were they to tell the dramatic tale. This lot are just the same, she thought, although they think they’re posh.
For a few hours during the afternoon she was left alone in the house while the cook went to visit friends among the servants in nearby houses and she was relieved when the cook said she could go at five o’clock. ‘Just come the usual time tomorrow, Nell,’ she said.
When Nellie reached Johnson Street she decided to go first to Bella to tell her tale, feeling that it was some return for Bella’s kindness to her to give her the opportunity to be first with the dramatic news.
She was glad that she did later when she went to pay Katy for Tommy’s meals.
‘Me mam’s having the time of her life telling everyone about that poor feller what hung himself,’ Katy said with a grin. ‘She’s out in the back entry now with women from Elliot Street all round her. All coming outa their back doors.’
‘It was creepy going past them stairs though,’ Nellie said with a shudder. ‘I wouldn’t fancy staying the night on me own like Cook’s going to do. Eh, you know what her name is, Katy? Mrs Shufflebottom!’
‘And you never knew all the time you’ve worked there?’ Katy said.
‘No, she told me to call her Cook,’ Nellie said and Katy hooted with laughter.
A Wise Child Page 22