‘Oh, because Sam’s a good husband. Because you’ve got your little job. Mostly because, well – you keep yourself nice and tidy and you’ve only got the one child,’ Rose said.
‘Well, that’s not doing them no harm, is it?’ Nellie said indignantly. ‘Who was it anyhow, Rose?’
Rose shrugged her shoulders and grimaced. ‘That crowd in the wash house, girl. That’s the place for jangle, believe me. They didn’t see me because I was round the other side but I soon came round and gave them what for.’
Nellie stood up and began to move the ornaments on the mantelpiece about in an agitated manner. ‘What were they saying?’ she asked, and when Rose hesitated she said, ‘You might as well tell me, Rose, or I’ll be imagining all sorts.’
‘They was talking about you keeping yourself nice, like, then one of them said they couldn’t put nothing on their backs because of finding enough food for the kids but it was all right for you with only one.’
Rose stopped but Nellie said nothing so she went on, ‘Another one said they was respectable married women and they didn’t need to be dolling themselves up. You know how it is, Nell, one word borrows another and then they say more than they mean. Someone come out with a tale about seeing you and Gertie out with Martha Miller.’
‘Good God. We met her one night when we was going to the pictures and walked along with her,’ Nellie exclaimed.
‘I thought it would be something like that,’ Rose said. ‘The thing is, Nell – you know Martha’s on the game, like?’
‘Martha is?’ Nellie exclaimed.
‘Yes. Hadn’t you never heard? Her feller beat her up last time he come home because of it but she’s back on it. Reckons it’s his fault because he never sends her no money and she’s got the kids to keep.’
Nellie sat down. ‘So they’re saying nobody can’t walk along with her, even. Is that it?’ she said.
Rose leaned over and put her hand on Nellie’s knee. ‘They’re saying worse than that, girl,’ she said gravely. ‘Making out you and Gertie was going with her. On the game, like.’
Nellie looked stunned for a moment, then as she realised the meaning of Rose’s words she screamed and jumped to her feet.
‘Now don’t get excited, girl,’ Rose said. ‘They didn’t believe what they was saying. Like I said, one word borrowed another and be the time they all put their penn’orth in—’ She shrugged.
Nellie’s face was scarlet and she seemed to find it difficult to breathe. ‘I’ll – I’ll – Tell me their names, Rose. The bloody liars. I’ll go and see them.’
‘It wouldn’t do no good, girl,’ Rose soothed her. ‘I don’t know properly who they were. They all mizzled away when I started on them because they was ashamed. They knew it was all lies.’
Nellie sat down again and began to cry. ‘Why, Rose? I never do no one no harm that I know of. Why do they turn on me like that?’
‘Jealousy, girl, like I said,’ Rose replied. ‘I only told you so you and Gertie can watch your step and I thought you might hear it from someone else and get upset.’
‘I’ll have to tell Gertie,’ Nellie wept but Rose advised her to say nothing. ‘It was just a bit of jangle to pass the time in the wash house,’ she said. ‘And Gertie won’t come across any of them women. Anyhow they’ll keep their gobs shut after what I said to them. Only, that Ada Ginley was there and I thought she might say something to you, when you was in a crowd, like.’
‘Thanks, Rose,’ Nellie said. ‘I don’t know why people are so rotten.’
‘Only a few, Nell,’ the older woman said. ‘You’ve got plenty of good friends, don’t forget.’
A thought struck Nellie and she looked up, her eyes wide. ‘Rose, what if Sam hears it?’ she said in alarm.
‘He won’t, girl. Be the time he’s home that lot’ll be jangling about someone else,’ Rose reassured her.
Nevertheless Nellie felt upset for the rest of the day and for many days afterwards. The thought that anyone could say such things about her just out of jealousy made her look suspiciously at everyone she met, apart from her close friends. Were they one of those who had jangled about her and made out she was a street walker?
She was touchy and bad-tempered with Tom and it was difficult for her to show a cheerful face to Maggie or to Meg when she went to see her.
She was growing very fond of Meg and very concerned about her thinness and her persistent cough. Meg herself made light of it. ‘It’s an old friend,’ she joked. ‘It’s been with me for years.’
She and Bobby were very happy, looking forward to the birth of their child and gradually furnishing their little house. ‘The only fly in the ointment is the neighbours,’ Meg confided to Nellie. ‘I think some of them resent us getting this house because they had their eye on it for one of their family. They complain about everything we do.’
‘What sort of things?’ Nellie asked.
‘Bob putting a new window frame in the back bedroom, for one. It was rotten and he could get the wood cheap but next door said the landlord would expect everyone to do their own repairs because of that.’
‘I wouldn’t let that worry you,’ Nellie said. ‘They’re only jealous. I have a bit of that with some of them in our street. Just because I’ve only got Tom and they’ve got strings of kids. And because I keep us tidy.’
‘As if you didn’t want more kids,’ Meg said sympathetically. ‘I think you do wonders with you and Tom and that house. I wish you could get one like this, Nell.’
‘So do I,’ Nellie said fervently. ‘Mind you, I still wouldn’t know what to do about Janey.’
‘She’s a problem, isn’t she?’ Meg said. ‘How do you get on with her?’
‘All right. I don’t see much of her. She only has a cup of cocoa before she goes out then she has her tea with us at night,’ Nellie said. ‘I don’t have to bother with a fire for her this weather and she’s mostly in her own room. She has all sorts in and out that side door but I never see them.’
‘She’s a moneylender, isn’t she?’ Meg said. ‘I’ve seen the two fellers she uses to put the frighteners on bad payers.’
Nellie only nodded, unwilling to tell Meg that her own mother had played that role for years. And now Janey needed two men. No wonder I was frightened of me ma, Nellie thought, recalling again the words of the fortune teller.
‘Janey done me a good turn one day,’ she said aloud. ‘When some of them at the top end was carrying on at me. Janey come up and said she’d tell me what she knew about them.’
‘And did she?’ Meg asked.
Nellie shook her head. ‘No, but she must of knew something because they was all frightened she’d open her mouth, you could tell.’
She picked up a carved wooden bowl from the sideboard. ‘Did our Bob make this?’ she asked.
‘Yes, on that little lathe he showed you the other Sunday. Mind you, that’s another fault with the neighbours. They moan about him working in the shed in the yard, yet he doesn’t make much noise,’ said Meg.
‘It’s a pity about them,’ Nellie said indignantly. ‘Mr Orlando said he had a gift for it, didn’t he? He might as well use it to make a bit extra for you.’
‘That fellow in the market took all he’d made but I wouldn’t part with that one. That was the first,’ Meg said. ‘Aren’t we lucky, Nell? Everything’s going right for us.’
Nellie kissed her impulsively. ‘I hope it always does, love,’ she said.
Tommy was waiting for her at the end of the street when she returned home. ‘There’s letters from me dad, Mam,’ he said excitedly. ‘I think there’s one for me in one of them.’
‘I told you they’d only been held up,’ Nellie said, trying to hide her relief.
Sam wrote that the ship had put in for repairs but he expected to be home about September.
He wrote to Tommy that he had a lot of things for him and a lot to tell him and Tommy said gleefully, ‘I’ll be able to take them to show Miss Helsby, won’t I, Mam?’
‘
Miss Helsby! That’s all you ever think about,’ Nellie said.
Another boy had joined Tom at the speech training class and Miss Helsby invited both boys to lunch on Saturday. Nellie’s feelings about the invitation were mixed. She was proud that the teacher thought enough of Tom to ask him to her house but afraid that it was yet another step for him away from herself and Sam.
She was determined that he would do her credit and when he returned from the public baths, lobster red as a result of his long hot soak, she had his clothes laid out ready for him. His best jersey and grey trousers and jacket which she had pressed carefully, hand-knitted socks and his best boots, shining with blacking.
‘Ar eh, thanks, Mam,’ Tommy said, then recollecting himself, ‘That is very kind of you, Mother.’
Nellie cuffed him affectionately. ‘Don’t talk soft, lad. It’s me, remember.’
It was quite late when Tommy returned full of the wonders of Miss Helsby’s house which she shared with her elderly mother.
‘The lavvy’s inside, Mam, upstairs,’ he said. ‘And you should see the furniture and all brass ornaments, elephants and all kinds. An’ d’you know what? Her father was a ship’s captain on the China run!’
‘No wonder they was well off,’ Nellie commented.
‘And the table,’ Tommy went on unheeding. ‘All sorts of knives and forks and spoons and glasses. We had ginger beer in the glasses. Miss Helsby’s mother said something and Miss Helsby said she wanted us to know how a table should be laid and how to behave in this situation. There was a maid too bringing dishes round and we had to take the spuds and stuff out of them.’
‘I hope you didn’t say spuds when you was there,’ Nellie said. ‘But you don’t need Miss Helsby to learn you about what goes on a table. I was in good service, remember, lad. With posher people than Miss Helsby. I know how a table should be laid and I know about the food to go in them dishes and the wine for the glasses an’ all.’
‘I never thought of that,’ Tommy said. He could see that his mother resented Miss Helsby trying to teach him things which she knew and he began to talk about his father’s return instead.
‘Change your clothes, lad, and you can play out for a bit,’ Nellie said, wanting to be alone.
When he had gone she sat with her knitting in her hands letting her tears fall freely. Where has he gone, my little lad? she thought. The little lad who used to cling round her neck believing she knew everything. Such a short time ago and we were all his world, me and Sam.
Had she done right to let him go to the classes? Right for Tom maybe, she thought, thinking of him as he stood tall and confident, clear skinned and healthy, speaking so easily about what he had seen. But what about me and Sam? We’ve lost him, our little lad. She lifted her pinafore to her eyes and cried bitterly.
Before Tommy came in again she splashed cold water on her face to hide the traces of tears and made herself a cup of tea. I should be ashamed, she thought, crying over that when I think of poor Maggie and her trouble, yet still tears welled into her eyes whenever she thought of the change in Tommy.
Nellie might have been relieved if Tommy had told her more about the visit to Miss Helsby’s home. He had been disappointed and he felt that the visit had not gone as Miss Helsby had planned.
The other boy, Walter Roberts, was a newcomer to the school and, although he had been eager to join Tom for the speech training and to improve himself, he was still uncouth.
Tom had been surprised that he noticed his companion’s shortcomings, when Walter wiped his nose on his sleeve and gobbled his food, and that he felt a vicarious shame when Miss Helsby’s mother looked outraged. I must have learned something, he thought, or I wouldn’t have noticed Walter doing that. Probably would’ve been doing it myself.
‘Ridiculous, Henrietta,’ he heard the old lady say in a low voice to Miss Helsby, ‘you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear and I hope this display will convince you.’
Tom felt his face grow red and he was not surprised when Miss Helsby hurried him and Walter away immediately after the lunch, although he felt that it was not what she had planned.
I’ll show that old one, he vowed to himself. Even if Miss Helsby stops teaching us I’ll find out myself how to be posh. And someday I’ll get a house like that for me mam. He said nothing of this to his mother.
Nellie made herself a cup of tea and tried to compose herself, then went to the door. Richie Nolan, now aged twelve years, and his ten-year-old brother Walter were playing with a steering cart they had made, and Henry, now fifteen, came out of the Nolans’ door and greeted Nellie.
‘Hello, Mrs Meadows, are you coming in to see Mam?’ he asked, holding the door wide.
‘Yes, I will,’ said Nellie, pulling her own door closed behind her and Henry swaggered away up the street. He now worked for the Cooperative Society as a van boy and he was proudly wearing his first pair of long trousers, his hair sleeked down with pomade.
Richie’s legs were still bowed and all three boys bore signs of their early privations, although Maggie’s circumstances had been easier for some years. Nellie mentally compared them with Tommy and thought she must point out to him how lucky he was.
Maggie had been listless and apathetic since Johnny’s death but now her cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright.
‘I’ve had murder with that Ada Ginley,’ she told Nellie indignantly. ‘She was carrying on about our Susan going out with that Catholic lad. I told her to keep her nose outa my family’s business and look out for her own daughters. God knows they need watching.’
‘Nosy faggot,’ Nellie said. ‘What’s it got to do with her?’
‘She said me mam’d turn in her grave. You know me mam used to dress the drums for the Lodge, Nell, until she fell out with them, and she never bothered no more after that. She always made sure I got churched after the kids were born and they got christened but she never even walked with the Lodge after she fell out with them.’
‘Did she know Johnny was a Catholic?’ Nellie asked.
‘No, because he never bothered about it until just at the last, like,’ said Maggie.
Later when Nellie was alone with Josie for a moment the girl whispered, ‘It done me mam the world of good having that fight with Mrs Ginley. Brightened her up, like.’
‘What’ll happen with your Susan?’ Nellie whispered.
‘I think she’ll turn Catholic,’ Josie said. ‘She likes the lad.’
‘Well, in a way it’s in her blood, like, with your dad being Catholic,’ Nellie said.
‘Yes. I don’t think Mam’ll mind,’ said Josie. ‘I think it’s daft all this fighting over religion but if it bucks Mam up I’m all for it.’
Maggie came back and they said no more but Nellie felt that Maggie had a good family who really cared about her.
I hope our Tommy would be the same with me or Sam if anything happened, she thought. We’ve got all our eggs in one basket.
Chapter Nineteen
When Nellie next visited Meg she was surprised to hear that Bobby was negotiating to exchange houses with an elderly couple who lived in a six-roomed house.
‘He heard about these people that wanted a similar house and he went to see them right away,’ Meg said. ‘I’ve been to see their house and it’s real nice, Nell. Three bedrooms, a kitchen, back kitchen and parlour and a big yard at the back with a shed.’
‘But won’t it be a lot more rent?’ Nellie said. ‘I thought you were settled here.’
‘We can manage the extra rent,’ Meg said. ‘Bob got narked about this lot next door complaining and he’s not as easy going as he used to be, you know, Nell.’
‘I’ve noticed that,’ Nellie exclaimed. ‘He never used to fall out with anyone and he’d always give way to people, but he’s changed.’
‘He’s gone a bit – a bit harder,’ Meg said. ‘Not in a bad way, Nell. Not with me, but he stands up for himself more now. Says what he thinks to the boss but they don’t seem to mind. Anyhow, he says he wo
n’t put up with this lot next door and we’ll move somewhere.’
‘And do you think you’ll get this house?’ Nellie asked.
‘The people are coming to see this one tonight and if it suits them we’ll go to see the two landlords. I want to get it settled before the baby’s born, Nell. It’s in Masefield Street off Peel Road so we still won’t be far away from you.’
‘If there’s anything I can do, Meg, I will,’ Nellie promised. ‘You don’t want to be doing any lifting and packing. I can do anything like that for you.’
Only three weeks later everything had been arranged and true to her word Nellie went to help them to move.
The removal took place on one of the days when Nellie was due at Merton Road and she intended to ask the housekeeper for the morning off but the cook advised against it.
‘If you ask she’ll say no,’ she said. ‘I’ll tell her I’ve had a message that you’re not well but you hope to be in tomorrow. That’s the best way.’
Nellie agreed. She hated her job and only the fact that it meant she could save made her continue with it. Except for the cook the servants had changed several times since she started there.
‘Nobody’ll stop with this one but she knows better than to try anything on with me,’ the cook told Nellie. ‘The mistress would turn in her grave if she seen the way her house was run now. She was a lovely lady… The master just doesn’t care now since she died, as long as the house is kept decent.’
‘He doesn’t do no entertaining, does he?’ Nellie said.
‘No heart for it,’ the cook said. ‘This one’s trying to worm her way in but the day she gets her knees under his table is the day I leave. Not that she will. She’s only a servant as far as he’s concerned, for all her airs and graces.’
‘I think I’ve jumped outa the frying pan into the fire,’ Nellie said. ‘Me last place was fine at first but then it went bad when he got into business trouble and this is worse.’
When Nellie returned to work on the day after the removal she found the cook all agog. ‘What do you think?’ she began as soon as Nellie appeared. ‘Bessy’s scarpered.’
A Wise Child Page 27