by Lesley Eames
The next morning she let Artie sleep until it was almost his usual time for getting up. ‘I said I’d help,’ he protested.
‘It’s no good getting up early if it stops you from doing your lessons,’ Lily pointed out.
‘But—’
‘The lessons are more important.’
‘I’m still going to help later,’ he insisted, and he worked so hard that Lily couldn’t help kissing him and telling him he was a good boy.
‘I’m eleven!’ he protested. ‘The same age as you.’
‘Thirty minutes younger,’ Lily pointed out, and he scowled. Artie was still two inches shorter.
*
Artie was triumphant when he returned from Mr Alderton’s on Saturday. ‘Mr Alderton says I can use the bike for errand running!’
‘You told him about Gran?’ Lily was appalled.
‘He said he understands I need to help. Riding the bike won’t take as much out of me as running. I can go further too, so there might be more people who— What’s wrong, Lil?’
‘Nothing, I hope.’
‘Do you think he might get us taken away from Gran?’ Artie looked worried now.
‘Did he say he would?’
‘No. But he didn’t say he wouldn’t.’
‘Did he say he’d see you next Saturday?’
‘Yes, and he set more lessons for me to do at home.’
‘That’s a good sign,’ Lily said, not liking to see Artie looking anxious.
He brightened suddenly. ‘I just told him Gran was poorly. I didn’t say how poorly. He might think she’ll get better.’
‘Let’s hope so.’
It wasn’t only the possibility of Mr Alderton reporting them to the authorities that was troubling Lily. It was also the possibility that he might decide it wasn’t worth his while teaching a boy who’d soon be in the workhouse. But Lily didn’t want Artie to feel bad so she smiled and praised him for getting permission to use the bicycle.
Mr Alderton said nothing to suggest he was having second thoughts about Artie over the following weeks, and there was no doubt that the bicycle helped Artie to run more errands. Every halfpenny counted more than ever because Gran was hardly managing to work at all. Lily had taken an afternoon off school, having feigned a stomach-ache in the morning, and was pegging out sheets in the yard when a voice demanded, ‘Why aren’t you at school?’
SEVEN
Lily’s head whipped around. Janet Flynn had stepped in from the alley.
‘I’ve got an upset tummy,’ Lily told her.
‘Upset tummy, my eye. Your gran’s badly, ain’t she?’
Lily hesitated.
‘You’ve done a grand job of keeping things together, Lily Tomkins, but now you need help.’
‘We’re fine,’ Lily insisted, frightened now.
‘I don’t mean help from nosy parkers who’ll take you and Artie away. That happened to a cousin of mine when her man died. She and the kids went into the workhouse and for years they only saw each other for a few minutes on Sundays. I was just a girl then and couldn’t help, but it was terrible for poor Sally. No. What I mean is help from me and others who think well of your gran and can keep their mouths shut about what’s going on.’
Was such a thing possible?
‘I’m not saying we can take a lot of weight off your shoulders,’ Mrs Flynn cautioned. ‘But we can start by fitting some of your gran’s washing in with our own then see what else we can do. Don’t think of it as charity. Your gran would be the first to help us if the tables were turned.’
‘Thank you,’ Lily said, not knowing what else to say.
‘I’ll step in and say hello to Maggie, if that’s all right?’
Mrs Flynn didn’t wait for an answer but walked into the house. When she returned a short time later her face was grave. Living alongside Gran made it hard to spot small daily changes in how she looked but Janet Flynn hadn’t seen Gran in two or three weeks and the small changes had obviously added up.
‘I’ll talk to the other women about the washing,’ she said, then left muttering something that sounded like, ‘After all, it won’t be for long.’
Lily sat down on the doorstep, touched by their neighbour’s kindness but wanting to cry at those final words. Her throat felt so tight she could barely breathe but she heard Gran calling her and fought the feelings down.
‘Be a love and run up for the bottle, will you, Lil?’
Lily went upstairs for Gran’s bottle of laudanum and saw it was almost empty. Maybe Lily could ask Mrs Flynn if she knew where more might be bought without the need for a doctor’s prescription for, despite all their efforts, they were struggling to buy food and fuel as well as to pay the rent.
Mrs Flynn called again later as Lily was bringing in the sheets that had been hanging in the yard. ‘There’s four of us to help with the washing – Ada Baker, Tilly Fosse, Bessie Tench and me. Ada can’t take much because she’s already washing for her Aggie’s family, and Tilly hasn’t got much drying space, but we’ll do what we can.’
They went inside and made up a sack for each woman and Lily wrote two lists of what each sack contained – one copy for herself and one for the women. ‘You’d better draw pictures too,’ Mrs Flynn recommended. ‘Ada’s reading is pretty good but the rest of us don’t get on with it so well.’
When the sacks and lists were ready, she headed back into the yard. ‘Here’s hoping for decent drying weather,’ she said.
She reached the gate that led into the alley and paused, digging in her pocket for some coins. ‘Here,’ she said. ‘We can’t take away that growth inside your gran but we can try to take away the worst of the pain. I got up a bit of a collection so you can get something from the doctor.’
Lily was touched beyond words but anxious too. The more people who knew Gran was ill, the more likely it was that people like the vicar and teachers at school would hear and report the situation to the authorities. Even the doctor himself might take it into his head to interfere and separate the family.
‘I didn’t ask anyone who might blab,’ Mrs Flynn assured her. ‘Let me know when the doctor comes. I’ll come round too and if you call me Auntie Janet in front of him he won’t know you’re coping with Maggie on your own.’
Just as they’d hoped, the doctor assumed Mrs Flynn was part of the family.
The help given by their neighbours was a godsend but Lily and Artie were still working hard. Too hard for Gran’s peace of mind, though there was nothing to be done about it. ‘In another few weeks it’ll be the school holidays,’ Lily said. ‘Things’ll get easier then.’
In the meantime they simply knuckled down to the work.
*
Lily was rushing home from school one day when she saw a familiar figure in the distance. A tall, thin, stooping figure. Mr Alderton. Oh, no. Was he intending to call to say he’d realised how ill Gran must be and had decided he’d be wasting his time by continuing to teach Artie? Not only would that be a terrible blow to Artie’s prospects, it would also mean giving back the bicycle and how would Artie manage so many errands then? Those errands were the difference between paying the rent or not.
She broke into a run, taking a short cut down an alley to reach Jessy Street sooner. Gran was sitting in the kitchen, wrapped up in a blanket and with her hair looking like a dandelion clock that would scatter at the first breath of a breeze. ‘Mr Alderton’s coming,’ Lily told her.
‘Oh, Lordy.’ Gran shifted forward as though to heave her weakened body to her feet.
‘Don’t,’ Lily urged. If Mr Alderton intended to cut Artie off, it didn’t matter a jot if he saw Gran in the kitchen rather than the parlour.
Besides, there wasn’t time for Gran to tidy herself because a knock sounded on the front door.
Lily went to open it. ‘Good afternoon, Mr Alderton.’ That was how her teacher always greeted people.
‘Good afternoon. Might I have a word with Mrs Tomkins?’
‘Yes, but you’ll have to see her
in the kitchen. She isn’t well.’
‘So I have heard.’
He looked bewildered by the state of the kitchen as there was washing and ironing everywhere – hanging from the drying rack attached to the ceiling, draped over another drying rack that stood on the floor, piled up on the table and soaking in both the dolly tub and the bath tub. Lily pulled a chair away from the table and invited him to sit then stood at Gran’s shoulder protectively.
‘Arthur has told me you’re unwell,’ he began. ‘Might I enquire as to your prospects for recovery? It isn’t my wish to be indelicate or intrusive but Arthur was distracted the last time he came to me. Tearful.’
‘I’ll speak plainly,’ Gran told him. ‘I’ve no chance of recovery. But I hope this doesn’t mean you’ll give up on our boy.’
‘What will become of Arthur?’
‘There’s no family or anyone else to take him and Lily in. They’re good people round here despite how it might look to those on the outside, but the harsh fact is that none of them has the space nor the money for my two. So it’ll be the workhouse or some sort of orphanage.’
‘That makes it all the more important for Artie to learn as much as he can now,’ Lily burst in.
‘It would certainly be a shame to interrupt his progress,’ Mr Alderton said. ‘I have a proposal for you to consider, Mrs Tomkins. I suggest Arthur should come to me instead of the workhouse or an orphanage.’
Gran frowned. ‘I don’t follow.’
‘I suggest that he comes to live in my house. My housekeeper will see to his physical well-being while I attend to his mind. My intention is for Arthur to be able to earn a better living for himself than will otherwise be the case. I can ask Mrs Lawley who keeps house for me to call on you to reassure you that good care will be taken of the boy.’
‘That’s as may be, but what about Lily here?’
Mr Alderton looked puzzled. ‘I don’t understand your meaning, Mrs Tomkins.’
‘Are you offering a home to Lily as well?’
Clearly, the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. ‘I know nothing of girls and their needs,’ he said, leaving Lily in no doubt that he had no interest in learning about them. ‘Your granddaughter looks a useful sort of girl. Doubtless, with training from an appropriate institution, she will find a place in the world.’
‘You think I should let them be torn apart so Artie goes to your house – a grand place from what I’ve heard – and poor Lily goes to the workhouse? No, Mr Alderton. Your offer is kindly meant, I’m sure, but it’s out of the question. Lily and Artie will be everything to each other after I’m gone.’
‘My offer is a fine opportunity for Arthur. Must he miss out on an advantage because his sister can’t share in it?’
Oh, heavens. The thought of being separated from Artie as well as from Gran was terrible. Lily felt it scoop a hollow deep inside her. But she had to think of Artie.
‘No,’ Lily said. ‘He mustn’t miss out on it.’
Gran turned to her in appalled surprise. ‘Think what you’re saying, Lil.’
‘I am thinking. Getting an education is Artie’s best chance of making something of himself.’
‘But you won’t see each other. Artie will be in Hampstead and you’ll be… We don’t know where you’ll be, but it won’t be Hampstead.’
‘Boys and girls are kept apart in the workhouse anyway. Probably in orphanages too,’ Lily argued. She looked at Mr Alderton. ‘Would you let Artie write to me? Perhaps even visit?’
‘If Arthur wishes it.’
Gran was still shaking her head.
Mr Alderton rose to his feet. ‘It isn’t a decision lightly to be made, perhaps. I shall leave you to think it over, Mrs Tomkins. Believe me when I say that Arthur’s entire life could be changed for the better.’
Lily was still reeling from the thought of separation but she rallied herself to remember her manners. ‘You won’t stay for a cup of tea?’
‘Thank you, but no.’
She saw him to the door then returned to Gran who was bristling with indignation and something else Lily only gradually realised was helplessness. ‘I wish I could live longer, Lil. Not for my sake but for yours and Artie’s. If I could manage just a few more years I could see you both making your ways in the world. God would get no complaint from me if he wanted to call me home then, but to call me now…’
Lily kissed Gran’s cheek. ‘You know it’s a fine chance for Artie.’
‘What’s a fine chance for me?’ Artie came through the back door.
‘Let’s get the work done and we can talk later,’ Lily said
‘But—’
‘People are waiting for their errands to be run.’ She didn’t want him getting too upset to be of help.
He looked as though he wanted to argue but he clamped his lips together and nodded.
It was after supper when Lily told him about Mr Alderton’s suggestion. ‘Is he mad?’ Artie demanded. ‘I can’t leave you, Lil. I won’t leave you.’
‘You must, Artie.’
‘Gran?’ he appealed. ‘Lil’s gone mad too.’
‘No, she hasn’t.’ Gran’s voice was quiet now. Flat with defeat. ‘I don’t like it any more than you, but it’s too good a chance to pass up.’
‘What sort of a brother would I be if I let my sister go to the workhouse while I lived like a prince in a fairy tale?’
‘The sort of brother who’ll work hard so he can help his sister in the future,’ Gran told him. ‘The sort of brother who’ll build a better life for her as well as for himself.’
‘That’ll take years. I can’t be apart from Lil for years.’
‘We’d be apart most of the time in the workhouse or orphanage,’ Lily pointed out. ‘Mr Alderton says you can write to me and visit me too.’
‘It won’t be the same.’
‘Everything’s changing whether we like it or not,’ Gran said. ‘If I’ve got to die, I’d rather go knowing you have a chance to do more than scrimp and save all your life.’
‘I won’t leave Lily.’
‘Oh, yes, you will,’ Lily said. ‘Stop being so selfish.’
‘Selfish?’ Artie’s eyes were wide. Hurt too.
Lily regretted having pained him but she was tired and her heart felt as though it were falling to pieces, shedding joy the way a tree shed its leaves in autumn. ‘Gran needs peace of mind and so do I. It won’t be possible for me to help you if we’re separated in a workhouse or orphanage so it’ll be a weight off my mind to know you’re getting an education.’
‘Yes,’ Gran agreed, ‘and an education means you’ll be better able to help Lily once you’re old enough to earn a living.’
‘I hadn’t thought of it like that,’ Artie admitted sadly.
‘So you’ll tell Mr Anderson you accept his offer?’ Gran said. ‘His kind offer?’
‘Yes.’ Artie agreed.
‘Tell him to send his housekeeper to me like he promised. I can’t have you going to just anyone.’
Gran patted Lily’s hand because she’d have no choice about where she was sent.
‘I’ll miss you, Lil,’ Artie said, when they went up to bed that night.
‘I’ll miss you too.’ She’d shed private tears about it. ‘But in another few years we’ll be together again. Not just for a visit. For always.’
‘It might be sooner than you think.’
‘Oh?’ Lily saw fear in his eyes.
‘Mr Alderton might think I’m a dunce when I haven’t got you to help me.’
Lily wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him close. ‘I might get to answers a bit quicker than you, but you’ll get to them yourself soon enough if you keep trying. Mr Alderton doesn’t complain when he teaches you on Saturdays, does he?’
‘Sometimes he sighs or taps his fingers when I’m slow.’
‘He wouldn’t have asked you to learn from him every day if he thought you were stupid.’
Artie shrugged and Lily realised he was crying again.
She felt tears pooling in her own eyes but blinked them away. ‘Let’s not think about being apart. Let’s just make the most of the time we still have together.’
But time moved with horrifying speed.
Mr Alderton’s housekeeper visited and Gran pronounced Mrs Lawley to be a sensible woman. ‘A little strict, maybe, but that’s no bad thing for keeping a boy on the straight and narrow. She keeps a decent table too, from what she told me. Artie shan’t starve in her care.’
Mrs Flynn and her team of neighbours called in often and did what they could to help.
Soon other neighbours were calling in as word gradually leaked out about Maggie Tomkins being on her way out of the world. Their own vicar was among them and Lily was glad Janet Flynn was in the house to fend off questions about how they were coping.
She was even gladder when he produced a small bag of coins which he explained came from his parish hardship fund. Reluctant as though Gran was to accept charity – Lily too – the fact was that they needed help with the rent and for another visit from the doctor, especially as fewer customers were sending their washing now they knew Gran was ill.
With Artie due to go to Mr Alderton’s Lily insisted he should keep up his school attendance but her own fell off as Gran could no longer be left alone.
‘Please don’t tell anyone,’ Lily pleaded, when her teacher confronted her and Lily finally had to admit the truth. ‘It isn’t going to be for much longer. School finishes for the holidays soon anyway, and it isn’t as though I’m behind with my learning.’
Miss Fielding looked torn between sympathy and duty. ‘I can’t make any promises,’ she said, but the term duly ended and no one had intervened.
It was a relief no longer to have to juggle school with caring for Gran but the long summer days felt strangely unreal when things at home couldn’t have been bleaker. No one mentioned how they’d cope when school started again in September because no one thought Gran would still be with them.
It was the end of August when Gran called Lily and Artie to her side. ‘I want to talk about my funeral,’ she said. ‘You’ve probably heard about people paying a few pennies a week to the insurance man so they can have a decent burial. I’ve never been able to manage that so it’ll be a pauper’s funeral for me, same as it was for your mum and dad. You need to know that it doesn’t matter at all. We went on loving your mum and dad without having a headstone to visit and I know you’ll go on loving me.’