A Mother's Promise (37 page)

Hetty had made her choice and her life seemed to change overnight. Before Miss Heathcote would allow her to venture into the world of commerce, Hetty had to have a whole new wardrobe made for her. She underwent rigorous lessons in elocution and Miss Heathcote drilled her like a sergeant major in matters of etiquette. Her table manners were scrutinised, criticised and picked apart until she felt like throwing her dinner plate at her mentor’s head, and there were tedious sessions where she had to walk round the room with books balanced on her head in order to improve her deportment.

It was fortunate that Miss Heathcote was not an early riser, as this gave Hetty an hour or two in the morning before Milton arrived to collect her in the carriage. It allowed her time in which to balance the books in the coffee shop, to check the stock and to make certain that Jane was coping with her new responsibilities. It was something of a relief to discover that Jane and Sally were getting along well
together, and Granny was managing the stall in Spitalfields market as if she had spent her whole life as a costermonger. Dorrie helped out when needed, and she also kept an eye on Natalia. Wilfred and Stanley attended the ragged school with Sammy and Eddy, although Wilfred had been caught playing truant a couple of times and had received a sound telling off from George and the threat of a caning from Granny, which had apparently been enough to convince him that it was in his best interests to have at least a smattering of education.

Hetty was glad that George had not abandoned them entirely, although he rarely visited the house in Princelet Street when she was at home. She was hurt by this and she missed his company more than she would have thought possible, but she had made her choice. She knew that she must either abide by her decision or abandon the whole project, and that would be to admit defeat. She was never going to give in; she had made her mind up to that. She would prosper and she would make herself into someone whom Charles would not be ashamed to introduce to his family.

On a particularly wet day at the beginning of February Hetty was summoned to Miss Heath-cote’s drawing room. She found her huddled
beneath a fur rug in her usual chair by a blazing fire. ‘I am not well today, Hetty,’ Miss Heathcote murmured. ‘I hate the winter and the constant damp and cold makes my back ache dreadfully.’

‘I’m sorry, ma’am.’

‘Well, yes, I suppose you are, but how could a healthy young woman like you understand the torments that I have to suffer?’ Miss Heathcote waved a bony hand at her. ‘Sit down, please. You know that I hate people towering over me.’

Hetty pulled up a footstool and sat down. ‘What did you want me for, Miss Heathcote?’

‘I called you here to tell you that the time has come for you to go out into the City and select suitable properties from those on my list. We’ve knocked the rough edges off you, although I doubt if you will ever lose that dreadful cockney accent entirely.’

‘I’m not sure I want to. I won’t pretend to be something I’m not.’

‘And you won’t get far in business if people think you have just crawled out of the gutter.’ Miss Heathcote lay back against the cushions and closed her eyes. ‘Let us not argue about trifles. The fact is that I have purchased a Victoria phaeton to take you round London, as I don’t want anyone to recognise my carriage. You will have your own coachman, and, for the sake of propriety, I think you ought
to have a lady’s maid to accompany you. Do you know a person whom you could trust implicitly? We don’t want a gossiping, tittle-tattling maidservant who would tell the world our secret.’

‘A maid? I dunno about that.’

‘Grammar, Hetty.’

‘I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t know how to treat a maidservant.’

‘Then you must learn. Surely there is some young girl of your acquaintance whom you could trust?’

Hetty smiled. ‘There’s Dorrie, but she’s only a child.’

‘It doesn’t matter. Just so long as you have a chaperone of some sort. It is only for the sake of appearances.’ Miss Heathcote pointed to a purse lying on a table near Hetty. ‘There is enough money there to outfit the girl. Milton will take you to a suitable emporium this afternoon. Tomorrow you will go to the first address on my list, and so we will begin.’

Taking Dorrie to be her maid proved more difficult than Hetty had thought possible. Granny was adamant that she could not manage the coffee stall and keep an eye on a toddler, and Jane was reluctant to take Talia to the coffee shop. In the end it was Tom who provided the solution. He arrived at the house that evening just after Hetty and Dorrie
returned from their shopping expedition, and he walked in during the middle of a fierce argument between Hetty and Jane.

‘You just think about yourself,’ Jane cried angrily.

‘That’s not true,’ Hetty protested. ‘Talia is your child. You should take care of her.’

‘Well, you make such a fuss of her anyone would think she was yours.’ Jane sat down at the table, pouting. ‘I work me fingers to the bone in the shop. I’m on me feet all day long making sandwiches and pouring cups of tea and coffee. Sally and me haven’t had a minute to ourselves all day.’

‘What’s wrong?’ Tom demanded, picking up Natalia, who had begun to cry at the sound of raised voices. ‘What’s all the fuss about?’

Granny thumped the teapot down on the kitchen table and the teacups rattled on their saucers. ‘It’s Hetty. She’s gone all grand on us and wants to take young Dorrie for a lady’s maid, of all things. I can’t look after the child as well as working in the market. At my age I should be sitting by the fire with my feet up all day, not slaving away on a coffee stall.’

Tom shot a questioning glance at Hetty. ‘What’s all this, Hetty?’

‘I’m to start looking for suitable premises tomorrow, Tom. Miss Heathcote says I’ve got to
look respectable. I’ll be dealing with businessmen and she says I ought to have a maid to chaperone me. It seems a bit of a palaver to me, but I expect she’s right.’

For a moment Hetty was afraid that he was going to side with Jane and Granny. He thought for a moment and then he nodded his head. ‘I think the old girl is right. You shouldn’t go round the City on your own. We all know what Clench tried to do to you and there’s plenty more ruffians like him.’

‘But, Tom,’ Jane protested, her eyes brimming with tears. ‘I can’t manage the coffee shop and look after baby, especially now she’s started toddling.’

He put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the tip of her nose. ‘Of course you can’t, poppet. But it just so happens that my sister Marie has had a tiff with her boss in the pub over Wapping way, and she’s come home to live. Apparently the fellow had wandering hands and he tried to take advantage of her, so she slapped his face and walked out.’

‘Good for her,’ Hetty said with feeling.

Tom grinned. ‘Well, the Crewe girls are a spunky lot and she won’t stand for any old nonsense. What I suggest is that Marie helps Jane in the coffee shop, since she’s had experience working in the pub, and Sally can look after
Talia. She’s a born mother is that one and she’d be happy to play nursemaid.’

‘That sounds good to me,’ Hetty said, turning to Jane. ‘What do you think?’

Jane shrugged her shoulders. ‘Do I have a choice? It seems you two can manage things perfectly well without me.’

‘Stop being a moody little mare,’ Granny scolded. ‘Tom offers a perfectly good suggestion and you show him a sulky face. Serve you right if he changed his mind and found himself another girl.’

Nora was sitting in her usual seat by the fire with a cup of tea in her hand. She nodded wisely, saying nothing.

With a throaty chuckle, Tom patted Granny on the shoulder. ‘If I was twenty years older, you would be the one for me, Granny, but Jane’s my girl and I love her, even if she is a bit grumpy sometimes.’

Jane pushed him away half-heartedly. ‘Oh, get on with you, Tom.’

He ignored the rebuff and slid his arm around her waist. ‘You like Marie, don’t you, Janey?’

‘Yes, I like her well enough. But she has to know that I’m in charge,’ Jane said pouting.

Hetty sighed with relief. ‘Thank goodness. That’s settled then. Tomorrow, Dorrie and me will go out together and conquer London.’

‘Boastful talk,’ Granny muttered. ‘Don’t get too big for your boots, miss.’

Sammy had been listening to all this with his head on one side, his round steel-rimmed spectacles giving him an owlish look. ‘Will your feet really grow bigger when you conquer London, Hetty?’

She ruffled his hair and smiled down into his serious face. ‘No, Sammy. It’s just a manner of speaking. I’ll always be the same Hetty as I was when we lived in Autumn Road and we made matchboxes for a living.’

‘We won’t have to do that again, will we?’ Sammy asked anxiously.

‘No, love. Never again.’ Hetty squeezed his hand. ‘Why don’t you go and play with the boys until supper is ready?’

He hesitated. ‘When you’ve got your string of coffee shops, can I leave school and come and help you?’

‘When you’re older, of course you can.’

‘You get book learning, boy,’ Granny said, pursing her lips and frowning. ‘You work hard at school and make something of yourself. You aim to be a professional man, never mind being in trade.’

Hetty suppressed a smile. ‘But that’s just what we are, Granny. We’re in trade, like it or not, and I’m going to make a fortune or die in the attempt.’

Next day, Hetty dressed with extra care in a gown of fine merino trimmed with braid in a military style, which set off her slim figure to its best advantage. The deep shade of blue brought out the violet hue of her eyes, or so the shop assistant had said, and Hetty had been pleased to believe her. Her blue mantle was trimmed with Persian lamb, and a matching hat sat at a jaunty angle on top of the elaborate coiffure executed by Dorrie’s nimble fingers. Hetty was not particularly vain, but when she saw her reflection in one of the wall mirrors in Miss Heathcote’s grand entrance hall she hardly recognised herself, and she wished with all her heart that Charles could see her now.

With Dorrie seated beside her, looking very pleased with herself in her smart new clothes, Hetty set off to look at the first property on the list. The spanking Victoria was driven by a coachman who had been elevated from the position of under groom in Miss Heathcote’s stables, and had been given strict instructions to look after the young ladies.

When they stopped at the first premises Hetty was greeted by an obsequious middle-aged gentleman with a balding pate and a pinstripe suit which smelt strongly of mothballs. He showed her around the empty shop, extolling the virtues of being so close to Liverpool Street
station. Hetty decided that it was a good deal too close to the station. For one thing the floor-boards vibrated every time a train ground to a halt at the buffers, and when the engine let off steam the piercing shriek of the whistle echoed throughout the building. The smell of hot cinders and smoke pervaded the atmosphere in a choking fog which would put anyone off their meal. She listened politely to the agent’s sales pitch, made notes in the leather-bound book that Miss Heathcote had given her for the purpose, and she assured him that she would give the premises her full consideration. She explained that she had other places to inspect but she would send him word when she had made her final decision.

‘A definite no,’ she told Dorrie as they climbed back into the Victoria. ‘Drive on, Peters.’

At the end of the day Hetty had visited no less than six of the places on Miss Heathcote’s list. She had written copious notes and had made sketches of the interiors which she intended to turn into scale drawings, together with ideas for their design and refurbishment. For the rest of the week, Hetty and Dorrie continued their search, travelling as far north as King’s Cross and as far west as the Strand. Hetty spent all of Saturday and Sunday working on the plans for the premises which
she considered to be most suitable, and on Monday morning she took them to Miss Heathcote for her consideration. By the end of the afternoon, when the light had faded and the curtains were drawn against the winter dusk, they had finally agreed on three properties.

‘I think we should celebrate,’ Miss Heathcote said, reaching for the bell pull. ‘Would you like tea or something a little stronger, Hetty?’

Hetty’s throat was parched and her head was aching after their long discussion, and she was tired. ‘A cup of tea would be lovely, but I should be getting home.’

Miss Heathcote frowned. ‘You must stay for dinner, Hetty. There is more to discuss.’

‘I have to get home. They’re expecting me and they’ll worry if I’m late.’

‘Nonsense, you must have a life of your own. You need to escape from the stranglehold that those people have on you.’

Hetty could see that Miss Heathcote was going to be difficult and she rose to her feet. ‘They are my family, Miss Heathcote. I want to go home.’

‘You want to leave me to eat alone, yet again. You don’t care what happens to me. I am just a convenient source of funds to you.’

Hetty moderated her tone. ‘You know that isn’t true. We are business partners, but that
doesn’t mean I have to neglect my family or treat them badly.’

‘And yet you treat me badly. I want you to stay for dinner. No, actually I insist that you stay to dinner.’ A smart rap on the door halted this anguished tirade and Miss Heathcote took a deep breath. ‘Enter.’

The door opened and Minnie hurried into the room, closely followed by Dorrie, who shot an enquiring look at Hetty. ‘Yes, we will be leaving shortly,’ Hetty said in answer to the unspoken question.

‘No!’ Miss Heathcote screamed, slamming her hand down on the arm of her chair. ‘You will not be leaving shortly; you will be staying for supper. And then we will talk about your moving into this house. I cannot have you living in that slum or keep sending the Victoria for you every day. It is quite ridiculous.’

Minnie gave a nervous cough. ‘You wanted something, ma’am.’

‘Yes. Tell Cook there will be two of us for supper this evening.’

‘No, Minnie,’ Hetty said firmly. ‘I am afraid that I cannot stay. Please send word to the stables for Peters to bring the Victoria round to the front entrance.’