Bonds of Earth, The (21 page)

B
EFORE LEAVING
N
EWGATE
Father Michael was able to speak to the gaoler in charge, who was surprised that anyone should show interest in such an urchin. However, after a couple of guineas had changed hands, the Old Nichol priest was assured that pending his trial Arthur would be housed in a smaller cell, among more ‘select' prisoners and be supplied with adequate food.

When Nessa and Father Michael returned to the Old Nichol, the former was still affected by all she had witnessed at Newgate but the priest collected the odd-job man who worked at the ragged school and the three set off for Mount Street.

A number of sites in the street were little more than heaps of rubble, anything capable of being either burned or reused having been carried off within days of the demolition. With only the vague description of the site that Arthur had been able to give them it was an almost impossible task to locate the spot where Sally might be found, but they were fortunate enough to come across a vagrant who was known to the parish priest and he was able to point out the particular site where the aborted attempt to begin work on a sewer system had taken place.

Scrambling over the uneven piles of rubble the shallow filled-in shaft was eventually located. Even so, it was some minutes before they found a hole between some of the stones that looked as though it
might
be the entrance to the underground tunnel, even though the odd-job man insisted it was too small for the purpose – and certainly too small for
him
to attempt to investigate the possibility.

It was frustrating, but a crowd of inquisitive young urchins had gathered to watch what was going on and Father Michael turned to them for help.

‘Do any of you know whether this hole leads to an underground tunnel?'

He received no immediate reply but the knowing glances exchanged between some of the urchins did not pass unnoticed.

‘Oh well, it's a pity because it could have been worth a few pennies to anyone who could tell us something about it.'

Once again there were exchanged glances, but it was a young girl of perhaps eight or nine years of age who broke the frustrating silence.

‘My brother Tim's been down there.'

‘Has he, indeed! When was this – and did he find a tunnel?'

‘I don't know. He only went down once because a bigger boy came along and told him that if he ever went down there again he'd kill him.'

‘Who was this bigger boy, do you know him?'

The young girl shook her head, but another boy whose ragged clothing was barely sufficient to preserve decency, said, ‘It was Arthur Harrup.'

Nessa and Father Michael realized they had located Arthur and Sally Harrup's secret ‘home' but Nessa said, ‘How are we going to find out whether Sally's in there? The hole's not large enough for a man to go through and we can't ask any of these children to risk their lives trying.'

‘I don't think there's an alternative.' Addressing the young girl who had volunteered the information, Father Michael said, ‘Where is this brother of yours who has been inside the hole?'

‘I dunno.' The girl shrugged her thin shoulders. ‘He went out fogle-hunting last week and never came back. He was probably nicked.'

If the boy had been arrested while out stealing silk handkerchiefs he would not be available to go down to the unseen tunnel again. It was a set-back, but then a skinny, frail urchin stepped forward.

‘I've been down there.'

‘You? When?'

‘A couple of weeks ago I saw Arthur Harrup and a girl come out and I took a candle and went down there to see what they'd been doing.'

‘And what
had
they been doing?'

‘There were two beds, one on the floor and the other on a sort of a shelf, further along the tunnel. They'd been sleeping in there.'

‘Would you go down there again now, to see if anyone's in there?'

‘Not if Arthur Harrup's likely to be there.'

‘He's not; we've just been talking to him in Newgate. It was him who told us about the place and wanted us to speak to his sister. One of us would go in but we're too big to pass through the entrance.'

When the urchin still appeared doubtful, Father Michael said, ‘If you went in there for us I'd give you sixpence.'

‘I'll do it for a shilling,' came the prompt reply.

‘A shilling if you find Sally Harrup in there, sixpence if you don't.'

‘All right, but I'll need to take a candle down there and that'll cost another ha'penny.'

Clutching the halfpenny the boy ran off but less than a minute later reappeared with the stub of a candle and a small pack of lucifers which he claimed had now raised the expenses to a full penny. Nessa produced the additional halfpenny and, pocketing money, candle and Lucifers, the boy squeezed his way inside the hole and disappeared from view.

Making her way gingerly over the rubble, Nessa crouched down beside the opening to await results and it was not long before she glimpsed a faint lightening of the shadows from inside the hole, indicating that the boy had reached the tunnel and put a light to the candle.

Soon afterwards she thought she could hear the sound of voices in the tunnel and this was confirmed when the candlelight became brighter and the unseen boy called, ‘There is a girl in here, so I'm coming out for my shilling.'

‘No you're not,' Nessa retorted, firmly. ‘I want to talk to her so you'll stay in there until I tell you to come out.'

Cutting across the ensuing protest, Nessa said, ‘Tell her Miss Pyne is here and wants to speak to her.'

Grumbling, the boy and his lighted candle withdrew into the tunnel, only to return a couple of minutes later to declare, ‘She says she doesn't want to talk to you and you're to go away.'

‘Go back and tell her I've just come from talking to Arthur and I've a message from him.'

Grumbling, the boy said, ‘You're getting more than a bob's worth from me now – and if I stay down here much longer this candle's going to burn out.'

‘You'll stay until I say you can come out – but once I've got Sally up here with me I'll give you
two
shillings.'

The candlelight retreated once more, for longer this time, then the unseen boy called, ‘She says she don't believe you.'

‘Remind her that I've never ever lied to her – and Father Michael was with me when I spoke to Arthur. What's more, I've promised Arthur I'll take her to see him, but that's not going to happen if she doesn't come out.'

The candlelight went away for longer this time. When it reappeared, it suddenly went out and a head appeared in the hole. It was not the boy, but Sally.

Nessa reached down to help her, but Father Michael was there before her and lifted Sally clear of the hole. She was quickly followed by the boy who immediately demanded his reward.

Given the promised two shillings by Father Michael, the boy was gone before Nessa had time to thank him and ask his name.

‘Have you really spoken to Arthur, or was it just a trick to get me to come out?' Sally looked desperately tired and unhappy and dirt-free streaks down her cheeks were evidence she had been crying a great deal.

‘I really have spoken to him and it was Arthur who told Father Michael and me where to find you. He'll be coming before the judge in ten days' time and Father Michael is going to court to speak for him. You and I will be there too and I've promised Arthur I'll take you to speak to him afterwards.'

‘Will they let him come back to the Old Nichol then?'

‘I don't think so, Sally, but we'll go back to school now to get you cleaned up and have a chat about what we're going to do next.'

It was a very unhappy Sally who went with them, leaving the odd-job man behind with a small amount of money with which to pay some of the urchins to effectively block-up the entrance to the underground hideaway.

W
HEN THEY REACHED
the ragged school Sally enjoyed the first meal she had eaten for a couple of days while Nessa and Father Michael discussed what could be done with her.

‘It isn't only Arthur who is going to suffer for his transgressions,' Father Michael pointed out. ‘He has left his sister totally bewildered and vulnerable, I am at a loss about what might be done for her.'

His words helped Nessa make up her mind about an idea she had been toying with since the drama began. ‘She'll come back to Kensington with me after school each day.'

It was a solution that had never occurred to Father Michael. Had it done so he would most certainly have dismissed it out of hand immediately. His expression registering disbelief, he said, ‘Take her to Kensington? What are you thinking about, Nessa? Your uncle would not have her inside his house.'

‘Not the way she is at the moment,' Nessa agreed, ‘but scrubbed and deloused, with respectable clothes, she could be made to look quite pretty.'

‘I suppose she might be made to
look
pretty,' Father Michael conceded, ‘but she would only need to open her mouth to dispel any illusion of respectability – and there are a great many items of value in your uncle's home which would provide a great temptation to an urchin to whom honesty is an incomprehensible concept. Then there are such things as table manners and the social graces we take for granted.'

‘There
will
be problems, I fully accept that, but Sally is, without doubt, the most intelligent girl I have come across since I first began teaching at the school. If I discuss the problems with Sally beforehand I'm convinced she'll face up to them and succeed in overcoming them, but a lot will depend on what happens to her brother and whether we are able to speak to him before he's sent off somewhere to serve whatever sentence he's given. Arthur has always intended that Sally would one day escape from the Old Nichol. If he realizes the chance is there he'll persuade her to take it.'

‘I think you are over-simplifying the problem, Nessa, but if you are willing to try to make it work then you have my full support.'

‘Thank you, I fear I am going to need it.'

Sally's initial reaction was to oppose the idea – especially the bath and de-lousing – but Nessa convinced her with the argument that having a well turned-out sister in the courtroom to show support for her brother would impress a judge and jury far more than if she were to appear in her present state. It would also make the court authorities more inclined to allow her to visit Arthur after the court proceedings. Then, if he was given a gaol sentence, as was most likely, he would go away with the assurance that the sister he adored and had always protected, was being well cared for.

Nevertheless, it was with considerable trepidation that Nessa returned to the large house and school in Kensington accompanied by Sally, even though the clean, respectably dressed and pretty girl was unrecognizable as the young urchin who had been coaxed from a hole in the ground only that morning. Nessa was aware that if anything happened to upset Sally it was likely to provoke a stream of invective capable of shocking even the most broad-minded listener.

She had underestimated the acumen of her young ward. Sally had realized from her first day at the ragged school that her mode of speech was very different from that used by Nessa, Father Michael and the volunteer teachers. In private she had practised speaking in a similar manner allowing no one, not even Arthur to hear her.

She would never be able to pass herself off as anyone other than a Londoner but she would not immediately be identified as coming from the Old Nichol – unless someone provoked her!

Nessa was delighted when Sally practised her new skills upon meeting Cedric Couch and his wife Joan for the first time. She was also silently amused to recognize that there was a hint of Cornishness in Sally's assumed manner of speech.

Taking Nessa aside while his wife took Sally on a tour of the house's extensive gardens, Cedric Couch was dubious about having the young Old Nichol girl living in the house, especially when Nessa explained
why
she had brought Sally to his house.

‘It is too much to expect a girl of her type to be suddenly thrust into such surroundings and settle down comfortably,' he said, ‘quite apart from the fact that we have a great many possessions of considerable value in the house. The temptation to steal might well prove too strong for a girl who has been brought up to believe that honesty is a weakness and not a virtue.'

‘I am not suggesting it's going to be easy,' Nessa admitted, ‘even though I believe Sally will readily accept that she must not steal from those who are helping her and her brother. Those who live in the Old Nichol have a very strong code of behaviour when it concerns those with whom they share their surroundings. Sally is a quite exceptional girl, Uncle, but the world she knew fell to pieces when her brother was arrested. I could not simply abandon her.'

‘I realize you are very fond of the child, Nessa; Father Michael commented upon it when he and I last spoke, but how long do you think of having Sally here in the house – and what of her future?'

‘I really don't know,' Nessa confessed, ‘but can she stay here – for a while, at least? Please?'

Cedric Couch was not at all convinced that having Sally living in his house was feasible, but he and his wife were childless and when Joan declared she found the young urchin ‘utterly charming' and would be delighted to help Nessa teach Sally all she needed to know about the world beyond the Old Nichol, the Kensington teacher conceded there was no way he could win the day.

He agreed that Sally could remain in the house for an unspecified trial period, during which time she would share a room with Nessa, who would be held responsible for her behaviour for as long as she lived with them. The young orphan would accompany Nessa to the ragged school each day and receive extra lessons in deportment each evening, in order to complete the transition from urchin to respectability.