Children of the Tide (40 page)

‘Then give her a bath and some clean clothes, and she looks half-starved from what I saw of her, so give her something to eat.’

‘Oh, she’s had that already, ma-am. Cook gave her some chicken broth and she sat and ate it on ’kitchen doorstep. She said she didn’t want to come in ’house and was there a shed or somewhere she could sleep.’

‘Oh we can’t have that.’ Her mistress was definite. ‘Is there somewhere we can put her until we decide what’s to be done?’

‘There’s ’small box-room on ’top landing, ma-am. I could put a truckle in there.’

‘Very well, and when she’s cleaned up, send her in to see me.’

Sammi said not a word as her mother rose from her chair and paced the floor. Then she stood by the window and gazed out. ‘I won’t promise anything, Sammi, but we’ll see how she turns out. If she thieves but once, she goes straight back where she came
from.’ She turned towards her daughter. ‘But if she’s suitable, honest and hard-working, and if Martha is willing to train her, then perhaps she can go to the mill house. She might be the answer to Betsy’s problem.’

Sammi gave her a quick hug. ‘Thank you so much. She’ll be good, I know she will. She was so eager to come. I hadn’t the heart to turn her away.’

‘I’ve heard that before, Sammi,’ her mother rebuked her. ‘But please don’t let me hear it again.’ She gave an impatient gesture. ‘What a pretty kettle of fish you have brought about, Sammi. First Adam—’

‘Not me, Mama,’ Sammi said bluntly, ‘or James. It’s Gilbert, isn’t it? He is Adam’s father!’

‘You know?’ A frown crossed her mother’s forehead. ‘Did Gilbert …?’

‘Oh, no!’ Sammi’s lips tightened as her mother’s words confirmed her suspicions. ‘Gilbert did not say! He was hardly likely to, was he?’ she mocked. ‘He let James take the blame and let me take charge of Adam without saying a word. He certainly didn’t tell! I don’t know why I didn’t realize before,’ she raged. ‘It is so obvious now that we do know.’

‘He told me,’ her mother said softly. ‘He knows he has made a terrible mistake.’

‘But will he admit it to anyone else?’

Her mother sighed and shook her head. ‘Only James. I insisted on that. He’s afraid of Harriet finding out. He’s a foolish young man,’ she said, ‘but he has agreed to give an allowance for Adam, and he says he will find someone to take him.’ She gazed candidly at Sammi. ‘It’s up to us whether or not we tell, Sammi. Do we ruin his marriage before it has begun? Or do we wait for Gilbert’s own conscience to dictate?’ As Sammi remained silent, she added, ‘He will be a better man for his own admission of guilt.’

‘So everyone else must suffer? We keep his secret, James is banished to London, and my marriage
chances are
apparently
lessened.’ Sammi gave a small sob. ‘Perhaps I, too, made a mistake, Mama. Perhaps I should have left Adam to the tender mercies of the workhouse guardians. It would have been so much better for everyone, wouldn’t it?’

‘Sammi!’ her mother reproached her.

Sammi went towards the door. ‘Excuse me, Mama. I am going to my room.’ She put her hand on the door-knob. ‘But Gilbert will answer for this. Sooner or later he will repay his debt.’

‘
Nothing much is happening, I’m afraid
,’ Billy wrote to Sammi three weeks later. ‘
Gilbert hasn’t been able to see Mr Pearson yet, which is very disappointing, so in the meantime I have been calling on traders to ask for their support
.’

Not that that had been very successful either, he thought as he walked down Whitefriargate to post the letter. He had approached various tradesmen to enquire if they would be willing to contribute to a scheme to help the destitute children of the town. Some of them gave their names willingly, prompted, he felt sure, by their desire to appear philanthropic; others stated flatly that they wouldn’t give so much as a button, because in their opinion the children were nothing more than ruffians and thieves in the making. He courteously thanked even the most impolite and made a note of their names in a separate list from those who were willing, and vowed to himself that he would return and ask again, once a scheme was under way.

Three days later, in immediate response to his letter, Sammi arrived in Hull with a clean, well-scrubbed Jenny, who dipped her knee when she saw him.

‘Martha said Jenny needed some shoes and other things. She’s been wearing old clothes belonging to one of the other maids, but they’re all too big for her, so I volunteered to bring her in,’ she explained.
‘But really I thought that I would speak to Gilbert and ask how he’s getting on with Mr Pearson.’

Billy shook his head. ‘But I told you in my letter, he hasn’t seen him yet. Gilbert just hasn’t had the time.’

‘Really?’ she said. ‘Poor Gilbert. So busy! Is he in now?’

‘Yes. Shall I tell him you’re here?’

‘No.’ She smiled sweetly at her brother. ‘I’ll surprise him.’

Gilbert had his back to her when she opened the door after perfunctorily knocking. He turned from the filing cabinet and started on seeing her. ‘Sammi! Why – what brings you here? Nothing wrong at home, I trust?’

‘Nothing more than usual, Gilbert. Just the daily traumas of life. The usual ups and downs of family life: quarrels, misunderstandings, retribution and so on, you know how it is.’

She stared him in the face, then burst out, ‘How could you? How could you let James take the blame? How could you let your father go to his grave thinking that it was James who had fathered Adam?’ She hadn’t intended to confront him, merely insinuate that she knew, in order to persuade him to help Billy. But her resentment, which had been simmering for the last weeks over the injustice of the situation, suddenly boiled over.

He stared back; his eyes had a helpless look, then his face crumpled. ‘Because of Harriet,’ he said. ‘I wanted the marriage to go ahead and I knew her father wouldn’t allow it if word got out.’ He sat down heavily behind his desk. ‘We were a good match,’ he went on, ‘both families wanted it.’

Sammi’s mouth turned down. An arranged marriage, she judged; but she softened as he continued, ‘But now I’m terrified of her finding out. I care for her so much, Sammi,’ he said. ‘I never thought I could care for anyone the way I care for
Harriet. I don’t know what I should do if I lost her.’

She remained silent; this, then, was why her mother felt sorry for him.

He blinked and looked up at her. ‘I have promised your mother I will find a place for him. What else can I do or say, apart from I’m sorry?’ He rose to his feet, mindful of his manners. ‘I beg your pardon, Sammi. Won’t you sit down?’

She shook her head and remained standing. ‘What I want you to do, Gilbert,’ her voice was husky, ‘what I want you to do is write to James, if you haven’t already done so, and tell him; whether you tell your mother is up to you. And the other thing I want you to do,’ she took a deep breath, ‘is to try to make amends in another way.’

‘Yes, yes. I’ll do what I can. I really am sorry, Sammi,’ he pleaded. ‘I wanted to tell you that first night, but I didn’t dare, and then it was too late. James decided to go and you took Adam, and so I left things as they were,’ he added miserably.

She hardened herself towards him, though she felt uneasily that perhaps she, too, had acted hastily. ‘What I want you to do, Gilbert, is to make amends by helping other children, children who might well have been born under similar circumstances.’

She couldn’t help but add this rider and, embarrassed at her candour, he looked away.

‘I know, I did say that I would speak to Pearson,’ he agreed; then as she made no reply but waited for him to continue, he said, ‘There’s a Chamber of Commerce meeting tomorrow, he’s sure to be there. If I promise to speak to him then will that be …?’

‘Perfect. You’ll tell Billy the outcome?’

‘I will,’ he assured, relief showing as he smiled at her. ‘Thank you, Sammi. I won’t let you down this time. I will speak to Mr Pearson.’

She nodded. ‘I shall be relying on you, Gilbert, and so will others. Children like Adam, who through no fault of their own are in intolerable situations.’

His smile disappeared and she saw him swallow and take a breath. He bowed his head. ‘Trust me, Sammi. I beg you.’

On their way home, Sammi decided to call at the mill house and introduce Jenny. The girl was learning fast, and Martha had said that she wouldn’t have minded keeping her at Garston Hall as she was such a willing soul; but Sammi’s mother had said no, she would go to the Fosters’, where she was needed.

But first she called on Mrs Bishop to see Adam. She leant over his crib and fondled his toes. ‘He will be leaving us soon, Mrs Bishop. A foster home is being sought. He has done well under your care.’

Mrs Bishop gazed at her frankly. ‘Breeding and feeding is what I’m good at, miss. And, I have to say, that I hope that this bairn will one day be grateful to thee for what tha’s done for him. But, Miss Sammi, I warned thee already and I say again that there’s some who will – are – judging thee; true they’re nobody much in ’scheme of things, common folk whose opinions maybe don’t count, but gossip spreads, and it’ll spread upwards.’

‘You’re saying there are those who consider that I am a fallen woman? That he is my child?’ she said bluntly. ‘Because I have cared for his well-being they paint my character worse than it is?’

‘Aye, miss.’ Mrs Bishop nodded. ‘That’s about ’strength of it.’

Betsy wasn’t in, and Uncle Thomas was sleeping, so she searched out Tom in the mill. ‘Betsy’s gone off somewhere, Sammi, but I don’t know where.’ Tom rubbed his hands together to shake off the grain. ‘She doesn’t always tell us.’ He followed her outside, where Jenny was waiting by the carriage door. She looked a trifle apprehensive as he approached, but he tried to put her at ease as he said, ‘So, you’re coming to look after us, are you, Jenny?’

She dipped her knee and looked at Sammi for
confirmation, then shyly said, ‘When I’m ready, sir. Mrs Martha said I wouldn’t be long. I’ll do my best for thee, sir.’

He nodded. ‘Thank you. I’m sure that you will.’

Aside to Sammi as Jenny moved away, he murmured, ‘She’s very young. Will she do, do you think?’

‘I’m sure, Tom. Betsy will be able to train her into her own ways. She’s a good worker, Martha says so.’

‘Well, if Martha says so, who am I to question? I hope Betsy takes to her; it’s a pity she’s out.’

‘Never mind.’ She felt his gaze upon her. ‘They’ll meet another time.’

‘What’s that nice smell, miss?’ Jenny asked as she climbed into the carriage beside Sammi.

‘Smell?’ Sammi was watching Tom’s retreating back as he walked back towards the mill, his head slightly bent. Was his demeanour different? Had he heard the gossip, and if he had did it worry him?

‘Like at ’baker’s shop!’

‘It’s the grain,’ she murmured, ‘balmy and warm. I used to think it was a comforting, soothing kind of aroma when I was a child. It’s the scent of a good harvest gathered in.’

Betsy put on her best yellow gown and her prettiest bonnet, and looked in the bedroom mirror. The gown had been decidedly tight around the waist, but she had eased the seams and adjusted the lacing on the bodice and now it felt much more comfortable.

‘Is tha putting on weight, Betsy?’ George had asked as she sat unpicking the seams, and she replied no, not at all, it was more fashionable to wear a looser style. When he laughed and asked who would see her wearing it, she replied mysteriously to wait and see.

Tom had looked at her questioningly, but hadn’t asked, so she casually dropped the remark that she and Sammi were thinking of having a day out.

‘I don’t remember Sammi mentioning it,’ Tom said, and she retorted that Sammi didn’t tell him everything, even if he thought she did, she’d added meaningfully.

And that shut him up straight away, she mused as, with a final glance in the mirror, she picked up her shawl and went downstairs.
I wouldn’t be too surprised if he’s sweet on her after all
.

‘Are you sure you’ll be all right, Da?’ She hesitated by the parlour door.

‘Aye, don’t worry about me, lass. Go off and enjoy thaself and give Sammi my love. Or is she calling in?’

‘No. I said I would meet her in the village. Save turning the trap around.’ She spoke nervously. She didn’t like to lie to her father; it was the first time she had ever done so, but she knew very well that she wouldn’t be allowed to go if she told the truth.

‘Ask Tom to give thee a shilling or two,’ her father
said. ‘Go on, tell him to get it out of ’box. Treat thaself.’

When she asked for the money, he asked, ‘How much did he say?’

‘A guinea or two.’ She kept a straight face. ‘But I shan’t want so much,’ she added, when she saw his look of astonishment and worried that he might check with their father. ‘Just a guinea will do.

‘I’ll see you later,’ she called gaily and hurried down the lane to catch a lift on the carrier’s cart into Hull.

The idea had come to her when, on returning from an errand in the village, she had seen the carrier on his way back from Hull to Hornsea. A woman she knew had climbed down and called up to the driver that she would see him the following week.

They stopped for a few words and as the cart drew out of the village, she had exclaimed, ‘Drat. I’d forgotten that our Nellie’s coming next week. I shan’t need ’lift after all.’

‘I have to go into Hull next week,’ Betsy had said impulsively. ‘I could take your place.’

Mrs Glover had nodded. ‘It’ll be busy. They’re opening ’park on Monday.’

Later in the week Sammi, too, had mentioned the opening of the park. ‘Billy is going as an official guest,’ she said. ‘He’s going to meet Mr Pearson. I wish we could have gone, Betsy, but I have to stay home with Victoria as Mama and Pa are going up to the Wolds.’

But I could go
, Betsy thought.
Only I won’t tell anyone, or else I shan’t be allowed. How annoying it is to be a woman; a man can go wherever he wants, but a woman is always so restricted
.

She knew that, up to a point, that was untrue, for married women like Mrs Glover regularly travelled alone, as did young girls like Nancy, who were not afraid for their reputation. But Betsy had been kept on a tight rein by her father and brothers, ever mindful for her safety and well-being.