Lily of Love Lane (3 page)

Lily giggled even more, ‘Well, you should know, Ben James, as it takes one to know one.’

He didn’t deny it, which left Lily even more curious to know more about the mysterious stranger.

T
he light was fading when Lily and Ben began to pack away. It promised to be a typical foggy London night. Beyond the lights of the market, every
alley and by-way was threaded with mist. Lily knew that it would be treacherous around the murky waters of the docks. In these conditions, the edge of the wharves were invisible; only the river
lapping at their mossy walls hinted at the lethal drop. The air was thick with salt and the sickly sweet odour of a ship’s hemp cargo as Lily counted the day’s takings. Business had
been good. After they had sold to Charles Grey, a dealer from the West End had bought the marble clock. Although labelled at six shillings, they had settled on five. The dealer knew it was a
bargain, as the clock would treble in value when sold in the City. But as long as the stall turned over a profit, Reube would be happy. Ben threw on his heavy coat as he packed away the stock.
‘Don’t reckon Reube and Hattie will be coming back.’

‘I wonder where they went?’

He smiled. ‘Somewhere nice and quiet.’

‘I wouldn’t mind going home now.’ Most of the shops along Cox Street were shut, the lights of their windows extinguished. The only life came from the fish and chip shop and Mr
Mole’s pie and pease pudding shop, both of which were counting on cold weather to increase the appetite. In all conditions, people ventured out to buy their mouth-watering fish and chips or
boiled beef and faggots. The steam on their windows was already announcing the start of trade.

‘All right,’ agreed Ben, rubbing his hands together for warmth, ‘let’s finish packing this lot up.’

Lily helped him dismantle the stall and stow the unsold stock in the lock-up behind the bolted and barred confectionery shop. When all was done, they left for home.

‘Don’t you two lovers stay out late,’ yelled Ted Shiner from the fruit and veg stall.

‘Chance would be a fine thing,’ returned Ben, linking his arm through Lily’s. ‘If I was only taken seriously, Ted, but the girls just play with my affections.’

There were more insinuations from Ted as he chucked the damaged apples, pears and oranges to the street urchins.

Next to Shiner’s pitch stood the jewellery and curio stall. ‘Oiy my friends, how is it that you are knocking off so early?’ joked Elfie Goldblum, wrinkling his weathered
face.

‘I’m late for me champagne and caviar!’ returned Ben. ‘The taxi arrives at seven to take me and me girl here up to the Savoy.’

‘I wish it was,’ Lily sighed as she pulled up her collar, hugging herself to keep warm. ‘Just imagine a taxi arriving outside our house, and me wearing this lovely dress, all
long and flowing, and there I am ready to dance the night away . . .’

‘With me beside you in me top hat and tails—’

‘Now you’ve spoilt it,’ Lily laughed.

‘See what I mean? You never take me seriously.’

‘I’ve just remembered,’ Lily said suddenly, ‘there’s something I have to ask Reube. But I s’pose it can wait.’

‘What’s that?’

‘I was wondering if he’d let me work Saturday afternoons for a while.’

‘You’re an eager beaver.’

‘Dad’s out of work again. He went to try a skin ship this morning, but I hope he doesn’t get it.’

‘Do you want me to ask for you?’

‘Would you?’

‘And I’ll come over and mend that latch on Sunday.’

Lily smiled. ‘Don’t forget you’ve got a delivery on Sunday.’

‘Yes, to lover boy.’

Lily laughed again. ‘You sound as if you’re jealous.’

‘Why would I be jealous of him?’

‘Can I come with you? It would be a nice ride out.’

‘I don’t want you heading for a broken heart.’

‘Why do you say that?’

Ben frowned as he took her arm and they hurried through the foggy street. ‘Because it’s types like him that break hearts. Anyway, I’ll be there to see he minds his
manners.’

‘I don’t need looking after.’

He looked down at her and grinned. ‘That’s true. You’re only little but you pack a punch, as I found out when you gave me a dirty great black eye once.’

‘When was that?’

‘A long time ago.’

‘You mean when I was a kid?’

He grinned. ‘You was always bashing that football around. One day I was walking along the street and you nearly knocked me head off.’

‘I don’t play football any more, in case you hadn’t noticed,’ Lily giggled.

‘I’m pleased to hear it.’

Beginning to hum a tune Ben slid his hand around her waist and waltzed her over the cobbles. Following in the wake of a horse and cart, he twirled her onto the pavement, narrowly missing a
bicycle. He was humming ‘’S Wonderful’ and Lily joined in, knowing the words off by heart as he’d sung them to her so many times.

‘You’re not a bad dancer, I’ll give you that,’ she teased, as he straightened his jacket and they fell into step again.

‘Thanks for the compliment. S’pose it’s the only one I’ll get tonight.’

When they turned into Love Lane, the rows of terraced houses were covered in a yellow-grey mist. From out of the James’ house, came her friend, Hattie Parks.

Lily noted how smartly she was dressed in a tailored grey coat and scarf. Her dark brown Eton Crop was the height of fashion.

‘Did the dentist pull out a tooth?’ Ben asked.

‘No, it’s not me in the wars, it’s your brother.’

‘What’s he done now?’

‘He thought he’d broken his ankle, but it’s only sprained.’

‘How did he do that?’

‘You’d better go and ask him.’

He rushed off and as Hattie watched him go, she began to laugh. ‘Oh, Lil, you should have seen Reube today. It was so funny.’

‘What, spraining his ankle?’

‘It was the way he did it. We went to this big, posh house where this woman showed us round. She’s going abroad and needs to sell her stuff. Reube would have liked to have had a
butchers at what was downstairs, but she asked him go up in the roof first where the good bits were.’

‘Funny they was in the roof and not on show,’ Lily commented.

Hattie nodded. ‘They was packed away, she said. Anyway, Reube was up above and we could hear him moving around when all of a sudden a foot comes through the ceiling. Finally, he lands at
me feet with the biggest thump you ever heard. Half the blooming ceiling came down with him!’

‘Was he hurt?’

‘Only his ankle but with all the moaning he was doing you’d think he’d broken it.’

‘What did the woman say?’

‘She was really annoyed. Called him a clumsy oaf. He was in pain but she didn’t care. She was yelling at him saying he’d have to pay for the damage and he was yelling at her,
saying she’d have to cough up for the operation on his broken foot.’ Hattie trapped her bottom lip with her little white teeth in an effort not to laugh. ‘He had to slide down the
stairs on his bum and she never stopped with the insults. For a rich woman she had a mouth like a sewer.’

‘That doesn’t sound very ladylike.’

Hattie’s brown eyes twinkled. ‘We managed to get on a bus and Reube was huffing and puffing. He claimed to all the passengers he’d probably broken his leg. The conductor said
he’d have to charge him for two as he had his foot up on another seat! It was like one of them Laurel and Hardy films. But I daren’t say so as he ain’t seen the funny side of it
yet.’

‘And there was us thinking you were having a romantic interlude.’

Hattie looked scornful. ‘My Reube romantic? You must be joking. It’s all figures of the wrong sort with Reube. Drives me barmy with his mental arithmetic, how he’s going to
make a fortune on that stall of his. Talking of which, did you sell much?’

‘Yes, quite a few things. Amongst them a valuable clock and an aspidistra standing in a broken chamber pot.’ Lily began to tell Hattie the story of Charles Grey, how he had smiled at
her charmingly and given her a long, mysterious look.

‘What’s he like?’ Hattie asked curiously.

‘Tall and dark, with nice clothes.’

‘Will you be seeing him again?’

‘Only if I go with Ben to deliver the pot on Sunday.’ Lily hesitated. She didn’t want to sound too eager. ‘He said he would value a woman’s opinion on where to put
the plant.’

‘Hasn’t he got a wife then?’

‘Didn’t like to ask.’

‘How old is he?’

‘Quite a bit older – about thirty?’

‘You want to watch it. The old blokes think they are the cat’s whiskers sometimes.’

Lily didn’t say how she had felt when he looked at her. ‘It would be nice to ride out in the lorry.’

Hattie shrugged. ‘Well, I can’t stand out here all night. Me feet are freezing. And Mum will wonder what’s happened to me. Do you want to come in for a cuppa?’

As Hattie lived right next door, they were always in each other’s houses. Lily hesitated. ‘I’d like to but I’d better go in to my own disaster.’

‘Pistols at dawn, is it?’ Hattie giggled, knowing that Lily often went home to a drama.

‘No blood has been drawn, thank goodness.’

‘See you tomorrow, then.’

Lily caught her arm. ‘Talking of tomorrow, it might be our last Saturday for a while.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘I might have to work Saturday afternoons. Dad’s out of work again.’

‘When will we meet then?’ Hattie’s father had a regular job as a clerk. She only gave half of her wage to her mum, whereas Lily gave nearly all of hers.

‘We’ve still got Sunday.’

‘I have to help Mum with the dinner then. And if they go out for a walk I have to sit with Sylvester.’ Sylvester was Hattie’s older brother. He’d been gassed in France
during the war and suffered violent fits. Although he was older than Hattie by eleven years, Mrs Parks didn’t like to leave him on his own for very long.

‘Well, I can sit with you, can’t I?’

‘It’s not like going out though, is it?’ Hattie looked despondent.

‘Cheer up, it’s not the end of the world.’

Hattie began to walk away, then turned quickly and called out loudly, ‘Sweet dreams of Charles Grey!’

The two girls parted laughing. Lily was relieved that Hattie wasn’t upset about Saturdays. She was inclined to be a little spoilt, as she’d come along late in life to her parents.
They had had another baby boy after Sylvester, but he had died at birth. The doctor told Mrs Parks her chances of having more children were slim so they had been overjoyed when Hattie had
arrived.

Inside Lily’s house, all was quiet. She walked slowly down the hall waiting for an eruption, but was relieved to hear laughter. As she took off her hat and coat and hung it on the stand,
her thoughts returned to Charles Grey. It was the first time that a man had ever made her feel like this, excited and nervous at the same time. He was much older than her, it was true, but there
was something in his gaze that had captured her. As though they had been the only two people in the whole of the market place.

This was something she couldn’t really tell Hattie. Not until she knew Charles Grey a little better.
If
she ever got to know him better! And that depended on Ben.

Ben James was standing at his bedroom window looking down on the two figures below. The mist had cleared a little and he could just identify Lily and Hattie. Ben lifted the
sash, on the point of calling out. He intended to crack a joke, as usual. But then he heard Hattie shouting something and it was about Charles Grey.

He stepped back quickly. What had Lily been telling Hattie about that smarmy bloke who bought the aspidistra? He was the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing, no doubt about it. Ben had met
a few like him in his time, gents that put on the style, but it wasn’t an honest style. Gut instinct told Ben that Lily had swallowed the bait with those long looks and posh accent. But what
could he do? He’d only acted like the jealous lover himself.

The two figures disappeared. All he could see now was the beginnings of a good old pea-souper, masking even the lamplight. He pulled the window down, replaced the lace and drew the faded chintz
curtains. As he turned back into the room he caught his brother’s gaze.

Reube was stretched out on the bed, his back propped by pillows. His right trouser leg was rolled up and a cold compress covered his swollen ankle. A minute or two ago, Ben had helped him up the
stairs. They’d had a good laugh about Reube’s accident, despite his complaints and grumblings.

‘What am I missing?’ Reube lowered the newspaper he had been reading.

‘Nothing much,’ Ben shrugged. The two brothers had shared the large, airy bedroom since childhood. In recent years either one could have moved upstairs to the top of the house, where
years of unwanted or outgrown household effects were stored, but the attic room was so small that a person could only stand upright in the middle. Even squashing in a single bed, took up most of
the space. But even if the room had been large, neither Ben nor his brother would have wanted it. They enjoyed one another’s company, traded insults regularly and did a good deal of business
talk before going to sleep.

‘You was having a good look for seeing nothing,’ Reube observed dryly.

Ben sat down on the single bed next to his brother’s. He removed the studs from his collar and the cufflinks from his shirtsleeves. It was his golden rule to look smart at all times,
irrespective of whether he drove his lorry or helped on the stall. Reube favoured a working jacket, durable trousers and cap, their differing styles giving rise to a good deal of harmless
banter.

‘It was Lily and Hattie,’ Ben said casually. ‘They were gassing as usual.’

Reube smiled. ‘About me accident no doubt.’

‘No, not about that.’

‘What then?’

‘I heard Hattie call something about this la-de-dah fella who bought the pot today. Remember? The one I told you about with the broken handle that I bought from the old girl up Manilla
Street.’

‘What was she saying?’

‘I only heard his name.’

‘So Lil was a bit taken with him, was she?’

‘I didn’t say that,’ Ben frowned up as he wrestled with his collar.