The Urchin's Song (48 page)

‘Oh Vera, I could tell you stories about the so-called ladies and gentlemen of our country that would make your hair curl.’

‘That’d be a first, lass. Me mam used to corkscrew me hair so tight I’d be cryin’ half the night with me hair bein’ pulled out by the roots, but come mornin’ it’d be as flat as a pancake. That’s the only memory I’ve got of me poor mam, her tryin’ to scalp me alive.’

Josie hadn’t expected to laugh that day, although Vera being Vera she should have, she reflected wryly, and it did her the world of good.

‘But jokin’ apart, hinny, I’m heart sorry,’ Vera said when they were sober again. ‘He might have bin a toff but I liked him for all that.’

‘So did I, Vera.’ Josie hesitated for a moment before she said, ‘And there’s something else, something I think is wonderful but which . . . Well, I don’t know how you’ll feel about it. I’ve found Ada and Dora.’

‘Found . . .’ For once Vera was rendered speechless.

‘Only this last week, just before the weekend, as it happens. And I suppose I didn’t so much find them as they found me.’ She related what had happened, and when she had finished Vera lay back in the chair and just stared at her for a full ten seconds without saying a word.

By the time Josie left the house in Northumberland Place an hour later, she was in possession of a few facts which had surprised her nearly as much as she had surprised Vera; the main cause of her disconcertment being that Barney was working and living in Sunderland. Josie didn’t know how she felt about this development. Her life was complicated and awkward enough as it was, and whatever reason Barney had for leaving the theatre in London so abruptly, and whether he had a lady friend or not, it was going to make her living up here for a spell a hundred times more difficult. It shouldn’t, but it would. Just Barney being around in the town, where she might bump into him at any time, would have been bad enough, but now he was the manager of a Sunderland theatre . . .

Another surprise had been the announcement by Vera that Prudence had a man friend. ‘He isn’t exactly the answer to every young maiden’s prayer,’ Vera had said with something of a grin, ‘an’ he’s as broad as he’s tall with a belly on him that’d do credit to any of the beer-swilling dockers down on the quays, but Georgie’s nice enough in his way, bless him, an’ he certainly keeps Prudence in line. The lass has been a different girl since she’s been courtin’ him an’ he seems to think a bit of her. Known him for donkey’s years, I have - his mam an’ da worked at the corn mill afore he did an’ were decent enough folk. He might be big an’ lumberin’ but he’s a gentle giant, you know? I think he felt sorry for Prudence to start with, what with her looks an’ her hands bein’ bad an’ all, but the pair of ’em are fair gone on each other now. An’ he’s a bright feller although he don’t look it.’

Josie had answered quietly, ‘I’m glad for her, Vera.’ And she was, she reflected now as she hurried towards the Palace Theatre in High Street West; the Avenue in Gillbridge Avenue now being out of bounds with Barney being the manager there. She was really glad that Prudence had found someone to love and was loved in return, but she just couldn’t imagine the dour-faced girl she had known turning to sweetness and light.

‘Barney reckons Georgie’s all right, which is all to the good,’ Vera had told her. ‘The three of ’em get goin’ on somethin’ like politics or the unions an’ it’s like a debatin’ society in here, I tell you straight. Me an’ Horace sit here an’ we don’t know if we’re on foot or horseback half the time. Aye, Barney likes him.’

Oh Barney, Barney. Josie stopped on the pavement outside the Palace, the big building with its three arches a good floor or two higher than the shops adjoining either side of it. But she should be thinking of Oliver right now, shouldn’t she? And she was really, he was always there in the back of her mind, and the hard ache in the middle of her chest which had first made itself known in the aftermath of seeing him sitting on Stella’s chaise-longue two days ago was still grinding her innards.

She cut off the train of thought with ruthless determination. She knew from the last couple of days that it brought pictures into her mind, images of them together which made her want to curl into a little ball and hide away from the rest of the world. And she wouldn’t give Stella Stratton the satisfaction. But she missed him. Weak and impossible as he’d been, she missed him. She’d thought he loved her, and she hadn’t been able to help loving him back.

Enough. Her chin rose in answer to the command inside. She was going to arrange a venue, two if possible, here in Sunderland and she was going to do it all by herself without help from anyone. She had started on her own and she would continue on her own, and this time she had the feeling that even Gertie wouldn’t be with her . . .

The manager at the Palace almost bit her hand off, so quickly did he accept her offer to perform there for two weeks, and when she made a visit to the Royal Theatre in Bedford Street an hour later it was the same. Two weeks at the Palace followed by two weeks at the Royal. She nodded to herself as she stepped out of the building some time later. She would let it be known she was staying at the Grand, and then if Hubert did want to come and see her he could do so.

She didn’t know if this was sensible or not, but the desire to make contact with her brothers which had swept over her that day in Ada’s house was stronger than ever after everything that had happened this weekend with Oliver. Her sisters and the lads, they were
family
. Her family. And she had thanked God more than once for the tradition within the halls which discouraged a female artiste from changing her stage-name once she was married. In the early days a couple of theatre managers had tried to persuade her to select a more flamboyant surname than Burns but she hadn’t felt comfortable with that, and now she was glad she had followed her instinct.

Vera had insisted Josie join them at Northumberland Place for their evening meal. This would mean meeting Prudence again, and although Josie had concurred, she wasn’t looking forward to seeing Barney’s sister.

She cut through the back lanes on her way home to Vera’s, the narrow roads baked hard with ridges of mud and thick with bairns playing their games, and housewives gossiping over the small brick walls of their back yards before their men arrived home and demanded they be waited upon. Through one open gate she saw a young mother sitting on her back step nursing a baby at her breast while a toddler banged on an old tin lid with a wooden spoon at her feet, and the sight caused the familiar yearning to jerk inside her. This feeling had caused her to press Oliver in recent months as to when, exactly, they would start their family, but he had always come back with his stock reply of, ‘When you are established enough to safely be able to take some time away from the halls.’

Well, he needn’t worry about that now, need he, Josie thought bitterly as she turned into a small passageway in between some shops which linked one street to another. Oliver had never admitted it but Josie felt he was reluctant to have children interfering with his life, and that her career was just a convenient excuse to delay things. They had discussed buying a small house in preparation for starting a family too, and again he had found myriad reasons why this was not possible at any one time, without acknowledging that the main cause - that he would have to severely curtail his gambling - was the real reason for prevarication.

Emerging into the hot, busy street Josie wrinkled her nose as she passed the open doorway of a decorative plasterer’s shop. It smelt like a glue factory, the heat causing the gelatine in the back of the shop to stink to high heaven. She paused outside the butcher’s a few doors on. The butcher’s boy was using the sausage-maker which resembled a little steam engine, and as she watched him winding the handle and the gears revolving the big wheel which pushed the meat through the nozzle, she remembered sausages were Horace’s favourite treat. She bought two pounds, along with a nice bit of salted bacon, a bag of pork scratchings and a hefty piece of best beef, and then moved on to the grocer’s and lastly the sweetshop.

Weighed down with her purchases she didn’t notice the figure just behind her as she turned into Northumberland Place, so when a hand touched her on the shoulder she nearly jumped out of her skin. ‘Oh! Oh, Prudence.’ In her fright, she had nearly dropped the big parcel of meat which the butcher had tied up with string for her and now, as she adjusted her packages, she was surprised yet again when Prudence said pleasantly, ‘Can I help? Let me take that for you. I thought it was you but I wasn’t sure until you turned round.’

Josie’s hands passed the parcel of meat to Prudence, but she was looking at the other girl’s face. Prudence looked so different! And yet she was still the same physically, although . . . her hair was clean and shining, and her eyes had a different expression in them, a brightness which seemed to nullify their muddy shade and bring out the green . . . Josie became aware she was staring and said quickly, ‘Thank you. I’m only up for the day but Vera has invited me to dinner and so I thought I’d get a few things by way of thanks.’

Prudence nodded. ‘She’ll tell you off, of course.’

‘Of course.’ They smiled at each other and again Josie was struck by the almost tangible happiness radiating from Barney’s sister.

‘I’m glad I’ve seen you. By yourself, that is.’ Prudence swallowed before she continued, ‘You’ve done very well for yourself and . . . and I’m glad. I mean that.’

‘Thank you.’ Josie didn’t know what else to say.

‘I wasn’t very nice to you, was I?’ Prudence’s sallow skin had flushed with embarrassment and Josie’s cheeks were also turning pink. ‘In fact, I wasn’t very nice to anyone in those days.’

‘Look, it’s all water under the bridge.’

‘No, no, let me say it, Josie. I’ve thought about writing to you to apologise but . . .’ Prudence shook her head helplessly. ‘Well, I didn’t. But I’m sorry for how I was.’

‘You were unhappy,’ Josie said gently, the other girl’s humility so out of character that she felt as though she was talking to someone else.

‘Aye, I was.’ Prudence stretched her neck and moved her chin from side to side before she said, ‘And you were so pretty, and me da thought the sun shone out of your backside from the minute you walked through the door, Barney an’ all. Pearl knew that, you know, deep in the heart of her. She knew she should never have married him once you showed up. She knew how he felt about you long before he did.’

Josie was utterly at a loss as to what to say. She wondered if Prudence was accusing her of anything, but then the other girl disabused her of that notion when she went on, ‘But it weren’t your fault, I know that now. Georgie - oh, he’s my young man,’ here Prudence’s cheeks got still pinker, ‘he calls a spade a spade, does Georgie, and we’ve talked a lot about the past. It’s made me see things different.’ Prudence didn’t say here that all the talking had led Georgie to say that unless Prudence got herself sorted out he couldn’t see a future for them. She had been hurt then, and it had been a while before she could accept that maybe Georgie had a point. He’d gone mad when she’d said to him that he was on Josie’s side like everyone else, and then she’d cried and the upshot of it all had been he had taken her in his arms for the first time and kissed her . . .

‘I’m glad.’

‘Aye, well, I just wanted you to know.’

As they began to walk on, side by side now, Josie said, ‘I’m going to do a few weeks at the Palace and the Royal soon and it would be grand to think I could call on Vera and you wouldn’t mind me coming?’

‘No, I wouldn’t mind.’ This wasn’t quite true but to Prudence’s credit it didn’t show in her voice. She knew she would never be able to find it within herself to actually like Josie, and she didn’t fancy the idea of her old enemy being around for however short a time it might be, but now she had a different life - now she had
Georgie
- she could stomach what had to be stomached. But it wasn’t only Josie’s presence for its own sake she didn’t like the idea of; it was him, that man, Patrick Duffy. Her coming here might be dangerous.

Should she come clean and tell Josie about her conversations with the little Irishman? Looking back now she couldn’t imagine why she had let Duffy talk to her in the first place. It was the one thing she hadn’t confided to Georgie, but now Josie had come back perhaps she ought to warn her. Georgie would be disgusted if anything happened and it came out she’d known Duffy had it in for this woman.

She had only talked to Duffy twice more since that first time, and only then because he had appeared from seemingly nowhere when she’d been shopping and it had been difficult to get rid of him without being rude. And there was something about him, something unnerving, which had stopped her taking that tack. The man frightened her. She’d had the skitters for days afterwards each time she’d seen him.

He had always been careful not to come right out with it and say he wanted to harm Josie. He’d always referred to her as ‘our mutual friend’ but the tone of his voice had been enough to let Prudence know what he really meant. ‘Wanting to renew the little lady’s acquaintance.’ ‘Wanting to show the little lady in what high regard I hold her.’ ‘Wanting the little lady to meet some old friends of mine who have a lot to thank her for.’ That had been the way Patrick Duffy had talked. And he’d only inferred what he’d inferred because he knew about her part in the attack on Josie in Newcastle.