Winsor, Kathleen (31 page)

"Oh!
You've killed him."

"Hush! He's
not hurt." He looked up, giving her a broad grin. "What the hell,
sweetheart! Scared by a little blood? A broken head may teach him better sense
next time—if we hadn't fibbed the young prigster somebody else would have. Look
at this scout—" He held up a gold watch. "Fifteen pound if it's worth
a sice. It takes fine bait to catch a big fish. Now come along—let's rub
off." He had the boy's wrists and ankles tied and they started out. Amber
paused to look back once more, but Black Jack hurried her down the backstairs
and into a hackney that was waiting.

The
night's easy success was reassuring to Amber, who now believed that she might
soon get enough money to leave the Friars. And she had enjoyed the adventure,
too—all but the clouting of Tom Butterfield, for whose welfare she still felt a
certain guilty concern. When she had drunk her morning draught of ale, brought
to her by the shuffling Pall, she slipped into her dressing-gown and went
downstairs. Mother Red-Cap and Black Jack were in the parlour, talking, and
both of them seemed in high spirits.

Amber
came in with a breezy greeting and wave of her hand —full of a vast
self-confidence and ready to be congratulated. Mother Red-Cap gave her a warm
smile.

"Good-morning,
my dear! Black Jack's been telling me how like a veteran you handled matters
last night! He says it was worth a Jew's eye to see the way you led the young
cully into his trap. And now you've seen for yourself how easy it is, and safe,
haven't you?"

Amber,
thinking that now they had a need of her, was inclined to be independent. She
shrugged. "I suppose so. Well—" She held out her hand. "Tip me
my earnest."

"Why,
my dear, there's nothing for you this time. I've applied your share on your
bill."

"On
my bill!"

"Of
course. Or did you think it costs nothing to eat and lodge and give birth to a
baby?"

She
unlocked the drawer where her ledger was kept, took
out a neatly
written sheet and handed it to Amber who stood for a moment staring at it,
nonplussed. She did not know what it said, for she had never been taught to
read or write, but she was horrified to think that none of the money she had
helped to steal was hers. For those expenses Mother Red-Cap had mentioned were
not ones she had ever expected to pay. She felt that she had been cheated, and
it made her angry. After a moment she looked up, her mouth opened to speak, and
saw Mother Red-Cap just removing her cloak from the peg where it hung beside
the door; she put it on and went out.

"Here!"
Amber thrust the bill at Black Jack. "Read it to me!"

He
took it and read the items slowly. At each one her scowl intensified. Now she
was in a fine pickle! Instead of being less in debt she was deeper than ever. A
violent despair filled her.

The
bill was carefully itemized.

                       
                                                                           £    s.
d.

1.
 For 3
months lodging and diet.........                                     30   0  0

2.
 Suit of
childbed linen.................                                             4   4
 0

3.
 For the
minister to christen the child......                                 2 10  0

4.
 For the
midwife's fees.................                                             3   3
 0

5.
 For the
christening supper............                                            6   0
 0

6.
 For the
wet nurse for 15 days............                                       1   0  0

7.
 For Mrs.
Chiverton..................                                               10   0
 0

8.
 For Mrs.
Chiverton to bring the child upon request..               5   0  0

9.
 For the
dressmaker for altering the green gown......                 
0   6  2

                                                                                                
 £62   3  2

"Lord!"
cried Amber furiously. "I'm surprised she doesn't charge me for the use of
her pot!"

Black
Jack grinned. "Never mind. She will."

Amber
was as angry with Black Jack as she was with Mother Red-Cap. For he could have
paid her bill—and the debt too— at no hardship to himself. She was so resentful
over his refusal that she had lost all sense of gratitude at being out of
Newgate. She would have pawned some of the jewellery he had given her, but it
was not enough to clear the full debt and if part of it disappeared she knew
that she would get no more. It seemed to her that she would be in Whitefriars
forever.

And
so when Michael Godfrey came the next afternoon and asked her again to go away
with him she agreed without hesitating an instant.

"Wait
here and I'll be right down. I want to get my cloak and I have a new
gown—" She was already out of the room.

Michael
called after her: "Let it go! I'll get you another!"

But
she pretended not to hear him and ran on, for there were several things she
wanted to take with her—a lace fan, a pair of green silk stockings, the
imitation gold ear-rings, and her parakeet. She rushed about the room—the house
was empty
and she wanted to get away before someone should return— flung everything into
a sheet and hastily tied it. "Come on," she said to the parakeet.
"We've had enough of this damned sanctuary." And with the cage in one
hand, the tied-up sheet in the other, she hurried out and down the stairs.
Halfway to the bottom she stopped with a gasp, for the door swung open and Black
Jack Mallard stood there, his great frame blocking out the light.

She
gave a gasp of dismay. "Jack!"

It
was dark down there and she could not see the expression on his face, but his
voice was deep and hoarse. "So you were going to scour!" Slowly he
started up the stairs toward her, and she could only stand there helplessly,
watching him and waiting. All at once she was afraid of him; she had seen him
lose his temper with Bess and knew that he could be violent. "You
ungrateful little bitch, I should break your head for this—"

Amber's
courage came back with a rush. "Get out of my way!" she cried.
"I'm leaving this filthy place! I'm not going to stay here and hang with
the rest of you!"

He
was just below her now and she could see his face, the thin upper lip drawn
tight against his teeth, his eyes dark and glittering. "You'll stay here
as long as I want you to stay. Go on upstairs now. Go on, I say!"

For
a long moment they stood staring at each other. Then suddenly she kicked out at
his shins and threw herself against his arm, trying to break through.
"Michael!"
she screamed.

Suddenly
Black Jack laughed. He picked her up with one arm, threw her over his shoulder,
and started back up the stairs. "Michael!" he repeated
contemptuously. "What good d'ye think that jack-straw could be to
you?" He laughed again, a thunderous roar that echoed up the narrow
stairwell, and he seemed scarcely to notice that Amber was screaming furiously,
kicking and beating at him with her fists.

When
he reached the bedroom he sat her down, so forcibly that the jar went from her
heels up into her head. She recovered quickly.

"God
damn you, Black Jack Mallard!" she yelled at him. "You're trying to
kill me,
that's
what you're doing! You'll make me stay here till we
all
get caught! But I won't do it, d'ye hear? I'll get out if I have to—"
She started for the door again, so furious that she would have run out of
Whitefriars and into the arms of the first constable who saw her.

He
reached out a hand and caught her as she would have gone by, jerking her to him
as easily as if she were one of the dolls bought at Bartholomew Fair.
"Stop it, you little fool! You gabble like a magery prater! You're not
going out of the Friars —not while I'm here. When I'm gone do what you damned
please—but I didn't give three hundred pound to get you out of Newgate so some
other man could have the use of you!"

She
stared at him with angry amazement, for she had
always believed that he was in
love with her; and it had long been her opinion that it was very easy for a
woman to take advantage of a man in love. Now she realized that the only
distinction he made between her and Bess was that she was newer and more
ornamental and evidently pleased him better in bed. It was a sharp and
humiliating cut to her pride, and all of a sudden she despised him.

When
she answered him her voice was low and tense, full of enraged scorn. "Oh,
you gormandizing vermin, Jack Mallard, I despise you! I hope you
do
get
caught! I hope they hang you and cut you up in pieces—I hope—Oh!" She
whirled about and flung herself on the bed, bursting into sobs, and in a moment
she heard the door slam behind him.

She
stayed in her room the rest of the day, refused any supper, and was still
sulking the next morning when someone knocked. Thinking that it was probably
Black Jack, coming with a gift to beg her pardon and try to make up the
quarrel, she called out for him to come in. She was at the dressing-table,
cleaning her nails, and did not glance around until she saw Bess's face appear
in the mirror. Then she turned swiftly.

"What
are you doing here!"

Bess
was unexpectedly sweet and agreeable. "I only came to wish you a good
morning." Amber thought she had most likely come to gloat because Black
Jack had spent the night with her, and she turned away. But now Bess leaned over,
close to her shoulder.

"I
heard you and Jack yesterday afternoon—"

"Did
you now!"

"If
you really want to leave the Friars—if you'll promise to go away and never come
back—I can get that money for you."

Amber
jumped to her feet, one hand reaching out to grab Bess's wrist. "If I'll
promise to go! My God! I'll go so fast I'll— Where is it?"

"It's
mine. I've saved it up to have if Black Jack should ever need it. Mother
Red-Cap keeps it for me, but I can get it by tomorrow night. I'll put it in the
food-hutch in the kitchen."

But
the money was not there and when next Amber saw Bess she had a purple bruise
across one eye, and the side of her face and her lower lip was
swollen—obviously Black Jack had discovered their plot. After that Bess never
troubled to conceal her hatred and jealousy and only a few days later Amber
found the house-cat with turquoise feathers clinging to its jowls and paws.
Bess insisted that she was completely innocent of any connection with the cat's
crime, but Amber had always kept her parakeet's cage safely out of reach and
knew the little bird could not have been caught without help from someone.