A Woman Undefeated (41 page)

“Yes, they were me grandparents, only they died of the typhoid. But me granny used to say I would always have a skill in me fingers, though if you look at me fingers now, they’re a terrible mess.”

“I have some ointment that we can put on your hands, Annie,” Betty said, as she glanced at the girl’s raw looking hands. “We’ll soon have them looking pretty again. Now, how much notice do you have to give the headmaster, because I don’t want him up here, saying I’m stealing his staff?”

“I don’t think the headmaster will care about a lowly skivvy, Miss Rosemary. It will be the housekeeper, Miss Pugh that will probably shout.”

“Well, you see what you can do and just turn up when it suits
you. The hours will be nine until five thirty and you will be paid one shilling per day. That is until you have become indispensable and then I will increase your wages. You will have Sunday off and every other Saturday, because Maggie, I think once we are settled in our new house, you must do your share here too. Luncheon will be provided, two smart dresses and a pretty mobcap. Maggie, you can measure Annie before she goes. Some of that black material in the corner would suit, and perhaps a white apron from that roll of cambric over there.”

“Thank you, Betty,” said Maggie, as Annie left the shop and began to hurtle up the road. “I knew yer weren’t too happy about taking her on, so I’m really grateful.”

“It’s nothing, Maggie, I assure you. In fact, I’ve just realised something about Annie’s grandma. She was a kitchen maid at Lorne Hall, when I worked for the gentry all those years ago!”

“Yer never talk about yer days workin’ fer the gentry and I’ve never seen any of them ladyships comin’ in here.”

Betty laughed, then explained the hierarchy of the village. “There are no Ladyships anymore, but we do have old families like the one that lives at Lorne Hall. I should imagine they still employ a sempstress, I can’t see them being without one, can you? Then there is the minor gentry, people like the Millingtons and the Holt’s, they have all made money in owning land or in industry. Then there’s stuffed up folk like Alderman Cranwell. You remember, his daughter was in here a little while ago? Anyway, don’t you think you should be running along home now, dear? Mikey will be missing you and Alice will be wondering where you are.”

Maggie felt intrigued, as she set off for Seagull Cottage, thinking to herself that maybe there was something in Betty’s past life she didn’t want to share. She usually wasn’t so quick to dismiss her and had coloured slightly when she mentioned the Cranwells, but she obviously didn’t want to talk about happenings from thirty years ago.

“So, what time do yer call this?” was Alice’s greeting, as she
met Maggie in the hallway. “I’ve had absolute hell all day with that child of yours. I had to send Michael up to the chemist for more stuff to put on his gums and, left to you, I wouldn’t have bin able to get a meal on. Thankfully, Michael took the poor little lamb fer a walk.”

“I’m not much later than I usually am,” Maggie protested, cut to the quick with the accusation. “Where is Mikey anyway?”

“His grandfather’s sittin’ with him upstairs in the bedroom, he seems to like someone nursin’ him when he’s in this state. I can’t believe he’s still suffering when he’s nearly one. Both mine had more than four teeth through at his age. Must be takin’ after your side of the family, I’ll be bound. Well, now yer back from yer gallivantin’, you can take over. Heaven knows what yer’ve bin up to in Chester all day”

“We went ter the fabric shop and then had a look around the city.”

“Oh, so it was a sightseeing trip, when I’ve had to nurse your child all day.”

“Well we........”

“Go and see to Mikey and take this chew stick with yer. I got our Seamus to go up to the field and cut a piece off the marsh mallow plant. It always helped mine when they were little. Oh, and Seamus is leavin’ on Saturday mornin’, so we’ll have a special meal on Friday night, so make sure yer here.”

“Make sure I’m here,” Maggie muttered to herself as she walked up the stairs. “Where else would I be, you stupid woman? It’s not as if I have a book full of appointments and I have to look ter see if I can fit it in.”

She sat on the window seat later looking out over the estuary. Although it was gradually becoming dusk, she was still able to see quite far away. Mikey was asleep in his cradle, the two red spots that he had on his cheeks beginning to calm down. It was peaceful sitting there, gazing at the shore, where the seagulls were scavenging over pieces of rotting fish that the fishermen had left behind. She had fed Mikey with milk from one of the newfangled
bottles, she had been forced to buy, against Alice’s wishes naturally, as “mother’s milk was best”. But how could she work and be there to feed him as well? He was getting his teeth through, now though, so she was glad to have gone against the advice of her mother-in-law!

Maggie picked up the drawers that she was sewing for herself. When they were finished, she was going to hem a couple of blankets for her bed and for Mikey’s. There was so much to think of in readiness for their move to Selwyn Lodge. Just for the two of them alone, there were cotton sheets to make, pillow shams, a quilt each, another nightdress and a smaller gown for Mikey to wear.

The curtains were to be made on the dressmaker’s premises, but delivery of the material was not until the following week, so maybe Annie would make a start, as it was straight sewing. Poor Annie. She had looked so lost and uncared for. Her hands had looked red raw and her nails were all broken and chewed. Perhaps she would be able take the young girl under her wing, as Betty had done for her. She smiled as she thought of Annie as “the young girl”. She was only three years older herself!

The next day, she called into Ezra’s for a packet of tea. There wasn’t much left in the dressmaker’s tea caddy and it was an excuse to go and see him, as they hadn’t spoken for quite some time.

His shop was empty for once and Ezra greeted her with a wide, happy smile. Maggie hadn’t noticed before that he had such a fat belly. He usually had his apron on, but on seeing her, had taken it off and hung it on a handy nail. He wore his dark hair, slicked down, with a centre parting and he had let his sideburns grow thick and bushy. He was wearing a white collar-less shirt, with a waistcoat of very dark green.

“What can I get you, Maggie?” he asked, seeming very pleased to see her. “It’s a few days now since I’ve seen you passing by.”

“You’ve probably bin too busy, Ezra, though we were in Chester all yesterday. Miss Rosemary had a few things to do there.”

“A beautiful city, Chester. The wife and I used to go there
often. Our favourite place was sitting by the river and then going to a little cafe nearby for afternoon tea.”

“We only saw the cathedral, regrettably. Miss Rosemary took me to the fabric house and then we went to Frogerty’s to look at the furnishings.”

“Ah yes, she said she was moving into Selwyn Lodge, all being well, at the beginning of September. In fact, she said that I was welcome to call on her at anytime and we must arrange a meal together, once she’s moved in.”

Maggie wondered then, if anything had been said about her own removal to Betty’s house. What would Ezra think if he came calling and saw her and Mikey sitting there?

“You look a bit put out, Maggie. Didn’t yer know that Miss Rosemary, my wife and I were friends for many years? Look, I know that you have been invited to live there as her companion, but she told me not to say anything, because your mother-in-law doesn’t know. You’ll have to tell her soon, Maggie. These things have a way of getting back to people, especially as Miss Rosemary is looking for staff for the place and she’ll have to let them know who will be household members!”

“I didn’t think of that. I just worry that Alice will throw me and Mikey out once she gets ter hear.

Mr Dickinson, the lodger, is always waiting for me to do somethin’ wrong, so me and Alice will fall out and he can have me bedroom. Though Seamus is leavin’ on Saturday, so maybe she’ll make us have his room. It’s a lot smaller, but it still looks over the sea.”

“You should tell her. Oh, and tell Miss Rosemary that I have a Miss Leason and a Mrs Kellett interested in working for her. Miss Leason has had experience working at a place over Gayton way and Mrs Kellett is applying for the cook’s job.”

She nodded, as he turned to get the packet of tea she’d asked for.

“Maggie, before you go, can I just say. If you ever want to talk to someone about your bereavement............, but of course you’ll have Miss Rosemary to speak to.”

Ezra had grown serious for a moment, where before he had looked full of the joys of spring.

He handed her the packet of tea with a smile and put his apron back on. A housewife had come into his shop and of course he wanted to look the part.

A few days later, Betty had got the staff she wanted. Joan Kellett was a widow with two grown up sons and Mary Leason had come home to her family for a rest, before she looked for another job. Both families were known to Betty, so she didn’t ask for references.

It was decided that Maggie would meet Mary Leason on the doorstep of Selwyn Lodge at nine o’clock on the 29th. It would be their job to put the furniture into place when it arrived, light fires and do a little cleaning while they were there.

“I’d come along myself if I could,” Betty said, “but Annie is to start next Thursday. Her little brother came to tell me before. I also want to start moving things from my living room upstairs. Mr Arlington won’t be happy, if I’ve not made room for him up there.”

There was still no mention of a nursemaid being looked for, to take care of Mikey, so Maggie assumed that Alice would be looking after him. Perhaps with Seamus leaving, she’d be happy to fuss over her little grandson.

Alice, of course, was in a miserable mood at the special dinner cooked for Seamus’s departure. There were just the four of them, as Mr Arlington had said he would be late in, owing to business reasons. Mr Dickinson and Mr Peel had eaten earlier, the latter having gone to his room.

Alice had gone to a lot of trouble. With it being Friday, it was a day for eating fish at the household. Alice had been on the promenade early to see the man and his barrow, who went over to the Welsh side to catch salmon from the River Dee. There the fish sat in all its splendour, on a long china platter, after being slowly steamed in a large pan over the fire. For dessert she had made a rhubarb crumble, with a jug of fresh cream to pour over. There
was silence as Alice picked at her food, although Seamus ate his with relish, before sitting back and saying with a grin, “I’ll miss your dinners, Mam, I certainly will.”

The wrong thing to say, Alice started to cry.

“Seamus,” wailed his mother. “I’m goin’ ter miss yer too. Whose goin’ to look after yer like I do, when yer go away?”

“Oh, Mam, give over, will yer? I had to leave home one day. This is what me and Danny want ter do. Just think, I’ll be home at least once every four weeks and I might get to see Jack when we get over to the Americas.”

“I don’t think so. The Americas are very big , or so I’ve heard, but if yer do see him, tell him his home is always waitin’ here fer him. But, I don’t know if ‘is wife will be, ‘cos I’ve heard she’s movin’ out pretty soon!”

Maggie’s heart came up into her mouth! She gulped and took a breath to make herself steady. “How did yer find that out, Alice?” she asked, after taking a swig of water from her glass to settle her nerves. “It was meant ter be a secret, because I wasn’t sure meself if it was goin’ to happen.”

“Mr Arlington told me. He said Miss Rosemary was removing from her premises, so that he could have her living room as his office upstairs. She said it had bin on the cards fer a while, this movin’,’cos she’s had the builders in to renovate her house. When he said te her, surely she would be lonely in such a big place as Selwyn Lodge on her own, she said her companion was movin’ in with her. I took a chance, Maggie, that it was you she was talkin’ about. See, Michael, I said ter you it was probably Maggie, the way yer’ve wormed yer way in with ‘er.”

“That’s not fair. I’ve never wormed me way in, as yer put it. She asked me one day if I would like to keep her company there and I thought with yer wantin’ the space fer yer boarders, yer would be pleased to have the extra room. And yer will have now. My room and Seamus’s room.”

“Oh, no,” Alice fired back. “Seamus’s room will be kept exactly as it is for when he comes home on leave. It will be your room
that will be given away and Mikey will come in with his grand father and me.”

“Oh, no, Alice, yer not keepin’ Mikey. He’s my child and we are goin’ to get a nursemaid.”

“Have yer got a nursemaid all lined up then, Maggie? There’s bin no mention of it from Mr Arlington. He says there will be a daily maid and a cook there at Selwyn Lodge, no mention of a nursemaid to me.”

“You can’t do this to me, Alice. I can’t just walk out and leave him with you. I’m his mother and Miss Rosemary made a promise of a nursemaid ter me.”

“Maggie,” said Michael, who had been listening to his wife and daughter-in-law wrangling. Seamus had got up and walked from the room, when he saw how the land lay.

“Maggie, can I be the peacemaker here? Can’t yer see that Alice is bereft, now that her youngest son is leavin’ too. If Mikey moves out with you, she’ll have no one. Perhaps you could keep him here, until proper arrangements have been made at Selwyn Lodge.”

“I see what yer sayin’, Michael, but I don’t think there is anything anyone can do to stop me takin’ him anyway. And she was moanin’ only the other day, cos Mikey was teethin’.”

“I can tell Jack,” warned Alice bitterly. “He’s his father, so he can stop yer legally.”

“Get me a pen then. Do yer know his address? When yer do, let me know.”

There was an uneasy stand off between the pair of them, until they went to St. Winefred’s the following Sunday, when the priest preached a sermon about “forgiving the minor irritations of family and friends.”

Their irritation with each other was resolved over the roast dinner, when Maggie decided that Mikey could stay with Alice, until a nursemaid could be found. Someone she was determined to find the very next day.