‘Can I, Ma?’ Josie asked.
‘I don’t know. You might get lost.’
Josie looked dismayed.
‘I’m sure this young lad will take care of Miss O’Casey,’ Robert said, and earned a look of pure hero worship from Patrick.
‘Say yes, Ma, pleeeese,’ Josie implored, holding on to Ellen’s hands and bobbing up and down.
Why not?
‘Oh, very well, but see she comes to no harm, Patrick Nolan, or you’ll have me to answer to,’ Ellen said sternly.
‘Don’t you worry, Mrs O, I’ll guard her like me own,’ Patrick shouted over his shoulder.
‘What are you laughing at, Doctor Munroe?’ Ellen said, turning on him with a stern expression.
‘You, Mrs O’Casey,’ he said, still smiling at her. ‘She’s only gone to see a mermaid, not to the other side of the globe. Let me buy you a lemonade.’
He led her over to the trestle table where various cool drinks, such as soda water, ginger beer and homebrew were being offered. She should have been annoyed with him for interfering, but instead she found she was glad that Josie had gone with Patrick because now she had him to herself.
He found them a couple of chairs and they sat down across the way from the striped puppet booth of the Punch and Judy. They sipped their lemonade and the curtain opened for the show, Punch appearing with his big stick.
‘I’m sure young Patrick will look after Josie,’ Robert said, giving her a reassuring smile. ‘He seems an amiable type of fellow.’
Punch’s wife appeared with the baby in her arms and a sad smile crept across Ellen’s face. She turned to Robert. ‘They all are ’til they wed.’
Robert heard the echo of the past in Ellen O’Casey’s voice as she softly answered him. Behind her, Punch felled his puppet wife with his stick and the children sitting on the grass roared. Robert moved nearer to her.
He had argued strenuously with William and Maltravers when they had dragged him from his rooms that morning, saying that he had a report for the Emergency Committee to complete. They would have none of it, saying he would turn into a very dull egg and it was their duty as gentlemen to take him to the fair in Bow.
Now he was glad that they had ignored his protestations and insisted on him accompanying them. He had been enjoying the sights and sounds of the fair alone when he spotted Ellen. He had stood leaning against a tent pole for some time just watching her as she walked through the holiday throng. He loved every minute of it. Watching her laughing in the spring sunshine, all of the battles that had raged in him from the moment he had seen Ellen were over.
He realised that his own heart had stopped him from the folly of proposing to Caroline. How could he have been so blind? With a sudden clarity of vision Robert knew that he loved Ellen. He didn’t know how or why, or what he could actually do about it, if anything, but he did know that he would never be able to pay court to another while she filled his thoughts. No argument about society, profession, class or suitability came into it. He was captivated by her and couldn’t escape. And now he wasn’t even sure he wanted to.
‘I’m sure that Pat Nolan is no worse than any other young lad,’ Ellen said, a hint of bitterness in her tone, her eyes still fixed on the Punch and Judy booth where the devil had made his entrance. ‘He is no worse than Michael O’Casey when I first laid eyes on him.’
Dozens of questions spun around in Robert’s mind. What was this Michael like? How did he die? What kind of husband was he? Had she loved him? Did she love him still?
‘I hear you’ve been busy looking into drains and sewers in the neighbourhood,’ Ellen said, changing the subject before he could ask any of them. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. ‘There are no secrets in these streets, Doctor Munroe. I’m forever hearing about the handsome doctor who’s inspecting the water pumps in Ratcliffe Highway.’ She gave him a flirtatious smile that sent Robert’s heart racing.
He stood up and straightened the front of his waistcoat. ‘Handsome, you say?’ he said, with an exaggerated swell of his chest.
‘
I
do not,’ she replied, raising her eyebrows, ‘I merely repeat others’ opinions.’ Despite Ellen’s disdainful reply Robert could see that the warmth in her eyes belied her words.
‘Well, your sources are only half correct, because it’s not just drains I’m looking into but also the repair and provision of housing and sanitary conditions. ‘He stopped and a frown crossed his face. ‘Although the Board’s findings were only just beginning to be analysed, I can already see’ - he stopped.
Ellen put her tumbler down and stood up next to him. He felt the light pressure of her hand on his arm as she pulled him to face her. ‘What is it?’
He gave her half a smile. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, as they moved on, stopping under the shade of a plane tree at the edge of the fair. ‘It is as Chafford said. I am turning into a dull egg if on a day such as today and in the company of such a beautiful woman I am talking about sewers and drains.’
Ellen laughed. It was a deep throaty laugh. He took a step nearer to her, took hold of her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it hard. Then, looking deep into Ellen’s eyes, he dropped his voice a tone.
‘With you to myself, I should be talking of flowers and love, not drainage and sewers,’ he said, as her eyes widened, and Robert caught an unmistakable flash of desire as she ran her glance over his face in an unhurried fashion, taking in every line.
‘Ellen,’ he said, as he drew her to him. She didn’t move away but continued gazing up at him with the assured look of a woman who knows she is desired. Her thumb caressed his knuckles.
‘Beautiful, you say, Doctor Munroe?’ she asked as he leant over her.
He wanted to kiss her.
‘Beautiful, I do say,’ he replied, in a low, resonant tone.
‘Ma, there you are,’ Josie’s voice came between them. ‘I’ve been looking an age for you.’ Robert felt Ellen tense and push him away. He cursed silently.
Although he was actually quite fond of Ellen’s bubbly daughter, at that moment he could have wished Josie anywhere else on earth but at the Bow fair. Couldn’t Patrick Nolan find some other curiosity to keep the girl occupied for a minute or two longer?
He dropped his arms to his sides and turned to face the two young people coming towards them. Josie was hanging onto Patrick’s arm and the young man looked as if he had found the crock of gold at the end of an Irish rainbow.
‘Here she is, Mrs O,’ Patrick said to Ellen, giving her a speculative look. ‘All safe and sound.’
‘Er - thank you, Patrick,’ Ellen said, giving the young man a melting smile. Robert saw Patrick’s surprise.
‘Have you got something in your eye?’ Josie asked as she looked into Ellen’s flushed face.
‘No,’ Ellen said, putting her hand to the bun at the nape of her neck and patting it in place. ‘Whatever makes you think that, child?’
‘Just the way Doctor Munroe was standing over you. It seemed as if he was looking into your eye,’ Josie said with a shrug. Patrick covered his mouth and forced a dry cough.
Ellen’s back snapped upright and she patted her hair again. Swinging out the folds of her skirts she cleared her throat. ‘Doctor Munroe was just... looking to ... that is to say...’ She took a smart step forward. ‘Shall we walk on then?’
It wasn’t often that Josie got the better of her mother, but today at the fair would rank as one of her most memorable victories. She almost laughed out loud at her ma’s confusion. It was clear as the nose on her face that Doctor Munroe was extremely interested in her mother.
As they walked towards the Hall of a Thousand Mysteries she felt Patrick take her arm and they fell in step behind her mother and the doctor.
‘There’s a thing and no mistake,’ he said to her out of the corner of his mouth. ‘Your ma and Doctor Munroe canoodling with each other.’ He was grinning from ear to ear.
He put his arm around Josie’s waist and pulled her to him. ‘She wouldn’t be able to tick you off for having me as your fella.’ He pursed his lips and leant towards her.
She shoved him aside roughly but sent him a saucy smile. He blew a silent kiss into the air and she felt her cheeks grow hot.
‘Who says you’re my fella?’
‘I guessed I was from the way you were kissing me behind the refreshment tent.’
‘Shh. Do you want to be getting me an ear-bashing, Patrick Nolan?’ She cast an anxious glance at her mother’s back but there was no danger of Ellen overhearing them. She was engrossed in something Doctor Munroe was telling her.
Josie’s gaze fixed on Doctor Munroe. He looked just right standing next to her mother, their heads bent towards each other. She’d liked him on their first meeting. He wasn’t stuffy like old Doctor Crichton, who used to own the surgery. Not that she’d seen him often because the elderly doctor was most particular about his sixpence fee, and he had been gruff with her and smelt of drink.
Doctor Munroe was quite the opposite. He didn’t take his handkerchief out and hold it to his nose as he entered her room or jab her painfully during his examination. For that alone she had liked him, but when he had laughed at her mention of Waisy, he went to the top of her list of nice people along with Ma, Gran and, of course, Patrick. And she knew about poor Kitty and how it had been Doctor Munroe who had eased her last hours.
‘I don’t think yer ma could have you by the ear, not with Doctor Munroe wanting to be stepping out with her,’ Patrick countered, tucking his thumbs in the arms of his waistcoat.
‘Ma’s not interested in getting herself a fella,’ Josie told him, remembering her previous conversation with her mother on the subject.
‘It doesn’t look that way to me,’ Patrick said, cocking his head to where her Ellen and Robert stood, supposedly enjoying the antics of a troupe of dancing dogs, but in fact gazing intensely at each other.
Patrick stepped aside to greet a friend for a moment, leaving Josie studying Robert more closely.
He was old of course, probably almost thirty, just a little older than her mother, but he still had a full head of light-brown hair. Not like Tubby Fenton, the cat’smeat man, who was as bald as an egg, although he was only just twenty. And Doctor Munroe caught your eye. Not in a flash way like Patrick, who liked to puff his chest out and wear his cap as if it was about to slide off his head, but he had a way of moving and standing that made you stop and look. In fact he was quite handsome in a serious, grown-up sort of way, and Josie could see why her mother was taken with him.
But what if Ma did step out with Doctor Munroe? What would Gran say? Josie gave a little laugh. Gran wouldn’t say a thing. She often said how Ma deserved a better life, and marriage to Doctor Munroe would certainly give her that. A warm glow spread over Josie. It was just like one of those stories in the books Ma read about a handsome prince sweeping a young girl off her feet. Well, the doctor wasn’t a prince and her ma wasn’t a young girl, but it was the same anyhow.
‘Mrs O,’ Patrick said, as he rejoined Josie. Her mother turned and so did Doctor Munroe.
‘The strong man is starting his act in a few moments. Can I take Josie to see?’ he asked, taking hold of Josie’s arm in a proprietary manner. Josie held her breath and waited for her mother’s reaction to Patrick’s boldness.
To her total surprise her mother didn’t seem to notice. She just smiled at them then turned her face up to the man beside her.
‘If Patrick takes Josie to the sideshow, would you mind keeping me company for another turn around the fair, Doctor Munroe?’ she asked, looking up at him teasingly.
Josie’s mouth fell open.
Doctor Munroe’s mouth lifted at one corner. ‘I can think of nothing on earth that would give me greater pleasure,’ he said in a low tone, not taking his eyes off her mother’s face.
What would it be like to have a stepfather? She wondered, then felt Patrick pull at her arm.
‘Come on, Josie, if we run we’ll get front seats,’ he said as she turned towards him. Just as the crowd surrounded them, Josie turned her head and saw Doctor Munroe put out his arm and her mother curl hers around it.
Twelve
Robert looked around the well-dressed men of various backgrounds who sat at the large polished oak table in the doctors’ mess of the hospital. A couple were medical men like himself; others were clergy of both the established and the free churches, along with a philanthropic merchant or two from the City.
‘I take it, gentlemen, you agree that my report into the condition in the Whitechapel workhouse should be sent with all speed to the Home Secretary,’ Robert said, raising a sheaf of bound papers. All around the table murmured their assent.
Robert moved on. ‘And we also agree that the two houses that back onto Vinegar Lane should be acquired and set up as the parish cholera hospital.’ The company nodded. ‘And that I should arrange to be equipped, as I have specified, care for sixteen cholera victims at the parish’s expense?’
‘Yes, but on the understanding that only those who can call on parish relief or who are already a charge on the parish can be admitted to the hospital,’ Murphy, the verger from St George’s and drinking companion of Danny Donovan, said.
Again all heads agreed.
‘Good. Now I have your agreement on the funds for the project, I can assure you that it will be ready for its first patient by the end of the month.’ Robert looked around the table and drew in a breath. ‘Now to the last item of business today: the enforcement order against St George’s Parish Council for failing to repair the drains in Chapman Street and the surrounding area. The order to include allowing the accumulation of foul and noxious rubbish in the streets of the parish, and’ - he could see a number of his fellow committee members shifting in their seats - ‘for the failure, after many requests, to fix the water pumps in Upper Chapman Street, Upper St James Street, the south pump in Cannon Street by the toll booth and Fenton Street and the two in Back Church Lane, to the detriment of the many persons who have to draw their water from these pumps.’