The Cockney Sparrow (46 page)

It was early morning by the time they reached Calais and Ned carried Jared ashore with the
help of the mate. They caught the first train bound for London.

As the cab drew up outside the house in Finsbury Circus, Clemency could have wept for joy. She was home at last. She paid the cabby and ran up the steps to ring the bell. It was Edith who opened the door, and her mouth dropped open with shock, followed by disbelief and then a screech of delight as she flung her arms around Clemency. ‘Oh, you bad girl. You bad, bad girl. Frightening us all to death.’ She held her at arm’s length. ‘We thought you was lost and gone forever.’ She hugged her again, laughing and crying at the same time.

Clemency extricated herself gently. ‘Let us in, Ma. Jared needs a doctor, double quick.’

Edith stood back, staring open-mouthed as Ned carried him into the house. ‘Oh, poor boy. What happened? No, don’t tell me now. Take him straight upstairs to his bed.’

Ned was halfway across the hall when the door to the morning parlour opened and Isobel rushed out, followed by Nick. ‘Jared! Oh, my God! Is he dead?’

Clemency caught her by the hand. ‘No, Izzie, he’s alive, but he’s in desperate need of a doctor.’ She turned to Nick. ‘It’s a bullet wound. We couldn’t do anything to help him.’

Isobel clasped her hands together, tears welling from her eyes as she watched Ned
mount the stairs with Jared in his arms. ‘He’s been shot? Oh, my God.’

Nick kissed her on the cheek. ‘I’ll take care of him, sweetheart. My medical bag is in the parlour. Will you fetch it for me, please?’ He turned to Clemency. ‘What happened exactly?’

‘He was in a duel.’ Clemency gripped his hand. ‘Don’t let him die, Nick.’

‘Don’t worry. I’ll take great care of him. After all, I need his permission to marry Izzie.’ He smiled and squeezed her fingers. ‘I’ll need plenty of hot water and clean linen for bandages. Can you do that for me?’

‘I can do anything if only you’ll make him well again.’

Edith slipped her arm around Clemency’s waist. ‘Come on, ducks. We’ll see to that. There’s someone downstairs who’s been as worried about you as I have.’ She led her towards the baize door. ‘You’ll get the surprise of your life, Clemmie.’ She pushed the door open and stood at the top of the stairs. ‘Jack, look who’s here.’

Clemency gripped the banister rail, overcome by emotion at the sight of their dear, familiar faces. Then, as though in a dream, she saw Jack walking towards her with the aid of leg irons and leaning heavily on crutches.

His face split in a huge grin. ‘Blimey. Look at the sight of you, Clemmie. Where’ve you been, girl?’

Her hand flew to her hair. She was suddenly conscious that she must look a fright. Her hair was knotted and tangled into wild curls and was stiff with salt. Her dress, borrowed from Cécile, was torn, bloodstained and dirty. She knew she must smell of sweat and dead fish, but nothing mattered at this moment. Jared was in good hands and Jack was standing below her, on his own two feet. Fancy had hurried to his side, wiping her floury hands on her apron, and Nancy looked up from the range with a smile of welcome on her face. Augustus and Ronnie had been sitting at the table, but they rose to their feet with a cheer. ‘Welcome home, Clem.’ Augustus blew her a kiss and Ronnie clapped his hands.

Clemency walked slowly down the stairs and flung her arms around Jack. He dropped one of his crutches on the floor and gave her a one-armed hug. ‘It’s good to see you, girl.’ He choked on a sob as he buried his face in her spiky hair. ‘I thought you was gone forever.’

‘Not me, Jack. You can’t get rid of me that easily.’ Clemency kissed his cheek and her tears mingled with his.

Fancy slapped her on the back. ‘I never thought I’d say it, but I’m glad to see you too.’

‘We all are, Clem,’ Augustus said, striding over to her and ruffling her hair. ‘Good grief, what have you done to yourself? And, if you don’t
mind me saying so, you smell like Murphy’s fish cart.’

Edith bustled over to the range. ‘Leave her be, Augustus. She’ll tell us when she’s good and ready. There are more important things to do at this precise moment. Jared’s been injured and Nick is taking a look at him as we speak.’

‘What’s this?’ Jack demanded. ‘What’s been going on, Clemmie?’

‘Not now, Jack. We need hot water and bandages.’ Clemency swayed on her feet as the kitchen swam before her eyes.

Ronnie rushed forward with a chair. ‘Sit down before you fall down, Clem. You look done in.’

‘Quite right, Ronnie,’ Edith said, nodding her head with approval. ‘You make her rest. Fancy, get a clean sheet from the linen cupboard and tear it up for bandages. I’ll take a pan of hot water upstairs.’

Nancy grabbed the kettle. ‘I’ll make a pot of tea first. Young Clemency looks as though she needs some sustenance.’

‘I suggest a drop of brandy,’ Ronnie said, nodding his head. ‘I think we could all do with a tot.’

‘Good idea.’ Augustus hurried to the dresser and fetched the bottle. ‘You look after Jared, Edith. We’ll take care of our girl.’

Despite everything, Clemency allowed them to fuss round her, accepting their ministrations of
hot tea, brandy and a bowl of Nancy’s beef broth. Fancy was moved to fill the tin tub with hot water, and she shooed the men out of the kitchen while she helped Clemency to bathe and wash her hair. Edith kept her informed of what was going on in the sickroom upstairs, and she was not allowed to see Jared until Nick had finished dressing the wound, and given him a dose of laudanum for the pain.

As she entered Jared’s bedroom, dressed in her own clothes, with her hair still clinging in damp curls around her head, Clemency felt her stomach churn at the sight of him lying there so pale and helpless. Isobel was seated at his bedside, holding his hand. She looked up with tears sparkling on the tips of her long eyelashes.

Clemency’s hand flew to her mouth. She turned to Nick, who was wiping his hands on a towel. His serious expression terrified her. ‘Is – is he – going to die?’

‘He has an infection of the blood, Clemency. I’ve done what I can. Now all we can do is hope and pray.’

Isobel uttered a low moan and buried her face in her hands. Clemency held herself upright with little more than willpower. She was trembling violently, but from somewhere deep inside her she summoned up all her inner strength. She was not going to let him die. Jared would survive. And they would live happily ever after, just as
they did in fairy stories. She forced her legs to carry her across to the bed and she laid her hand on Isobel’s quivering shoulders. ‘I’ll sit with him, Izzie. You go downstairs with Nick. I’ll call you if there is any change.’

‘If he dies I’ll never forgive myself,’ Isobel sobbed. ‘I was hateful to him. I disobeyed him and went behind his back. I’ve been such a bad sister.’

‘Nonsense. Don’t say such things. I’m sure Jared loves you just as much as he ever did. All he wanted was the best for you, Izzie.’

Nick moved to Isobel’s side and raised her gently to her feet. ‘Clemency’s right, my dear. You won’t help Jared by making yourself ill.’

Clemency managed a smile. ‘She’s lucky to have you, Nick.’

He shook his head. ‘I can’t allow that. She is a splendid girl, and I love her dearly. When Jared recovers, and we must believe that he will, I’ll ask him most humbly for Izzie’s hand in marriage.’ He took a handkerchief from his pocket and dried Isobel’s tears as tenderly as a mother with a baby. ‘Come with me, dear.’

Clemency squeezed her hand. ‘Go with Nick. And what you should do is to send Ronnie to Half Moon Street with a message for Lady Skelton. She ought to know that Jared is ill.’

‘Yes, I will. That’s what I’ll do. I’ll send for Grandmama.’

When they had left the room, Clemency sat down beside the bed. The laudanum had made him sleep, but when the fever was at its height he thrashed about, mumbling incoherently. There was little that she could do except bathe his brow with cold water and talk to him softly. She found that the sound of her voice seemed to calm him, and she chattered incessantly, saying anything that came into her head. She lost all track of time, refusing to leave his side, until Lady Skelton arrived and insisted that she went downstairs to eat the meal that Nancy had prepared for her.

She ate without tasting the food, and she answered the questions fired at her by Jack and Ma, but did not elaborate on her stay in Paris. Although she longed to find out what had been happening in her absence, she could not concentrate on anything that was said. In the end, they lapsed into silence and she hurried back to Jared’s room where she found Isobel pacing the floor and Lady Skelton sitting at his beside, looking pale and drawn: not at all her usual self. She seemed to have aged suddenly, and shrunk inside her skin like a wizened apple. Clemency shooed them gently from the room, insisting that they had some rest, and that they would do Jared no good at all by wearing themselves to a shadow. He would need them all to fuss over him when he was convalescent. She did not really believe what she was saying, but they
appeared to, and, rather reluctantly, they left the sickroom.

Edith and Nick both tried to make her go to her own room and take a nap, but Clemency refused to leave Jared’s side. She sat with him throughout the hours of darkness, willing herself to stay awake, and listening for any slight change in his breathing that might indicate he had reached the crisis. In the early hours of the morning she found herself nodding off to sleep, and sheer exhaustion forced her to lie down beside him. She held his hand, terrified that if she let him go he would slip away from her. Her eyelids were heavy and she closed her eyes.

‘Clemency.’

She heard him calling her name. At first she thought she was still dreaming and they were back on the platform in the Gare du Nord. But as she opened her eyes she realised that she was in a bedroom – Jared’s room. He was holding her hand and murmuring her name. She raised herself on her elbow, and saw to her overwhelming delight that he was looking at her, clear-eyed and smiling. ‘Am I dreaming, or have we really slept together?’ His voice was hoarse and little more than a whisper, but his eyes were alight with love.

‘Oh, Jared. My own darling.’ She felt his brow, and it was cool. The fever had broken, and she knew for certain that he was going to get well.
All her prayers had been answered. She had vowed to God that she would never do anything bad again, if only he would spare Jared, and he had. She leaned over, careful not to touch his injured arm, and brushed his lips with a kiss. ‘I thought I was going to lose you. I was so scared.’

His eyes lit with a tender smile, and he laid his finger on her lips. ‘You will never lose me, my love. And I will never let you far from my sight.’ He closed his eyes and slept.

Although it was very early in the morning, Clemency ran through the house, rousing everyone with the news that Jared had come through the fever. Isobel and Lady Skelton left their beds to visit his room to see for themselves, on the promise that they would not wake him. Below stairs, no one grumbled at being woken at such an early hour, and Fancy urged the fire in the range back into life, setting the kettle on the hob and making tea for them all without a murmur.

Later that morning when Nick called to see the invalid, he confirmed their hopes that Jared was well on the way to recovery. At Lady Skelton’s suggestion, he took Isobel out to choose an engagement ring. He would, of course, have to go through the formality of asking Jared for his sister’s hand, but she was certain that he would not refuse. Isobel went off in a high state of excitement and Clemency could only be glad for her.

Lady Skelton then insisted on sitting with Jared, while Clemency spent time with her family below stairs. At first, she was going to refuse, but she had not properly congratulated Jack on his new-found ability to walk, and Ma seemed to have something on her mind that she was bursting to share. She went down to the kitchen and took a seat at the table. ‘Well?’ she said, looking Ma in the eye. ‘I can see that you’ve got something to tell me. What have I been missing?’

Edith went to Ronnie and took him by the hand. ‘We’re getting hitched, Clemmie. Ronnie and me have decided to make a go of it.’

Ronnie twirled his moustache and beamed proudly at Edith. ‘She’s made me the proudest man in London, Clem.’

‘And we’re going to live with Hannah at the lodging house in Flower and Dean Street,’ Edith continued breathlessly. ‘She’s getting too old to run the place on her own, and Jared has signed the lease over to us. He done it weeks ago, soon after you disappeared. He was in a terrible state, ducks. We all was, come to that. We thought at first that the Ripper had got you. Then, when he got the letter from Paris – well, I never seen a man so happy or so worried. That was when he give us the boarding house. He said he didn’t want his mother-in-law breathing down his neck, but, of course, it weren’t that at all. He done it for you.’

‘For all of us,’ Jack said, reaching out to hold Fancy’s hand. ‘Fancy and me are getting hitched too. Now I can walk on me own, after a fashion, I’ve got meself a place in the orchestra at the Gaiety Theatre in the Strand. Maybe I could put a word in for you, Clemmie.’

‘Well, maybe you could, Jack.’ Clemency beamed at them all. ‘What a love nest this has become, to be sure.’ She turned to Augustus, who was sitting at the head of the table, unusually silent. ‘What about you? Did you find Lucilla?’

Augustus cracked a smile. ‘I did. Or rather me and Ronnie did, on the day you disappeared. It rather spoilt my pleasure on finding my girl quite happy with a fine baby boy, and Tom Fall acting out the part of a good provider. They have rooms in Wimbledon and plan to follow the construction of the railways. I doubt if my little nightingale will ever sing again, but she seems content to be a wife and mother, so who am I to complain?’

Clemency patted him on the shoulder. ‘You always were a good dad, Augustus. And Jack, yes I do plan to go back on the stage. I learnt a lot singing in the chorus at the Opéra Garnier. I was too young and inexperienced before, but now I think I could be a good performer.’ She smiled at Augustus. ‘If you’ve nothing better to do, maybe you’d consider being my manager again?’