‘You always was a selfish sod, Joe.’ Pushing her cup of tea away, barely touched, Rosetta leaned her elbows on the table. ‘Look, I’m desperate, and I got a bit of money from Alf. Maybe we could set up together in some rooms. After all, you can’t go on living in that pigsty. It ain’t healthy.’
‘And I can get work,’ Elsie said, cramming the piece of cake into her mouth that Rosetta had nibbled and left on the side of her plate. ‘Let me stay with you. I don’t want to go back to Mr Sly. He beats me black and blue for nothing, he does.’
‘Hush, Elsie, not now,’ Rosetta said, keeping her gaze fixed on Joe’s face. ‘I know I wasn’t much help to you before, when I threw you out of my room, but I had no choice then. You and me, we’ve both made a mess of things, so it would make sense to stick together now.’
‘And it would, ducks, only I ain’t going to be around much longer. You see, Rose, I never paid Crowe back. I was supposed to be watching the punters at the tables and using his stake money just to make it look right, but then I started winning. I thought me luck had turned and it had, for a while. Then I started losing and now I owes him more than ever.’
‘Oh, Joe! You stupid fool.’
‘Come off it, love. You’re a fine one to call me stupid.’
‘I know, I’m sorry, but if you get a job and I go back to Bronski’s, I’m sure we could get by and repay Jonas too.’
‘It would take twenty years to pay back what I owe. If I stick around I’ll end up at the bottom of the Thames with a lead weight tied round me neck.’
‘But if you run away, what happens to Ruby? You can’t leave her to take the rap for you.’
‘Ruby’s well looked after. She’s fallen on her feet, and Crowe won’t hurt her. He’s not that sort of bloke.’
‘So where are you going, then?’
‘The long and short of it, Rose, is that I’ve joined up.’
Rosetta stared at him in disbelief. ‘You’re going to be a soldier?’
‘I’m leaving tomorrow for training camp. There’s going to be more trouble in South Africa before too long. I’d rather fight a whole army of Boers than Crowe’s gang.’
Rosetta was soaked to the skin by the time she had walked from Spitalfields to Tobacco Court. Elsie had trailed behind her, twittering like a fledgling bird fallen from its nest and crying to its mother for help. Rosetta had tried persuasion and downright bullying to make Elsie go home to Raven Street, but nothing she said had made any difference.
The living room was full of steam and the scent of freshly ironed cotton sheets. Granny Mole looked up from her ironing, eyebrows raised. ‘Who’s that?’ she demanded, waving the flat iron at Elsie.
‘Where’s Mum?’
‘Up West with her fancy man! Where d’you
think she would be? Out in the bleeding back yard breaking her back doing other folks’ washing, that’s where she always is these days. And me, at my age, still working me fingers to the bone.’
Too fraught to take on Granny in one of her more belligerent moods, Rosetta left her staring suspiciously at Elsie, who was standing dumbly by the door, as if poised for flight. The back door was open, and despite the rain Sarah was in the yard with a fire going beneath the copper, hissing and spitting as raindrops evaporated on contact with the flames.
‘Rosetta?’
‘Oh, Mum. I’m in terrible trouble.’
There was silence in the living room as Sarah digested Rosetta’s news over a cup of tea. For once, Granny Mole seemed to have nothing to say as she dunked biscuits in her tea, sucking the soggy mixture through the gaps in her teeth. Elsie huddled in the corner by the fire, making herself small and keeping quiet.
After a while, Rosetta’s nerves, which were already stretched taut as violin strings, began to snap one thread at a time. She slammed her cup down on the table. ‘Holy Mother of God, how long are you going to take, Mum? Can I stay or not?’
‘You ain’t in no position to speak out,’ Granny
Mole said, wiping her lips on the back of her hand. ‘You’re a disgrace, that’s what you are.’
‘I’ve been considering,’ Sarah said slowly. ‘I’m more sad than angry, Rosetta. You’ve let the whole family down and I blame Lottie for leading you on, but none of this would have happened if you’d stayed at home.’
‘But, Mum …’
Sarah raised her hand, her face serious. ‘I don’t say this lightly, but I got a reputation to think of in Tobacco Court. We’ve always been respectable people and I’m not having them all tittle-tattling behind their doors, saying that my daughter ain’t no better than she should be.’
‘What are you saying?’ Rosetta leapt to her feet, pacing the floor. ‘You can’t mean to throw me out on the street.’
‘Calm down. Of course not. I’m sorry for you but you’ve done wrong, and if the man what got you into trouble won’t marry you then you got to take the consequences. You can stay here tonight but first thing tomorrow morning I’m taking you to Wapping. You can stay with the Moles until your time comes.’
‘You don’t mean it!’ Rosetta came to a halt, staring at her mother’s set face. ‘I hate the Moles. They live on bread and scrape and their place stinks.’
‘You’ll go to the Moles and like it.’
‘I won’t do it. You can’t make me.’
‘It’s that or the street. I’m not having you bring shame on us.’
‘That’s right,’ Granny Mole said, wagging her finger at Rosetta. ‘You brought shame on us. Pass me another biscuit.’
Curled up with her arms wrapped round her knees, Elsie began to sob.
‘That’s enough from you too,’ Sarah said, getting to her feet. ‘Come into the yard, young Elsie. You can make yourself useful by helping with the washing. If I don’t get it done, I don’t get no money.’
‘You mean you’re going to let Elsie stay, but not me?’ Rosetta stared at her mother, unable to believe that this was happening.
‘She may be small and skinny but she’ll earn her keep. I wouldn’t send a cat back to live with Sly and Lottie.’
‘But you’d send your own daughter away. It ain’t fair, Mum. It just ain’t fair.’
‘Life ain’t fair, my girl. And don’t you go bothering Ruby now she’s training to be a proper nurse; or Joe for that matter.’
‘At least he’s a credit to the family,’ Granny Mole muttered, scowling.
Cold white fury roiled in Rosetta’s stomach. ‘That’s all you know. You think your precious Joe is so wonderful; well, I can tell you he’s no better than me.’
‘What are you talking about?’ demanded Sarah.
Rosetta bit her lip. She hadn’t meant to tell, but Mum and Granny were staring at her and she knew they wouldn’t be satisfied with anything that smacked of a lie. ‘He’s lost his job and got hisself into so much debt gambling that he’s in trouble with the mobs.’
Sarah sat down suddenly, panting as if someone had punched her in the stomach. ‘I don’t believe you. My Joe wouldn’t be so daft.’
‘You’re a wicked girl, telling such lies,’ Granny said, shaking her finger. ‘Pity you can’t be more like your sister.’
Rosetta tossed her head; she wasn’t going to take all the blame. ‘You think Ruby’s so good and clever, well let me tell you, she’s no better than me.’
‘What are you saying?’ Sarah had paled alarmingly and she clutched her chest, a bemused expression on her face.
Having started, Rosetta found she could not stop. ‘If you believe that Jonas Crowe has taken her on just to nurse Lily, then you’re a bigger fool than I am.’
‘Don’t say things like that, Rose. Mr Jonas has been good to us all. You’re just jealous.’
‘You don’t know the half of it, Mum. Jonas Crowe runs a high mob every bit as tough as the Odessians or the Essex gang, and he’s bought
you with money made out of poor sods like Joe. I bet it would be different if I was Ruby come home to tell you that it was Crowe who got me in the family way.’
‘That’s it. You’ve gone too far this time.’ Jumping to her feet, Sarah gave Rosetta a shove towards the door. ‘Get out, Rosetta. I won’t have that sort of talk in my house.’
‘I’m going, but I’ll never forgive you for treating me so cruel. Never!’ Grabbing her things, Rosetta slammed out of the house.
Outside on the pavement the rain had already soaked through her cotton blouse before Rosetta had time to struggle into her jacket. The curtains in the houses opposite fluttered and she poked out her tongue. Let them sneer; let them think what they liked. Holding her head high, she strode down the street, not having the slightest idea where she was going, but determined never to return to Tobacco Court as long as she lived. Stopping on the corner of Spivey Street, the realisation of what she had done hit Rosetta like a smack in the face. Why had she said all that to Mum? Why had she made trouble for Ruby and Joe? Her spiteful tongue had made it impossible for her to ask Ruby for help now; she really hadn’t meant to say those horrible things about her and Jonas. She might be Ruby’s twin in looks, so why couldn’t she be more like her in nature? Ruby was so down to earth, trusting and trust
worthy; Ruby would never have let herself be led astray by a man. Wiping her eyes on her sleeve, Rosetta couldn’t tell whether it was tears or rainwater that ran down her cheeks, trickling into her mouth.
‘How much, darling?’
Blinking, Rosetta found herself staring into the leering face of a man who had just staggered out of the pub. Too furious for words, she hit him with her suitcase, catching him off balance so that he sprawled on the wet pavement. Breaking into a run, she headed in the direction of Cable Street.
‘Spare us a copper, lady.’ A small girl, who could not have been more than five or six appeared from an alleyway, dragging a toddler by the hand. They were both filthy, covered in sores and so thin that their heads seemed too big for their bodies; their flesh was stretched taut over twig-like limbs giving them the look of living skeletons. Rosetta fumbled for her purse and dropped two pennies into the child’s outstretched hand. Immediately she realised her mistake. Ragged children appeared as if from nowhere, holding out their hands and begging for money. Bigger boys came, kicking and lashing out at the smaller children; they advanced on Rosetta, their eyes gleaming like a hunting pack of wolves. Even though she was head and shoulders taller than most of them, Rosetta knew
she was outnumbered and she tossed a handful of coins into their midst. Fighting, snapping and snarling, they fell upon the money as it rolled over the wet cobblestones and landed amongst the filth in the gutter. Seizing her chance, Rosetta broke into a run and did not stop until she reached the baker’s shop on the corner. Leaning against the window, she gasped for each painful breath, doubled up with a stitch, and holding her side. The panicky feeling inside her subsided a little now that she was out of danger, but she had never felt so alone or lost. Perhaps, if she hurried, she could catch Joe at the station before he left for the training camp. Joe would have to stay and help her; he couldn’t be so selfish or hardhearted as to leave her to struggle on alone. She was so deep in her thoughts that she barely noticed the familiar cart with the horse, munching the contents of its nosebag, as it waited outside the bakery.
‘Rosetta!’
Brushing back the wet hair plastered on her forehead and blinking the rainwater from her eyes, Rosetta realised that it was Billy who had just come out of the shop. ‘Hello, Billy.’ She tried to sound casual, as if it was quite normal to be leaning against the shop window, soaked to the skin, with a suitcase at her feet. ‘What are you doing in the baker’s shop?’
‘I’ve been keeping an eye on the family since
the fire. The poor bloke’s not been able to do much since then and his wife is struggling to make ends meet.’ Pushing his cap to the back of his head, Billy stared down at Rosetta’s suitcase. ‘What’s all this then? Going on holiday, Rose?’
Fighting back the desire to fling her arms round his neck and beg him for help, Rosetta forced a smile. ‘I was just on a visit home, in between jobs. I’ve got star billing in a music hall up north. I was just on me way to the station.’
‘You’re a poor liar, Rose,’ Billy said, giving her a searching look. ‘You’re forgetting that I know you’re in trouble.’
Rosetta bit her lip; she had been hateful to Billy when they last met and she was not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. ‘I got rid of it. The gin and the hot bath worked a treat. Are you satisfied?’
Billy flinched, but he stood his ground. ‘You’re lying, Rose.’
‘Let me pass, Billy. I’ve got a train to catch.’ Picking up her case, Rosetta would have walked on, but Billy caught her by the shoulders, spinning her round to face him.
‘I love you, Rose. You know you can tell me anything, so for Gawd’s sake stop play-acting and tell me the truth.’
Exhausted but happy at the end of a long first day, Ruby took a deep breath of the cool night air as she stepped outside the hospital. It had been a wonderful day, despite the fact that everything was new and strange, but the best part of all was that Nurse Tutor had assigned her to a mentor, a more experienced nurse. When her mentor turned out to be Pamela, Ruby thought she had died and gone to heaven. Yes, it had been a marvellous day, even though the smell of disinfectant still clung to her hair and her clothes, and her hands were reddened and sore from being constantly in water and the use of carbolic soap. Her back and feet ached like nothing on earth, but the feeling that she had accomplished something constructive, and that at last she was on the way to achieving her ambition to become a proper nurse, made up for everything.
‘Hey, Ruby.’
Looking round, she saw Joe leaning non-chalantly against a lamp post, smoking a cigarette. He tossed the butt on the pavement and ground it to shreds beneath his boot. ‘I
nearly gave you up,’ he said, hooking his arm around her shoulders.
‘I didn’t think you’d come, Joe,’ Ruby said, smiling. ‘I haven’t see you for ages.’
Joe’s grin faded into a frown. ‘I know, and I’m sorry, Ruby. I got something to tell you, ducks.’
Alarm fisted in Ruby’s stomach. ‘Oh, Joe, what have you done now?’
‘There’s a pub round the corner. You can buy me a drink.’
In the cosy fug of the public bar, over a pint of mild and bitter, Joe admitted that his gambling had once again got out of hand. Shame-faced and contrite, he told Ruby that his only way of escape was to join up. She listened in silence, her heart sinking at the thought of what Jonas would say and do when he discovered that Joe had run away owing him a small fortune.