Cinderella Sister (3 page)

Nell made a show of hanging up her bonnet and shawl, moving with the controlled grace that Lily admired so much. Nell was never in a dither; she was always so calm and sensible. Lily wished very much that she could be like her eldest sister.

‘I will go and see this person,’ Nell said firmly. ‘I’ll decide whether or not we need to incur the expense of a visit from the doctor. I’m certain he charges by the minute, if not the second, and we just can’t afford it, Lily.’

Lily hung her head. ‘I know that, but the poor chap had a little money on him.’

‘Don’t tell me that you went through his pockets.’

‘Bill did, not me. He said the man is a gentleman. He could tell by his boots. I didn’t think …’

‘No, Lily, you didn’t think. You never do. Just leave everything to me. I’m used to dealing with cuts and bruises and wiping bloody noses at the Ragged School, and that includes dealing with children who wet their drawers and worse.’ Nell picked up her skirts and was about to mount the stairs when she paused, looking over her shoulder. ‘Where is he? I hope you didn’t put him in any of our rooms. He might be running with fleas and lice or have some terrible disease. You are very thoughtless at times, Lily.’

‘He’s in the smallest attic room. I couldn’t find any blankets so I took the one that belonged to old Trotter.’

‘Heavens above, what were you thinking of? If he didn’t have fleas when he arrived, he most likely will now.’ With a toss of her head, Nell continued on her way upstairs.

Lily hesitated, unsure whether or not to follow her, but whichever course she chose was almost certain to be the wrong one. She loved and admired her eldest sister, but Nell was inclined to bring the discipline of the schoolroom home with her. Matt was the only one who could stand up to her when she was being bossy, but he wasn’t here. Lily stood in the middle of the hallway, undecided until she heard the sound of shuffling footsteps approaching from the back of the house.

‘Lily Larkin, I wants a word with you.’ Aggie’s voice rolled round the hall like thunder.

It was only then that Lily remembered the basket of damp washing that she had abandoned in the scullery, and the wet clothes waiting to be put through the mangle she had left in the stone sink. ‘Oh, bother!’ she murmured. ‘Now I’m for it.’

Preceded by a wavering beam of candlelight, Agnes bore down on her, moving faster than Lily would have thought possible for a woman who complained so bitterly about her rheumatics.

‘What do you mean by leaving the scullery swimming in water and piles of wet clothes clogging my sink?’ Agnes came to a halt in front of Lily, standing arms akimbo. ‘And what’s been going on upstairs? I was having a lovely nap when I was woken by the sound of someone screeching like they was being done in.’

Lily could see that Agnes was genuinely upset. ‘I’m so sorry, Aggie. I’ll come and clear it up right away. But it wasn’t my fault, you see the fog came down and then I smelt smoke and I heard the fire engine go past the house.’

‘I heard it but I thought I was dreaming. I still get nightmares about the fire that took your poor father’s life.’ Agnes peered at Lily, frowning. ‘I hope you didn’t do anything silly.’

‘I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I wanted to see the fire.’

‘How many times have you been told to stay away from fires?’

‘I don’t know why I did it, but I just had to go and see it for myself, and I came across an injured man. I couldn’t just leave him like that. And then Bill Hawkins came along and he brought him home.’

Agnes glanced upwards into the dark shadows on the staircase. ‘So where is this person now?’

‘He’s in one of the attic rooms and Nell is looking after him.’

‘I suppose it’s all right then, if Nell says so, but don’t expect me to go fetching and carrying for a complete stranger.’

‘Of course not, Aggie,’ Lily said, giving her an affectionate hug. ‘We’ll look after him and you won’t know he’s here.’

‘Get on with you, you bad girl. I can see your mother in you sometimes, Lily. She could always wrap people round her little finger if she chose.’ The top of Aggie’s head only came up to Lily’s shoulder, and she was almost as broad as she was tall. Her prune-wrinkled face dissolved into a smile and she gave Lily a gentle shove towards the kitchen. ‘Go and finish your chores, and then you can scrub the potatoes for supper to make up for me losing my beauty sleep.’ She gave a deep
chuckle that made her whole frame shake and Lily knew she had been forgiven.

She was in the middle of mopping the kitchen floor where the water had seeped in from the overflowing sink in the scullery when Nell burst into the room looking unusually flustered. Her cheeks were flushed and there was a sparkle in her eyes that made Lily stare at her in surprise.

‘That man is not English,’ Nell said breathlessly. ‘He is burbling away and I couldn’t understand a word he said. Bill said he thinks he came from the French schooner, so that would explain how the poor man came to be in such a state. Anyway, I’ve sent Bill to fetch Dr Macpherson. I’ve done all I can for him but you were right for once, Lily; his injuries are quite severe.’

‘And how are we going to pay the medical bills?’ Agnes demanded. ‘We can’t even afford meat to put in the stew. The boys won’t be happy when all they get is a mouthful of vegetables and a soggy dumpling for their supper.’

‘We have meat once a week,’ Nell said sternly. ‘That’s more than most people round here can afford. I have children in my class who have to survive on bread and scrape, and sometimes not even that. They are so thin that their little limbs look like sticks and their faces are pinched and wizened so that they look like little old men and women. If anyone complains about their food just let them come to George Street with me and see how poverty-stricken people live.’ She ended with a muffled sob, turning away to wipe her eyes.

Lily dropped the mop and ran to Nell, wrapping her
arms around her. ‘There, there, dear Nell. Don’t be upset. She didn’t mean to criticise, did you, Aggie?’

Agnes shrugged her shoulders. ‘No need to get in a twitter. I was just stating a fact.’

Nell sniffed and dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief. ‘I’m sorry, Aggie. I’m just tired, I suppose.’

‘And you gave your dinner to the poorest children,’ Lily said, angling her head. ‘I know you did, so don’t deny it, Nell.’

‘That’s by the bye. We have more than enough of everything, just not as much as we were used to.’ Nell smiled with her lips, although Lily was quick to note that it didn’t quite reach her limpid blue eyes.

‘You tell that to young Molly when she complains,’ Aggie muttered. ‘That girl has ideas above her station if you ask me, just like her mother.’

Lily could see by the expression on Nell’s face that this remark, although true, had hit a tender spot. Ma’s name was rarely mentioned, and Nell in particular seemed to have suffered most when their mother took flight.

‘I think I heard the doorbell,’ Lily said by way of a diversion, and almost immediately, as if by some miraculous intervention from above, one of the bells on the board above the kitchen door began to jingle on its spring. ‘It must be Bill returning with the doctor,’ she added hopefully. ‘Shall I go, Nell?’

‘No, it’s all right, Lily. Since I’ll be the one in charge of the sickroom, I’d best take the doctor upstairs.’ Nell’s hand flew to her head and she patted her hair in place as she left the room.

‘Well, I’m blowed,’ Agnes said with a meaningful grin. ‘She’s changed her tune. If I was a betting woman I’d lay odds on the bloke upstairs being young and good-looking, even if he is a Frog.’

Lily stifled a giggle. ‘Don’t let Nell hear you call him that.’

‘I can say what I like in my own kitchen,’ Aggie said, rising to her feet and carrying the pan of peeled vegetables over to the range. She reached up to pluck herbs from bunches hung to dry on a beam in the chimney breast, and she sprinkled them into the stew, adding a generous dash of salt. ‘He’ll cause trouble, mark my words, young Lily.’

‘Who? Who will cause trouble?’

Lily turned with a start to see Molly standing in the doorway. The sulphurous stench of the fog clung to her outdoor clothes as if reluctant to release her from its suffocating clutches. She took off her bonnet and tossed it onto the nearest chair followed by her shawl. Her cheeks were flushed with the cold and her green eyes sparkled with curiosity. ‘What’s going on? I saw Dr Macpherson pulling up in his trap just as Nell let me in, but she wouldn’t tell me anything. She just pushed past me and hurried out to meet him. What have I missed?’

‘There’s a Frog in the attic room,’ Agnes said, slamming a lid on the saucepan. ‘And he’s going to bring strife to this family, I can feel it in me water.’

‘A frog? How did a frog get into the house? A frog couldn’t climb all those stairs.’ Molly stared at Lily with her eyebrows raised in astonishment. ‘Could it?’

Lily dissolved into a fit of giggles. She felt the tension leach out of her as she saw the funny side of the situation. ‘N-not a real frog, silly. Aggie means there’s a Frenchman in bed upstairs.’

‘A Frenchman?’ Molly snatched up a carrot that Agnes had missed and bit off the end, crunching it with relish. ‘Damn it, I would have been home earlier if I hadn’t stopped to chat to Sukey Hollands. What have I missed?’

‘You’ve missed a clip round the ear, young lady,’ Agnes said heavily. ‘You wouldn’t dare swear if your grandpa was in the room, nor any of your brothers.’

‘Oh, pooh.’ Molly waved the carrot at her. ‘They aren’t here so I can say what I like. If you don’t tell me everything at once, Lily, I’ll scream. By the way,’ she added, ‘did you know that there’s a ship on fire alongside Bell Wharf?’

Lily felt a bubble of hysterical laughter rising in her throat, but one look at Aggie’s set expression was enough to wipe away her smile. She nodded her head. ‘That’s where I found the injured man, and it just so happens that he’s French. Bill Hawkins helped me get
him home and he thinks the chap must be a gentleman because he was wearing expensive boots.’

‘He could have stolen them,’ Aggie muttered, waddling over to the table and elbowing Molly out of the way. ‘Haven’t you got anything better to do than stand around chewing a carrot? Shift your lazy body, my girl. Let me get on with my dumplings or …’

‘Your brothers won’t be happy if their supper isn’t on the table when they get home,’ chorused Lily and Molly in unison.

‘Out of my kitchen,’ Aggie said, pointing to the door. ‘Out now, or there’s no supper for either of you.’

‘Anyone would think we were still kids,’ Molly grumbled as they hurried along the dark passageway towards the room that their mother had liked to call the drawing room, where she accompanied herself at the piano after dinner each evening, and entertained her female friends for afternoon tea. The piano had been sold long ago and the curtains were so faded that all the original vibrant colours were indistinguishable. The floorboards gleamed with wax polish but the carpet squares were threadbare and the chairs sagged, with horsehair erupting from the sofa in springy tufts.

Lily ran to the window which overlooked the side of the house facing downriver. ‘I can’t see a thing. It’s a real pea-souper out there. I do hope the boys are all right.’

Molly threw herself down on the sofa, lying back with her hands behind her head. ‘Did you know that the plaster is falling off the ceiling in great big dollops? I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole thing
collapsed on us one evening when we’re sitting round the fire.’

‘Thanks for reminding me,’ Lily said, turning away from the dismal scene outside. ‘With all the excitement, I’d quite forgotten to light the wretched thing and it’s blooming freezing in here.’

Molly stretched luxuriously. ‘I don’t know what you do all day, Lily. There am I slaving over smelly tubs of dye and soggy silk and all you have to do is keep house.’ She ducked as Lily tossed a cushion at her. ‘Missed! You never could throw straight. Now, tell me about this foreign man in the attic.’

Lily went to kneel on the scrap of carpet in front of the hearth. She had cleaned the grate early that morning and she had laid the fire so that all it needed now was to put a light to it. She struck a lucifer on the fire surround and held it to the twists of newspaper nestling beneath the kindling. ‘I don’t know anything about him, except that he must have been on the ship before it caught fire. His jacket was singed and his hands were in a terrible state. I couldn’t bear to look.’

‘Did he speak to you? Was he young and good-looking or was he old and ugly? Come on, Lily, you can do better than that.’

Lily sat back on her haunches, watching the golden flames lick around the glistening black lumps of coal. ‘I think he is quite young, but his face was very dirty so it was difficult to see what he looked like. He had black hair, I think, and blue eyes or maybe they were grey. He said a few words in English but he had a strong foreign accent.’

‘So how do you know he is French?’

‘Bill thinks he came from the French schooner, and Nell said he’s definitely a Frenchman. She’s the schoolteacher so she should know.’

Molly snapped into a sitting position and slid off the sofa. ‘I’m going to take a look at this chap. Are you coming with me?’

‘I don’t know. Nell said …’

‘Never mind her. She can’t tell us what to do. Are you coming or not?’ Molly paused as she headed for the door, her delicate dark eyebrows raised and a mischievous smile flirting with her lips. ‘I dare you.’

Lily rose to her feet, shaking out her crumpled skirts. ‘You ought to wash first. Your hands are green and there are red spots of dye on your cheeks. You’ll frighten the poor chap to death.’

‘Nonsense. If he’s off his head with fever he’ll just think I’m a part of his bad dream. I’ll race you to the attic.’ Molly opened the door but she closed it hurriedly, turning to Lily with her finger raised to her lips. ‘Stay where you are. Dr Macpherson is just going upstairs with Nell.’

‘I wonder if the boys have got the fire under control,’ Lily said anxiously.

Molly made her way back to the sofa. ‘You worry too much, Lil. They’re big enough to look after themselves and it’s only a rotten old boat that’s gone up in flames. Now it would be different if it was a silk warehouse or the dye works. I would worry then.’