A Change of Fortune (16 page)

As Jenny sat down, it was hard to stifle a groan of relief. She ached in every limb.

‘You look fair worn out, Jen, and you’re getting skinny.’ Ma studied her with a ferocious glint in her eyes. ‘You ain’t been born for such hard graft.’

‘I’m fine –’

Ma gave a dismissive wave of her hand. ‘No, you ain’t. You’re up at the crack of dawn scrubbing and polishing, and then you comes back here to look after a cantankerous old woman like me. It’s slavery, my girl, and don’t try to deny it! And I’ve got a nasty suspicion that you’re spending your hard-earned cash on seeing I get some good food. I ain’t never ate so good, and I dare you to say that isn’t so.’

Jenny couldn’t. This was much harder than working as an under housemaid. At least there she had time off and wonderful food. Now it was go from morning to night, with meals of whatever they could afford. She dipped her head, unable to meet the old woman’s
shrewd gaze. ‘You got to have proper food; I know you’re not well. And as for the hard work, I’ll get used to that.’

‘That’s as may be. You worry about me too much; I’m as fit as any woman of my age deserves to be.’

‘I like you, Ma, and you’ve been so kind to give me a room with you –’

‘Poof!’ Ma snorted. ‘Kindness ain’t got nothing to do with it. You needed a roof over your head and I needed some help. I thought it would be a fair exchange, but I’ve got the better bargain. Are you sure this is right for you? Couldn’t you go home?’ she asked gently.

‘No, Ma.’ Jenny lifted her head. ‘No, I would only be replacing one kind of slavery with another. Oh, I know it would be one of silks and satins, but I’d rather scrub floors! Honestly.’

‘Want to talk about it? I knows how to keep my mouth shut.’

Without giving away any names, Jenny briefly explained what had driven her to run away. As she finished the story, something occurred to her with such force that it took her breath away in alarm.

‘Are you asking me to leave, Ma?’

‘God love you, Jen, that’s the last thing I want. I’ve grown right fond of you.’ She reached out, took hold of Jenny’s hand and squeezed it as hard as her arthritic hands would allow. ‘It fair breaks my heart to see a young girl like you working as a skivvy. You should be out having fun, but I’d be terrible sad to lose you.’

‘That’s a relief!’ Jenny’s heart stopped thumping. For
one dreadful moment she thought she would have to find somewhere else to stay. And she couldn’t go through that again. She just couldn’t!

‘I’d be daft to let you go.’ Ma’s eyes crinkled at the corners in a smile. ‘You’ve only been here four weeks, but my place has never looked so spruce. And my front step’s something to be proud of. Didn’t look as good as that even when I could do it myself.’

Jenny stood up and bent over to kiss Ma’s leathery cheek. ‘Don’t you worry about me. I’m happy here – and I feel safe.’

‘You are, ducky. That beastly family of yours won’t find you here.’ She looked over at the table. ‘You give me your cup and saucer.’

‘But I haven’t washed it up yet.’

‘I know that. Come on, hand it over.’

Jenny did as ordered, watching with amusement as Ma swished the tea dregs around and then tipped the cup upside down in the saucer. Ma tapped it three times and turned it back the right way again.

‘Now let me see …’

Jenny suddenly realized what Ma was up to and she giggled. ‘Are you reading the tea leaves?’

‘Don’t laugh, Jen. I knows what I’m doing, and more often than not I’m right. Uncanny my readings are, that’s what people around here say.’ The elderly woman gave a superior toss of her head and bent to her task.

‘Well, what do you see?’ Jenny sat down again, deciding that she would humour Ma.

‘Don’t rush me! Hmm, now … There’s people looking for you –’

‘I know that, Ma.’ She stifled a giggle again. After the tale she’d just told Ma, that didn’t take much working out.

‘Don’t interrupt! It isn’t just two people; it’s lots. Some mean you harm; others don’t. But you’d do well to stay out of everyone’s way for the time being. It’s hard to know who to trust.’ Ma looked up. ‘That don’t include anyone in this street. You can trust all of them.’

‘I know that, Ma. I hope you’re wrong about a lot of people, because I’m having enough trouble staying out of the way of just two.’ She went to stand up again but was waved back into her seat.

‘I ain’t finished yet. This is a real interesting set of leaves. You’ve got some hard times in front of you, but you ain’t gonna be alone all the time …’ She grinned broadly. ‘You’re going to meet a tall, dark, ’andsome man.’

‘Oh, Ma,’ Jenny laughed, ‘you read too many romantic stories.’

The old woman handed her the cup. ‘You can make fun all you like, but I feels much happier about you now I’ve seen your future.’

‘Well, I know
your
future.’ Jenny collected up the tea things, still chuckling. ‘I’m going to wash these up, and tomorrow you’ll have a nice apple pie.’

‘That would be lovely. Your pastry’s getting quite good now.’ Then she gave Jenny a suspicious look. ‘Where’d you get the apples from?’

‘I went scrumping with Ivy this morning.’

Ma roared with laughter and slapped her knee. ‘You’re learning, my girl. You might be posh, but you’re all right.’

With Ma’s infectious laugh ringing in her ears she went into the kitchen to cook her ill-gotten gains. They’d had a new job today, cleaning a firm of solicitors’ offices. It had been an old house, and the garden had two apple trees in it. The ground had been littered with apples, and Ivy had declared that it was a crying shame to let them rot, so they’d picked up some of the best and shared them out. There was a lot of bruising, but after she’d cut this away she still had enough for the pie.

After it was cooked she put it on the table to cool. Ma would enjoy that tomorrow. Jenny wished she could afford some cream to go with it, but that was out of the question. Ron, Ivy’s husband, had been laid off last week, and without his money coming in things were even harder. The number of unemployed was rising every week, and behind the jokes Jenny could see the worry in their eyes as they struggled to feed their families. The most amazing and touching thing was the way they all tried to help each other out. There was genuine concern for everyone in the street. She knew that Fred and Stan were bringing home any veg they hadn’t sold, and sharing it out amongst those most in need. She was aware that that act of kindness was depleting their income. They couldn’t afford to give produce away, but they still did. She was constantly astounded by their unselfishness.

Jenny bowed her head and struggled to keep the worry at bay. The talk was that this was just the start. The depression was beginning to take hold and touch almost everyone, but it was the working classes who were going to suffer the most. She prayed she would be able to keep her job, because the money was helping to keep food on the table, and like everyone else in the street she did what she could, especially for the old and those with young children. She touched the pendant around her neck and felt comforted. At least she still had that, but she knew she wouldn’t hesitate to sell it to help the people she’d come to love.

‘Jen,’ Ma called, ‘you done yet?’

She straightened up, put the smile back on her face and went back to the other room.

‘Ah, there you are.’ Ma held out a book. ‘Read to me. My eyes ain’t what they was, and I do love to hear your smashing voice. Quite brings the story to life.’

Jenny opened Jane Austen’s
Pride and Prejudice
at the marker she’d put in last night. This was Ma’s favourite book, and she never seemed to tire of it. She read until Ma couldn’t keep her eyes open, and then helped her up to bed.

This routine became a pattern on Jenny’s days. It was a hard life, but there was laughter as well. The residents of Forest Road knew how to throw a party, even if they were
boracic lint
– she had soon learnt that that meant skint, no money. All they needed was a joanna – piano – and a couple of drinks and they were away.
She was learning quite a few cockney rhyming-slang words now. There was always a birthday, anniversary or christening. The neighbours would all come with a small donation of food for the table, and troubles would be forgotten for a short time. They didn’t have much in the way of worldly goods, but they had something far more precious: friendship and a desire to look after each other. Jenny was certainly seeing the other side of life, and her love and respect for them grew every day.

It was now a year since she had left home. After shedding tears on the anniversary of her father’s death, she tried to put it behind her. Her days were too busy to dwell on the past. She had made her decision last November; there was no going back now.

She reached home – for that was how she thought about Ma’s now – at the end of another week and was surprised to see the front room crowded. There was Fred, Glad, Stan, Ma and several of the neighbours, all talking very seriously.

‘What’s happened?’ she asked in alarm.

‘There’s people asking for Jenny Baker or Eugenie Winford,’ said a voice from behind her.

She spun round with a whimper of panic to find herself looking straight at Fred. She almost collapsed in relief, expecting to see a policeman there, or someone else in authority. ‘Oh, no, they’ve found me!’

Ma hobbled up to her, taking hold of her hand. ‘Now, don’t be affrighted, Jen. No one here would tell strangers anything.’

‘Who was it?’ Her voice wavered as she pictured Greaves’s large bulk walking down this humble street.

‘Two young men.’ Glad made her sit down. ‘Don’t take on so, ducky. You’re shaking something terrible.’

‘Right nice they were too.’ Ma winked at Jenny. ‘Both tall, dark and ’andsome.’

‘They were strolling along talking to everyone in this street, and there was plenty around ’cos we all came out to have a look at these toffs.’ Stan grinned. ‘They had a lot of guts to wander around here, but they was wasting their time. We’d never give up one of our own.’

As Jenny glanced at each face in the room and saw them all nodding in agreement, the panic began to fade. One of their own?

‘Don’t look so surprised.’ Fred’s smile was full of affection. ‘Since you’ve been with us, you’ve mucked in, worked as hard as any of us without a murmur of complaint, and you’re looking after Ma real kind like. We’ve known from the start that you wasn’t born to this kind of life, but you’re doing good. We’re right fond of you for that.’

Jenny gulped back the emotion. ‘You’ve all been so kind, and I don’t know what would have happened to me without your help. But you said it was two
young
men looking for me. Did they say who they were?’

‘Matthew and Luke Stannard,’ Ma announced. ‘I asked what they wanted with these girls. They said it was only the one girl, and she could be using either name. She was in trouble and they wanted to help. We
told them we didn’t know no one by those names. Do you know them?’

Jenny couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘Yes, I do, but that can’t be true. Why would they be searching for me? And how did they know my real name?’

‘We didn’t ask that,’ Glad said. ‘It would have seemed suspicious if we’d shown too much interest. So you don’t think they really wanted to help you?’

‘Of course not. They think I’m a thief!’ This was too ridiculous! The Stannard brothers had no reason to come looking for her, unless they were after the reward. Jenny was immediately ashamed of that thought. She didn’t know them very well, of course, but they were rich enough not to be tempted by one hundred pounds, and she didn’t believe Matthew Stannard would do anything so underhand. He had seemed so nice.

‘We know you wouldn’t take anything that wasn’t yours, Jen.’ Fred’s grin was mischievous. ‘If we thought that, we’d never have asked Ma to take you in. You might have nicked all her valuables.’

Ma cackled with mirth. ‘If anyone thinks there’s valuables in here, I’ll help them search. I’d love to see it!’

Everyone in the room was laughing now, and even Jenny managed a smile at the joke.

‘So,’ said Stan, when they’d quietened down. ‘Fred said that there was a reward being offered for you; do you think they’re after that?’

‘The answer is that I really don’t know. I can’t imagine the money being a temptation to them.’ She frowned
in concentration. They’d nearly found her, and this was very worrying.

‘How do you think they ended up looking round here for you?’ Glad asked.

‘When I was working there I made friends with a girl called Edna. I sent her a letter the other week telling her I was all right, but I posted it in another borough. The only time I ever mentioned Lambeth was in the beginning, when she asked me where I came from. I thought about my meeting with Glad and Fred, so I said Lambeth. It was the first name that came to my mind.’

‘You never told her about me and Glad, then?’

‘No, Fred.’

‘Ah, well, if this is the only place they know of, that’s probably why they were here. They might be scouting the whole area.’ Fred stood up. ‘Don’t you worry, Jen. They’ll soon see it’s hopeless and give up.’

‘I do hope you’re right,’ she said with a sad shake of her head. ‘Every time I start to feel safe, something happens.’

Glad squeezed her hand. ‘You are safe here. No one’s going to say a word.’

They all filed out then, and when they’d gone, Ma said, ‘I told you there were lots of people looking for you.’

‘Yes, you did, and both are tall, dark and handsome.’ Jenny could laugh now, albeit rather shakily.

‘I don’t think they mean you no harm.’ Ma gazed into space.

‘I can’t take that chance, though.’

‘No, with money in the offing you’re wise to be wary. Make us a nice cup of tea, duck. I’m fair parched. And I think I’ll read your tea leaves again.’

‘No, thanks, Ma,’ she said, heading for the kitchen. ‘I don’t think I want to know what the future holds.’

‘I shan’t tell you. I never told you all I saw last time.’

‘Oh.’ Jenny stopped and turned round. ‘You saw more than tall, dark and ’andsome?’ she teased.

‘Lots more.’ Ma folded her arms and looked smug. ‘Where’s that tea?’