Silver (15 page)

       
Kate’s impression of Mrs. Druce was quite canny and when she glanced up to see Avery’s response, he looked only bemused.

“
I know, I know but it’s how she talks, but she held her tongue after that, muttering into her great big chest. I would have said something but I couldn’t trust myself not to speak out of turn. So I just ignored her. The kitchen was full of people. Mary-Ann and Jane were at some chore or other and I could feel them looking at me. Their disapproving looks. That Mary-Ann has had it in for me since the minute I got here. She’s jealous and she’s been needling me about your ‘headaches’. So she turned from the sink and gave me a proper look. I wasn’t feeling in a good mood myself and I wanted to get out of the house. So I told them that you’d given me the day off and Oh Goodness, the stir that caused! I had thought about making something up, like an errand or something, to stop them being jealous but I felt peevish after you and I….’”Kate stopped and changed tack. “After the look that Mary-Ann had thrown my way. I was not surprised when she sidled up to me and
s
aid
“You must be looking forward to a day on your own for a change?”

“
Now, she is not the friendliest of creatures and something in her voice put me on alert but, not being in the mood for game, said nothing. I simply rolled down my sleeves, reached past her for a cloth to dry my hands and nodded. She stepped out of my way and, raising her voice to address the rest of the room, added “
Mrs. Druce, if you still need those cloves I could nip off with Kate, here and pop over to Wilsons?”
Mrs. Druce barely registered her, still muttering as she was and just nodded. So Mary-Ann whipped off her apron and rounded on me.
“Hang about Miss Ward, I’ll only be a minute and I can walk with you up to the Earl’s Court Road.”

“
To be honest with you, I had not really wanted to leave that morning but now that Mary-Ann was intent on tagging along, I was keen to get away quickly, and preferably without her following me. As we left the house, she kept looking at me strangely and, I’ll admit, she made me feel quite uncomfortable. A few moments later we were shoulder to shoulder headed up the Gloucester Road. The whole way she didn’t say a word but just kept looking at me as we walked. There was something in that silence that was more threatening than some of her sharpest retorts and I just wanted to get rid of her.

“I suppose you want to get on?”
I said as we reached the junction with the Cromwell Road. I made to veer off left but Mary-Ann pressed alongside me again.

“
What’s the hurry?”
she said.
“Old Mrs. Druce takes an hour to walk to Wilson’s and I can make it in ten minutes so I figure I have at least an hour to kill before they’ll miss me. What do you say to a little wander up to Mrs. Flatts?”
She flashed me a chummy grin and hooked her arm through mine.
“Unless you have other errands to run?’
”

“
I couldn’t see an easy way out of it so I allowed myself to be led in the opposite direction. I walked in silence, listening to Mary-Ann’s stream of chatter about tourists before we arrived at the tea rooms. It all seemed so inane, I wondered whether or not I was mistaken about her. We ordered some tea and a moment later we were sat together with two cups. Horrible grey stuff it is too and I was just about to say as much when the mood changed. 

             
             
“She treats you like an absolute skivvy you know”’
she avoided my eyes and spooned a third sugar into her cup, slowly stirring after each one. “
I know, ours is a life or service but you haven’t taken a day off in eight weeks.”
Then she looked up at me and stared hard. “
It’s almost as if she has something over you”’

“
It wasn’t a surprise, she has suggested worse before now but it’s usually been in passing or as part of her usual insults. Being so close in that room caught me by surprise and I found myself answering truthfully.

“And what if she has?” I said.

“Oh, Avery, the words were out before I had chance to catch them. She watched me for a while in silence then looked down to her cup which she stirred for a few moments before raising it to her lips. She spoke quietly before taking a sip.
“And where does her young man factor in all of this?”

       
Avery’s brows shot up in surprise. He had been listening to Kate tell her story and he had been expecting the worst but this line of enquiry was completely out of the blue. It was of course a nonsense and, for a moment, he felt he could laugh but Kate continued.

“I
was as confused as you look now Avery so I said to her. “Young man?” and I tried to keep my face neutral but I barely had to fake my surprise. Trust me, Mary-Ann is many things, but she is not green and I felt she was trying to play me again. Either way she did not try to stifle her amusement very well.

‘
“Young man? What young man? Only the young man you admit to the house three or more times a week!”
She barely kept her voice down and I was forced to look around to see who might have heard.

‘
“Will you keep your voice down!”

“
Well, that was all she needed as confirmation and she leant in closer before adding
“I hope the young Miss knows what risk you take on her account and rewards you well?”

Avery
was stunned. Their secret was out, of a sort. He sat dazed for a few moments before it dawned on him that Mary-Ann had not discovered their secret but had misinterpreted the late night comings and goings for something else entirely.

“What did you say then?”
he enquired of Kate who had fallen silent. Evidently, she was waiting for some sort of eruption from Avery but he felt entirely calm.

“
Well Mary-Ann had leaned back in her chair and begun to sip her tea. She had a look about her as if she had struck gold. She knew it and she was going to wait patiently for me to make her an offer.”

“An offer?”
Avery interrupted.

“
Of course! She isn’t about to keep your secret for nothing you know. My head swam. I had to think fast. She thinks that you are entertaining some fancy man up here alone in your room.”

       
The reality of the danger into which this news now placed them began to dawn on Avery and his face fell.

             
“Continue.” He rose and walked to the window to watch the sun fade from the square beneath him.

             
“Well, you don’t know Mary-Ann like I do, but she couldn’t resist the opportunity to gloat, to sharpen her tongue on the situation.

‘
“
To be honest, I didn’t think the young miss was capable of catching a man. I was half expecting her to end up like old Miss Beckett.”
- The spinster who lives next door.’ Kate added in case Avery did not know.

‘
“I must say, she is certainly a dark horse, ain’t she? What would her father say if he knew?’ She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head. ‘Jus think of all that extra wear and tear on your feet running up and down those stairs an extra dozen times a day. I know I would want to be recompensed for that.”
She had leaned back and started to count on her fingers.
“There’s the price of shoe leather, less sleep, fewer holidays and the danger money.”

             
‘“Alright!” I had flared. “I’ll give you half a shilling if you’ll keep your trap shut.”

             
‘
“A shilling and I will see what I can do.”

             
“And that was that, she took the shilling, smug as you like, and stalked out of that tea shop like a high class cat.”

             
“A shilling?” Avery intoned quietly as he continued his vigil at the window.

             
“She’ll want more, sir. Lots more.”

       
He nodded as he tried to think of how to manage this latest turn of events. For the moment, he would fund Kate to pay Mary-Ann’s silence but he would need to make a decision soon about his future.

~o~

The following week Avery retraced his steps to Connie’s room. He knocked at the door and waited until Connie appeared. She looked pleased to see him, her hair was brushed and she was not dressed for the street. She seemed more relaxed than the last time. She was not working tonight.

“Come in, Sarah is upstairs.”

       
She stepped back into the narrow corridor to allow Avery in ahead of her. Avery removed his hat and made his way up the, now familiar, staircase taking care over the steps which were rotten. He pushed the door at the top of the stairs. The room was warm once again. Connie could afford to take a few days off and it showed. The room felt a little more lived in. There were drinks and the remnants of a half chicken meal perched on an old table. This evening it appeared as though he had arrived uninvited.

       
He turned to watch her enter the room and recognised the surprise he had not noticed downstairs. The room was well lit and seated on the bed was Sarah. In the light of the room she bore very little resemblance to Kate after all. There were similarities, she was petite and her hair was worn in a similar style. The girls’ skin was waxen and pock marked where Kate’s was milky and smooth. She did not look very healthy and her eyes were cold. Still she smiled when Avery nodded to her. Where Connie had been dressed for warmth and comfort, Sarah was dressed for work. Though her shawl and bonnet had been discarded and she had taken the liberty of removing her boots, her feet tucked up underneath her on Connie’s bed. Avery wondered how long she had been there and what they had been discussing? How well they knew each other? How well either of them could be trusted.

“
As promised, one girl delivered to your service. Sir.” The tone was unmistakably bitter but he didn’t take his eyes from Sarah. He considered the younger girl for a moment before nodding.

“Leave us.”

        Avery moved to the window to look down on the street below as Connie collected her coat and hat, muttering all the while before leaving disgruntled. He stayed at the window listening to her footfall on the steps below until the door beneath him opened onto the street and she stepped out. He watched as she glanced upwards at the window whereupon she saw him watching her and she smiled, tipping her bonnet and giving him a wink.

“
Well, sir, time is money.” Sarah’s voice brought him back in to the room. Avery turned to see what his money had bought him.

       
The girl had arranged herself on the bed. She had begun unbuttoning her blouse. Her breasts, more ample than Kate’s, were pushed up by the lacing. At the swell of her chest, there were marks and Avery shuddered as he recognised teeth marks. He was momentarily frozen, as he considered what this woman was and what purpose she served. What other men she put her service to. The thought was a heady mixture of excitement, disgust and pity. For a moment, he considered leaving; discharging his debt and leaving.  He turned his hat over in his hands and glanced over at the door.

“
Connie said you was shy.”

       
She stood up and moved across the floor to stand in front of him. She was clearly no stranger to this situation. It was not unusual for a man to become intimidated by a working girl but she had coaxed plenty of men into bed and Avery would be no different. Since he had first come into the room, her demeanour had changed. Having noticed that there was something awkward about Avery, she was now firmly in the driving seat. In her line of work, getting things over and done with was the golden rule. She lowered her gaze to his crotch, where Avery could feel the solid form of his rubber cock resting against his thigh. The nerves were exciting him and the anticipation was raising his ardour. Unlike Connie, she moved in a more sultry manner; it was a well-practiced gait that earned her way. Avery could see it as the device it was and it unnerved him, but it achieved its goals. As she approached, she reached to his trousers as Avery expected she would and he caught her hand as he had with Connie before.

             
“No,” he said firmly. He wanted to control this situation and not be dominated. He drew himself up from his shy posture and spun her round so her bottom was nestling into his crotch, rubbing up against the firm shape at his groin. She could feel it, that much was clear and she gave a surprised intake of breath. She trembled a little at the turning of the tables and the shiver that went down her excited Avery. Had he a real cock, it would have grown twice the size. Not being able to see her face in this position he was better able to endow her with the one he wanted and he evoked Kate’s image in his mind. He held on to her wrist with his left hand and roughly pushed his hands to her breast. He was immediately transported to one of his dreams where he had done just this to Kate. It seemed second nature to him as he squeezed her chest, a nervous pulse of electricity coursed from his fingertips straight to his groin and he sensed that if he was endowed like a man, he would have just spent his load into his trousers, a sticky mess to be dealt with by Kate hours later. The sensation was overwhelming and perhaps Sarah sensed his release too and she gave her own sigh of relief. Perhaps her own night was over and she had not needed to even lift her skirt? He let go of her wrist and pulled back the hair at her neck, inhaling deeply. There was an unclean, sour smell beneath the overpowering rosewater she used but beneath this was the familiar smell of warm flesh. Hungrily, he reached around and cupped both her breasts. Her anticipation of an easy evening being over, Sarah resigned herself to playing the full works. She put her head back against his shoulder clawing at the back of his neck.