The Best of Sisters (7 page)

‘That’s what I think of you, madam. You are nothing more than a sadistic bully and you should be reported to the magistrate for child cruelty.’

Sick with pain, Eliza slipped to the floor. As she tugged her skirts over her bare backside she felt something warm and sticky on her hand. It was blood. Stifling an anguished cry, she was convinced that she was dying; bleeding to death after that savage beating.

Mrs Tubbs glared at Dr Prince with narrowed eyes. ‘That’s no child. She was bleeding before I took Stinger to her. She’s begun her courses and that means she’s full grown. Do you fancy being the first to have her, Dr Prince? I’ll do you a cheap deal if you like.’

He tossed the broken pieces of the cane onto the flagstones and stamped on them. ‘Madam, you disgust me. I’m taking this child away from here and if you try to stop me, I’ll have you closed down for running a brothel.’

Mrs Tubbs recoiled as if Dr Prince has slapped her across the face, but she appeared to recover quickly. ‘One word from you, Freddie Prince, and I’ll have you arrested for peddling quack medicines.’

‘Touché!’ He clicked his heels together in a mock salute and his generous mouth curved into a wry grin. ‘It takes one scoundrel to recognise another. But,’ he added, his smiling fading, ‘I meant what I said about child cruelty. I’m taking Eliza back to her family, and if I hear you’ve been ill-treating that other poor, unfortunate little creature, then I promise you I’ll have the law on you.’

Trembling and still not fully understanding why she was bleeding and what Mrs Tubbs had meant by her ‘courses’, Eliza was more concerned about Millie than herself. She wrapped her arms around the terrified child. ‘There, there, don’t cry little Millie.’

‘Take Eliza then,’ Mrs Tubbs stormed, ‘and you can take that one as well, she’s too weak and puny to be of any use to me. You can leave her at the workhouse door on your way to finding a new lodging. I don’t want the likes of you upsetting my gentlemen clients.’

‘And I wouldn’t stay in this filthy hovel one night longer, madam.’ Dr Prince held his hands out to Eliza and Millie. ‘Come, my dears, the sooner we’re out of here, the better.’

‘Good riddance, that’s what I say.’ Turning on her heel, Mrs Tubbs stalked out of the kitchen, pausing at the door to shoot a malevolent glance at Maisie. ‘And you, you drunken slut, get cooking them joints or I’ll have your guts for garters.’

Outside on the pavement, he paused to set his bowler hat at a rakish angle on his head and, having peered at his reflection in the grimy window, he picked up his portmanteau and the case containing his medicines. ‘All right, Eliza. Show me where you live.’

Eliza looked at him doubtfully. ‘You won’t really leave poor Millie at the workhouse will you, doctor?’

‘I can’t see any other course open to me, I’m afraid.’

‘Dolly and Ted will look after her,’ Eliza said stoutly. ‘They took me in and treated me like
their own. I even think of them as me mum and dad.’ A twinge of pain in her lower back made Eliza grimace and clutch her stomach. She could feel the warm, stickiness between her legs and once again panic seized her.

‘What’s the matter?’ cried Millie, clutching her hand. She cast Dr Prince an anguished glance. ‘If you’re a doctor, sir, then you’d best help her.’

Freddie started walking. ‘This isn’t in my field of expertise. You’ll be fine, Eliza, just lead the way home.’

Dolly opened the door just far enough to peer outside. ‘Who is it?’ Her voice was tremulous and the tips of her fingers white as she held tightly to the door.

‘It’s me, Eliza, I’m not well.’

The door opened but Dolly’s expression changed subtly as she squinted at Dr Prince. ‘Heavens above, what’s going on?’

Doffing his hat, he executed a nifty bow. ‘Dr Frederick Prince at your service, ma’am. But my friends call me Freddie, which I much prefer.’

‘A doctor!’ Dolly’s eyes opened wide. ‘What’s wrong with Eliza?’

‘If I may come in for a moment?’ Freddie put one foot over the threshold.

‘I’m really sick,’ Eliza said, unable to prevent her bottom lip from wobbling, although she was
trying hard to be brave so as not to frighten Millie.

‘A woman’s condition, ma’am,’ Freddie said, dumping his cases on the floor. ‘Not within my powers to advise.’ He tapped the side of his nose, winking.

‘Oh! Yes, I understand.’ Dolly put her arm around Eliza’s shoulders. ‘Come into the scullery with me, Eliza. And you, doctor, please take a seat and your little girl too.’

‘Not my child,’ Freddie said, clearing his throat. ‘Another matter for discussion between yourself and Eliza.’

Suddenly businesslike and seemingly forgetting her invalid status, Dolly took Eliza into the scullery and, while she tore an old cotton sheet into strips, she told Eliza that she must expect this situation to occur monthly, although she was a bit vague as to the cause and became flustered when Eliza tried to ask questions.

‘We mustn’t keep the good doctor waiting,’ Dolly said, making a pad from the rags with a quick demonstration as to how to fasten it. ‘There’s nothing wrong with you, dear. It’s just one of the torments that we women have to suffer. It will go away in a day or so. You can clean yourself up at the pump and fill the kettle when you’ve done. We must offer our guest a cup of tea. Oh dear, I think my palpitations are returning; perhaps the doctor can give me
something for them. Hurry up, dear. Don’t just stand there.’

Still not much the wiser, but feeling relieved that her condition was not going to prove fatal, Eliza went out into the yard and drew water from the pump. Having completed her ablutions, she filled the kettle and took it back into the house. She found Freddie sprawled in Ted’s chair by the range and Dolly perched on the edge of her seat listening enthralled to the medical jargon that tripped off his lips. Millie was huddled on a stool with her arms wrapped around her knees, eyeing them warily.

‘Of course,’ Freddie continued, puffing out his chest, ‘I’m not one to boast, but I have excellent qualifications from the University of Paris where I studied medicine.’

‘So why don’t you set up in practice, doctor? Or work in one of the London hospitals?’ Dolly asked, wide-eyed with interest.

‘Because, ma’am, I prefer to spread my talents amongst the poor and needy. I am a free spirit and a free thinker. I work to benefit mankind and bring my knowledge to those most in need.’

Dolly leaned forward, her eyes shining. ‘Can you give me something for my nerves, doctor? I’m a martyr to my nerves and palpitations have kept me confined to the house for many long years.’

Eliza set the kettle on the hob and drew up
another stool to sit beside Millie. ‘Don’t be scared, dear,’ she whispered. ‘No one is going to hurt you.’

‘My dear lady, I shall give you some of my blood purifier, Sanguis purus, which will do the trick nicely. We’ll soon have you dancing in the street like the pretty young woman that you are.’

Covering her face with her pinafore, Dolly burst into a fit of giggles. ‘Oh, doctor, you are a one.’

Eliza stared at Freddie, and, seeming to feel her glance, he looked up with a benign smile. She was certain that he winked at her, but it was done so quickly that she thought she might have been mistaken. Surely the doctor was not having Dolly on? Eliza set about making a pot of tea and, as instructed by Dolly, she fetched a packet of broken biscuits from the cupboard in the scullery.

Freddie took a bottle of medicine from his suitcase, and Eliza was sent to fetch a teaspoon. He administered a dose with the aplomb of a fairground magician: Eliza half expected him to produce a rabbit from his bowler hat, but he merely put the cork back in the bottle, placing it on the mantelshelf.

Dolly smacked her lips, smiling happily. ‘I can feel it doing me good already.’

‘So it will, Mrs Peck,’ Freddie said, resuming his seat by the fire. ‘Eliza will see that you only
take one teaspoonful at a time. It’s unwise to overdose on medication.’

Eliza poured the tea into Dolly’s best china cups. ‘Can Millie stay here with us, Mum?’

‘Oh, Lord. Don’t ask me such awkward questions, Eliza. Not in front of the good doctor. I don’t know what to say.’

‘Say yes, please say yes. Otherwise she’ll have to go back to the workhouse.’

‘I don’t understand why you brought the workhouse child here in the first place,’ Dolly said, frowning. ‘And shouldn’t you being going back to your place of work, dear?

Eliza stared helplessly at Freddie; she couldn’t bring herself to tell Dolly the truth. The dire facts about Mrs Tubbs’s activities might bring on a severe attack of the vapours and undo all the good that Dr Prince’s medicine had done.

Freddie seemed to understand Eliza’s unspoken plea for help. He reached out to pat Dolly’s hand. ‘My dear lady, there is something that I should discuss with your husband when he returns home, the facts being too harsh for the ears of a delicate person such as yourself.’

‘Oh, Lord above us.’ Dolly’s mouth turned down at the corners and her lips wobbled ominously.

‘You must not distress yourself, ma’am. As my patient, I advise you strongly to calm yourself.’

‘Yes, doctor. Anything you say.’ Dolly sank
back in her chair, fanning herself with her hand.

Freddie pulled a pocket watch from his waistcoat pocket and, taking Dolly’s wrist gently between his fingers, he took her pulse. ‘As I thought, ma’am, your pulse is racing. I strongly advocate a rest in bed until your husband returns from work and, if I may, I will call upon him or, better still, I’ll visit him at his place of work.’

‘Of course, I’ll go to my bed immediately.’ Dolly rose unsteadily to her feet. ‘Eliza will see you out and you, little girl, whatever your name is, you can help me upstairs.’ Beckoning to Millie, Dolly took her by the hand. ‘Can you see the way, dear?’

Millie shot a puzzled look at Eliza, who gave her an encouraging nod.

‘Yes’m. I can see fine.’ Millie led Dolly to the stairs, guiding her between the furniture.

‘Eliza,’ Freddie said, when they were out of earshot. ‘I have a proposition to put before you.’

‘How would you like to work for me?’ Freddie’s eyes twinkled, although his face was set in a serious expression.

‘Doing what, sir?’

He set his hat on his head, and struck a pose with his thumbs tucked in his waistcoat pockets. ‘I am a professional man, although some ignorant people call my profession crocussing, which is blatantly as unfair as it is untrue. I peddle hope and comfort to the unfortunate poor and in doing so I make myself a reasonable living, which is only right and proper. Now I could do a lot better with an assistant, or maybe two, if that little scrap upstairs is not to return to the workhouse. She’s suitably pale and thin and, with a bit of coaching, would make an excellent ailing child, who can be seen to benefit miraculously from my nostrums. What do you say, Eliza? I could pay you the same as Mrs Tubbs, maybe more if we did well together.’

Eliza stared at him, dazed. ‘Work for you, sir? As a doctor’s assistant?’

‘An assistant, certainly. How about it?’

‘I think I’d like to, but you would have to ask Dad, I mean Mr Peck.’

‘And that’s exactly what I intend to do.’ Freddie picked up his bags. ‘We’ll go to Mr Peck’s place of work right away. Where is it, by the way?’

‘Eliza, don’t leave me.’ Millie’s voice rose in an anxious wail as she came running down the stairs.

‘Come along then, Millie.’ Eliza held out her hand.

‘You ain’t taking me back to the workhouse.’

‘There’s no fear of that,’ Eliza said firmly. ‘You and me is going to be the doctor’s assistants.’

Enoch was hunched over his ledgers like a carrion crow huddled over the remains of a dead rat. He scowled ominously when he saw Eliza as she followed Freddie into the chandlery. ‘What’s this then? And who are you, mister?’

‘Doctor,’ Freddie said, setting down his bags. ‘Dr Frederick Prince and I’ve come to see the sailmaker.’

‘What’s she doing with you?’ Enoch pointed his pen at Eliza.

‘I don’t think that’s any of your business, sir.’ Freddie marched to the bottom of the ladder that led up to the sail loft. ‘Ahoy, there, Mr Peck. Permission to come aboard, sir.’

The hatch opened and Ginger’s freckled face
appeared through the hole. ‘Who’s asking?’

‘Dr Frederick Prince, late of the University of Paris.’ Freddie mounted the ladder with Eliza and Millie close on his heels. ‘I’ve come to speak to your employer, lad. Make way there.’

Ted climbed off his stool, approaching Freddie with a curious stare. ‘Who wants me then?’

Eliza moved closer to Davy, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, working on a lateen sail. He looked up and grinned. ‘Who’s that, Liza?’

She laid her finger on her lips. ‘Shhh! I’m trying to hear what they’re saying.’ But it was impossible. Ted had taken Freddie to a far corner of the loft where he conducted his business, out of earshot of the apprentices. Eliza watched them, wishing she could hear what they were saying, but struck by the difference in the two men. Ted was much older, of course, and stooped from a life spent bent double working on canvas. He had seemed big and strong to her, but standing beside Freddie he looked quite small and insignificant. Freddie was not much taller, but he held himself straight, like the guardsmen that Eliza had once seen standing outside Buckingham Palace. Although he was slim, he had wide shoulders and a solid look about him that might make men think twice before they challenged him to a bout of fisticuffs. There was something about that him reminded
Eliza of Bart, or maybe it was simply being back in her old home that had made her think of him at this particular moment. Her heart contracted with the pain of missing her brother. He had promised to send for her and she knew that he would keep that promise, if he could; but there were terrible dangers at sea, she knew all about those from the mariners who came into the chandlery. She had grown up listening to seamen’s tales of storms, typhoons, ships lost and men drowned. Her throat constricted painfully and it was only when Millie tugged at her hand that she came back to earth. For a moment her imagination had taken her into wild seas, storm-tossed ships and Bart in peril of his life.