The Cockney Angel (30 page)

‘I thought you were saving that dance for me.’

She turned with a start to see Ras standing behind her. He had a sulky scowl on his face which made him look like a petulant schoolboy. Irene forced a smile. ‘You weren’t here and I decided to keep in well with the law.’

‘With a father like yours that seems very sensible,’ Ephraim muttered.

Irene turned on him angrily. ‘I won’t have a word said against my pa.’

Ras slipped his arm around her waist. ‘Come now, old girl. Eph didn’t mean anything by it. He’s a tactless clod if ever there was one. Why don’t you sit down and take a sip of punch?’

Irene was too angry to be placated by words and wine, and she shook her head.

‘Then let’s dance,’ Ras said, taking her hand in his. ‘It’s a quadrille, quite slow and simple; just follow my lead.’

The quadrille was followed by a schottische, then a lively polka and some country dances which Irene struggled to perform. Emmie on the other hand was seemingly tireless and danced every dance. She even managed to persuade Ephraim from his seat for the lancers, which Josiah chose to sit out. Irene was not short of partners; even so she found herself scanning the company in an attempt to catch a glimpse of Kent, but it seemed that he did not choose to dance with anyone else. She was unaccountably pleased, and was immediately ashamed of her own vanity in thinking that he had singled her out above all the females present. He had chosen her simply to thank her for looking after his sister; that was the truth of the matter, but she couldn’t help feeling just a little smug.

She looked for him at supper, but he was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he had gone home early to keep Alice company. Irene hoped so, anyway, but when she returned from the dining room she spotted him conversing with the same distinguished-looking gentleman as before. She turned to Ras. ‘Who is that man talking to Inspector Kent?’

He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I couldn’t say for certain but I think he’s the Commissioner of Police. It seems that your friend is here to further his career. Personally, I can’t stand cops.
They’ll
arrest a fellow as soon as look at him, as I found out to my cost some years back when I was a green youth.’

Irene felt disappointment and anger roil in her stomach. So Kent was everything that she had thought him to be and more. What a fool she had been to allow herself to be persuaded otherwise simply because he had partnered her in a waltz. She had always prided herself on being above silly girlish fancies, but in a moment of weakness she had allowed simple physical attraction to cloud her judgement.

She was startled out of her thoughts by Ephraim, who suddenly leapt to his feet. He moved to her side and executed a nifty bow from the waist. ‘I know this one, Irene. Would you do me the honour?’

Taken completely by surprise, Irene could not think of a valid excuse and she allowed him to lead her onto the floor. It was a complicated country dance and she had to concentrate hard on following the patterns set by the other couples, which involved changing partners many times. With a sinking heart she saw that Kent had partnered the young lady with the copper-coloured ringlets and rosy cheeks who had been so anxious to attract his attention earlier in the evening. Irene could only hope that she would be spared dancing with him a second time, but it was not to be.

‘Are you enjoying yourself, Miss Angel?’ Kent asked as the complicated pattern of the dance united them once again.

‘I am, and it would seem that you are too. You appear to have done your duty. Shouldn’t you be going home to your sister, Inspector?’

‘She is well cared for.’

‘That wasn’t the case earlier today. I suppose you were just doing your duty when Alice needed you most.’

‘Now you are just being difficult, Miss Angel. Are you trying to pick a fight with me?’

They were separated for a moment by the dance, but when they came together again Irene stopped, refusing to move another step. ‘Work comes first and foremost with you, doesn’t it, Inspector Kent? Your career means everything to you and you don’t care how you go about gaining promotion or who gets hurt on the way. You had my Pa arrested and thrown into jail because you couldn’t catch the real criminals.’

‘For God’s sake keep your voice down,’ Kent said in a low voice. ‘You’re making a scene.’

‘I don’t care,’ Irene cried, too distraught to care that all eyes were upon them.

He took her by the hand, clasping it to his chest so that she could not move. ‘You don’t know what you’re saying.’

White lines edged his mouth and his eyes
were
dark expressionless pools in his pale face. Irene knew she had gone too far but she could not stop herself. ‘Leave me alone. I don’t want anything more to do with you.’

‘You can’t accuse me of these things and not hear me out. We will settle this once and for all, in private.’ Kent released her hand only to take her by the elbow in an attempt to lead her off the dance floor.

Panic-stricken, she twisted free from him and raising her hand, she slapped him hard across the face.

There was a gasp from the onlookers followed by a stunned silence and Irene fled.

Chapter Fifteen

‘WHAT WERE YOU
thinking of, Renie?’ Emily demanded, mopping her eyes with her handkerchief.

‘He made me angry,’ Irene said, turning away to peer out of the window as the snow-covered city streets flashed past. The carriage wheels clattered over the icy cobblestones and the metallic sound of the horses’ hooves shattered the silence that hung in a pall over the shuttered business heart of the City.

‘He made you angry?’ Josiah spluttered. ‘You made a spectacle of us tonight, Irene. You behaved outrageously and I won’t stand for it.’

Emily laid her gloved hand on his arm. ‘Please don’t be cross, Josiah. I’m sure that Renie is very sorry and will apologise to everyone concerned.’

‘You mustn’t upset yourself, Mrs Tippet,’ Josiah said gruffly, covering her hand with his. ‘It’s not good for you and the unborn infant, and that makes your sister’s behaviour even more despicable. I can see my position as
alderman
fading into the distance and all because of her.’

‘I am sorry, Josiah,’ Irene said with a sigh. ‘I acted on the spur of the moment. I didn’t think …’

‘No, you didn’t think. You behaved liked a harridan. I don’t know how I shall face my business colleagues after this. It only needs for the news to leak out that my father-in-law is a common criminal in league with the notorious Sykes brothers, and I will be ruined. What respectable man would send his wife to shop at an emporium run by people associated so closely with the underworld?’

‘Oh, no, dear,’ Emily said, sniffing and dabbing her eyes with her hanky. ‘Don’t say that.’

‘I do say it and I mean it. In future, Irene will not accompany us to any of the festive season functions, and she will stay within doors until this latest scandal blows over.’ Josiah leaned across the swaying carriage to put his florid face close to Irene’s. ‘Do you understand me, miss?’

‘Yes,’ Irene muttered, almost choking on the word. She had to agree if only to save Emmie further distress, but she was damned if she was going to obey Josiah. It would be worse than being locked up in Newgate.

‘You will stay by your sister’s side, Irene,’
Josiah
continued, wagging his finger at her. ‘You will keep her company and look after your mother. If I find that you have disobeyed me, I will throw you out onto the streets where I think you truly belong, with the rotten cabbage leaves and turnip tops from the costermongers’ barrows.’

‘Oh, Mr Tippet,’ Emily sobbed. ‘Please stop.’

‘I’ll say no more, but your sister will do as I say, or she will leave our house.’ Josiah glared at Irene. ‘Don’t think I will relent. I mean every word.’

Irene discovered to her cost that Josiah was unshakeable in his decision to keep her indoors and out of sight. She was confined to the house. She had no money and no means of escape. She had once made an attempt to get out, but she had found the front door was firmly locked and Jessie had been put in charge of the key. It was insufferable that a servant should be placed in such a position of power, but Emily could do nothing to alter the situation, and Ma’s entreaties to Josiah fell on deaf ears.

Matters were made worse by Ephraim, who made it clear that he considered Irene had been dealt with quite leniently under the circumstances; and Ras seemed to think the whole sorry affair was a joke. He offered to smuggle Irene out of the house, but only if she promised to
accompany
him on one of his forays into the less reputable parts of the East End for a night of gambling and carousing. She might once have been tempted, but she did not entirely trust him. She had heard him staggering along the corridor to his bedroom in the early hours of the morning often enough, and seen him at breakfast, bleary-eyed and obviously suffering from the effects of over-indulging in cheap grog and opium. No matter how many times Josiah remonstrated with his son, Ras let it all wash over him like the waves on the foreshore. Irene would have found it amusing if it had not been so frustrating. If only she were a man. They got away with murder. Quite literally in some cases, as Vic and Wally Sykes were free to roam the streets while Pa was locked up in jail. There was no justice in this world, she thought bitterly, but she was not going to stand for being treated like a wayward child a moment longer than was absolutely necessary.

Christmas came and went and Irene tried to put a brave face on her continuing lack of freedom, if only for Ma’s sake and to keep Emmie from fretting. To alleviate the tedium of the long winter days, she read every novel in Josiah’s possession and her thoughts often strayed to Alice, who was doomed to this sort of existence for the rest of her days. She even went so far as to ask permission from Josiah
to
visit Alice so that she might apologise to her at least for the embarrassment she had caused Kent, but Josiah refused point-blank. ‘You will stay indoors until my wife has given birth,’ he had said. ‘After that I might allow you to accompany her in the carriage, but you will not roam the streets alone as you have done in the past. My one hope for you, Irene, is that I can find a respectable man to marry you and take you off my hands. To that end, once Mrs Tippet has recovered from her confinement, we will invite eligible bachelors to our home and pray that one of them might consider you worthy of an offer of marriage.’

Irene had been left speechless and also furious. She had retreated to her room and locked herself in until she could face Ma and Emmie without giving vent to her feelings. In the cold confines of her cheerless bedchamber she decided that she simply must escape from Josiah’s house, and the sooner the better. She had to face the fact that she would not be able to exist alone on the streets; it would be different if Pa was free to earn a living of sorts, even if it was from gambling. Together they could find rooms and maybe even persuade their old landlord to give them another chance to run the shop. She could do nothing unless Pa was released from prison, but perhaps the very people who were responsible for his
plight
might be the ones to secure his early release. Gradually she formulated a plan. Despite her hatred of gambling and everything that the Sykes brothers stood for, she decided to brave the evil ones in their den and put her case to them. But first she had to escape from the house without being accosted by a power-crazed Jessie or Cook brandishing a rolling pin.

The next day, after breakfast, she went to her room pleading a sick headache. Half an hour later, wearing Jim’s old clothes, she hid on the back stairs waiting her chance to escape through the tradesmen’s entrance. For several days now, she had watched from an upstairs window and timed the arrival of the various deliveries so that she knew almost to the minute when the butcher’s boy would call. He was the one who lingered longest, and even though she could not see her, Irene guessed that it was Jessie who was the unlikely recipient of his amorous intentions. Today was no exception, and she crouched on the staircase listening to his cheeky banter and Jessie’s coy responses. An impatient shout from the kitchen brought their flirtation to an abrupt end and Jessie scuttled off, carrying the tray of meat.

Irene could have cried with relief when she discovered that Jessie had forgotten to lock the outside door. It opened easily on well-oiled hinges and Irene made her escape. It was so
good
to be outside that she could have taken off her cap and thrown it in the air, but she forced herself to walk slowly without drawing attention to herself. The icy grip of winter had eased and there was a hint of mildness in the damp February air. Huge grey clouds hung ominously overhead, ready to spill rain on the city below, but at the moment it was dry and once she had reached the comparative safety of Wood Street she strode off with a determined lift of her chin and a spring in her step. She went straight to Blue Boar Court and knocked on the door.

After a moment or two she heard shuffling footsteps on the flagstones inside and the door opened just enough to reveal Blackie’s beady eye peering at her. ‘What d’you want, boy?’

‘You must remember me, Mr Blacker, sir. I’m Jim Angel, Billy’s son. I come to see Vic or Wally, whichever one of them is about.’

‘They ain’t interested in a sprat like you. Push off.’

He was about to close the door but Irene had been ready for this and she gave it a mighty shove, catching him off guard. She slipped past him. ‘Sorry, mister, but this won’t wait. Don’t bother to show me in. I knows the way.’

His large hairy hand reached out to grab her, but Irene was too quick for him and she
scuttled
along the narrow passage ignoring his tirade of threats as to what he would do if he caught her. She ran up the stairs and barged into the main saloon. The pungent smell of stale cigar smoke and the fumes of strong spirits assailed her nostrils and she almost tripped over the inert body of a punter lying on the floor with his legs under one of the card tables. She thought at first that he was dead, but he groaned and she could tell by the foul stench of his breath that he was dead drunk. She stepped over him.