The Constant Heart (8 page)

She felt the colour flood to her cheeks. 'It's just an evening out, Pa. I like Harry, but there's nothing more in it.'

A glimmer of a smile lit Edward's pale blue eyes. 'I think I know the signs when a man is besotted by a woman. Be guided by me.' He pulled his cap down to shield his eyes from the sun, and strode off towards his ship.

Rosina could see Walter, a tall slim figure amongst the burly stevedores and dock labourers. The unloading appeared to be complete and the lighter was being rowed away from the wharf, taking the rotten cargo of hay to be loaded onto another vessel downstream. Caddie was standing outside the wharfinger's office clutching Alfie by the hand while Ronnie toddled in and out between the working men, who gave him the occasional word of encouragement and a pat on the head. Rosina smiled to herself, remembering the days when she had been not much older than young Ronnie Trigg, and the kindness that had been shown to her by the tough men who worked the docks. It had been like having a dozen or more uncles who watched out for her, keeping her out of danger from the moving cranes and the bales of hay, barrels and sacks that were being unloaded. A labourer caught hold of Ronnie by the seat of his pants and lifted him onto his shoulder. He restored him to his mother, tipping his cap, and grinning. No wonder Caddie looked so pale and tired these days, Rosina thought, with a rush of sympathy. She could not imagine what it must be like to be tied down with two tiny tots and another expected within the next month or so. Poor Caddie! She would call on her later that day, after having made her peace with Sukey.

Rosina was about to go back into the house when she heard shouting. There was no mistaking the tones of Ham Barnum. Without stopping to think, she raced across the wharf, pushing her way through the interested crowd of men who had gathered to watch the spectacle of two well-known skippers haranguing each other. The ill feeling between Ham and Edward was legendary along the wharves of Wapping and Shadwell. She reached Walter first, but he caught her by the arm, preventing her from intervening between the two angry captains who were squaring up to each other.

'Let me go, Walter.'

'You'll only get hurt if you get in the way.'

'I said, let me go. My pa is a sick man. This has got to stop.'

Walter lifted her bodily and placed her behind him.

'You old bastard,' Ham roared. 'I'll wager you had something to do with my ship being ransacked.'

'Take that back, you black-hearted fiend, or do I have to make you?'

'Just try it, old man.' Ham pointed to his chin. 'Let's finish what we began last night.'

'I could put out your lights with one hand tied behind my back.' Edward danced about on his toes, but was overcome by a fit of coughing.

Walter stepped in between them, holding up his hands. 'Now, gentlemen. Can't we settle this in a friendly fashion?'

Ham pushed him aside. 'Get out of me way, scribbler. This is men's business.'

'Stand aside, Walter.' Edward managed to catch his breath. 'This is between me and him, the cheating old sod.'

With an infuriated roar, Ham lunged at Edward, but Walter deflected the blow with his arm. 'I don't want to knock you down, Captain Barnum. But if you continue in this manner, I may have to.'

A gasp of indrawn breath seemed to suck in all the air around Rosina. All eyes were on Ham Barnum, as the audience waited for his response to this challenge. She held her breath as he stared at Walter, clenching fists like bunches of bananas. Ham's thick bull-neck had turned brick red and the colour flooded his lined face, clashing horribly with his ginger hair and whiskers. For a moment she thought that he was going to pound Walter into mincemeat, but Barnum was staring at Walter with a look of puzzlement on his face and his mouth worked silently. A ripple of anticipation ran through the onlookers. Rosina could see the men fisting their hands, as if ready to leap into the fray, but it never happened.

Barnum turned away from Walter, pointing a shaking finger at Edward. 'I'll remember this, May. Next time it will be just you and me, but I choose not to mash your ugly face into pulp with women present.' He turned on his heel and barged his way through the crowd. 'Barker. Where's that bloody man? Do I have to do everything myself?' He stamped off in the direction of the ship's chandler.

'Are you all right, Papa?' Rosina clutched her father's arm, alarmed by his sudden pallor. 'Won't you come home and rest for a while?'

Edward shook his head. 'I'm fine, Rosie. The damn fellow is a coward. Did you all witness that?' He turned to his audience, but they were dispersing beneath the stern gaze of the dock foreman and the wharfinger. Edward shrugged his shoulders. 'Well, I always knew he was lily-livered.'

'That was so strange,' Rosina said, staring at Barnum's retreating figure. 'I thought he was going to kill you, Walter. And then he just stopped, for no apparent reason.'

'Perhaps he was too gallant to hit a man wearing spectacles.'

'I think you actually scared him.' Rosina eyed him curiously. She felt as though she was seeing a different person to the quiet, self-effacing young man she had always known.

'Don't talk nonsense, poppet.' Edward snatched a sheaf of papers from Walter's hands. 'Ham Barnum just knew when he was going to be beaten. If it wasn't for that bout of coughing, I'd have laid him out for the seagulls and rats to pick at.' He beckoned to Artie, who was saying his goodbyes to Caddie and the children. 'Hurry up, Trigg, or we'll miss the tide. Walter, take my girl home and keep an eye on her. If young Gostellow comes sniffing around while I'm away, you send him packing.'

'Pa, please,' Rosina said, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks. 'I'm not a child any more.'

'No, Rosie. And that's the problem. There's plenty of bilge rats that would take advantage of two women living on their own and unprotected. Walter, I'd be obliged if you'd stay on late in the office for the next few nights until I return. I'll make it worth your while.' Edward climbed stiffly down the ladder and dropped onto the deck of the barge.

Rosina could have wept with embarrassment, but she met Walter's sympathetic eyes with a straight look and a lift of her chin. 'Walter, if you dare breathe a word of this to anyone, especially Mr Gostellow, I will never, never speak to you again as long as I live.'

Bertha was busy preparing steak and kidney to go in a pudding. She brushed aside Rosina's attempts to apologise for her father's ill temper. 'Get on with you, girl. As if I takes any notice of what your dad says to me. Haven't I put up with his tantrums for nigh on twenty years?'

'You're a saint, Bebe. I can't think of anyone else who would stand for such treatment.'

Bertha cut a kidney in half with a surgeon-like incision and she chuckled. 'Never you mind your cajoling ways, missy. Haven't you anything better to do than stand round getting in me way?'

It was the equivalent of telling her to go out and play, and Rosina had to conceal a smile. As far as Bertha was concerned, she would always be a little girl. It was sometimes annoying, but it was also comforting. 'I thought I'd go and see Sukey.'

'Just keep out of old Barnum's way then.'

'Don't worry, I will.' She picked up her reticule and left the kitchen, tiptoeing along the hallway. She hesitated outside the office door, peering inside. Walter was sitting at the desk with his head bent over a ledger. She had no intention of asking his permission to go out visiting, and if she decided to accept Harry's invitation to supper, then Walter would just have to acknowledge the fact that she was her own mistress. He did not look up, and she left the house, closing the door quietly behind her.

There was frantic activity aboard the
Curlew
. She saw Barker standing on deck, issuing instructions to the men from the chandlery as they carried new equipment on board. It seemed that the river pirate had done his work well, but it was strange that he, or they, had picked upon Captain Barnum's vessel and left the
Ellie May
untouched. Whatever their motives, she would have liked to thank them for giving Pa a chance to recoup his losses. Perhaps the thieves also bore a grudge against Barnum? She quickened her pace – it was too nice a day to bother her head about matters that really did not concern her. As she was about to walk past the house where Caddie and Artie lodged, she decided to call in there first. She needed to make certain that Caddie was not too distressed about the unexpectedly quick turnround of the
Ellie May
that had deprived her of her husband's company. It was the least she could do in the circumstances.

The front door was open and the smell of boiled beef bones and cabbage water wafted from a room at the back of the ground floor. She wrinkled her nose as she headed up the stairs to the first floor. She could hear a child crying and a woman's raised voice coming from a room on the top floor. Somewhere in the house a door slammed and a man was shouting. She could not make out the words, but it was obvious that he was angry about something. A woman screamed and then there was silence.

Rosina shuddered: this was not a nice place to live. The paintwork was peeling; there were holes in the floorboards and cracks in the plasterwork. She went to Caddie's door and knocked.

'Come in, it's not locked.' Caddie's voice from inside was almost drowned by the wailing of the children.

Rosina opened the door and went inside. She remembered the room as being sparsely furnished, but now it looked barely habitable, the only pieces of furniture being a deal table and two beechwood chairs. The floorboards were scrubbed as clean as bleached bones but were bare of any covering, not even a piece of drugget or a rag rug. She was certain that there had been a picture on the wall above the mantelshelf, and a rectangular clean patch on the stained wallpaper confirmed that something had once hung there. Caddie was sitting on the window seat watching helplessly as the two little boys fought over a slice of stale-looking bread.

'Are you all right, Caddie?' It seemed a silly question, since Caddie had obviously been crying.

'N-not really,' Caddie said, sniffing. 'Ronnie, give your brother a bit of bread.'

Ronnie crammed the last morsel into his mouth and gulped it down whole, causing Alfie to roar with rage. Rosina scooped him off the floor and cuddled him. 'There, there, Alfie. I've got something you'd like.' She sat down at the table, setting him on her knee and she opened her reticule. She tipped the sugared almonds out of the poke. Ronnie leapt up from the floor and tried to climb onto her knee so that he could reach the table.

Caddie laughed in spite of herself. 'Now, boys, behave yourselves.'

Rosina bit one of the sweets in half and gave them a piece each, making sure that Alfie only had the sugary outer shell. 'Chew it carefully; we don't want you to choke.'

'I'm sorry, miss. They ain't usually so badly behaved,' Caddie said tiredly. 'They're hungry, that's all.'

Rosina looked at her aghast. 'When did you last have a proper meal, Caddie?'

'Dunno. Days ago, I think. I never had a chance to ask Walter for an advance on Artie's wages, and then he weren't due for none – there being no cargo to sell.'

'Oh, dear! I'm so sorry.' Rosina broke another sugared almond in half and fed it to the boys. 'Haven't you any money at all, Caddie?'

'No, miss. And nothing in the cupboard neither.'

'This is terrible. I really had no idea that you were so dreadfully hard up.' Rosina set Alfie down on the floor. 'This can't go on. I'll speak to Walter and tell him to give you an advance on Artie's next wage.'

'Thank you, miss.' Tears spilled from Caddie's eyes. 'You're too kind.'

'Nonsense. I can't bear to see you and the little ones living like this. I know it's none of my business, but how did things get so bad?'

'It's not my place to say, miss.'

'Come now, I won't have that. Your Artie works for my papa and I'm sure he would be horrified if he could see you in such a poor state.'