The Innkeeper's Daughter (19 page)

‘Shall we go and have a look at this place?’ Bella said resignedly. ‘We could go one Sunday; we could borrow a pony and cart.’

‘Aye, I reckon so.’ Joe drained the tankard and stood up. ‘This coming Sunday? We’ll have to look sharp anyway if Ma’s given a month’s notice to leave ’Woodman.’

‘A month,’ Bella said mournfully. ‘Four weeks to move a lifetime of belongings.’

The following Sunday Bella, Joe and Henry climbed into the borrowed cart and set off for the journey into Hull. Neither Bella nor Joe had been before and Nell wanted to go with them to show the way, but Joe told her that she should stay and help their mother with the packing of their belongings and Bella said she must also cook the dinner ready for their return.

‘There’s a joint of beef,’ she told her. ‘Don’t overcook it, and you’ll need to beat ’Yorkshire pudding and let it stand until we get home, so keep ’oven hot.’

‘How am I expected to do everything?’ Nell grumbled.

‘Ma will show you,’ Bella said and settled Henry next to her. ‘We’ll be home about five o’clock.’

Joe cracked the whip and the old mare set off at a slow pace. ‘Don’t know about being home for five,’ Joe said. ‘If she doesn’t get a move on we shan’t be in Hull afore teatime.’

‘Gee up!’ Henry called out and Bella smiled. It was nice to have an outing, she thought. It was quite rare.

‘I’m not sure of ’way,’ Joe admitted as they began to trot on, ‘so I think we’ll follow ’estuary and use Hedon new road. Carriers go Holderness road way; it teks you into ’centre of town but it’s not a good road, so draymen say, and it teks longer.’

‘All right,’ Bella said. ‘Whatever you think, Joe,’ and she felt a warm feeling inside that she and Joe were getting on so much better than they had done for some time.

They drove towards the old village of Preston, where parishioners were entering the gates of the ancient church of All Saints, and down the long country lane towards the hamlet of Salt End, which bordered the northern bank of the Humber.

‘I don’t think it’ll tek too long now,’ he said as they turned on to the broad highway. ‘I think it’s about five or six miles from here. Watch out for a milestone. But I’d forgotten, this is a turnpike and we might have to pay. Have you got any money?’

Bella searched in her purse. ‘Some.’ She’d borrowed from her mother, as she didn’t have any of her own. ‘I hope it’ll be enough – we don’t want to have to turn back before we’ve even got there.’ But when they reached the tollgate there was no one there to take their money so Bella put away her purse and they travelled on, feeling pleased.

‘One, two, free, four,’ Henry piped up and Bella looked down at him.

‘What are you counting?’ she said, pleased that he remembered his numbers.

Henry lifted his hand and pointed. ‘Big sticks,’ he said. ‘Six. Seven. Nine.
Ten!
’ he finished on a triumphant note.

‘My word,’ Joe said admiringly. ‘Clever lad. I couldn’t count like that when I was your age. But you missed out number eight. Those are ships’ masts,’ he told him. ‘Did he know that?’ he asked Bella.

‘Course he does. I’ve shown him pictures of ships, haven’t I, Henry?’

Henry nodded and started counting again. ‘One. Two …’

The skyline was littered with ships’ masts and cranes for almost the full length of the road, and Bella said that she hadn’t realized just how big the docks were.

‘This is onny ’eastern side,’ Joe told her. ‘Somebody was telling me that there’s a string o’ docks in ’town and on ’western side as well.’

‘So we could be busy wi’ fishermen or shipyard workers at this public house. What’s it called? The Maritime?’

‘Aye. We’ll have to ask directions when we get there, seeing as Ma’s never been.’

‘Her brother said in his letter that it was near Osborne Street,’ Bella said. ‘Central and not far from ’railway station.’ She sighed. ‘I hope it’s a successful business and we don’t have to start from scratch.’

‘Mm,’ Joe said gloomily. ‘I’m not building my hopes up.’

After another twenty minutes or so they came abreast of the Victoria Dock and ahead of them the River Hull and the beginning of the town. Joe pointed out a military garrison that stood between the river and the Humber estuary. ‘That must be ’Citadel that William told me about. It’s not used much for ’military now. I think they’ve moved ’sodgers elsewhere.’

‘It must have been built to stop invaders in ’old days,’ Bella said. ‘Nobody’d want to invade us now.’

‘An’ if they do there’s our William to stop ’em,’ Joe guffawed. ‘Except we don’t know where he is!’

They’d received one letter from William just after he had left home and nothing since, and Bella worried that if he did come home on leave, he’d find his family departed and someone else living at the Woodman.

They came into a square and from there travelled alongside the River Hull looking for a bridge to take them over into the town; there had been a ferry close by the Citadel but Bella said she didn’t fancy crossing in it. Warehouses and housing lined both sides of the street; the narrow river which ran through the town was filled with shipping and Joe remarked that the town seemed to be built on water.

They found the North Bridge, rattled beneath its stone arches and headed towards the centre of Hull. They skirted yet another dock and then stopped to ask directions for Osborne Street. The man they asked was dressed as if he had been to church. He wore a beaver hat, a wool coat and polished boots. He looked up at them and gave a small frown.

‘Jewish, are you?’

They both stared down at him. ‘No,’ Joe replied. ‘Do we have to be?’

‘No. No, you don’t, but it’s mainly a Jewish community,’ the man said and pointed in the direction they should go. ‘Head for ’railway station,’ he told them. ‘Then ask again.’

‘If it’s a Jewish community,’ Bella said in dismay, ‘they might not want us setting up in business in their area.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well.’ Bella shrugged. ‘I understood from what Miss Hawkins taught us that cos they’ve been ostracized as a race for centuries, they set up their own communities. They won’t want us living amongst them.’

Joe shook his head. ‘I didn’t know that.’ He clutched the reins. ‘Oh, heck! Summat else to think about.’

They found the railway station, which had a brand-new hotel at the side of it, but no one they asked seemed to have heard of the Maritime public house. Joe climbed down from his seat to lead the horse as they went up and down the streets and looked down other entries off them.

‘It can’t be a popular place if nobody’s heard of it,’ he said. ‘
Everybody
knows public houses and hostelries!’

‘Maybe you’re asking ’wrong people,’ Bella called down to him. ‘Some of these folk look as if they’ve just left church or chapel. And ask for Osborne Street rather than ’Maritime and mebbe they’ll talk to you rather than turning up their noses.’ For it seemed to her that some of the people Joe spoke to raised their eyebrows when he mentioned the Maritime despite denying they knew of it.

Then Joe stopped an elderly man in a dark overcoat and tall black hat who looked at them solemnly and with a thick Germanic accent told them they were already on Osborne Street.

‘We’re lookin’ for ’Maritime hostelry. Do you know where that is?’ Joe asked slowly and loudly.

The stranger gave a slight smile. ‘I am not deaf, young man, nor an imbecile. The Maritime is not in Osborne Street but in Anne Street. Travel a little further and Anne Street crosses the junction at the crossroad. Turn right for the Maritime.
The
door is hidden down an alley, which is just as well, for it is not a
gut
place to behold.’

Bella’s spirits dropped and Joe looked up at her, his mouth screwed up apprehensively.

‘You have business there?’ the man asked, and when they said they had, he shook his head. ‘Be careful, there are some bad people about.’ He must have seen the dismay in their expressions for he asked if they would like him to accompany them.

Joe said no, but Bella exclaimed, ‘Yes, please. If you wouldn’t mind, sir? We’re strangers here.’

He lifted his hat from his forehead and then placed it back again. ‘I understand, of course,’ he said. ‘It is not easy coming to a new place where everything is foreign to you. I know that very well. Please.’ He turned to Joe. ‘You will follow me.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

THE MAN WALKED
alongside Joe down Osborne Street and then directed him to turn right. Being Sunday there was little heavy traffic, just a few horses and traps and carts rattling noisily on the cobbled road, but quite a few people strolling along at an easy pace; there were also some tramps sitting or sleeping in shop doorways.

After walking a few yards down Anne Street they drew to a halt and their new companion indicated a narrow building with an alleyway running down the side.

Bella jumped from the cart and lifted Henry down. ‘Here? Surely not! How do they bring in the casks?’

‘Is this it?’ Joe said. ‘
This
is ’Maritime?’

Their new companion nodded. ‘It is,’ he said. ‘I told you, did I not, that it was not a
gut
place?’

Bella peered down the alley, which was littered with rubbish: strips of dirty rag, broken bottles, dross and debris unwanted by anyone, even the very poor.

‘Excuse me, sir, Mr … erm?’ Bella said. ‘Is this a – we were told it was a public house.’

‘Jacobs,’ he said, lifting his hat again. ‘Reuben Jacobs. I believe it was once an inn. Then I understood it became a rooming house. With a licence to sell alcohol.’

Bella and Joe looked at each other. ‘Ma’s been sold a pig in a poke,’ Joe said. ‘And by her own brother an’ all. What ’we gonna do?’

‘Ah!’ Mr Jacobs exclaimed. ‘You have bought a pig in a sack,
ja
? Something without seeing it first; am I right? But you are very young; someone has taken advantage of you,
ja
?’

‘Aye,’ Joe replied, gazing gloomily at the derelict building. ‘Well, not us exactly, but our mother. She took advice from her brother, who said it was vacant. Brewery has sold her ’tenancy. She thought it was a public house.’

Reuben Jacobs nodded. ‘Well, perhaps it can be again. Do you wish to take a look inside? Have you a key?’

‘We were told there’s a caretaker,’ Bella said. ‘But why would anybody stay here, even as caretaker? It’s dirty and looks abandoned. But I suppose we ought to take a look, Joe, now that we’re here. Tie ’horse up to that lamp post. She should be all right.’

‘No. Wait,’ Mr Jacobs intervened. ‘I will find somebody to look after her.’ He walked swiftly back to the end of the street and looked up and down; then he raised his arm and beckoned with his fingers. A minute later a youth skidded to his side. Jacobs spoke to him and the boy followed him back to where Joe and Bella stood.

‘He will look after the horse and vehicle for two pennies,’ Mr Jacobs said. ‘Give him one now and another when we come out.’

We
, Bella thought as she fumbled in her purse. Is he going to come in with us? She hoped that he would. She was rather afraid of what they might discover when they went down the alleyway to a door which they had spotted halfway along.

She asked Joe to carry Henry. The alley was full of muddy puddles and heaps of animal and possibly human excreta, and she didn’t want the little boy falling in it. Joe went first, then Bella and finally Reuben Jacobs, all stepping carefully.

The door was half open but Joe banged on it anyway. ‘Anybody there?’ he bellowed, pushing it wider. ‘They’ve no need to lock it, I suppose,’ he said, looking inside. ‘Nowt worth stealing.’

‘
Tsk, tsk
,’ Reuben Jacobs muttered. ‘But easy to –
ein Feuer
machen
– make fire with so much rubbish. People light fires to keep warm and then fall asleep.’

Bella put her hand over her nose and mouth as she followed Joe inside. The smell of damp, decay and alcohol was nauseating.

‘Ah!’ Joe jumped back and Henry began to wail. Joe had almost fallen over a man curled up on the floor, either dead or asleep.

Mr Jacobs put his foot out and gave the body a prod with the toe of his shiny black boot. The man rolled over, his gaping mouth showing a few stained teeth. His hair was long and bedraggled, his clothes filthy. He was completely asleep so Joe prodded him in the ribs much harder than Mr Jacobs had done.

He opened one eye and gazed glassily up at them. ‘Hey!’ He tried to get up but fell back again in a stupor. ‘Thish is private property. No admittance.’

‘Get up, you old soak.’ Joe prodded him again. ‘We’ve come to look at our property.’

A short argument ensued, with the caretaker wanting to see some proof of who they were and Joe telling him brusquely that nobody else in their right mind would want to look round such a neglected place. The caretaker could only agree.

‘There’re folk asleep upstairs,’ he grumbled. ‘They’ll not tek kindly to being woken up.’

‘Are they paying for their accommodation?’ Mr Jacobs interrupted. ‘If not,’ he turned to Bella and Joe, ‘I can fetch a constable who will help you to evict them.’

‘Oh, no, no!’ The caretaker seemed to become suddenly aware of Mr Jacobs’s presence. ‘I’ll get them out, don’t you worry about that, sir.’ He was profuse in his assurances. ‘I know you very well, sir, of course. I know you have authority. This way, if you please.’

Bella looked gratefully at Reuben Jacobs, very glad that he had come with them. Joe would have lost his temper and she would have been nervous of creating trouble.

‘Carter’s my name,’ the caretaker informed them when Joe
asked.
‘Brewery asked me to keep an eye on ’place till they found somebody else to tek it on. Onny pay me a pittance.’

‘You have a roof over your head,
ja
?’ Mr Jacobs said. ‘That is
gut
. Better than sleeping on the streets.’

Carter glanced warily at him and nodded, and led them into a large room with a counter and a piano and nothing else. It was very dark, with no outside window, just a large glazed pane overlooking a corridor leading to other rooms.

‘Where are all ’tables and chairs?’ Bella asked him. ‘I thought this was a public house. Where’s ’ale kept?’