Winners and Losers (54 page)

‘I don't understand. Why you have to go to Mid-Wales with Mr Richards at a day's notice, Sali?' Joey said at the dinner table that night.

‘Because he wants me to meet a man who has a gold mine that might be a good investment.' It was an idiotic story but after inventing it on the spur of the moment, Sali had no option but to stick to it. ‘You don't mind taking care of the children, do you, Mari?' She turned to the housekeeper who at her insistence ate all their meals with them except when they had company.

‘Not at all, Miss Sali.' Mari looked at her even more suspiciously than Joey had.

Sali looked at Harry. ‘You don't mind me going away for one night, do you, Harry?'

‘Tell you what, it's half day tomorrow, so when I come home from work I'll take you riding on your pony,' Joey promised.

‘Yippee!' Harry shouted.

‘That's settled then.' Sali spooned the last bit of gooseberry fool from her dish into her mouth. She hated lying to Mari and Joey, but then, if tomorrow worked out the way she hoped it would, it would be worth it.

‘Megan, you have visitors,' the matron announced from the doorway of the sluice room where Megan was leaning over the sink washing out floor clothes.

‘Visitors!' Megan had woven so many dreams around a moment just like this; she couldn't believe it was actually happening.

‘Your father wrote and asked us to allow you see them. They are waiting in the small office at the end of the corridor. At the end of the day I will expect you to make up the time you will lose speaking to them.'

‘Yes, Matron.' Megan left the floor cloths in the sink and went to the bathroom next door. She washed her hands and face, rolled down the sleeves of her uniform and buttoned her cuffs. Wishing there was a mirror so she could check her hair, she made her way to the small office, not daring to wonder who might be the other side of the door.
Them.
One just had to be Victor ...

She knocked and opened the door.

‘Mrs Evans, we have to make a decision as to what to do next,' Mr Richards remonstrated, as Sali and Megan continued to hug one another wordlessly. But while Sali remained dry-eyed, Megan couldn't stop sobbing.

‘I am sorry, Mr Richards.' Sali helped Megan into a chair. ‘We have to talk, Megan. First, do you want to leave here?'

‘I have been trying to think of a way to get out ever since I came here. But we're locked in, just like the inmates. Even the delivery vans come through two sets of gates that are locked after them before they are unloaded. And I've stood by those gates. You can see for miles and miles and there's not a house in sight. Not even a farmhouse.'

An agonizing scream tore through the air from one of the upstairs wards.

Megan shuddered. ‘Did you hear that?'

‘I heard it,' Sali confirmed. ‘And I don't know how you've stood it here.'

‘I've wanted to leave since the minute I arrived. I've been so frightened. There are maids here who arrived thirty years ago and more as children. I thought I'd end up like them. That no one would ever find me ...' Megan began to cry again.

‘Don't worry, we'll get you out,' Sali promised. ‘Mr Richards,' she turned hopefully to the solicitor, ‘I'm sure you'll be able to persuade the matron that I need Megan to be my nursemaid more than she needs her to be a ward maid here.'

‘I wish I had your confidence, Mrs Evans.'

‘Come on, Megan.' Sali pulled the girl to her feet. ‘Let's get you out of here.'

‘I am sorry, Mrs Evans, it is quite out of the question,' the matron said. ‘Miss Williams has been paid for a year's service in advance as a trainee maid. Twenty pounds ...'

‘Which I will reimburse you, Matron,' Sali interrupted smoothly.

‘It is not the money, Mrs Evans. You have seen this place. There is neither a town nor even a village for miles; it is not easy to get girls to work in such a remote location. We need Megan to work here.'

‘Thirty pounds.' When Sali saw the matron wavering, she added, ‘it is imperative that my solicitor and I get Megan to Cardiff tomorrow to claim her inheritance. A delay could cost her the legacy.'

‘I see ...'

‘Forty pounds,' Sali said recklessly. ‘But only if we can leave within the next ten minutes. You can get two maids to take Megan's place for that amount of money.'

‘I have to find them first.'

‘Fifty pounds and that is my final offer.'

The matron turned to Megan. ‘You may go to your dormitory. Change out of your uniform and dress in the clothes you were wearing when you arrived. I will send one of the ward sisters up to make sure that you leave all of your uniform behind. Including your shoes.'

‘I'll never be able to repay you.' Megan dried her tears in the handkerchief Sali handed her, as their hired carriage headed down the long drive that led from the front door of the asylum to the first set of gates.

‘Not a word to Lloyd, Victor or any of the Evanses about the money I paid to get you out.' Sali looked intently at Megan. ‘Promise?'

‘I promise,' Megan answered solemnly.

‘If you really want to repay me you can start by laughing instead of crying.' Sali listened hard. ‘Do you hear that?'

‘What?' asked Mr Richards.

‘Silence.'

Sali pushed down the window and looked out at the countryside, as the lodge keeper unlocked the gates. The surrounding hills were bathed in the soft golden light of the setting sun. The sun itself, an enormous red-gold ball, the colour of Megan's hair, was sinking slowly behind a copse of oak trees that crowned a rise to their left. The driver walked the horses slowly on, the gates clanged shut behind them and the lodge keeper ran on ahead to open the second set of high gates.

‘Thank you.' Megan took Sali and Mr Richards's hands. ‘I couldn't have borne it there much longer. How is Victor?' she asked, as the second gates closed behind them.

‘We have a lot of catching up to do. Mr Richards, I don't suppose there's any chance that we will be able to get back to Pontypridd tonight?' Sali asked hopefully.

‘None at all, Mrs Evans, but there is an early train tomorrow. And I did see a respectable looking hotel in Llanidloes.'

‘Then I suppose we had better go there.' Sali squeezed Megan's hand. ‘On the way I'll tell you what's been happening to Victor and his family. But I warn you now, it's not good news, although he was comparatively well the last time I saw him.'

As the hotel only had two spare bedrooms, Megan and Sali shared one. After they had eaten dinner with Mr Richards in the dining room, Megan had a bath while Sali arranged for the local dress shop to open so she could buy a few essentials and a new dress for Megan. Afterwards they sat up half the night talking, and although Megan had no news beyond the boredom and monotony of life in the asylum, Sali had plenty to tell her about Victor's trial and imprisonment.

But the plans she and Joey had made to buy the farm, Sali kept to herself. She knew Lloyd and his family's pride too well. If anyone was going to tell Megan about the farm, it should be Victor, and only after its purchase had been cleared with everyone in his family, especially his father.

They reached Pontypridd late the next afternoon; Mr Richards hired a carriage at the station to take them to Ynysangharad House and left them to go to his office.

Mari met them at the door. ‘They're at the Athletic Ground in Tonypandy.'

‘Who are?' Sali asked, taking Bella from her.

‘The Mr Evanses. Mr Francis turned up here first thing this morning to tell you that the Home Secretary intervened in their appeal without any warning. They were all released from Cardiff prison at midday. The Federation arranged a demonstration to welcome them home. You should have seen Mr Evans' face when he discovered you weren't in the house.'

‘All of them have been released.' Sali sank down abruptly on one of the hall chairs and cuddled Bella. ‘Harry ...'

‘Wouldn't leave Mr Lloyd, so they took him with them. Mr Jenkins,' Mari called to the butler,' would you ask Robert to bring the carriage around to the front of the house, please?'

‘I have already done so, Mrs Williams.'

Sali looked at Megan. ‘If you want to wash and change before seeing Victor, all your clothes are upstairs. Mari, will you show her, please?'

‘Mr Victor will be pleased to see you, Miss Megan. He asked after you as soon as he walked through that door, although none of us could tell him anything about you.' Mari shook her head at Sali. ‘You and your gold mines, Miss Sali. Come with me, Miss Williams.' Mari led the way upstairs.

Sali looked down at Bella, then at her own clothes. ‘As your daddy's being given a hero's welcome the least I can do is look presentable. Wouldn't you agree, darling?'

The baby looked back at her wide-eyed, as if she'd understood every word.

‘And you'll stay here with Mari. Just for a little while, and then I promise you that Daddy and I will be back and we'll bath you and put you to bed.' Carrying the baby, Sali raced up the stairs after Megan and Mari.

Thousands of men, women and children had gathered at the Athletic Ground. The coachman, Robert, did his best to forge a path through to the platform at the front for Sali and Megan, but it was hopeless. The people who had gained prime positions weren't about to give them up for anyone, not even Lloyd Evans' wife.

Sali could see Lloyd, Victor and Mr Evans sitting on the dais with men she recognized as union officials and local dignitaries, including the MP for the Rhondda. She couldn't see Joey or Harry, but she knew they wouldn't be far away.

The MP, Mr Brace, took the megaphone from the official who had welcomed Lloyd, Victor and Mr Evans home. He began to speak and his deep, rich, voice carried loudly and clearly over the crowd, even to the back where she and Megan were standing.

‘These men have suffered martyrdom for the sake of the cause, and for the cause of humanity. They were called upon to pay a heavy penalty, not for what they had done, but because the judge and the court panicked over the industrial situation –in Wales and indeed in Britain.'

‘Lloyd, William and Victor Evans have suffered punishment not under penal laws but as men who had been called on to make a sacrifice on behalf of and in the interests of you.'

He pointed into the crowd, and Sali and Megan were deafened by a burst of cheering and applause that lasted for several minutes.

‘As to the minimum wage act, I cannot find words to express my disappointment at the decision regarding the payment of the lower paid men. We have never argued their case from the economic standpoint, but the case of human necessity. Every underground worker is entitled to five shillings a day. They have not been given it. But today we have won a small victory. Our martyrs have been freed. We have lost the battle, and we have more work to do, but with men like these,' he indicated Lloyd, Victor and their father, ‘we will win in the end. Even if the fight carries on beyond our lifetime, we
will
win.'

During the cheers that greeted the end of his speech, he turned to the men sitting behind him. Mr Evans shook his head and laid a trembling hand on Lloyd's arm. Sali realized just how frail her father-in-law had become.

Lloyd left his chair and stepped forward. ‘On behalf of my father, my brother and myself, I thank everyone of you for this rousing reception. And I agree with Mr Brace, they may have beaten us now and it may take years, but in the end we will win.' He lifted his head and Sali felt that he was looking directly at her. ‘Thank you.'

A councillor rose to speak, but people were already beginning to drift back towards the entrance to the field. Sali saw Luke Thomas with his wife and children.

‘Mrs Evans,' he tipped his hat to her, ‘you must be feeling happy.'

‘Yes, I am, Mr Thomas, thank you. How are you?' She smiled at Mrs Thomas and the children.

‘Emigrating,' Luke said shortly. ‘My brother's paid our passage to Australia. There's work there and hopefully I'll soon earn enough to pay him back.'

‘I am sorry.'

‘So are we, Mrs Evans. It's hard on my mother, I am her only daughter, but,' Mrs Thomas shrugged her shoulders, ‘what can you do? There's nothing for us here now that Luke can't get his job back.'

‘Good luck, to all of you.' Sali offered Luke and Mrs Thomas her hand. They shook it warmly.

‘We tried, Mrs Evans, and,' Luke waved in the direction of the platform, ‘for all the fine words, we lost. I know when I'm beaten. Say goodbye to Billy, Lloyd, Victor and Joey for me?'

Sali turned and watched them walk away.

The end of the speeches signalled the end of the meeting, and Sali, Megan and Robert found themselves caught up in the crowd that was pouring out of the ground. Robert fought and bullied his way through, guiding them back to the carriage he had parked close to the entrance.

‘They have to pass this way, Mrs Evans. May I suggest you'd be safer looking out for them from inside the carriage?'

The last thing Sali wanted to do was sit in the carriage when Lloyd was so close but she looked back at the throng streaming out of the field and realized Robert was right.

He opened the door, folded down the steps and helped first her, then Megan inside. They sat opposite one another on the bench seats, glued to the windows, watching the people pass the coach. After what seemed an eternity, Sali spotted Victor, who towered over the men around him, flanked by Joey, Mr Evans and Lloyd, who was carrying Harry on his shoulders.

Sali saw that Megan had seen Victor but she placed her hand over Megan's as she reached for the door handle. ‘You don't need an audience for your reunion, or to alert any gossips who'll write to your father. Sit back so Victor can't see you. I'll send him in.'

Megan moved further into the coach. She couldn't take her eyes off Victor as he strode towards them. Sali had warned her that he had changed, but she wasn't prepared for the convict haircut, or the amount of weight he had lost.