‘Give it back!’ Mollie screamed.
The gentleman turned his head and gave Mollie
a sarcastic grin, which got her back up and she yelled, ‘Put the pie back and we
will say no more about it.’
Still walking, the man looked at her and said boldly,
‘It’s a bloody pie.’
‘Who the hell do you think you are? You can’t just
take what you want when you feel like it.’
Then she walked up to him and said angrily, ‘Stealing
from a blind man. You can’t get any lower than that.’
Dumbfounded, he turned to her and said
furiously, ‘It’s a bloody pie girl, get away with you.’ Then he hastily walked
on.
‘What’s going on Mollie?’ Sam asked, after
hearing the commotion.
‘I’m alright Sam, I can deal with this. Don’t
trouble yourself.’
Sam did as he was told, because he knew from
experience that Mollie could look after herself.
Mollie, seeing the man in the distance, ran after
him.
Feeling embarrassed, the man upped his pace
and she grabbed hold of the bottom of his coat and hung on for dear life.
‘Get away with you woman,’ he bellowed, as he
fought for control of his coat, but Mollie was determined to hold her ground.
Suddenly, the gentleman became aware of the
crowd gathering around them and said, ‘I’ll put the bloody pie back if it means
that much to you.’
The crowd were starting to boo, and not
wanting any trouble, he nervously stuffed the pie into her hands and rushed off.
With her hands on her hips and shaking a
little, Mollie screamed, ‘And don’t come back, else I’ll get the bobbies.’
‘What’s happening?’ Sam called out, worried
that his friend was in trouble.
‘Do not fret Sam. A gentleman thought it was
alright to steal one of your pies and I put him right on the matter,’ she said
angrily, as she walked towards him.
‘What did the man look like?’
‘He was tall, had brown curly hair to his
shoulders and brown eyes, and his attire was that of a gentleman.’
‘I’m afraid you’ve been a little hasty. From
the description my wife gives, I think that was Edwin Hill. He takes what he
likes and pays for it at the end of the week. He’s always in a hurry and never
has time to stop.’
Embarrassed, she said humbly, ‘Sorry Sam, I
didn’t realise.’
‘I think you should apologise, he’s a good
customer. He pays over the top for his pies and really, I can’t do without his money,
especially at Christmas. He always leaves me a big tip and buys me a small
goose.’
‘I’m sorry Sam, how often does he come here?’
‘He comes the same time every day. I hate to
put you through this, but I can’t afford to lose his business. We barely have
enough to live on now.’
‘I’ll be here first thing. I better be going.
The Kip won’t clean itself.’
When Mollie arrived for her shift at the
lodging house, affectionately known to some as the Kip, she noticed Mr Thomas was
waiting for her.
‘Everything alright,’ she asked nervously, for
as much as she liked Mr Thomas, he could be a real pain sometimes.
‘You’re late, where have you been?’
‘It’s a long story, now let me pass, I’ve got work
to do.’
‘You’re getting tardy. Remember, there’s
plenty more who would take your place if you don’t toe the line.’
Mollie stared at him and said gruffly, ‘That
old chestnut. I’d like to see you get someone who’ll work as hard as I do. Look
at these hands,’ she said, shoving them under his nose. ‘They’re all
blistered.’
‘Go and clean out the Sea Captain’s room, he
popped his clogs last night and I’ve got an old man coming to look at the room later.’
‘How can you be so cold? He wasn’t a commodity; he was a real person.’
‘It doesn’t pay me to be soft in this business,
because the next thing you know, I’ll be letting them Kip down here for free.’
‘You have no need to worry on that score, you
haven’t got it in you to be compassionate. As it is, you are as tight as a donkey’s …’
‘Get inside and less of your cheek. I don’t
know why the hell I keep you on.’
With a huge grin on her face, she walked into
the Kip.
Mollie walked over to the Captain’s bed and
sat down, then she opened the drawer and pulled out his personal belongings. He
didn’t have much to show for an old man. There was a pencil, a notebook which
had never been written on, a dirty handkerchief and tuppence. She felt the back
of the drawer just in case there was something there, but there wasn’t.
With a heavy heart, she walked over to the wardrobe
and opened it. There was his Sunday suit, two pairs of boots and his Captain’s
uniform, and one dirty shirt. Throwing the clothes on the floor, she went and
sat on the bed, and looked up at the light coming in through the small window
at the top of the room.
Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming sense of
loss for a man she hardly knew, and if she hadn’t been so weary, she would have
cried for him. Especially when she realised, that his life seemed to echo her
own. There was no one in the world who cared if she was alive or dead either. She
swept out the room and within ten minutes, Mr Thomas had rented the room out
for the night.
The following morning, Mollie waited on the
corner, opposite to where Sam was sitting and waited for Mr Hill to appear, and
sure enough, at exactly eleven o’clock, he walked over to the tray and picked
up a pie.
Mollie filled her dry mouth with saliva and
walked over to the man and said humbly, ‘May I have a word sir?’
The man looked at her and recognising her
straight away, and feeling a little embarrassed, he said firmly, ‘Madam, we
have nothing to talk about.’ Then he started to walk away.
‘I owe you an apology,’ she shouted above the
noise of the market, and he turned around.
‘Now you’re talking.’
‘I may have been a bit hasty.’
He raised one eyebrow and frowned, and feeling
embarrassed, she said, ‘Alright, I jumped to conclusions and I’m sorry.’
‘Apology accepted, now if you’ll excuse me, I
have to go. I haven’t got time to speak to washerwomen.’
Hackles raised, she said vehemently, ‘Washerwoman!
I’m not a bloody washerwoman.’
He smiled, he’d guessed she wasn’t, but
intended to have a bit of fun at her expense and said, ‘What do you do then? Are
you a lady of the night?’
‘You need to hold your tongue sir. I may be a
woman, but I can fight as good as any man.’
He smiled, then said sarcastically, ‘I don’t
doubt that for a minute.’
Mollie frowned and took a step back and
suddenly, she realised, he was having fun at her expense.
‘You are a rogue sir.’
‘I wouldn’t go that far.’
‘Why are you making fun of me?’
‘Because you bite so easily.’
She wanted to say something cutting but
couldn’t think of any put downs, so stared at him instead.
‘What? Can’t think of anything to say, a
feisty girl like you? Come now, you must have something?’
‘You are a popinjay.’
He let out a raucous laugh then said, ‘Do you
even know what that means?’
Feeling the tension leave her body, she
laughed and said bashfully, ‘Not really, but I heard the physician say it to my
boss the other day.’
‘I’ve never met anyone like you. You are a
lively one for sure.’
‘Do you like your women feisty then?’ she
said, trying to sound flirty but failing miserably.
He laughed for a full minute, and after he’d
calmed down, he said, ‘I don’t like girls.’
Mollie was disappointed, for she liked him.
Then she surprised herself when she heard herself say, ‘Do you like me?’
‘I like women very much, but not girls. How
old are you?’
‘One and twenty. How old are you?’
‘Thirty. Far too old for you.’
‘Who says? I know a woman who is thirty years
older than her husband.’
‘And are they happy?’
‘Most of the time.’
‘You’re not slow in coming forward, are you?’
‘What does that mean?’
‘I’m late.’ Then he nodded his head and walked
away, leaving Mollie perplexed.
He was a true gentleman in every sense of the
word, albeit a big tease, but she liked him. She liked him a lot.
Suddenly, she felt butterflies in her stomach,
and her hands and forehead felt clammy.
The Sickness
‘Stop mooning around, what on earth is wrong
with you?’ Mr Thomas asked.
‘There’s nothing wrong with me.’
‘If that’s the case, why is it taking you twice
as long to make the stew?’
‘I don’t feel well.’
‘You look alright to me. What’s wrong with
you, is it the curse?’
‘The curse my eye. If you stop looking over my
shoulder, perhaps I’d get it done quicker.’
‘Don’t blame this on me. You better get a grip
woman. Time means money in this business. If they don’t get their meal on time,
I won’t get my money.’
‘You can’t help me here, why don’t you go to
your club or something?’
‘I think I will, but before I go, consider
yourself on a warning. I will not tolerate tardiness.’
Mollie wanted to scream profanities at him,
because sometimes, he really got on her nerves. This was her third warning this
week. Saying that, he was right, she had been a little tardy lately, ever since
her encounter with Edwin Hill.
It had been four weeks now, and despite her walking
to the market every other day, he was proving to be illusive. Sam had told her,
that he had been coming to the market later than usual, but she couldn’t spend
all day looking out for him, for she could not leave the Kip unattended. They
had ten full time borders who required an evening meal, and five overnight rooms
that had to be cleaned regularly, and life was getting to be a hard slog. Especially
since she couldn’t get that bloody man out of her head. She had no idea how it
had happened, somehow, she had let her guard down, and she was paying for that
mistake now. All she saw in her head was him. She couldn’t sleep, barely ate,
and was in danger of losing her job if she didn’t knuckle down.
Saturday, and it was the first day she’d had
off in weeks. She was meeting her friend Betsy and they were going to ‘The
Green Gate’ music hall down City Road, and she couldn’t wait.
It was a chance to escape the lodging house,
because not only did she work there, she lived there too. Granted, it was a
large room with soft furnishings and was of a good standard compared to the
others, but it was noisy, because it was just off the kitchen, which was always
busy.
She’d arranged to meet Betsy outside the
theatre, because she didn’t want Mr Thomas to know her business. Whenever she
had a day off, he would ask her where she was going, and she hated being
interrogated by him. It was bad enough having to bite her tongue at work, let
alone in her free time.
Betsy was late, as usual. She was never on
time for anything. She worked as a scullery maid in the middle of London and
the Master of the house was a particularly nasty character, and if he knew that
his staff were going anywhere, he would find things for them to do; causing
them to be late. Betsy had complained numerous times about him, but there was
nothing the staff could do. They all needed the work, so they had to put up
with it. She was lucky in that respect, despite the odd tongue lashing she got,
Mr Thomas was a good boss.
‘Sorry I’m late, the master kept us back, he’d
had a row with the mistress and took it out on us. He made us stand in the hall
and then yelled at us for five minutes. The bloody gentry will be the death of
me. I don’t even know what he was going on about. Anyway, I’m here now.’
Mollie linked arms with her, and they walked
into the theatre and stood by the side of the stage. Thankfully, the play had
not started.
‘I wish we had a seat,’ Betsy grumbled.
‘You know we can’t afford it. We’ll just have
to make do here. Besides, the nearer we are, the better we’ll see it.’
‘It must be good to be rich,’ Betsy said, as
she paid for two pots of Jellied eels and handed one to Mollie, who screwed her
nose up at them.
‘You know I hate these slimy things.’
‘Oh gawd, sorry Mollie, I forgot. Can I have
yours?’
‘Take them,’ she said, thrusting them into her
hands.
Mollie looked on as Betsy devoured the eels
then said, ‘Don’t they feed you?’
Betsy laughed and said cheerfully, ‘Of course
they do - when the master isn’t telling us off.’
They both laughed and clung to each other
excitedly, as they watched the actors take their places.
They’d both seen the play before, but it was
the only theatre they could afford; and they loved the atmosphere there, especially
after the performance ended, when they would sing songs. Their favourites being,
‘Down at the old Bull and Bush’ and ‘Daisy Bell.’ Neither of them could sing,
but they couldn’t be heard above the noise of the crowd and would scream their
heads off. Sometimes, that went on for a full hour, and for a while, they could
forget about their mundane lives.
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