A Child's Voice Calling (46 page)

‘I’m sure you are, Aunt Ruth – but are yer
certain
ye’d be happy in there with all those poor old men and women?’ asked Mabel doubtfully.

Ruth Lawton stood and regarded her niece with a smile of pure contentment. ‘Much, much happier that I’ve ever been here, my dear. I shall be
free
, you see!’

‘Will yer get a cab to take yer belongin’s?’

‘Yes, Mr Drover has kindly arranged one for three o’clock and says he’ll come down with me,’ replied the lady. ‘And if you’ll excuse me, Mabel, I’d better go and finish packing.’

When she had gone upstairs Harry turned to Mabel with a serious look. ‘And what about
you
, Mabel dear? Yer know yer can’t stay another night under this roof, not after what’s happened.’

‘I know, I know – I shouldn’t’ve come here in the first place, it was just that – there was nowhere else for me to go, not after George had left.’

‘Yer should’ve come to
me
, Mabel. I’d’ve found yer respectable lodgin’s with a Salvation Army couple; I’d’ve helped yer, stood by yer, looked after yer – ‘stead o’ which yer ran away from me an’ made us
both unhappy, refusin’ to see me or answer me letters.’

There was a reproach, almost a sternness in his voice that made Mabel look up sharply, half afraid of what she might see; but there was only pity in his eyes.

For a while she sat in silence. There were things that had to be said, she knew, but how to begin? ‘How did Maudie get to hear where I was, Harry? An’ how did she find yer to let yer know?’

‘She said somethin’ about Sir Percy Stanley tellin’ her about the trouble yer were in, an’ then she spent half the night searchin’ for me,’ he answered gravely. ‘Poor Maud, she’s in bad enough trouble herself, now that her lady’s gone. I’ll be in her debt for life, an’ if I can do anythin’ to help her, I will.’

Mabel tried to picture the scene between him and Maudie: what her friend had told him about Lady Stanley – and Mimi Court. ‘So that was how yer knew what Miss Lawton was talkin’ about this mornin’ at the station,’ she said tentatively, fearing the answer.

He hesitated for a moment, as if debating within himself what he should reply. Placing his arm firmly round her shoulders he began to speak slowly and tenderly. ‘Yes, Mabel, my dear, Maud told me about yer grandmother’s business an’ it tied up with what Albert hinted at when he came over to see me at Clapton in May.’

Mabel trembled. ‘What
did
Albert tell yer then, Harry?’

‘He gave me reason not to give up hope, Mabel. He didn’t say it in so many words, but he . . . he encouraged me to look ahead to some time in the
future. An’ he also said ye’d gone for an interview at Booth Street Poor Law infirmary.’

‘Oh, yes, I start me trainin’ on the first o’ September,’ she answered eagerly. ‘That’s only six weeks away, an’ I thought I could stay here at Macaulay Road till then.’

‘But yer were wrong, Mabel, weren’t yer?’ he pointed out. ‘Look where it got yer! If the charges hadn’t been dropped, ye’d’ve lost yer place at Booth Street
and
yer reputation as a nurse.’

Tarred with the same brush
. The words came back to Mabel with sinister force. She sat up, jerking herself away from his arm. ‘Oh, Albert was right, he was right! He said I’d made a big mistake, comin’ here to live.’

‘Yer made an even bigger mistake in turnin’ away from
me
, Mabel,’ said Harry soberly. ‘If I’d only known what I know now – what Maud told me o’ the troubles in yer family – I wouldn’t’ve let yer keep me away. An’ I won’t ever let yer send me away again. We
love
each other, Mabel, we belong together, we have to share whatever befalls either of us, however long we have to wait to get married – can’t yer
see
that?’

Mabel closed her eyes and let herself sink back against his shoulder. If he only knew all! ‘An’ yer don’t believe I had anythin’ to do with . . . with Lady Stanley or any o’ my grandmother’s special clients?’ she whispered.

‘’Course not! What Mrs Court did for money was very wrong – wicked, in fact, destroyin’ unborn children an’ puttin’ women’s lives at risk, but it isn’t for me to judge her or the women who went to her.
I
can’t imagine what it must be like to be a poor girl in a desperate predicament. But o’
course
I know ye’re
innocent, Mabel, I didn’t need Miss Lawton to tell me that. An’ in just the same way—’ He stopped speaking and put both arms around her before continuing in a low voice, ‘An’ in just the same way, dearest Mabel, yer weren’t to blame for the trouble that came upon yer parents – the infection—’

Mabel stiffened in his arms and uttered an involuntary cry: ‘
No
!’

‘Hush, my love. It was yer poor father’s sin, not yer mother’s or yours. And nor could yer help the way yer father died, however it was – whatever it was that poor George knew.’

‘Harry!’

Mabel could not believe what she was hearing. All the secrets, all the hateful facts that had separated her from the man she loved, now being spoken openly and by Harry himself – and without any condemnation of those concerned, only sorrow and pity for all of them: Annie, Jack, Albert, George and herself. What sort of a man was this? Albert had teased him in the past, laughing at ’ol’ ’Oly ‘Arry, blowin’ ’is trombone’ – but Albert had known his true worth and appreciated him in a way that perhaps she had not. Not until now.

She tried to turn round in his arms to face him, but he thought she was trying to wriggle free from him, so tightened his hold. ‘Oh, no, Mabel, I shan’t ever let yer go again!’

‘But . . . but aren’t yer
shocked
, aren’t yer
disgusted
by all ye’ve heard? Doesn’t it make yer ashamed o’ me?’ she asked in genuine astonishment.

‘What d’ye take me for, Mabel? It’s made me
sad
, especially for your sake, but don’t forget I’m a Salvation Army man and there i’n’t much o’ life we don’t see. The only thing I hold against yer is the
way yer treated us both, keepin’ me away so’s I couldn’t share yer trouble. Though I was a fool not to ’ave understood better ’n I did,’ he added with a little deprecating grimace. ‘Oh, Mabel, Mabel!’

He relaxed his grip on her sufficiently to let her look into his face, at which she burst into tears, burying her face against his neck and the rough material of his tunic. ‘I only – did it – for – for yer own good!’ The words were almost hiccuped out between sobs.

‘Oh, my own poor, silly Mabel,’ he murmured, cradling her head as if soothing a child. ‘My own beautiful girl, when I think o’ what ye’ve had to bear o’ the wrongs an’ weaknesses of others, and you as pure an’ innocent a lamb as ever was!’

She went on weeping, but there was a kind of blessed relief in the unrestrained flow of tears. Stroking her hair, his lips brushing the fair tendrils sticking to her forehead, he went on speaking softly as she quietened: ‘But what’s so wonderful to me is that it hasn’t
touched
yer, Mabel, ye’ve been a light in the darkness o’ this world – at Sorrel Street, at the Rescue, an’ even here under yer grandmother’s roof.’ He smiled as a memory returned. ‘D’ye know what I used to do, all this long time we’ve been apart? I’ve looked up at the night sky an’ seen yer lovely face shinin’ down on me like an angel. Yer can laugh if yer like, Mabel, but that’s how I’ve always thought o’ yer, time an’ time again, when I was starvin’ for a sight o’ yer, an’ yer wouldn’t let me near. I’ve never stopped hopin’ an’ prayin’, never stopped lovin’ yer, Mabel, an’ never will. An’ now ye’re in my arms again, real and livin’, I’ll never, ever let yer keep me away any more!’

As he stopped speaking she lifted her head and no
more words were needed. With the tears still wet on her cheeks Mabel yielded her mouth to his ardent kiss: a kiss that swept away all the misery of the past year, all her misapprehensions on a healing tide of love. Her arms went up around his neck and her hands locked behind his head, holding on, clinging to what she held most dear.

In that moment Harry Drover thought he need never again fear to lose Mabel. She was his for as long as they both lived.

Everybody seemed to have heard about Nurse Court’s night in police custody, and anger against Mrs Court was loud and indignant. Gifts of money and food had arrived for Mabel, and offers of hospitality; she eagerly read the note from Mrs Hollis of Furzedown Road, offering her a room for as long as she needed accommodation.

It gradually became clear that the general condemnation of Mimi Court was more for abandoning Mabel rather than for her part in Lady Stanley’s death.

‘She’s bin goin’ to them society women for years an’ chargin’ ’em ’undreds, yet she wouldn’t do nothin’ to ’elp out that poor soul from Collier’s Wood ’oo went an’ poisoned ’erself,’ declared Mrs Taylor. ‘She could’ve at least sent ’er to ol’ Dimmock on the Broadway – not that
I’d
ever recommend ’im,’ she added hastily.

After Ruth Lawton had left for the Tooting Home, Harry returned to the subject that currently occupied his mind. ‘So what are yer goin’ to do, Mabel? Yer can’t stay another night under this roof, ’cause I won’t let yer,’ he repeated firmly.

‘I’ll go down to Belhampton and see me aunts and
sisters,’ she replied. ‘Aunt Kate says she’ll always keep a room for me at Pinehurst, and besides I want to see how Daisy’s settlin’.’

Harry’s face fell slightly. He had been going to suggest that she stayed with his parents in Battersea. Belhampton was thirty-five miles away and was a world he knew nothing about. ‘Yer mean ye’ll travel down there this evenin’?’

‘Oh, no! I’ll accept this invitation from the Hollises for two or three nights – that’ll give me time to write to Aunt Kate. And I can go to see Aunt Ruth in the Tooting Home, to make sure she’s happy there an’ got everythin’ she needs.’ She frowned. ‘The maids’ll want payin’ by the end o’ the month, but I s’pose my grandmother’ll turn up when she hears that the charges’ve been dropped, and—’

‘And when that woman comes back ye’re not to be here, Mabel. How many more times must I tell yer? If ye’re goin’ to stay with the Hollises, pack yer bags
now
an’ I’ll come down to Furzedown Road with yer, so’s I can see for meself what sort o’ people they are.’ He spoke in a terse, proprietory tone that Mabel had not heard before.

‘Er, all right, Harry, but there’s really no need,’ she said with a little shrug, surprised to discover how sweet it was to take orders from a man in authority.

Standing in spacious grounds and crowned with its clock tower, the Tooting Home for the Aged Poor was an impressive local landmark. Originally built as a college, it had been purchased at the turn of the century by the Wandsworth Board of Guardians to be a model home for deserving elderly people in distressed circumstances.

‘And d’ye think yer made the right decision, Aunt Ruth? Do they treat yer well? An’ feed yer?’

‘Oh, Mabel, if you only knew how my life has changed! – the difference it’s made to me!’

And indeed, Miss Lawton’s whole appearance was evidence enough of her improved status. Mabel could understand why the Matron had been willing to secure a short-cut admission for a lady who was the ideal type of resident for the Tooting Home. Just as in spite of her odd black clothes and eccentric behaviour Miss Lawton had imparted an air of respectability to 23 Macaulay Road, which her sister had conspicuously lacked, so now her neatness of dress and gentle demeanour proclaimed a certain social standing. For the first time in her life Ruth Lawton found herself looked up to and extolled as an example to be followed.

‘Matron says she’s thankful to have a reliable pianist to accompany the morning and evening prayers,’ she told Mabel with a shy smile. ‘And some of the dear old people would have me playing for them morning and afternoon, every day!’

‘Mind they don’t take advantage o’ yer, Aunt Ruth. Oh, I’m that
pleased
to see yer lookin’ so well!’ And aunt and niece exchanged a hug.

‘And I’m just as pleased for
you
, Mabel dear, to know that Mr Drover’s come back to you, such a fine young man in every way. He really loves you, Mabel – he deserves you.’

‘I don’t know if I deserve
him
, though, Aunt Ruth, but I’m really goin’ to try to make him happy from now on.’

‘Is he still in Tooting?’

‘Oh, no, he’s had to go back to college, but we’re goin’ to try to write to each other every day. I’m
stayin’ with the Hollises, whose little girl I delivered last year. But now I know that ye’re all right here, I’ll go to Belhampton for a week or two.’

Ruth Lawton nodded understandingly. ‘Yes, you’ll be wanting to see how little Daisy’s getting on this time. Do give her my love, won’t you?’

‘’Course I will. Oh, Aunt Ruth, we’ve been through a bad time, and poor Lady Stanley’s dead – but things’ve worked out well for you an’ me, haven’t they?’

‘Yes, Mabel, God’s been very good to us.’ And they hugged again, knowing that in escaping from the shadows of Macaulay Road they had both regained their self-esteem.

Aunt Kate answered Mabel’s letter by return of post, extending a cordial invitation to stay at Pinehurst for as long as she pleased. It was therefore arranged that Mabel would stay until 29 August and return to the Hollises for three nights before commencing her training.

On the day before she left for Belhampton, Tooting gossip was humming with the news that Mrs Court had returned to her home in Macaulay Road with Elsie and was intent on discovering Mabel’s whereabouts. ‘But nobody’ll tell the ol’ witch where y’are, gal,’ Mrs Taylor assured Mabel. ‘In fact, nobody’ll tell ’er nuffin’ at all – she’s been sent to Coventry, she ’as, an’ serve ’er bloody well right!’

Mabel gave a shiver. She was not yet ready to face her grandmother and so told the highly delighted Mrs Taylor to let Mrs Court know that her granddaughter had gone to her mother’s relations at Belhampton.

‘I’ll tell ’er, Mabel, yer can rely on me – but not ’til after ye’ve boarded the train.’

‘Mabel, Mabel!’ Daisy ran forward to greet her sister as she stepped down from the train and Mabel’s heart contracted as she held out her arms to gather up the excited little girl. Daisy seemed to have grown in two months, and was pink-cheeked and suntanned. She looked a picture in her frilly summer dress and sun bonnet, and was accompanied by Aunt Kate who explained that Alice was having a riding lesson at the Paddocks, so had been unable to come to the station. A manservant took Mabel’s suitcase and the three of them walked up the leafy lane to Pinehurst where Aunt Nell had come over from Pear Tree Cottage to welcome her niece.