Bonds of Earth, The (20 page)

T
HAT EVENING, OVER
a dinner which, with its venue, was far removed from the soup and bread dispensed from the kitchen at the Old Nichol ragged school, Nessa told her uncle about Sally, her brother and the events of the day.

His reply was philosophical. ‘Sadly, thieving and dishonesty is a way of life for so many of the children you will be teaching there; they know nothing else.'

‘It is such a shame,' Nessa said. ‘Many of them are really quite bright. In spite of his apparent dishonesty, young Arthur Harrup is obviously very fond of his sister and accepts a great deal of responsibility for her. She, too, is exceptionally quick-witted and deserving of far more from life than she has now.'

‘Then you have been given a great opportunity, Nessa. Teach Sally and the others about the world outside the Old Nichol and guide them towards a happier and more fulfilled way of life – but don't be too despondent if you fail with the vast majority. It will be well worthwhile if you succeed with only one or two. Think of yourself as a farmer, sowing the seeds of knowledge, having prepared the ground as best you can, but the results, as in farming, depend on circumstances over which you have no control and which are beyond our understanding.'

Nessa left the dining-room that evening having assimilated the wisdom of her uncle's words, but her thoughts were not entirely of the Old Nichol and the children she was teaching there.

Cedric Couch's homily had not been entirely wasted, but his parable of a farmer sowing the seed of knowledge had made her think of Goran. She thought of him quite often but for some inexplicable reason today she had a yearning to see him that had returned with an intensity she had not known since her early days in London when he had been in her thoughts for many of her quieter moments.

She decided it had much to do with the last letter she had received from her mother. In it Annie Pyne mentioned that Goran's experiment of growing wheat had been so successful he intended sowing double or even treble the amount of acreage for the coming season, something which delighted the Wheal Hope miners and their families who were able to earn a few welcome extra shillings by providing the labour needed at harvest time.

Annie rarely mentioned anything about Goran's personal life in her letters and Nessa never asked questions about it in hers, but that did not mean she never wondered whether he would marry the girl to whom she believed he had given the bracelet her father said he had bought for her.

That night, when she eventually went to sleep it was Goran who was foremost in her thoughts and not the problems of the Old Nichol ragged school.

In spite of the many problems posed by her pupils, Nessa gained a great deal of satisfaction from her teaching at Father Michael's school as it became increasingly organized. The parish priest agreed to a great many of the suggestions put forward by Nessa and personally worked hard to ensure they were carried through.

As a result of this and a surge of interest from those living in the slum it had been decided that boys and girls should be taught separately. This decision was taken because as older boys were enrolled in the school many of them resented taking orders from a woman, so Father Michael took their classes.

It had also become apparent that some of the older boys were taking a reciprocated interest in the girls when two pupils were discovered copulating in the coal cupboard and urgent action needed to be taken.

Now the girls received schooling in the morning and boys in the afternoon with meal times staggered to fit in with the new routine. Then Father Michael came to an arrangement with the local workhouse to take worn-out children's clothing that would otherwise have been disposed of to a rag-and-bone man.

He had also hoped to persuade the children to make use of the workhouse facilities to bathe themselves, but workhouses were anathema to the residents of the Old Nichol – and all the other slums of London – so the resourceful priest had two wash-houses built at the rear of the school, where soap, water and towels were readily available.

The result was that there was less of an odour in the classrooms and that summer proved a very satisfying one for all those involved in the ragged school. There was a steady rise in the number of pupils, and to everyone's delight the police reported a drop in crime in the area.

It did not mean there was no longer
any
crime. For many of the Old Nichol families, stealing was as much a part of their lives as breathing and drinking – and more familiar than eating.

Then, as autumn grudgingly gave way to winter and the weather began its seasonal change, Nessa's life suffered an upheaval that could not have been anticipated.

It began when Sally failed to arrive for her lessons one morning. This in itself was unusual. Although never the best of timekeepers, she had never missed a day's schooling in all the time she had been a pupil.

When she failed to attend school the next day too, Nessa became very concerned. She asked the other pupils whether any of them had seen Sally, but learned nothing. However, she felt it was evasiveness on the part of the girls rather than a lack of knowledge that was the reason for their silence.

Sally had never shown any great friendliness towards any particular girl in the class but Nessa had occasionally seen her talking to a girl named Marie and when the class was dismissed that morning, she called the girl back.

‘Just a minute, Marie, I want to talk to you.'

‘Can't it wait, miss, I'm
starving
! If I'm late I won't get no dinner.'

‘I'll see you don't miss it, but I want to know why Sally isn't at school – and it's no use telling me you don't know because I won't believe you.'

‘You've already asked the class, I don't know any more than anyone else about her.' Marie spoke without looking at Nessa and it was clear she was lying.

‘You're not telling me the truth, Marie. If Sally is in some sort of trouble I want to help her. Now, I suggest you tell so you can get on your way and have your soup.'

Marie was obviously reluctant to say anything, but when Nessa continued to wait without dismissing the girl she eventually said, ‘It's not Sally who's in trouble but Arthur, her brother.'

Alarmed, Nessa demanded, ‘What for? What's he done?'

‘He was collared last Saturday after he'd broken into a shop and nicked some clothes.'

‘Where is he now?'

‘He came up before a beak yesterday and they sent him for trial, so I expect he's in Newgate … that's where my dad is.'

The fact that Marie's father was in Newgate Prison was expressed with a hint of pride that, having spent some time working in the Old Nichol, no longer surprised Nessa.

‘Where does Sally stay? Where can I find her?'

‘I don't know, nobody knows … except Arthur.'

When Nessa broke the news to Father Michael about Arthur and expressed her concern for Sally, the Old Nichol priest was deeply saddened. He had always felt Arthur could have made something of himself had he only put his mind to it.

‘Regrettably, Arthur has always been his own worst enemy, but you have worked hard improving the life of young Sally Harrup's life, we can't let her down now. I'll go along to the magistrates now and find out exactly what's happening and where Arthur is. While I'm away arrange for someone else to take over any duties you have and put on your coat, ready for when I come back.'

‘Where will we be going?'

‘Newgate Prison if that's where they've taken Arthur – but may the Lord help him if it is.'

When Father Michael returned from the magistrates court he confirmed that Arthur was in Newgate Prison and suggested he and Nessa should walk there. It would take them about half an hour, but he explained he had not left the Old Nichol for more than two months and felt an acute need for a change of air and scenery.

In the ragged school Nessa rarely had an opportunity for a lengthy conversation with the priest and she made the most of the opportunity on their walk to the infamous London prison.

‘What made you come to work in the Old Nichol? Uncle Cedric says you could have had your pick of almost any parish in the country.'

‘I came here for that very reason. I had always felt I have more than my share of the good things in life; a happy childhood and comfortable home and, as I grew up, the respect that came with being the son of a vicar well liked by his parishioners. It was never in doubt that I would go into the Church – especially as one of my uncles is a bishop – and another dean of a West Country cathedral. I would probably have taken a comfortable parish somewhere had I not attended a lecture given by a priest returning from a spell as a missionary in Africa. I spoke to him after the talk and mentioned I was soon to be ordained. I said that missionary work greatly appealed to me and asked where he believed there was most need for such work. Much to my surprise, instead of mentioning some rather romantic and exciting foreign land, he said the greatest need was right here, in London. Two days later he persuaded me to accompany him on a walk around Bethnal Green and Shoreditch to witness the poverty and lack of godliness to be found here. Later, soon after my ordination, I returned here and discovered the Old Nichol. Witnessing the utter degradation of those who live here – especially the children – I made a vow to dedicate my life to the betterment of their lives in every way possible, both spiritually and materially and … well, here I am!'

‘That was very noble of you, Father.'

‘Noble is not a word that comes easily to mind when talking about the Old Nichol, Nessa … and talking of mere words, when we are not in school I would prefer you to call me Michael and not Father. But, to return to my work here, I feel deeply that it was never God's intention that men, women and children should suffer such misery as exists in the Old Nichol. I like to think I am carrying out His will by working to improve their lives.'

For perhaps the first time since coming to teach in the ragged school, Nessa realized her companion was a devout Christian priest whose missionary zeal was the equal of any of those better known men and women who forsook the comforting shelter of the Mother Church in order to bring Christian principles to those in far away lands.

She hoped Father Michael would not burn himself out in seeking to achieve more than was possible in one man's lifetime.

N
EWGATE
P
RISON WAS
a formidable and grimly imposing building, its high walls towering high above the surrounding streets, giving comfort to those who lived in fear of having a colony of criminals living in their midst, but adding to the despair of those whose lives wasted away within its crowded and festering interior.

Nessa shuddered as she and the priest waited for someone to respond to the echoing sound of the huge iron knocker attached to the main road door, separated from the huge, solid gates through which vehicles carrying prospective inmates entered the prison.

The gaoler who opened the door recognized Father Michael as having visited the prison on a number of previous occasions and greeted him by name, but when they stated their business the warder shook his head dubiously.

‘If he's only on remand there's no visiting allowed. I think you already know that, Father.'

‘I do, but there are exceptional circumstances in this case. Arthur Harrup has been taking care of his young sister ever since their mother – the sole surviving parent – died. Since Arthur's arrest she has not been seen and has failed to attend my ragged school, where Miss Pyne is a teacher. We are both extremely worried about her. No one in the school is able to tell us where the girl might be found and we both feel she could be in some danger. Arthur is our only hope.'

‘Sally Harrup is a bright girl who shows great promise,' Nessa added. ‘I have every hope that, given a chance, she may be found respectable work outside the Old Nichol – but we need to find her quickly. She relied heavily upon the support of her brother.'

‘Well, he's not going to be able to help her no more,' was the gaoler's pessimistic reply. ‘It's transportation for him, for sure – if he survives the hulks. He'll be sent to one of 'em to wait for a ship to take him to the colonies and there's something like a two-year wait for a passage, the courts sentencing them faster than they can be carried away.'

‘Then we need to find Sally very quickly,' Father Michael said, firmly. ‘It's bad enough that she no longer has Arthur to take care of her, once he's sentenced she'll go to pieces completely unless she has Miss Pyne to support her.'

Looking from one to the other of them, the man said, ‘Well, it's not
really
allowed, Father, but seeing as how it's you and it's a matter of life and death, I think we can bend the rules a bit. I can't leave the office for long enough to take you there, but you wait here and I'll go and find someone to take you to where he's being held.'

Nessa would look back on her walk through the prison as one of her life's most horrifying experiences. The stench inside the building was highly offensive, as might have been expected in a building which housed an excess of unwashed bodies, both male and female, and which possessed a notoriously poor sanitation system but, adding to this was an indefinable odour of fear and despair.

Her presence as the small party passed by iron-barred cages crammed with men provoked ribald and obscene shouts and suggestions to which she tried hard to show no reaction. The cages containing women were only marginally less noisy.

Eventually they reached a cage no different to the many others in which there were about thirty fettered men, most attired as befitted vagrants.

‘Arthur Harrup?'

The gaoler needed to repeat his shout a number of times before there was movement among the large cell's inmates and Arthur pushed his way towards the visitors, calling out, ‘What d'you want?'

Reaching the bars and seeing Nessa and Father Michael, his surly indifference turned to concern, ‘What are you doing here, has something happened to Sally?'

‘She hasn't been seen since you were arrested, Arthur, that's why we've come to speak to you. Where have you both been sleeping?'

The young prisoner looked at Nessa uncertainly as she was speaking, then, habitual secretiveness coming to the fore, he replied, ‘If Sally don't want to be found then that's her business.'

Making an awkward shuffling turn, hampered by the leg-irons he was wearing, he intended returning to the rear of the iron-barred cell but Nessa said desperately, ‘If that's what she wants we'll respect her wishes, but I'm concerned for her, Arthur. You have a lot of friends in the Old Nichol – but you have enemies too. They'll know you've been arrested and no doubt some of them will know where to find Sally. Is that what you want?'

She put the question to him, at the same time trying to keep the desperation she felt from her voice.

‘Sally can look after herself.'

Arthur's words lacked conviction and, pressing home her advantage, Nessa said, ‘She could look after herself while you were around but you're not there for her now – and probably won't ever be again. I'd like to help her make a good life for herself and I think that's what you want for her too, otherwise you wouldn't have been so insistent that I take her on when I began teaching at Father Michael's school. I won't be able to do anything to help her if the wrong people get hold of her first, Arthur, and you don't need me to spell out what life will be like for her then.'

Turning back to her, Arthur said, ‘You really will take care of Sally? Why … she's nothing to you?'

‘I'll do it because she's a bright young girl, Arthur, bright enough to leave the Old Nichol behind and really do something with her life. She could even become a teacher herself and be someone for other girls in the Old Nichol to point to and say, “Look, she did it – and so can we”.'

‘You'd help Sally do that?'

‘I would – and
will
if I can find her in time.'

Arthur needed a few more moments to think over what Nessa had said before replying.

‘You know where the old houses were knocked down, over by Mount Street?'

Nessa did not know and turned to Father Michael, who nodded.

Seeing the gesture, Arthur continued, ‘Well, soon after they were knocked down workmen came to dig a tunnel underneath them to make a sewer, or something. They dug a shaft down a little way before starting on a tunnel, but then work was stopped and they were supposed to have filled in the shaft again, but if you climb in among the bricks and stones you can wriggle your way into what's left of the tunnel. Me and Sally made a place in there for ourselves and no one's ever found us.'

‘And you think that's where she'll be?' Nessa asked eagerly.

‘It's where she's always gone when something's upset her.'

‘Thank you, Arthur. You may be locked up but you're still able to help Sally. We'll have a word with the gaoler and try to improve things in here for you a little, then go off and find Sally right away.'

They had turned to go when Arthur said plaintively, ‘D'you think Sally could come in here and see me?'

Father Michael and Sally looked at the prison guard who had remained silent throughout their conversation with Arthur although he had heard everything that was said. Still silent, he shook his head and it was Father Michael who replied to Arthur's plea.

‘I don't think this is a place to bring Sally, it would upset her far too much to see you here. We'll try to bring her to court when you are put on trial and we should be able to arrange a meeting afterwards. Until then take care of yourself as best you can.'