Darkest Before Dawn (20 page)

Perhaps fortunately for Mr Cripps, since Toby found himself fighting a strong urge to punch him on the nose, their food arrived at this point. Mr Cripps pushed up his sleeves in a workmanlike fashion, helped himself liberally from the mustard pot, and began eating, which meant that he could no longer talk. Toby picked up his own knife and fork and began to tackle the steak and kidney pie. It was indeed delicious, but ambrosia would have turned to ashes in his mouth when Seraphina bounced back into the kitchens and the men at her table all laughed uproariously over something she said as she disappeared through the swing doors. Toby ground his teeth and shovelled the remainder of the creamy mashed potatoes into his mouth so fast that he almost choked. He had always considered Seraphina his own particular friend . . . no, dammit, if he were honest, he had always considered her his girl. He had never asked her to marry him – they were both too young – but he acknowledged, now, that he could not imagine a future which did not contain Seraphina.

Well, if that really is so, why didn't you write to her, a small, niggling voice in his mind demanded. Why, you never even answered her letters, not properly, because four ill-written lines on a page torn from an old exercise book isn't a real reply. And now you come here, and watch her at work, and criticise her, and it's just like spying . . . well, it
is
spying. And what's more, since you're so far away, you can't actually hear a word that anyone has said. It's probably all perfectly innocent.

‘. . . and the tea's none of that wishy-washy stuff what you get in the Kardomah or Cooper's. I ain't denyin' they're ladies' places really, and seemingly ladies like weak tea, but I dussent. I like a cup so strong that the teaspoon can stand up in it without no help from anyone. Ah, here comes our nippy now, and that'll be our tea, I reckon.'

‘I didn't hear you order tea,' Toby said morosely, accepting his own pot.

Mr Cripps smiled indulgently. ‘I telled you I come here every day,' he said reproachfully. ‘The nippies know I finish me meal with a cuppa.'

Toby grunted. Seraphina had just come sailing out of the kitchen. This time, it appeared, she was clearing tables since her tray was empty. He poured tea into his cup with his eyes fixed on her slender yet curvy figure, and was immediately taken to task by Mr Cripps, who jumped to his feet and began energetically mopping at the table top whilst gazing reprovingly at Toby. ‘Hey, hey, hey, keep it on the perishin' island, boy,' he said as he mopped. ‘Tell you what, I don't reckon your mind's on the job. Why, if I hadn't shouted out, you'd have gone on pourin' until the pot were empty.' He beckoned to a passing waitress. ‘Gerrus a dishcloth, there's a good girl,' he said jovially. ‘Me pal here's had a bit of an accident.'

The girl was Seraphina. She came over to the table, glanced at the mess and then froze, her eyes on Toby's face. Slowly, a wide smile spread across her countenance. ‘Toby!' she breathed. ‘I didn't know you were in Liverpool. How odd that you chose to have your dinner in the very place where I'm working.' Her eyes shifted from his face to the table. ‘Oh lor, I'll fetch a cloth. Shan't be a mo.'

Toby stared down at the table, swimming in tea. He didn't know whether he felt more like laughing or crying. She didn't realise he had come specially to see her; thought that his presence was a mere coincidence. It crossed his mind that he could tell her he had been moved from his present station to a different one many months ago, and had never received her letters, particularly the one giving him the ultimatum, but he knew he couldn't do such a dishonest thing, not really. When she came back with the dishcloth, he would explain, ask her when she finished work, suggest that they should meet and catch up on each other's news. But Mr Cripps was still jabbering away, telling Toby that he was a shipping clerk with the White Star line, asking him what he did for a living and where he was lodging, for he had noticed that his new friend spoke with a Yorkshire accent.

Toby began to explain that he worked on the railways and had come to Liverpool to visit old friends, but then Seraphina was back. She cleaned up the table incredibly quickly, told Toby that she would send out fresh tea and disappeared whilst he was still opening his mouth to tell her how he came to be in the restaurant. He told himself that it did not matter, that by the time she returned he would have planned exactly what to say, but she did not come back. Another girl brought the replacement tea and presently Mr Cripps stood up and went ponderously over to the desk to pay his bill. Toby stayed at the table for ten more minutes, staring hopefully at the swing doors which led to the kitchen, then decided that he must ask to speak to Seraphina, for it seemed that she was not going to reappear.

He got up and went to the desk and paid his money to a stout and elderly lady wearing tiny, gold-rimmed spectacles and a neat black dress, though without the white collar and cuffs sported by the nippies. When she had taken his money, and given him his change, he asked her when Miss Todd would be free. The elderly woman looked him up and down, though not unkindly. ‘I'm afraid I can't give personal details out to members of the public,' she said firmly, and held out her hand for the bill which the next customer was proffering.

‘But – I'm not a member of the public. I'm – I'm Miss Todd's cousin,' Toby said wildly, if untruthfully. ‘My ma – that's Miss Todd's aunt – asked me to pop in and give her something.' He produced the ill-wrapped parcel and said: ‘I was to find out how she and her sisters were doing and whether my ma could do anything to help Aunt Martha – that's Sera—I mean Miss Todd's mother,' he ended.

The woman looked at him doubtfully, then her gaze moved to someone behind him and she brightened. She stood up – she was in a small glass cage to the right of the doorway – and spoke in a clear, commanding voice. ‘Miss Todd, come over here a minute, will you?'

Toby swung round. Seraphina, an enquiring look on her face, was approaching fast. He stepped towards her and spoke almost in a whisper. ‘When are you free, lass? I need to talk to you.'

Seraphina tightened her lips and her eyes sparked dangerously, and Toby realised, with some disappointment, that she had recovered from the surprise, even pleasure, of seeing him, and was remembering her grievance. However, she said crisply: ‘I finish at six. Is that all?'

Poor Toby was dismayed by her tone and the cool look in her beautiful blue eyes, but he knew better than to show it. ‘Is there a staff exit?' he hissed.

‘Yes, round the back,' Seraphina said quickly. ‘I must go, Toby, we're awfully busy,' and with that she disappeared into the kitchen once more, leaving Toby to make his way out of the restaurant. As he did so, he reflected gloomily that this elegant, sharply spoken young woman was not the Seraphina Todd he had known and loved. Living in the city, working in the restaurant, had changed her out of all recognition. But perhaps the change is only skin deep, he told himself, as he began to stroll along Church Street. He had planned to visit the big stores – Lewis's, Cooper's, Bunney's – and it occurred to him now that he might keep the jar of humbugs, which suddenly seemed rather a naïve present for the sophisticated young lady Seraphina had become, and buy her something more appropriate. Chocolates would be nice, or a pretty scarf, only summertime was approaching, not really scarf weather. He would choose something nice and she would forgive him for his shocking behaviour and allow him to make amends.

When Toby had left the restaurant, Seraphina went about her work in a thoughtful mood. She had been really angry with Toby. She had accepted that he disliked writing letters, but that was really no excuse for the way he had behaved. After all, most people have to do a great many things they dislike in the course of their lives, and when he had failed to reply to either coaxing or threats she had decided that not only was his indifference hurtful, it also meant that their relationship had come to an end. She had resolved to put him out of her mind and she had done so. She had banished the thought of him so successfully that his sudden appearance in the restaurant had shocked her into smiling at him and that, she supposed, had seemed like the thin edge of the wedge to her old friend. She had gone back into the kitchen, determining not to return to the restaurant until he had left. She had peeped through the round portholes in the swing doors and had seen him go over to pay Mrs Edwards. She had then waited a further five minutes to give him time to leave before she sallied forth to clear more tables. When Mrs Edwards had called her over, and Toby had spoken to her, she had honestly intended to snub him mercilessly, to tell him to go back to his wretched little country station since he obviously found it so fascinating that he had not kept in touch with his old friends. But there was something so appealing in the glance he had shot at her that she had been unable to prevent a stirring of pity. She had pretended to think it was mere coincidence which had brought him to the restaurant but she knew, of course, that that would have been stretching even coincidence too far. He had come in search of her, probably after visiting Wilmslow's and being told by Martha where her daughter worked. She did not mean to let him believe he was anything but an old friend, but she could at least be civil, meet him after work, and take him back to the flat for a cup of tea and a sandwich, before putting him on a tram for Lime Street station and waving him off without a pang.

But as it happened, even taking him home to tea would be awkward, because one of the customers had asked her to go dancing at the Grafton this very evening and she had more or less said she would. He had given her the telephone number of his office and she was supposed to ring him some time during the afternoon to confirm that she was free to go. Now she would have to tell him an old friend from the country had turned up and risk his displeasure; if she said she was working late, he would undoubtedly pop into the restaurant and find her out in a lie, and that would never do. Roger Truelove was a well-educated young man with rich parents, living in a large house somewhere on the far side of Prince's Park. Seraphina had never visited his home but she had walked along the road and looked curiously at the big houses with their beautiful gardens and wondered, enviously, what it would be like to live in one of them.

Now, she smiled almost mechanically as she went from table to table, clearing dirty cutlery and crockery, collecting half-used sugar bowls and milk jugs, and then using her cloth to wipe every last trace from the shiny table tops. There was a telephone booth not far from the restaurant which she could use when she finished work, but even that would be awkward, because Toby would be with her and would undoubtedly want to know whom she was telephoning. However, at this point, Seraphina gave a mental shrug; why hide the truth from Toby, after all? He no longer mattered to her, did he? In fact, she decided it would be a good thing for both of them if he knew that she had other friends beside himself. Surely he could not have expected her to sit around waiting for him whilst he failed to answer her letters and generally behaved as though she did not matter to him.

‘Miss! Miss, I ordered a pot of tea for two and two buttered scones a good five minutes ago and I telled the young lady we were in a rare hurry 'cos we've gorra train to catch; can you see if you can hurry 'em up?'

Seraphina looked guiltily across at the speaker, a small, bird-like woman with a beaky nose and faded blue eyes. She and her companion were sitting at one of her tables and Seraphina realised that she had been so busy thinking about her own life that she had completely forgotten she was here to do a job of work. One of the other nippies must have assumed that Seraphina was too busy clearing tables to take orders and had done so for her. She bent her most charming smile on the little lady, then transferred it to her companion. The two were so alike that she did a double take which made both customers smile. ‘We're twins,' the speaker explained, indicating her companion. ‘We has a day out together now and then, meetin' in the city 'cos it's halfway house for us, but she's out at Southport and I'm t'other way, Chester, and we don't want to miss us trains.'

Seraphina was beginning to say that she would go and check when one of the other nippies came through the swing door and headed towards them. ‘Your tea and scones have arrived, ladies,' Seraphina said cheerfully. She addressed the other girl as she began to unload her tray on to the twins' table. ‘I'm awfully sorry, Liz. I was so busy clearing I didn't notice I had customers, but it won't happen again.'

Liz, a short, stout girl with a beaming smile and a gap between her front teeth, finished unloading her tray and turned to hurry back to the kitchen with Seraphina. ‘'S all right, Fee; you'd do the same for me if I were rushed,' she said. ‘Who were the feller?'

‘Oh, just a friend of the family,' Seraphina said airily. ‘From the old days, you know. I've not seen him since we left the canal, but he was in Liverpool, so he decided to look me up.'

‘And meet you after work this evening,' Liz said. ‘Are you taking 'im to the Grafton?'

‘Honest to God, no one can keep anything to themselves in this place,' Seraphina said. ‘No, I'm not taking him to the Grafton. He – he isn't that sort of friend. In fact, I don't suppose he can dance. I'll take him home to tea, but that's about it.'

‘But Dawson telled me you were going to the Grafton wi' Mr Truelove,' Liz said as the two of them pushed through the swing doors into the kitchen.

‘I think nippies are the nosiest people in the whole of England, and you're the nosiest one of all, Liz,' Seraphina said roundly. ‘Actually, I'm going to have to cancel my date, worse luck. I said I'd ring him if I could go so we could arrange where to meet. So I'll do that as soon as I've finished work. Maybe he'll agree to us going out tomorrow night instead of tonight,' she added hopefully. Of all the young men who had taken her about since she started work at Lyon's, Roger Truelove was not only the most well-to-do, but also the handsomest and most charming. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with thick corn-coloured hair, amazingly blue eyes, and a crooked smile which revealed very white and even teeth. He came into the restaurant a couple of times most weeks and all the girls thought him a splendid young man but this was the first time, so they assured Seraphina, that he had asked any of them out.