‘What have you been doing out on the streets of Leeds until this time?’ Meg asked Sarah sternly as her younger sister slammed the front door behind her and slumped down at the table. ‘Just look at you, you look like a street urchin and where’s the wood for the fire you were supposed to be collecting?’ Meg stood over her with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.
‘There wasn’t any today. It had all gone by the time Harry and I got up to the market. Besides I’m fed up with always going out and scrounging firewood. Why should I always do it? You even make me go around the market before school; well I’m not doing that on my own if you are going to be at work all the time. It’s not fair, our Meg, you just bully me.’ Sarah folded her arms and swung her bruised and scratched legs back and forward underneath the chair while pulling a petulant lip at her sister.
‘You’ll do what it takes for this family to survive and wandering off with Harry Truelove is not part of it. I suppose you’ve both been up to no good; I hope he’s not been pick-pocketing like his mother thinks he has.’ Meg looked long and hard at her young sister and noticed a flush come into her cheeks. ‘No good will come of it if he has. You don’t get led by him, are you listening? Now, what are we going to do for warmth tonight? We’ve hardly any coal. I suppose I’ll have to go out up the market now. They’ll be packing the stalls up so perhaps I can find one or two crates that they leave behind if they haven’t all gone. You keep an eye on your mother and don’t go out again. It’s coming in dark and lasses your age shouldn’t be out.’
Meg reached for her shawl and shook her head. At least she would have a bit of peace the following day with it being Sunday, but she would still have to find a way of keeping everyone warm and fed whether it was the Sabbath or not.
‘You’ll not be long, will you? I could do with some supper, I’m starving,’ Sarah said and put her head down on the table and sighed.
‘There’s some bread in the cupboard, but don’t eat it all. I’ll make us some soup when I return, it will warm us all up – and hopefully, seeing I’m having to go to the market, I’ll be able to scrounge a few vegetables that the traders don’t want to take home with them. Now stop moaning and listen out for Ma, she’s suffering today.’
Meg wrapped her shawl around her and walked out into the dimly lit streets of Leeds, making her way to Briggate where on either side of the wide street traders were selling their wares. She walked quickly, ignoring the prostitutes, who, with the darkening of the sky, were beginning to walk their patches in search of punters. Meg kept herself to herself as beggars heckled her for a penny or two. Little did they know she was as poor as them but unlike them, she had her pride – and she would never lower herself to sell her body like the women of the night, even though she knew that it was desperation that made them do so. In the gas-lit street of Briggate, she looked around her and made for the vegetable stall, where she knew she’d be able to find offcasts for her soup from the jovial stallholder who she had become friends with and worked for whenever she could.
‘Now then Meg, it’s late in the day to see you out and about. Have you come to make things right with Mike over there? I knew once you found out what your Sarah and that no good lad that she hangs about with had got up to you’d have something to say about it.’ Roger Ingram looked at Meg and saw the puzzlement on her face and shook his head. ‘By the looks, you perhaps don’t know. Me and my big mouth!’
‘What are you on about, Roger? What has she and Harry been up to that I need to apologize for?’ Meg felt her stomach churn as she feared the worst.
‘Nay, it’s not for me to say, I’ve already said enough. Go and talk to Mike, he’s calmed down now. I’ve told him Sarah would not be to blame, that it’s just the company she was with. Anyway, they were hungry – you can’t blame them. We’d have done the same but our fathers would have tanned our backsides, that’s the difference.’ Roger sighed.
‘She’s stolen from the stall! Oh, my Lord, I’ll kill her when I get home,’ Meg said and looked across at the fruitier who was packing his stall up onto his cart in readiness of going home. ‘I’ll go and make it right, but I haven’t any money on me to pay for what she stole.’
‘That’ll not matter. As long as Mike knows she’ll not be doing it again, he will be right with you. Now, I’ve some broken crates – do you need them? Sarah didn’t take them this morning when I offered her them and I’ve half a sack of tatties I was going to throw out because some are nearly rotten. You can have them and if you are quick with your business with Mike, I’m going your way so I’ll give you a lift back home on the cart,’ Roger said as he saw the worry on Meg’s face as she looked across at Mike on the fruit stall.
‘I can’t thank you enough, Roger. I’ll take you up on all your offers. Once we get back onto our feet I will repay you for your kindness. But now, as you say, I’ve got to make things right with Mike. I feel so embarrassed. Just wait until I get home. I might not wallop our Sarah but she’ll know my wrath.’ Meg sighed and then walked across the cobbles to where Mike Flannigan was packing his stall away on his cart.
‘So, you’ve come to make things right eh, Meg?’ Mike said in a soft Irish drawl that was hardly recognisable after his many years of living in Leeds. ‘If it had been anyone else she’d stolen off, the peelers would have been knocking on your door. She needs a good hiding and to learn to keep away from that Harry.’
‘I’m sorry, Mike, she’d never said a word to me. Roger has just told me. What did she steal from you and how can I make it right? I’ve no money on me else I’d pay for what she’s taken.’
Mike leaned against his cart and looked at Meg. ‘Him and her took an apple each and then ran like buggery. In fact, Sarah fell over, and she’ll have bruised her legs if not worse. It was the lad that was egging her on – she knew I recognized her and she knew she was doing wrong. She’s too easily led. You have your hands full with that one, lass.’
‘I’m sorry, she knows better than to steal. I’ll give her what for and make her come and apologize,’ Meg said, feeling heartily ashamed of her sister. ‘She’s pushing her luck at the moment. I think she’s finding it hard seeing our mother being so ill but this doesn’t help. To make things worse I’m having to go out to work so I can’t watch her as well as I have been doing, but we need the money.’
Mike knew Meg was doing her best and was up against it when it came to making a good life for her family. ‘It’s all right, lass, it’s only an apple. If she’d asked I’d have given her one – there was no need for her to steal if she was that hungry. Where have you got your job at? Not in a mill, I hope, those are soulless places to work in.’
‘I’m helping Ted Lund in his bakery on York Street. I like baking, I should be all right there as long as he pays me and we don’t fall out.’ Meg smiled wanly and looked at the kind-hearted Irishman who stood at the market no matter what the weather.
‘That tight old devil! I hope his bread improves because at the moment it’s not fit to feed my horse let alone anybody else. I wish you luck there.’
Mike stood and looked at the young lass in front of him; he had a daughter the same age back home. Unlike Meg and her sister, she didn’t go hungry and have to make do. He made a good living with his fruit stall on the market. ‘Here take this bag of fruit, it’s Sunday in the morning and by Monday it’ll not be worth owt.’ He reached over his stall and picked an apple or two and some pears that were past their best and smiled as he put them into Meg’s hands. ‘I expect an apology from that sister of yours and then it will be right. I’m sure she’ll get a good tongue-lashing from you when you get home.’
Meg’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I can’t thank you enough. Really it’s me that owes you.’ She smiled at Mike as she juggled the fruit in her hands.
‘Aye, well if I can’t show a bit of charity from time to time, I’d be worth nowt. There was plenty of folks who helped me when I first came from Derry over forty years ago and there were them that would rather spit on me than talk to me. You don’t forget the ones that help you and the others, well… they don’t matter. Good luck with old Ted and you take care of your mother and tell your sister to behave her sen.’
Mike watched as Meg walked across to Roger who was standing waiting for his passenger. Both had talked about the family in Sykes Yard and agreed that Meg needed help if she was to bring her young headstrong sister up without incident. They would do all they could to help.
Roger drew up his horse and cart outside Meg’s home and helped her down with the broken crates and her sack of potatoes, which now also contained Mike’s fruit and a cabbage that Roger had decided he would give her.
‘If you are working early hours in the bakery, you won’t have time to come and salvage any disused wood from the market,’ he pointed out. ‘Here’s not out of my way of going home – I’ll drop off what I can every night. I’ll ask the rest of the stallholders to put what they have on the back of my cart, it will make your life a bit easier.
‘Now, I’ve been thinking, do you want me to have a word with Sarah? A fella’s words might frighten her and make her think.’ Roger held his impatient horse’s reins and looked down at Meg as he waited to climb back onto his cart.
‘You’ve already done enough,’ Meg replied. ‘I’ll see to Sarah and rest assured she’ll not be stealing from off any of you again. I know how she falls so easily under Harry’s spell. He does have the charm of an angel, and I even feel sorry for him some days. However, I’ll not be having her following him into the gaol, because that is where he will end up at the speed he is going. I can’t thank you and Mike enough for all of this; I was worrying how I was going to keep my mother warm and fed tonight.’
‘It’s all right lass, it has cost us nothing and if it’s of use then you are welcome to it. Now go and sort that sister of yours and tend to your mother. I’ll spread the word around the market that old Ted Lund has a new baker and that she’s a good one. He’ll be thankful he has you working for him by the time I’ve finished. There will be queues for his bread all the way down the street.’
Roger winked, flicked his reins across his horse’s back and set off down the cobbled street. Meg stood and watched him until he disappeared around the corner. She breathed in and listened to the raised voices coming from next door. Hers would be joining them shortly, she thought, as she opened the front door with her booty under her arms. She wondered what she was going to say to her younger sister. How she wished her father was still alive – he’d have soon put her in her place. If her mother was well enough to lecture her she would be grateful but as it was, it was up to her to place her sister back in line.
‘I didn’t steal anything – thick Mike is lying. He’s lying, I tell you,’ Sarah squealed as Meg tackled her. ‘He’s mistaken me for someone else – I never went near the market today.’
‘Then how come Roger from the vegetable stall saw what you did as well? You are lucky that you didn’t get caught by the peelers; you’d be being shipped off to Australia by now if they had reported you both. You stop mixing with Harry next door – he can be a grand lad but he’s not to be trusted,’ Meg yelled at her sister.
‘You don’t believe me, you never believe me, and I hate you!’ Sarah stood with her face wrinkled and ugly and with her long unkempt ginger hair hanging down her back.
Meg looked angrily at her young sister. ‘You can say what you like. I know it was you. Mike said you fell and hurt your leg when you were running away from him – are you all right? Show me your legs.’
‘No, I will not. My legs are grand, he’s lying. I tell you it was not me,’ Sarah said but was near to crying.
‘Well, you needn’t go near the market again for any wood; Roger is going to drop any unwanted crates and boxes off from the market every night. It’ll keep you out of temptation’s way. They’ve also given us enough vegetables for me to make some good broth for supper – we have got a lot to be thankful for because of them. Seeing tomorrow is Sunday, you can put pen to paper and sit down and thank Roger for his kindness and write a letter of apology to Mike. He’s expecting an apology from you in person but a letter will do.’
Meg scowled at her young sister. She’d have walloped her hard if she had dared but she knew Sarah would have fought back and the scuffle would waken and upset her mother.
‘But I didn’t do it! Why don’t you believe me?’ Sarah yelled and slumped down at the table.
‘Just hold your noise, Sarah. All three of us are not stupid, we know it was you. You need to wash that knee – by the looks of it you have gravel in the cut; it will take bad ways if you are not careful,’ Meg said calmly after spotting the cut on Sarah’s knee with dried blood on it. ‘Now, help me peel these potatoes and quieten down, there’s no need to waken our mother with your squeals. But you will write those letters tomorrow if you know what’s good for you and you’ll stop running wild with Harry, no good will come of it. I’m sorry but I have to be bossy with you at the moment but nobody else is here for you or me, so behave and try not to give me more worries than I already have.’
Sarah said nothing as Meg placed a bowl of warm water poured from the kettle and grabbed a small piece of cloth for her then signalled Sarah to show her the hurt knee properly. Meg bent down and wiped away the blood gently and looked at the gravel that she washed out of the wound. ‘You did go a pearler. Now think on no more thieving, write that letter tomorrow and that will be the last of it unless I hear differently.’ She watched the tears start to trickle down her young sister’s face. ‘It’s only because I love you that I lecture you. We need one another, Sarah, and Mam is not going to be with us forever.’
Meg put her arms around her young sister and kissed her on her head but Sarah said nothing. She was still fuming that her sister could boss her around. Meg would never take the place of her mam, no matter how she tried, and she had no right to make her do as she said.
It was Sunday evening; the atmosphere in the Fairfax home had been fraught all day. Sarah had only spoken to Meg when she had to and although she had written an apologetic letter to Mike on the fruit stall, it had been under duress. Meg sat next to the fire, her mother across from her mending Sarah’s dress for the following day. Sarah was already in bed. She’d taken a book up with her to read, deciding that she’d had enough of her big sister watching her every move.
‘You’ve been quiet today, Meg, are you all right?’ Agnes asked and looked at her eldest daughter with concern. ‘I heard you chastising Sarah last night. I think the whole street heard.’
‘I’m sorry, Mam, I tried to be as quiet as I could, and I didn’t want you to worry about what she’s been up to.’ Meg put her mending on her knee and looked at her mother. ‘She doesn’t listen to me and I’m not respected enough by her. You must have heard that she’d stolen some fruit from the market with Harry; she can’t do that, else she’s going to get herself in bother.’
‘If her father had been alive, he would have taken his belt to her. Although if he was and if I were well she needn’t have stolen fruit to fill her belly. She was hungry, Meg. I know what she did was wrong but it is a terrible thing, hunger, and she had to prove herself to Harry, I suppose. You were just the same at that age, you had to do what your friends did. Can you remember me playing hell with you for trying to jump down that high set of stairs at the end of Mill Lane? You could have broken your neck and that was because you were playing with that Marjorie Goodall and others. All I’m saying is put yourself in her place: she’s frightened, hungry, and doesn’t quite know what’s going to become of her, despite you being there for her after my death.’ Agnes sighed and closed her eyes.
‘Neither do I, Mam, I don’t know if I can look after her and work, especially as she is so stubborn. I wish… I wish you were well, Mam, I don’t want to lose you,’ Meg sobbed.
‘I wish I wasn’t going away, lass, but the pearly gates get a little closer each day and I can’t do anything about it. Be strong, follow your heart, and have faith. Sarah, I know, will be looked after by you, you’ll look after one another eventually. Now let’s stop this maudlin talk. You are back with old Ted tomorrow, he’ll keep you on your toes. Don’t you worry about Sarah and me. We’ll both be fine, she’ll get herself to school and if I don’t feel like coming down here and getting dressed, I’ll stay in my bed until you return. There’s nothing to worry about except keeping on the good side of Ted Lund. His money when he pays you will be more than appreciated and if you have the fellas from off the market delivering us some wood every evening, you’ve no longer that worry. They’ll do anybody a good turn, will some of those traders. Some folk look down their noses at them but they are a good lot. Perhaps Sarah did you a favour pinching that apple, she found us an angel.’
‘I don’t know about that, but it will be a good help. I’m sorry, Mam, I’ll try and be more understanding with Sarah, it’s just we are like chalk and cheese. Sometimes I look at her and wonder how she can be my sister.’ Meg held out her hand for her mother’s touch.
‘Well she is and she needs you and you need her, so don’t let the theft of an apple when she was hungry come between you. There will be many an apple pinched from off that market – it’s like a red rag to a bull when you are hungry. It’s just unlucky your sister and Harry got caught. She will not be doing it again; Harry, well, he’ll do what he wants because nobody does care about him and his siblings, poor little buggers. You two are loved and always will be whether I’m on this earth or in Heaven above and never forget that.’