‘Who can that be at my door? I never have any visitors and then when our Meg isn’t here, I get them knocking on my door like woodpeckers,’ Agnes said as she looked across at Betsy. She wished she and the baby would go home. Her head was splitting and Betsy didn’t seem to give a damn what the baby played in or what it touched.
‘I’ll get it, don’t you stir. Or do you want us to be quiet in case it’s the tallyman, he can’t see in past the curtains?’ Betsy whispered and picked up the baby.
‘No, it’ll not be the rent man and if it is, he’s paid and we are straight with him. Just go and see who it is – tell them Meg is not at home if they are wanting her.’ Agnes made herself look a little more respectable as she pulled her blanket around her knees and watched as Betsy, her baby on her hip, went and opened the door.
Agnes heard a voice on the step she knew and shouted to Betsy to let her visitor in. It was Ted Lund. He’d returned early from Ireland and was now looking to pick his key for the bakery up and to speak to Meg. ‘Let him in, Betsy, and thank you love, but you and the baby can go home now. Our Meg won’t be long.’
Betsy opened the door wide and looked at the man who everyone knew to be a miserable tight old soul and looked across at Agnes as he walked into the house. ‘Are you sure you don’t need me any longer? I can stay until Meg comes back.’ But Betsy watched Ted take her chair across from Agnes and knew that she had been replaced.
‘No, you’re right, lass, Ted is here now. Thank you for keeping me company, now you take care.’ Agnes smiled and then sat back in her chair and looked across at Ted as Betsy left with the baby starting to cry on her hip.
‘Lord, I thought I’d never get rid of her,’ Agnes admitted. ‘She never shuts up and the baby was in the cupboards and tumbling about and she never batted an eyelid.’ Agnes sighed and looked across at Ted. ‘So, you are back? Have you had a good trip? It will have brought back some memories no doubt, some that perhaps should have stayed buried?’
‘Aye, I’m back, more’s the pity. Back to the grindstone. But I couldn’t have stayed there forever. As you say, it brought back memories. We’ve both had our heartaches, Agnes, both left mourning when we were only relatively young and didn’t bother to get remarried. A lot of folks would have looked for another to spend their lives together with but I can never forget my Eleanor and Myra and you must have been the same when you lost your old man. I think if I’d been you I’d have taken on another man – it must have been hard bringing those two lasses up by yourself.’
Ted could see that Agnes’ health had failed even more while he was away. She looked frail and she constantly struggled for breath. There were dark circles under her eyes and she was a shadow of the woman that he used to know.
‘I managed. You have to. It makes you stronger and it’s made my lasses stronger. You’ll be wanting our Meg, will you? She’ll not be long. She’s gone with Daisy Truelove shopping around the market and arcades, not that our Meg has any money, you’ll know that.’
‘You’retelling me that, but you’ve got an orange by your side, they’re not cheap. I hope she hasn’t been helping herself to the takings.’ He had immediately wondered how Agnes could afford the luxury of the orange.
‘Betsy from next door brought me it,’ Agnes said sharply. ‘Her fella had helped himself from some that had been going bad down at the cut. At least that’s what she said, you never know with Betsy. As for Meg helping herself to the takings, you should know her better. She’s a good lass. I’ll have you know she’s been putting every hour God sends into that bakery. I think you’ll be speechless when she tells you what she’s been up to.’ Agnes rose quickly to Meg’s defence. She’d not have the lazy miserable Ted Lund accusing her lass of anything.
‘What she’s been up to?’ Ted repeated. ‘I hope that she’s just got on with her job and baked bread, bread to my standards. That’s all I asked her to do when I left,’ he said sharply. ‘I hope she hasn’t let anyone have tick or taken any notice of what that Daisy Truelove has said. She’s always complaining about my bread. Saying her father doesn’t like it! I doubt he’ll know what he’s eating some days, he’s that drunk when he comes home from the cut.’
‘You’d better hold your noise now, Ted, I can hear them coming. There’s some giggling going on, so they must have had a good time,’ Agnes said as she heard the door handle being tried and watched as Meg and Daisy waltzed into the room with grins on their faces, which soon disappeared once they realized that Ted Lund was a visitor. ‘You’re back then, girls, I’ve swapped Betsy for Ted, and he’s a bit less noisy than Betsy and her baby.’
Agnes was surprised by the shock on Meg’s face.
‘You are back then, Mr Lund, I didn’t expect to see you until next weekend,’ Meg said as she placed her few bags onto the table.
‘Aye, I can see that, gadding about shopping. I hope that you’ve kept an eye on my business because I’ll know if you haven’t,’ Ted growled and looked hard at what bags Meg had returned with.
‘Yes, I think you’ll find all is in order. I’ve been busy while you’ve been away,’ Meg said and felt faint at the thought of coming clean at what she had been up to.
‘She has. There’s been queues outside the door of a morning. Just you wait until you see what she’s been up to,’ Daisy piped up and Meg turned around and shook her head at her, wanting her to say no more.
‘Up to?’ Ted said, getting increasingly concerned at the second person to talk about this. ‘I hope she’s been up to nowt. Queues I never have. Queues? What have you been doing? Have you been giving my bread away? I’d better have come home to some brass in my safe, else you’ll have something to answer to.’
‘I’ll go, Meg, you’ll need to talk.’ Daisy picked up her bags and gave a knowing glance to Meg. She didn’t want to make things worse and as Meg saw her to the door she whispered, ‘Sorry.’
Meg was left to face the music; she knew now she’d have to explain exactly what she had actually been up to while Ted had been away.
Agnes could see the worry on Meg’s face. ‘Now listen here, Ted Lund, I told you, my Meg has worked all the hours on God’s earth for your bakery. She’s done what you should have been doing for all these years that you’ve been feeling sorry for yourself. You’ve got money in your safe, of that I’m sure, not that she’s ever discussed your affairs with me.’ Agnes caught her breath and started coughing.
‘Mam, don’t get upset. It’s all right, I’ll tell him what I’ve been doing,’ Meg said and stood behind her mother’s chair passing her handkerchief as she coughed up the contents of her lungs. Ted pulled a face at the state of her.
Meg shut her eyes for a moment, then decided to say it all in one. The words tumbled out of her mouth, falling over themselves. ‘I’ve been baking things that I thought folk wanted, things that I knew would sell. Scones, teacakes, a granny loaf, a Victoria Sandwich, and I were right, folk has been nearly buying me out each day. I’ve made you plenty of money in your absence. I know I perhaps shouldn’t but it was me doing the work and it’s made you good money, so I could see no wrong in it.’
Ted was silent for a moment, before growling, ‘I told you just to bake bread. I’m not making work for myself at my age. How did you pay for all this? You’d need eggs and butter and the likes, how did you buy them?’
‘I put them on the Dinsdale’s account, it’s all paid for and up to date; I’ve kept my own accounts book that you can have now you are back, it’s in the safe. I’ve put every penny spent in it along with receipts and every penny made. What money is in the safe is pure profit, and it’s a nice sum even though I say so myself. It’s a good little business that you have, Mr Lund.’
‘It is if he’s prepared to work,’ Agnes said quietly and sat back and looked at the anger subsiding on his face.
‘I don’t know why you just couldn’t do what I told you to do. I want nowt with work at my age. I’ll see what’s what at the bakery on my way back home. You needn’t come in on Monday. I’ll need a day to sort the mess out you’ll have left me in. Now, give me the key to the shop and safe and look after your mother instead of spending your brass with that flibbertigibbet of a Daisy Truelove. She’s nothing but a gossip and is always complaining about my bread.’
Meg passed him both keys from out of the pot dresser drawer.
‘Daisy got you a lot more customers from the mill,’ Meg told him. ‘The girls come in every morning now, they spend quite a bit on one thing and another.’ Ted stood up and made for the door. ‘They’ll be expecting my baking on Monday morning. Are you sure you don’t want me to come in? All’s in order at the bakery, it’s as tidy as it has ever been, you’ve nothing to worry about.’ Maybe if it meant him missing out on money and work, perhaps he would want her as usual?
‘You’d better come in then, but I’ll be opening up so you don’t have to come to my house and knock me up. I’ll also be watching what you get up to. I suppose my bread recipe has gone out of the window?’ Ted grunted and knew instantly from Meg’s reaction that he was right. ‘Aye, I thought so, I hope you put the price up, else we’ll not be making much profit on bread, no matter what you say. I’ll see you Monday morning and if things are not to my liking, you’ll be looking for another job or worse.’ Ted hesitated for a moment and when he spoke again, his tone was a fraction softer. ‘Look after your mother, instead of trailing off. She needs you.’ Then he closed the door and left a relieved Meg.
‘I was dreading telling him, Mam,’ Meg said. ‘I didn’t think he’d be back before next weekend. He’s early.’ Meg let out a long shuddering breath, cupped her hands, and looked up at her mother. ‘Thank you for fighting my corner, I know it took it out of you.’
‘Nay, that was nowt, I was tired out long before then. Betsy never shut up chittering about all sorts of rubbish, and that baby of hers was just left to crawl all over the place. I was glad when Ted Lund appeared, just to get rid of her. Now, have you and Daisy had a good day? It looked like it by the amount of parcels and bags she had, although you haven’t bought much.’ Agnes looked at the few packages that Meg had brought in with her.
‘Yes, we had a good time, Mam. I bought Sarah some ribbons as she’ll need to look tidy on Monday.’
‘Why, what’s so special on Monday for her?’ Agnes asked.
‘I’ve never got to tell you what with Ted being here but Sarah has hopefully got herself a job at Hunslet Mill. She’s to see the manager on Monday morning. Do you think we are doing right to let her leave school early? I keep worrying about it.’
‘Well, she’s not learning anything at school because she’s just not interested in her lessons. Happen if it’s to do with sewing and she gets her first pay packet, she’ll knuckle down. You were helping me with the ironing and washing at her age. It never did you any harm, and it made you grow up. I sometimes just don’t know what to do with the lass.’
‘I could do with going with her to see the manager on Monday morning, just to make sure she gets there and acts right in front of the manager. You know what she’s like. I can’t now that Ted is back, I can’t be in two places at once.’
‘Well, I can’t take her,’ Agnes said. ‘I can hardly manage our stairs nowadays and Hunslet Mill is a good distance to walk. She’ll have to do it every day as well if she gets the job.’
‘Mam, she’d been wandering around Leeds for days without us knowing,’ Meg pointed out. ‘Our Sarah is a lot cannier than she lets on. She may be not quite eleven but she knows what it’s like on the streets. It’s just her mouth she can’t control most of the time. That’s why I needed to be there.’
‘You can’t be there for her all her life, Meg. She’ll have to learn as the rest of us did. Now, I’m going to go to my bed. Let me know when it is supper time and I’ll get up for the evening. I’ve had enough with babies, bakers and our Sarah to think about. This body is tired and I need another drop of laudanum just to keep the pain at bay. Thank the Lord that you keep getting me it, I don’t know what I’d do without it.’
Agnes pulled herself up from the chair and made for the stairs, leaving Meg sat in her chair, looking at her buys from off the market. She regretted being so frivolous with her money now that Ted was back. The shilling in her posy bag would have to be replaced into the till as soon as she entered the bakery’s shop, but at last, she could do it now through the help of Daisy. However, she knew that Ted would soon have something to say about what had gone on at his bakery when he learned just how much baking she had been doing.
Ted Lund strode out down the street to his bakery. He could tell things had changed in his absence straight away. The window had been changed around and the few shelves that had been in it were now covered with the lace doilies that his wife had been so happy to use, awaiting the new baking on Monday morning.
He shook his head as he turned the key in the door and looked about him. The shelves were empty and clean, cleaner than he had ever known them and everything was in place. As he walked into the bakery, he noticed all the shelves had been tidied, the baking tins put in their correct sizes and the table scrubbed to an inch of its life. He’d give Meg Fairfax her due, she’d cleaned his bakery up and not done a bad job of it, he thought, as he opened the storeroom and was taken aback by the number of ingredients stacked on the shelves. Bags of flour were on the floor and tins of syrup and jam and bags of sugar were on every one of the wooden shelves. She must have bankrupted him with the number of ingredients she had stored away ready for her use in the coming few weeks.
He cursed, mad at himself for letting a young lass run his bakery while he gallivanted about in Ireland. He should have known that she’d not do as she was told. Her mother had always been headstrong when she was younger, and obviously her daughter took after her. She could never have made any money, he thought, as he stormed over to the safe that was hidden behind a breadboard and turned the key in the lock, feeling his heart pounding at the thought of the lack of money within. She couldn’t have made him any proper money, anyhow. How would she know what was a decent profit when it came to his bakery? A couple of shillings would seem a lot to that lass, she was not used to brass.
He stepped back and held his breath as he opened the safe’s door to reveal cloth bags full of money and a small roll of notes. There was more money in the safe than he had made in the last year. The lass had been right and on top of the money was her accounts book, with every penny accounted for and all the invoice and receipts within it.
He couldn’t believe it – she couldn’t possibly have made that amount of money in such a short time. He picked up the accounts book and put it in his pocket. He’d study that in detail later but for now he’d take his stash home with him and check every penny. The lass must have baked every minute of the day. Now that could be a good thing or a bad thing, he thought, as he locked the bakery door and carried the loot back to his home.