Frankie got up to make two cups of tea, and now for the first time he had a chance of looking round about her room. He liked it. It wasn’t rich at all, no; yet as on a ship, nothing essential was missing. The sheets had been clean, and in the tins marked tea, and rice, and sugar, he saw there were actually these things, and plenty. It was, of course, a bit over-feminine, but then the girl was, after all, a woman. ‘Sugar?’ he said, looking round at her lying smoking on the bed.
‘Eight lumps,’ she answered. ‘I’m not naturally sweet.’
He came and sat beside her and fondled her abstractedly. ‘Thanks, girl,’ he said.
She smiled and said to him, ‘There’s not many, I can tell you, get a cup of tea as well.’
‘I dare say not,’ said Frankie.
‘Or leave as rich as they came in,’ she added.
Frankie frowned. ‘I’ve never paid for it,’ he said, ‘and never would, and never will.’
‘Oh, I was kidding.’ She sipped a bit, and said, ‘Not even those geisha girls, you wouldn’t?’
‘If a girl thinks she wants money from me, I’d rather go without.’
‘Well, dear, being as you are, I don’t expect you’ve often had to.’
Frankie smiled, then looked at her seriously. ‘You like the life?’ he said.
‘I don’t like or dislike, darling: I’m just used to it.’
‘Been at it long?’
‘Oh, ever since I can remember …’
‘Yeah – I see. You don’t mind if I ask: it doesn’t upset you?’
She laughed. ‘Upset me? Darling, you can believe me or not, but I just – don’t – notice.’
‘No? By the way: don’t call me “darling”, please. I told you my name’s Frankie.’
‘Yes. Frankie Love. You said so. And you’ve proved it.’
‘But listen. Stop me if I’m curious. When you go out: not knowing who it’s going to be. That doesn’t disturb you?’
‘No.’
‘Not at all?’
‘No. Only if they’re vicious or anything, or try to rob me …’
‘They try that? That’s not right!’
‘Sometimes they do … But you get to know the types – you’d be surprised.’
‘I suppose so.’ He took her hands, examined them, kissed them and said, ‘But listen. All those men. Maybe two or three a day. Don’t you find …’
‘Two or three? Are you kidding? What you take me for – a mystery?’
‘You’re mysterious, all right.’
‘Not that way, I’m not.’
‘Yeah. But what I mean is – doesn’t it disgust you any? One after another, dozens of them just like that?’
She sat up and fixed the pillows. ‘Well, Frankie,’ she said. ‘First ask yourself this question, please. If you go with me after all those dozens – doesn’t it disgust you?’
‘No. No – but I think that’s different.’
‘Men do.’
‘I suppose so.’
‘Look, dear. If you’re going into this business at all, it’s best to have as many as you can, isn’t it? Well, isn’t it?’
‘I dare say …’
‘This isn’t Mayfair, darling …’
‘… Frankie …’
‘… Sorry. Not Mayfair, but Stepney Green. Seamen and drunks. Thirty bob, a pound – even less, sometimes.’
‘But it all adds up.’
‘I’ll say it does. Pass me that bag.’
‘No.’
‘Go on!’
‘No, I don’t want to touch it. I don’t like women’s bags.’
She jerked her head at him, reached over, and spilt its contents on the bed.
‘What’s this?’ said Frankie. ‘Your life’s savings?’
‘Don’t be silly, boy. That’s just last night’s.’
‘You kidding me now?’
‘Why should I kid you?’
‘All that loot?’
‘Well, it’s not so much … I pay a Bengali eight a week for this little gaff …’
‘For this?’
‘Frankie, if you’re in business full-time, and your landlord’s not ignorant, you don’t get a gaff, even down here, for less. And if he is ignorant, believe me, it’s even worse: he might shop you, or throw you out unexpectedly.’
Frankie gazed at the notes and silver on the blanket. Like money you pick up in the streets, it seemed quite different from the contents of a pay-packet – like valuable stuff that just belonged to anybody.
‘What else you spend it on?’ he said.
She looked at him intently, then said, ‘Oh, this and that – it soon goes, you know. Expenses are heavy: nylons, for instance. Look! You’re not the first who’s laddered the best part of a pound …’ She rubbed her leg and said, ‘But sometimes there’s a bit over and to spare …’
Frankie reflected. ‘Well, I suppose you get your due,’ he said. ‘It can’t be easy …’
‘It’s not, Frank, believe me.’
‘All the same. Excuse my saying so, but I think a man who pays for that’s no man at all.’
She got up. ‘Oh, I don’t think much of them either. But I’m glad there’s plenty of them around …’
‘Yes, Frank, I have to. But you can stop here a bit, if you like, till I get back …’
‘You’d trust me alone in here?’
‘Yes, of course. What’s there to pinch? You don’t wear girl’s clothes – at least I hope not – and I’m taking this …’ And she flourished the square black bag.
Frankie got up too. ‘No, I’ll be off,’ he said.
‘Off to where?’
‘I’m staying down the Rowton.’
‘That sty? I hope it’s not given you crabs.’
‘Baby, I wash,’ he said.
‘Me too. Turn the other way, I’m going to before we leave.’