CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

‘SHE CAN’T HAVE done,’ Bella said. ‘She was here less than ten minutes ago, fifteen minutes at most.’

‘Let me look.’ Joe took the note from Sarah. He read it, and unfastening his apron said, ‘She can’t have gone far; I’ll go and find her. Which theatre will it be?’

Sarah and Bella shook their heads. ‘No idea,’ Bella said. ‘She mentioned ’Queen’s and ’Royal as being nearby.’

‘Excuse me.’ Reuben Jacobs’s soft voice broke in. ‘Is something wrong? Can I be of assistance?’

‘I don’t think so, Mr Jacobs,’ Sarah said. ‘Not this time. It seems that our Nell has run off with ’theatre folk. Joe’s going to try and find her. Hurry up, Joe,’ she urged. ‘She can’t have been gone long.’

‘A good half-hour, I should say,’ Reuben commented. ‘She was not here during the speeches, I noticed, which I thought at the time was rather odd; I felt that she would have wanted to be included.’

‘I didn’t notice,’ Bella murmured. ‘I thought she was with us.’

‘Go get your coat, Joe,’ his mother said again. ‘Try ’nearest theatre, that one in Paragon Street, I don’t know what it’s called; ask if she’s there an’ if she is fetch her home.’

‘If I might suggest …’ Reuben broke in again and they looked at him expectantly. ‘Perhaps the first place to look might be the railway station? If the theatre company is moving on, then they will be travelling by train rather than by coach.’

Sarah, Bella and Joe looked at each other, then Joe dashed for his coat. Sarah shook her head. ‘But what’s she doing for money?’

‘She’ll have signed a contract,’ Bart boomed and Sarah looked startled as if she’d forgotten he was there. ‘They often sign up local talent an’ tek ’em wi’ them to next show, wherever they’re playing.’

Joe rushed back, struggling into his coat. ‘I’ll run to ’station first, Ma,’ he said. ‘An’ if she’s not there I’ll tout round ’theatres an’ ask if they know her. Beats me if they’ve tekken her on, for what can she do? She’s got a loud voice but she’s not got any acting talent.’

He shot out of the door, and Bella said in a low voice, ‘But we don’t know that, do we? How do we know if she can act or not?’

‘But it’s not right.’ Sarah’s voice dropped to a whisper. ‘These acting people are vagabonds and ne’er-do-wells. It’s not a profession for a decent young woman.’

‘If you will permit me, Mrs Thorp.’ Reuben Jacobs broke in again and Bart looked him up and down. ‘I’ll take a walk along Humber Street and enquire at the Royal Theatre after your daughter’s whereabouts. It is a reputable theatre,’ he added, ‘and I’m quite sure there are some respectable people working in it, but you are quite right to be cautious.’ He glanced at Bella. ‘Perhaps you’ll tell your brother and it will save him another journey? I will come back and report my findings.’

‘What a good man he is,’ Bella said with feeling, after he had gone out. ‘He always seems to be here when we need help.’

Bart harrumphed. ‘Jew, isn’t he? What’s he to you?’

Bella stared at him. ‘I beg your pardon. What did you say?’

‘I asked if he was a Jew.’ His tone was derogatory.

‘I don’t think we’ve been introduced,’ Bella said curtly. ‘You are—’

‘This is your uncle Bartholomew,’ her mother told her.

‘Ah!’ Bella put her chin up and surveyed him. ‘My brother and I have been waiting to meet you to ask what could possibly have made you think that our mother would want to take on a derelict building with a bad reputation.’

Bart Stroud looked taken aback. ‘Well, it’s not derelict now, is it?’ He dropped his voice. ‘But where will you put ’dogs now that you’ve spruced ’place up? There’s money to be made. Lots of it.’

‘Not here, there isn’t,’ Sarah said firmly. ‘We don’t have dealings with such cruel and degrading sport. We’ve spent a deal o’ money getting this place put right, and if I’d seen it afore I put my name to it I’d nivver have tekken it on. Joseph would’ve turned in his grave if he’d thought I was coming to such a place.’

‘Tsk! Getting above yourself, aren’t you, Sarah,’ Bart rebuked. ‘Have you forgotten your beginnings?’

‘No, I haven’t,’ Sarah answered sharply. ‘In case you’ve forgotten, we were brought up to believe in honest labour and that’s ’doctrine Joseph and me have followed all of our lives, and I don’t need you to tell me owt different! And what’s more,’ she raised an accusing finger and Bella listened and watched in astonishment; her mother had at last found her mettle, ‘you needn’t think that you can bring your dog-fighting cronies here, cos you can’t. This is going to be a respectable place for decent people.’

Bart picked up his hat, which he’d removed when he came in. ‘You’ve changed, Sarah. When you came to ask my advice last year I thought we were going to get along, just like we did when you were a little lass, but I can see’ – his eyes turned to Bella, and his mouth turned down – ‘I can see that you’ve been influenced by others. You could’ve made a mint o’ money here wi’ a bit o’ gambling and a bit o’ singing wi’ that other daughter o’ yourn and I’d have been glad to help you; but nivver mind.’ He ran his fingers round the brim of his hat, which Bella noticed was very grimy. ‘I’ll give you six months.’ His lips turned down into a sneer. ‘And I’ll put a shilling on it that you’ll be heading back to ’country and your cabbages and turnips.’

‘I can’t believe that he’s your brother, Ma,’ Bella exclaimed when he’d gone, banging the door behind him. ‘He’s nothing like you!’

Sarah shook her head. ‘When I met up wi’ him again I thought he’d altered his ways, but now I see that he hasn’t. He allus wanted to be in charge; he made me do things his way and not ’way I wanted to. When I met your da and he said I could do what I wanted wi’ my life it was like a breath o’ fresh air, but … I’m sorry, Bella. After I lost him, your da I mean, I wanted somebody – somebody older, to advise me on what to do and that’s why I came to Hull to ask Bart. I’d forgotten, you see, just how – how …’

‘Manipulative?’

‘Aye,’ her mother said. ‘That’s ’word I wanted, and it was Bart who told Nell about ’theatres and performers and how she’d be able to sing, and so I was persuaded by both of them.’ She took a handkerchief from her apron pocket and blew her nose. ‘And now it seems I might have lost her as well.’

‘She’ll be back,’ Bella said, though not convincingly as she didn’t think that once Nell had got away she would ever come back; the brighter lights of other towns would entice her. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s put our feet up for half an hour. We’ve another opening tonight, don’t forget, and this one is even more important: tonight our customers are paying good money.’

Reuben Jacobs came back half an hour later, followed soon after by Joe. Reuben said he had been advised that the company playing at the Royal Theatre had left for Leeds, but no one he had spoken to knew if there was a new young woman with them, just the regular ones, he’d been informed, and they were not young. He stayed a little longer and then took his leave of them, with Bella and Sarah once more giving him their thanks.

Joe had gone to the railway station and said that there was such a crush of passengers getting on a train and people seeing them off that by the time he’d got anywhere near the platform the guard was waving his flag and the train was steaming out. He glanced at Bella as he spoke and his eyebrows flickered a little, and she gathered by that signal that there was more he could say, but chose not to.

Alice made a pot of tea and the four of them ate a light lunch of beef and ham left over from the morning. Then, as one, they rose from the table to clear the saloon and prepare for the evening opening.

‘Where’s Carter?’ Sarah asked Joe.

‘Dunno. I thought he was here helping to clear up.’

‘He was clearing ’tables in ’saloon when I last saw him,’ Alice volunteered. ‘When I came in with Nell’s letter,’ she added.

But he wasn’t there when they returned to the room, and although the tables were cleared they weren’t wiped down and the dirty glasses were still in the sink behind the counter.

‘I’ll wash up,’ Alice volunteered, and Joe, surprisingly, said he would help her, when normally he shied from that particular job. Bella gave a little smile and wondered if it was because of Alice that Joe was offering.

When their mother had disappeared into the kitchen and Alice had gone to get more clean cloths and towels, Bella leaned on the counter and whispered, ‘What did you really see, Joe? Did you see Nell?’

He hesitated for a moment. ‘I wasn’t sure,’ he said in a low voice. ‘There was a crush of folk like I said, and then I saw somebody who looked like our Nell. She turned round and looked straight at me, then she put her foot on ’step and her hand on ’rail and disappeared on to ’train. I could’ve run after her, but I thought – who am I to dictate to her? If that’s what she wants to do, should I stop her? She’ll come back home if she doesn’t like ’theatre life, just like William will, except he’s tied to ’army for a long time.’

Bella nodded silently. If only she had been so brave, who knew what she might be doing now? A lump came into her throat. Would she have been any happier doing what she wanted and not giving consideration to anyone else, particularly her father and mother? No, she thought, she knew that she wouldn’t. Her conscience would have troubled her.

‘And do you know,’ Joe went on, ‘coming back down Paragon Street I swear I saw somebody I knew and for ’life of me I can’t think who it is.’

‘You don’t know anybody in Hull.’ Bella picked up a duster to polish the tables again, her thoughts still on Nell. ‘You must have imagined it.’

They found Carter eventually. He was sprawled on the cellar floor as drunk as a lord with ale from the tap on a cask dripping over him.

‘Get him out,’ Sarah told Joe. ‘We’ll have no drunks here.’

Joe looked scared and his face was pale as he hauled Carter up the steps with Bella holding his feet. Together they took him out of the side door and into the street.

‘Where can we put him?’ Bella asked. ‘We can’t leave him outside ’Maritime. It looks bad.’

‘We’ll tek him to ’end of ’street,’ Joe said. ‘Then he could’ve been drinking anywhere.’

There were not many people about in Anne Street, so they propped Carter up against a corner of a wall. There were a few curious glances from passers-by and a lone dog that came to sniff at him, but they sauntered back as if the drunk was nothing to do with them.

When they reached the side alley of the Maritime, Joe said, ‘Hang on a minute, will you, Bella?’

‘What?’ she said. ‘What for?’

He put his hands to his face and rubbed his cheeks, which were still pale. ‘I’m so scared,’ he told her. ‘What if I finish up like him?’

‘But – you haven’t been drinking,’ she said. ‘Aren’t you over that?’

Miserably Joe shook his head. ‘No,’ he muttered. ‘I’m not. It’s like Carter said. If ’ale’s not there I’m all right and while ’cellar’s been empty I’ve been all right, but now I know it’s not I’m going to be tempted again. It’s as if ’devil’s got inside me – and I want it. I’m desperate for a drink, Bella, and I don’t know what to do. How can I be a publican and not tek a drink? Cos I know if I have one, then I’ll want another and then another after that.’

Bella gazed at him and saw how shaken he was; there were tears in his eyes and he could barely meet her gaze.

‘We’ll work something out, Joe,’ she said. ‘But you’ll have to be strong and help yourself too. You need to find something else that’s more important to you than drink.’

He lifted his head, and said, ‘Do you think so?’ And when she said yes she did, he murmured, ‘I think there might be, but it’s too early to say yet and it might not be a cure.’

She put her arm through his as they walked down the side entrance, and said softly, ‘When you’re ready to tell me, Joe, then I’ll help you to find that something else, whatever it is.’

A ghost of a smile touched his mouth and she saw the old Joe, the one she knew best, and he nodded and stood aside to let her enter first. ‘Hey, Bella,’ he said suddenly. ‘You know when I went to find Nell earlier an’ I said I’d seen somebody who looked familiar and you said I didn’t know anybody in Hull?’

There was a watered-down cockiness in his voice, a trace of the self-assured person that he usually was as he grinned at her. ‘I’ve just remembered who it was! It was his fancy coat and hat that made me look twice at him, but when I last saw him he didn’t have sideburns; in fact he was not much more’n a schoolboy.’

Bella frowned. Who was he talking about?

‘Don’t you know who I mean? Fickleness o’ women,’ he bantered. ‘You’ve forgotten about him, haven’t you? It was that young feller I used to rag you about. What was his name – a gentleman farmer’s son?’

‘Jamie,’ she said softly. ‘Jamie Lucan. And no, I hadn’t forgotten about him; but he’s probably forgotten about me.’