The Christmas Rose

‘What have you done with Max?’ Rose demanded, standing her ground. ‘Where is he?’

‘What’s going on, Sid?’ A second man staggered out of what Rose remembered to be the front parlour. ‘What’s all the din?’

‘We got company, Wilf. Two ladies of the night to warm our beds. It must be our lucky day.’ Sid slammed the front door and leaned against it, folding his arms across his chest. ‘Nice of you to come calling, ladies. I think I’ll take the younger one. You can have the old tart, Wilf. Let’s get to it before the others come to.’

‘No,’ Rose cried. ‘There’s been a mistake. We’re looking for someone.’

Cora scrambled to her feet. ‘Move aside, cully.’ Before he had a chance to argue she had a knife to his throat. ‘I don’t go out at night without my chiv, so get away from the door.’

Terrified, Rose held her breath. She had seen plenty of brawls in the streets of Bendigo, but she had never encountered danger at such close quarters.

‘Get out, Rose,’ Cora hissed. She twisted the knife so that it nicked the flabby skin at the base of Sid’s scrawny throat, and she gave him a hearty shove that sent him cannoning into Wilf. The pair of them fell to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs. ‘Run for it, Rose,’ Cora screamed. ‘Run.’

Chapter Two

Rose wrenched the door open, but in her hurry to escape she misjudged her footing and tumbled down the steps, landing on the carpet bag, which served to break her fall. Unhurt, she scrambled to her feet and Cora leaped to the ground, grabbed Rose by the hand and headed off into the fog. She did not stop until they reached the relative safety of the High Street.

‘That was a close one,’ Cora said breathlessly. ‘I knew I should have walked on when I spotted you outside the pub. This is what I get for doing a good deed.’

‘I’m sorry, Cora.’

‘It’s not your fault, young ’un. Coming here at night in the middle of a peasouper weren’t the best idea I ever had.’ Cora brushed a strand of unnaturally brassy hair from her forehead. ‘What am I going to do with you now? Do you know anyone in London?’

Rose bent double, holding her side in an attempt to relieve a painful stitch. ‘There’s Max’s sister.’

‘Well, why didn’t you say so in the first place? Where does she live?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘That ain’t no help. What’s her name? Maybe I knows her.’

‘She’s called Caroline and she married Phineas Colville. He owns—’

‘He owns the biggest shipping company in England. Well, I’m blowed. Who’d have thought it?’ Cora put her head on one side, narrowing her eyes. ‘You’re not making this up, are you? It ain’t funny.’

‘No. On my honour, it’s true.’

‘On your honour.’ Cora hooted with laughter. ‘Where’d you learn to talk stuff like that?’ She held up her hand. ‘No, don’t tell me. I ain’t sure if you’re genuine or the best little liar I ever met, but I ain’t hanging around here a minute longer than necessary.’ She walked off, heading back the way they had come.

Rose grabbed her bag and hobbled after her. ‘I’m sure that Mrs Colville will vouch for me, Cora. I just need to find out where she lives.’

Cora paused, glancing over her shoulder. ‘Maybe she’ll offer a reward. I mean, a girl has to earn a living. I could have been working instead of traipsing round the docks with you.’

‘I really am sorry.’

‘Of course you are.’ Cora stopped and turned to give Rose a searching look. ‘What am I going to do with you, Rosie? I can’t abandon you, even though common sense tells me that I should.’

‘Maybe I could spend the night at your lodgings?’ Rose suggested tentatively. ‘I haven’t got much money, but I think I have enough to pay my way – for one night, anyway.’

‘Oh, all right. I suppose I ain’t got no choice. You’d best come with me.’

Rose could hardly put one foot in front of the other by the time they reached the run-down building where Cora lived. Rose was completely disorientated and she could not have said where they were, except that she was glad to stumble into the relative warmth of the building when Cora ushered her inside.

‘It ain’t much, but this is where I doss down,’ Cora said firmly. ‘My room is upstairs.’ She mounted the narrow staircase, trailing her hand casually on the banister rail, which was blackened from years of grease and dirt. The flickering yellow gaslight popped and fizzed, adding its own pungent odour to the general fug, but Rose was too tired to be critical. It felt good to be safe from the outside world, even if some of the stair treads were rotten and several of the banister supports were broken or missing.

She had barely reached the first landing when a door opened and a man lurched out, ramming his cap on his head as he pushed past her and thundered down the stairs. A young woman poked her head out, grinning when she spotted Cora.

‘Had a good night, duck?’

Cora jerked her head in Rose’s direction. ‘Got a visitor, watch what you say, Flossie.’

‘Ooh, hark at her, girls.’ Flossie took a drag on her cigarette.

‘Shut up, you silly tart,’ Cora said affably. ‘Poor kid’s just got off the boat from the back of beyond and been let down by her bloke.’

‘We’ve all been there, luv.’ Flossie exhaled a plume of smoke at the grimy ceiling. ‘Did you see Regan hanging around downstairs?’

Cora shook her head. ‘No sign of him. I should take a break if I was you, girl. There’s not much doing out there tonight – it’s a real peasouper.’

Flossie’s throaty laugh echoed off the walls. ‘Good advice. I could use some beauty sleep.’ She stubbed her cigarette out on the doorpost, eyeing Rose curiously. ‘What’s your name, luv?’

‘It’s Rose Munday, miss.’

‘Nice to meet you, Rose. And it’s even nicer to have someone in the house what has good manners. Charmed, I’m sure. My name’s Flossie Boxer, and you can call me Flossie.’

‘Don’t listen to her yakking on and on.’ Cora opened a door further along the narrow passage. ‘Come on, Rose. This is where I hang out.’ She ushered Rose into a small room that contained a brass bed, a chest of drawers and a washstand. A single chair, draped with woollen stockings and a pair of stays, was placed in front of a fire that had burned down to nothing, and an overfull ashtray spilled cigarette butts onto the hearth. Cora tossed her feathered hat onto the bed, followed by her shawl, and she sat down to unlace her boots. ‘You can stay here tonight, but you’ll have to take the chair or sleep on the floor.’

‘Thank you.’ Rose glanced at the Windsor chair, which would not have been out of place in Sadie’s kitchen. ‘I’m so tired I could sleep almost anywhere.’

Cora gave her another searching look. ‘You’re whiter than the sheet on my bed. When did you last eat?’

‘Breakfast,’ Rose said, closing her eyes in an attempt to stop the room from spinning out of control. ‘I didn’t eat much because I was so excited at the thought of seeing Max again. It’s almost two years since we last met.’

‘That’s a long time to be apart. Are you sure he hasn’t changed his mind?’

‘I’ve known Max since I was a child. He wouldn’t behave like that and he wrote beautiful letters.’

Cora tossed one boot on the floor and began to unlace the other. ‘You’ve got more faith in men than I have, kid. In my experience they’re rats, all of ’em.’

Rose moved the grubby stays from the chair and sat down as another wave of dizziness threatened to overcome her. ‘I thought he’d be at the Captain’s House.’

‘Well, he weren’t, and you’ll have to get used to the idea that he’s changed his mind.’ Cora picked up a pillow and threw it to Rose. ‘Here, get your head down, love. You’ll have to wait for morning to get some grub. I don’t keep food in me room because of rats – the four-legged kind.’ Cora chuckled and turned on to her side with a creaking of bed springs. ‘There’s a spare blanket under me bed,’ she added sleepily. ‘Night-night.’

Rose slid off the chair, lifted the trailing edge of the coverlet to look under the bed, and found herself staring into the beady eyes of a huge spider. She retreated hastily and curled up as best she could on the chair, resting her head on the pillow. Cramped, stiff and cold, she thought longingly of her old room in the school house, and the tantalising aroma of baking that floated up from the kitchen where Sadie was undoubted queen. She and her husband, Laurence, ran the school that Max’s stepfather had built for the local children. Rose was in awe of Raven Dorincourt, but both Max and Jimmy thought the world of him. Even so, she preferred gentle, unworldly Laurence, who believed strongly that girls ought to be as well educated as boys, and she had benefited from his teaching.

As she struggled with the cold and damp of an English winter and the discomfort of trying to sleep in an upright chair, Rose was beginning to doubt the wisdom of her actions. Had she been carried away on a romantic dream, fuelled by ardent love letters from Max? More to the point, what would she do now that she was on her own in London? The questions kept coming but there were no answers. Eventually, she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.

‘Wake up.’

Someone was shaking her and Rose opened her eyes to such an unfamiliar scene that she thought she was dreaming.

‘You was dead to the world,’ Cora said cheerfully. ‘Put your boots on, Rose. We’re going out to get some breakfast.’

Rose stretched her cramped limbs, wincing with pain as the feeling came back to her hands and feet in the form of pins and needles. ‘Where are we going?’

‘There’s a coffee stall on Tower Hill.’ Cora sat on the edge of her bed and pulled on her boots. ‘How are you off for readies?’

‘I’ve got some money,’ Rose said warily. ‘But it won’t last very long. I was counting on Max meeting me at the docks.’

‘You said your Max was related to the Colvilles. Is that true?’

‘His elder sister married into the family. I was at her wedding.’

‘So she knows you.’ Cora tied the second bootlace into a neat bow and stood up, reaching for her hat. ‘Then after we’ve had breakfast I think we should pay a call on this lady. The Colvilles are rolling in money.’

‘I don’t want to go begging,’ Rose protested. ‘I’m sure Max has a good reason for not coming to meet me. Anyway, I told you, Cora. I don’t know where Caroline lives.’

‘But I do.’ Cora thrust a hatpin into the feathery creation on her head. ‘Don’t argue, kid. Food first and then we’re going to Finsbury Circus. I know that’s where we’ll find them because one of their footmen was a client of mine, if you get my meaning?’ She winked and opened the door. ‘Come on, don’t loiter. I’m dying for a cup of coffee.’

Having eaten a ham roll and drunk a mug of hot, sweet coffee, Rose was beginning to feel more optimistic. The fog had lifted, leaving a sooty smell lingering in the air, and it was bitterly cold, but at least they could see where they were going and Cora set off at a brisk pace with Rose hurrying after her. The blisters on her heels had burst and were painful, but she was feeling more positive and the thought of receiving news of Max, or even finding him at home with his sister, made the walk to Finsbury Circus seem less arduous. But it was a nerve-racking experience as they had to dodge in and out of the traffic and push their way through crowds of pedestrians. Rose was uncomfortably aware of the withering looks that Cora received from respectable matrons, who had their maidservants in tow, and the knowing grins from the costermongers and road sweepers. Whistles, cat calls and scornful glances accompanied them, but Cora herself did not seem to notice and she marched onwards, head held high, and the black and red ostrich feathers on her hat fluttered in the breeze. She swung her hips and twirled her reticule as if performing on stage, to the obvious delight of small urchins, who mimicked her shamelessly. In daylight the colour of Cora’s hair was even more remarkable – almost white at the tips, darkening through every colour of yellow to bronze at the roots – but beneath all the paint and rouge Cora’s good nature shone out like a beacon, and Rose was well aware that she owed her new friend a huge debt of gratitude. What might have befallen her last evening without Cora’s timely intervention was anyone’s guess.

‘We’re here,’ Cora announced, coming to a sudden halt.

Rose just managed to avoid colliding with her as she stopped, staring up at the grand façade of what was undoubtedly a mansion. Sadie had often mentioned the old days, before Mr Manning’s premature death, when the family lived in Finsbury Circus, and she might have been describing this very house.

‘What do we do now?’ Rose whispered.

Cora marched up the steps and knocked on the door. ‘I ain’t going to the tradesmen’s entrance. The blooming servants are worse than their masters when it comes to looking down on people.’ She moved a step closer as the door was opened by a liveried footman.

‘Go away,’ he said through clenched teeth. ‘This is a respectable household.’ He was about to shut them out when Cora put her foot over the threshold.

‘I dunno what makes you think I ain’t respectable,’ she said boldly, ‘but I’m as good as you, Jem Wilkins, and I don’t think your superior would take very kindly to one of his men frequenting a—’

Wilkins opened the door a fraction wider. ‘Shut up, Cora. Don’t let the world know my business.’

‘Then let us in. This young lady is a friend of Max Manning. She wants to see him.’

Wilkins rolled his eyes. ‘She can’t be much of a friend if she doesn’t know that Captain Manning’s regiment sailed for Alexandria nearly two months ago.’

‘No,’ Rose said faintly. ‘I don’t believe it. Max wouldn’t do that to me. He would have let me know.’

Cora turned on her in a fury. ‘You was miles out at sea, you silly cow. Why didn’t you think of that? You never said he was a soldier.’

‘Let me shut the door, Cora,’ Wilkins said urgently. ‘Go away and take her with you.’

‘No.’ Rose found her voice. ‘If Captain Manning is away I need to see Mrs Colville. She’ll remember me.’

Wilkins folded his arms across his chest. ‘Well, that’s going to be a bit difficult, miss. Because Mr and Mrs Colville are away from home.’

‘Stop smirking, you smug devil,’ Cora snapped. ‘I can still peach on you to the butler or the housekeeper. Either will do.’

‘The master and mistress left on a business trip to Australia six weeks ago,’ Wilkins said stiffly. ‘Now go away, please. I can’t tell you anything else.’

‘Just a minute,’ Rose cried anxiously. ‘Do you know how long Captain Manning will be away?’

Wilkins gave her a pitying look. ‘According to the newspapers the war in Egypt is over, but I doubt if the generals themselves know when the troops will be sent home. Sorry, miss, but there it is.’ He gave Cora a push that almost overbalanced her and slammed the door.

Rose sank down on the top step. ‘I can’t believe this is happening to me,’ she murmured, shaking her head.

‘A pretty pickle you got yourself into, kid.’ Cora stared down at her, frowning. ‘Sitting there, feeling sorry for yourself, ain’t going to help either.’

‘I need to think,’ Rose said slowly. ‘I’m sure that Max would have made arrangements for me to be provided for until he returns.’

‘If he comes back at all.’ Cora threw up her hands. ‘Don’t look at me like that, young ’un. He went to fight in a war. If the bullets don’t get him he might have fallen sick from them foreign diseases. You got to face facts, love.’

‘Then I’ll travel to Egypt so that I can be near him.’

‘Oh, really! You said you got no money, and it’s a long way to walk.’

Rose stood up, bracing her shoulders. ‘I’ll get work and I’ll find a way.’

‘Well, I can’t leave you here, but I got to earn a living, too. You’d best come home with me.’ Cora gave her a calculating look. ‘Regan would take you on. He’s always looking for fresh faces and young bodies, especially virgins.’

Rose felt the colour flood her cheeks and she turned away. ‘I’m not that sort …’ She broke off, too embarrassed to finish the sentence. Cora had been kind to her, and how she supported herself was nobody’s business but her own.

‘It’s all right, love. I’m used to having my profession thrown in my face. It bounces off like rain on a pigeon’s feathers.’ Cora hitched her shawl around her shoulders as she negotiated the steps. ‘Come on if you’re coming. You can stay with me for another night or two, but you got to make yourself scarce when my gents come to call. D’you understand?’

Rose followed more slowly. ‘Thank you, Cora. I won’t impose on you any longer than necessary. I’ll look for work of some sort and a place to live.’

‘You ain’t going home then?’

‘I was happy in Bendigo, and Sadie and Laurence were kind to me, but they aren’t family. I have no ties there now.’ Rose fell into step beside Cora.

‘What about Max’s mother? Don’t she approve of you or something?’

‘She said we were too young to marry, and her husband agreed with her. They said that Max should establish himself in his career before thinking of marriage.’

‘Maybe you should write and tell her that he’s let you down. She might send you money.’

Horrified, Rose almost lost her footing on the uneven pavement. ‘I wouldn’t think of asking for charity.’

‘Suit yourself, but your young man got you into this mess, so it’s up to him or his family to get you out of it.’

Tears stung Rose’s eyes but she was determined not to cry. ‘I have only myself to blame, Cora. It’s up to me to find a solution.’

Cora shot her a sideways glance. ‘You’re obviously well educated, Rose. But without references you won’t find it easy to get work.’

‘I can cook simple things, and I can look after small children. I can scrub floors and wash dishes.’

‘Put us two together and we’d make someone a perfect wife,’ Cora said, chuckling. ‘Walk faster, Rose. I got work to do, even if you haven’t.’

Regan was hanging around outside the house in Black Raven Court, and Rose took an instant dislike to him. Despite his thickset physique and aggressive expression, his scarred face and broken nose suggested that he had come off worst in a good many fights. His unsavoury appearance, and the stench of his unwashed body made Rose shrink away from him, but his beady eyes lit up with interest the moment he spotted her.

‘You can forget it, Regan,’ Cora said firmly. ‘She’s not for sale.’

‘Pity. I could find plenty of work for someone like her.’ Regan smiled at Rose, putting her forcibly in mind of the Big Bad Wolf in the fairy tale, except that the teeth he displayed were broken and hideously decayed.

Cora turned to Rose with a warning frown. ‘You’d best go about your business, Rosie. I’ll see you tonight, but knock three times on the door or you won’t get an answer.’ She turned away, proffering her arm to Regan. ‘What pleasures have you got for me today, cully?’

Rose shivered as a chill east wind rushed up from the river. The sky was heavy with cast-iron clouds that threatened rain. She wrapped her shawl more tightly around her body and started walking, although she had no idea of where she might be going, but it was too cold to stand still. Her bright dreams for the future were fading fast, and she had very little money. She closed her eyes, praying silently for inspiration, and then she remembered what Adele had said just before they parted. Acting on impulse, she hailed a passing cab.

‘Elder Street, cabby.’ Rose climbed inside and closed the half-doors with fingers that were numbed by the cold. Sadie had warned her to pack more warm clothes, but she had travelled as light as possible, hoping to purchase a more suitable wardrobe in London. She wished now that she had paid more attention to Sadie, and had not allowed herself to be carried away by rash promises from Max. She took her purse from her reticule and counted the coins. There would be precious little left after paying the cab fare, but she had no idea where Elder Street was situated in relation to the Tower, and the pain in her feet was crippling. Perhaps Adele could find some kind of work for her that would pay enough to keep body and soul together until Max returned home. One thing was certain, there was no way she could raise enough money to buy a passage home, but she was not prepared to give up her dream, not yet anyway. She would wait for Max and they would marry and live happily ever after, just like the princes and princesses in the story books.

Adele rushed into the front parlour holding out her hands in welcome. ‘It’s good to see you, Rose. I’ve been thinking about you and your young man.’ She turned to the maidservant who had let Rose in and was now hovering in the doorway. ‘Bring us tea and cake, please, Bridget.’

The girl, who could have been no more than thirteen, acknowledged the instruction with a vague nod of her head and backed away very slowly.

Adele closed the door on her. ‘She’s still learning,’ she said by way of explanation. ‘But what brings you here today, Rose? Is everything all right?’

‘Not exactly.’ Rose clasped and unclasped her hands, suddenly nervous. It was one thing to be told that Max had been called upon to fight for his country, but quite another to put it into words.

‘To tell you the truth, Adele, I am in a very difficult situation.’

Chapter Three

Despite interruptions from Bridget when she brought in the tea tray, and another when she returned with a plate of small cakes, and yet again when she came back with the plates that she had forgotten in the first place, Rose managed to explain the circumstances that had brought her to Spitalfields.

Adele sipped her tea, frowning thoughtfully. ‘I am so sorry, Rose. You were looking forward so much to seeing Max again. It must have been a bitter disappointment.’

Rose nodded, swallowing hard to prevent herself from bursting into tears.

‘You were lucky to have been befriended by such a good woman,’ Adele added earnestly. ‘I’ve never believed in judging others harshly, and Cora seems to be very kind-hearted.’

‘She is, and I don’t know what I would have done had she not taken me under her wing, but I can’t expect her to look after me. I need to be able to support myself.’

‘Surely your family in Bendigo would make the necessary arrangements for your passage home?’

‘I’m sure they would, but I’ve come this far, Mrs Parker. I want to be here when Max returns from war.’

‘I don’t think you’ve thought it through, Rose, but I can see that you’ve made up your mind.’ Adele replaced her cup on its saucer. ‘Maybe Festus would have some useful suggestions.’ She eyed Rose thoughtfully. ‘You are well-spoken and ladylike. I suppose you could try for a position as lady’s maid or companion.’

‘I haven’t any references, and I wouldn’t know where to start if someone wanted me to put up their hair or wash their fine lace, but I’m not afraid of hard work.’

‘Wait here, Rose. I’ll go and speak to Festus – he’s attending to his correspondence in his study.’ Adele jumped to her feet and left the room without giving Rose a chance to argue.

She reached out to take another slice of cake, but, tempting as it was, she decided that it would be greedy, and she folded her hands in her lap waiting for Adele to return. The room was quite small and the heavy velvet curtains seemed to absorb what little light filtered through the small windowpanes, but a fire burned merrily in the grate and the air was filled with the aroma of tea and chocolate cake, furniture polish and just a hint of old books.

She stood up and went to examine the leather-bound books on a shelf in one of the chimney recesses, but they were all academic works on philosophy and religion, nothing that would remotely interest her, despite her love for reading. A stuffed green parrot seemed to be glaring at her from the inside of a glass dome, and she wondered why anyone would want such a keepsake. Its eyes appeared to follow her and she moved on to study a photograph of a much younger Festus and Adele in their wedding finery, but at the sound of approaching footsteps she returned to her chair and sat down, folding her hands primly in her lap once more.