A Woman Undefeated (27 page)

“You see before yer the champion of the quarry. Holder of a purse amounting to forty five pounds and heir apparent to the entrepreneurial ways of Lord Charlie Belsham. We’ve to have a place in Toxteth, a large Georgian dwellin’, would yer believe, with an allowance to dress meself in a very gentlemanly manner, a carriage to ride around in and a percentage of the purse. So, what do yer think now, my beloved? Want to climb aboard this wagon of luxury with me, or are yer still intent on staying in Neston, with yer dressmaker friend and wonderful view?”

His words were delivered with a hint of defiance, mocking her gently, whilst Maggie kept her anger within. Now was not the time to challenge Jack to a wrangling match. Let him think he was the great wondrous hero and his family bow down to worship him.

She would have a few days to think things over, there were more pressing decisions to be made without Jack.

“Now come on, Jack, I think it would be wise to have yer back in bed again,” said Michael, after his son fell back, weakened by the excitement of his visitors. “Plenty of rest is needed to let yer mother’s magic potions work on yer innards and yer bruises start to heal.”

He and Seamus hauled Jack up from the chaise longue and began to help him to the stairs, while Alice prattled on about the treatment she had been giving her son.

“I’ve put arnica ointment on his bruises and a concoction that the chemist gave me to heal what he called internal bruising. Such a helpful man. Him from that place on the corner, next to the Brown Horse. Said he’d heard that me son was the local champion and to call back any time if I needed more advice.”

“Don’t forget to give me mother the money belt,” Jack shouted down, as he rounded the top stairs and onto the landing.

Maggie drew her cloak aside, to reveal to Alice that it was there around her thickened waist.

“Jack, what about this business of Solly Tibbs? Don’t yer know they’ve got him locked up in the local prison?” she shouted back to him from the foot of the staircase. There was silence, then she heard him say to his father.

“You sort it, will yer? I’m too weary to be getting’ involved. Yer know what she’s like when.....”

“Jack’s dad will be down in a minute, Maggie,” said Alice, kindly for once, seeing that her daughter-in-law was flushed in
the face with the embarrassment of becoming a snubbed wife.

“Come, let’s go into the kitchen and I’ll make yer a nice cup of tea and yer can give me Jack’s money belt. I’ll have to find a hidey hole for it until Monday, then I can go by where Mister Arlington works and pay it into the bank. Isn’t this all so excitin’? We’ll have the house paid off and we’ll never have to worry about money again! Of course I know it isn’t all of it, but I did put a deposit down on the strength of Jack winnin’ against McKeown. But that’s not a problem, I have me own little nest egg. I knew it was a good move to leave Ireland........now what were yer sayin’ about Solly Tibbs?”

Jack’s father walked into the kitchen, his face grey with fatigue and worry, looking older than his forty seven years. Maggie glanced over at him as she sat at the wooden table, sipping her tea and finishing off a slice of currant cake that Alice had placed before her.

It wasn’t that she was thinking of Solly in his time of need, she was thinking of his poor wife and kids. Here were the Haines’, gloating over their good fortune, but sitting in Thistledown Cottage was a woman who could be facing eviction, and no good fortune would be coming to her.

“The thing is, Maggie, it wasn’t Jack’s money that Solly tried to make off with,” Michael explained. “It belonged to a bookie from Liverpool. We’ve got a different system now the fights are organized by the agent. I went around taking a percentage of the wagers, when Jack had been declared the winner. Solly didn’t know this, because Jack was waitin’ to see if his Lordship was going to become his patron first. Then he would have been let down gently, with a bit of money to ease his way. It makes sense that I’ve become Jack’s manager, I’ve plenty of time on me hands, as yer know.”

“Yes, but what is goin’ to happen to his family if they lose their breadwinner?”, Maggie asked bluntly.

“There’s no way the the farmer will let them stay at the cottage and they’ve a sick little son called Lenny to think on. He could be put in the asylum.”

She looked in turn at Alice and Michael. Surely they would have compassion for Ruthie’s hapless brood?

Alice, of course, could only see what was best for her. She shook her head, saying it was none of their concern. Michael, though, was more softhearted.

“Was the money handed back to the bookie, do yer know, Maggie? When the policeman handed Tibbs over to Constable Higgins?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I shut the door on the lot of them, when they all appeared ranting and raving at the cottage. Surely it’s up to Jack. It was his fault that Solly ran off with the money, being that the temptation was put in front of him to steal. Are yer sure he didn’t know what yer were plannin’, and was making sure he was paid fer helpin’ Jack all this time?”

“No, I think it was just greed on his part, but I could have a word with the constable. Now that the bookie has gone back to Liverpool, if he’s got the money and isn’t here to put a charge against Solly, I think they’ll let him go. Though he will have a black mark against his name.”

Maggie sat back with a sigh of relief, then went up to the bedrooms, wondering where Alice had decided they should sleep. She peeped into the front room with a nice bay window and saw Jack lying comfortably on a big bed that looked out on the beautiful view.

Seamus, Jack’s brother, who was keeping him company, seemed pleased to see her when she entered, but made an excuse that he was hungry and would see her later on.

“He can’t wait to get back to that friend of his,” Jack explained. “I’ve upset all his plans for the day. With sending him up to get yer this mornin’ and then Mother presenting him to Lord Belsham. He can’t wait to tell Danny all about it, ‘cos his dad wouldn’t let him come to the fight. But Seamus was the bottle bearer, so he was on the front row!”

“Jack, are yer really alright?” she asked, worried. “Those bruises look terrible. You’ve taken a bit of a beating by the look of yer.
Shall I leave yer to rest, come back after yer’ve had some sleepin’. Maybe I should go.”

“Maggie, yer should have seen the other fella. This is nothing. I’ll be right as rain in a coupla’ days. Did yer give the money belt over? I can rest easily once me mother’s got it, ‘cos we’ll always have a roof over our heads if I never got another fight.”

“Jack...........” Maggie was going to talk to him about the house in Toxteth, but she never managed to get her words out.

“If yer goin’ to go on about Solly, ferget it. Dad will do all me worryin’ in future and he’ll sort it out. Let me tell yer more about me plans fer you and the babby. I want you and me mother to go into Chester and get one of those perambulators and a little cradle. When yer up te it. Me hands won’t be up to making a cradle for a while yet, and now we can afford the best of everything fer the little chap. And yer can get yerself some shop bought dresses, Maggie,......I know yer not happy about what I’m doin’, but this is me chance to make a name for meself.”

“Jack, let’s discuss it after I’ve had the babby, shall we? It’s a big move to the city, when yer know I’ve always lived in the fresh air and by the sea. That’s what I want fer me babby, not livin’ on top of one another in a dirty, smoky place. Let’s wait and see what happens, shall we? I’ll go down and help Alice in the kitchen. She’ll be tired with all her excitement. It’s not every day she has a visit from a lord. I’ll bring me things up later, not that I’ve brought a lot. I let Ruthie have the things that I didn’t think I needed. Even me pan still had stew in it, since yer didn’t think to tell me yer weren’t comin’ home. Alright, alright, I’m goin’.”

She finished her sentence quickly, when she saw that his face was wearing a scowl.

They were in the middle of supper, when there came an urgent knocking on the front door. They all groaned, because a kind of peace had descended on the household. Mr Arlington and the second lodger Mr Peel, were away for the weekend and the third lodger had removed himself temporarily to a room above the Ship Inn. Alice and Maggie had agreed that they would walk together
to St. Winefred’s the following morning, so had begun to discuss the priest and how his sermons were spoken from the heart.

Michael got up to answer the door and came back to the kitchen with Constable Higgins in tow. He stood in the doorway officiously, frowning a little at Jack, who had continued to sit in his chair, having been helped downstairs earlier, whilst both Alice and Maggie had virtually stood to attention at the mere sight of the man.

Michael asked politely if the policeman’s visit was regarding the arrest of Solly Tibbs and Higgins agreed that was what he had come about.

“I won’t have these goings on in my village,” he started imperiously. “Tis bad enough that we have these gangs from the railway supping in our taverns, without hordes of people crowded on the quarry floor. If it happens again I’m going to call on the might of the Cheshire constabulary and then you’ll all be sorry. The organizers will go to gaol, if I hear of it happening again.”

“I can assure you, Constable Higgins, that it won’t be happening again, at least on our part,” replied Michael softly, trying to diffuse the situation, as he could see that Jack was looking grim.

“My son is to be sponsored by Lord Charles Belsham and will be removing to Liverpool, as soon as accommodation can be found that is suitable. All fights in future will be supervised by his agent, a gentleman by the name of Richard Mannion, and we have been told that these events will be held in designated sporting areas, not on the floors of quarries and at the back of inns.”

“Well, that is as may be,” said Higgins, feeling that the wind had been taken from his sails, “but what is going to happen to this miscreant I have in the lock up? It appears from further questioning of this Tibbs fellow that he had taken the money from a bookie. The man has now disappeared, of course.”

“Yes, I’m sorry I’ve not been to Park Street to see you over this matter. As you can see my son here has been badly beaten and we have been attendin’ to him. Then we have had a visit from his
Lordship this morning. You probably heard that his carriage was parked outside. From both my son’s and my point of view there will be no charges against Tibbs. He is free to go, unless you have anything else you want to charge him with. So, have you finished with us, Sergeant? Could we get on with our puddings now? I’ll see you out if you’ve finished.”

Michael closed the front door firmly on the astonished policeman and, as he walked back into the kitchen, they all began applauding.

“Here, yer could have been on the stage with all that acting, Michael,” Alice said. “Never dropped yer aitches once and yer sounded just like Lord Belsham..... “You probably heard that his carriage was parked outside!” Everyone started laughing at her antics, as Alice mimicked her way to the oven, where she took out a gooseberry pie.

Maggie looked around and thought that for the moment life could be quite comfortable, especially if she were to become a biddable daughter-in-law, which, for now, she was prepared to be.

“Would yer like to walk with me and Michael to the village later?,” asked Alice, the following Monday morning, as Maggie sat with Jack in their pleasant bedroom.

“Only I thought the exercise would do you and the baby good and, with us carrying such a large amount of money, it would be safety in numbers.”

“And don’t ferget yer need to ask about one of those actuary fellas while yer there,” said Jack. “I’d come with yer meself, but I think anyone seeing me face would run a mile. Maggie just showed me in the mirror and I’m not a pleasing sight to see.”

Although the three of them smiled at his little joke, it was true that Jack looked a sorry sight. His bottom lip was cracked and swollen, sporting a deep purple tinge and now that his face had been bathed by Alice, jagged cuts could be seen on his cheek bones, which were turning navy blue. His face was puffy from under his eyes, right down to his jaw and there were angry marks all over his torso, which he had kept partially uncovered. But, his spirits were
high and no one was unduly worried. There was plenty of time before he would get his next match and the healthy sea air outside would soon put him right.

“I’d like to visit Miss Rosemary if yer don’t mind, Jack,” Maggie asked. “She was terribly busy last time I saw her and I promised I would help her, once I had finished at the farm. If yer were agreeable, once I’ve finished helpin’ Alice with the chores each mornin’, I’d like to go and help. I’m sure she would pay me, or at least let me help meself to the remnants, so that I can get on with makin’ things fer the babby in me spare time.”

“Well, I don’t know,” replied Jack, considering. “Mother, what do you think? Is it wise to let Maggie go off each day in her condition, without one of us being with her at this time?”

Alice also stood and thought about it, no doubt working at some little plan in her mind. Maggie held her breath, because if the answer was no, Jack and Alice would be suffering with chewed off ears from her later, because she had already made her mind up that to Miss Rosemary’s she was going to go!