Hold on to your Dreams (9 page)

After another busy day, Gertrude arrived home alone. Her father was working himself too hard, and all her pleas had been unable to make him stop and come home for dinner. He had always been a quiet man, relaxed, never showing signs of irritation, but now he spoke sharply far too often. The change in him concerned her.

Removing her coat and hanging it in the hall, she was about to open the drawing room door when she heard a sound. Did her mother have visitors? She certainly hoped not because it would be difficult to be sociable tonight. Taking a deep breath, she turned the handle and walked in.

Her mother was the only one in the room. She was standing by the fireplace, sobbing. It was a heart-rending sight.

‘Mother!’ Gertrude rushed to her side.

Florence spun round, making an effort to pull herself together, but the tears were unstoppable.

‘Has something happened? Have you had news of Edward? What’s happened to upset you so? Sit down and tell me why you’re crying like this.’

‘I’m sorry you had to see me in such a distressed state, my dear, but I was overwhelmed with sadness.’ Florence wiped her eyes, then clasped her hands together tightly. ‘Please don’t tell your father. He has enough to worry about.’

‘I promise. Is there anything I can do?’

Shaking her head, her mother settled back in the chair. ‘I’m out of my mind with worry about Edward, imagining all the terrible things that could have happened to him. Your father shouldn’t have turned him out with nothing. How is he going to manage? He’s never had to fend for himself.’ She began to shake. ‘And there’s this house. I’m here all day and it isn’t the same. Everything I touch belongs to someone else. All the items we’ve lovingly collected over the years are no longer ours …’

‘What do you mean?’ Her mother must be confused. ‘The contents are still ours, surely? Father only sold the house.’

‘No.’ Florence looked at her daughter, anguish in her eyes. ‘The house and entire contents were sold together. All we own are our personal belongings.’

She was stunned and furious at the same time. Why hadn’t she been told? They didn’t even own the chairs they sat on, or the beds they slept in! ‘This can’t be? The sale of the house alone would have cleared Edward’s debt.
We’d already raised some of the money. You must have misunderstood, Mother.’

‘There was interest added because of the delay in settling the full amount.’

‘This is disgraceful! We should have refused to pay and gone to the police.’

‘Your father wouldn’t take the risk. They’d made it clear your life was in danger if Sutton didn’t do as they said. The beating he’d received convinced him they would carry out their threat. He would protect us with his life, Gertrude, you know that.’

‘He should have told me it was that bad. He should have told me.’

‘I only heard the full story last night and that’s why I’m so upset. We’ll never be able to buy back the house and the contents. And I don’t know if Edward is dead or alive.’

The despair in her mother’s voice was distressing and Gertrude tried to think of something comforting to say, but all she could come up with was, ‘Father will do everything he can.’

‘And kill himself trying.’ Florence’s mouth set in a grim line. ‘I’ve lost my son; I don’t want to lose my husband as well. We’ve got to stop him working so hard. But how?’

‘We could move in with Aunt Hanna. Then he won’t have to worry about the house.’

‘I’ve already thought of that, but I know your father. If he believes I’m upset and cannot live in the house because it no longer belongs to us, then he’ll work even harder to make sure we can buy it back. He knows how much I’ve
always loved our home.’ She gave a helpless shrug. ‘That wouldn’t work.’

‘You’re quite right,’ Gertrude had to agree. ‘We’ll have to think of something else.’ Relieved to see her mother more composed, she said, ‘I’d better go and change for dinner.’

‘Sutton won’t be joining us, of course.’

‘No. Sorry, Mother. I did my best but he wouldn’t listen to me.’

Once upstairs and alone, she began to go over everything her mother had told her, frantically searching for a glimmer of hope. The future was uncertain. It might help if Edward could be found. What was Mr Glendale doing? He’d promised to try and trace her brother, but there had been no word from him. She knew she was being unreasonable again. After all, there had hardly been time, but this was urgent! Didn’t he realise that?

Oh, stop blaming him for your problems
, she chided herself, knowing she had a bad habit of jumping to the wrong conclusion.
Be honest, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he’d refused after the way you’ve treated him
.

The next morning Alex studied the papers on his desk, running his hand through his hair as he decided what to do first. His commitments were piling up and everything was urgent. If there were to be any chance of coping, he would have to deal with this like a military campaign.

A cup of tea appeared by his hand and he looked up at his butler’s disapproving expression. ‘Damn it, Hunt, how did you learn to move so silently?’

‘Years of practise, sir.’

Alex gave a snort of amusement. ‘I could have done with you in my regiment.’

‘Thankfully I’m too old for that. Breakfast is ready for you. Cook will be offended if you don’t eat.’

After gulping down the tea, Alex stood up. ‘I’d better not do that!’

‘Indeed not,’ the butler said dryly.

‘There’s something you can do for me. I need a reliable man to make some enquiries for me. Could you find me someone like that?’

Hunt furrowed his brow for a moment, and then nodded. ‘I believe I know the very person.’

‘I thought you might.’ Anxious to get on with the day, he headed for the dining room. ‘Have him here this evening. I’ll be out most of the day.’

After doing justice to the excellent food, he went straight to the Gardener’s offices, holding a folder bursting with papers.

‘Ah, I’m glad you’re here, David,’ he said as he swept in. ‘I need your help.’

David leapt to his feet. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘I’ve got too much for one man to deal with.’ He sat down and placed the folder in front of David. ‘One of my ships, the
Falcon
, is due in any day now with a cargo of tea, and anything else the captain picked up on the voyage. I’d appreciate it if you would deal with it for me. The usual fee, of course.’

‘I’ll handle that for you.’ David began to sort through the papers. ‘I don’t need all this.’

‘I’m hoping you do.’

David looked up sharply. ‘But the
Sea Imp
’s papers are also here, and your negotiations to buy
Gipsy Wanderer
!’

‘I’d like you to act as my agent. Buy and sell cargoes as you think fit, and I’ve given you the price I’m prepared to pay for
Gipsy
.’

It took a few moments for this to sink in. He was being offered the chance of a lifetime! David took a deep breath, hiding his excitement well. ‘I’d be honoured to represent you.’

‘That’s a relief!’ Alex was already on his feet. ‘Have the papers drawn up and bring them over this evening. Seven. And you’ll dine with me?’

‘Thank you.’

Alex strode towards the door, and then he stopped and looked back. ‘I’m taking my doctor to see little May now. I sent word to say we’re coming. Could you find the time to join us? It will only take about an hour. The little girl might be frightened of the doctor and she took a liking to you. Your friendly face could help.’

‘I’d love to come, sir. I’ll still have time to complete the necessary papers.’

‘Good, May will be pleased to see you again. Oh, and the name is still Alex. You seem to have forgotten that.’

‘So I have. It’s even harder to address you by your Christian name now I’m in your employ.’

‘You’ll get used to it. Now, let’s collect the doctor and see if anything can be done for that little girl.’

As soon as May saw David, she held out her arms, begging to be picked up. Johnny skidded into the house along with
six other children. There wasn’t room to move in the tiny house and May’s parents became agitated, trying to push them all out the door again.

‘You stay here, David,’ Alex instructed, ‘while I deal with this crowd.’

‘C … Come into the front room,’ May’s mother said, clearly in awe of the imposing doctor. She was clasping and unclasping her hands as she gazed at David holding her daughter in his arms. Then she turned to Alex. ‘Please, sir,’ she whispered. ‘We ain’t got the money to pay for such a posh doctor.’

‘You won’t have to.’ He smiled warmly, trying to put the woman at her ease. ‘Doctor Stevens is my own physician and is doing this at my request. He’s a skilled surgeon, and if anything can be done for your daughter he’ll tell us.’

May’s father hadn’t said a word so far, but now he stepped up to Alex, a hint of tears in his eyes. ‘Thank you, sir.’

With a slight inclination of his head in acknowledgement, Alex said, ‘You join your wife, while I deal with these youngsters.’

The children were still crowding the doorway and Alex ordered, in his best military tone, ‘Outside everyone!’

Johnny stuck close to his side until they were in the street. Then he began to rummage in his pockets until he found a tatty piece of paper. Catching hold of Alex’s arm he held it out to him. ‘My dad said I got to give you this to show what I spent. There’s a penny change.’

Alex was astonished. It was a record of every piece of fruit Johnny had purchased with the money he’d been given.

The boy was shifting from foot to foot as Alex studied the account. ‘My dad made me show him everything I bought and he wrote it down. Er …’ Johnny eyed the grubby piece of paper and chewed his lip. ‘Dad said I was to keep it clean. Hope you can still read it. We all had an apple and orange each, and I gave May two oranges and two pears. She likes those. We all thought they was smashing. Didn’t we?’ he asked the assembled children.

There was a chorus of agreement and Johnny was looking a bit sheepish now. ‘Um … I know you said I was to buy fruit – and I did – but you give me a lot of money so I got a bag of gobstoppers and shared them out as well … Er … I saved one for you.’

‘Why thank you, Johnny.’ Alex accepted the bag, looking suitably impressed with the gift. ‘I’ll enjoy that tonight when I’m relaxing after dinner.’

The boy was now beaming with relief. ‘Here’s your change, Lord.’

‘You keep it and buy a few more sweets, and –’ Alex took a few coins out of his pocket – ‘more fruit. It’s most important you all have enough fresh fruit.’

The children were crowding round to see how much money Johnny was holding. ‘Cor,’ one said. ‘Can we have a banana this time? I ain’t never had one of those before.’

Tucking the money safely away, Johnny said, ‘You can all come with me and choose what you want. That’s fair, ain’t it, Lord?’

‘Very fair, Johnny. And I’m not a lord.’

‘’Course you are.’ Johnny wasn’t going to have it any other way.

Alex gave up. ‘I would like to meet your father. Is he at home?’

‘Not today. He works at the docks when there’s ships in.’

‘What about your mother? Can I meet her?’

‘That’s me, sir.’ A woman stepped out of the crowd now gathered in the street. ‘Agnes Bell, sir.’

‘I’m pleased to meet you, Mrs Bell. You have a fine son. Would you please thank your husband for keeping such an accurate record of the money spent.’

‘I will that, sir.’ She smiled proudly at her son. ‘He’s a good boy, and a big help to me. Always ready and willing, he is.’

‘Ow Mum!’ Johnny wriggled in embarrassment. ‘Lord don’t want to know things like that.’

At that moment Millie arrived, out of breath.

‘Where’s Fred?’ It was unusual to see her on her own.

‘He’s got a job! Miss’s dad’s given him work at the furniture place. Fred’s so excited. He’s started today. Miss is working there as well, but we didn’t say nothing about you. She asked though, but we kept quiet.’ Millie took a deep breath. ‘I miss him. I’ve been trying to get a job as well, but no luck yet.’

‘I might be able to help.’ David walked out of the house. ‘I’ve just taken on more work and could do with extra staff. I know you have a neat hand, so would you like to try working for me? I’ll need you to run errands and generally be my helper. Do you think you could do that?’

Her eyes opened wide and she jumped up and down.
‘Oh yes, sir! Please, sir! I’ll work hard.’

He handed her a card. ‘That’s where I work. Be there by nine o’clock tomorrow morning and we’ll see what we can arrange.’

‘I’ll be on time.’ She gazed at the two men, tears of gratitude welling up. ‘It sure was a lucky day when we met Miss. Because of her, we met you. You been able to do anything about those men?’

‘I’m working on it.’ Alex gave her a sly wink. ‘There appears to be a nasty rumour going around that they’re not to be trusted.’

‘Wonder how that started?’ She giggled.

‘I wonder.’ His expression was one of innocence.

‘Oh, you’re a card! I think I like you ever so much. I didn’t at first, ’cos you seemed too bossy, but you ain’t really.’

‘Thank you, Millie. I like you too.’ Alex turned his attention to the doctor, as he joined them. They stepped away from everyone so they could talk in private. ‘What’s the verdict?’ he asked quietly, praying he hadn’t raised the parents’ hopes for nothing.

‘It was a difficult birth and the child was injured. There wasn’t proper medical care at the time, but I believe it can be put right. It will probably need an operation and the treatment will be expensive.’

‘Do whatever is necessary and send all the bills to me. Let’s talk to the parents.’

Fifteen minutes later, after saying goodbye, the three men were back in the carriage.

After dropping off the doctor, Alex insisted on taking
David back to his office. ‘You’ll join me this evening at home. We have a lot to discuss, but right now I have more rumours to spread.’

Just before David arrived that evening, Alex’s butler brought in a man who could make enquiries and, hopefully, discover the whereabouts of Edward Melrose. He appeared capable and was engaged.