Paying Guests (25 page)

And was glad that she had, for Duff found his feet again. He said something sharp that made Sophie laugh a great deal and now it was Silas’s turn to look put out and that pleased Tilly. She watched him now, rather than Duff, and when he looked up and caught her eye and smiled broadly at her, a wave of warmth filled her. What a very good person he was, she told herself. He can’t be flirting with this girl at all; he said himself he’s too old for her, though I have to admit there have been many matches with such an age difference. But he thinks himself too old, so surely he can’t be in any sense Duff’s rival? See how kindly he changed the subject a moment ago and gave Duff a chance to say something clever?

‘Did your mother tell you of our adventure in the park, Duff, before we met you?’ Silas said and Duff looked up and then at Tilly. There was a small frown between his eyes.

‘Adventure?’ he said carefully, seeming anxious. ‘Not a disagreeable one, I hope.’

Tilly smiled. ‘No need to look so put about, my dear boy! It was a small matter. No need to make a fuss.’ And she threw a warning glance at Silas, but he ignored it and launched himself into a lively account of their drive to the park and the beggar children’s encounter with them.

‘How horrid!’ Sophie cried. ‘It really is too bad that such children should be allowed into the park at all! I believe the authorities should clear them out. I have heard it said, and fully believe it to be true, that many of them are sent out by unscrupulous parents or masters to beg in a professional manner. They make vast amounts of money that way – it is quite disgraceful! It is dreadful in some parts of London, you know. You can’t move for beggars dogging your footsteps, and very nasty and abusive some of them are. Throwing themselves at one’s carriage to overset it is the least of it. Why, I have seen them in Covent Garden hanging on to the shafts, driving the horses nearly mad till their eyes roll and they slaver like crazy things, just to persuade the driver to give them money to get off! They are a menace – and giving money to them just encourages them.’

‘They are poor,’ Tilly said. ‘If they have no food nor money to get any, how else are they to survive but by begging?’

‘I am sure they can find work of some sort,’ Sophie said. Her eyes were glittering with energy; she looked interested in a way Tilly had rarely seen her before. ‘It is always possible for people to find some means of keeping themselves without resorting to such behaviour as these beggars do! They revolt me and terrify me. You must not go out in the park, ever again, dear Aunt Tilly! I should worry dreadfully if I thought you were –’

‘You are kind to be so worried,’ Tilly said a little tartly. ‘But there is no need. I can’t see these children as dangerous. Only as pitiable. I intend to do whatever I can to make their lives more tolerable.’

‘Oh,’ Silas lifted his head and so did Duff. ‘What is that, Tilly?’

‘Why, I am not yet quite sure!’ Tilly said lightly. ‘I shall wait until I have had the opportunity to talk tonight to Mr Cumming and we will see after that. Perhaps they may find a home here, below stairs,
of course. But we must wait and see. Would anyone care for more coffee? I have ample here.’

They refused coffee with a shake of their heads and Duff said, ‘You mean to become a philanthropist, Mamma?’

‘I told you,’ Tilly said, ‘I’m not precisely sure what I shall do. I know only that I cannot rest until more has been done to take care of these children. I can’t bear to think of them living in such a dreadful sort of way.’

‘I am afraid, Aunt Tilly, that your good heart overwhelms your good sense,’ Sophie said. ‘You cannot care for all the beggar children in London! There are thousands and thousands of them. I tell you, I have seen them – they are the outside of enough, driving ordinary citizens to despair with their constant wheedling and prodding, when we all know they are lazy and dirty and could work for a living if they chose.’

‘However importunate those you have seen may be, dear Sophie,’ Tilly said, ‘and I dare say you may be right that they are not all as poor as they seem to be, I am still concerned about these particular children we saw today. I have no intention of seeking a remedy for all. Just for them.’

‘I am the one who is seeking a remedy for all,’ Silas said and smiled at Sophie. ‘I am quite determined to start a new branch of my Society to consider the welfare of these pathetic creatures. We shall make a story of the cause of their poverty and indigence and see if we can’t offer some sort of thoughtful remedy for the conditions that create them and enable them to survive as they do. It will be the best way of controlling the menace, as you express it, Miss Oliver!’

‘Well,’ Sophie said and put down her napkin and rose to her feet. ‘I dare say you think me unfeeling, Aunt Tilly, but I must say I believe that Mr Geddes’s way of dealing with beggary is by far the best. To study social conditions and so arrange matters that beggary does not occur – now, that makes sense. But taking in filthy children who are probably verminous and diseased – well, I cannot see what good that does.’

‘Except to the children,’ Tilly said. ‘And they will not remain
verminous and diseased – if they are – once they are here. I shall see to it that they are clean and well fed, and undertake that they will be no discomfort to you, or any of my guests. I will, of course, explain to all of them my wishes and assure them they will not be discommoded in the slightest. I have no doubt they will look kindly on my efforts. What do you think, Duff?’

He was silent for a moment, looking from Sophie to Tilly and she could almost feel the tug he was experiencing from both directions. Then he shook his head and smiled.

‘I shall try both methods and assess them, Sophie. I shall join Silas in his Society’s meetings, if you’ll have me, Silas, and also help Mamma with her plans. There! I cannot be fairer than that!’

Tilly laughed. ‘Indeed you can’t. Nor more diplomatic. I congratulate you! Now, I must be busy. If you will all excuse me, we shall meet again at dinner, I imagine?’

‘Unless you have time this afternoon to discuss the manner in which I might start my new branch of the Society, Tilly,’ Silas said and smiled at her. ‘And perhaps you too, Miss Oliver?’

Sophie chuckled softly. ‘Oh, no, Mr Geddes! I must be about something of much greater importance to me. I have a new book to read, and I shall sit in the summer house and read it, if that is permitted, Aunt Tilly?’

‘Of course it is!’ Tilly said. The summer house has been scrubbed and equipped with comfortable chairs for that very purpose. Duff, perhaps you will take out one of the long chairs and arrange it for Sophie? You will be more comfortable on one of those, my dear!’ She smiled sweetly at the two young ones, as Duff, moving with alacrity, led the way to the dining-room door.

‘I’ll see to it at once,’ he said. ‘Sophie, may I join you in the summer house then? I could bring some cushions for you too, if you want them.’

She said nothing, just dimpling at him as she left the room and he followed, leaving Silas still at the table.

‘Hmm,’ he said after a moment. ‘So that is your plan? I must say it sounds to me to be risky. Some of these children are, I am told, sadly debauched by their elders. They may be used as burglars’
aides, ready to creep inside respectable houses and let the robbers in.’

‘I shall risk that,’ Tilly said. ‘It will be better than doing nothing. Don’t you feel that, in your heart?’

‘Of course I do. Why else am I so determined to find a remedy for the cause of beggary? I just wish I could persuade you to devote your efforts to the matter in that safe sort of way, rather than –’

‘Well, Silas, I must tell you that my mind is quite made up!’ Tilly said and made for the door. ‘I shall take care of these children we met this morning, no matter what. Now, if you will forgive me, we must allow Rosie to clear the table. We are holding her back in her work, you know, and that would never do.’

‘No,’ Silas said and sighed. ‘Some things would never do.’

‘PLEASE BE ASSURED, Mrs Quentin,’ Mr Cumming said earnestly. ‘The best arrangements have been made. We have much experience of these matters at St George’s, for we draw on all the beggar population from Piccadilly as well as this side of the Town, and long ago sought measures for helping them. We have a most active committee of gentlemen who are concerned for their Christian welfare and the boys’ cases went to them this very afternoon, since happily, they were having their monthly meeting.’

‘But it seems so cruel to split a little family that way,’ Tilly said and Mr Cumming lifted his brows at her.

‘Little family, Mrs Quentin? Why, there are six of them! That is big enough in all conscience! While I applaud your notion of giving succour to the girl here, I cannot see that it would be of any value to your household to take in four boys and a baby, beside.’

She looked at him in some surprise. The ebullient young man, much given to flirting with the younger lady guests and making a great deal of noise guffawing with his friend Mr Hancock, seemed very different now he was speaking of matters to do with his work. He had become, she thought, almost as pompous as she knew some senior physicians to be, and she sighed a little. She had hoped to find him more sympathetic to her plans than he had turned out to be; now he was looking at her with positive disapproval.

‘Let me explain a little more carefully, Mr Cumming,’ she said. ‘I am not proposing to take these children into my house in order to
use them as servants. I believe they are too young for such things – they need care and feeding and a healthy life.’

‘Your philanthropic nature is a credit to you, Mrs Quentin, but it is not a very practical matter you’re suggesting. How long can such children be kept in idleness? They must earn their bread for the rest of their lives, if they are to have any, and the sooner they start to discover how to do so the better their chances. Boys generally start work on farms at the age of ten or thereabouts, you know, and these four boys are older than that. The youngest is already eleven and the others are in steps and stairs a year older. The fourteen year old will benefit most from being placed on a good farm, you know. There are some farmers who refuse to take a boy as old as that who has had no earlier experience of the work. To be too old is to handicap them. I repeat, your good heart does you credit, Mrs Quentin, but do let me assure you that you will do these boys a disservice if you bring them here and try to rear them as though they were children of your own class. They are not, and never will be. So do at least allow them to be reared to the station in life to which they are best suited.’

She sat and stared at him, her lower lip caught between her teeth, trying to think how she could argue with him. Then Silas, who had been sitting silently beside Mr Cumming, listening carefully, leaned forwards.

‘I fear he is right, you know,’ he said in a serious tone. ‘I have listened to all your discussions, as you so kindly asked me to do, and as you are fully aware I was in total sympathy with your aspirations when we started. You did not have to convince me that your plan was a good one – but now I have heard all that Cumming here has to say, I must admit that I see the force of his argument. To take such boys and keep them here in London when they can go and live and work on a farm and regain some health and where they will be excellently fed, for country people do eat well, is hardly an act of generosity. Sooner or later they will return to the streets if they live here, will they not? You could not intend to apprentice them out of your own pocket to a city trade – and even if you did, and it would be a costly business for four of them, who would take them? They are of such poor background, I cannot see any city
tradesman being at all interested in them, not when they can have their pick of better reared boys. If the hospital has this group of good men who are willing to take these boys to reliable farmers, why, I do think you should agree that they are wisest. There is much work to be done regarding children such as these – in prevention, you know, and education and so forth – but filling your home with the trouble such boys are all too likely to bring is not the right work for you.’

‘But –’ she began and then stopped. She could not argue with them, for what they were saying made clear, if unpalatable, sense, and she lifted her chin and said, ‘I may visit them on their farms and see they are well?’

Mr Cumming looked relieved. ‘Of course,’ he said heartily. ‘The members of our committee are eager to obtain all the support they can get, and it pleases them greatly to have ladies who are willing to take an interest in the children they rescue. It is vital they have good caring ladies like yourself to support the goodwill of the farmers, who, excellent Christians though they all are, and acting out of the love of their religion as they do, still benefit from the approval of their betters.’

She sighed deeply, dispirited. ‘I would have wished to do more with my own hands,’ she murmured and then lifted her head sharply to look at Cumming closely. ‘If I agree that I will not seek to take the boys into my home, but will visit them regularly and be their friend, what of their sister and the baby? You cannot be putting them to farm work.’