The Dollmaker's Daughters (17 page)

‘We’ll take them all,’ Jonas said, as Ruby emerged from the fitting room wearing a turquoise tussore evening gown that had been thrust upon her at the last minute.

‘Not this one,’ she said, glaring at Jonas. ‘It’s a waste of money.’

The shop assistant hastily turned a snigger into a sneeze.

‘It’s my money,’ Jonas said, laughing. ‘We’ll take it and the chemise or whatever you call it that goes underneath.’

‘Shut up!’ Ruby felt the blood rush to her cheeks. She bent down to hiss in Jonas’s ear. ‘It ain’t proper for a gent to know about such things.’

‘I’m not a gent, so it doesn’t count, Ruby my dear,’ Jonas said, chuckling and running his finger down her cheek, caressing the slim column of her neck and stopping just above the swell of her breast exposed by the low neckline. ‘Let them think what they like. It doesn’t matter.’

But it does matter to me, Ruby thought bitterly as she stepped out of the beautiful gown in the privacy of the fitting room. The shop assistant, with her facial features well under control now, looped the dress over her arm and took it off to be packed. Putting on her own clothes, Ruby was even more aware of their shabbiness and the poor quality of the material. Even though she had hated being treated like a kept woman, deep down inside she had to admit the thrill of wearing new and expensive clothes that she had never thought to possess in all her wildest dreams. Rosetta would be green with envy and mad with jealousy. Perhaps she would give the evening gown to Rosetta and that would salve
her conscience just a little. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Ruby saw someone quite different staring out at her. They had piled her hair high on top of her head to show off the evening gown and there were bright spots of colour in her normally pale cheeks. Her eyes glowed with anger or maybe it was excitement, and Ruby found herself wishing that Adam Fairfax could have seen her in that lovely evening gown, looking like a real lady. She was instantly ashamed of having such a mean thought; Adam was all but engaged to Pamela. If she wanted to keep her sanity, she had better forget all about him and, if it came to that, her ambition to train as a nurse. When Jonas had finished with her, Ruby was well aware that her reputation would be ruined for ever. Oh, Joe, she thought, what have you done to us all? She jumped as the curtain was pulled aside.

‘Get your clothes on, Ruby. We’re off to the shoe department next. I won’t be seen with a woman in down at heel boots two sizes too big for her feet.’

With the dicky seat piled high with bandboxes, Jonas drove back towards the East End. ‘D’you want to go by way of the church so that you can confess your sins?’ he said, chuckling.

Huddled in the warmth of her new coat, Ruby sat fuming at her own weakness in accepting
such a handsome gift. ‘You’re laughing at me again.’

‘Not really, Ruby. I’m not used to women with consciences.’

‘What is it you want of me, Mr Crowe?’

Jonas turned his head to look at her. ‘I’ll let you know that when I’ve made up my mind.’

Lapsing into silence, Ruby became more and more agitated as they arrived in the familiar territory of the East End. Jonas may not have made improper advances towards her, but she was not so naïve as to believe that a man like Crowe would spend a small fortune on her and expect nothing in return. If he did not want her for himself, then perhaps he expected her to be available to the men who frequented his club. Ruby had read books about the white slave trade, courtesans and high-class prostitutes. Suddenly she felt sick.

‘Here we are,’ Jonas said, slamming on the brakes. ‘Time for your confession, Ruby, my girl.’

Ruby had been so wrapped in her own thoughts that her surroundings had simply not registered in her brain. The motor car was parked outside her own home. Curtains fluttered in the windows all down the street and Jonas had already leapt out and was standing on the pavement holding his hand out to her. ‘Are you coming in or are you going to sit in my motor all day?’

Sarah’s face was a study in disbelief and amazement when Ruby walked into the living room followed by Jonas.

‘What’s he doing here?’ demanded Granny Mole. ‘And what’s Ruby doing dressed up like a dog’s dinner?’

‘Ma!’ Sarah said, shooting her a warning look. ‘You’ll have to excuse Ma, Mr Crowe, she says whatever comes into her head.’

‘I appreciate honesty,’ Jonas said, acknowledging Granny Mole’s comments with a nod and a smile. ‘No doubt you’ll be a bit curious yourself, Mrs Capretti.’

Sarah smiled but Ruby could see that her hands were plucking nervously at her apron and her eyes were wary. ‘I’m sure there must be a reasonable explanation for it, sir. Seeing as how you’ve brought Ruby home.’

‘Consider me a friend of the family,’ Jonas said, his voice smooth as buttercream. ‘I’ve taken Joe under my wing so to speak and now, with your permission, I’d like to take Ruby into my employ.’

‘You would?’ Sarah looked from Jonas to Ruby, frowning.

Meeting her mother’s anxious gaze, Ruby shrugged her shoulders. She had the uncomfortable feeling that the situation was spinning out of control, but what could she say, how could she explain without incriminating Joe?

‘As what?’ Granny Mole demanded, with a derisive snort. ‘In my day that would have meant just one thing.’

‘Ma!’ Sarah said, a dull flush suffusing her face. ‘Let Mr Crowe have his say.’

‘I understand your very natural concern, Mrs Mole,’ Jonas said, in a voice that sounded as if he had taken the cloth. ‘But we all know that Miss Ruby is wasting her talents working in Bronski’s sweatshop. I feel I owe it to her late father to offer her something more suitable to a young lady whose very worthy ambition it is to become a qualified nurse.’

‘Well, now!’ Sarah’s eyes opened wide and she sank down onto the nearest chair, wiping her face with her apron. ‘Well, I never did!’

‘Nor I, neither,’ added Granny Mole. ‘Sounds like a load of poppycock to me. A man like him’s got just one thing on his mind and it ain’t Florence Nightingale and her bleeding lamp.’

‘Ma!’ A turmoil of emotions from shock to suspicion flitted across Sarah’s face. ‘Mr Crowe, you’ll have to excuse Ma, but Ruby’s a good girl, sir. I trust your intentions is honourable.’

Jonas sat down beside Sarah, taking her hand in his. ‘You mustn’t worry, Mrs Capretti. I understand a mother’s feelings for her daughter and I can promise you that Ruby will come to no harm in my house.’

Ruby stared at Jonas in surprise. His mild
manner and concerned expression seemed totally alien to the blustering, swaggering style that he normally adopted. What a strange mixture of people seemed to be rolled up in the person of Jonas Crowe; one moment a bully, a gang leader and a man feared by the toughest men in the East End, and yet here he was holding Mum’s hand and speaking in a mild way like a proper gent.

Jonas looked up, meeting Ruby’s eyes with the hint of a smile. ‘I want Ruby to nurse my poor wife in her battle with consumption. If you agree to Ruby coming to live in my house and taking up this employment, then I will personally see that she has free time to study her books on nursing. I can’t say fairer than that, now can I?’

‘Maybe you can’t,’ Granny Mole said, before Sarah had a chance to speak. ‘But if you takes Ruby away, who’s going to support me and my Sal now that Aldo has gone?’

‘Be quiet, Ma,’ Sarah said, shaking her head. ‘I’m sure Ruby won’t forget us and that Mr Crowe will treat her fair like any good employer.’

Jonas reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a fat wallet. He took out two crisp, white five-pound notes and placed them in Sarah’s hand, closing her fingers around them. ‘Consider that an advance on Ruby’s wages. I’m a generous man to those who serve me well.’

Sarah’s eyes widened and her mouth formed a circle of surprise, her lips working soundlessly. ‘More than generous, sir,’ she managed to gasp. ‘More than generous.’

Ruby knew she was trapped. It would take her a year to earn this much money at Bronski’s, and if she were to refuse now, then Mum and Gran would want to know the reason why and it would have to be a good one.

Jonas tucked his wallet back in his breast pocket. ‘Then I take it that you have no objections to Ruby coming to live in my establishment, Mrs Capretti?’

Sarah stared at the money for a moment as if struggling with the decision. Ruby could see that Mum was unsure, but she also knew that ten pounds would make life a whole lot easier for her mother and Granny Mole.

Sarah raised her eyes to Ruby’s face. ‘Ruby? Are you sure this is what you want?’

Somehow, she couldn’t do it. Ruby longed to cry out that she would rather die than be beholden to a man like Jonas Crowe, but there was Joe to consider and she couldn’t pitch her family into disgrace and undoubted poverty. She managed a smile. ‘Yes, Mum, I’m sure.’

Jonas got to his feet. ‘That’s settled then. Come along, Ruby. It’s time we went home to poor Lily.’

‘Lily’s your wife?’ Ruby said, as soon as the
front door closed behind them. ‘You never said that you was married.’

Jonas opened the door to the passenger seat. ‘Hop in.’

‘Is she or isn’t she?’

‘Not in the eyes of the law.’

‘Then why did you lie about it?’

‘Do you think your mother would appreciate being told that I bought Lily from her villain of a father when she was just fourteen, half starved, beaten and up for sale to the highest bidder?’

Ruby swallowed hard, shaking her head. ‘No.’

‘And do you think your mother would let you come and work for me if she knew what sort of businesses I run?’

‘No.’

‘Then get in the motor car.’

‘No.’

‘No?’ Jonas’s eyebrows shot together and his mouth hardened into a straight line. ‘Is that all you can say?’

‘No, as a matter of fact I got quite a lot to say, but I ain’t in a position to argue with you, Mr Crowe.’

‘Good! Now get in the motor, please.’

‘No,’ Ruby said, squaring her shoulders. ‘I’ll work for you like you said and I’ll be happy to care for Lily, but I got terms I want met as well.’

‘You realise the whole street is watching this
conversation and straining their ears to hear what we’re saying?’

Ignoring this remark, Ruby took a deep breath. ‘I’ll work hard for you but I want you to promise that no harm will come to Joe. We’ll pay you back his debt somehow or other but it’ll take time and I won’t leave until it is paid off. Have we got a bargain?’

His rigid expression melting into one of amusement, Jonas held out his hand. ‘You drive a hard bargain, Ruby Capretti.’

As they shook hands Ruby was conscious of a tingling sensation shooting up her arm, spiking in her chest and, when she snatched her hand free, she could still feel the impression of his fingers firmly gripping hers. She shivered.

‘Come along now,’ Jonas said, striding round the bonnet to the driver’s seat. ‘Get in before you freeze to death on the pavement.’

‘No,’ Ruby said, slamming the passenger door. ‘I got a few things to do. I’ll make me own way to Raven Street.’

‘You what?’ Jonas’s black brows drew together in an ominous scowl.

‘Don’t try and bully me, Mr Crowe,’ Ruby said, giving him look for look. ‘I got things to do and people what I need to see.’

His foot on the running board, Jonas glared at her, almost growling with anger. ‘What people?’

‘If you think I’m going to leave without
making sure that Billy is coping all right then you got another think coming, and I got to see my friend at the hospital, not to mention letting old Bronski know that I ain’t coming back.’

‘What’s Billy Noakes got to do with you?’

‘It’s a long story.’

‘And who do you know at the hospital?’

‘That’s my business,’ Ruby said, turning on her heel and walking off in the direction of Spivey Street, calling over her shoulder, ‘and don’t worry, Mr Crowe, I’ll be at your place afore teatime.’

Billy’s horse was not in the stable and the door to his room was firmly locked. Ruby was conscious that her smart appearance was attracting more attention than usual and this made her uncomfortable and wary. Young women dressed in expensive clothes did not usually walk round Whitechapel unaccompanied. She quickened her pace as she walked to Bronski’s, arriving in the middle of their afternoon tea break. Suddenly hungry and very thirsty, Ruby realised that she had had nothing to eat or drink since a cup of tea and a slice of toast at breakfast. If she had expected a warm welcome she was doomed to disappointment. One glance at her clothes and their smiles of welcome faded into suspicious sneers.

‘No need to tell us what you’ve come for, Ruby
Capretti,’ Vinegar Lil said, arms folded across her flat chest. ‘I always knew as how Rosetta would end up bad and I can see you’re just the same.’

‘That’s not true,’ Ruby said, looking from one hostile face to the other. ‘I just come to say I got another job, and …’

‘And we all know what that is.’ Vinegar Lil’s nostrils flared. ‘Don’t we, girls?’ Stepping forward she fingered the pure wool merino of Ruby’s coat. ‘It would take more than a year’s wages to pay for a coat like this. You never got this from the pop shop and there’s only one way a girl like you could earn that sort of bees and honey, eh, girls?’

‘Flat on her back,’ chortled Mad Mabel.

‘Here, steady on.’ Big Biddy shot a sideways glance at Ruby with a hint of apology in her eyes. ‘Leave her be.’

‘Get off with you,’ Vinegar Lil said, giving Ruby a shove. ‘We don’t want your sort round here. You always thought yourself a cut above us anyhow, so clear off.’

‘It’s not true,’ Ruby said, turning to little Winnie, but she shrugged her shoulders and walked away.

‘Tart,’ carolled Mad Mabel, dancing up and down. ‘Stuck-up tart.’

With the unkind words ringing in her ears and biting back tears of humiliation, Ruby left
Bronski’s hurrying blindly in the direction of the hospital. She found Billy sitting in the waiting room. He looked up and the pleasure in his eyes faded as he took in her changed appearance. Her heart sank; how could she explain the situation to Billy when she did not fully understand it herself?

‘Hello, Billy,’ she said, sitting down beside him. ‘How are you?’