Gypsy - Lesley Pearse [98]
‘Eat it up while it’s hot. I’ll be back later when you are dressed to take you down to meet Miss Marchment. Make sure you put on something plain, you don’t want to alarm her by looking like a saloon girl.’
She left then, sweeping out of the room and leaving Beth feeling shaken.
Meeting Miss Marchment was an even more unpleasant experience. Her room on the ground floor was gloomy and squalid. It stank of cat’s urine and made the comfort and cleanliness of Theo’s all the more remarkable. It was difficult to judge Miss Marchment’s true age, for although her wrinkled, yellow-tinged skin, her black clothes and the lacy cap over her white hair suggested she was very old, her loud, brusque voice seemed to belong to someone much younger. She was small and slender but her hands were swollen and looked painful, and Beth thought she probably suffered from rheumatics.
She didn’t show the slightest sympathy or concern for Beth, instead firing questions about her family background as if she believed only someone from the gutter could have got herself into such a plight. Beth attempted to impress on her that she was in fact genteelly brought up, but the old lady retorted that any girl working in a saloon was courting trouble. She even added that she hoped Beth wasn’t taking advantage of Mr Cadogan’s good nature.
Beth tried not to be rude back, merely stating that it had been Theo’s suggestion to bring her here because she was exhausted after her ordeal. ‘I am very grateful for his kindness, and indeed to you for allowing me to stay a few days, but I shall be joining my brother as soon as possible,’ she finished up.
It was clear Theo hadn’t informed his landlady that he was intending to leave her shortly, and Beth didn’t enlighten her.
Her spirits fell to an even lower ebb when she returned to Theo’s room. She was an unwelcome guest in an area she didn’t know. Nor did she know where Jack and Sam were in Philadelphia. She felt trapped and completely dependent on Theo.
Her thoughts naturally turned back to the previous Christmas at Falkner Square, and as she thought of Molly toddling around the kitchen, and all the warmth and laughter there had been, the feeling of utter safety and happiness, she ached to be back there.
Just after seven that evening Theo came back, bursting into the room and bringing with him the smell of cigars and images of a table laden with food and drink, and jovial company. ‘I wish I could have taken you with me today,’ he said, drawing her into his arms for a long, sensual kiss which set Beth’s head reeling.
Miss Doughty came up soon afterwards, bringing them a cold supper of ham and pickles. Beth didn’t have to ask why Theo got his meals cooked and his laundry and cleaning taken care of when the other four boarders, at present with their families for Christmas, had to fend for themselves. He had a way about him that would make any woman, no matter how old, want to take care of him.
After they’d eaten their supper, and Beth had moved to sit close to the fire, Theo took her fiddle out of its case and handed it to her.
‘Surely you don’t want me to play it now?’ she said in some surprise. ‘Won’t I disturb Miss Marchment?’
He chuckled. ‘She’d be more disturbed by silence. She’d think I was making love to you. But I thought it would keep you occupied because I have to go out again in a minute or two anyway.’
Beth felt her heart sink with disappointment. ‘I thought you said it was dangerous for you to go out?’ she said quietly.
‘It would be if I was bound for the Bowery.’ He shrugged, picking up his hairbrush and moving over to the looking-glass. ‘But I have business in far more salubrious parts of the city.’
Perhaps he sensed her disappointment for he came over to her and embraced her.
‘I have people to see and business arrangements to sort,’ he said, kissing her forehead tenderly. ‘I would of course much prefer to stay here with you, but then I would be tempted to make love to you. When we get to Philadelphia