Pentecost Alley - Anne Perry [156]
“Ada did well, didn’t she?” Emily continued. “She was bright.”
“An’ good at it,” Madge agreed, taking another slurp.
“Hope they catch that bastard who killed her,” Emily said fiercely.
Madge breathed out a long sigh.
“And poor Nora,” Charlotte put in with a shiver. “Did you know Nora?”
“Did you?” Madge asked, looking at her narrowly.
“No. What was she like?”
“Pretty. Little, sort o’ skinny for some tastes.”
Considering Madge’s twenty stone that remark was open to personal interpretation. Charlotte felt a momentary desire to giggle, and controlled it only with an effort.
“But good at it?” she asked, hiccuping.
“Oh yes!” Madge agreed. “Though some says as she were gonner quit and get married.”
“Do you think that’s true?” Tallulah spoke for the first time, her voice hesitant, high in the back of her throat.
“Mebbe.” Madge stopped. “Saw ’er around wi’ Johnny Voss. ’E weren’t bad orff. Could ’a’ married ’er, I s’pose. Although ’e were said ter be keen on Ella Baker, over in Myrdle Street. Mebbe ’e switched ter Nora. Edie said she seen Nora kiss ’im good-night abaht a couple a’ weeks ago.”
“I’ve kissed people good-night,” Tallulah said in response. “That didn’t mean they were going to marry me.”
“Did you now.” Madge looked at her more closely. “ ’Ow long yer bin in the trade, duck? Yer wanna watch yerself. This in’t no place for beginners!”
“I’m … I’m not a beginner,” Tallulah said defensively, then stopped with a little squeak of pain as Emily kicked her under the table.
“If yer kissin’ people, y’are.” Madge stated it as an unarguable fact. “Kissin’ is fer family, people as yer care abaht. Customers get wot they paid fer, nothin’ more. Yer gotta keep summink as is real, summink as is yer own an’ can’t be bought.”
Tallulah stared at her, two bright specks of color in her cheeks.
“Yer need someone ter look aht fer yer, teach yer ’ow ter be’ave,” Madge said gently. “Take the room, an’ I’ll teach yer.”
Tallulah was speechless. The thoughts racing through her mind could only be guessed at.
“Thank you,” Charlotte said quickly. “That’s very kind of you. That might be a very good idea. We could always look elsewhere. There must be other places in the neighborhood. I suppose poor Nora’s room is to let now?”
“I in’t ’eard,” Madge replied. “But yer could ask. If it’s gorn, yer could go an’ ask Ma Baines over on Chicksand Street. She’s usually got summink free. In’t the best, but yer could take it, and then w’en summink better comes up, yer’d be placed ter move on, like. She in’t bin ’ere all that long, but I ’eard say she in’t bad. Gotta get all yer own clothes. Got yer own, ’ave yer?”
“M-my own clothes?” Tallulah stammered.
“Yeah. Lor’, you are the beginner, in’t yer?” Madge shook her head. “Still, yer in’t got a bad face. Nice ’air. We’ll make summink of yer yet.” She patted her on the hand comfortingly, then she looked at Charlotte and Emily in turn. “You two can look arter yerselves.” She regarded Charlotte. “You got a bit o’ flesh on yer. Yer’ll do. An’ lots o’ ’air. Yer face in’t bad.”
“Thank you,” Charlotte said a trifle dryly.
Madge was impervious to sarcasm. She looked Emily up and down.
“Yer not so good, bit thin, but yer got a nice enough face, nice skin. An’ men always like yeller ’air, ’specially wot curls like yours do. Look like yer got a bit o’ spark too. You’ll do.”
“Can you tell us where to find this Ma Baines?” Emily ignored the personal assessment and returned to the point.
“Yeah, course I can,” Madge responded. “Twenty-one Chicksand Street. Next one up towards Mile End. Anyone will tell yer.”
It looked as if they were about to be dismissed any moment, and they had learned too little to give up.
“Ada and Nora knew each other,” Charlotte plunged on. “Were they at all alike? Did they have friends in common?”
Madge blinked. “W’y the ’ell der you care?”
“Because I don’t want to get my fingers and toes broken and end up strangled with my own stockings,” Charlotte answered tersely.