The Shifting Tide - Anne Perry [77]
“I dunno where it goes!” he protested.
“Then this is an excellent time to learn,” she told him. “Unless you’d rather do something else? Like laundry, or scrubbing the floor? Or we could always do with more water. We seem to be using a great deal at the moment.”
“You’re a terrible ’ard woman!” he grumbled, picking the items out of the baskets one by one.
Claudine Burroughs came in from the laundry, her face pinched with distaste at the smell, her sleeves rolled up above the elbows, and her hands and lower arms red.
“I have none of that stuff—potash,” she said to Hester. “I can’t work without supplies.”
“I got some,” Squeaky said cheerfully. “ ’ere.” He pointed to the bag on the floor. “I’ll take it down fer yer. We’re gonna ’ave ter use a little less o’ all this, least until we get some more money. I dunno where folks’ ’earts is anymore. ’Ard, they are. ’Ard like flint. Come on, missus, I’ll give yer an ’and.”
Claudine looked at him in disbelief. She drew in her breath to rebuff him for his familiarity, but he was impervious to it. He picked up the large bag of potash, lifting it with some effort, although he had carried it all the way from the next street with greater ease. Claudine let out her breath again, and with as big an effort as his, she thanked him and followed him to the laundry.
Flo came in, carrying a full scuttle of coal, a grin on her face.
“Learnin’ ’er ’ow the other ’alf lives, are yer?” she said with relish. “If ol’ Squeaky spoke to ’er in the street she’d ’ave kittens.”
“We need her,” Hester pointed out. “Thank you for getting the coal in. How much have we left?”
“Need more day arter termorrer,” Flo replied. “I know where ter get more cheap. Yer want it?”
“No thank you. I can’t afford to have the police here.”
“I said cheap!” Flo was insulted, not on behalf of her honesty but her intelligence. “I din’t say free!”
“Do what you can,” Hester accepted. “Sorry.”
Flo smiled patiently. “That’s all right. I don’ take no offense. Yer can’t ’elp it.”
Hester finished the beef tea, put more water in the kettle and replaced it on the stove, then with the tea in a large cup she went up the stairs to see how Ruth Clark was this morning. Bessie had been up with her most of the night, but had reported she now seemed no worse than some of the other women with fever and bronchitis.
“If yer ask me,” Bessie said briskly, “ ’alf ’er trouble’s that ’er lover threw ’er out! Took in someone else with a softer tongue, I daresay, an’ ’oo knows wot side ’er bread’s butter’d on. Now she’s got no bread at all, butter’d or not, an’ she’s crosser’n a wet cat. She in’t no sicker’n nob’dy else.”
Hester did not argue, there was no time and no point. At the top of the stairs she met Mercy Louvain with an armful of dirty laundry.
“I’ve left most of it,” the girl said with a smile. “That Agnes is feeling pretty bad, and I changed hers. She’s got a very high fever. I don’t think the poor creature has had a decent meal in weeks, maybe months. I’ll take these to Claudine.” A flash of amusement crossed her face. She said nothing, but Hester knew precisely what was in her mind.
“Perhaps you can give her a little help?” she suggested. “Especially with the mangle.”
“I’m no better at it,” Mercy confessed. “I got my own apron caught up in it yesterday. Tore the strings off and had to stitch them back on again. And that’s something I’m not very good at either. I can paint pretty well, but what use is that?”
“Everything that’s beautiful is of use,” Hester replied. “There are times when it is the only thing that helps.”
Mercy smiled. “But this certainly isn’t one of them. I’ll take these down and help Claudine mangle the last lot. Between the two of us we’ll make a passable job of it. I might even make her laugh, although I doubt it.” She dropped one of the sheets and bent to pick it up again. “Although if she gets herself caught in the mangle again, it might make me laugh! And if Flo’s there, she’ll never stop!” She gave a tiny little giggle, then it died as she heard someone along