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�You are welcome to come up for tea,� said Rose Hannah, who was still a bit shaken. West had spent the carriage ride home gazing out the window, musing to himself. �Hmm,� he said, but he didn�t refuse. She never found out what it would be like to have tea with their strange guest, though, because an agitated, dirty young boy was waiting for them at the Munro gates. West recognized him, though, and called him by name��Eli, where�s your father?� �Out lookin� for you, sir�you�ve got to come, doctor, it�s Nettie, she�s dyin�!� West shot a look back at Rose Hannah, who had paused on the step climbing down. �We can take the carriage,� she said, �just turn right around�� �You�re staying here, Miss Munro,� he said sharply. �Why? If this girl is ill I can help�� �Stay here,� he snapped, and actually grabbed her hand and jerked her down the rest of the way to the pavement. Rose Hannah stood staring at him as he picked up little Eli, who couldn�t have been more than seven or eight years old, thrust him into the carriage, and swung inside himself. �I can help you�� Rose Hannah shouted helplessly, but the carriage was already out through the gates again. Inside, Eli was white-faced. �Why can�t the lady come?� �Have you seen your sister yet?� asked West. �Lots o� blood,� said Eli. �S�all I saw. Pa said to tell you �e thought it was a ha�nt.� �I was afraid of that.� This was why West always had his bag with him�he never knew when he was going to need it. His own driver, too�he was wishing he hadn�t sent Ham out on a separate errand that afternoon, because now he was at the mercy of Isaac, the Munro family driver, who might know Miss Munro�s favorite shops but had no idea how East End was laid out, and Nettie� He rubbed his eyes, trying to keep a game face on for the boy. It didn�t matter how soon or how late they were; no amount of time was going to save Nettie. The Black children were watching for him in the sludge, and as West leaped down with Eli in his arms the cry went up. �He�s �ere! He�s �ere! Eli found �im!� West turned back to Isaac, who was glancing around uneasily. �It�s better if you go,� he said. �Mr. Black will bring me back to the house. Give Miss Munro my thanks.� Bess came lumbering out, wringing her apron, as Isaac lost no time in getting back to civilization. �Oh, praise God, doctor, the boy found ye, the boy found ye, come inside quick!� �What happened?� �It�s Nettie�� ��was comin� home from�� ��summat happened at the fact�ry�� �Warn�t at the fact�ry, you slubber�� �Siddown, you lot!� shouted Bess to the children, herding them to the plank table. �Not a word while the doctor�s workin�, you hear? Jenny! Dish �em out some stew and keep �em mum.� Bess drew back the sheet that served as a privacy curtain and ushered West into the little alcove the Blacks used as a bedroom. Nettie, a thin girl of about seventeen, was laid out unconscious on the bed; a basin of bloody water and rags sat on a nightstand. �She�s lost a lot o� blood, doctor,� said Bess, dabbing at her eyes with the apron. �I wrapped �er up as best I could.� True to her word, Nettie was swathed neck and shoulders with makeshift bandages, crusted so thick with blood that West had to use his scissors to see what lay beneath. Bess pressed her lips together and looked away. The stabs were deep. �Tell me what happened,� he said. �Nettie and Jenny were comin� home from the fact�ry, is what, an� Jenny comes runnin� home screamin� that some badger�s got hold of our Nettie, so we catches up anythin� sharp we can lay hands on, the lot of us, an� foller Jenny back, and this is �ow we found �er. Ham is still out lookin� for ye, matter o� fact.� West peered around the torn curtain. Jenny was the second eldest�about fifteen�and the one in charge of the smaller children at the table. They whispered among themselves, played with the now-dirty dishes, crumbled up the last of the bread. Jenny sat staring at the fire, her eyes like shining empty saucers. �Bess, I can�t find �im, I dunno what else to do�Doc!� Ham burst into the shanty and shifted from despair to relief in a moment�s glance. �Oh, thank God, Doc, the boy found ye, I knew Eli was a quick �un�Nettie, it�s my Nettie, what can ye do for �er, Doc?� �I�ll do what I can. Let her rest for now,� he said, and herded the Blacks back out into their ersatz kitchen. �And let me speak to Jenny for a moment.� Jenny had always been the quiet one, he knew, but now she looked as if she wanted to sink into herself and never come out. �Sit here for a minute,� he said, pulling up a little stool and closing the curtain behind them. �What happened? To you and Nettie?� She told the same story that she had told her mother�they were walking home from the factory; they were accosted by a stranger; Nettie screamed for Jenny to run, and Jenny ran. The man wore a dark coat and a hat pulled down over his eyes. No, she had never seen him before. In fact, he didn�t look like East End at all. �The coat� brass buttons, it had,� she whispered. �Warn�t the type ye see round here at all. Had manners, he did. Saw us and� smiled. The Misses Black, he said.� West stared at Jenny for a moment. �He knew your name?� �Not our Christian names, no sir. Knew Black, though.� He sat back in the rickety chair Bess had left for him; it creaked as if to sigh. �He knew your names� thank you, Jenny, that�ll do for now.� Jenny stood, but she seemed frozen by some agony. �What is it?� asked West. She bit her lip; her eyes clouded over, but she did not cry. �I didn�t want to leave her, doctor,� she said. �Shouldn�t never�ve left her.� �It�s not your fault, Jenny,� he told her, taking her cold hand. �She told you to run. She wanted you to run. If you hadn�t, I wouldn�t know what you just told me. And what you told me was important.� But Jenny just said �Shouldn�t never�ve left her� again, and brushed past him, he suspected, so that he wouldn�t see her face. He was preparing a syringe when he realized that Nettie was awake and gazing at him. She had been the family flirt, and now her face was hollowed out with pain. She was moving her lips, and West bent down to hear what she was trying to say. Nettie turned her eyes up to him: �I�m goin� to die�hain�t I�doctor?� �Yes,� he said. The wounds were not even so bad, though Nettie had lost a lot of blood; she would have been debilitated for some time, but under proper care should have been able to survive. He said it because he needed it to be true; he needed to prepare himself for what had to be done. �This will stop the pain,� he said, and began to prepare her arm for the needle. �My Nettie,� whispered Ham. West, who had been dozing by her bedside in his chair, looked up with a start. The younger children were asleep; Jenny and Bess were sitting up at the kitchen table. �Is she in much pain?� �Not much now,� said West. �She won�t be in pain much longer.� Ham closed his eyes. �Not my Nettie, doc� not Nettie.� �There isn�t anything else I can do for her,� said West, and he dropped his voice. �You know what happens� you don�t want her to go through that. Let her slip away quietly now. She�ll be gone by dawn.� And Ham set his jaw and nodded, ducking away from the curtain. West had been giving her stronger and stronger drugs as the night wore on; by daybreak he thought he would have overdosed her sufficiently. It had to look natural; it was bad enough that Ham could guess what had really happened. West didn�t want Bess and the children to know. He looked down at Nettie, her breath coming slowly now. She had been a pretty girl, had chestnut hair, a wide smile. Probably had a sweetheart. She�d been working in the factory since she was thirteen, and here she was, old enough at seventeen to start looking for some young man who could give her something better. He covered her face with the sheet sometime after half past three in the morning. �Not the furnace, doc,� Ham whispered. �Can�t we give my Nettie a proper buryin�? Not the furnace, please�� �You know how they come back,� West whispered back. Jenny had fallen asleep at the kitchen table; Bess was wrapping up the body in a few old sheets, sniffling quietly to herself. �She isn�t safe in the ground. You know what we have to do.� �Please, doc, not the furnace�� Ham choked back a sob. �Look�� West set his bag up on the table�carefully, so as not to wake Jenny�and took out his notebook. �I want you to take this letter to the Ministry�this is all the money I have, Ham, take that too�you�ve got to get Bess and the children out of here. Jenny says they know your name. Go see Seward, take the note, he�ll set you up with some place to stay, come back, get the children�I�ll take Nettie myself, you don�t have to see it�� Ham leaned in closer to murmur, �Take Jenny with ye, doc. Please. Get her outta here, make summat of �er. Anythin�. I won�t see both my girls go like that. Take Jenny off some're better than this�� And Ham gave him such a knowing look�a suggestive look�that West recoiled. �There isn�t any need of that,� he said firmly. �Look, take them to my flat first if it makes you feel better. Seward will set you up with something much better than this, I promise you. It�s sorry compensation for the life of a child, I know, but� the rest will be safe. I promise.� Ham sighed. �If that�s the way it�s to be, then, doc, I s�pose that�s the way it is.� West finished writing out the letter, which Ham pocketed with the forty-odd pounds. He still had to take West to the cannery, but they agreed that West would hail a fresh cab and leave Ham to his errand rather than make him wait out in the snow for West to finish the job. It was on the way to the Ministry that Ham finally took the letter out of his pocket to read it, but it didn�t make any sense. �Rose, you are such a spoilsport. I can�t believe it�not even an hour? Just an hour!� �I�m sorry,� Rose Hannah said. It really wasn�t fair to drag Camilla out to the Ladies� University Club lecture and then back out on tea with Lady Selverstone. In fact, she had honestly intended to go. But she felt unexpectedly tired now, and had gotten another letter from Caspar Osborne, and didn�t feel like putting on a cheerful front for Camilla�s bohemian friends. |
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