The River Maid. Dilly Court
been looking for you all day?’
‘Yes, and I’m truly sorry, Mr Riley. I had work in a different part of the city.’
‘I thought you were a good girl, Essie. There’s only one sort of occupation that springs to mind.’
‘I don’t have to explain myself to you.’
‘Then you won’t care that I’ve found someone else to do the work that I’d normally put your way. You let me down, Essie Chapman, and your pa will hear about this. I dare say you’ve been keeping company with some young fellow who’s taken your fancy, but be warned it’ll bring you nothing but trouble. You may think you’re pretty, with your big hazel eyes and your long dark curls, but you girls are all the same, trollops at heart, leading men on.’
‘You have a very poor opinion of woman, Mr Riley. Maybe you were crossed in love or something, but I’m a respectable girl and I don’t have to stand here and listen to your insults.’
‘Get out of my office and don’t come knocking on my door when you’re desperate for employment, because you’re finished. Now clear off before I throw you out.’
Essie did not dare tell her father what had happened in the wharfinger’s office, and she did not mention Diggory Tyce. Pa might have his faults, but he would be furious if he knew that she had been accosted in the street, and even in his weakened condition he might go roaring off, ready for a fight. There were some things that were better kept secret, and this was one of them.
She did not see Raven until next morning. He came downstairs looking tired but purposeful. ‘I’ll leave by the back door,’ he said firmly when she had given him Lady Alice’s message. ‘Give me a couple of minutes and then you go out as if you were going about your daily business. I’ll have a cab waiting at the far end of Fore Street.’
‘What are you two talking about?’ Jacob limped into the kitchen. ‘What’s going on between you?’
‘Nothing, Pa,’ Essie said hastily. ‘Mr Raven has found me employment in a big house Up West. The money will keep us going until you’re fit enough to return to work.’
Jacob glared at Raven, lowering his brow in a scowl. ‘I won’t have you taking advantage of my daughter, sir.’
‘I promise you that there’s nothing untoward in my dealings with Miss Chapman.’ Raven dropped a leather pouch onto the kitchen table with a clink of coins. ‘You’ll be well recompensed, Chapman. I always pay my debts.’
Jacob snatched up the money before Essie had a chance to make a move. ‘Pa, I’ll need some of that,’ she protested.
‘You abandoned me in favour of your new friends. I can manage very well on my own.’ Jacob tucked the pouch into his pocket and returned to the front parlour, slamming the door behind him.
Essie sighed. ‘He’ll spend all of it in the Grapes, treating his friends to rum punch.’
‘You don’t have to put up with a life like this,’ Raven said earnestly. ‘I’m sure my cousin would take you on permanently, should you wish to leave Limehouse.’
‘This is my home. The river and the people round here are part of me and this is where I belong.’
‘It’s a shame to have such a limited outlook at your age. There’s a whole world out there, if you chose to embrace it.’
Essie placed her teacup in the stone sink. ‘Maybe I ought to commit a crime so that I get transported to Australia like you. Would that broaden my horizon, Mr Raven?’
‘I wouldn’t go so far as that,’ he said, laughing. ‘But you’re a pretty young woman and you’re bright. You deserve more than this.’
Essie had a sudden vision of herself married to Ben, living in rented rooms further down the street with a new baby arriving like clockwork every year. It was the fate of most women in Limehouse – either that or working until they dropped with exhaustion, starvation or succumbing to one of the many diseases that were rife amongst the poor.
‘Isn’t it time we were gone?’ she said briskly. ‘The sooner you get your affairs sorted out the sooner you can return to your goldmine and leave us all in peace.’
Essie sat in the clerk’s office waiting for Raven to emerge. The clock on the wall opposite ticked noisily, accompanied by the scratching of the clerk’s pen as he wrote laboriously, the tip of his tongue clamped between two rows of yellowed teeth. Essie shifted her position on the hard seat of the wooden chair, which was not designed for comfort. Every so often the clerk sniffed and gave her a sideways glance before returning to the ledger in front of him. The sound of a door opening and closing followed by footsteps made them both sit up.
Raven strode past Essie. ‘Come along. It’s time to go.’
She leaped to her feet and followed him out of the building into Lincoln’s Inn. ‘What happened?’ she demanded. ‘Where are we going now?’
He walked on until they were in the relative seclusion of the sunlit gardens, and he came to a halt. Taking a document from his inside pocket he placed it in her hand. ‘Take this to Hill Street and give it to Lady Alice in person.’
Essie tucked it into her reticule. ‘I will, of course, but can you tell me what this is all about?’
He shook his head. ‘Remember that I’m an escaped convict and aiding me is a crime, so the less you know, the better, for your own sake.’
‘But you were just standing up for your brother. You’re the injured party because you took his punishment. I still don’t understand why you did that.’
‘If it were your brother, George, who had got himself in a fix, wouldn’t you do your utmost to help him?’
‘Yes, of course, but surely you’ve suffered enough?’
Raven smiled a charming, crooked smile that made him look infinitely more approachable and gave him an almost boyish appearance. ‘I’m tough – I can take hardship and come out on top. I’ve made a fortune in Australia and I intend to share it with those nearest and dearest to me. By investing wisely I’ll have something to come home to when I’m a free man, but what I really want is to appeal against the sentence in the hope of acquittal.’
‘You’re taking a terrible risk.’
‘The ship that brought me here is due to sail tomorrow and I’ll be leaving then. My mission is accomplished, almost.’
‘Almost?’
He held up his hand to hail a passing cab. ‘You ask too many questions. Take this to Alice and soon you’ll be rid of me.’ He bundled her into the cab, barely waiting for it to stop. ‘Hill Street, cabby.’
Lady Alice took the sealed document from Essie. ‘You’ve done well, thank you.’
‘Am I finished here now, my lady?’
‘I think we’d best wait until my cousin is safely on board ship and on his way back to Australia before we make any rash decisions. The sooner he leaves the better for all of us.’
Essie hesitated, waiting for further instructions. ‘Shall I continue to work in the sewing room, my lady?’
Lady Alice broke the seal and studied the contents, frowning. ‘Yes, continue as you did yesterday. I don’t want the servants to suspect anything. You’d best keep to your room and I’ll have Dixon bring your meals to you. I don’t want a whispering game to start in the servants’ hall.’
‘Yes, my lady.’ Realising that she had been dismissed, Essie left Lady Alice poring over the document. She closed the door and was making for the back stairs when she bumped into Sadie.
‘Oh,