A Place Called Home by Dilly Court

Author:Dilly Court [Dilly Court]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2014-11-06T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

HOPEFUL APPLICANTS QUEUED outside the door. Bedwin was given the task of letting them in one at a time, dismissing those who looked too disreputable or were drunk. Hester ushered the prospective lodgers into the parlour, where they were interviewed by Lucy and Pearl. In the end they selected the three who were the least likely to cause trouble, all of whom were in employment. One of them, a balding middle-aged man wearing a shabby suit with leather elbow patches and down-at-heel shoes, worked as a clerk in one of the nearby shipping offices. He introduced himself as Gilbert Harker, admitting reluctantly when questioned about his reasons for needing a room that his wife had run off with the tally man. He could not afford to pay the rent on the home they had shared for twenty years, and his grown-up children had shown no inclination to take him in.

The second successful applicant was a shiny-faced boy whose crop of curly fair hair made him look even younger than his sixteen years. Cyril Aitken told them he was an orphan raised in the Foundling Hospital, and was apprenticed to a locksmith with a premises in Dock Street. Lucy would have given him a room for nothing, but Pearl intervened and they agreed to let him have one of the smallest attic rooms at a greatly reduced rent. Cyril’s brown eyes shone with gratitude and he promised to do odd jobs around the house in order to make up the difference. Lucy could have hugged him, but she managed to control the urge and merely smiled and welcomed him into her home.

The last person they saw was Leonard Rossman, a Jewish immigrant who worked for a master tailor in Leman Street. His sad story of love and loss in his homeland made Lucy want to cry and even Pearl, who had heard many such hard-luck stories, had to wipe away a tear. Ever practical, Lucy went to the kitchen to make a pot of tea. She cut a thick slice from Hester’s seed cake and put it on a plate. ‘The poor man needs building up,’ she said when Hester protested.

Hester regarded her with overt disapproval. ‘We’re supposed to be making money out of the lodgers. You won’t pay the bills by treating them to afternoon tea.’

‘They’re all guests as far as I’m concerned. You’ll love them all when you get to know them,’ Lucy said, smiling. ‘Leonard has promised to make curtains for us, and young Cyril is going to do odd jobs. We’ll soon have an army of workers helping us to make this old house habitable. You’ll see.’

‘All I see is bankruptcy looming.’ Hester snatched up the remains of the cake and placed it in the larder.

The lodgers moved in and the children took instantly to Cyril, who was not much older than Bertie, and soon the pair of them were firm friends. Leonard and Gilbert worked long hours, spending much of their free time in their respective rooms.

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