Dublin's Girl by Eimear Lawlor

Author:Eimear Lawlor [Lawlor, Eimear]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800249288
Publisher: Head of Zeus

23

April arrived with the usual promise of sun in the morning, and by the afternoon the winds rose with torrential rain showers that retreated as quickly as they started.

After Veronica’s morning ritual of opening her curtains, she often wondered why she closed them. The flimsy material offered little opposition to the morning light, and the brightness often woke her before her aunt rose to make breakfast. Now she would sleep through the noisy night patrols. She splashed cold water on her face, and made her bed before looking out the window again to see what the day offered. The sun shone, and she looked forward to her walk to work now the winter chill had left the air. Even though Veronica had been in Dublin for seven months, she couldn’t bring herself to like the taste of the watery porridge, no matter how hungry she was. As usual, Betty sat at the table beside the empty setting for her cousin, her eyes downcast and eating little, but Tom always scraped his bowl clean.

‘I’ll take you to work, Veronica,’ Tom said as he gulped his last mouthful of tea and Betty handed over both bread and butter wrapped in brown paper.

On the dray, Tom didn’t speak until they turned onto Merchant’s Quay along the river. The quays were filling with men who walked or cycled to work.

‘I met Michael last night. Have you arranged when to meet this soldier again?’

‘He said he wants to go to Kingstown.’

‘We need to find out if he knows anything about General Maxwell. He’s the biggest threat to us and the anti-conscription rallies.’ He flicked the reins of the dray. ‘Our support for the opposition of conscription is building every day. But we need to know what they know about the rallies we are trying to organise. How do you contact the soldier?’

‘Bridget’s aunt’s shop in Abbey St, he left a note there for me once. He asked if I would go to Kingstown with him but didn’t say when. I don’t know how to contact him.’

‘Go on, ya English scum.’ A hunched woman with a tightly wrapped black shawl waved her walking stick at passing soldiers. She was like the haggard, gaunt women Veronica saw in Henrietta St when she delivered the parcel. She pulled something from the inside of her shawl and threw it at the soldiers; it was a stone, but it hit Tom’s dray. Neighing loudly in fright, the horse jolted, but the heavy wooden harness prevented him from jumping as he shook his head in anger.

‘Whoa, boy, it’s all right. Will you watch it?’ Tom shouted to the woman, but she was dragged screaming down the street by the two soldiers.

‘Look, Veronica, meet this soldier and get as much information as you can. We can’t have our boys and men going to fight, we have lost enough men already. We need to keep them here to fight for us.’

She nodded, but her uncle didn’t see her. Instead, his eyes bore into the soldiers’ backs.

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