Hettie of Hope Street by Groves Annie

Author:Groves, Annie [Annie Groves]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007392070
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

‘And wot the hell’s up with Sukey? One minute she’s acting like we was ’er worst enemies and then half an hour later she’s laughing and joking as though she hadn’t got a care in the world.’

‘And talking ten to the dozen as well. You can’t shut her up,’ Jenny complained as she patted night cream into her face and demanded, ‘Move up, ’Ettie, will yer? I can’t see meself in the mirror.’

They were all getting ready for bed in Hettie and Babs’s room, a nightly ritual they had started on their arrival in London, and Jenny was busily complaining about Sukey, who still hadn’t come in.

‘I don’t think she’s very well,’ Hettie defended Sukey.

‘We all know that,’ Aggie replied with a grimace.

‘No, I mean really poorly,’ Hettie insisted. ‘She came into the dressing room this afternoon and she was shaking and trembling so badly she couldn’t even get the pills the doctor had given her out of her coat pocket.

‘Pills? Doctor?’ Aggie demanded suspiciously. ‘She ’asn’t said anything about needing to see any doctor to anyone else, so how come she’s told you, Hettie?’

‘I don’t think she wanted to make a fuss. She made me promise not to say anything to anyone else,’ Hettie admitted uncomfortably. ‘But anyone can see she’s not well. She’s gone that thin an’ all.’

‘’Ere, hang on a minute,’ Mary interrupted Hettie. ‘Do you know what I think? I think it’s a pound to a penny that Sukey has gone and got some of them diet pills from that quack doctor.’

‘Wot, you mean she’s taking them pills that Marge told us about?’ Babs demanded worriedly. ‘Them wot she said ’ad tape worms in ’em?’

‘Tapeworms? Don’t be daft, Babs,’ Aggie snorted. ‘It’s not tapeworms as is in ’em, it’s that cocaine. And if that’s what she’s tekkin, no wonder she’s bin acting a bit odd, like. Mad as a hatter they’ll make her, that’s what I’ve heard. She’s gonna kill herself if she doesn’t watch out.’

‘They’ve certainly made her as thin as a rake,’ Jenny joined in, adding with a small sigh, ‘I could do with a few of them myself. I’ve heard as how all them posh society debutantes take them so as they can get into their Chanel frocks, and the chaps tek it, too. Sniff it up like it were snuff, they do. Mad, the lot of them, if you ask me.

‘You’re lucky, ’Ettie, you don’t need to worry about your weight,’ Jess told her enviously.

It was true that she was naturally slender, Hettie acknowledged, and with the opening night only a few days away her nervousness was making her even more so.

‘Wot happened to you this afternoon, ’Ettie? When we got back to the dressing room you was gone,’ Aggie asked curiously.

‘Eddie asked me to go and have a drink with him,’ she explained.

‘I hope you ain’t getting moony over that Eddie, Hettie,’ Aggie cautioned her.

‘Of course she ain’t,’ Mary cut in scornfully. ‘Hettie knows a nance when she sees one, don’t you, ’Ettie?’

Pink-cheeked, Hettie nodded her head.

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