The Dockyard Darling by Annie Shields

Author:Annie Shields [Shields, Annie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-23T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

The rain beat down relentlessly on the grey and grimy cobblestones. The procession of mourners filled the streets, passing by the empty crate where Finney had sat for years. Some doffed their caps; others left a flower. It had been that way ever since Finney’s passing, as news of the tragedy spread through the community, though today it seemed that the thieves left the tokens sitting there alone out of respect.

She had only known old Finney for a short while, and yet his death affected her deeply. She would miss his kindness and his cackling laugh. Her tears had mingled with the rain when his body had been interred yet she didn’t feel alone in her grief. Many gathered at the graveside, uncaring of the rain that pelted them as if the city itself mourned the loss of one of its own. The walk back from Old Saint’s cemetery was a sea of black that weaved through the streets toward the docklands. She realised that no one had turned away as the Jolly Jack came into view.

“I wonder what Finney would say if he knew that all of these people came to say goodbye to him,” Ella murmured, her voice mingling with the hushed tones of the mourners.

James’ mouth quirked in the corner. “He’d call us all fools for wasting money and that we should have dropped his body over the quayside, instead.”

“But he set aside money for his funeral, obviously,” Ella said. The horse-drawn hearse alone would cost a packet. “It was hardly a pauper’s burial.”

Her uncle shook his head. “Old Finney had no time for traditions.”

“Then who paid for all this?” Maud demanded.

James’ blue gaze moved over the crowd and settled on one spot. Ella followed the direction until she spotted a familiar face under his umbrella. “It was a collective effort, Maud.”

Ella held Seth Milford’s stare for a moment longer. She’d not seen him since he’d offered his condolences the morning after old Finney had passed away. She’d been standing in the doorway, shaken by watching his small, shrouded body being carted down the street. Seth had called her attention away from it. Even as he’d spoken words that she couldn’t recall now, she’d known that the docks had lost a little of their sparkle.

“Come on,” Maud groused. “Let’s get this over with.”

James ducked under the awning of the pub and pressed the door back so that Ella could step through. “We’ll raise a glass to him, shall we?”

Ella hung up her damp shawl and stoked up the fire to take the chill off the room as Elsie and Maud lit the candles and lamps about the room. The room behind them continued to fill. Sailors and watermen, boatmen and sack makers, superintendents, and merchants. All standing side by side. Old Finney had been a fixture in the docklands for as long as anyone could remember. His weathered face and lilting voice had been a constant presence, and now that he was gone, the place somehow seemed emptier.

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