The Sweeping Saga Collection: Poppy’s Dilemma, The Dressmaker’s Daughter, The Factory Girl. Nancy Carson

Aunt, he told me. And he meant it. He went to Brazil to get away from that girl he’s engaged to, to get away from both of us, so’s he could make his mind up about us. I know he wouldn’t have married me then – I was just a navvy’s daughter – but he loved me all the same. He had to get away to straighten himself out. I do know how hard it is for him having a fiancée already, with his mother and father pressing him to wed her.’

      ‘Mmm …’ Aunt Phoebe murmured pensively. ‘There’s a ring of truth in what you tell me. I must say, he gave me no clue when he called to see me before he left, but the fact that he wished me to help you lends it some credence now.’

      ‘It’s true, Aunt Phoebe. I don’t tell lies.’

      ‘Then, is it fair that you should be going out with Bellamy on Sunday? After all, you could be giving him entirely the wrong impression, falsely raising his hopes, when it’s his brother you’re really interested in.’

      ‘Oh, I won’t give him any wrong impressions. I won’t lead him on a bit, I promise. But I do like him. He reminds me of Robert.’

      ‘As I’ve said before, don’t admit to your having known Robert previously. Now … Tell me, Poppy – and I apologise if this sounds a little indelicate – but were you and Robert ever … ever improper?’

      ‘You mean did we couple, like man and wife?’

      Aunt Phoebe gasped. ‘My goodness! What a way you have of expressing things.’

      ‘I just say things the way they are, Aunt Phoebe,’ Poppy said unapologetically. ‘Anyway, no. We never did that. Not that we didn’t want to … But we never did.’

      ‘I’m glad to hear it.’ The older woman uttered a sigh of relief. ‘I’m very glad to hear it.’

      At about the same time that Aunt Phoebe and Poppy were walking home under the steely sky of a drab April noon, Minnie Catchpole was holding a piece of bread on a toasting fork in front of the fire, when she heard a knock at her door. She was not expecting anybody in particular, but it could have been any one of half a dozen men who had taken to spending a couple of shillings for her charms at odd times during daylight. She pulled the bread from the fire and put it unfinished onto the plate that was on the table, then went to answer the door.

      ‘Oh, it’s you, miss.’

      ‘Yes, it’s me again, Minnie. Are you going to invite me in?’

      ‘Yes, come in if you want.’

      The visitor looked behind her as if checking to see if anybody was watching, and stepped over the threshold with a basket over her arm.

      ‘I’ve brought you another loaf of bread and some cheese. I managed to get half a dozen oranges as well, and some bananas. There are few decent apples about at the moment, though.’

      ‘It’s very kind of you, miss, but there’s no need to go to the trouble. How much do I owe you?’

      ‘Nothing, Minnie. They are my gift to you.’

      The girl was about twenty, maybe twenty-one, with well-tended raven hair under a plain bonnet. She was slim with an elegance that breeding brought, with classic facial features but not pretty. Her expression seemed perpetually serious but, when she did smile, her eyes softened as they lit up and her lips formed an appealing crescent that revealed two ever so slightly crossed front teeth. Her clothes were plain and unfussy, but their fine quality was undeniable.

      ‘I don’t know as I need any help o’ that sort,’ Minnie answered. ‘Not with fittles at any rate. But it’s kind o’ you all the same. Would yer like a cup o’ tea or summat? I got the fire a-goin’ today, look, so I can boil a kettle. If you hang on a minute, I’ll run to the pump and fill it.’

      ‘If it’s no trouble, Minnie,’ the girl said, glad of the chance to be detained, for it would prolong the time she could usefully spend with her. ‘Aren’t you going to put a coat on? It’s quite cold outside.’

      ‘Oh, I’m hardy, miss.’

      The young woman sat quietly, taking in the awful ambience and squalor of the little house, while Minnie fetched the water. Soon she returned and hung the filled kettle on a gale hook, its base resting on the hot coals.

      ‘It’ll soon boil. Would you like a bit o’ cheese on toast, miss? That’s what I was a-doing for me dinner.’

      ‘Oh, please carry on, Minnie. Don’t let me interrupt you having your meal.’

      ‘Right … if you got no objection, miss …’ Minnie pierced the half-toasted piece of bread with the fork again and, leaning forward on her chair, resumed holding it in front of the fire. ‘You still reckon I’m a lost soul then, eh?’

      ‘I don’t believe you are lost yet, Minnie. I don’t believe it’s too late to save you from the precipice you’re swaying over …’ Minnie uttered a little laugh of mockery. ‘You would soon find forgiveness in Christ—’

      ‘Am yer a Methody, miss?’

      ‘No, I’m not a Methodist, Minnie … Don’t you ever consider the joy and contentment marriage might bring, Minnie? The love and devotion of one man?’

      ‘That’s a joke, miss,’ Minnie retorted disparagingly. ‘I can see no man ever giving me love and devotion. Leastwise, not the sort you’m on about. Nor me them either, to tell you the truth.’

      ‘I think you could be pleasantly surprised. Holy matrimony was ordained not just for the procreation of children, but as a remedy against sin, to avoid fornication, so that those who are not blessed with the gift of continence might keep themselves undefiled members of Christ’s body.’

      Minnie turned the piece of bread on the fork to toast the other side. ‘I don’t know about all that, miss. Men am ten-a-penny and I fancy having me share of ’em afore I’m done. I like men, and men like me. Why shouldn’t I enjoy ’em, and make a shilling or two at the same time? Me only power over ’em is when I got ’em danglin’ on a string, wanting me. Once a man gets me in wedlock, then that string’ll be round my neck, but good and proper. Bearin’ kids, cookin’, bakin’, washin’, workin’ – mekin’ nails up some backyard till all hours, an’ all, I shouldn’t wonder. I mek me living by lyin’ on me back, miss. It’s easy work, it comes natural to me and I enjoy it. I don’t see as how marryin’ some chap’s gunna improve my lot.’

      It was a long speech for Minnie and the toast was done. She cut a few slices off the lump of cheese that was on the table and placed them methodically on the toast. Then she opened the oven door at the side of the grate and popped the toast inside to melt the cheese.

      ‘But Minnie, don’t you feel any damnation for your sin?’

      Minnie looked candidly at the young woman. ‘Only from you, miss.’

      The young woman returned the look with caring, sympathetic eyes. ‘Why don’t you let me help you find repentance in God’s love?’ she beseeched. ‘Would you not prefer the love of God to the arms of Satan? Let me help you find salvation … and faith. I beg you to reach out for Christ, and feel His love for you returned a hundredfold. Rejoice in His absolute redemption of your sins. Follow the guidance of the Good Shepherd, Minnie.’

      The girl had a soft persuasive lilt in her voice, but Minnie shook her head with a serious look on her face. ‘No, miss. It ain’t for me, this church lark—’ Minnie gave the fire a poke and the kettle sighed as the coals beneath it were disturbed. ‘I don’t see as why you should want to bother wi’ me, miss.’

      ‘You don’t have to call me “miss”. Let us be friends, Minnie. Please call me Virginia.’

      ‘That your name? Virginia?’

      Virginia smiled, her doe eyes exuding a look of gentleness and unending patience. ‘I wouldn’t ask you to call it me if it wasn’t.’

      ‘You