A Woman’s Fortune. Josephine Cox

need to know a bit about this Mr Hopkins,’ said Sue. ‘Evie says you’ve heard of him.’

      ‘I have, Mrs Goodwin.’ Billy glanced around to see if Peter and Robert were within earshot but there was no sign of them.

      ‘I’ve sent the boys to their bedroom,’ said Sue, correctly understanding him.

      ‘It’s not good news, I’m afraid. Mr Hopkins runs a card game upstairs at the King’s Head. I’ve heard the stakes start low, but once you’re drawn in they soon get a lot higher.’

      ‘The King’s Head?’ gasped Jeanie. ‘Michael, you told me you went to the Lord Nelson with Brendan as usual. I thought this was something to do with the horses. How many other lies have you told me?’

      ‘I did go to the Nelson with Brendan,’ said Michael. He added in a small voice, ‘But I hadn’t had much luck with the horses lately so when I heard there was a card game at the King’s Head I thought I’d give it a go. I didn’t mean to get in deep. I thought if I went on a bit longer my luck would change and I’d be on to a winning streak.’

      ‘Pathetic!’ said Sue wrathfully. ‘Go on about this Hopkins, lad.’

      ‘Well, he tends to win at the cards and then he makes a point of collecting his debts.’

      ‘You mean by force?’ asked Michael, looking even more worried.

      ‘By any means he can. He’ll bring in bailiffs to take your furniture, and he’s been known to be violent if he thinks you’re withholding what you could be paying him. And I’ve heard that once he starts adding on the interest it’s difficult to clear the debt.’

      ‘What are we going to do?’ sobbed Jeanie. ‘We’ll be ruined …’

      Billy looked down at his hands, reluctant to agree that this was exactly the situation. A miserable silence settled on the five of them as they tried to think of a solution.

      ‘When did you say the money is due?’ asked Billy.

      ‘Friday,’ said Michael, nervously.

      The silence resumed. Billy was beginning to see the only possible course of action but it seemed so drastic that he was unwilling to suggest it.

      ‘Nothing for it but to leave,’ said Sue.

      Billy was glad she had been the one to voice what he was thinking.

      ‘What, leave our house and the washing and everything, and go right away?’ said Jeanie, aghast.

      ‘It isn’t our house, it’s rented,’ said Michael. ‘And we’ll be out of here anyway if we can’t pay the rent.’

      ‘So whose fault would that be?’ Jeanie screamed. ‘I married you for better or for worse, Michael Carter, but I never thought the worst would be this bad. You’ll have us all homeless. I can’t believe what you’ve brought us to.’

      ‘C’mon on, love. No need to get hysterical.’

      ‘What do you expect me to be when it looks like I’m going to lose everything I’ve got and it’s all your fault?’ She had bitten her tongue for years but now everything was pouring out. ‘Where were you when Mum and I were washing and ironing half the night to make ends meet? I’ll tell you where: down the Nelson, drinking your wages and putting bets on half-dead three-legged nags that should have been at the knacker’s. Or was it down the King’s Head, playing some card game you probably didn’t understand against some crook with marked cards?’

      ‘It was bad luck—’ Michael began.

      ‘It was bad luck all right,’ screeched Jeanie. ‘It was bad luck for me that I ever set eyes on you!’

      She got up and rushed out, slamming the kitchen door behind her. The others heard her stomping upstairs and then the bedroom door crashing shut.

      Evie and Billy exchanged embarrassed glances.

      ‘I’ll go up when she’s had a chance to calm down,’ said Sue.

      ‘I’ll go …’ said Michael, rising from his chair.

      ‘You’ve done enough. Sit down and stay here until we’ve sorted this out,’ Sue barked, and Michael slumped in his chair, defeated.

      Evie cleared her throat. ‘What do you think, Billy? Is Grandma right? Is running away the best thing to do?’

      ‘I’m afraid it is. If you can’t pay Hopkins what you owe, he’ll dog you until you do, Mr Carter. The only way to be free of him is to leave and go somewhere he doesn’t know. That means right away from here, to another part of the country.’

      ‘Leave not just our home but all our friends? But this is all we’ve ever known,’ said Evie, looking pleadingly at Billy.

      ‘It’ll be hard, love, and I wish I could say different, but I think it’s the only way. Is that what you’re thinking, Mrs Goodwin?’

      ‘I’m afraid so, Billy. We’ll have to keep quiet about it, too, as we don’t want Hopkins after us where we’ve gone. And we’ll have to go soon before word gets round about Michael losing his job or Hopkins’ men will be here to take what they can sooner rather than later, if they think that’s all they’ll be getting.’

      Billy nodded. Evie’s grandma had grasped the situation exactly.

      ‘But where will we go?’ Evie asked. ‘We don’t know anywhere but here. We don’t even have any relatives we can go to.’ She looked as if she were about to cry again and Billy passed her his clean handkerchief.

      ‘Don’t fret yourself, Evie. At least you’ll all be together.’

      ‘But I won’t be together with all my friends, and if it has to be a secret I won’t be able to tell them where we’ve gone either,’ Evie sniffed. ‘I won’t be together with you,’ she added.

      ‘I know, love, but I won’t lose sight of you, I promise. I’ll know where you are and I can keep a secret. Your gran’s right: it would be better to tell as few folk as possible and to go as quickly as you can before Hopkins gets to hear.’

      ‘Then it had better be straight away,’ Michael said, getting up and prowling around the kitchen worriedly. ‘By Monday all the folk at the brewery will know I’ve been sacked.’

      ‘Right, well, I’ve been thinking,’ Sue declared, ‘and I think we should decide where we’re going this evening. We can’t just set off empty-handed and with no idea where we’re heading.’ She took a lined writing pad and a chewed pencil of Robert’s from a drawer behind her. ‘Let’s make a list of what we know.’

      Evie looked blank. ‘I don’t know anything, Grandma.’ Michael was shaking his head, too.

      ‘Nonsense,’ said Sue. ‘Buck up, the pair of you. And you, Billy. Let’s put our heads together and see what we can manage.’

      ‘Right,’ said Billy, determined to rise to Evie’s grandma’s expectations. ‘As I say, it’ll have to be somewhere far enough away that Hopkins doesn’t know it. You’ll have to sort of … disappear. North is what Hopkins knows. So that means going south.’

      ‘Good thinking,’ Sue muttered, writing it down. ‘And we’ll need to find somewhere to live and then some work.’ She looked up and gave Michael a meaningful stare.

      ‘We don’t know about those things, but I’ve an idea who might be able to help,’ said Evie. ‘Mr Sullivan.’

      ‘Aye, Brendan can be trusted to keep quiet and he has family all over the place,’ Michael said. ‘I’ll go over and get him, shall I?’

      ‘You do that,’ said Sue, ‘but remember not to say anything while you’re there. The Sullivans are good folk but you don’t want to let slip our business to the entire houseful in case it accidentally gets passed on.’

      Michael