Rainy Days for the Harpers Girls. Rosie Clarke

her husband’s long hours. ‘Don’t wait supper for me, love. I can grab something at the hotel…’

      ‘Yes, I know…’ She smothered a sigh because this wasn’t how she’d imagined it would be. Jack had spoken of running a hotel that they could live in and manage together. Now Beth spent most of her evenings at home with Jack’s father Fred Burrows and saw her husband for a few hours at the weekend. ‘I might go to a meeting with Rachel Craven…’

      ‘Those women’s suffrage things…’ Jack frowned at her. ‘I would never deny you anything, Beth, you know that – but all that marching and demanding equal rights for women… well, it isn’t going to happen. It would be better if you stayed away. I don’t want the police throwing you in prison…’

      Beth moved towards him, half curious, half annoyed. He’d known she was a member before they married and she wasn’t going to let him get away with that remark. Other husbands might forbid their wives to be members or take part, but Jack should know better and respect her views. ‘Would you disown me if it happened?’

      ‘No! You know I wouldn’t,’ Jack said genuinely horrified. Yet it was happening in homes all over Britain. Working men were some of the worst and they bullied their wives to try and stop them joining the suffrage movement, but since the death of Emily Davidson, more and more women of all classes had joined, and quite a few men too. The way the suffragettes were being treated, force-fed in prison and beaten when arrested, was terrible, and Beth knew Jack was only concerned for her, even though pride had driven her to ask. Jack looked down at her and smiled. ‘You know I love you, Beth, and I agree that women should have the vote if they want it – why not? I can’t see things ever being equal in the workplace, the men just won’t stand for it, but you should all be paid a fair wage and treated decently.’

      ‘So that’s why I married you,’ Beth teased and kissed him again, relieved that he wasn’t going to start laying down the law the way many husbands did. ‘You don’t mind if I go then?’

      ‘Of course, not – but get a taxi home, love. We can afford it and I don’t want you running the risk of being set on by louts…’ He smiled and reached out to touch her cheek. ‘I’m only concerned for your safety…’

      ‘I’ll probably walk to the bus stop with my friends, but if there’s no bus, I’ll take a cab,’ Beth promised.

      She understood why Jack worried, because feelings against the Women’s Movement were running high. The militants had angered many, both in government and out, and a lot of men simply did not see why their wives, daughters and sisters were shaming them by speaking out in support of such disgusting behaviour. Men with money took care of their womenfolk, some even went so far as to grant them an allowance that made them almost independent, but they still considered that the feminine mind and body was too weak to be considered as an equal to men. Only very special men understood that women could be as strong and determined as they were themselves, that they didn’t want to be petted and treated as fragile beings but as intelligent humans with minds of their own.

      Beth smiled as she followed her father-in-law out to the bus stop. Fred Burrows had once been the headmaster of a boy’s school. He’d fallen out with the governors because he refused to use the cane in his school and because of that he’d been asked to resign and had ended up working at Harpers as the goods manager, seeing that all the stock reached the department it was intended for. Beth was happy that he’d resigned rather than give into bullying for two reasons: one, because it showed the kind of man he was and, two, because she’d met her husband through him.

      ‘Feeling a bit down in the dumps, love?’ Fred asked, glancing at her face. ‘You should put your foot down, Beth; tell Jack you want to go somewhere nice – to the theatre or the pictures…’

      ‘He took me dancing for my birthday,’ Beth said, smothering a sigh. ‘Jack wants a better future for us, Dad, so how can I complain?’ She smiled at him with affection, because he was a lovely man and she was so fond of him.

      ‘Most wives would,’ Fred replied and grinned at her. ‘Don’t let the fun go out of your lives. Make sure he takes you somewhere at the weekend…’

      ‘Yes, I shall,’ she said and touched his arm in gratitude as their bus arrived and they jumped on. Fred was the first to get his money out and paid for both their tickets. ‘I shan’t be home for supper this evening…’

      ‘I’ll buy a pie and a pint, mebbe see Harold down the pub. He likes a chat and a game of darts now and then…’

      ‘Yes, that would be nice – give him my regards,’ Beth said, grateful to the ex-Scotland-yard detective who had solved the mystery surrounding her aunt’s so-called accident, when she’d been pushed down the stairs and died in hospital of her injuries. She looked at him curiously. ‘Have you ever thought about getting married again, Fred?’

      ‘No, never,’ he said and sadness passed across his face. ‘I was happy in my marriage and I could never replace my wife… Besides, I’ve got you, Jack and Tim… and your friend Miss Gibbs comes to tea sometimes. I’m happy to work overtime at the store when I’m needed and I’ve a few friends I see when I want…’

      Beth nodded. ‘You didn’t mind my asking?’

      ‘I know you’re wondering if I’ll be lonely when Jack finally finds you somewhere to live nearer the hotel…’

      ‘Yes, I was,’ Beth confessed. ‘I suppose that’s silly really. You lived alone for much of the time before I moved in…’

      ‘The lads were at school during term time and then working, Jack on the ships and Tim now in the Royal Flying Corps – but I served my time in the army as a youngster and I think you learn to be independent there…’

      ‘Yes, I expect so…’ She hesitated, then, ‘Is it because you served as a soldier that you think there will be a war?’

      ‘No, it’s what I read in the newspapers,’ Fred said seriously. ‘It might be just a skirmish and over in a few weeks, but it’s been brewing for a while out there in the Balkans. It will only take one spark to set the whole thing off…’

      Beth was silent. Fred was very fond of reading The Times, which had just announced it was going to cut its price in half, to one penny. She sometimes picked up the papers her father-in-law abandoned and she’d read about the troubles in Ireland, with Ulster teetering on the brink of civil war only last month as the British government dragged their feet over the Home Rule Bill. Even though she looked mainly for news of the suffragettes, one of whom had slashed a famous painting in the National Gallery in January that year, which Beth thought foolish and unnecessary, she had noticed all the reports of unrest in various parts of Europe. One paper insisted that the arms race was becoming dangerous and lambasted the British government for sitting on its hands while Wilhelm II, Kaiser and Emperor of Prussia, prepared for war. Most people scoffed at such reports, believing it was warmongering and foolish, but she knew that Fred took it seriously. Mr Churchill certainly did, demanding a larger budget for the navy than ever before, which brought accusations from the opposition that he was risking national security by angering neighbours across the Channel.

      It seemed to Beth that the German ruler was a hard man with no feelings. He’d gone so far as to ban a dance called the tango for his troops, because it was said to be too intimate. He’d even called on people to shun those who continued to perform what was a popular dance. What kind of a man would do that? Beth loved to dance. Jack had taken her a few times, though they mostly stuck to the waltz or the two-step, but she would have loved to do the more daring tango if she’d known how.

      ‘If war did come,’ she said slowly, looking at Fred, ‘would Jack have to go – and Tim?’

      ‘Jack wouldn’t be the first to be called on as he’s married,’ Fred said, ‘but Tim certainly will be in the thick of it. He’s already been flying over German factories and shipyards, helping to take pictures. My son is excited to be flying and nothing would keep him out…’

      ‘Maybe it won’t