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Back The Dazzle of the Light Save as PDF
Chapters (55)
  1. Praise for Georgina Clarke
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. 34
  36. 35
  37. 36
  38. 37
  39. 38
  40. 39
  41. 40
  42. 41
  43. 42
  44. 43
  45. 44
  46. 45
  47. 46
  48. 47
  49. 48
  50. 49
  51. Historical Note
  52. Acknowledgements
  53. Also by Georgina Clarke
  54. About the Author
  55. Copyright

‘Some men he met in France, I think. He had such big plans, Ruby. He had dreams. The war changed him – but not like other men. Some of them came back screaming, but my Harry came back with plans. We were going to live the life of kings, he said. He had money from somewhere and he bought everything. The car, that lovely car…’ She sighs and picks at the end of the cigarette with a dirty thumb nail. ‘But he’d borrowed all the money for his dreams from men who had money to lend and more to spare. They wanted it back, with interest, and the brewery job and the other work weren’t enough. That’s why he started breaking into bigger houses. Took the silver, the jewellery, what have you – to pay them off. And then he got careless. And then he got caught.’

‘And you?’

‘The men still want their money.’

‘You’ll be paying it off forever.’

‘Well’ – she touches her face – ‘they made it clear enough that I had to come up with some of it.’

‘And this is how you’re doing it? On the mattress with dockers?’

‘What the hell else can I do, Ruby?’ Her eyes flash, only for a moment, before returning to their vacant expression. ‘Annie and Maggs came to see me. They won’t help more than a few pence here and there for food because Freddy Moss has cut Harry off. The brewery don’t want me anymore. I can go to a laundry, a factory, or I can go and clean an office or house over the river – but those jobs are scarce. I can hoist a bit, on my own, but the usual fences won’t take my steals because of Moss and Annie. You know how it is, if you break the rules. I heard what happened to you.’

She looks, in the shadows of the kitchen, so much older than she was even a month ago. Eyes sunken into her cheekbones. Like a woman already halfway to the grave.

There is a knock at the door. A firm rap.

‘You’d better go. Let yourself out of the back door and go down the passage.’ She pats her hair and bends to stub the end of the cigarette in the candle stand. ‘I have work to do. For Harry.’

Even now, Ruby thinks, as she lifts the latch to the back door, even now, Daisy is doing this for Harry. She might as well be in Pentonville with him. Or in Holloway with Alice. She turns back, about to suggest that gaol might even be a better prospect – at least she would be fed and the creditors would be far away – but Daisy has already answered the front door and Ruby can hear a man’s voice.

27

27

Friday, early evening