‘Yes, home,’ I said. Home was London and it would always be that way: for myself and for my daughter and for her children and her children’s children too.

Seven Years Later

Epilogue

Go to the theatre much? No, nor me. I hear it’s not what it used to be. I went down to the Strand a week or so back – the urge came over me to remember that wild year that brought Fortitude to me – and there was a sign saying that Crillick’s Variety was due to be knocked down. I don’t think of it often but, once it’s gone, there’ll be no cause to. It will be almost as though it never existed, and perhaps that’s for the best. There was a stink around its owner some years back. He had a lead act – the Great Amazonia, a freak from darkest Africa – but now they say she was gaffed, not a savage at all, just a girl from the East End. Still, Marcus Crillick carries on. From time to time I hear he’s working on a new show but, without his venue and his fancy friends, it’s unlikely that anything will come of it. The scandal made him unclubbable and he lost quite a bit of money on imperial railways too. But I haven’t seen him myself so I couldn’t swear to it. I never knew what happened to Ellen, but now, after so much time has passed, I can honestly say I hope she made it to America just like she wanted.

It’s Elvira that brings me all the gossip. She goes to parties at least twice a week, but mainly to find subscribers for her causes. She’s got hundreds and I help her with them – Ethel too. Saving Nosizwe gave me a taste for doing good and, with what Elvira pays me to scribe for her and help administer her foundation, there’s no better way to earn a living. I was grateful to accept when she offered me a home too. Together, the three of us write letters and collect funds. But we go out on to the streets as well, to help the working girls plying their trade, and into the prisons and asylums likewise, for those who’ve decided to kick hard against the hand that life has dealt them. We’ve raised a thousand pounds already this year and it’s only October. We send money to Sierra Leone and all over Africa. There are many who mistake Elvira’s intentions. Mr Dickens sent her up in his latest and now some call her Mrs Jellyby behind her back, but she should worry.