Mord Em'ly/Chapter 1

CHAPTER I.

The members of the Gilliken Gang, who, in the slow, thick stream of traffic in Walworth Road, had been noticeable only for the peculiar whistle given when one happened to be for the moment out of sight of her colleagues, turned into Trafalgar Street, and the leader, a round, white-faced young woman of fifteen, upset a sieve of Brussels sprouts from a stall, with calm, methodical air, as though she were performing a duty for which she received generous State payment. Some of her followers had less than her years; all wore black braided jackets (pinned), maroon skirts, hats with plush decorations, and smart boots. It was near to being a uniform.

“Mord Em’ly!”

“Now, what?”

“Seen anything of them Bermondsey bahnders?”

“Not yet I ain’t,” replied Mord Em’ly. Mord Em’ly was a short girl, with a green plush bird in her hat, that nodded as she hurried up to the leader of the Gilliken Gang. She seemed pleased at being thus singled out for notice.

“You know a bit, Mord Em’ly,” remarked Miss Gilliken, in complimentary tones. “Seepose you do a scoot round near the Paragon, and see if there's any of 'em about. D'you mind?”

“I’ll do it,” said Mord Em'ly, re-pinning her jacket, “like a shot.”

“Don’t let 'em see you,” said a red-headed girl warningly.

“What d'you take me for, Ginger?” demanded Mord Em’ly, with some indignation. “A soft?”

“In 'arf a hour,” ordered Miss Gilliken, “be back at St. Peter's by the r'ilings. If they're comin' over -o night, they'll cut across the Old Kent Road, along the New, and down by one of them turnings near Rodney Street. I’ll get two of you other gels to go ’long East Street.”

“I'm off,” said Mord Em’ly.

“’Urry,” suggested Miss Gilliken. “I sha'n't be 'appy till we've give 'em what-for.”

Mord Em’ly started off at a run. At the corner of South Street she stopped for a moment to give the whistle of the gang. The other members answered, and Mord Em’ly, flushed with the proud joy that comes to a young scout sent by his officer on a matter involving the existence of his country, gave a wild shriek, snatched the cap of a small boy as he sipped at the supper beer he was carrying home, threw the cap high in the air, and, taking the middle of the street, ran swiftly.

She gave and answered many salutations as she hastened towards the Paragon, being, indeed, a young woman with many acquaintances, although with few friends. She had ever a certain defensive manner; and when other girls, as she ran swiftly, called out, “Where y' off?” she answered, “Fine out”—a reply that in no way compromised her or the gang. Once a lad jumped off the pavement and tried to catch her arm, and, by adroitly swinging round, she hit him so hard that, although he had the sturdy figure of a boxing-man, he staggered back to the kerb.

“Nice menners,” said the repulsed youth satirically; “nice menners, I don't think. Best of being well brought up, that is!”

At the Paragon end of New Kent Road she stopped to take breath. There is a decorum about New Kent Road, with its tree-bordered pavements and calm dwelling-houses, that constitutes a silent reproach to its noisy, restless, elder relative, and even on this Saturday night it was not without repose. Middle-aged couples, out for the purpose of buying forage for the home, and accompanied by the newest baby in order that it might thus early study economy, were going east to Old Kent Road, or west to the Elephant, as their fancy or their traditions dictated. Younger people walked arm-in-arm, and in these cases the lady had an ecstatic, far-away look that puzzled Mord Em’ly more than most things in this world.

There was a very fine hoarding near the point at which she had to remain on duty, and she looked at this with a critical eye. She liked best of all the poster for next week's drama at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, where a gentleman, who was obviously no gentleman, stood, with uplifted" dagger, over a kneeling lady in evening dress, her hair down and her hands clasped, whilst a masked lady in black stood at the doorway, covering him with a pistol.

“Looks as though the toff’s got hisself in a bit of a corner,” said Mord Em'ly, cheerfully. “Dessay, if the truth was known— Now then, clumsy!”

“Who are you calling clumsy?” asked the young policeman who had accidentally stumbled against her. He stepped to the kerb; their dispute went on over the heads of the intervening passers-by.

“Why, you,” said Mord Em’ly aggressively. “It's your name, ain’t it?”

“I’ll let you know what my name is,” shouted the young constable hotly, “if I have any of your lip. Move along, and don't block up the pathway.”

“Never merried that gel, did you?” asked Mord Em’ly loudly. The young constable was new to the L Division, and she had not seen him before. “I spose, as a matter of fact, she couldn't stand your fice. ’Tain't what you'd call 'andsome, is it now?”

A few people stopped and listened. One man advised Mord Em’ly, with great relish, to continue.

“She told me,” said the small girl to the now scarlet-faced young constable—“of course, I don't know—but she told me that the sight of you used to turn the milk sour. That's what she said, mind. But, as I said, we're none of us perfect, and no doubt it was all the result of an accident. I s'pose when you was a lad you fell down and trod on your fice, and——”

The young constable, goaded to desperate action, stepped forward. In a moment Mord Em’ly had slipped dexterously aside, through the crowd, and by the time he had extricated himself from the people and had returned to the side of the pavement, she was away on the footboard of a tram going west, snatching a ride whilst the conductor was taking fares above.

“I sha'n't forget you, my girl,” cried the young constable fiercely; “you mark my words.”

Stepping off the tram as the conductor descended the stairs, Mord Em’ly turned pale with a sudden fear. Near to the wall of a side street, on the south side, were a dozen young girls marching in irregular single file. They were very quiet, and the most precise moralist could find no cause for complaint in regard to their behaviour; occasionally one of them would call to the other by name, but the rest of their conversation was carried on in an undertone. Mord Em’ly watched them for a few moments, her mind full of self-reproof at having failed to intercept the enemy. Then, with the alertness of the London-bred girl, she bethought herself of a nearer way to the church, where the main body of her comrades waited, and holding her hat and its nodding green bird with one hand, she flew along the main road, took the next turning, and ran, although her side pained her, until she reached the railings of St. Peter's.

“Seen 'em?” asked Miss Gilliken, taking her cigarette from her lips.

Mord Em’ly gave her news breathlessly, and Miss Gilliken, pinching the lighted end of her cigarette, placed it with care in the pocket of her coat. She whistled for the others, and they came round with a proud air of mystery.

“The forring foe,” said Miss Gilliken grimly, “is approaching. The forring foe is going to get what-for within the space of fifteen minutes. The forring foe is going to get such a welting that in future it'll keep to its own n'i'bourhood, and not come interfering with other people.”

“Good!” remarked one of the girls approvingly.

“Pull their 'eads of 'air,” said Miss Gilliken advisingly, “so that it 'urts; scratch for all you're worth; write your 'nitials on their faces. And if I give the whistle, run off 'ome separate like mad. J'ear?”

The members of the Gilliken Gang re-tied their back hair in knots, fixed their hats, and secured the laces of their boots. Then, keeping well in the shade of the houses, they walked quietly, but briskly, eastward. The bright moon cast a shadow half-way across the pavement; the rest of the roadway it illuminated brightly. The gang sniffed now and again when some appetising scent of frying came from the small houses, but nothing was permitted to arrest the gang's progress. Miss Gilliken communicated her further instructions in a whisper, and the members repeated them to each other, pulling up their sleeves as they did so, and aiming blows at the air for the sake of practice. When, at one or two corners, they had to pass by a constable, the gang broke up and became individuals, with no knowledge, and certainly no interest, concerning each other's existence, to become once more a gang when they were out of the policeman's sight. The warning for the temporary disbandment was always given quietly by Miss Gilliken herself—

“Caw-pur!”

And there was no other word in the English language which could produce on the gang such an instantaneous effect.

Near South Street, Miss Gilliken, quick of eye, suddenly darted across the roadway, disappeared for a moment in the dark recess made by the entrance to a stable, and returned quickly, propelling a young lady of Bermondsey by the device of holding the prisoner's wrists at the back, and kicking her heels.

“Lemme go!” howled the Bermondsey girl. “Lemme go, I tell you. Lemme go, or else I'll—”

“You'll do a lot,” said Miss Gilliken calmly, “with me 'olding your wrists like this. Where's the others?”

“’Ome in bed,” answered the prisoner sulkily, and received as reward for the information a sounding slap. “That's my fice when you've done with it,” said the Bermondsey lady. “Leggo, 'r else I'll kick.”

“Why not be a sensible gel?” said Mord Em’ly to the prisoner. “You’ve only got to say where they're 'iding, and— Stiddy on! Whose shins are you ’urting of?”

“How many streets off are they?” demanded one of the others impatiently. “Are they 'andy, or ain’t they ’andy?”

“You’ll know whether they're ’andy or not when you come across 'em,” said the prisoner boldly. “You’ll know then. Don't expect me to send a wreaf to your funeral, because I sha'n't.”

“As a matter of fact,” said Mord Em’ly speciously, “we know all about it, and how many there are, and—”

“If you know all about it,” said the prisoner, “why, there's precious little left for you to learn, and— 'Ere they are at last!”

This was a strategic and a thoughtful, but not a truthful, exclamation on the part of the young lady from Bermondsey. The Gilliken Gang faced round affrightedly; Miss Gilliken herself was so far deluded by the announcement, that she loosened her hold of the prisoner's wrists. In an instant the prisoner was no prisoner, but one enjoying the advantages of liberty; the first of these advantages being that she could scud away out of range ere the Gilliken Gang discovered that they had been fooled. Mord Em’ly was the only one who recovered from her surprise with sufficient promptness to run after her, and Mord Em’ly returned quickly.

“They're just round the corner,” screamed Mord Em’ly, “a-'iding.”

Three of the gang, obeying a wave of Miss Gilliken's hand, went down the first street. The other three under her command went forward with determination. At the corner they suddenly turned and rushed swiftly down the narrow roadway that the moon was lighting up from end to end. At the doorways black shadows had been waiting, and, when the wild scream of the offensive detachment was heard, these shadows stepped briskly out and became the Bermondsey Gang.

“Stick close to me, Mord Em’ly,” shouted Miss Gilliken. “Don’t want you to go and get 'urt.”

“Don’t care if I am,” cried Mord Em’ly, quite breathless. “Ah, would you, Jumbo?” This to a stout enemy who had nearly caught her jacket. “I’ll learn you, you—”

Instantly the battle became fierce. The upper windows in the street went up (those below were shuttered), and women looked out with great interest as the contestants pulled at each other, and tugged at each other's clothes; the manly punching of the air rehearsed by the Gilliken Gang seemed forgotten here. The girls yelled as they rushed about blindly; some of them were so vague in manner that they stood near and whirled their arms erratically, and for some time did nothing else. Others seized their opponents' hats, partly in order to throw them into the fray, where they could receive damage; partly that the owners' hair might be more easy of attack. Miss Gilliken was conspicuously adroit in the trick of getting two opponents together, so that it was possible for her to scratch, pommel, and assail them both at the same time, until a third opponent came to distract her attention. The shrill screams and oaths of the opposing forces filled the air.

“There's one for ye, ye—”

“Gimme back my 'at. Gimme back my 'at, I tell you. You won't Then take that!”

“Coward, to hit anybody littler than yerself, you— Touch me, and see what'll 'appen to you. Your lovin' parents won't know you when I’ve finished with you.”

“Emmer, Emmer! come and 'elp! Emmer, I want you 'ere this minnit.”

“Ah, would you? You pretty beauty I'll Bermondsey you, you—”

“Gillikens to the rescue! Gillikens to the rescue!”

The ex-prisoner caught Mord Em’ly as she was shrieking for the other detachment (which seemed to be delayed), and, inserting her fist between the collar of Mord Em’ly's bodice at the nape of her neck, made her stop, and choke, and become purple of face.

“This is getting me own back again,” said the ex-prisoner, through her teeth. “Now we're getting a bit even, you—”

“It—it 'urts,” gurgled Mord Em’ly piteously.

“That's the idea,” said the Bermondsey girl. She called to one of her gang, “Scotchy, come and punch her nose.”

The girl appealed to found herself intercepted by Miss Gilliken, who adroitly tripped her up, threw her down in the road, and kicked her. Miss Gilliken, her face aflame with anger, and with a broad scratch on the left side, from which blood was coming slowly, turned and saw the large, bolting eyes, and the purple face of Mord Em’ly. As she started to Mord Em'ly's assistance, the girl on the ground seized her maroon skirt, and it tore with a harsh sound that could be heard above the fierce wrangling of voices.

“Want to kill anybody?” screamed Miss Gilliken furiously. “Why, you'll 'ave all the breath out of her body. Give over!”

“Sha'n't!”

A simple remedy. Miss Gilliken brought the side of her hand (and it was a good-sized hand) smartly down on the wrist of the hand which was holding the collar of poor Mord Em’ly's dress. The wrist was still painful from its recent twisting, and this sharp blow made the Bermondsey girl loosen her grip, with a howl. Released, Mord Em’ly staggered round and fell into Miss Gilliken's arms. The women at the windows above yelled to the excited girls to stop, and one at an open doorway, a large, red-faced woman, shuffled into the fray, and, rescuing the limp body of Mord Em’ly, dragged her across the pavement into her house. At that moment the missing detachment (which had taken a wrong turning) arrived at the rear of the now exhausted Bermondsey Gang; punched, scratched, and tore the Bermondsey Gang; kicked, mauled, and buffeted the Bermondsey Gang; upbraided, condemned, and ridiculed the Bermondsey Gang; advised, warned, and threatened the Bermondsey Gang; and, finally, chased them down into East Street, where the defeated girls found refuge in the Saturday night crowd.

“If you was a daughter of miern,” said the red-faced woman, as she patted Mord Em'ly's forehead with a flannel soaked in vinegar, “I’d punish you more for this than anything. You ain't strong enough for this rowdy, tomboy business. Why don't you stay at 'ome and 'elp mother?”

“That's my business,” replied Mord Em’ly, with reserve.

“Yes, and you ought to look after it,” said the woman. “You’ve got a nice face, and if you're sensible you'll be 'appy, and if you ain't you won't.”

“I know what I'm up to,” said Mord Em’ly.

“You think you know,” said the woman acutely, “but you don't know. You're getting yourself mixed up— Does your neck 'urt, my girl, where this bruise is?”

“Your touching it with your clumsy paw don't improve it,” she said gruffly.

“Mixed up with a rough set,” said the motherly woman, buttoning Mord Em’ly's blouse at the throat very gently, “and if I was you I should get shot of 'em as quick as ever you can. D'you go out to work?”

“I do a bit of step-cleanin',” she said sullenly, “if you must know.”

“How old might you be?”

“I might be a ’undred and forty-nine,” said Mord Em’ly, looking at herself anxiously in a square of unframed looking-glass on the wall. “I am jest close upon thirteen.”

“I had a little gel once,” said the red-faced woman thoughtfully. “Born about the time you was, I expect.”

“Where's She?”

“Norwood Cimet'ry,” said the red-faced woman, looking at herself absently in the shuttered window. “Three p'un' ten I paid for her putting away.” She pressed her eyes with the corner of her apron. “And I’ve never begrudged a penny Of it.”

“Thank ye for bringin' me to,” said Mord Em’ly.

“It's all right, my gel,” said the motherly woman. “Take care of yerself, and remember what I’ve been telling ye.”

Outside, Miss Gilliken, having dismissed her followers, was, aglow with victory, waiting for Mord Em’ly. She had pinned up her maroon-coloured skirt, and had evidently been at some trouble to restore coherence to her black straw hat; the broad scratch on her face gave her no concern, and was, in truth, a mark in regard to which she felt some pride. The street, littered with odd strips of braid and broken feathers, showed signs of having been disturbed by shuffling boots and clogs.

“’How you comin' up?” asked Miss Gilliken, with some anxiety. “You was a silly to go and do a faint.”

“I know!” said the girl apologetically.

“I’ll see you 'ome to your place, if you like.”

“P’r'aps it wouldn't be a bad idea. I feel a bit rocky still.”

“You must try and be more grown up,” recommended Miss Gilliken, putting her arm round Mord Em’ly's neck as they walked along. “Else a little set-to like this tells on you. I reckon we rather give 'em what-for, though. They won't come trespassing down 'ere again for a few weeks, I lay.”

“I ain't first-class,” admitted little Mord Em’ly, “in a tussle. I seem so noo to it, somehow.”

“You’ll improve,” said Miss Gilliken. “Sing some'ing.”

The roads leading across Alvey Street were quiet now, for it was near to midnight, and some of the inhabitants were a-bed, and some were packed in the bars of public-houses, endeavouring to get served before the church clocks sounded the hour. Miss Gilliken and Mord Em’ly went along, keeping step as they walked, and Mord Em’ly sang, in a shrill voice, a sentimental song, to which Miss Gilliken contributed now and again what she called “seconds,” which consisted of growling the words an octave lower than the original air:—

“Kathleen O'Cleary, :I love thee so dearly,
My ’eart is near brokun in twine;
’Tis true I’m a-troublin’ to leave ye in Dublin,
Perhaps I’ll ne'er see thee agine.”

Mord Em’ly sang the lugubrious ballad with the quavering inflection popular among out-of-door vocalists, and Miss Gilliken, coming in occasionally with her grumbled assistance, thought that Mord Em’ly's voice was delightful, and felt gratified to have the acquaintance of its gifted owner. This admiration was not universal. Some bemused passers-by begged Mord Em'ly to cease, on the grounds that her voice was putting out the gas-lights; the young policeman of New Kent Road, waiting in the shadow of a public-house for the barman to bring the proprietor's offering, strode forward, and, tapping her on the shoulder, asked whether she particularly wanted to find herself in Rodney Road. Miss Gilliken, for the defence, argued with much volubility, and, in walking on, so overwhelmed the young constable with irony, and satire and contumely, that, had it not been for his appointment with the barman, the young constable would have felt bound to have taken serious notice of the matter.

“I’ve got me eye on you,” called out the young constable threateningly.

“I’m getting tired of that remark of yourn,” shouted Mord Em’ly. “Why don't you think of something fresh?”

At the entrance to Block C of Pandora Buildings, Miss Gilliken said good-night to Mord Em’ly. They did not kiss, but they gave each other friendly punches, and Mord Em’ly, having succeeded in shoving her companion against a woman carrying home an armful of firewood, with the result that the bundles fell and rolled in various directions, ran swiftly through the iron gates and up the narrow, white-tiled staircases leading to the third floor. There was always an odour of disinfectants in the buildings which remained victorious after conquering other scents; at each landing a passage led away to the left, with numbered doors on either side. Mord Em’ly's mother, who lived in two rooms, numbered 345, was a lady with a taste for disputes, whose voice was to be heard not infrequently complaining (to Mord Em’ly's regret) of the behaviour of neighbours. She was a thin, wiry, lean-faced, hard-working woman, who found her chief recreation on returning from work in thus reviewing loudly the conduct of her acquaintances. To this rule Saturday night was an exception. Then it was, to Mord Em’ly's great content, that her mother purchased the weekly treat of three-pennyworth of spirits, and the drinking of this acted upon Mord Em’ly's mother as a charm. It transformed her from a complaining, quarrelsome, world-harried woman into one with a tolerant eye for all, with a maternal affection for her daughter, with an intense desire to apologise to everybody. The key was in the door, and Mord Em’ly, going in found her mother rocking herself on a chair in front of the fireplace, and holding conversation with a suppostitious visitor.

“And if I've said anything at any time,” said Mord Em'ly's mother to the fireplace, “that's 'urt your feelings, Mrs. What-is-it, why, I can only assure you I'm humbly sorry. You mustn't take no notice of what I say. People think I'm serious when I'm only jokey, and 'ence there's what I may call misunderstandings and cross-purposes. As for you, Mrs. What-is-it, I’m perfectly aware that you're the only lidy in the buildings, and I’ve always said so, through thick and thin. Others 'ave complained because you didn't whiten the landing when it was your turn, but me—never!”

Mord Em’ly's mother closed her eyes, and opened them again.

“I must bring everybody back some cream next time I go down by the Great Western to my friends in Dorsetshire. I shall be going down next month, please Gawd. Always go down every year, mind you, to see where my poor dear rusband's berried. Ah! he was a good man, if there ever was one.”

“The Kinservatives 'ave won, mother,” said Mord Em'ly, as she unlaced her boots.

“’Ooray!” said Mord Em’ly's mother sleepily. “Sooner they got in than them blessed old Tories. Goo' gel to come and bring your poor old mother all the best news.”

“Queen's got another great-gran'child.”

“Brayvo us!” said Mord Em’ly's mother. “What a 'appy world it is for those that's got 'ealth and strength t enjoy it!”

“Draper's shop in the Kemberwell Road begins selling off a Monday.”

“We'll both buy ’selves new rig-out from top to foot, my gel. Ready for when I take you down to Dorsetshire.”

Mord Em’ly smiled at the nodding green bird as she hung her hat on the nail near the doorway. These promises were always made on Saturday nights, and there were times when, knowing quite well that there was no chance whatever of their realisation, she, nevertheless, felt joy in listening to her mother's dreamy projects.

“You'd look nice in a light pink silk, my dear,” said her mother, opening one eye. “My eldest sis'r had a light pink silk once.”

“I should look well in anything,” said Mord Em’ly cheerfully. “Fine, tall, upstanding lady like me can’t be off from it.”

“You want new hat, too.”

“Oh, I don't know,” said Mord Em’ly critically. “This one's still in the 'ight of fashion, Why, I’ve only had it three year.”

“Mord Em’ly,” said her mother, with solemn benevolence, “you're my own li'l gel, and I’m going to find situation for you. I'm going to find you place as general.”

“Of the meerines?” asked Mord Em’ly, at the door of the bedroom.

A harmonium in one of the adjacent rooms began to grunt a hymn.

“As general servant,” said her mother. “In 'ighly respec'ble family. Good money. Everything found.”

“’Cept your liberty,” said Mord Em’ly. “I know what you mean. It ain't good enough.”