A Loving Family Read Online Free PDF Page B

retreated into her cottage. ‘Go away. I dunno what’s happened to the Spanish woman and what’s more I don’t care.’ She slammed the door, making what little glass there was left in the window frames rattle dangerously, and small shards fell to the pavement like hailstones.
    Stella stuffed her hand in her mouth, stifling a sob. She looked around but the normally busy street was quiet at this time on a Sunday, and the small shops were closed and shuttered. There was no one to whom she could turn and she had to be back at Portgone Place by nightfall. Tears coursed down her cheeks and she stood in the middle of the road, not knowing what to do or where to turn for help. She must find Ma, but where to start? Her breath hitched in her throat and she felt a sharp pain in her chest. There was only one place where a destitute woman and her children could go and be assured of being taken in, and that was the place that struck fear into the hearts of the poor. She set off for Church Lane and Limehouse workhouse.
    The iron gates were locked and she had to ring the bell several times before an elderly man shuffled across the yard to glare at her through the ornate scrollwork. ‘Well?’
    â€˜Please, sir, can you tell me if my mother and brother and sister are here?’
    â€˜Stop pestering me and go away.’
    She reached through the gate to clutch his sleeve as he turned away. ‘I’m not pestering, sir. I came home to see my mother on Mothering Sunday and found her gone. I don’t know where else to look.’
    â€˜Ain’t you got no other relations?’
    Stella thought hard. She had heard Ma and Granny talking in hushed tones about relations who lived in Bethnal Green who would have nothing to do with them. She remembered her father’s Aunt Maud as being a kindly soul, but she had only seen her on a couple of occasions. Aunt Maud had seemed like an old lady then and might well be dead and buried. ‘No, mister. There’s no one.’
    He shook her hand off with a careless shrug. ‘I can’t tell you nothing.’
    â€˜Is there no one who can help me?’
    He glanced at her clothes and booted feet. ‘You ain’t a pauper by the looks of you. Go back to where you came from. If you can’t find your ma it’s probably because she don’t want to be found. Now be on your way; I’m going to finish me dinner.’ He ambled off, leaving her standing by the gate, staring into the empty yard. A feeling of desperation and hopelessness overcame her. She had no money and worst of all she had been robbed of the present she had brought for her mother. She felt its loss almost as deeply as she experienced the pain and desperation of not knowing where to find Ma. Where were Freddie and Belinda? The East End of London could swallow up people like a greedy monster and many were never seen again. For all she knew her family might be living under the railway arches or in the filthy confines of the Thames tunnel. She had heard of such things but had never once thought that it could happen to them.
    She stood for several minutes in the pouring rain, which seeped through her woollen shawl and soaked the thin material of her best frock. Water dripped off her sodden straw bonnet and trickled down between her shoulder blades, but she was oblivious to anything but the pain and desperation of her situation. Blinded by tears and raindrops she heard the familiar sound of an approaching vehicle and she stepped into the road, waving her arms. The startled horse reared in its shafts and the driver drew it to a halt. ‘You stupid little brat. What d’you think you’re doing, frightening my old mare like that?’
    She looked up into the man’s grubby face and suddenly the world seemed to spin about her head and she felt herself slipping into a deep pool of darkness.

Chapter Three
Portgone Place, 1878
    STELLA STIRRED THE cake mixture, pausing to sniff