Katy's Men Read Online Free Page B

I’ve got a job waiting for me at Mrs Turnbull’s shop.’ That seemed attractive now.
    ‘ You can forget that,’ said Barney brutally. ‘I’ve told that Winnie Teasdale and she’s going to take you shopping for a box for your clothes and get you fitted out with black dresses, white caps and aprons. It’s costing me a pretty penny but you’ve been making too much trouble for me so you’re going to work at the Barracloughs’ house. They’ll pay you a pound a month but they’ll send ten shillings to me. Ten bob a month is enough for a lass like you.’
    Katy listened, shocked into silence, as her sentence was pronounced. At thirteen years old she was going into service! A lot of girls went into the big houses of the wealthy to work as maids or in the kitchens. She did not want to do that anymore than she had wanted to serve the customers in Mrs Turnbull’s shop, but it seemed her fate was determined for her and there was nothing she could do. She saw Ursula grinning and her father’s air of ‘That’ll straighten you out, my lass!’ Katy would not give them any further satisfaction. She would not beg for reprieve. She kept her face expressionless and said calmly, ‘All right.’ She saw her father’s look of righteous confidence replaced by one of baffled anger and Ursula’s smirk slipped away. Katy could have wept but instead she made herself smile at them. She would not let them get any change out of her.
    The next morning she saw her father and the two girls off to work then accompanied the boys as far as the school gates. Katy was fond of them, and they of her; she had taken the place of their mother. She blinked away tears as they moved away from her but then she turned around. Back in the family home, she packed a small case with all she owned. Then she searched for her mother’s brooch but could not find it. She hesitated a long time then, sitting by the fire, reluctant to take this awful step, but finally sighed and rose to her feet. Katy told herself there was nothing else for it. She left the house carrying her case and made her way through the streets lining the Tyne to the rooms a mile or so away. They were upstairs rooms in a terraced house like that she had left. She walked along the passage that had a strip of thin carpet running from front door to back, climbed the stairs and knocked on the kitchen door. Winnie Teasdale opened it, stared at her and asked, ‘What are you doing here? We’re not going shopping for your things until the weekend.’
    Katy said, ‘I’ve left home.’ And burst into tears.
    Winnie breathed, ‘Oh, my God! Come in.’ She put her arms around the girl and comforted her. After a time Katy dried her tears and Winnie said softly, not wanting to frighten her, but warning: ‘He’ll know where to look for you, and you know what his temper is like.’
    ‘ I don’t care.’ Katy looked at Winnie, pleading. ‘Will you take me in? I’ll get a job and pay board.’
    ‘ Aye, you can live here.’ Winnie had no need to remember the promise she had made to Ethel Merrick because she was fond of this girl, but also afraid for her. She thought, If Barney will let you stay. But she said, ‘You can have the little bedroom over the passage.’ That room had always been intended for her children but she had none.
    Barney came that evening. Winnie answered his knock to find him standing on the landing outside the kitchen door. He was still in his work clothes of old suit and cap and unwashed. He craned his neck to look past her as Winnie said, ‘Hello, Barney.’ Behind her, Fred Teasdale, her husband, stood up from his seat at the table, scenting trouble.
    Barney saw Katy sitting by the fire and beckoned her: ‘I want to see you, miss. Outside.’
    Winnie answered, ‘She’s not going anywhere. You can talk to her here.’
    But Katy was already on her feet. She would not have Winnie upset by a scene. ‘I’m coming.’ She walked past Winnie and followed her father down