The Girl From Seaforth Sands Read Online Free Page A

not here-today-gone-tomorrow cleaners, who might well turn out to be no better than they should be. So Suzie nicked anything she could get away with, ate heartily at mealtimes and wondered how long she could stand such extremely hard work, for hard it most definitely was. Mrs Hathawaywould not have kept her on for eight days, let alone eight weeks, if she had skimped her work.
    However, all good things come to an end. Suzie had noticed, this very evening, that Jimmy, who did some of the cooking and a good deal of the waiting, had begun to look at her with a sort of wary closeness. She had no way of telling whether he had realised she took tips left for the serving staff, or whether he had counted the remaining currant buns that remained on the big dishes behind the counter, but she thought it possible that her job could finish abruptly. Hence the prigging of the bit of ham. It might be her last chance and, since it was summer and therefore not always easy to hide her ‘leftovers’, she might as well take what she could when the weather made a shawl a necessity and before Mrs Hathaway told her not to come in again.
    The tram rumbled round the corner and came to a splashy halt, deluging the waiting people with water. Suzie sprang back and cursed with the rest, then climbed wearily aboard. She sat down on one of the hard wooden seats and reflected that it felt soft as goosefeathers to one who had been slaving for Mrs Hathaway all day. Still, she had a lot to be thankful for. The joint of ham and the currant buns would make more than one meal, and she reminded herself that a lot of widowed women in her position went home to a cold and empty house, and had to start lighting a fire and cooking a meal for their family. Suzie knew that Gran would have a warm room and a good meal ready to welcome her, that Great-Aunt Dolly would wash up and clear away after that meal, and that Paddy would have spent his day as usefully as he knew how. Yes, she told herselfgazing out at the greying streaks, there were many worse off than herself.
    The tram pulled up at another stop and several men climbed aboard. Suzie glanced incuriously towards them, then brightened. ‘Mr Logan! Where’ve you been, then? I thought the Caradoc was your local?’
    Bill sat down on the seat beside her and gave her a friendly smile. ‘Who’s to say I’ve been boozin’?’ he asked cordially. ‘I might’ve been to a Bible meeting for all you know.’
    ‘You can’t fool me, Mr Logan,’ Suzie said, grinning. ‘If you’d been to a Bible meeting you’d have had Mrs Logan with you. Besides, you wouldn’t come into the city centre for no Bible meeting when there’s St Thomas’s church just around the corner. Anyroad, you aren’t usually on this tram. Come to think, you don’t catch trams much, do you?’
    ‘Norra lot,’ Bill agreed, shifting on the hard seat. ‘No, I’ve not been to a Bible meeting nor yet to the boozer. Well, I did have a bevvy after seeing Arthur Stokes, but don’t you go telling my wife. She doesn’t understand a feller can like a drink without being wedded to the stuff.’
    ‘Your wife’s Temperance, isn’t she?’ Suzie enquired. ‘Well, I ain’t, but I might just as well be. There’s no money for drink in our house. Not that I miss it,’ she added. ‘Never did take to it meself. And I’m hopin’ young Paddy will steer clear as well. Me old father and me brother Tim could be violent when they’d had a skinful, and nothing breaks up a family quicker than a feller who abuses the drink and his own strength.’
    ‘Aye, that’s right enough,’ Bill agreed. ‘Your Paddy’s a good lad, though. He and Albert arebezzies, and there’s no one I’d rather me laddo went about with. Mrs Logan agrees with me, I know, even though she don’t say much.’
    Suzie, who had been staring straight ahead of her, turned to gaze at him, her eyebrows arching in surprise. ‘Mrs Logan approves of our Paddy?’ she asked incredulously. She