THE DEPRIVED...Chapter 2...Part 12.

A continuation of my book.

Wapping Wall was where the Wharves lined themselves up and formed a barrier between the land and the River Thames. As Mary walked she could hear the loud hoots of the river traffic beyond the Wharves and shivered as she sought her way through the eerie gloom of the night. The damp glistened on cobbles and bricks at times when the moon fought its way out from the clouds, a drifting wetness from the fog rising off the river. Now and again would come the footsteps of a lone sailor who would appear out of the gloom and  become startled by Mary’s sudden appearance, asking if they sought a woman’s favour. Twice in that night did Mary find two sailors who took advantage of her, taking her up against a wall and spending themselves. There was no comfort on a night such as this and Mary returned home tired and depressed and with eight copper pennies in the little button purse she had made for herself and now tucked up under her garter. It was the same on the following night and the next as she walked the lonely length of the Wapping Wall in the dark and rain, seeking out the foreign sailors who had been released from their ships for the night.

 

It was on the Monday morning as Mary walked a tired way back from the Wapping Wall that she was met at the door by the unsmiling face of the landlord.
“Your time is up.” said Eli Dolsman. “Have you got my rent?"
“I have a shilling.” replied Mary, turning to lift her skirt and petticoat and take out the purse from her garter. Opening it, she poured the twelve pennies in her hand and held it out.
“Here take it. That’s all I have but I will get some more.”
The landlord eyed the coinage, his eyes taking in the amount.
“A bob!” he exclaimed. You expect me to be happy with twelve pence?”
“Please!” begged Mary.

Eli Dolsman was true to his word and evicted Mary and her family from the room, selling what little they had except for the blankets they wore around their shoulders. Mary walked the streets with Beth hanging onto her arm while Sam walked some way behind. He looked neither right nor left as he carried the blanket which wrapped him up in his own thoughts.

 

It seemed the world of the East-End was busy with its people scurrying and hurrying to fill a day which hurried to its own end and through this run of day. It seemed no-one had the time to stop and answer Mary’s one question.
“Do you know of a cheap room I can rent?”
In this way Mary wandered the streets with Beth and Sam until late afternoon when young Willy Oddbins, a scruffy street urchin on the scrounge and with a cheeky eye on Beth offered the news that his uncle, a Mr. Silas Jenkins of Coupling Street and conveniently close to Old Ma Kettles shop would have a room to rent.
“Mind you, Ma.” said the boy. “He aint in liking for brats so you has best hide those two till you get the room.”
Mary thanked the boy who, after a flourish of his scruffy bowler hat and with a broad wink at Beth, continued on his round of scrounging.
Making her way to Coupling Street, Mary had Beth and Sam wait in the doorway of a second-hand clothes shop while she determined her way to the address given. It was there that she met the landlord, Mr. Silas Jenkins, a man of unshaven and unkindly disposition.
“You aint a Night-Girl are you?” was his first question. “I aint letting a decent room for the likes of them as will give ruin to me reputation!”
Mary assured him that she would not bring about a fall to his reputation which seemed to satisfy him and he led her up a set of creaky stairs and through to a room which gave no light to the gloominess of the general atmosphere. Descending the stairs once more, the landlord leaned against the broken street door.
“Well?” demanded Silas Jenkins. “Do you want the room or not?”
The room had been a small square of bare boards with an old bed, a stool and a broken window. There was nothing else except its only blessing, a door which closed and had a bolt to it.
“I’ll take it” said Mary."
“Then it’s two bob a week and I expect you to keep it clean and with no night visitors.” reasoned Silas Jenkins.
Mary held out the twelve pennies.
“That’s all I have at this time but I will get some more as soon as I can find work.” she promised.
Silas Jenkins touched at the pennies in Mary’s hand.
“Is that all you have?” he asked. “Have you no man to occupy your time?”
“I have no man.”
Mary knew what the landlord inferred as his eyes wandered her body and she allowed the blanket which lay as a shawl to fall away so that Silas Jenkins became more attentive to her form.
“Perhaps we might accommodate each other at some time” he said as he pocketed the money and with a reminder he would be collecting the rent each week on the dot he moved away and allowed Mary to climb the flight of stairs and enter the room once again.