The Promise by Lesley Pearse Read Free Book Online

sink, gas ring and a small stove she lit in cold weather. If she moved the small table beyond that, over by the workbench, she could make a bed of sorts on the floor.
    Fortunately she had a few cushions, old ones from Seven Dials which she’d brought up here with the intention of making new covers for them. There was also an old but clean dust sheet left from when the shop was decorated.
    She could hear Miranda speaking on the telephone, and it sounded as if her mother wasn’t at home and she was giving a message to one of the servants. It was terribly hot, so Belle opened the back door and pulled the beaded curtain across it which kept out flies, then laid the cushions down and covered them with the dust sheet.
    ‘Mama and Papa have gone out and they won’t be home until late this evening,’ Miranda said from behind her. When Belle looked round she was standing in the doorway looking down anxiously at the makeshift bed. ‘That was just as well as Mama would probably have quizzed me endlessly.’
    ‘That’s good. But I will have to leave you for a little while and run home,’ Belle said. She could see Miranda was becoming frightened now that she knew it wasn’t going to be the way she had expected. But Belle had no choice but to leave her alone. She had to go home and give an excuse to be away for the night, and she also had to get some clean sheets, towels and other necessities.
    ‘Don’t be scared, I won’t be long. Why don’t you take off your dress and corset? You’ll be a lot more comfortable, and I’ll bring you back a nightdress of mine to wear.’
    Belle went out through the back door and into the narrow alleyway, telling Miranda she would come back the same way. As she made her way home she was mentally making a list of things she would need, and what she would say to Jimmy.
    Luck was with her. Mog was alone in the kitchen making a cake and she said Jimmy and Garth had gone into Lewisham together to order some new chairs for the bar.
    Belle found it impossible to tell Mog lies, so she blurted out the truth about Miranda.
    ‘I know what you’re going to say,’ she said as she finished. ‘I should have sent her home and not got involved, but I can’t, Mog.’
    Mog looked stricken and didn’t say anything for a moment. Belle could almost see the conflicting emotions running through her.
    Finally she made a gesture with her hands, an acceptance that Belle had no real choice but to help the girl. ‘I think I would’ve done exactly the same. But Belle, these things can go badly. I’ve heard of women dying from it. You promise me that if anything goes wrong, if she becomes feverish, you’ll telephone the doctor?’
    ‘Of course,’ Belle replied. She had already invented a little cover story for an emergency: that the close shave with the carriage earlier in the day had made Miranda start to miscarry and she’d let her stay in the shop rather than try to get home.
    It was so typical of Mog that she didn’t waste any further time with a lecture, but flew upstairs and found sheets, a couple of towels, a blanket and some clean rags for the blood flow. She was down again in a trice, even before Belle had finished eating a hastily made sandwich.
    Mog also had some medicine in a brown bottle. ‘Give her a couple of teaspoons of this every three or four hours, it will help the pain and keep her temperature down,’ she said. ‘Now, I’m going to tell Jimmy you’ve gone over to see Lisette for the night as Noah is away and she’s lonely. He’ll be fine about that, with her in the family way an’ all. But you’ll have to straighten it out with Lisette later so she doesn’t let the cat out the bag.’
    Belle ran upstairs to get a few things, and when she got back she found Mog packing an overnight bag, and another smaller one with a jar of soup to heat up, some apple pie and a small bottle of brandy.
    ‘Just some bits in case you are hungry,’ she said, taking the things from Belle’s arms and