A Place Called Freedom

  Dermot himself was a weaver. He had a wife and five children living in two rooms in Spitalfields. In order to get by they had to sublet Dermot's workroom, and Mack slept there, on the floor, beside the big silent loom that stood as a monument to the hazards of city life.

  Mack and Dermot looked for work together. They sometimes got taken on as waiters in coffeehouses, but they lasted only a day or so: Mack was too big and clumsy to carry trays and pour drinks into little cups, and Dermot, being proud and touchy, always insulted a customer sooner or later. One day Mack was taken on as a footman in a big house in Clerkenwell, but he quit next morning after the master and mistress of the house asked him to get into bed with them. Today they had got portering work, carrying huge baskets of fish in the waterfront market at Billingsgate. At the end of the day Mack had been reluctant to waste his money on a theater ticket, but Dermot swore he would not regret it. Dermot had been right: it was worth twice the price to see such a marvel. All the same Mack worried about how long it could take him to save enough money to send for Esther.

  Walking east from the theater, heading for Spitalfields, they passed through Covent Garden, where whores accosted them from doorways. Mack had been in London almost a month, and he was getting used to being offered sex at every corner. The women were of all kinds, young and old, ugly and beautiful, some dressed like fine ladies and others in rags. None of them tempted Mack, though there were many nights he thought wistfully of his lusty cousin Annie.

  In the Strand was the Bear, a rambling whitewashed tavern with a coffee room and several bars around a courtyard. The heat of the theater had made them thirsty, and they went inside for a drink. The atmosphere was warm and smoky. They each bought a quart of ale.

  Dermot said: "Let's take a look out the back."

  The Bear was a sporting venue. Mack had been here before, and he knew that bearbaiting, dogfights, sword fights between women gladiators and all kinds of amusements were held in the backyard. When there was no organized entertainment the landlord would throw a cat into the duck pond and set four dogs on it, a game that generated uproarious laughter among the drinkers.

  Tonight a prizefighting ring had been set up, lit by numerous oil lamps. A dwarf in a silk suit and buckled shoes was haranguing a crowd of drinkers. "A pound for anyone who can knock down the Bermondsey Bruiser! Come on, my lads, is there a brave one among you?" He turned three somersaults.

  Dermot said to Mack: "You could knock him down, I'd say."

  The Bermondsey Bruiser was a scarred man wearing nothing but breeches and heavy boots. He was shaved bald, and his face and head bore the marks of many fights. He was tall and heavy, but he looked stupid and slow. "I suppose I could," Mack said.

  Dermot was enthusiastic. He grabbed the dwarf by the arm and said: "Hey, short-arse, here's a customer for you."

  "A contender!" the dwarf bellowed, and the crowd cheered and clapped.

  A pound was a lot of money, a week's wages for many people. Mack was tempted. "All right," he said.

  The crowd cheered again.

  "Watch out for his feet," said Dermot. "There'll be steel in the toes of his boots."

  Mack nodded, taking off his coat.

  Dermot added: "Be ready for him to jump you as soon as you get in the ring. There'll be no waiting for a signal to begin, mind you."

  It was a common trick in fights between miners down the pit. The quickest way to win was to start before the other was ready. A man would say: "Come on and fight in the tunnel where there's more room," then hit his opponent as he stepped across the drainage ditch.

  The ring was a rough circle of rope about waist height, supported by old wooden staves hammered into the mud. Mack approached, mindful of Dermot's warning. As he lifted his foot to step over the rope, the Bermondsey Bruiser rushed him.

  Mack was ready for it, and he stepped back out of reach, catching a glancing blow to his forehead from the Bruiser's massive fist. The crowd gasped.

  Mack acted without thinking, like a machine. He stepped quickly to the ring and kicked the Bruiser's shin under the rope, causing him to stumble. A cheer went up from the spectators, and Mack heard Dermot's voice yelling: "Kill him, Mack!"

  Before the man could regain his balance, Mack hit him on each side of the head, left and right, then once more on the point of the chin with an uppercut that had all the force of his shoulders behind it. The Bruiser's legs wobbled and his eyes rolled up, then he staggered back two steps and fell flat on his back.

  The crowd roared their enthusiasm.

  The fight was over.

  Mack looked at the man on the floor and saw a ruined hulk, damaged and good for nothing. He wished he had not taken him on. Feeling deflated, he turned away.

  Dermot had the dwarf in an armlock. "The little devil tried to run away," he explained. "He wanted to cheat you of your prize. Pay up, long-legs. One pound."

  With his free hand the dwarf took a gold sovereign from a pocket inside his shirt. Scowling, he handed it to Mack.

  Mack took it, feeling like a thief.

  Dermot released the dwarf.

  A rough-faced man in expensive clothes appeared at Mack's side. "That was well done," he said. "Have you fought much?"

  "Now and again, down the pit."

  "I thought you might be a miner. Now listen, I'm putting on a prizefight at the Pelican in Shadwell next Saturday. If you want the chance of earning twenty pounds in a few minutes, I'll put you up against Rees Preece, the Welsh Mountain."

  Dermot said: "Twenty pounds!"

  "You won't knock him down as quickly as you did this lump of wood, but you'll have a chance."

  Mack looked at the Bruiser, lying in a useless heap. "No," he said.

  Dermot said: "Why the devil not?"

  The promoter shrugged. "If you don't need the money ..."

  Mack thought of his twin, Esther, still carrying coal up the ladders of Heugh pit fifteen hours a day, waiting for the letter that would release her from a lifetime of slavery. Twenty pounds would pay her passage to London--and he could have the money in his hand on Saturday night

  "On second thought, yes," Mack said.

  Dermot clapped him on the back. "That's me boy," he said.

  14

  LIZZIE HALLIM AND HER MOTHER RATTLED NORTHWARD through the city of London in a hackney carriage. Lizzie was excited and happy: they were going to meet Jay and look at a house.

  "Sir George has certainly changed his attitude," said Lady Hallim. "Bringing us to London, planning a lavish wedding, and now offering to pay the rent on a London house for the two of you to live in."

  "I think Lady Jamisson has talked him around," Lizzie said. "But only in small matters. He still won't give Jay the Barbados property."

  "Alicia is a clever woman," Lady Hallim mused. "All the same, I'm surprised she can still persuade her husband, after that terrible row on Jay's birthday."

  "Perhaps Sir George is the type who forgets a quarrel."

  "He never used to be--unless there was something in it for him. I wonder what his motive might be. There isn't anything he wants from you, is there?"

  Lizzie laughed. "What could I give him? Perhaps he just wants me to make his son happy."

  "Which I'm sure you will. Here we are."

  The carriage stopped in Chapel Street, a quietly elegant row of houses in Holborn--not as fashionable as Mayfair or Westminster, but less expensive. Lizzie got down from the carriage and looked at number twelve. She liked it right away. There were four stories and a basement, and the windows were tall and graceful. However, two of the windows were broken and the number 45 was crudely daubed on the gleaming black-painted front door. Lizzie was about to comment when another carriage drew up and Jay jumped out.

  He was wearing a bright blue suit with gold buttons, and a blue bow in his fair hair: he looked good enough to eat. He kissed Lizzie's lips. It was a rather restrained kiss, as they were in a public street, but she relished it and hoped for more later. Jay handed his mother down from the
carriage then knocked on the door of the house. "The owner is a brandy importer who has gone to France for a year," he said as they waited.

  An elderly caretaker opened the door. "Who broke the windows?" Jay said immediately.

  "The hatters, it was," the man said as they stepped inside. Lizzie had read in the newspaper that the people who made hats were on strike, as were the tailors and grinders.

  Jay said: "I don't know what the damn fools think they'll achieve by smashing respectable people's windows."

  Lizzie said: "Why are they on strike?"

  The caretaker replied: "They want better wages, miss, and who can blame them, with the price of a four-penny loaf gone up to eightpence farthing? How is a man to feed his family?"

  "Not by painting '45' on every door in London," Jay said gruffly. "Show us the house, man."

  Lizzie wondered about the significance of the number 45, but she was more interested in the house. She went through the building excitedly throwing back curtains and opening windows. The furniture was new and expensive, and the drawing room was a wide, light room with three big windows at each end. The place had the musty smell of an uninhabited building, but it needed only a thorough cleaning, a lick of paint and a supply of linen to make it delightfully habitable.

  She and Jay ran ahead of the two mothers and the old caretaker, and when they reached the attic floor they were alone. They stepped into one of several small bedrooms designed for servants. Lizzie put her arms around Jay and kissed him hungrily. They had only a minute or so. She took his hands and placed them on her breasts. He stroked them gently. "Squeeze harder," she whispered between kisses. She wanted the pressure of his hands to linger after their embrace. Her nipples stiffened and his fingertips found them through the fabric of her dress. "Pinch them," she said, and as he did so the pang of mingled pain and pleasure made her gasp. Then she heard footsteps on the landing and they broke apart, panting.

  Lizzie turned and looked out of a little dormer window, catching her breath. There was a long back garden. The caretaker was showing the two mothers all the little bedrooms. "What's the significance of the number forty-five?" she asked.

  "It's all to do with that traitor John Wilkes," Jay replied. "He used to edit a journal called the North Briton, and the government charged him with seditious libel over issue number forty-five, in which he as good as called the king a liar. He ran away to Paris, but now he's come back to stir up more trouble among ignorant common people."

  "Is it true they can't afford bread?"

  "There's a shortage of grain all over Europe, so it's inevitable that the price of bread should go up. And the unemployment is caused by the American boycott of British goods."

  She turned back to Jay. "I don't suppose that's much consolation to the hatters and tailors."

  A frown crossed his face: he did not seem to like her sympathizing with the discontented. "I'm not sure you realize how dangerous all this talk of liberty is," he said.

  "I'm not sure I do."

  "For example, the rum distillers of Boston would like the freedom to buy their molasses anywhere. But the law says they must buy from British plantations, such as ours. Give them freedom and they'll buy cheaper, from the French--and then we won't be able to afford a house like this."

  "I see." That did not make it right, she thought; but she decided not to say so.

  "All sorts of riffraff might want freedom, from coal miners in Scotland to Negroes in Barbados. But God has set people like me in authority over common men."

  That was true, of course. "But do you ever wonder why?" she said.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Why God should have set you in authority over coal miners and Negroes."

  He shook his head irritably, and she realized she had overstepped the mark again. "I don't think women can understand these things," he said.

  She took his arm. "I love this house, Jay," she said, trying to mollify him. She could still feel her nipples where he had pinched them. She lowered her voice. "I can't wait to move in here with you and sleep together every night."

  He smiled. "Nor can I."

  Lady Hallim and Lady Jamisson came into the room. Lizzie's mother's gaze dropped to Lizzie's bosom, and Lizzie realized her nipples were showing through her dress. Mother obviously guessed what had been going on. She frowned with disapproval. Lizzie did not care. She would be married soon.

  Alicia said: "Well, Lizzie, do you like the house?"

  "I adore it!"

  "Then you shall have it."

  Lizzie beamed and Jay squeezed her arm.

  Lizzie's mother said: "Sir George is so kind, I don't know how to thank him."

  "Thank my mother," Jay said. "She's the one who's made him behave decently."

  Alicia gave him a reproving look, but Lizzie could tell she did not really mind. She and Jay were very fond of one another, it was obvious. Lizzie felt a pang of jealousy, and told herself it was silly: anyone would be fond of Jay.

  They left the room. The caretaker was hovering outside. Jay said to him: "I'll see the owner's attorney tomorrow and have the lease drawn up."

  "Very good, sir."

  As they went down the stairs, Lizzie remembered something. "Oh, I must show you this!" she said to Jay. She had picked up a handbill in the street and saved it for him. She took it from her pocket and gave it to him to read. It read:

  AT THE SIGN OF THE PELICAN

  NEAR SHADWELL

  GENTLEMEN AND GAMESTERS TAKE NOTE

  A GENERAL DAY OF SPORT

  A MAD BULL TO BE LET LOOSE WITH FIREWORKS ALL

  OVER HIM, AND DOGS AFTER HIM

  A MATCH FOUGHT OUT BETWEEN TWO COCKS

  OF WESTMINSTER,

  AND TWO OF EAST CHEAP, FOR FIVE POUNDS

  A GENERAL COMBAT WITH CUDGELS BETWEEN SEVEN

  WOMEN

  AND

  A FIST FIGHT--FOR TWENTY POUNDS!

  REES PREECE, THE WELSH MOUNTAIN

  VERSUS

  MACK MCASH, THE KILLER COLLIER

  SATURDAY NEXT

  BEGINNING AT THREE A CLOCK

  "What do you think?" she said impatiently. "It must be Malachi McAsh from Heugh, mustn't it?"

  "So that's what's become of him," said Jay. "He's a prizefighter. He was better off working in my father's coal pit."

  "I've never seen a prizefight," Lizzie said wistfully.

  Jay laughed. "I should think not! It's no place for a lady."

  "Nor is a coal mine, but you took me there."

  "So I did, and you nearly got killed in an explosion."

  "I thought you'd jump at the chance of taking me on another adventure."

  Her mother overheard and said: "What's this? What adventure?"

  "I want Jay to take me to a prizefight," Lizzie said.

  "Don't be ridiculous," said her mother.

  Lizzie was disappointed. Jay's daring seemed to have deserted him momentarily. However, she would not let that stand in her way. If he would not take her she would go alone.

  Lizzie adjusted her wig and hat and looked in the mirror. A young man looked back at her. The secret lay in the light smear of chimney soot that darkened her cheeks, her throat, her chin and her upper lip, mimicking the look of a man who had shaved.

  The body was easy. A heavy waistcoat flattened her bosom, the tail of her coat concealed the rounded curves of her womanly bottom, and knee boots covered her calves. The hat and wig of male pattern completed the illusion.

  She opened her bedroom door. She and her mother were staying in a small house in the grounds of Sir George's mansion in Grosvenor Square. Mother was taking an afternoon nap. Lizzie listened for footsteps, in case any of Sir George's servants were about the house, but she heard nothing. She ran light-footed down the stairs and slipped out the door into the lane at the back of the property.

  It was a cold, sunny day at the end of winter. When she reached the street she reminded herself to walk like a man, taking up a lot of space, swinging her arms and putting on a swa
gger, as if she owned the pavement and were ready to jostle anyone who disputed her claim.

  She could not swagger all the way to Shadwell, which was across town on the east side of London. She waved down a sedan chair, remembering to hold her arm up in command instead of fluttering her hand beseechingly like a woman. As the chair men stopped and set down the conveyance she cleared her throat, spat in the gutter and said in a deep croak: "Take me to the Pelican tavern, and look sharp about it."

  They carried her farther east than she had ever been in London, through streets of ever smaller and meaner houses, to a neighborhood of damp lanes and mud beaches, unsteady wharves and ramshackle boathouses, high-fenced timber yards and rickety warehouses with chained doors. They deposited her outside a big waterfront tavern with a crude painting of a pelican daubed on its wooden sign. The courtyard was full of noisy, excited people: workingmen in boots and neckerchiefs, waistcoated gentlemen, low-class women in shawls and clogs, and a few women with painted faces and exposed breasts who, Lizzie presumed, were prostitutes. There were no women of what her mother would have called "quality."

  Lizzie paid her entrance fee and elbowed her way into the shouting, jeering crowd. There was a powerful smell of sweaty, unwashed people. She felt excited and wicked. The female gladiators were in the middle of their combat. Several women had already retired from the fray: one sitting on a bench holding her head, another trying to stanch a bleeding leg wound, a third flat on her back and unconscious despite the efforts of her friends to revive her. The remaining four milled about in a rope ring, attacking one another with roughly carved wooden clubs three feet long. They were all naked to the waist and barefoot, with ragged skirts. Their faces and bodies were bruised and scarred. The crowd of a hundred or more spectators cheered their favorites, and several men were taking bets on the outcome. The women swung the clubs with all their might, hitting one another bone-crunching blows. Every time one landed a well-aimed buffet the men roared their approval. Lizzie watched with horrid fascination. Soon another woman took a heavy blow to the head and fell unconscious. The sight of her half-naked body lying senseless on the muddy ground sickened Lizzie, and she turned away.

  She went into the tavern, banged on the counter with a fist, and said to the barman: "A pint of strong ale, Jack." It was wonderful to address the world in such arrogant tones. If she did the same in women's clothing, every man she spoke to would feel entitled to reprove her, even tavern keepers and sedan chair men. But a pair of breeches was a license to command.