Hasty Death Read Free Page B

bosom, watched curiously as they struggled back up the stairs, carrying the trunk between them. Rose turned on the first landing and saw her watching
and gave her a haughty, glacial stare. Miss Harringey sniffed and retreated to her parlour.
    When they laid the trunk in a corner, Rose straightened up and looked around again.
    ‘There are no curtains,’ she said.
    ‘That’s ’cos we’re at the top of the house,’ said Daisy. ‘Nobody can look in.’
    ‘I want curtains,’ said Rose. ‘Good, lined curtains.’
    ‘You do that, and then the old bat will become suspicious if she starts snooping around. Look, we’ll buy some cheap ones.’
    ‘And a vase for flowers. I need fresh flowers.’
    ‘My lady . . . I mean Rose . . . you’ll need to get used to the new life.’
    ‘A cheap vase and cheap flowers,’ said Rose stubbornly.
    ‘There aren’t any cheap flowers in winter.’
    ‘We’ll get a vase anyway and prepare for spring. But curtains, right now. Run down and get us a hack.’
    ‘People like us don’t take carriages,’ said Rose patiently. ‘We’ll walk up to Lower Oxford Street, and then, if you’re tired, we’ll take the omnibus,
and not first class either.’
    Rose sat down on the bed. ‘Perhaps we shouldn’t rush into things. Light that fire, Daisy. This room is abominably cold.’
    ‘I need a penny for the meter.’
    Rose opened her handbag and took out her purse. ‘Here’s a penny. I suppose we’ll need to save a stock of pennies for the fire and the bath. Oh, we can’t even have a cup
of tea.’
    ‘Yes, we can!’ said Daisy triumphantly. ‘You packed books, I packed essentials.’ She put a penny in the meter and lit the gas. She unlocked the trunk and pulled out a
small kettle, a teapot, a packet of tea and a paper twist of sugar. ‘No milk, but we can have it without. I’ve brought a pot and frying pan as well.’
    Rose began to laugh. ‘Anything else?’
    ‘Six sausages and two rashers of bacon and a loaf of bread.’
    ‘But how on earth can you cook?’
    ‘See!’ Daisy pulled out a gas ring from the side of the fire. ‘I’ll put the kettle on.’
    Rose began to feel almost cheerful. Daisy lit the gaslight and made a pot of tea. She wondered if Rose realized that a hostel which boasted gaslight and a bathroom was above the common
order.
    ‘I am such a fool,’ said Rose. ‘When I saw this shabby room, I almost wanted to run back to Eaton Square and hammer on the door and say I had made a dreadful mistake. We will
go out and find somewhere to eat and then we will spend the evening in practising our Pitman shorthand. I wish to surprise Papa by making myself indispensable to the bank. I wonder what the other
women will be like?’

 
CHAPTER TWO
    O, how full of briers is this working-day world!
    William Shakespeare
    T he alarm clock rang shrilly at six on Monday morning. Rose felt she had not slept at all. Daisy snored, Daisy cuddled up to her during the night,
making Rose feel suffocated.
    ‘Wake up!’ said Rose. ‘Time to get ready.’ Shivering, she lit the gas fire and the gaslight in its bracket by the door. ‘I’ll use the bathroom
first.’
    They had both had baths the night before, fearing they would not get a chance in the morning, but Rose wanted hot water to wash her face. She reflected as she lit the geyser over the bath, which
exploded into life with a roar, that two pennies in the meter just to wash one’s face was already beginning to feel like wanton extravagance. The bathroom was a dismal place. The bath itself
was a deep coffin of a thing, but fortunately it was now clean, she and Daisy having had to scrub it out the night before. She washed her face and then filled the jug from the bedroom with hot
water and climbed back up the stairs.
    ‘Brought you some hot water,’ said Rose.
    ‘What for?’ asked Daisy. ‘We washed last night. Help me with my stays.’
    Rose tied Daisy’s stay ribbons and then hurriedly began to dress. ‘The