Diamond Read online

  I shivered again, because I had just had my eighth birthday (a sad affair, with no presents, though Mary-Martha sang me a song and bought me a bun with pink icing). I had managed to fool everyone else. Even my own family forgot my real age at times. But this man’s grey eyes seemed able to look into my soul. There was no hiding the truth from him.

  I hung my head, letting my hair fall over my face to hide it.

  ‘Ah, it’s such a pretty little fairy too, with those golden tresses,’ he said, running his free hand through my locks. He did it gently, so I could barely feel it, but I’d rather he’d struck me. I wriggled desperately, but he still had me tight by the wrist. My whole arm was starting to throb now.

  ‘Please, Mister, I want my dolly!’ I said, pointing to Maybelle, lolling on the ground.

  ‘Oh, it wants its little dolly-wolly!’ said Mister mockingly. I thought he might just let me go for a moment so that I could pick up Maybelle – and then make a run for it. But he wasn’t prepared to release me for a second. He reached out and gave Maybelle a nimble kick. She flew up into the air and hit me on the chest. I was so startled I couldn’t catch her with my free hand.

  ‘Butterfingers!’ said Mister, doing his footballing trick again. He was muddying poor Maybelle’s dress. I clutched her to me this time, desperate to save her from further damage.

  The crowd had ebbed away, off to jostle their way around the busy market. The hurdy-gurdy man was squatting with his back to us, counting the pennies in his bowl. Jacko jerked his head and capered towards me, chattering curiously. I held out my free hand to him and cried, ‘Jacko, Jacko – here, Jacko.’ I had a wild hope that he would sense danger from this man and attack him. I’d seen the monkey jump right up on a man’s head and tug his hair viciously, and he frequently bit little children if they tried to pet him.

  Jacko looked as if he meant business now, his teeth bared – but my captor stood his ground. He clicked his tongue in an odd way and pointed straight at Jacko. The animal suddenly cowered away, very still in his little velvet jacket, and then scampered back to his perch by the hurdy-gurdy, whining.

  ‘What’s up with you, you little brute?’ said the hurdy-gurdy man, hauling himself up.

  ‘Oh, please help me!’ I called weakly. I did not care for him and I knew he cheated me out of half my takings – but I wasn’t afraid of him the way I feared this sinister man.

  ‘Is he your pa?’ the man asked as he came lumbering over.

  ‘I’m her employer,’ said the hurdy-gurdy man. ‘And I’ll thank you to take your hands off her.’

  ‘I’m simply admiring the little sweetheart,’ he said, not at all perturbed.

  ‘You like her, do you?’ The hurdy-gurdy man scratched the top of his head thoughtfully. ‘How’s about you pays an extra shilling and I’m sure she’ll put on another performance.’

  ‘No, I don’t want to,’ I said, struggling.

  ‘You’ll do as I say,’ said the hurdy-gurdy man.

  ‘So you’re her employer, are you?’ said Mister. ‘She’s signed up to you?’

  ‘In a manner of speaking.’

  ‘Mmm – speaking isn’t binding, sir. So this little fairy’s as free as a bird and can fly away wherever she wants.’

  ‘I don’t want to be with you,’ I told Mister.

  ‘Hark at her! Funny, wilful little creature! She’ll be stamping her foot next,’ he said, and laughed at me, showing his yellow teeth. ‘I like a little soul with spirit.’

  Then he suddenly lifted me up, tipping me, helpless and humiliated, over his shoulder. ‘Come along with me, little girl. Old Beppo has great plans for you!’

  ‘No, no, I don’t want to go with you! Oh, please, Mister, set me down. I haven’t got my share of my earnings!’ I cried.

  ‘Ah, a tiny businesswoman, bless her! Well, we’ll let this gentleman and his monkey pocket the pennies for today. You’ll earn us far more in the future, my dear,’ said the man, striding along as easily as if he had a little knapsack on his back instead of a wriggling child.

  ‘No, no, I won’t go!’ I said.

  When he only chuckled, I opened my mouth wide and screamed as loud as I could. Folk stared at me, startled.

  ‘What are you doing with that little lass?’ a tall man asked anxiously.

  ‘He’s a wicked stranger and he’s running off with me!’ I gasped.

  Mister heaved with laughter. ‘Hark at her, the naughty little minx! I’m a friend of the family and I’m taking her off the streets where she’s been running wild.’

  ‘Don’t listen to him – he’s lying! Oh, help me, help me!’ I screamed.

  ‘Is that you, Ellen-Jane?’

  Oh dear Heavens, it was Pa! He stood there with his tray of tracts round his neck, here in the market.

  ‘Pa! Oh, Pa, save me!’ I screamed. ‘This wicked man is trying to steal me away.’

  Pa set his tray down. He was a little stooped now, but he was still a tall man. His nose was red to start with, but now a fierce flush spread over his whole face, even his neck. ‘Put my child down,’ he said, his fists clenched.

  My heart started thudding violently. Pa was calling me his child. He was about to snatch me back. It must mean he still cared about me a bit. Maybe he was ready to forgive me. I might even get to be his own baby darling again.

  ‘Certainly, sir,’ said Mister. He took me off his shoulder and set me down in front of Pa, though he kept a firm hold of my wrist.

  ‘So you’re this little angel’s father,’ he said. ‘Well, I’ll be blowed! You’re the very man I’ve been looking for.’ He was staring intently at Pa. I saw him taking in Pa’s dishevelled clothes, the sole flapping on his boots, his unshaven chin, his bloodshot eyes. I saw his nostrils quiver at the stale smell of ale that clung to his clothes.

  ‘You were looking for me?’ said Pa. ‘Unhand that child now.’ He made an ineffective grab for me, but Mister had a grip of iron.

  ‘I need to keep hold of her or the lovely little pet will make a bolt for it. She’s nervous now, but oh my goodness, sir, you should have seen her scarce ten minutes ago, prancing about like a little fairy – standing on her head and waggling her legs as bold as brass, bless her!’

  I started trembling. ‘He’s lying, Pa! I tell you, he’s lying,’ I blurted, but I could not quite look Pa in the eye.

  ‘You’ve been cavorting again?’ he said very slowly, swaying slightly.

  ‘No! No, I swear!’

  ‘Oh, bless her! No need to be modest, little angel,’ said Mister. ‘Cavorting’s the very word, sir. Quite a little act, she has. A crowd of thirty or forty gathered round immediately. She attracted a great deal of attention. She’s a regular at the market now, and I reckon she earns as many pennies as the costers with their stalls – and she saves herself a dawn trip to Covent Garden.’

  ‘You’ve been cavorting for money, Ellen-Jane?’ said Pa, moving closer, bending his head down to mine.

  ‘No, Pa!’

  ‘Don’t you lie to me!’ he thundered.

  ‘Oh, the bad little angel! But don’t get angry, sir. You should be proud of the little pet. She’s very talented, you know. With a little training I reckon she could polish up into a fine circus act.’

  ‘A circus act!’ said Pa, whispering as if the very words burned his tongue.

  ‘I’m not a circus act, Pa! Please don’t look at me like that! I haven’t been a bad girl on purpose. I just did it to earn some money. We didn’t have anything to eat,’ I gabbled.

  ‘I’d sooner a girl of mine starved to death than tip herself upside down in public,’ said Pa. ‘What would your poor ma say, Ellen-Jane? Oh, she’s turning in her grave now, poor dear soul, in total agony.’

  I saw Ma twisting about in her grim earthy bed, her mouth open wide in a silent scream. It was such a terrifying picture, the tears spurted down my cheeks.

  ‘So her mother’s dead, poor little lamb,’ said Mister. His grey eyes were gleaming now. ‘And you have the burden of bringing this