The Sweeping Saga Collection: Poppy’s Dilemma, The Dressmaker’s Daughter, The Factory Girl. Nancy Carson

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       Chapter 10

      That same evening, after Jericho had left Poppy near Rose Cottage, he made his way to The Wheatsheaf in a state of high exhilaration and frustrated lust. Fighting did this to him. It was the reason he sought to fight. But each emotion was only one half of the equation, and the lust was an encumbrance unless it could be satisfied, hence his frustration. He honourably forbore to take advantage of Poppy due to her grief over Lightning Jack, but he was desperate for a woman to mollify this virility that burned so ferociously within him.

      Dog Meat was sitting in the public house accompanied by a tankard of beer and a ragbag of other navvies bent on getting drunk. He gestured to Jericho to join them. Jericho stood first at the bar and ordered a tankard for himself and one for Dog Meat.

      ‘I’d have got up and bought you one if I’d got any money left,’ Dog Meat remarked, taking the beer from Jericho gratefully and turning his back on his other mates. ‘I didn’t expect to see you in here. I reckoned you’d be too busy rogering young Poppy.’

      ‘Huh! There’s more chance o’ being struck by lightning in that bloody tunnel over there. I’m desperate for a jump, Dog Meat. I could roger me own mother.’

      ‘How much you willing to pay?’

      ‘Pay? I wouldn’t pay to roger me mother, Dog Meat, you daft bugger.’

      ‘I don’t mean your mother, you fool. I mean how much would you pay to have a woman?’

      ‘Why the hell should I pay? Wenches are normally willing enough.’

      ‘But it’s finding one, eh, Jericho? And there’s nothing spare in here tonight.’

      ‘Come a walk with me into the town then, eh?’

      ‘I told yer, I got no money.’

      ‘I’ll pay for your beer. I bet there’s plenty spare knocking about Dudley.’

      ‘I can’t be bothered. I’m stopping here. How much you willing to pay for a woman, Jericho? Just tell me.’

      ‘Why? What’s it to you?’

      ‘Well … I’m skint, see. Give me the price of a gallon o’ beer and you can borrow Minnie. That way we help each other out.’

      ‘Are yer serious?’

      ‘Course I’m serious.’ Dog Meat raised his forefinger in warning. ‘Only one jump, though. And don’t let on to her as we’ve got this arrangement. Just pretend you want to seduce her.’

      ‘And what if she won’t let me? What if she’s as tight with it as that Poppy Silk?’

      Dog Meat grinned. ‘Well, I can make you no promises, Jericho. It’s a risk you’ll have to take. But it’s the best offer you’ll get this side of tomorrow morning. She was always game enough with me.’

      ‘And it don’t bother yer, her going with me?’

      ‘Bother me? Why should it bother me? It only bothers me if I can’t get a damned drink. Have her. Just so long as she don’t know as I’ve had beer money off you for the privilege.’

      ‘So what you gunna do while I’m getting stuck up your wench, eh?’

      ‘I’m gunna stop here and get bloody soused. It’s a good scheme, eh, Jericho? This way we both get our fill.’

      ‘Fair enough,’ Jericho said. ‘So where is she?’

      ‘At Hawthorn Villa, as far as I know.’

      Jericho dug in the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a handful of coins. He counted them and handed them over to Dog Meat. ‘I’ll let you know what I think of her,’ he said with a leer. ‘If you’re interested, that is.’ He finished his drink calmly and went out.

      Minnie Catchpole was standing on the front doorstep shaking a rug as Jericho approached Hawthorn Villa. A cloud of dust and debris was instantly taken by the breeze, which blew much of it back over her. Minnie pulled a face and cursed as she spat out some of the pieces and picked bits out of her hair. When she saw Jericho striding towards her, she gave an embarrassed smile.

      ‘Minnie! How are you?’

      ‘Covered in dust, Jericho. Seen Poppy, have yer?’ She rolled up the rug ready to take inside.

      ‘Don’t talk to me about Poppy. She’s full of herself, feeling sorry for herself, thinking the world revolves around her.’

      ‘Well, she has lost her father,’ Minnie reminded him.

      Jericho shrugged. ‘Aye, I know all about that. But it ain’t just that, Minnie. She only ever thinks of herself. Now you …’ He looked at her admiringly.

      ‘What about me?’

      ‘I get the feeling as you’re easier to get along with.’

      Minnie smiled coyly. ‘I might be, Jericho. Who knows?’

      ‘I do. And what’s more, you’m pretty with it. I don’t know why I waste me time on Poppy bloody Silk when there’s lovely wenches like you around … Pity Dog Meat’s already bagged yer for himself, eh?’

      ‘I know,’ Minnie replied ruefully, desperate for a way to tell him that Dog Meat wouldn’t stop her doing what she wanted to do. Already her heart was beating faster at what Jericho was implying. ‘But Jericho, I’m always open to offers, you know. I mean, Dog Meat does what he wants to do, and I do what I want. It ain’t as if we’m proper wed. I on’y sleep with him.’

      Jericho shrugged, overtly feigning resignation of the circumstances, but inwardly heartened by her response. ‘Fancy a walk, do yer? It’s a grand evening.’

      ‘I don’t mind. Where to?’

      He shrugged again. ‘Anywhere. I dunno. In the opposite direction to The Wheatsheaf, eh?’ There was a gleam in his eye. ‘We could talk some more, if you like …’

      ‘All right. But maybe we shouldn’t be seen together. Folk might get the wrong end o’ the stick.’

      ‘That’s a point,’ said Jericho. He looked up at the sky. It was dusk and would soon be dark. ‘Tell you what, Minnie … Meet me just inside the tunnel … In five minutes.’

      ‘Shall I bring this rug wi’ me? It’d be something for us to sit on while we talk …’

      He nodded and couldn’t help but grin. ‘Good idea. I’ll wait just inside the tunnel, like I say.’

      Jericho СКАЧАТЬ