Our Lizzie by Anna Jacobs Page B

his sister got her schoolbooks out.
    In the end, it was decided just to see how they went. After all, as Mam said, Eva still had to get the scholarship.
    Listening to the discussions, Lizzie felt more left out than ever. Eva spent most of her spare time, apart from helping round the house, with Miss Blake, now that she had that bicycle.
    Life was rotten. The only time Lizzie felt happy was at Dearden’s—and that was partly because of young Jack Dearden. He was only a bit older than she was, and was going to leave school that summer, to work in the shop full-time. He was such fun, Jack was, and could make you laugh when everything seemed black. And he didn’t mock you because you were a girl, like other lads did. In fact, all the Deardens were nice, really lovely people.
    So long as you worked hard. There was no place at the shop for slackers and when Fred left to go and work with cars, Mrs. D said it was good riddance. But Lizzie enjoyed shop work. It was all so interesting, even the packing and sorting, because stuff came from all over the world. Mr. Dearden had told her one day about how tea was grown, and Peter had told her about coffee plantations. He was nice, Peter was. Jack was so lucky having a family like that.
    *   *   *
    Twenty lessons for twenty shillings , the advert said. Next course begins in January . Emma knew it wasn’t a very good commercial school, and in fact “school’ was an ambitious term for two rooms over a shop, but they could afford fees like this without dipping too deeply into their savings.
    â€œAre you sure?” Blanche worried. “I don’t like the thought of you going out to work.”
    â€œI need to earn my living, dear, you know I do. I’ll go and see about the lessons this afternoon.”
    Miss Aspinall, who ran the school, was a very plain woman with a tired face, but she seemed to know a lot about office work and Emma took to her at once.
    â€œI can probably help find you a position afterwards, as well,” the proprietor said as she wrote out a receipt. “Employers know I train the girls properly and some come to me for staff.”
    â€œI’m a bit older than your usual pupils, I think. Will that make a difference?”
    â€œNot at all—so long as you don’t mind working at the same things the other girls do?”
    â€œI can’t afford to mind.” Emma hesitated. “And you can really get me a job afterwards?”
    â€œOh, yes. It won’t be a good position, because you’ve never worked before, but I’ll find you one where you’ll be able to get some useful experience and at least you’ll be earning something while you learn, even if it’s only fifteen shillings a week.”
    â€œAs little as that? I thought people got about a pound a week for office work.”
    â€œThey do when they’re experienced. Still, with your looks and background, you’ll not have too much trouble finding something better once you know the work.”
    So Emma walked home feeling she’d taken a positive step—and bought herself a quarter of her favourite caramels to celebrate.

Chapter Six
    December 1908–March 1909
    Lizzie missed her dad even worse at Christmas. Her mam kept crying and they only had a small present each, because Mam said they couldn’t afford to spend much this year. Miss Harper looked terrible after a bout of influenza, and even Miss Emma wasn’t as cheerful as usual.
    Lizzie, who had been run off her feet at Dearden’s where she was working full-time over the holidays, was glad to sit quietly once the special dinner had been served—a lovely roast chicken their Percy had brought home. Mrs. D had given her a box of chocolates, one with the corner bashed in, but she didn’t show it to her mam or the chocolates would have vanished into the sideboard to be kept for guests and she’d be lucky to get any of them for herself.