Tiger Bay Blues by Catrin Collier Page B

of the first half-dozen girls who’d been called in.
    The girl was white with black curly hair and the makeup girl was blacking her face. Judy sat back and waited, watching the artist turn the girl into a black minstrel figure. Half an hour later Miss Hedley called her into the corridor.
    ‘Mr Lyme and Mr Purgis want you to know that they think you’re very talented, Miss Hamilton.’
    ‘But?’ Judy knew there had to be a ‘but’ when a sentence began that way.
    ‘It’s nothing personal, and no reflection on your suitability for the chorus, but we’ll be travelling for twenty-six weeks, staying in digs, bed and breakfasts, and small hotels. You being what you are,’ Miss Hedley coughed in embarrassment, ‘could make it difficult for us all. Some landladies won’t take coloured people. On behalf of myself and the company, I’m sorry. Good luck with your career.’
    ‘Thank you for being honest.’
    Too ashamed to reply, Miss Hedley returned to the dressing room. Judy picked up the bag she’d left by the door and walked down the stairs. The sky was blue, the sun shone, and all she could think about was the unfairness of life. Where aptitude and hard work counted for nothing and the best she could hope for was a job as a skivvy. But not living in. For the first time she understood why Mrs Protheroe hadn’t offered her that option. A coloured daily maid was one thing. It was quite another to have one sleeping under the same roof as an employer.
    ‘Good evening, Mrs Evans, ladies.’ Peter greeted Sali, Maggie, Beth and Susie when he and Edyth joined them in the family’s drawing room at half past nine.
    ‘Peter, how nice of you to bring Edyth home again.’ Sali set aside the matinee jacket she was knitting for Mary and Harry’s new baby. ‘Maggie, switch off the radio, please.’
    Maggie made a face but she did reach out and turn the knob. The click silenced a chorus from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance.
    ‘Won’t you sit down, Peter? Supper will be ready soon,’ Sali invited.
    ‘Peter wants to talk to Dad, Mam.’ Edyth unpinned her hat.
    ‘He’s in his study.’
    ‘Is he busy?’ Edyth ignored her mother’s suspicious frown.
    ‘When have you known him not to be?’ Sali turned to Peter. ‘Like every Member of Parliament, Lloyd always has more constituency business to attend to than anyone man can fit into a working lifetime.’
    ‘I’ll knock on his door.’ Edyth walked down the hall to Lloyd’s study at the back of the house. She emerged a few minutes later, called to Peter and showed him in before returning to the drawing room.
    ‘What’s happening?’ Maggie asked Edyth,
    ‘Private business between Peter and Dad.’ Edyth tried to check her irritation with her sister.
    ‘Maggie says the curate is sweet on you, Edie.’ Susie dropped the book she had been reading.
    Edyth picked up a magazine that was littering the sofa and returned it to the rack. ‘We are friends.’ She knew her mother was watching her but she couldn’t look her in the eye.
    ‘Help Mari lay the table, darlings, and warn her Peter is staying for supper, so we’ll need a few extra dishes on the table. Tell her to put out the cold ham as well as the beef and pork pie.’
    ‘And the lemon cake I made for tomorrow’s tea,’ Edyth added.
    ‘You want to show him how well you can cook?’ Maggie mocked when she passed Edyth’s chair. She spoke quietly, but not quietly enough.
    ‘I heard that, Maggie, and I gave you something to do,’ Sali reproved.
    ‘Yes, Mam.’ Rebuked, Maggie followed her sisters.
    ‘Well?’ Sali asked Edyth after Maggie closed the door.
    ‘Peter’s asking Dad if he can call on me.’
    ‘“Call on you”?’ Sali had difficulty concealing her amusement. ‘That’s a quaint phrase. Especially when I consider the amount of time you two have been spending together lately.’
    ‘He said a vicar can’t be too careful when it comes to avoiding gossip. He wants to court me with