He threw back his head and laughed as if she had made a huge joke. ‘Would you now, little lady? Well, I’m sorry but I can’t allow you in, this is a gentleman’s club.’
Emmy straightened her back and glared at him. ‘But according to these posters there are women in there.’
‘Yes, you’re quite right, but they’re the hostesses,’ he told her with a grin.
‘And my sister is one of them,’ Emmy informed him imperiously. ‘And it’s her I’ve come to see.’
‘Then why didn’t you say so.’ He pointed to an alley that led down one side of the club. ‘The girls live in the back there, go and knock on the door and I’ve no doubt someone’ll find her for you.’
Emmy inclined her head and with her shoulders back she marched away, wrinkling her nose in distaste as the sour smells in the alley wafted up to her. It smelt like the inside of a dirty toilet and she felt her heart sink as she wondered if the inside would be any better. It certainly wasn’t what she had been expecting and she lifted her skirts to try to keep them away from the ground. Eventually she came to a door and rapped on it smartly. For a few moments there was no sign that anyone had heard her but then she heard footsteps and as the door inched open a mousy-haired, spotty-faced little maid stared out at her.
‘I’ve come to see my sister. Her name is Abigail,’ she informed her.
The girl’s face broke into a smile that completely transformed her plain features. ‘Come on in, miss.’ The girl held the door open and as Emmy stepped inside, she was immediately aware of the sound of music and laughter coming from behind a closed door at the far end of a long corridor. The smell of cheap perfume was overpowering and she discreetly took her handkerchief from her bag and held it to her nose.
‘I reckon Miss Abigail is already at work in the club, miss, an’ Miss Lilly won’t be none too pleased if yer disturb ’er,’ the girl told her worriedly.
‘Andwhois Miss Lilly?’ Emmy questioned, but before the girl could answer a plump, gaudily dressed woman with flame-red hair emerged from one of the many doors in the hallway.
‘I am, who wants ter know?’ She looked her up and down and Emmy had the awful feeling that the woman could see right into her very soul.
‘I-I’ve come to see my sister, Abigail Winter,’ Emmy stuttered, suddenly feeling nervous.
‘Ah! I can see the resemblance now you’ve said,’ Lilly said with a broad smile. ‘But she’s workin’ at the minute. Evenin’s ain’t a good time to catch ’er, queen. Couldn’t you come durin’ the day?’ Seeing the girl hesitate she had a change of heart and told her, ‘Look, I’ll let yer go through an’ see ’er, but just fer a few minutes – that’s if she ain’t entertainin’ one o’ the customers.’ Abigail’s sister, she noted, was taller and slimmer than Abi but a very attractive girl all the same. ‘I don’t suppose you fancy a job ’ere an’ all, do yer?’
Emmy hastily shook her head. ‘Thank you but no, I already have a job looking after my aunt.’
‘Aw well, it were worth a try. You’d go down a treat wi’ the punters, just like yer sister does, so if yer should ever change yer mind, yer know where I am. Foller me, queen.’ She turned in a swish of heavy silk skirts and Emmy followed her to the door at the end of the hallway where all the noise was coming from.
Once they entered the club, Emmy found herself enveloped in a fog of cigar smoke and loud noise. The lights were dim but she could see gentlemen seated at many of the tables with girls who were almost indecently dressed fawning over them. A bar ran along one wall and she spotted Abi there, chatting to a young woman who was furiously polishing a glass behind it.
‘Yer in luck,’ Lilly told her. ‘Seems she ain’t entertainin’ anyone just yet so go an’ have yer word wi’ ’er but make it quick, please.’ Then she left Emmy to pick her way through the tables, her cheeks aflame.
She had nearly reached Abi when the girl spotted her. ‘Emmy, what are you doing here?’ she asked, looking very uncomfortable and not at all pleased to see her.
‘You didn’t come and visit me as you promised, so I thought I’d better come to you and make sure that you were all right. Jake gave me your address.’
‘As you can see, I’m perfectly fine,’ Abi quipped, on the defensive now.
Emmy studied her sister and her heart sank. Admittedly Abi’s face wasn’t heavily made-up as the other girls’ were, but the gown she was wearing was cut indecently low and Emmy worried that if she were to lean forward her breasts might spill out of it. An awkward silence stretched between them for a while until Abi broke it when she said ungraciously, ‘Seeing as you’re here, you might as well have a drink. What would you like?’
‘I don’t drink, in case you’d forgotten,’ Emmy replied primly, staring pointedly at the glass of wine in Abi’s hand. ‘And I don’t think Mama would be very pleased to know that you were.’
‘But Mamadoesn’tknow, does she? And in case you’d forgotten, I don’t have to answer to her any more. I’m making my own way in life now and loving it!’
Emmy silently cursed herself for putting her back up. This meeting wasn’t going at all as she’d hoped it would. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you,’ she told her quickly. ‘But I do miss you so. Couldn’t you please come and visit Aunt Imogen so we can have a proper talk? She’s planning on going to her second home at the coast for the rest of the summer and I won’t be able to see you for months until we return.’
Abi’s face softened for a moment as she stared back at her sister and she was about to say something when a commotion by the entrance doors distracted her and a rowdy group of young men entered. Jasper was amongst them but Emmy noted that it was another good-looking young man who immediately caught Abi’s attention.
‘Look, Emmy, my, er .?.?. friend has just arrived so I’m very sorry but I have to go.’ Then seeing the way her sister’s face fell, she added, ‘But I will come and see you this week, I promise .?.?. Goodbye for now.’ Then she was off like a March hare.
Emmy watched her go helplessly, suddenly recognising the man Abi was so interested in as the one she had seen her walking out with. It was more than obvious that she wasn’t welcome and so with a sigh she headed for the exit.
Outside, the heat of the day had died down but it was still very humid and the smell of horse droppings and the sewers was overpowering as Emmy found her way back to the main road. More than once gentlemen tried to approach her but she hurried past with her head down until she was able to hail a cab. The smell inside it was even worse than the smell outside but Emmy was just glad to get away from Soho.
Once she arrived back at her aunt’s, Emmy paid the driver and rushed inside to find Aggie coming down the stairs with a tray she had just fetched from Imogen’s bedroom.
‘You’re back early,’ she remarked. ‘The missus ain’t at all well tonight. I reckon she’s in pain, though she won’t admit it, the stubborn devil.’
