‘I think you’re right.’
‘We rarely appreciate what we have until it’s taken away.’
‘True.’
That succinct reply made her suddenly aware that they were skirting dangerous ground. Happily for her peace of mind, Jack intervened.
‘Nowt wrong wi’ a barn, especially on a night such as this. Where I come from there’s plenty o’ folk’d be glad o’ such accommodation.’
‘Where do you come from?’ asked Concha.
‘Leeds,’ he replied. ‘It’s in Yorkshire.’
‘Your family is there?’
‘Never had a family that I can recall. I were left outside t’workhouse door apparently. I grew up in t’same establishment.’
‘This is a charitable institution, no?’
‘In a manner o’ speaking.’ He smiled wryly. ‘You get a roof over your head and you don’t starve—not quite anyway.’
‘Do you get help to find a trade?’
‘Aye. When I were ten I were set to work in a woollen mill. Hours were long and t’work were dangerous, to say nowt o’ t’din. I hated it. Another lad and I tried to run away only we were caught.’
‘They brought you back?’
‘Aye, they did that. Then they shaved our heads and flogged t’pair of us before all t’others to serve as a warning like.’
The others stared at him, appalled, not least for the matter-of-fact tone with which the tale was delivered. However, it was at variance with the look in his eyes which suggested emotion usually kept hidden. None of them had the least doubt that what they were hearing now was the truth.
‘So I bided me time after that. Made out as I’d learned me lesson like, and knuckled under. Then, when I were fifteen I ran away again, and that time I didn’t get caught.’
‘Where did you go?’ asked Concha.
‘London, ’cos I knew it’d be easy to disappear there. I found work in a livery stable. Lad had been dismissed only t’week before, see, and they were short-handed. So I got t’job. It were hard work and it didn’t pay much, but it were a sight better than t’mill.’
‘So you remained there until you joined the army, no?’
‘Joining t’army were t’furthest thing from me mind then. Working wi’ the horses were all right but I wanted to earn better money so I found a new job as a doorman in a gambling den. It were a shady sort o’ place and it attracted a similar clientele for t’most part. It were also run by a crook so t’profits to be made were pretty big.’
‘You mean he cheated?’
‘Aye, he did. Got away wi’ it too—for a while. Then one night a young cove came in and lost a lot o’ money. He swore t’cards were marked, which same they were, o’course. He were drunk and angry and eventually I were ordered to throw him out. We had a bit of a tussle, but he came off worse and eventually I got rid of him.’
‘But not for good.’
‘Turned out his father were a lord and he tipped off t’authorities. Next night t’place were raided. Everyone concerned wi’ it were arrested. Being as t’plaintiff were a lord’s son, t’judge sentenced us all to hang.’
Concha paled. ‘But you did not cheat the man. You only removed him from the premises on someone else’s orders.’
‘That made no odds and so I ended up in t’Fleet along wi’ t’rest. Anyway, day before sentence were due to be carried out, a recruiting sergeant turned up at t’gaol. Seems army were short o’ men. Anyhow, we were given a choice: take t’king’s shilling or hang.’
‘You were fortunate.’
‘Aye, I was, though to be honest it didn’t seem like that at first. After a while though I got a taste for army life and it weren’t so bad.’
‘You survived.’
‘That I did, so I can’t complain really.’
Elena wondered how he could speak so matter-of-factly about so hard a life. In comparison her upbringing had been one of unvarying comfort and ease. She’d had parents who loved her; she’d been given an education, food, clothing and every advantage. In that respect she’d been so much luckier than most. If the war hadn’t come along she’d have been married to a nobleman and would have continued to live a life of luxury, quite unaware of how precarious existence could be. The war had provided a different kind of education and it had changed everything.
She wasn’t alone in feeling sobered. Harry had listened in thoughtful silence too. Although he knew something of Jack’s past he’d had no idea of the earlier details of the man’s life, until now. It reinforced his own sense of how fortunate he’d been. Born into a life of privilege and plenty, he’d always taken it for granted. As he grew older he began to realise that other people lived very differently, but, until he’d joined the army, he had never encountered the reality at close quarters. At first he was horrified by the ignorance, coarseness and brutality he’d encountered among the rank and file, but acquaintance with Jack Hawkes had given him a deeper insight into why they were like it. Many of the regular soldiers were gaol fodder but most of them were not bad men. Jack was proof enough of that. Harry wasn’t at all sure that he could have dealt with such adversity with that level of courage and determination.