Read Online Lily of Love Lane by Carol Rivers - Free Book Online

vases, a set of brass candlesticks and some small china ornaments. Reube had been talking non-stop about the fight
and had found a large stick to hide under the stall.
    ‘This’ll scare them off,’ he told her. ‘Just let them try threatening me again. If I knew where to send the bill I’d charge them for the damage.’ Reube smiled
at a woman who was looking at the candlesticks. ‘They’d look nice on your joanna, missus,’ he said, ‘a bit of class those are.’
    ‘I ain’t got a piana,’ the woman replied.
    ‘You’ve got a shelf, I’m sure.’
    ‘And it’s filled, ducks, I was only looking.’ She saw the box of broken china that Lily had managed to salvage.
    ‘You can have that lot for a bob.’
    ‘Sixpence and throw in that teapot.’
    ‘You drive a hard bargain, madam.’
    The woman laughed, throwing a sixpenny piece on the stall.
    Reube placed the teapot in the box with the china and handed it over. ‘You got a bargain there, as it was once bone china before them bloody Blackshirts broke it.’
    ‘I heard about that,’ his customer replied. ‘How yer fought ’em off after having badly damaged your ankle a week or two back. You’re an ’ero mate, you
are.’
    ‘Word gets round, don’t it?’ Reube said to Lily when she had gone. He looked very pleased with himself.
    Lily smiled. ‘I suppose it’s no use me saying we should let the police know.’
    Reube almost fell backwards. ‘Hey now, Lil, what you on about? The rozzers are worse than the gangs. We’ll handle things our own way.’
    ‘I hope they don’t come back again.’
    ‘Don’t worry, gel, I’ll be here to protect you.’
    Lily wondered if Reube was beginning to enjoy his new status as a hero as he’d been round every other stall on the market and told his story, gaining new respect from the men.
    Lily served an elderly gent with a set of tarnished teaspoons while Reube saw to another customer. Then, still smiling and with his usual light step, he went over to the café, bringing
back two chipped enamel mugs, filled with coffee.
    ‘Wet your whistle, Lil.’
    They sat down on two small wooden stools. Lily had decided to ask Reube about next Saturday. Last night she had gone through all her clothes, which weren’t very many. All she had was her
best beige tweed coat and bar strap shoes which she had worn the day she had gone to Dewar Street. But she had found a small black fur on the stall and taken it home to sew on the collar.
    Reube suddenly lent forward. ‘Here, who was that gent you was talking to yesterday?’
    Lily knew this was the right time. ‘His name is Charles Grey. He’s the man who bought the aspidistra the day you sprained your ankle.’
    ‘Oh, that was him, was it? What did he want?’
    ‘He was looking for things for his house,’ she said, hoping this would satisfy Reube.
    ‘Did he see anything he fancied?’
    ‘No. Those Blackshirts didn’t help.’ She wanted to say that it was Charles Grey’s words that had scared them off. But now everyone thought Reube was the hero, she
couldn’t.
    He considered this as he gulped his coffee. ‘You never know, he might come back. Got a few bob, so Ben said.’
    ‘He said he’s going up to the city next Saturday.’
    ‘What, to buy stuff?’
    Lily nodded. ‘He asked me to go with him and help him choose.’
    Reube lowered his mug and stared at her. ‘Why’s that?’
    ‘Because he liked what we sold him and where I said to put it.’
    ‘But you ain’t exactly an authority, gel,’ Reube smirked, shaking his head.
    ‘I know. But it’s a woman’s touch he wants I suppose. He’s a widower, ain’t he?’
    ‘Course! I’d forgotten.’
    ‘So I can go then?’
    ‘You’d be losing money not working. And you only just started Saturday afternoons.’
    ‘He said he’d pay us for the trouble.’
    A glint suddenly appeared in Reube’s eyes. ‘He’d pay, eh?’ He tilted back the peak of his cap with his mug. ‘I dunno if I’ll manage on me