End of the Line

Chapter Six. Belle

Chapter Six

Belle   

            Belle reached the age of fifteen on the 20th September, 1917. For over three years, she had been deprived of the company of older brothers, George and Dan. Their absence exposed her to the constant admonitions of her mother and elder sister Mary, both of whom expected help in the running of the home, and assistance in caring for the infant Bill and sickly young Betty. Belle had little time to herself, and was damned if she was going to spend those few precious hours acquiring the airs and graces of her older sister. She much preferred to flirt. 

              Already at fifteen she was a magnet for the boys in the village, and understandably so. She was very pretty, had developed a gorgeous figure and rumour had it that she was more than willing to allow certain liberties. This well-founded rumour garnered the attention of older boys, apprentices in the local iron works, who were relatively affluent and tempted her with offers of cigarettes and gin. 

             Belle and her friend Jill met almost every evening, supposedly to take Jill's dog for a walk. The walk inevitably ended up with the dog tied to a lamppost outside the public bar of the Vulcan Hotel. Ladies were banned from the bar, but members of the local football club mingled outside and it was an ideal place for Belle to flaunt her burgeoning sexuality. One night, Bill Evans, the towering centre half of the team, persuaded her to join him in the lounge and charmed her in to sharing several drinks with him. Despite a desire to stay, fearful of Pop, she left in time to meet curfew. She was quite concerned that the reek of alcohol and tobacco would give her away. Luckily, Jill had waited outside, and carried a bottle of lavender water purchased for just such an eventuality. After a thorough dousing, Belle returned home. She didn't fool sister Mary, who mouthed her suspicions. Confronted, Belle admitted to her transgressions and promised to behave in future. 

             Pop Benson wanted more than a promise. He insisted she stay home in the evening unless accompanied by Mary, or her mother. Belle accepted this punishment without protest believing that they would soon tire of applying the restrictions. She also thought it possible that the enforced absence might make that handsome galoot Bill Evans even more desperate for her attentions. Her obedience lasted less than a month. 

            One night in early November, Pop left to attend a meeting of the newly formed parish council, and her mother went to a temperance meeting. This left the two infants in the care of Mary and Belle. Once they had bathed the babes and bedded them down, Mary went upstairs to read the children a bedtime story, leaving Belle working by gaslight to convert one of Mary's hand me downs into a more fashionable outfit. The murmur from the bedroom subsided. Belle silently mounted the stairs and peeked in. All three were asleep. What an opportunity! She could sneak out, be back in an hour, and no one would be any the wiser. Quickly she donned a cape, stole out of the house, and scurried to the Vulcan Hotel. 

         It was there outside the Public Bar that Pop spotted Belle in the passionate embrace of Bill Evans. The irate father had no qualms about breaking apart the amorous couple and physically dragging his recalcitrant daughter home by the scruff of the neck. That was it. She had to be kept out of harm's way. He made the decision to place Belle in service. He didn't want her to suffer the indignity of a hiring fair, where many young girls were mistaken for prostitutes, so he suggested that his wife Annie use her influence to gain Belle a position at Holker Hall, a place where Annie herself had spent her childhood under unusual circumstances.   

        Holker Hall was one of the many homes of the Duke of Devonshire. The Duke however was rarely in residence preferring to spend most of his year in Bath, London, or the more palatial surroundings of Chatsworth. The Duke and his entourage would only descend on the Hall to attend race meets in the nearby village of Cartmel, or for the estate horse trials. Thus for long periods during the war the immense Hall lay empty. This came to the attention of the War Ministry and after some urging the Duke agreed to make the vacant guest rooms available for convalescing soldiers; he insisted that the rooms be reserved for officers.