Free The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose by Mary Hooper

said to a weeping Eliza. ‘For sixpence the people expects singing. They expects the mermaid’s siren song what lures the sailors on to the rocks.’
    Eliza buried her face in her hands. ‘I cannot! I cannot sit here, naked , and sing …’
    Ma snorted. ‘Oh, do not take on so,’ she said, exasperated. ‘’Tis only for three days.’
    ‘Oh, for shame!’ Eliza cried.
    ‘No, for money,’ said Ma, and she cackled withlaughter. ‘We shall all make a mint by this.’
    Within the tent, an ingenious pool had been built. Constructed of wood and canvas, it was covered with undergrowth, greenery and slate, so that the general effect was one of a large rockpool on a wild seaside shore. The ‘motion’ advertised was caused by Susan, crouched out of sight, pulling on a piece of rope which drew a blade through the water, causing ripples and eddies to appear on its surface.
    Eliza was sitting on a rock with her feet in the pool of water, through which glided some small ornamental fish. From the waist downwards her body was encased in shimmering blue-green material which had been painstakingly covered in tiny oxidised metal spangles sewn in an overlapping fashion like fish scales, finishing in a spectacular silvery-blue tail. Her bosom was naked apart from a narrow length of material tied around and only partially concealing it; her tumbling black locks were intended to hide the rest.
    Outside the tent which enclosed Eliza and the pool, the fat man stood on a box and shouted to be heard above the crowds.
    ‘Come and see the gen-u-ine mermaid in all her glory!’ Eliza heard him call. ‘Her like has not been seen at any Fair in this country before! A sixpence to view this fantastical creature! Roll up! Roll up!’
    Eliza wept on. ‘My family would be shamed – they would disown me,’ she protested, forgetting for the moment that such an unfortunate fate already seemed to have befallen her.
    Ma coughed and spat. ‘For a lass who was running with lice in Clink prison a while back you’re talking mighty dainty! Would you rather be there amid thefilth and the fleas than here at Midsummer Fair, sitting on a rock as pretty as a picture?’
    Eliza didn’t know what to answer to this.
    ‘Just you say the word, my little Miss Hoity Toity, an’ I’ll take you back there straight and find another girl. Why, most poor jades would give their maidenheads to be dressed up so fine.’
    Eliza rubbed at her wet cheeks. ‘So you wish me to sit here, near-naked, while all the world comes and stares?’
    ‘Of course yer must be naked!’ Ma Gwyn said. ‘Mermaids do not sit on rocks in their gowns and flannel petticoats. And you ’ave yer ’air and a ribband to ’ide your privities.’
    ‘I shan’t stay!’ Eliza looked wildly around the tent. ‘I shall run off.’
    ‘You can try,’ Ma said reasonably. ‘But ’ow will you run with no legs and your fish’s tail a-flapping?’
    ‘I shall get out of this costume!’
    ‘If you do, we shall all ’ave the pleasure of seeing your bare arse a-running across the field. I shall charge double for a view of that!’
    As Eliza burst into fresh tears, Ma leaned towards her conspiratorially. ‘Better to stay, lass, and pay off some of your debts.’
    Eliza looked up. ‘What debts?’
    ‘Why, what you owes me. There’s the cost of gettin’ you out of Clink, plus your board and keep for three weeks – that’s a tidy packet I’m due. All you’ve to do now is sit ’ere as nice as a nosegay for three days, and you’ll ’ave gone some ways towards paying me back.’
    Eliza fell silent. Had she really thought that a person such as Ma Gwyn would have rescued her outof the goodness of her heart? In Somersetshire, maybe, that might happen. But not in London. She gave a long, resigned sigh.
    ‘So, my sweeting – about yer singing,’ Ma said, sensing victory. ‘Just a plainsong or a nice ballad would suffice. Or even just a tra-la-la such as a mermaid might sing to get ’erself a