The Jewel Cage

by Jane Steen

  “I was under the impression Miss Dardenne was Mr. Canavan’s mistress,” was what I found to say after a few seconds.

  “They had an amicable parting of the ways. Paula’s accepted a position in a theater in New York. She said she always knew I would be the next. She never minded in the least.” Thea looked hard at me. “If you imagine Vic has me in his keeping, think again. You have no idea what Vic and I are to each other. You don’t understand him any more than you understand me.”

  “I don’t pretend to know anything more about Mr. Canavan than I’ve seen on the surface,” I said. “But I understand the disappointments and desperate hardships you endured, Thea. Hardships I tried so hard to ease. I would have given your mother anything she needed; don’t you realize that? I understand that you were a child who needed much and had to make do with very little, and it’s changed you. You’ve built a hard shell around yourself to drive away the people who have your true interests at heart. I think the more you’ve driven them away, the unhappier you’ve become. You pushed away your mother’s love—”

  “You didn’t come to say a thing to me, remember?” There was a hard edge to Thea’s voice. “If you’re going to preach to me, you can get out. I had enough of that growing up.”

  “I wasn’t preaching.” Dismay seemed to be almost suffocating me, thickening my voice. “I—”

  “You were presuming to know what was best for me, and that’s the same thing.” Thea leaned forward, looking directly into my face. “You look better than the last time I saw you, Mrs. Rutherford. Let’s see, that was when I was being taken away by a police matron, wasn’t it? And not a word from you since.”

  “I wrote to you several times.” I heard the indignation in my voice. “I gave up because you never answered. I offered to visit you—well, after the six months Teddy asked for to help you settle in. But I kept asking if you needed or wanted anything.” I bit my lip. “I should have done more, Thea. But Teddy—how could I keep on favoring one of your mother’s children over the other? In the end, I had to accede to his wishes.”

  “Because he’s a man.”

  “Because—oh, Thea, don’t you understand that you would have had to leave Rutherford’s anyway? Any girl who broke the rules the way you did would be sent away.”

  Thea shrugged. “I would have gone to the Jewel Box. Do you suppose I cared anything about your ridiculous store? Vic’s going to take me to Paris. I will order my clothes straight from Worth when I’m established as an actress.”

  There was so much of the spiteful child in these last words that I lost any desire to argue my case with Thea. “I’m sorry my letters never reached you,” I said softly. “I’m sure I addressed them properly.”

  “My jailers intercepted them, no doubt. I never once got to go into town. Jacob would ride in to pick up the mail twice a week, so for all I can tell you might have sent me a fortune in gold. They watched me all the time; can you imagine? Every minute.” She scowled. “Except at night, and they let those vicious dogs loose at sundown. They wanted to marry me to Jacob once I’d learned to be a good little wife.”

  She held out a hand, turning a small palm up to me so I could witness the calluses along the top of her palm and the lower third of her fingers. “I didn’t need to be taught any of my tasks, of course. Thanks to my dear parents, I already knew how to work a butter churn and boil linen and work a mangle and iron and peel vegetables and make pastry and feed chickens.” Her voice grew louder and harder as she progressed through the list. “In the end, I just did everything they asked of me to make the day go faster, so I could get to the end of it and lie on my bed and tell myself it wouldn’t last forever. I got sick of Ma Galloway’s endless lectures about how wicked I was and how godly they were every time I argued with them.” She withdrew her hand. “It’ll be weeks before I can take my gloves off in public.”

  “Did they hurt you?” My stomach turned as I pictured Thea’s life of drudgery and isolation.

  “You mean, did they beat me? Or leave me alone with one of the men? No. That would have been a sin. Besides, I was careful never to provoke Ma Galloway too much. She had something in her eyes that warned me . . . But keeping me a prisoner was for the good of my soul, and therefore a commendable act of sacrifice on their part. They kept my money for me too, oh yes—wrote a nice letter to Mrs. Batham and got all my things sent up to Jefferson. Ma Galloway patched and turned and lengthened my dresses so she didn’t incur the extra expense of providing clothing. So saintly. My kind jailer for nearly a year.”

  “I’m so sorry.” My lips were numb. I supposed that from Teddy’s point of view Thea was being well looked after—but it was a jail, of sorts. “When did you leave? And how? Did Mr. Canavan fetch you away?”

  “How? He didn’t know where I was. You kept your promise to Teddy not to tell, and I guess my brother asked the same of Mrs. Batham because Vic didn’t get a sensible word out of her. Not that anybody ever got a sensible word out of that poor silly woman. No, I left because Mr. Galloway died.”

  My face must have changed because Thea laughed, a soft rippling sound that chilled me. “No, I had nothing to do with it. What do you think I am? I hated them, but I’ve never wished anyone dead, not for one second. Jacob came over that morning to ask his pa’s advice over cutting down a dying ash tree that was threatening to fall on a fence. An hour or so later he ran into the kitchen with such a look on his face as I’ve never seen.”

  She blew out her breath in a short sound of contempt. “His father climbed the tree to attach a rope, and I guess he stood on a rotten branch. Ma Galloway started screaming and ran, and I knew I had my chance. I took what money I found—not as much as I was owed—and hitched up the mule cart. It wasn’t difficult to find the town, and it wasn’t difficult to find the railroad station, and there was a train pulling in. It went in the wrong direction, but I had enough money on me to work my way around to Chicago and get to the Jewel Box. I didn’t arrive till almost dawn, but my friends keep late hours. I’ve been here for five weeks.”

  “And in those five weeks you’ve set yourself up as Victor Canavan’s mistress.” I looked once more around the room, remembering Martin’s description of the neat little carriage into which he’d seen Thea climbing. “You’re living in some style.”

  “Thank you.” Thea’s smile was real this time, even though I hadn’t meant to compliment her. “I’ll repay him by becoming a better actress than any of the others. He says I have the potential. It’s a good arrangement.”

  “Do you love him?” I asked.

  “I’m fond of him. I like him. We understand each other. Vic doesn’t need love. In fact, he’d rather be free of a woman groveling at his feet for love of him. He treats me well, and he makes me happy. That’s enough.”

  “And supposing there are children? Won’t you need his love then?”

  Thea’s gaze took me in, slowly, from the top of my hat to the tips of my boots. “Let me explain something, Mrs. Rutherford.” There was a sneer in her voice and on her pretty lips. “I will never be as stupid as you. I will never bring a bastard into this world, a child who clearly doesn’t even know where she was born and what the world might do to her when she takes her first steps into it. I would kill myself first.”

  She smiled prettily then, in one of those sudden, dizzying changes of demeanor that made me wonder just how broken she might be inside. “But I won’t need to because there are ways to avoid children. Actresses are as well versed in that subject as whores. They have even more need to keep their looks for as long as they can. I’m learning a lot.”

  “But you won’t be received anywhere. You’ll be outcast—” I stopped because I heard Judah Poulton’s voice saying the same to me, years before.

  “Do you think I care about that?” Thea smiled again, as if we were discussing some trivial subject. “Respectability.” She sniffed, giving a small toss of her head. “Thanks to you, I’ve tried respectable society, and I despise it. I’ve tried the society of
working girls too, and I could tell you much about what goes on behind the backs of you employers. Respectable women are either hypocrites or miserable dullards who don’t possess the courage or the imagination to make the most of their short lives before they die in childbirth. In the theater, we’re free of respectability and we’re free from drudgery. And when an actress becomes successful enough, society fawns over her and loves her because she’s dangerous. You’ll see.”

  “And Teddy?” It was the last appeal I could make.

  “Teddy can go hang. Teddy was ready to leave me with the Galloways till I gave in and spent the rest of my life wiping the noses of Jacob’s brats. I hope Teddy disowns me because I disown him. Now, Mrs. Rutherford, do you think you’ve gotten what you came for? Because I really must get on with my day.”

  I rose to my feet and put out my hand. “I will always receive you, Thea. For your mother’s sake. And if you need anything, please let me help.”

  I had expected her to refuse the handshake, but to my surprise she touched my fingers with hers. “We’ll see each other again. By the way, I’ve lost that pretty pendant you gave me. A real shame because I liked it—but it either wasn’t in the things sent from Mrs. Batham’s or the Galloways took it. Don’t worry though, I’ll have plenty of jewels of my own.”

  “I’m as tired as if I’ve walked all day and all night.” I moved closer to Martin, grateful for the solidity of his arm around me as we sat together on our bedroom settee. “I’m simply worn out just from talking to Thea. At least I probably won’t need to do that again anytime soon.” I looked up at him, seeing mostly his jawline—which was, to be sure, a little tight. “Am I a horrible person for being almost grateful she’s under Victor Canavan’s protection, if I must call it that? That if she gets into trouble of any kind, she’ll be his problem, not ours?”

  “You’re not at all horrible.” Martin’s embrace tightened. “You’ve offered an olive branch, and she’s spurned it. I don’t see what else we can do except write to Teddy to tell him where she is. I will do that, Nellie.” He kissed my forehead. “At least I’ll write a draft of the letter pending such time as we know where to send it. If they’re working their way down the west coast of Ireland as he told Sarah, he might stay for a while in Limerick.” I felt his chest move as he laughed. “We own a fine set of atlases, thanks to our studious daughter. She and I had a fine time traveling through Ireland in our imaginations, and I know where the large towns are now.”

  “I hope he doesn’t feel he needs to come back,” I said. “I hate to think of what would happen. Would he kidnap Thea and put her in an asylum this time?” I shivered. “For moral turpitude. My stepfather told me he was treating me like any other ‘moral imbecile’ when he sent me to the Poor Farm. If it hadn’t been for Catherine Lombardi and her enlightened ways, I might have been heading toward an utter nightmare. I’ve talked with Donny about the Poor Farm—the Institute for the FeebleMinded—and it sounds nothing like the place I remember.”

  “You’ll give me nightmares if you continue in that vein.” Martin kissed me again. “I sometimes reflect on those days and am horrified that they sent you away for . . . for depravity, and I didn’t even know.”

  “You took it calmly when you came to rescue me.” I closed my eyes in pleasure as a breeze wafted in through the open window. It was too warm to be so close to Martin, but I didn’t want to move.

  “Because whatever you’d done, you were my little friend and I wouldn’t turn my back on you.” He was silent for a few moments. “I will use that argument when I write to Teddy. He must still love his sister, so he must forgive her. Until seventy times seven.” He sighed. “That verse from Scripture was with me a great deal when I was in Switzerland, before I came back home to marry you. Not that I felt I had to forgive you for anything—but I spoke the words “I forgive you, Father” many, many times while I was in the mountains. Perhaps I forgave him seventy times seven because, in the end, I became less angry. I don’t lose my temper much these days, do I?”

  “You’ve never lost it with me.” I turned toward him and put an arm around his neck.

  “I’ve come close to losing my temper with you.” Martin’s eyes crinkled at the outer corners in the way I loved to see. “Don’t you think we should retire for the night? You’re not just tired from Thea, are you? Tess’s trousseau is keeping you busy, and I realize Arlette Belvoix has already begun to consult you about the winter ball; and you have plenty of other work.”

  “Mmmm.” I stretched, deliciously aware of Martin in a way that presaged a delay in getting to sleep. “Don’t worry, it’s just ordinary fatigue from a long day; I’m quite well. Say—” I straightened up so I could see Martin’s face better. “I’ve had a perfectly marvelous idea for a wedding present for Donny. A gold watch—just a plain one, with a chain so he can put his fob on it. And for Tess, I saw the prettiest brooch a few weeks back, and I’ve been dreaming of it ever since. A big pink topaz with diamonds around it. I asked Mr. McCombs yesterday if it was still in the vault, and he said it was. Won’t you come down there and look at it with me? We can stay in the antechamber.”

  “Another gift for Tess? What about the dress and all those pearls?”

  “I can afford it. Thanks to your care of my money, I have my own private fortune. I’d cover Tess in diamonds if I could.” I grinned, happiness welling up in me. “What’s the point of having money if I can’t spoil my best friend? I’m convinced she’d love it, and it would look perfect on her new dinner gown.” I moved closer to my husband.

  “If you also promise to pick out something new for yourself to go with the dress you plan to wear at the wedding.” Martin gave me a lingering kiss. “Something horribly expensive.”

  “And a watch for Donny?”

  “That I’ll order from my own watchmaker. Plain, yes, but I want one that keeps perfect time.” Martin kissed me again. “Now, if you’re quite finished putting the world to rights, isn’t it time we went to bed?”

  49

  Vault

  “Are you sure you don’t want this one?”

  Joe Salazar picked up a pendant from its velvet tray and held it up to me. Diamonds flashed in the gaslight, and a massive royal blue sapphire shed its hues over the huge, silvery tear-shaped pearl that dangled below the mass of diamonds.

  “Too many diamonds,” I said firmly.

  “It’s worth a king’s ransom,” Joe teased. “Isn’t that what you told me, McCombs?”

  “It’s one of our more costly pieces.” Mr. McCombs nodded gravely, refusing to join in Joe’s levity, consummately professional as the possibility of a very large sale beckoned. Even at cost, these sales would count to his personal credit.

  “This one’s perfect.” I gazed at the piece I held in my hand.

  “Twice as many sapphires.” Martin looked pleased. “I never thought I’d get you to accept sapphires.”

  “And only one diamond.” I smiled at my husband. “I never thought I’d like sapphires either, but I’ll admit these are rather beautiful. It’s the use of seed pearls that charms me; and the flower motif will go perfectly with the embroidery on the bodice of my dress.”

  For Tess’s wedding, I had chosen a heavily embroidered silk satin, pink roses and gold flourishes on a deep blue background, that we had imported from France. The tablier was of the same material, the skirt and train of plain deep blue satin. Madame had described the shade of blue as “sapphire,” and I was almost certain it would be a close match for the stones. I had, as I so often did, opted for a V-necked bodice with a small ruff of white lace to show off my creamy skin and long neck. The elbow-length sleeves would be trimmed in the same lace with gold bows, which were repeated on the train. I had thought long and hard before deciding on this ensemble since I would stand beside Tess in her pink bridal gown. The pink roses would complement it, and the blue silk would make her own dress appear richer.

  I picked up the pink topaz brooch I would give to Tess, smiling as I imagined her
pleasure when she opened the box. The cushion-cut stone was large and clear, with a hint of purple in its depths. With my left hand, I draped my own pendant on my right palm, lost in contemplation of the colors of the huge stones as Martin and Joe talked about the day’s trading and Mr. McCombs picked up two trays to return them to the safe room.

  Mr. McCombs had gone straight to the drawer where the pink brooch resided and had not missed his chance to bring out a few other pink topaz pieces “in case Mrs. Rutherford might be tempted.” He was not the head of department for nothing. He had obeyed Martin’s instruction to show us a few outrageously expensive baubles that might suit me with such accuracy that I had spent some time exclaiming over his good taste. I had only succumbed to the one pendant in the end and was mightily pleased with it.

  “You’ll have to give them back, you know.” Martin held out a hand, indicating the pieces of jewelry I was doting on. “They need to go back in the vault.” He seemed relaxed despite the nearby presence of the barred room. Indeed, after an exceedingly well-spent night, we were both in the best of moods.

  “Can’t I just put them in my pocket?” I teased, moving my hand toward the skirt of my dress. “After all, I am a partner.”

  “You’ll get them when they’re cleaned and mounted in their boxes, just like any other customer.” Martin tried to look severe. “Give them up, Nell. It’s time we closed this room.”

  I dodged away from his outstretched hand, laughing; and then I stopped, puzzled. All six of the watchmen who had been on duty in the corridor, guarding the vault while it was open and preventing anyone but the most trusted employees from getting near it, were coming into the room.