The Mersey Angels

by Sheila Riley

  ‘I knew you would be in favour of us doing our bit,’ said Ruby.

  ‘Would that have been around the time you decided to offer our home?’

  ‘We must all do our bit for the cause, Archie. This house is wasted as a private residence,’ Ruby’s voice was full of excitement, as it always was when she got a new idea, Archie knew. Dressed in the uniform of volunteer sergeant of the local police force, he had witnessed this situation more than once and could see her enthusiasm far outweighed her common sense in this regard.

  Ruby got up from the table, threw down her napkin and headed to the wide expanse of hallway, climbing the wide staircase to the extensive corridor that ran the length of the house and was followed by Archie. Ashland Hall was said to be one of the finest residences in England, situated on the golden north-west shore of the River Mersey.

  ‘Anna and Ellie were right when they said you can offer so much. The War Office has considerably miscalculated the number of casualties,’ Archie said.

  ‘It was predicted that 50,000 hospital beds would be required and could be accommodated in existing military and voluntary hospitals. I agree that was a serious miscalculation, Archie,’ Ruby said drily. ‘This morning’s paper said over 73,000 wounded men are already being brought back and it is clear that more beds will be urgently needed.’

  ‘The chief constable was telling us that there has been a scramble for further hospital accommodation. Owners of country houses all over the country are volunteering their homes as convalescent establishments, while others are being requisitioned.’ Archie knew that a local cottage hospital had been converted into a military hospital within hours.

  ‘We will store the family heirlooms securely in the unused stables for safekeeping. Those pictures will be the first to be removed,’ Ruby said, casting her eyes over the heavy, dark wooden framed pictures of her father’s ships. Taking in the high walls, she did not fail to notice there was not one portrait of her, or May, nor even her mother. Yet, Silas Ashland’s beloved ships took pride of place along the upper mezzanine walls. ‘I must say, I will not be sorry to see the back of those ships. The staff will move to the attic rooms.’ Her busy mind was working overtime now.

  ‘Do I need to ask where we will go?’ Archie’s eyes crinkled into a smile that had for so many years held her fast and made Ruby’s heart flip.

  ‘We will move into the lodge, of course,’ Ruby said. ‘There is plenty of room.’

  ‘But your father left the lodge to May,’ Archie said, and Ruby answered with a wave of her hands.

  ‘May is in Scarborough, I am sure she won’t mind a bit. I will drop her a line explaining the circumstances, later today,’ Ruby said. ‘Obviously, she won’t mind a bit when I tell her Ellie and Anna will also stay at the lodge with us.’

  ‘It might be best to ask them if that is what they want to do, my love.’ Archie remained straight-faced when he saw Ruby’s astonished expression.

  ‘Of course, they will wish to be here,’ she said ‘This is Ellie’s natural home. Where else would she go?’ Archie sighed. One day everything in this house would belong to their daughter, Ellie, who was stolen from them by the conniving Giles Harrington and Ruby’s father, when she was only ten days old. ‘We are only the custodians of Ellie’s future, Archie, and glad to be so.’

  ‘I know what you are thinking,’ Archie said gently, knowing there was no use issuing suggestions when Ruby had made up her mind. But there was just one more thing he worried about. ‘You want Ellie close as do I,’ said Archie. ‘It is understandable, given the years we had lost her.’ His forehead pleated as if he was choosing his words very carefully so as not to upset Ruby, but she knew what he was going to say.

  ‘She is home now, Archie, and believe me when I tell you, I will put up a bitter fight if the reverend wants to make something of it.’

  ‘You will have to get behind me,’ Archie said with a determination that brooked no argument, reminding Ruby of the time he scoured the north-west coast in his quest to find his daughter. ‘She reminds me so much of you when you were her age.’

  ‘I am so proud of the wonderful woman Ellie has become,’ Ruby said, ‘and I will admit I swelled with pride when she told me she would rather live here at Ashland Hall than go back to the rectory with that grasping cleric who browbeat my sister into subservience.’

  ‘May has no say in any matter, I grant you,’ Archie answered, ‘she is a good wife. But she does not have the fortitude to fight Giles Harrington’s emotional bullying.’

  ‘If May had been more like me, she would…’

  ‘She would never have given Giles Harrington the time of day,’ Archie smiled. ‘And she would have been happy here, instead of on the East coast.’

  While they both came back downstairs, Ruby thought about Archie’s words for a little while and realised that what he said was right. But May had made her bed years ago and now she must lie in it – with the most odious, self-centred, greedy man it had ever been Ruby’s misfortune to encounter. But she didn’t want to talk about her sister and her despicable husband. Ruby had other things to think about now. Changing the subject quickly she said,

  ‘We have raised sufficient funds to have electricity put into Ashland Hall, for when we open up as an auxiliary hospital,’ Ruby told Archie, who raised an eyebrow. Electricity?

  ‘For the benefit of injured servicemen who need our loving care and the best that fund-raised money can buy,’ Ruby said, throwing open the doors. And Archie knew it had been a long-held ambition of Ruby’s to have electricity installed in Ashland Hall, so what better time, he thought wryly; his wife had the perfect excuse and was obviously thinking of the long term. When the war was over, the electricity would still be here. Two birds, one stone. Trust Ruby.

  The click of her busy heels echoing on the parquet floor covering the wide expanse of the front lobby. ‘I can see it now,’ she said dramatically, ‘the ministering angels sitting beside the beds of injured servicemen. Their cool fingers soothing fevered brows.’

  ‘Lady Corby does not recognise her own home any more,’ Archie said, wondering if Ruby had bitten off more than she could chew this time, and for how long would he be able to see clearly enough to help her. ‘She said it is full to bursting with military and medics.’

  Ruby was oblivious to Archie’s warning note. ‘We must do our bit, Archie.’

  ‘I’m sure you are right,’ Archie agreed, knowing that to do otherwise was futile. Ruby would have her way no matter what. But if the reports in the newspaper were anything to go by, they would have to look lively. Injured soldiers were being brought home in droves. Some were so gravely wounded they were taken straight off the battlefield and placed onto the next hospital ship heading for home, still caked in the mud of the front line.

  ‘Oh, and I have more news,’ Ruby had a surprise up her sleeve. ‘I have recruited a doctor.’

  The new doctor was going to make an impression, thought Ruby. Of that she had no doubt.

  5

  ‘What about the library?’ asked Archie as an army of volunteers came to help convert Ashland Hall into an auxiliary hospital and convalescent establishment. ‘Will you close it?’

  ‘I imagine recovering soldiers will relax more if they have something to read,’ Ruby replied, ticking off items on her list of objects that were to be stored away. ‘Reading will take their mind of their troubles, and give them something other than their wounds to concentrate on.’

  ‘You are right, my dear. This will be a perfect spot,’ Archie said, looking out of the window to the golden shore and the pewter waters beyond. He knew his wife had the biggest heart in the world, but she was also a shrewd businesswoman, and he had an inkling that offering Ashland Hall for the duration of the war called for something a bit more lucrative than a generous heart.

  ‘As I said, Archie, this place will be so much more than the claustrophobic setting of unhappy memories.’ Bought by her father before her mother died, this had been such a happy house.
After her mother’s sudden demise, she and May were reared by nursemaids and governesses, all but ignored by a father who could not let go of the grief in his heart to allow space for his daughters. ‘Ashland Hall is crying out for life to be breathed back into it, by people who care. It needs to be opened and brightened up. The dusty drapes will be taken down and cleaned.’ The whole place, decorated to her father’s dark maritime taste, would be painted in clean bright pastel colours she said, and every conceivable space filled with pictures of the countryside and the beach nearby. As well as the paintings upstairs, the models of the frigates, the destroyers, the schooners her father had commissioned were to be cleared away and put into storage. ‘He also thought more of those ships than he ever thought of me or May. What do you think, Archie?’ Ruby asked.

  He was quiet for a while and only the ticking of the grandfather clock in the lobby broke the silence.

  ‘They are yours to do with as you see fit, Ruby.’ Archie spoke slowly, carefully, each word bearing the weight of his conviction. ‘If you wish to donate them to the war effort, then you will get no argument from me.’

  ‘Oh Archie, you do say the nicest things.’ Ruby’s twinkling eyes danced when her husband’s loving gaze rested on hers, and his handsome smile settled into soft deep lines that only added to his appealing allure and, as usual, their thoughts pooled.

  ‘Will we ever tell Ellie the truth?’ Archie asked, knowing she was, as she always had been, the most precious darling girl and never far from their thoughts. He asked the question in the same measured, thoughtful way, giving Ruby the impression that the decision was hers, and hers alone, and he would wholeheartedly stand by her decision.

  ‘I don’t know, Archie.’ Now the time had come, Ruby was witness to the fine job May had done of bringing up their daughter. Her sister had doted on Ellie. That much was obvious. Ellie’s heart and soul was full of the fire her mother once possessed, before Giles put it out. But right now, Ruby felt a haunting trepidation that bordered on fear. ‘What if Ellie wants nothing more to do with us? When she finds out, I mean,’ Ruby asked Archie, and he nodded, obviously thinking the same thing.

  ‘I don’t think there has ever been any love lost between Ellie and Giles.’

  ‘I think she would garner more affection if she had four legs, a tail and ran the three-o’clock at Aintree.’ Ruby’s tone was brittle and betrayed the loathing she still felt for her underhanded brother-in-law. ‘To think my daughter had to suffer that horrible little man for the past twenty years.’

  ‘I think the suffering was all his.’ There was the hint of a smile in Archie’s answer, ‘Every time he looked at Ellie, he would see you. Every time she spoke, he would hear your voice.’

  ‘Of course, he would!’ Ruby brightened. ‘Believing all of this would be his to lord over me. Rubbing my nose in his greatest victory. Master of Ashland Hall.’

  ‘Your father was many things, but he was not a fool.’

  ‘You are right, Archie.’ Ruby planted an ever-welcome kiss on his lips. ‘What time are the girls coming home?’ Ellie and Anna had agreed to come back to help set up Ashland Hall as an auxiliary hospital, and minister to wounded soldiers who would arrive sooner rather than later. They both agreed to live in the Lodge with Ruby and Archie, so they were always on hand to help out. Archie and Ruby could not have been happier.

  ‘I will pick them up this evening from the station.’

  ‘We must get in touch with the Red Cross. Arrange supplies.’

  Ruby thought that Ashland Hall would be perfect with its vast grounds, tennis court, boating lake, and many bedrooms: ideal for convalescing servicemen.

  ‘I remember the first day we came here,’ she told Archie, recalling days when it was a common occurrence for her parents to play host to famous artists who took their easels down to the sprawling shoreline to capture the spectacular twilight sunsets. ‘I used to hide in the sand dunes, waiting for unsuspecting May, who would scream with delight and hare off towards the water and I would chase her. We were quite wild, our legs cartwheeling down the great dunes.’ It was not unusual to bump into members of the aristocracy and royalty, who came to stay, to benefit from the healthy seaside location and watch champion horses being exercised during Grand National week. ‘It was such an exciting time when my parents opened the house for the three-day steeplechase.’

  Looking out from Ashland’s wide-ranging bay windows that allowed plenty of light into the capacious room and an exclusive panoramic view, Ruby remembered the crowds of sea-bathers who flocked to the coast in the summer months.

  ‘Yet, after Mama died, my memories linger around autumn and winter. A melancholy sky hanging low to meet the far horizon in a spectacular show of Mother Nature’s dominance.’ She felt Archie’s steadying hands on her shoulders, the gentle weight reassuring her, as he always did. ‘On those days, it would be stark, even lonely, especially at high tide when the water came right over the tarry stones. I used to love navigating those large flat cobbles that lined the shore, but May would never dare venture further, fearing the strong undercurrents.’

  ‘You still miss your sister, don’t you?’ Archie said, knowing Ruby had never got over, or even understood, her sister’s heart-breaking betrayal when May broke her promise not to tell their father Ruby was having a child, Archie’s child, out of wedlock.’ However, conversing with Ellie over the last four years, gave Ruby a better insight as to her sister’s true intentions.

  ‘Of course, I miss her, Archie,’ Ruby said quietly, her back toward him looking down the verdant expanse of lush green grass towards the sea beyond the far wall. ‘We only had each other when we were young, after Mama died. But I don’t know if I can forgive not being allowed to watch Ellie grow up.’

  ‘I understand, my love.’ Archie put his arm round her shoulder. ‘When she was here, May told me she treasured every waking moment with Ellie.’

  Ruby turned to face her husband, her eyes brimming with the tears no other person would ever see. ‘I would have too – given the chance.’

  ‘I know, my darling.’ Archie took her in his arms and held her close, as he had done so many times before. ‘But Ellie is coming home now. Things can never be undone, but we can make the most of what we have now.’

  ‘You always say the right thing, Archie,’ Ruby smiled and hugged his hand while she leaned her head on his shoulder, ‘it is just one of the many reasons I love you so much.’

  ‘You forgot to mention my devastating good looks and irresistible charm,’ Archie said, and Ruby could hear the smile in his voice.

  ‘Careful, Archie, or your head might swell so big you won’t get it through the door.’ Ruby smiled too, knowing she had made the right choice all those years ago when she decided she wanted to spend the rest of her life with this wonderful man. Class had nothing to do with affairs of the heart. The fact that he was considered by some to be in a lower class, being one of her father’s staff, was neither here nor there. Archie would always be her equal and she, his.

  Ruby knew having Ellie back in her rightful place was where she belonged. Instead of being suffocating in the dismal rectory her younger sister was forced to share in Scarborough with that odious little man to whom May was married. For a man of the cloth, Giles Harrington was the most greedy, dishonest and unholy person Ruby had ever met.

  Since her father died, getting to know Ellie, who thought of her as an aunt rather than the mother who was forced to give her up, Ruby, paradoxically, felt it was the happiest and saddest time she had known. ‘Ellie will not discover the truth from my lips unless it is an absolute necessity.’ For, she could not bear to lose her daughter again. What if Ellie found the revelation too shocking to cope with?

  ‘The shock could send her back to Scarborough with more questions than answers.’

  ‘You’re right, Archie, that’s what I thought. She will have enough to contend with, nursing injured servicemen at the hospital, without having to deal with such a huge revelation.’ Taking a deep bre
ath, Ruby made up her mind. ‘I think it will be better all-round if we let sleeping dogs lie.’ Ruby felt that it was not the right time to enlighten their daughter as to her rightful parents. She had sacrificed so much in the past because her sister could not carry her own child, and Ruby was not married to Archie. After banishing her from Ashland Hall, her father and Giles Harrington agreed May would bring her daughter up, and being below the age of consent, Ruby had no say in the matter.

  ‘She reminds me so much of you at that age,’ Archie said. ‘When she is outside the room and she laughs, I think it is you, and she is so full of fun and mischief sometimes that I do believe she has borrowed your soul. What a wonderful woman she has become.’

  ‘In spite of, not because of, Giles Harrington,’ Ruby countered and Archie agreed. ‘How poor May has suffered, having him to contend with every day,’ Ruby said, knowing that she and May had lost so much time. ‘I would say she has definitely done her penance, don’t you?’

  ‘I would, my love,’ said Archie.

  ‘But one thing is for sure,’ Ruby answered, ‘one day this will all be Ellie’s,’ Ruby’s hands encompassed the room, the grounds and even the sea beyond. ‘That is not something we would ever have been sure of if the unholy reverend got his mitts on the place.’

  ‘If he were going to contest the Will on May’s behalf, he would have done it by now,’ Archie said, and Ruby sighed with relief. She had a sneaking suspicion that his overwhelming gambling debts would spur him on to try and wrench the house and all its land from her. ‘I’m glad Ellie and Anna get on so well,’ Archie said, changing the subject. ‘They are like sisters.’

  ‘We have a ready-made family, Archie.’ Ruby smiled, her eyes full of love for the man at her side, remembering the good times spent in this house before everything changed.