CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
A Death in the Family
By the time Frances rejoined her aunt, her mind was in a state of turmoil. Edwina Ballard’s offer had come as a complete surprise to her, and as she stood beside Louisa she could think of nothing else. Louisa was understandably eager to hear all the details of Frances’s ‘tête-à-tête’ with the mistress of Riverview, but Frances didn’t quite know what to say. She could scarcely understand it herself. She eventually assured Louisa that the meeting had been of no importance.
‘Stuff and nonsense!’ Louisa declared. ‘For Edwina Ballard to pay you, a stranger, such attentions, it must have been exceedingly important.’
Frances was saved from making a reply by Edwina Ballard herself, who announced to the guests that an assortment of edible delicacies was being served outside. The crowds of women around them began to disperse, and while they were making their way towards the drawing room door, Louisa grabbed tightly onto Frances’s arm.
‘This is the perfect moment,’ Louisa whispered loudly. ‘Come on, Frances. Start making your way to the front door.’ She began shunting Frances in that direction. ‘If we go now, no-one will see us.’
Frances freed herself from her aunt’s grip and swung around to face her. ‘Leave? Now? But Aunt Wentworth, we’ve only just arrived. We haven’t even been here thirty minutes.’ She cast Louisa a reproachful look.
Louisa frowned. ‘Yes, my dear, and as far as I am concerned, it has been thirty minutes too long. The sooner we leave the better.’ She was suddenly filled with suspicion. ‘And why are you so keen to remain here all of a sudden? What could possibly entice you to stay?’
‘I just wanted to explore the house a little more,’ Frances lied.
The truth was that she was keen to learn more about Edwina Ballard. She could not possibly accept Edwina’s offer without knowing anything about her and her family. She was therefore determined to remain at Riverview for as long as possible. The only problem she had now was trying to convince her aunt to stay. While she searched her mind for a plausible excuse, Louisa spoke.
‘Explore the house? Mercy, Frances, what for? Once you have seen one house, you have seen them all.’ She then leant over a nearby parlour palm and ran a gloved finger along one of the leaves. It was coated in dust, and Louisa inspected her dirty finger with disgust. ‘Huh!’ she said, blowing the dust away. ‘That would not happen at Wintersleigh, most assuredly.’ She looked critically about the room. ‘Riverview has so little to recommend it, except perhaps for its short distance to town. Must be very convenient. If I lived so close to the shops, I imagine I would have bought all my Christmas presents by now, and I would not be in my current predicament.’
Frances doubted her aunt’s sentiments, particularly her comments about Riverview. From what she had already witnessed, it was an impressive house with an abundance of rooms, all tastefully furnished and decorated. Every inch of the house, it seemed, spoke of wealth and refinement: from the elegant floral papers, antique furniture and crystal chandeliers, to the gilded frames in the hallway.
‘Now come on, my dear,’ Louisa resumed. ‘I want to leave now.’
‘Can’t we just have something to eat and drink before we go?’ Frances suggested. ‘If I don’t take some refreshments now I’ll have no energy to go shopping with you. You’ll have to carry all the bags by yourself.’
Louisa was in two minds. ‘How vexing,’ she said, ‘still, I do not think a few minutes would hurt. Just mind what you eat. I do not want Edwina’s friends thinking that I do not feed you enough.’
Frances assured her aunt that she would show restraint with the food, and exulting over her victory with her aunt, she exited the drawing room and followed some straggling women down the echoing hallway. Along the way she passed several young and middle- aged gentlemen who were loitering near the doorway to the billiards room. They were wealthy looking men, dressed smartly in an array of sports and tweed suits, straight stiff collars, frock coats and gloves, and as Frances walked by them, they appraised her tall figure with admiration. One gentleman, whose moustache was gleaming with Pomade Hongroise, even studied her through his monocle. Frances, of course, had little notion of her own attractiveness, and was oblivious to the attention she was receiving.
After stepping into the brilliance of the afternoon sun, Frances opened her parasol and made her way across the sun-dappled lawn, in search of Edwina Ballard. An initial search for the hostess, however, proved fruitless, and for some time she held herself aloof from the nearby throng. While she waited for Edwina to re-appear, Frances was content to stand beneath the shade of her spotted muslin parasol and protect her complexion. Louisa was soon at her side, and followed suit with her sunshade.
‘Frances, my dear, just look at those gowns,’ Louisa remarked. ‘And those sleeves! My, they are getting exceedingly large aren’t they? How would you be able to walk through an open doorway with those? I imagine you would need to walk through sideways. Very singular, not to mention impractical.’ Louisa paused briefly to accept a glass of ginger beer from a passing servant. ‘I know what you are thinking, my dear,’ she said, answering Frances’s curious gaze, ‘but I have no intentions of drinking it. I just do not want to stand out in this crowd. Everyone seems to have a glass of something in their hands. When no-one is looking, I will fling it onto that garden bed over there.’ She indicated a small bed not far from where they were standing. ‘Looks as though it hasn’t been watered in years.’
Frances, by this stage, was getting the impression that Louisa was jealous of Edwina Ballard and she secretly wondered what had caused the rift between them. Although she knew nothing about the particulars of their apparent falling out, Frances was inclined to blame her aunt for it. Frances’s smiled at the conclusion she had drawn, and while she scanned the crowd for Edwina Ballard’s elusive face, fragments of nearby conversations claimed her attention.
‘Allow me to introduce you to Mrs Douglas Richards,’ a woman’s voice declared beside her. ‘Mrs Richards’s husband has just been appointed to the Hospital Board.’ In the next moment another woman was announcing to her party that her husband was acquainted with the Governor, Viscount Gormanston, a declaration that was received by nods of the head and murmurs of approval.
Frances sighed and rested her back against an expanse of trellis that was smothered with thornless climbing roses. From her vantage point she appraised the bevy of women around her. As she studied them from afar, she wondered why these women, most of them well-heeled and educated, were content to be introduced under their husbands’ names, and to let their husbands’ achievements overshadow their own.
All at once Frances began to feel weary, and after hiding her face under the shade of her parasol, she closed her eyes. For ten blissful minutes her aunt was no-where to be found. When Louisa eventually materialised Frances opened a languid eye and studied her aunt’s face. She noticed almost at once that Louisa was looking rather sheepish.
‘Ah, there you are,’ Frances murmured sleepily, ‘I thought you had abandoned me.’
‘To these people? Mercy, no! No, Edwina’s friends are quite vexing. They are wealthy, but from what I have observed, they have exceedingly little taste. No, my dear,’ she said irritably, stepping closer to Frances, ‘I have just been down the side garden, taking some cuttings.’
‘Oh, Aunt, you weren’t!’
‘I certainly was. I discovered a very singular variety of lavender. One I have never seen before. Now do not look so black at me, Frances. There was plenty of it, and I am sure that Edwina will not even notice. It is inconceivable that she should have something in her garden that I do not have.’
‘And did anyone see you?’
‘No of course not, and I made no endeavour to publicise it. But enough of this idle chatter. We must leave now. I want to visit Rosewood after our shopping.’ She began to move towards the back door. ‘When I was taking the cuttings I was fortunate enough to overhear a conversation between the Andrews sisters. Beatrice,
in particular, has always shown an unhealthy interest in Michael Brearly, and she was saying to Henrietta that there has been a death in the Brearly family.’ Frances gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. ‘Now pray do not be alarmed, my dear. Michael and George are both fine, by all accounts. From the way the Andrews sisters were talking, I got the impression that it was no-one we knew.’ She walked through the back door and entered the cool and shadowy hallway.
‘Perhaps we should go to Rosewood first,’ Frances suggested as she trailed after Louisa.
‘Not until I have done my shopping.’
Just before the front door, however, Edwina Ballard made an unexpected appearance. ‘Ah, I see you are leaving now. I hope your short stay was tolerable.’
‘Very much so,’ Frances said smilingly.
‘Yes, indeed,’ Louisa echoed.
‘And what do you think of the garden, Louisa?’ Edwina inquired. ‘Has it not changed a great deal since your last visit?’
Louisa cast Frances a sideways glance. ‘Yes, most assuredly.’
‘And what about the new garden bed along the west wing of the house, Louisa? One of my guests informed me that you were particularly drawn to my new lavender bush.’
Louisa instinctively tightened her grip on her embroidered purse, where the spoils of her plundering were safely hidden. ‘Yes,’ she said faintly, a wave of hauteur beginning to wash over her features, ‘I confess I was admiring it.’
‘Well, I wish you all the best with your cuttings, Louisa,’ Edwina said with a grin, ‘although I must warn you that that variety of lavender is very difficult to strike, particularly when the pieces are snapped off, and not cut cleanly. You should have asked my gardener for a pair of secateurs. He would have been more than happy to oblige you.’
Louisa glanced longingly towards the door. ‘You are too kind,’ she said, without looking at Edwina.
‘Not at all,’ Edwina remarked genially. ‘And now I must get back to my other guests. My parlour maid will escort you to the front door.’ The maid was then summoned, and when she obediently emerged from the nearby drawing room, Edwina began to take a few steps backwards. ‘All the best with your shopping,’ she said, as she made her withdrawal. ‘Oh, and Miss Norwood,” she added, ‘I look forward to hearing from you soon.’ She exchanged a meaningful glance with her, and without saying another word, she turned on her heel and swept regally down the hallway to her awaiting guests.
Breakfast at Midnight Page 17