Ruby had nodded but said nothing. Even a house half the size of Foreburn would be a mansion outside most people’s comprehension and could hardly be called cosy.
Now, as an ornate marble clock chimed six o’clock in the drawing room in which they were sitting, Clarissa said regretfully, ‘Oh, I so wish I didn’t have to attend this wretched dinner Lord Rochdale is giving for Lady Russell tonight. I would have much preferred for us to dine together.’
Ruby smiled but rose to her feet. ‘I’ll leave you to get ready,’ she began, just as a knock came at the drawing-room door and a maid opened it to say, ‘Mr Forsythe is here, ma’am.’ A moment later a tall, handsome and distinguished-looking man strode into the room, smiling widely.
Clarissa jumped up, saying to Ruby, ‘Oh, it’s my brother Edward, he’s escorting me to the dinner,’ and then to her brother, ‘I want to introduce you to the lady who saved my life this afternoon,’ with a dramatic flourish worthy of an actress. ‘Edward, this is Miss Ruby Morgan and but for her I would be lying mangled under the wheels of a horse and trap.’
Ruby had blushed hotly – she could feel the colour burning her cheeks – but Edward smiled, holding out his hand as he said in a deep, slightly husky voice, ‘Now as introductions go, this is certainly one to remember. I am most delighted to make your acquaintance, Miss Morgan. Edward Forsythe, at your service.’
Ruby placed her hand into his hard warm grip and managed to say fairly steadily, ‘How do you do, Mr Forsythe.’
‘Very well, very well.’
Ruby had assumed Clarissa to be no more than a few years older than herself but the man in front of her looked to be in his thirties, and this was confirmed when Clarissa said, ‘Edward’s my big brother, Ruby, but there are two more older than him. I’m the only girl and the baby of the family.’
‘And more trouble when she was younger than the rest of us put together,’ Edward grinned, then rumpled Clarissa’s carefully arranged hair causing his sister to squeal in protest. ‘But tell me, what’s all this about Miss Morgan saving you from certain death?’
He had spoken with a twinkle in his grey eyes, and Clarissa’s voice was reproving when she said, ‘She did, she really did, I’m not exaggerating. You can ask Lavinia later if you don’t believe me. We were at the meeting at Castle Leazes and a frightened horse bolted straight for me. Ruby flung herself into its path to save me.’
‘Well, on behalf of myself and the rest of the family, may I thank you, Miss Morgan. We all decided a long time ago that Clarissa has been put on this earth to keep us on our toes but nevertheless, she is exceedingly precious.’ He smiled at his sister, a warm, loving smile, and Clarissa smiled back. Ruby could sense the closeness between the two siblings even after only moments in their company and she found herself envying Clarissa. She had been ten years old when her two brothers had marched off to war and her memories of them had dulled a little with the passing years, but she didn’t think she would ever have had the relationship with them that Clarissa seemed to have with Edward.
Knowing that Clarissa had to prepare for the evening ahead, she said politely, ‘It’s been very nice to meet you, Mr Forsythe, but I really have to be going,’ at the same time as she became aware that next to his height and breadth – he must be at least six foot two inches or so and his shoulders were broad under his evening clothes – she felt unusually small and feminine and it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. There was a fresh clean smell emanating from him and although he was clean-shaven the faint bluish hue about his chin went hand in hand with his wavy jet-black hair. He was somehow disturbing, a small section of her mind told her, and not just because he was handsome although he certainly was. No, it was more the presence he carried with him. Telling herself she was being ridiculous and hoping she didn’t appear as flustered as she felt, she said to Clarissa, ‘Thank you for a lovely tea.’
‘Oh, I enjoyed it immensely and don’t forget you promised to come for lunch on Thursday,’ Clarissa said, leaning forward and kissing her on both cheeks. ‘I’ll get Pearson to take you home.’
Had she promised to come for lunch on Thursday? Clarissa had asked her earlier when she was escorting her round the house, but to Ruby’s mind she’d parried the invitation, hoping Clarissa wouldn’t pursue it. Clarissa was being gracious, and she was clearly a genuinely warm-hearted woman, but the social gulf between them was so huge no amount of gratitude on Clarissa’s part could bridge it. She must see that?
Highly embarrassed now, and wondering what Clarissa’s brother was thinking, Ruby said awkwardly, ‘That’s really very nice of you but I don’t think—’
‘But you’re on holiday this week, you told me so,’ Clarissa interrupted before she could finish. ‘Oh, Ruby, please spare the time.’ Clarissa took her hands, shaking them slightly. ‘We can lunch down by the lake – it’s lovely and cool there in the shade of the trees. Edward, tell her she must come.’
Edward looked at Ruby, a wry twist to his lips. ‘She’s like a miniature steamroller, Miss Morgan, take it from me, and always gets her own way. Thoroughly spoiled by our parents, I’m afraid, and Godfrey took over from where they left off.’
‘Oh, you!’ Clarissa pushed her brother with sisterly disapproval. ‘You make me out to be a brat.’
‘Well . . .’ Edward grinned at Ruby and she had to smile back; they were like a double act, they really were.
‘You’ll come?’ Clarissa said again.
Ruby nodded. ‘Thank you.’ Edward was right, Clarissa was an unstoppable force, and anyway she would be back at work next week and normal life would have to resume. Why not take this brief step out of reality and enjoy it for what it was worth – a glimpse into how the other half lived.
‘Oh, goody.’ Clarissa actually clapped her hands and Edward sighed in mock despair.
‘See what I mean, Miss Morgan? She’s never grown up.’
‘I’m perfectly grown up but I refuse to be dull and boring like you.’ Clarissa softened the rebuke with a smile and then said, ‘I’ll ring for Gladys to tell Pearson you’re ready to leave, Ruby.’
‘Don’t bother Pearson,’ Edward said easily. ‘If I know you you’re going to take at least an hour or more to pretty yourself and I’ll just be kicking my heels waiting. Why don’t I pop Miss Morgan home?’
This was getting worse by the minute. Ruby’s eyelids blinked rapidly but for the life of her she could think of no firm reason why Clarissa’s brother shouldn’t take her home. Somehow she managed to say weakly, ‘Oh, I really couldn’t put you to that bother, Mr Forsythe.’
‘The name’s Edward, and it’s no bother at all. In fact, you would be doing me a favour. Shall we?’ He smiled at her and held out his arm for her to put her hand in the crook of his elbow. She could do nothing but comply, especially with Clarissa beaming at them as though she had engineered the whole thing.
Feeling as though she had forgotten how to put one foot in front of the other, she accompanied Edward out of the room and into the vast hall, and once outside, Clarissa hugged her before standing on the steps and watching them as they walked towards Edward’s car. It was another beauty but she had prepared herself for that, and it stood in gleaming midnight-blue splendour on the gravelled drive. As Edward helped her into the passenger seat, Ruby prayed for an aplomb she was far from feeling, and once he had slid in beside her and they had waved goodbye to Clarissa she searched for something to say. The best she could come up with being, ‘This is a lovely car.’
‘Thank you.’ As the car scrunched down the drive he smiled at her. ‘It is something of an indulgence, I’m afraid. I mostly live and work in the city. I only use the car when I visit my parents, and Clarissa of course, and the odd visit to other family and friends in the country. Driving oneself in town is no longer the pleasure it once was.’
‘You work in London?’ As a son of wealthy parents Ruby hadn’t expected Clarissa’s brother to earn his own living. It was clearly unfair of her, but she’d had him down as one of the Hooray H
enrys the newspapers were always on about, rich and mostly ineffectual young upper-class men who were fashionable and wayward and intent on a good time.
Edward nodded, keeping his eyes on the road ahead now they’d left the confines of the estate. It was dappled with late-evening sunshine and as the folding roof of the Daimler was fixed open Ruby had taken the precaution of removing her straw bonnet and placing it on her lap where it couldn’t fly off.
‘As I’m not the heir or even the spare,’ Edward went on, ‘I came to the conclusion early on that I was in the fortunate position of being able to choose what I wanted to do with my life. My two brothers are heavily involved with my father’s estate and the farm we have. Cuthbert is being groomed to take over at some point and Leonard will manage the farm for him and so on. Anyway, my maternal grandmother, bless her, left me a sizeable inheritance when she passed on. She was a grand old lady in every sense of the word. My brothers and Clarissa were frightened to death of her but I never was and I think she liked that. I decided that the business world was beckoning and I entered in with gusto. After a somewhat tricky start I discovered I was actually rather adept at what my father likes to call “wheeling and dealing”.’
This last was said with a tinge of bitterness, and Ruby felt that Clarissa’s brother didn’t see eye to eye with his father regarding his work. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye but the handsome profile revealed nothing.
‘And you?’ he went on. ‘Clarissa said you are on holiday this week? With whom are you staying, Miss Morgan?’
She suddenly realized that Edward had no idea of who she was or her station in life, and why would he? He had only met her minutes ago, after all. The clothes she was wearing were not those of the average working-class girl, and Clarissa had been unable to hide her surprise when she’d confided that she had made them herself from pictures she had seen of the latest fashions. Neither was her northern brogue as pronounced as it once had been; the elocution lessons had seen to that. Not that she was ashamed of her roots in the least, but if she was going to open her own high-class dress shop in the future she knew she had to speak properly with the right enunciation and delivery.
She looked straight ahead as she said quietly, ‘I’m not staying with anyone, Mr Forsythe. I rent a room in the town and at present I have a week’s holiday from my job as an assistant laundress at the workhouse.’
The car swerved slightly but other than that he showed no reaction. ‘You rent a room? You have no family?’
‘I have family in Sunderland but I moved from there to Newcastle two years ago.’
‘That was very brave of you.’
‘Not really.’ She hesitated. No doubt he would get the full story from Clarissa if he bothered to ask, but she really couldn’t go into it right now. She was mentally and physically exhausted after the events of the day and she knew she’d have bruises all over from her tumble at the park, but it wasn’t so much all that as Edward Forsythe himself that had her at sixes and sevens. Now she said, her voice deliberately cool, ‘Circumstances dictated the move, that’s all.’ Changing the subject, she added, ‘London must be very exciting, Mr Forsythe.’
‘Edward, please.’ He slowed down to avoid a wood pigeon pecking at something on the dusty road and then sounded his horn when it showed no intention of getting out of the way, causing it to fly off with a great flapping of wings. ‘Yes, I suppose you could say London’s exciting – certainly there are more forms of entertainment than one can shake a stick at. And when the hotels and restaurants close and the theatres empty and so on, dancers can go on to one of the new clubs that have sprung up since the war like the Top Hat or Mother Hubbard’s or the Kit-Kat Club and dance till dawn. The flappers make the most of that,’ he finished somewhat sardonically.
She had heard the term before for the bright young things in flimsy dresses of muslin, chiffon and crêpe de Chine who shimmied the nights away in a whirl of fringes, tassels and beads, and who had a growing reputation for being frivolous and undisciplined and carefree. Again she glanced at him from under her eyelashes. ‘You don’t approve of the freedom of the modern woman?’
‘On the contrary. I’m all for women having equality in every realm, be it in medicine or law, academia, business or politics, and certainly they should have been given the same voting rights as men decades ago. The fact that it was only last year that equal terms in marriage were finally awarded to their sex is shameful. However, I can’t help thinking that the fight by the suffragettes in the past and which is continued by women like my sister and yourself today was for more than equipping the social butterfly type to flaunt her freedom by showing a distinct lack of morality.’
Now Ruby twisted in her seat to stare at him. ‘So in other words, a woman should only have as much freedom as you approve of?’
‘That isn’t what I said.’
‘I think it is.’
‘No,’ he said a little testily. ‘I just don’t think a brazen image of womanhood and seeming lack of seriousness or interest regarding the important issues of life this world faces is attractive.’
Neither did she, but that wasn’t the point. ‘If a young woman wants to have some fun before she settles down and raises a family, then that is her right, surely? It doesn’t necessarily mean she is promiscuous or heartless. And if she chooses never to marry or have children, or makes a career for herself, then that is her right too.’
‘Couldn’t agree more.’ His voice was laconic in the extreme now, which Ruby found immensely irritating. ‘But your average scantily clad flapper with a haircut like a man’s drinking umpteen Manhattans and getting pie-eyed constitutes a danger to herself and others, especially if they then decide to drive home in a car or on a motorcycle. I lost a dear friend this year when two silly girls in a little sports car one of their fathers had bought for her twenty-first birthday the week before lost control of the vehicle and mounted the pavement. They were so intoxicated they couldn’t stand up when the police arrived on the scene.’
‘That’s awful, I know, but women like that are the exception to the rule. Surely you see that?’
He shrugged. ‘Perhaps I’m getting a little cynical in my old age, Miss Morgan.’
It was the mocking note in his voice that made her say, and more sharply than she had intended, ‘Well, forgive me, Mr Forsythe, but that’s nothing to be proud of.’
There was silence for a long moment. The breeze had teased tendrils of hair from the chignon at the nape of her neck and her cheeks were flushed, more from their exchange of words than the rush of air in the open-top car. He had been kind enough to offer to bring her home and she had just insulted him, Ruby thought in dismay, but really, he was the most impossible man.
After an uncomfortable pause when Ruby remained absolutely still and staring ahead, gripping her hat so hard her knuckles showed white, Edward said quietly, ‘You are quite right and I apologize. Of course such individuals are the exception. It’s just that Anthony left a wife and young child and I grieve for what might have been.’
‘No, I apologize.’ Ruby felt awful. He was mourning his friend and she’d shown as much empathy as a fly on the wall. Why, oh, why, had she ever agreed to accompany Clarissa home in the first place? ‘That was totally uncalled for.’
‘At the risk of disagreeing with you once again and incurring your wrath, I think you were right to reproach me, Miss Morgan. I was being boorish. Clarissa has taken me to task on a number of occasions recently on the same subject. Now –’ he grinned at her for a second and as she met the dark grey eyes a little shiver snaked down her spine – ‘with your permission, we’ll begin again? Edward Forsythe, at your service.’
Ruby smiled. ‘Ruby Morgan, Mr Forsythe.’
‘I shan’t believe I’m forgiven until you call me Edward.’
Feeling that the afternoon had got more surreal with every passing minute, Ruby had no option but to say, ‘Edward.’
‘And may I call you Ruby?’
As they w
ere unlikely to ever meet again, Ruby could see no harm in humouring him, besides which she had little other option. ‘Of course.’
During the rest of the journey Ruby discovered that Edward was skilled in the art of light conversation, and also very humorous when he set out to be. Nevertheless, she was immensely relieved when the car drew into Bath Lane Terrace where it immediately drew a great deal of interest from a group of children swinging on a rope they’d secured to the lamp post. Before they had even stopped a crowd of little people had surrounded the Daimler, and as Edward exited the vehicle and walked round the bonnet to open Ruby’s door for her, one cheeky urchin, with his backside hanging out of his ragged trousers, shouted, ‘Hey, mister, got a penny to spare?’
Well, he could certainly have no illusions as to her position in society after this, Ruby thought drily, as she said to Edward, ‘Ignore them.’
He helped her out of the car and once they were standing on the pavement with all the children now clamouring for money, she said stiffly, ‘Thank you very much for bringing me home, Mr Fors— Edward, and I hope you enjoy the dinner tonight.’
‘The dinner will be tedious in the extreme, I’m afraid. I’m sure it’s only to avoid such events that the brigadier devotes so much time to the army, but—’ He broke off abruptly to shout at the snotty-nosed little lad who had first spoken and who had taken it upon himself to try and climb on the bonnet of the car using the mascot to pull himself up.
One Snowy Night Page 12