‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ she cried in abject disappointment that she seemed to have made a bad first impression.
Her cry broke the couple’s trance. Madeleine darted forward to cup Delphine’s face lovingly between her hands, her eyes shining with tears. ‘Forgive me, child. But you are the living image of our dear departed daughter, Mary Anne. She would have been just a few weeks older than you are now. You have the same eyes, the same nose and chin, as well as that wonderful bronze hair that comes from your mother’s and my side of the family. You could be her twin sister.’
Louise, who had been watching in surprise, saw as nobody else did a slight shift in Delphine’s eyes, and the smile curving her lips recalled the old adage about the cat having swallowed the cream.
‘What a great compliment you have paid me, dear Cousin Madeleine,’ Delphine breathed, radiating innocent pleasure.
Theodore was also deeply moved by her extraordinary likeness to the daughter he had loved. He could foresee this girl filling a gap in his wife’s life and maybe becoming instrumental in easing out the problems that had arisen in their marriage since their bereavement.
As Louise poured the tea and they all talked, exchanging news and accounts of much that had happened in the intervening years, Madeleine could not take her gaze from Delphine.
‘How did you injure your ankle, my dear?’ she asked with concern.
‘When I fell down Daniel’s front steps!’ Delphine answered merrily. ‘Wasn’t that a foolish thing to do?’
‘I still don’t understand why you or Louise didn’t write to let us know you were coming to Boston. Your letter would have been sent on to us and we could have returned in time for your arrival.’
‘My decision was made on the spur of the moment!’ Delphine had prepared herself for the question. ‘I have to confess that I became so bored with life on the farm that all I wanted was to come to Boston and stay for a little while with you and Theodore.’
Madeleine laughed delightedly. ‘How impulsive of you and how sweet!’
Delphine, well aware that both Louise and Daniel had their eyes on her, knew that she had to tell the truth about what had happened next. Madeleine and Theodore listened in dismay and astonishment to her tale of how destitute she had become and of Daniel’s rescue.
‘You poor dear child!’ Madeleine exclaimed. Then, having received Theodore’s indulgent nod in answer to the appeal in her eyes, she spoke directly to Daniel.
‘Would you allow us to take your two visitors away from you? Providing Louise and Delphine are willing to accept our abode as their family home from this day forward. After all, it’s where they belong.’
‘Oh, yes!’ Delphine said eagerly. ‘Daniel has been wonderful to us, but I’ve known we couldn’t stay for ever. How did you guess that my secret dream has been for Louise and I to have a true home with our own kin? I never dreamt it would happen this way.’
Theodore looked across at Louise, who was almost bemused by her sister’s guile. ‘What do you say, Cousin?’
‘I should like nothing better than to feel close to you and Madeleine, and I know I can always think of your home as my own, but I have made some plans that have yet to be consolidated. So, for a short time, if Daniel will forgive our departure, I should like to stay with you both to pick up the family threads again, which were severed for so long.’ She met an icy look in Daniel’s eyes before he turned with a smile to her cousins.
‘I’m only glad I was able to be of service to my guests in your absence.’
Madeleine beamed at him. ‘How kind and considerate you are!’ Then to the sisters she added, ‘How soon may Theodore and I expect you?’
Daniel spoke up in the same amiable tones as before. ‘If they wish, this very hour. My housekeeper will supervise the packing of trunks and those shall be delivered to your house this evening.’
His words hit home to Louise and she realized the extent of his terrible anger with her, but there was nothing she could say to ease matters between them at the present time. She had to wait for the private plans she had mentioned to come into effect before she could tell him.
He did not look at her when the time came for leaving. She had been upstairs to collect her purse and Delphine’s, as well as their capes. He sensed her coming down again, but he was paying attention only to the Bradshaws, as well as supervising the two footmen, who made a bandy chair with their arms to carry Delphine out to the carriage. As they bore her out of the door, she blew a kiss to him with her fingertips.
‘Au revoir, dear Daniel.’ She was pouting provocatively. ‘I shall miss you. Come and see me soon.’
Louise paused on the steps outside and spoke to him, her words too quiet for anyone else to hear. ‘I shall come to see you on Saturday evening if you’ll be at home.’
He did look at her, but under fierce brows spoke rigidly. ‘I’ll be here. Dine with me.’
She gave a nod of acceptance and went down to the carriage. He stood watching as it drove away.
Thirteen
Louise became as close to Madeleine as she had been in the past, her childhood devotion having turned to affectionate friendship. They often talked for hours on end, catching up on all the years between. But when Delphine came into the room or on to the porch or anywhere else they happened to be, Madeleine forgot everybody and everything else, having eyes only for her.
‘Come and sit by me, dear child. Are you comfortable? Would you like the footstool nearer?’
Delphine revelled in the attention. Within two days of arriving at the Bradshaws’ fine red-brick and stonework mansion, which a previous owner had renamed Independence House to celebrate the departure of the British, she declared her ankle had improved beyond measure. She had suddenly felt less pain and was managing to limp gracefully from room to room, even though she declared the stairs were still too much for her and she continued to be carried up and down.
Louise regarded her cynically. She realized she had been hoodwinked. While at Daniel’s home, Delphine had deliberately hidden her ankle’s improvement under the pretence of continual pain, which not even the doctor had been able to disprove. Clearly she had been determined to extend the time of her convalescence until the Bradshaws’ return. Now at last she had achieved her long-awaited aim to come under Madeleine and Theodore’s wealthy wing, and had been accepted by them in a way that must far exceed even her most optimistic imaginings. She had become a substitute daughter, with all the advantages that would bring her.
‘Why did you go on pretending?’ Louise demanded sharply when they were on their own, seated in wicker chairs on the porch, looking out over the flower garden with its leafy trees. Once again her sister’s innate capriciousness had strained her tolerance to the limits.
Delphine made no denial of her deceit. ‘Because I knew what would happen if I didn’t. You are always so fiercely independent that you’d have dragged me away from Daniel’s splendid home and off to some hovel, with talk of work and earning a living again. I’ve had enough of drudgery. I know there are dancing schools here in Boston, but now I only want to dance at grand balls with partners of my own choosing. Did you know that Cousin Madeleine is planning a great ball especially for me as soon as I’m able to dance again?’ Her eyes sparkled excitedly. ‘It’s supposed to be a surprise for me, but I heard her talking about it to Cousin Theodore!’
‘It could be held tomorrow as far as your foot is concerned,’ Louise remarked crisply.
‘Don’t be so hard on me, Louise,’ Delphine coaxed. ‘Not when so many lovely things are about to happen. It will all start on Saturday evening, when there’s to be a soirée for us to meet some of our cousins’ friends.’
Louise was dismayed. ‘But I’ve promised to dine with Daniel! Why didn’t Madeleine tell me?’
‘She will do when you see her later, but she only decided on it this morning after breakfast while she and I sat talking. You’d already gone out on another of your solitary walks. I helped her write the i
nvitations and they’ve already been delivered. There’ll only be about twenty of their close friends, as well as Daniel. He’ll understand that you will have to be here.’
Louise bit her lip in exasperation. ‘I’ll go and see him now,’ she said, getting up from her chair.
As before, on that rainy night, Louise stood looking up at the Lombard office building from the opposite side of the street. The windows were twinkling in the sunshine and it was far larger than she had realized when she had stood there in the darkness. Unlike the previous time, when the street had been almost deserted, there was plenty of traffic passing to and fro, which made her wait for an opportunity to cross it.
In the entrance hall of Lombard’s, she glanced about her with interest, having been too exhausted to notice anything in detail when last there. A glass-panelled door led into a ground-floor office and she went in. Several clerks sat on stools at a row of high desks, their quill pens busy. Only one looked up, but an older, grey-haired man came from a table to meet her.
‘Good morning, ma’am. May I be of assistance?’
‘I wish to see Mr Lombard.’
‘Yes, ma’am. I’ll see if that’s possible.’ He sent an office boy running up the wide flight of stairs down which Daniel had come on that nightmare evening. Then she was shown into another room leading off the hall to wait. It was panelled and well furnished with sofas and chairs upholstered in yellow striped silk, which would have complimented any drawing room, and a Persian rug covered almost all the polished floor. Framed squares of richly figured silk, as well as etchings of looms, silkworms and ships in full sail gave clues to the business conducted in the building. There was also a watercolour view of mulberry trees, which she knew were called the Trees of Gold in the French silk industry, since the leaves provided the only diet on which the silkworms thrived. The door opened behind her and she knew with every fibre of her being that Daniel had entered the room.
‘I see that the artist of this watercolour has a French name. Was it painted somewhere near Lyons?’ she asked without looking round.
‘Yes, it was. I came across it by chance one day at an auction.’
‘It’s exceptionally fine.’ She did turn then and saw there was no welcome in his face, his eyes narrowed and glacial.
‘So, you’ve come yourself to tell me that you’re unable to dine with me after all.’ His voice was dangerously soft. ‘I received the Bradshaw invitation here this morning when it was brought to me with a more urgent message from my house. I shall, of course, accept it. I want to see for myself how quickly you have become absorbed into your new surroundings.’
Her sudden impatience with him glittered in her gaze. ‘I knew nothing about the soirée until less than an hour ago. I had no idea that my cousin would arrange any event without telling me, but she is still so beside herself with happiness at having Delphine to fuss over and cherish that she scarcely knows where she is or what she is doing. I had my own reasons for choosing the last day of the week for our meeting, but if you’ll be at home on Friday, I shall come that evening instead.’
He inclined his head sharply. ‘A day earlier. All the better.’
There was no pleasure in his voice and she wondered what he expected to hear from her when Friday came. It was obvious that he had viewed her leaving his house as both desertion and a final severance, showing he had believed after that kiss between them in the library that she would never leave him. She must have revealed more of her inner self at that moment than she had realized at the time.
She made a move to go again. ‘Now that our meeting has been rearranged satisfactorily, I’ll bid you au revoir, Daniel.’
He saw her out. ‘Until Friday then, Louise.’
She went away without looking back.
Instead of returning immediately to Independence House, she went to a lawyers’ office on State Street. She would be early for her appointment, but she could wait there. When she emerged some time later there was a little smile on her lips. Now everything was in place. It had been like a game of chess. She had put so much thought into the secret moves that she had made prior to this day, all unbeknown to Daniel and Delphine. Neither had she said anything to the Bradshaws, who, had she wished it, might have been able to offer some advice. She was glad that this new venture would be entirely the result of her own efforts and she was prepared to work all hours of the day and night if necessary to make a success of it.
When she arrived back at Independence House Madeleine came to the head of the stairs and beckoned to her. ‘Come up, Louise,’ she urged eagerly. ‘You have such good taste and we’ve been waiting for your advice. I decided that our dear Delphine should have a new gown for the soirée. In fact, a new wardrobe altogether as she is so tired of everything she has worn during her convalescence.’ Then she hurried back into Delphine’s bedroom.
Reaching its doorway, Louise gazed in smiling amazement at the confusion reigning within. A portly seamstress with her three assistants seemed to have filled the whole bedroom with measuring tapes, swatches of silks, velvets, gauzes and muslins. There was a stack of London fashion plates and dolls in miniature versions of what could be supplied. In the midst of it all Delphine stood pirouetting in her petticoats, all pretence of a painful ankle abandoned, even though she had been carried downstairs again that morning. She was holding various lengths of fabric against herself, still undecided as to which she liked best. Seeing Louise, she waved happily.
‘Isn’t this wonderful! I’m to have everything in the very latest fashion. Waists are even higher! Right under the bosom now and flowing softly from underneath. Muslins and gauzes are now the most elegant. You can help me decide which of these lovely fabrics I should choose.’
‘Which do you like best so far?’
‘I love them all!’
Louise picked up the fashion plates and studied them. She thought the new styles wonderfully graceful. Her most recent gowns had followed the strong trend towards a higher waistline and a narrower silhouette, but she had had nothing new since leaving New York, having been too occupied ever since to give time to any sewing for herself.
Madeleine touched her on the arm. ‘Come with me to my boudoir for a few minutes, Louise. There’s something that I want to discuss with you in private.’
As soon as Madeleine had shut the boudoir door she sat down beside Louise, who had seated herself on the chaise longue. ‘I know I’m being indulgent towards Delphine,’ she began apologetically, ‘but she is so delighted with everything she receives and both Theodore and I want her to be happy with us.’
‘You need have no fear about that,’ Louise said reassuringly.
‘There’s something else far more important that I have to say. Theodore is going to speak to you about it this evening, but I’m on such tenterhooks that I can’t wait a moment longer to have some idea as to how you will react.’ She drew a deep breath. ‘First of all, I must tell you that we know about the baby. Delphine shed such tears when she told me how that Dutch villain in New York raped her and how your kind friends on the farm adopted the child. When I think how her one thought was to run away to me for understanding and comfort, I’m touched to the heart.’ Madeleine’s eyes filled with tears. ‘As I told the darling girl, her terrible experience is all in the past now. She is making a new start in life with us.’
Louise thought how typical it was of Delphine to cover her tracks so skilfully as well as disguising the true facts for her own ends. ‘You’re very tolerant, Madeleine.’
‘We love her as you do, my dear.’
‘What was it you wished to ask me?’
‘Theodore and I want you to let us take on full responsibility for Delphine, as if we were her true parents. She is not yet of age and we should like to adopt her officially. Not only is it our greatest desire, but you will be left free to enjoy yourself after years of putting her first, which I know you have always done, from everything she has told me.’
Louise thought how strange it was that for the se
cond time she was being asked to agree to an adoption. Firstly the son and now the young mother. ‘Have you spoken to Delphine about it?’
‘No! Theodore said that we must consult you first.’
‘Delphine has yearned for a long time to make her home with you and I know how safe and well cared for she would be, but—’
Madeleine smiled happily and made a dismissive little gesture. ‘Don’t worry about anything, my dear. Delphine will be as much our daughter as if she had been Mary Anne’s twin. She has brought youth and light back into our lives. As for you, at last you will have the chance to put your own wishes first and to live your life without any encumbrances.’
‘I’ve never thought of my sister in that light. Anything I did for her was out of love, just as it always will be if ever she needs me.’
‘I know,’ Madeleine said softly. ‘It shall be the same with us.’
Theodore and Louise discussed the matter at length that evening in his study. He made it clear that, unlike his wife, he was not deceived as to Delphine’s true character.
‘I think I know the problems you’ve had to deal with in taking care of your sister,’ he said sagely. ‘She has more mischief in her eyes than our own daughter had in her whole body, but I’m willing to shoulder whatever comes for my wife’s sake. There were many times during Madeleine’s terrible mourning when I was afraid to leave the house in case she should find some way to take her own life in my absence. Even after I brought her away from New York to Boston, she seemed unable to face life without our child and there have been many difficult periods as a result. But your sister has given her a purpose in life again. Madeleine has been transformed.’
‘It seems to me in that way they are alike.’ Louise commented. ‘They both need to give love and to be surrounded by it.’
‘I agree. So have I your permission to ask Delphine if she would like to become our legally adopted daughter?’
‘I have no objection and can only thank you for fulfilling my sister’s dream.’
New World, New Love Page 18