The Penmaker's Wife

by Steve Robinson

  ‘Can we go to the aquarium then?’ Alexander asked. ‘You said you’d take us.’

  ‘So I did,’ Stanley said. ‘In that case, the aquarium it is, but surely not with The Captain here.’

  ‘No,’ Angelica said. ‘His infernal barking would upset the fish and send them all into hiding. You’ll have to leave him in Mrs Cosgrove’s room. I shouldn’t think she’ll be out much longer.’

  ‘I’ll take him,’ William said, his voice full of excitement.

  He picked the dog up and began to run off, but Stanley caught hold of him. ‘Not so fast,’ he said. ‘You’ll need the key.’ He handed it to him. ‘Do you remember the way?’

  ‘Yes,’ William called back, quickly passing the hydraulic lift, or ‘vertical omnibus’ as it was known, as he made for the stairs.

  ‘Did you mean to carry that cumbersome key ring around with you all afternoon?’ Angelica asked.

  ‘Of course not. I just thought I’d hang on to it until I knew what we were doing. I’ll leave it at the desk before we go.’

  ‘Do you mind if I don’t go to the aquarium with you?’ Angelica said. ‘I don’t really care for it, and it would be good for you to spend some time alone with the boys.’

  ‘Yes, it would,’ Stanley said. ‘No, I don’t mind at all, but what will you do with yourself until we get back?’

  ‘I think I’ll go and look for Effie and Violet – see if I can’t change Violet’s opinion of me.’

  ‘That’s a splendid idea,’ Stanley said. ‘It would make the remainder of our stay more agreeable if you can.’

  ‘Yes, well, don’t hold your breath. You’ve seen how she is.’

  William wasn’t gone long. When he came running back down the stairs he handed the key back to Stanley, panting heavily, as if he’d sprinted all the way.

  ‘Your mother could have saved you the trip,’ Stanley told him.

  ‘What do you mean?’ William said.

  ‘I mean, I’m taking you boys to the aquarium by myself. Your mother is going to see if she can catch up with Effie and Violet. She could have taken The Captain with her.’

  ‘She most certainly could not!’ Angelica said.

  ‘No,’ Stanley agreed with a grin. ‘One step at a time, eh?’

  Angelica was back in the hotel lobby when Stanley and the boys returned from the aquarium. Through the parlour palm she was sitting behind, she saw them enter, full of smiles, as if they had had the most wonderful time together. It warmed her heart to see William so happy. She watched them go to the reception desk for a key, unaware that she was sitting there watching them. As they made for the hydraulic lift, she stood up and followed along behind them. It was good timing because she hadn’t long arrived back at the hotel herself and was about to go up to their suite. She caught up with them outside the lift.

  ‘Room for one more?’ she said, surprising everyone as they stepped inside.

  ‘Mother!’ William called. He leapt at her and held her tight, pressing his smiling face into the folds of her dress.

  Angelica laughed. ‘Did you miss me?’ she said as the smartly uniformed attendant closed the lift cage and they began to rise.

  William nodded. ‘We saw a manatee!’

  ‘Did you indeed?’

  ‘And lots of sea lions,’ Alexander added.

  ‘Yes,’ Stanley said. ‘Apparently they’re breeding very well.’

  The lift arrived at the top floor and the attendant stepped aside to let everyone out.

  ‘Thank you,’ Stanley said, handing him a coin.

  As they headed along the corridor to their suite, Stanley turned to Angelica and asked, ‘But what about you? Did you manage to find Effie and Violet?’

  Angelica shook her head. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I suppose they had too much of a head start on me. I did find something interesting though – the waterfall grotto. We should take the boys to see it tomorrow.’

  They arrived outside the door to the suite, and Angelica heard talking coming from inside. ‘They must be back already.’

  She opened the door, and before they were all across the threshold, Violet came rushing to greet them, although her enthusiasm was evidently not for them.

  ‘Where’s my Sammy?’ she called in her cutesy voice. ‘Have you missed me terribly? Oh, I’ll bet you have.’

  Her words caused immediate alarm. The dog had already been brought up to the suite as far as everyone but Violet was aware. Violet took one look at Alexander, her eyes drifting down to his empty hands, as if looking for the lead she had previously placed into his care, and then her jaw dropped.

  ‘Where is he?’ she demanded. ‘What have you done with him?’

  Effie approached. ‘What’s happened? Is everything all right?’

  ‘No, everything is most certainly not all right!’ Violet yelled. ‘They’ve lost The Captain!’

  ‘Lost him?’ Effie said.

  Stanley explained. ‘When the boys came back from taking the dog for a walk, you’d both gone out, so I said to bring him up to the suite because we were going to the aquarium.’

  ‘Oh dear,’ Effie said. ‘When we came back to the suite, the main door was ajar.’

  ‘I thought we’d been burgled!’ Violet said. ‘Now I see that something far worse has happened. You’ve lost my Sammy!’

  ‘Perhaps he’s still here somewhere,’ Angelica offered. ‘Is he in the habit of hiding from you?’ She thought it a reasonable question. If she was forced to spend her days in Violet’s close company, she would have soon found places to hide.

  ‘Hide from me?’ Violet said with annoyance. ‘My little Sammy? Don’t be absurd!’

  ‘It is a very large suite, Violet,’ Effie said. ‘It’s worth a good look before we jump to any conclusions.’

  Violet’s face brightened a little. ‘Perhaps he’s shut himself in one of the wardrobes and fallen asleep,’ she said. ‘Oh, the poor thing. Sammy! Where are you?’ she called as she headed off to look for him.

  ‘I think someone would have heard him by now,’ Stanley said. ‘Still, you never know.’

  Every wardrobe, every cupboard and every drawer was opened and closed in the search for Sammy. They checked under the beds and out on the balcony, and all the while William looked as worried as Angelica had ever seen him. It didn’t take long to realise that the dog wasn’t there. William was close to tears by the time the search was over.

  ‘You see?’ Violet said. ‘You’ve lost him, haven’t you?’ Her eyes were on Alexander. ‘I’m very disappointed in you,’ she told him. ‘I trusted my Sammy to you. I suppose it was you who brought him up to the suite and forgot to close the door when you left?’

  Angelica waited to hear Alexander’s answer with great interest. What would he say? Were the two boys as close as she believed them to be? Would he stand up for William and take the blame for him, knowing that Violet’s wrath would fall more lightly on his shoulders than on William’s? On the other hand, if he did, would William let him?

  Very slowly, Alexander began to nod his head. ‘Yes, and I’m really very sorry,’ he said, looking down at his shoes. ‘But I’m sure we’ll find him. He must be in the hotel somewhere.’

  Violet drew a deep breath, as though contemplating what to say next, but before she was able to, William burst into tears.

  ‘It wasn’t Alex’s fault,’ he said. ‘It was mine!’

  ‘Yours!’ Violet snapped.

  ‘Yes, and I think I closed the door, honestly I do.’

  ‘I don’t care what you think,’ Violet said, growing more and more red-faced by the second. ‘Clearly you didn’t close it, did you? I should have known better than to let my Sammy anywhere near the likes of you!’

  ‘Now, just a minute,’ Angelica said, stepping between them, but Violet wouldn’t let her speak.

  ‘And you!’ she said, her eyes narrowing on Angelica. ‘You’re supposed to be his mother, aren’t you? How could you let this happen?’ She scoffed. ‘Your type are rarely dependable.’
/>
  Stanley was suddenly at Angelica’s elbow. ‘How dare you!’ he said. ‘I won’t have you speak to my wife like that.’

  ‘Your wife is dead, Stanley,’ Violet retorted. ‘And this . . .’ She trailed off, waving a hand at Angelica. ‘This woman is no fitting substitute.’

  Angelica had never seen Stanley look as angry as he did at that moment. His jaw was clenched and his head began to quiver as he fought against his rage. She wondered what he would say or do next, and she was proud to see that he didn’t grace Violet’s arrogance with a reply.

  Instead, Stanley drew a sharp breath, turned on his heel, and firmly said, ‘Come along, Angelica, boys. We’re packing our bags and leaving on the next train home.’

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Winson Green, Birmingham

  1896

  I suppose our sojourn to Brighton was never destined to be a happy one. Violet’s dog was soon found, washed up on the beach, and she may never have known what had become of him had she not made the entire hotel staff and half the guests look for him. By the time the poor little thing’s body was discovered, news of her loss had reached far and wide. It didn’t take long to work out who it belonged to. I had never seen Violet so distressed, or young William for that matter when he heard the news. Naturally, I stayed on with Violet to help console her, but I’m afraid I was an unsatisfactory substitute for her Captain Sammy.

  I was glad to stay, though, for a while at least. I was so very jealous of Stanley during those early years of their marriage that it somehow made me feel better to know they were far away. If only I could have remained in Brighton indefinitely, but with all my heart I wanted to return. I yearned for what Stanley had: Angelica, and a place for us both, where we could shut out the rest of the world – just as Stanley had when he took Angelica into their bedroom that afternoon. With that in mind, as soon as I returned to Birmingham I took a little room for us in town, away from the ever-inquisitive eyes of the servants and everyone else who knew us.

  Over the years our friendship continued to grow, and so did our love for one another. I remember it all now, of course, as one recalls a dream. Those days came and went so fast, as beautiful and vivid as the rising of the sun, and yet they are somehow too distant now, too perfect, to have been mine. Before I knew it a new decade was upon us. It was 1890 and Birmingham was no longer a town, but a thriving city. They were the happiest of days, while they lasted. I felt so alive, so full of joy. I think of those good years often now, when I am in need of comfort, although they fill my heart with great pain, for I know they shall never return.

  But they were good times.

  William and Alexander finished their schooling that year, and how fast they had grown. I swear I never saw Angelica looking more happy than when William was with her. It’s silly, I know, but I was even a little jealous of him at times. Whenever William was around he seemed to demand her attention and her affections, without ever trying to, although his own affections were soon to be drawn in another direction, in the form of Alfred Moore’s daughter, Louisa.

  Angelica was keen to tell me all about the day William met Louisa as a young woman for the first time, and about what happened afterwards. I knew Angelica had a troubled past, but I was soon to learn just how troubled it truly was.

  Birmingham

  1890

  Watching herself in the mirror as Effie continued to dress her, Angelica considered that she had come to enjoy being with her far more than she had imagined. She glanced over at the brass bed, the white sheets unmade and still warm, the soft pillows still carrying the impressions of their heads from having stared up at the ceiling in silent satisfaction for several heavenly minutes afterwards. They would of course have to make the bed up again before they left. It was, after all, the middle of the afternoon, and such carelessness could easily give their little secret away. But there was no rush. As far as anyone they knew was concerned, they were out enjoying a stroll in the park, which they did often, and Angelica had no place to be until it was time for dinner, when Stanley would expect her opposite him at the dining table as usual.

  She felt another tug on her corset laces and gasped. ‘Not so tight, Effie! I can barely breathe as it is.’

  Effie’s face appeared beside hers in the mirror, the afterglow still apparent in her cheeks. ‘You can get your own back when you dress me,’ she said with a giggle. ‘Now, hold still while I tie the bow, or I shall have to tighten it all over again.’

  Angelica held her breath and tried to remain still as Effie continued to pull and tug at her corset strings. They were both far less adept at dressing one another in their many layers of clothing than their own maids were, but they took their time and managed well enough. The intimate undressing and redressing was all part of the titillation.

  ‘I meant to tell you,’ Effie said a moment later. ‘I received a letter from Violet yesterday.’

  ‘How is she?’ Angelica asked, more out of politeness than genuine concern.

  ‘She’s much improved, although I don’t suppose we shall see her any time soon. She’s still in Brighton and plans to remain there. It appears her physician was correct to suppose that the sea air would be more agreeable to her.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear it,’ Angelica said, although what she really meant was that she was glad Violet was not coming back to Birmingham, not that her health had improved. She would never forgive her for the way she had treated her and William on their last visit.

  There was another tug on her corset strings as Effie fixed the bow. ‘There,’ she said, stepping aside, dressed only as far as her black knee-length stockings and flesh-pink fine wool combinations, which were a new trend in recent years to replace the individual cotton drawers and chemise. She took up her corset from the chair beside them and held it up to Angelica. ‘Now it’s your turn, and you can make it as tight as you like.’

  They swapped places, and Angelica studied her friend’s reflection in the mirror for several seconds, watching the rapid rise and fall of her breasts. She could not resist her. She reached beneath her arms to hold her corset in place while Effie fastened it, but as she did so, instead of holding the corset, Angelica reached higher and ran her palms gently down over Effie’s breasts until she could feel her erect nipples, hard and prominent beneath her undergarment. She heard Effie sigh as she continued to tease her. Then she stopped suddenly.

  ‘More,’ Effie gasped.

  ‘Next time,’ Angelica promised, returning her attention to the corset.

  ‘Tomorrow then?’

  ‘It’s Saturday tomorrow, Effie. You know I can’t see you. William and Alexander are home from school now, remember? They formally begin their apprenticeships on Monday, and tomorrow we have Alfred Moore and his daughter Louisa with us for dinner. I shall need all day to prepare.’

  ‘Yes, of course. I forget everything when I’m with you.’

  Angelica smiled to herself, thinking that Effie hadn’t changed a bit over the years since they’d met. Although now thirty years old to her thirty-two, she still seemed so young and innocent. ‘I could only see you today,’ she continued, ‘because my husband’s foreman, Mr Hardy, kindly offered to show the boys how everything at the pen factory works.’

  Effie finished fastening the front of her corset and Angelica began to adjust the ties at the back.

  ‘Speaking of children,’ Effie said a moment later, ‘you married Stanley almost seven years ago. I’d expected you would have had at least two children together by now, and judging from the frustration I sense in Stanley almost every time I see him, I’m sure he expected it too. Can you no longer bear children?’

  Angelica laughed. ‘Stanley’s wondering the same thing. He’s convinced there’s something wrong with me. He’s even asked me to see a specialist. If only he knew.’

  ‘Knew what?’

  Angelica paused before answering. ‘I suppose I can tell you,’ she said. ‘I don’t want any more children. I’ve been taking precautions against it.’
r />   ‘You have? How?’

  ‘I procured a solution of sulphate of iron, which I soak into a small piece of fine sponge tied with a string made from several strands of sewing silk. Each time Stanley comes to me, I insert the sponge high up into my person with a length of candle. When the act is over I simply withdraw the sponge.’

  ‘Doesn’t he notice the string?’

  Angelica shook her head. ‘I have always made clear my preference for coital proceedings in the dark.’

  Effie laughed. ‘Poor Stanley. It really is quite mean of you. You knew how much he wanted more children when you agreed to marry him.’

  Angelica pulled hard at the corset strings and heard Effie wince. ‘I have already provided Stanley with another son to raise as his own. I think two strong, intelligent heirs to any man’s fortune is quite enough, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes, I suppose so. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.’

  ‘I’m not upset,’ Angelica said, and then in silence she finished tying Effie’s corset.

  ‘I expect you’ve missed William terribly,’ Effie said after a while, as if deliberately changing the subject. ‘He must be all of fourteen years old now?’

  ‘He’s fifteen, and yes, I miss him every day. Further education for William and Alexander was Stanley’s idea, of course, or I would have had William home with me much sooner.’

  ‘I’m sure everything they learned during those extra years will soon be put to good use at the pen factory,’ Effie said, laying out Angelica’s crinolette. ‘I know Stanley has high hopes that they’ll someday take over the running of the business.’

  That much remained Angelica’s hope, too. As she stepped into her crinolette and pulled it up around her waist to fasten it, she wondered how well William would take to working at the pen factory. Had she done all she could to secure him a prosperous future? She thought she had, for now at least. The rest was surely up to him, although he was still very young, and as far as her son’s future was concerned, she knew she would continue to do all she could to ensure it was a happy one.