Wise Child

by Audrey Reimann

  Lily saw Dresden figures, silver boxes with purple linings, pots and bowls in lacquer and gold; all were set out for them to make their choices. Some of the children had chosen and were pointing their objects out to Mrs Hammond, who wrapped the mementoes for them. A stack of tissue paper lay upon one of the side tables for the purpose.

  Mr Hammond came back and stood beside her. 'Well, Lily? Is there anything you'd like?'

  There was. Behind the locked glass doors of a splendid tall bureau bookcase in red wood that had drawers and a locking cupboard under the shelves, she had seen two books; a blue leather-bound Every Man's Own Lawyer which said under the title, 'By A Barrister', and a red-bound one called The Universal Home Lawyer. Illustrated. She wanted them. If she had them she could find out all about wills and deeds and properties - and what it meant, legally, to be illegitimate. 'Could I have two of those books?'

  Mr Hammond said, 'Lily! The others have chosen something valuable. You want books.' He put his hand on her shoulder and called to Mrs Hammond. 'Come here, my dear.'

  She came and stood, frowing. 'Lily? What do you want?'"

  'Those two books,' she said. 'If that's all right?'

  'That will be all right.' She said to Mr Hammond, 'She may as well have all the books. And that hideous old bookcase. Nobody would buy it;'

  'Very Well.' Mr Hammond smiled at Lily. 'Take the two books you've chosen. I will have the others and the bookcase delivered to your house. But Lily, I thought you'd have asked for the piano.'

  'I wouldn't have dared,' she said, blushing.

  'I won't take no for an answer,' he said. 'You shall have the piano.'

  Elsie stood at the little iron gate of Pilkington House waiting for Lily.

  The pains in her neck had gone. The relief was tremendous. She had barely begun to take it all in when Frank came out to join her.

  'Where's our Lil?' he said and touched her hand in a secret caress.

  He had not taken it badly. Elsie's last fears evaporated. She returned the pressure of his hand. 'She's inside. Choosing a memento.'

  He took his hand away, looked about; then, seeing nobody, said, 'Glad you came, love. It's been an ordeal.'

  'And for me. I thought she might have said...' Elsie gave a relieved laugh, seeing that Frank's bouncy air had returned. 'I nearly fainted when the lawyer came to the bit about . .. ladies who might suffer...' She had her back to the front door and he nudged her to show her that Lily was coming out. Elsie, not seeing her, went on, 'In a year's time you will be free to do what you want. You can't pretend she's left you with nowt!'

  Frank said, 'You're better off than l am now!' He put his head back and laughed out loud.

  Elsie had now seen Lily, who was smiling at Frank's remark. 'The money won't make any difference to me,' she said. Then, as she spotted the parcel in Lily's arms, 'What did you pick for yourself!'

  'Books,' Lily answered. 'Books about the law.'

  'Books?' Elsie raised laughing eyes towards Frank. 'Who does she ake after?' she said, 'Books! She's into everything.'

  'You're a good friend, Elsie,' Frank said. 'One of the best.'

  Elsie's smile vanished. She was more than a friend. But his visits had decreased over the last year. Frank's being an alderman, buying properties, running his trading company and, as he called it, 'working his clogs off' at the mill took up most of his free time. He told her when she'd asked if his interest was waning that he loved her, but he was getting on, nearing forty, his hair was greying and his appetites were going. That much was true; it was three weeks since they had last...

  Oh God! She should not think that way. Not when Frank had so much on his plate - disappointment in his civic life and scandal to brazen out with people thinking Ray might be responsible for this rotten business. She frowned and said to Lily, 'We'd best get a move on.'

  They had gone a little way down Park Lane when Lily asked, 'You didn't mean it, did you, Mam? About the money making no difference?'

  Elsie stopped and looked around, and when she saw· that there was nobody about she laughed, loud and heartily. 'Of course it will make a difference. I was just saying it, to see what Frank would say.'

  'He didn't seem heartbroken to me,' Lily said. 'And he's rich, isn't he? All that property, and the rents.'

  'He's done all right for himself,' Elsie said. 'Frank's already worth more than the combined assets of Chancellor's Printworks.'

  'It said in the will that he will be in charge of the works and he can live in the house until he marries: Lily said. 'Do you think he'll get married again?'

  Elsie rebuked her. 'It's in poor taste, this conversation. With Sarah Chancellor only just laid to rest!'

  'I didn't mean.. .' Lily's face was bright red. 'I shouldn't have said it.'

  But Elsie wanted to keep on talking about it. Her mood was lightening with every relieved thought. Frank was free. They were no longer committing adultery. They could marry after a decent interval and at last she'd be a respectable married woman. Elsie Chancellor!

  They were at the bottom of Mill Street by this time, not talking loud enough for anyone following to hear. 'What do you think, Lil?' she said. 'Can you see Frank marrying again?'

  'No,' Lily answered. 'Of course he won't. He doesn't need to marry for money. He'll catch up on all the good times he missed when he was young. I think he'll just gallivant!'

  'Gallivant?' Elsie shook her head. 'He's not the sort. He's too old to play the fool. Don't believe what his wife said. Sarah Chancellor was bitter. She never loved Frank. Her will was no surprise.' She grabbed Lily's arm and tucked it into hers as they went fast up Mill Street.

  Lily asked, 'What shall we do with the money? We're rich, aren't we?'

  'We'll do nothing with it. At first,' Elsie said.

  'After a bit?' Lily asked. 'Will we buy property? Buy the shop?'

  'No. I wouldn't live in Jordangate if I didn't have to.'

  'We don't have to,' Lily answered. 'You could buy that bungalow you've always wanted.'

  'What would you like to do with it?' Elsie asked, expansive now that everything was going to come out right. 'Come on, out with it. What do you want that money can buy?'

  'I don't know. Just to know you are not poor any more.'

  They were almost at the top of Mill Street. And all of a sudden Elsie felt as if a great weight had dropped off her shoulders. Frank would be back. How stupid to think he was losing interest in her. He had been having trouble controlling Ray for a long time. This business could have been hanging over him for weeks. He'd kept it to himself, not to worry her. She said, 'Not just me. We are rich. You and me.'

  Lily said, 'And I'm taking over, Mam. I want us to pay our way. I'll make our expenses go round. You can do what you like with the legacy.'

  'I know!' Elsie looked over her shoulder again, as if there might be an eavesdropper behind. Then, softly, she said, 'We are going to spend a little bit of it, making ourselves more comfortable. Then we'll have a holiday, and new clothes.Whatever we fancy.'

  'And put the rest into investments and bonds...?'

  'No. I'm thirty-nine. I'd like to get married. Next year.' She and Frank: must not become careless. There must be no gossip now. But in a year's time they could be seen together.

  'You don't have anyone to marry.' Lily gave a strange, humourless laugh. 'Any anyway, you don't need to marry. You are out of it now.'

  'And you,' Elsie said, as she glanced at her quickly. Lily was looking straight back into her mother's face with the clear-eyed gaze that was so like Frank's it often stopped her heart.

  Then, and it was as if the bottom dropped out of Elsie's world, Lily said. 'No, Mam. I won't be out of it until you tell me who my father is.' Elsie stopped, rooted to the spot, feeling as if the blood were draining out of her, soaking through the flagstones into the ground. Lily's arm was tight, to support her in case she fell. The child was looking straight at her. 'My medical records says "Miss Elsie Stanway" and, "Father unknown". You have to tell me, Mam.'
>
  'I can't. Not until. .. Give me time...'

  'Will you answer one thing'?' Lily sounded so matter-of-fact, so adult that Elsie was taken off guard. 'Tell me, Mam. Is he alive'?'

  Elsie's breath was being suffocated out of her. She could not look Lily in the face and lie to her. She had always avoided Lily's eyes when she lied. Now she looked straight into those clear grey eyes and whispered, 'Yes. Yes. He is.'

  'And does he know who I am'?'

  'Yes.'

  Elsie could have cut out her tongue. She had made a mistake. She would regret for evermore telling Lily even that much, for the girl let go of her arm and said, in a choking little voice, 'Then I hate him. He knows who I am, but he doesn't love me. If he did, he'd tell. I don't care tuppence who he is!' Tears were streaming down her face.

  Chapter Twelve

  Magnus twisted his face out of the water, opened his mouth, gulped air and heard the roar of voices spurring him on. ‘'Hammond! Hammond!'

  He could hear Father's voice. Five more strokes. Keep the legs going. He reached the rail, grabbed it and he'd done it. The flag went up. The noise was deafening. They were coming in on the other lanes, second, third, fourth. But he had won. He had won the swimming cup for his house. What a way to end your school days. Only one more battle to come – the right to leave school. He had to be helped out of the water, but that was all right. His left hip and knee, painless in the water, could not take the punishment of clambering out. He dropped down on to the form, bent double to get his breath back. In the water his body was as good as anyone's.

  Father and Ian were sitting right behind the house captains.

  Father, proud as Punch, leaned over to touch him. 'Well done!'

  'Terrific!' said Ian.

  Magnus bared his teeth in a quick grimace before, shoulders hunched forward, mouth open, his breathing slowed and eased. And out of the water, the insidious, aching pains deep in his hips, knee and ankle came back to remind him of who and what he was.

  He could live with the pain. He would not let it beat him or stop him from doing anything he wanted to do. Tomorrow, with Sylvia and Mother there to see him, pain would not matter when he climbed the steps to the platform to receive the cup for his house. If only Lily were here to see his moment of triumph.

  In Edinburgh that evening Father took them all to dinner at the Cafe Royal, where they drank champagne to honour Magnus's winning the trophy. Afterwards, back in the drawing room at Charlotte Square, Father said, 'I think it's a mistake, Magnus. Giving it all up. Why don't you continue at school? Take your School Certificate.'

  Uncle Mack, in his kindly way, said, 'You are sixteen. You were years behind when you arrived here. Who knows what you might achieve.' Uncle Mack of course believed that effort in equalled results out, no matter what natural ability one had.

  Father said, 'I wasn't clever, Magnus. But I stayed on until I was eighteen and...'

  'You went to work with your father at Hammond Silks,' said Magnus. 'And what's good enough for you.. .' Magnus liked working at the mill. He liked the hustle and bustle, the noise, the sense of something done at the end of every day. Everyone liked him at the mill that would one day be his. The sooner he made himself indispensable to Father and the mill, the better. He said, 'I've made my mind up. I'm leaving school.'

  Mother said, 'He should come home. Sylvia's going to finishing school.'

  Sylvia butted in with her opinion, which was exactly the same as Mother's. 'I'll be in Lausanne, Father. Mother will be lost with me away and Magnus in Edinburgh.'

  Mother added, 'I will have all the time in the world for him.'

  Magnus said, 'I can take care of myself, Mother.'

  Ian came to his rescue, 'Why does he have to make up his mind today? The summer holidays are coming up. If we all get together down in Cheshire after my week's sailing, we can see how he feels.'

  In July Ian would be crewing for a friend, competing in a West Coast yacht race from Gourock on the Clyde to Formby point in Lancashire. They had asked Magnus to be fourth man, but he knew his strengths and weaknesses, and competitive sailing was beyond him. And boats.. what use was sailing to a chap who would be running a mill? There was not a harbour or a coastline within fifty miles of Macclesfield.

  Ian grinned at him. 'Magnus, come upstairs. I want to ask a favour.'

  Ian stood at the window. He could see the spans and trusses of the great railway bridge from here, and the wide, glittering blue water of the Firth of Forth, with Fife and the Ochil Hills beyond. It would be good sailing next Saturday, if the weather held. But he could only spend the weekend on the water if Magnus would oblige. He said, 'How would you like to take Rowena to her school-leaving dinner and dance on Saturday?'

  'Me? Does Rowena want me to take her?'

  Ian said, 'I said I would take her. But look at that water! Perfect sailing weather.' He gave Magnus a smile of encouragement. 'It won't involve much dancing - but you are much better at it, dancing and larking with girls, than I am.' Then before' Magnus could think of a reason not to, he added, 'Rowena would much rather show you off.'

  'Would she?' Magnus straightened his shoulders. 'I am actually quite a good dancer,' he said.

  Ian enjoyed teasing Magnus. 'Not promised to anyone, eh, Magnus?'

  'I have a girlfriend. In Macclesfield. But it's hush-hush at present,' Magnus said.

  'You mean she doesn't know you exist!'

  'She knows I exist, all right,' Magnus protested. 'I just haven't got round to asking her out.'

  Ian's laugh rang out. 'You are a bit of a masher on the quiet, are you?' Then, 'Will you do it? Can you take a whole evening on the dance floor?' He had not meant it to sound like a challenge, but he saw from Magnus's expression that that was exactly how it had sounded. He said, 'I know you like to get your head down early. But if you could - I'd be grateful.'

  'Of course I'll do it,' Magnus said. He tipped his head back and gave Ian a supercilious look. 'I'm surprised you are not interested in girls. You're not a bad-looking sort.'

  lan's laugh roared out. 'I am normal, Magnus,' he said. 'When I find one I will probably go overboard. But I haven't come across a girl yet who makes me want to dance.'

  Later, in his room, Magnus thought about Ian's way of looking at girls and life and the world. It struck Magnus as odd that any male, boy or man, could be unaware, as Ian apparently was, of the opposite sex. Perhaps Ian was like Father and would one day meet a girl and fall in love headlong, without warning. But Ian was not like Father. Magnus used to think Father was immune to the charms of any woman but Mother. That was until last year, when he discovered that Father, his idol, had feet of clay.

  Magnus had discovered a terrible dark secret that lay heavy on him and made him see Father in a new light. And when he thought of how this knowledge had come to him, when he realised how easily it could have fallen into the hands of any of the other people involved, it must be nothing short of ordained that he should find it. It made goose pimples stand up on his body when he thought of that long arm of coincidence or misfortune. The truth of Father's past had been right under everyone's nose, and the secret had fallen into Magnus's lap.

  Two months after Mrs Chancellor's funeral Magnus and Sylvia had cycled down to Lindow Farm on a Saturday morning to see Lily and her Nanna. Lily slept at Lindow on Friday, as she had piano lessons on Saturday mornings.

  Nanna greeted them with, 'Eeh. Look at you two. Magnus, how you've grown up. And Sylvia.'

  'Is Lily in?' Magnus asked though he could hear her playing a Clementi sonatina in the other room, going through her repertoire for the teacher.

  'She'll be finished in twenty minutes,' Nanna said. 'Sit down. I'll give you something to eat.'

  They were sitting round the table when Lily joined them, and Magnus stood up and made a space for her. He feasted his eyes on her. Her hair was loose, a curly cloud about her heart shaped face, and the sight of her…delicate, quick, talented and clever…all the things he was not, made his heart leap
with happiness. He said, 'We dropped by to ask you to Archerfleld this evening. Some friends are coming round...'

  'Thanks. I can't. I'm going back to Jordangate.' She helped herself to a scone. 'There's a lot to do. I'm trying to earn my living.' She reached for the tea pot, then, seeing Magnus's crestfallen face, said, 'I like earning my own money. But we've had so many improvements to the shop that I'm getting behind with the orders.'

  Magnus said, 'Do you have to do them on a Saturday?'

  She said, 'I won't have time next week. The piano and bookcase are being delivered on Monday. I got them from Mrs Chancellor, remember?'

  'Haven't you got them yet?' Sylvia said. 'Father said he'd have them sent round at once.'

  'It's not your father's fault. Mam and I asked him to keep them for a few weeks until the new sitting room was finished.’

  In her letters she told Magnus what everything cost, saying, 'Mam has spent £8 on an Axminster carpet in autumn shades, twelve guineas on a three-piece suite in brown Rexine with velvet cushions and £1.17.6 each on two big leather things that Mam calls pouffes and I call tuffets. We have a pearl glass light bowl that hangs on chains from the ceiling and we bought a standard lamp with a fancy fringed shade which cost nineteen shillings and eleven pence.'

  Lily counted every penny. Magnus thought it a wonderful virtue.

  Lily's letters to him were peppered with 'Mam has taken on a counter hand, Miss Duffield…’ and, 'Mam said,’ as if he, Magnus, was as fond of her mother as she was. In fact he did not have much respect for Lily's mother. He would never tell a soul what his opinion was, but for himself he thought of Mrs Stanway as a selfish woman - a woman at the mercy of her passions, whatever they were.

  Lily said, 'The books were delivered in tea chests. They have been standing in the downstairs passageway for weeks. And books being so heavy, I've had to take them up an armful at a time and stack them in a comer until the bookcase comes.'

  Magnus said, 'If the bookcase is coming on Monday, can Ihelp you sort the books out?'

  'Would you, Magnus? Monday, then.'