The Silent Lady

by Catherine Cookson

  He rapped smartly on it, and when it was opened by Willie, he said, ‘You take your time, don’t you? Footmen are supposed to be already behind the door waiting for a knock. I’ll talk to you later, sir.’

  ‘You idiot,’ said Willie, under his breath; ‘she’s nearly up the pole. Oh, miss,’ and he went to help her off with her coat. She pushed him away, yet her lips were curved upwards.

  In the kitchen Bella stood quite dumbfounded, so much so she couldn’t speak. Not even when Irene lifted up the pretty coloured bag and brought out the word, ‘Shopping,’ did she utter a word; but she sat down slowly on a chair and, leaning her elbow on a table, she laid her face on the palm of her hand. She did not look at the pretty bag or at Reenee, but she turned and gazed at the two men now standing looking at her, and she said, ‘It’ll happen one of these days. It will. I’ll have heart failure and you’ll find me on the floor. Nobody seems to care what happens to me, what they do or what they don’t do.’

  ‘Oh, Bella,’ said Willie now. ‘And all our dear friend here has done,’ he put his hand out towards Reenee, ‘has been to go out shopping. Bet your life that bag’s full of goodies.’ And now he turned to Reenee and said, ‘I hope you bought something for me.’

  She actually smiled at him before turning away, walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

  Bella asked them both, ‘What d’you make of her? What can you make of her?’

  And it was Pimple who answered, ‘Only that she’s full of love. She wants to give and there’s a barrier stopping her in some way. But she overcomes it enough to go out on a morning like this to buy us Christmas boxes of some kind. That must be what was in the bag. It was just by chance I spotted her: she was walking along as if she was used to bein’ out every day in Brandley Street.’

  ‘That’s away down near Holborn.’

  ‘Yes; and that’s where she’s been, I imagine. And I bet you a shilling we won’t know till Christmas Day what’s in that bag. If I could dare to give you a little more of my wisdom, Bella, I would say to you, act as if nothing had happened. Don’t go for her in any way, please.’

  Bella looked at the face peering at her. Except for the cheekbones and the sockets round the eyes it had the scars of smallpox on it. But behind that marred face she now knew lay a keen brain, a wise brain, and below, the kindest heart of any man she had ever known, and she wasn’t forgetting Joe as she said it to herself . . .

  Christmas Eve came. The snow was lying. All but four of their patrons had told her that they had been given a ticket to this or that place for dinner, tea and entertainment on Christmas Day: some in church halls, others were going to a room taken by a number of thoughtful people to provide both the workless and the down-and-outs with at least two hot meals that day and the next.

  When Bella learnt of the plight of the four, she told Joe to tell them that they were welcome to stay for their Christmas dinner downstairs. The four men from the wash-house had already been invited upstairs to have dinner in the parlour. The kitchen table had been carried in there and would seat eight, although four might have to sit on a bench. Moreover, the parlour had been decorated with pieces of holly, and paper chains stretching along the mantelshelf.

  Pimple did not go out at all on Christmas Eve but helped Willie with the cooking and the preparations for the following day: besides a large Christmas pudding there was a still larger Christmas cake, to be decorated with pink icing and holly leaves.

  It was while Bella was out doing the last remnants of her shopping that Reenee went upstairs; then returned and, placing a pound note on the baking table, she looked from Pimple to Willie, then back to Pimple again and, putting up three fingers, slowly mouthed the word ‘wine’.

  ‘Wine?’ said Willie. ‘You want to buy some wine?’

  She nodded, but kept her gaze still on Pimple, and extending two fingers, she pointed to the parlour. Then, with only her index finger held up, she pointed towards the stairs and the room below.

  It was Pimple who, after a moment, said, ‘You want three bottles of wine, two for upstairs, us, and one for those fellas who are staying for their Christmas dinner?’

  She nodded two or three times, and the corners of her mouth moved upwards. He smiled widely back at her and said, ‘Have you anything in mind, madam, as to what kind of wine you would like?’

  She shook her head, then looked at Willie, and he said slowly, ‘A dry one for . . .’ he pointed towards the stairs ‘. . . and us, one bottle of red wine, and for the ladies one bottle of Muscat.’

  ‘How d’you know about wines, Willie?’ said Pimple.

  ‘Because, sonny boy,’ said Willie playfully, ‘at one time I was a waiter too, and in a good-style restaurant. It didn’t last long, just a year, but nevertheless I learnt a lot. But you won’t get any of the wines along the street at the outdoor beer shop.’

  ‘No, I know that,’ said Pimple; ‘but not five minutes away is a very good wine shop. I sniff it every time I pass it.’

  They now looked at Reenee who was tapping the pound note as she tried to get out the word ‘enough?’ and they both said together, ‘Oh, aye, enough. Plenty . . . plenty. And it’s very kind of you,’ said Willie; ‘very kind of you indeed, miss.’

  Pimple said nothing, but he took up the pound note, folded it and put it inside his breast pocket; then, looking at Reenee, he said softly, ‘I’ll see that everything goes just as you plan it. Like you planned downstairs.’

  He now turned to Willie. ‘You know that, don’t you? It was she who planned all that outfit that you and the other three are running now. Yes, it was she who planned it on a piece of paper.’

  Reenee had turned from them to go to the vegetable board. Here, she sat down and started to work at her daily chores. But there was a light on her face that neither of the men had seen there before.

  Christmas Day: they had all been up since very early, and breakfast was over. Now, while Tony and Andy were seeing to the clearing up of the big room and the toilets, helped now by the four men that were staying on, Willie was at his baking table being helped by Pimple, and on one corner of it Reenee, still wearing the big coat, the sleeves turned well back, was at her board; but today she was not chopping the vegetables, she was just preparing them for boiling and braising to accompany the turkey that Bella had brought in yesterday with her shopping.

  It was around lunch-time that she told the band, as she called the four men, and Pimple and Joe to get themselves cleaned up and that she would see them in the parlour in half an hour’s time.

  At this order, Reenee rose from her board and went upstairs. Then Bella herself went into the parlour, telling herself she was as clean and tidy as ever she would be, and there she sat looking quietly at the fire. She had never in her life known a Christmas like this, never. She was happy in a way she had never imagined possible. It was, she said smilingly to herself, like being in love for the first time. She had never been in love, never, not with a man. Yet she was now surrounded by men who all seemed to give off, and to her, a certain amount of love. You could call it respect, but then, above them all she had the gift of what she thought of now as a daughter, because that was what Reenee had become to her, a beloved daughter. She couldn’t imagine life without her, and she didn’t mind in the least if the girl never put her nose outside the door again in her lifetime because she felt that, one day, if she was seen out and about, someone would come and take her away. Someone was bound to recognise her: once seen that face could not be forgotten.

  The men came in one by one: first Joe and Pimple; then Andy and Tony and John and Willie. Just as they were seated the door opened and there appeared before them a lady, because not one of those men doubted but that they were looking at a lady, a real lady. Reenee was wearing her red velvet dress. To the waist it was unmarked, and not one of those men looked further to where the bottom of the skirt was badly stained. But what they noticed most was her beautiful hair. It was no longer screwed into a tight bun lying on her neck, but was lai
d in two loose coils on the back of her head up to the crown.

  She seemed unaffected by the silence and their staring until Willie, springing forward, placed a seat for her and she sat down. That seemed to loosen their tongues and they said, one after the other, ‘Happy Christmas, miss. Happy Christmas.’

  She nodded to each of them; and then she looked at Bella, who now said, ‘I suppose I’d better start the ball rolling. Now, I haven’t bought any of you handkerchiefs or socks or suchlike, but there you are: there’s five shillings each for you. You may do what you like with it except get drunk, because if you do you won’t be admitted into this pad.’

  At this there was general laughter, while each man, as he took the two half-crowns from her hand, offered her his thanks most sincerely.

  Then it was Andy who said, ‘Now it’s our turn. Our presents might be very small, ma’am, but they come with our combined feelings for you,’ and he handed her two boxes.

  When she opened the first one she saw underneath the top glazed cover a tablet of soap, a bottle of scent, a jar of face cream, and a tin of talcum, and next to it, of all things, a little bottle of red nail varnish. At the sight of this she let out a laugh and said, ‘Well, thank you, boys, very, very much and for not forgettin’ me nails.’

  There was general laughter now, and it was Tony who said, ‘We couldn’t find one without nail varnish, Bella, but there’s always a first time for everything.’

  ‘You’ve said it, lad; but it’ll be on me toe nails I’ll use it.’

  Then she opened the second box and out of it she picked up a soft woollen shoulder shawl which, they could see, pleased her greatly; but what she said was, ‘Why had you to go and spend your money on a thing like this for me? You need every penny I give you.’

  ‘Simply,’ put in John now, ‘we wouldn’t have any money to buy anything, my dear Bella, if it wasn’t for you and your kindness.’

  ‘Nonsense! But, oh, lads, thank you very much indeed.’ And she looked now from Joe to Pimple and said, ‘I suppose you were in on this, an’ all?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ said Pimple; ‘they made us do it. We didn’t want to, but they made us do it.’ There was more laughter now.

  Then Willie handed two boxes to Reenee, and she put her hand on her breast as if to say, ‘For me?’ She put the bag she was carrying on to the floor and opened the first box. It was very similar to the one Bella had received, and she smiled at them, then tapped the nail varnish while her lips moved upwards and her mouth opened wide as she brought out one word that sent them all into peals of laughter, for the word was ‘vegetables’.

  And Willie said, ‘Yes, I’ll demand that you paint your nails before you do any more vegetables, miss.’

  Now she opened the second box. In it was a bottle of perfume and half a dozen white lawn handkerchiefs, arranged uniformly round the scent, to show the initial R. She stared down at the box, and her head drooped further. Then she gulped and brought out the words ‘Thank you’, before bending down quickly to the floor and picking up the bag that she had brought in with her. Now she handed the first parcel to Bella, the second small parcel to Pimple, and the third parcel to Joe. Then, one after the other, she gave each of the other four men similar size parcels. Nobody had attempted to open his own, and she looked at them, then spread out her hands.

  It was Tony who said, ‘Go on, Bella. You open yours first.’

  Bella took out a garment and held it up, and immediately saw the odd shape of it. It was meant, she supposed, to be a blouse, and it was made of silk; it was so wide that she could see her own quite firm and large-breasted body being lost in it. She looked towards Reenee who now, with another great effort, uttered the words, ‘Me. Alter.’

  ‘Oh, yes; yes,’ said Bella, ‘that’ll be the easiest thing in the world. But it’s beautiful. Lovely material. What on earth made you buy that? It must have cost the earth, woman.’

  Reenee shook her head.

  ‘Well, thank you, love. It was so thoughtful of you. I can’t get over it, I’ve never had a silk blouse in my life.’ She turned to Joe and said, ‘Well, come on, let’s see what more money she spent on you.’

  Joe undid the Christmas wrapping and held up what looked like a woollen waistcoat, and he exclaimed in true astonishment, ‘My, lass! Where on earth did you get this? It’s fine.’ And immediately he pulled off his coat and put the garment on; and although he had to pull in his stomach quite a bit to link the two leather straps together he managed it, then said, ‘It’s lovely. And it’s warm, and it reaches to the bottom of my back, which is where I want it. Oh, miss, thank you. Thank you.’ Now they all looked at Pimple. Pimple’s present looked thin and long compared with Bella’s and Joe’s, and after he had unwrapped it he slowly placed it across the palm of his hand and stared at it. They all stared at it; and it was Tony who gasped as he said, ‘Good Lord! It’s a flute. And what a flute! Oh, look at it!’

  Pimple looked at it; then he threw the Christmas paper to one side and brought the instrument to his lips. But that’s all he did with it: he did not blow on it, but he stroked it. Then it was Tony speaking again: ‘That’s real ivory, man,’ he said. ‘Do you know that’s real ivory? God in heaven! Where,’ he turned now to Reenee, ‘did you get that, miss? You . . . you could never have bought it. That must have cost a packet, and I know what flutes cost. I’ve never seen a better one than that.’

  ‘Don’t be so mouthy.’ It was Bella speaking to Tony now. ‘She wouldn’t go out and steal it.’

  ‘Oh, Bella, I wasn’t meaning anything like that, but that kind of flute is rare. It’s ivory!’

  Reenee looked at Bella; then she moved the index finger and thumb of her right hand around two fingers of her left as if turning a ring, and Bella said, ‘Oh. Oh yes, I understand lass. Gomparts.’ Reenee nodded, and Bella, turning to Tony, said, ‘The pawn shop. She got it in the pawn shop where she pawned her rings.’

  Pimple hadn’t spoken, but now he almost darted across the room, and startled Reenee as he dropped on his knees before her. Taking her hand, he kissed the back of it, saying, ‘I’ll keep it till the day I die, Reenee.’

  And now she surprised them all: she actually lifted her other hand and stroked his disfigured face, saying with a gasp as she did so, ‘Your name?’

  ‘My name?’ His voice was a whisper now. ‘You want to know my name, Reenee?’

  She inclined her head deeply towards him. He glanced around the company, then looking back at her, he said, ‘Carl.’

  At this she repeated, ‘Carl’, and again, ‘Carl.’ Then, pointing to his face, she said, quite plainly, ‘No more. Never. No more.’

  ‘You mean you will never call me by my face now, but by my name?’ And at this she nodded again.

  He uttered no word, but his head fell on to his chest and he remained still for quite a while. No one spoke until Andy, taking in the situation, said loudly, ‘If somebody would like to know what I’ve got I’ll open my parcel now.’

  At this there was a murmur of forced laughter round the room, and when he unwrapped his parcel he exclaimed, ‘A muffler! A real woollen muffler. Oh, thank you, miss. Thank you.’

  Then one after the other, Tony, John and Willie opened theirs and all exclaimed in the same way, ‘Mufflers! Oh, you couldn’t’ve got us anything better, miss.’

  As this was going on Carl got to his feet, and he was now standing near the window as if intent on looking out, and nobody passed any remark on it.

  Then Bella said, ‘Well, now, would anyone like to know what I’ve bought her? John, hand me that box off the sideboard, will you? There, lass; and that’s with my love.’

  Slowly unwrapping the paper, Reenee lifted the lid and stared down for a full minute at the soft blue wool garment before picking it up and holding it before her. She held it at face level, but the bottom of it folded on to her knees, and she saw she was holding what appeared to be a coat. ‘It’s a housecoat. It can be worn at any time of the day, and although it’s very pretty it�
�ll be warm. Come, stand up and let me put it on you.’

  At this, Reenee’s body stiffened just a little, and when Bella’s voice came to her, saying softly, ‘It’s all right, lass, you need only wear it when you want to, just when you want to, but I’d like to see if it fits you.’

  It was John who took the box away from Reenee’s lap, and it was Willie who put out his hand and helped her to her feet. Then she stood, and Bella stood behind her, saying, ‘Just slip your arms into it.’

  Slowly Reenee obeyed her, and there she was standing in this very pretty housecoat. It had a row of self-covered buttons down the front, and it hung down to just below her hips, and at each side there were pockets.

  Bella now put out her hands and turned down the collar, saying as she did so, ‘They called it azure, the colour. I would have said it was a soft blue but, no, that’s what they said, it was azure. Now look at that, boys!’

  Bella turned to the men now, and they all exclaimed, each in his own particular way and not out of politeness. ‘It’s lovely, miss. It suits you down to the ground; well, I mean, half-way.’

  ‘You would think it had been made for you.’

  On and on the compliments went until Carl, who had turned from the window some minutes earlier, said quietly, ‘Nothing could make you more beautiful than you already are, but it suits you and I hope, for all of us, we’ll see you in it often.’

  Reenee looked across the room at Carl and she smiled at him – actually smiled, for the length of her lips had moved up much further than ever before.

  Now Bella broke the tension again with her practical common sense. ‘The next item on the programme, ladies and gentlemen, is eating, and we ladies will sit here and be waited upon, so you can all get busy and scramble around.’

  They all trooped out to the kitchen, laughing, to bring in the food, and there was only Bella and Reenee in the room. Reenee had sat down in the chair again, still in the housecoat, and Bella drew up a wooden chair towards her. Taking Reenee’s hand, she said, ‘You like it?’