‘My father had many such thoughts along that line. He would say the truth like the bible is open to debate, one must search for it.’
‘And the truth was important to him.’
‘Yes and to me.’
‘Then with that in mind, Mrs Dryden, I need to talk to you in private.’
‘Really? In private?’
‘Yes and before tomorrow if possible.’
Freddie was at Julia’s elbow. ‘What are you two discussing so closely?’
‘The mural,’ said Julia.
‘And did you come to any conclusion?’
‘Not really,’ said Daniel. ‘Mrs Dryden and I were just playing with ideas.’
‘Playing with ideas?’ Freddie took Julia’s arm. ‘Aren’t we all?’
Freddie assisted Julia into the first carriage and sat opposite.
They were pulling away when Daniel Masson climbed aboard.
‘If you don’t mind I’ll share with you Carrington.’ He flopped in the seat beside Freddie. ‘The cab back there is awful tight for us tall guys.’
The carriage rolled away. Twenty minutes later, the road heavy with traffic, they’d hardly progressed. Freddie rapped on the roof. ‘What’s taking so long?’
The driver shouted back. ‘There’s a horse down in Cambridge Street, sir.’
‘Well cut along the back there! Much longer and we’ll miss the first half.’
‘If the road’s blocked and people and cabs affected won’t the house delay the start?’ said Daniel. ‘They do in Philly when the weather’s bad, though having said that a minute late in Bayreuth and you’re locked out.’
‘Been to Bayreuth have you?’ said Freddie.
‘I caught a couple of performances last year.’
‘What did you see?’
‘Gotterdammerung. I thought the music swell.’
Freddie’s nostrils flared. ‘Swell?’
‘Yes, swell.’
‘Wagner’s not to everyone’s taste. It requires discipline and commitment. In ’87 Evie and I sat through the whole of the Ring Cycle here in London.’
‘That’s some achievement. And you just a lad in short pants.’
‘I was old enough to appreciate genius when heard.’
‘And what are your thoughts on the man we are to hear tonight, Senor Giacomo Puccini? Is he a genius?’
‘I have no thoughts. It would be like comparing the ballet to Burlesque.’
Daniel yawned. ‘I have a liking for Burlesque. It’s good to laugh. John is a fan of Stephen Foster. We sing his songs all the time.’
Freddie curled his lip. ‘You don’t say.’
‘My father quite liked Stephen Foster’s music,’ said Julia, trying to ease tension. ‘And so it would seem were the ladies who lived in my cottage. I found copies of his music in the piano stool.’
‘Well what do you know?’Daniel Masson grinned. ‘The parallels are stacking up. One or two ore incidents like that, Mrs Dryden, none too heretical, of course, and our meeting will be what I’d call fortune and my mother fate.’
The first two Acts of Butterfly were a carnival of colour and sound. The curtain coming down for Intermission Freddie grabbed Julia’s arm. ‘Come along! Forget about applauding! We’ve a booth reserved in the upper bar. If we scoot along now we’ll have time for a bottle of fizz and a bite.’
‘Thank you, I prefer to stay here.’
‘Oh come on, Julianna! Any second the orchestra will be on the run, the Pit will give up shouting, and we’ll be lucky if get a glass of beer.’
‘You go, Freddie. I prefer to stay.’
‘I can’t go and leave you here alone.’
‘Mrs Dryden won’t be alone,’ said Stefan Adelmann. ‘I too prefer not to plough through the scrimmage.’
The house lights were brightening. People were heading toward the bars and refreshment areas. Annoyed, Freddie shrugged. ‘Suit yourself. Coming, John?’
John Sargent hesitated as did Daniel Masson.
‘Please don’t wait for me,’ said Julia. ‘I am perfectly comfortable.’
The party hurrying away Julia turned back to the stage. Head filled with glorious sights and sounds how could she sit and chatter about nothing.
Stefan was smiling. ‘You feel it?’
‘How could I not?’
‘There are those who do not as I’m sure you’re aware.’
‘Yes but I don’t mind; the audience, the gossip and all the giddy moving to-and-fro adds to the atmosphere. I didn’t know such a world existed.’
Julia talked of her father who could read and translate Latin and Greek and converse in Italian and French, but whose world, he once said, shrank to the size of a matchbox. She described Bentham church choir and Father with one candle alight transcribing Messiah so the choir might be able to rehearse. ‘We weren’t terribly good but what we lacked in skill we made up for in heart.’ ‘
‘You think your father would’ve liked Madama Butterfly?’ said Stefan.
‘He would’ve loved it.’ Julia spoke of Evie and the difference she’d made to her life. ‘She brought me you, Stefan. You saved Matty’s life.’
He was silent.
‘I’m sorry.’ Julia was contrite. ‘All this chattering? I’m doing the very thing I didn’t want to do. I do apologise.’
‘Not at all! This evening and your delight in the music is a gift to me. Through your eyes I see again what I have lost.’
‘Lost?’
‘Nein bitte!’ he shook his head. ‘I’ll not dampen the day by talking sadness.’
‘Stefan, please! What is it?’
‘My beloved wife, my Karoline.’
‘Oh! When did she... what...?’
‘She is not dead!’ He held up his hand. ‘She is alive but ill and cannot appreciate music as she did. Karoline suffers a disease that strips her of all joy in life and for which there is no cure.’
‘I’m sorry, poor lady!’
‘Ja, poor indeed, her mind bedevilled with many anxieties.’
‘Can nothing be done? Might one visit perhaps?’
Stefan shrugged. ‘You could and who knows she might smile. She doesn’t know me. She thinks I am a doctor and begs release from this life. My only consolation is the care given at the sanatorium. The day I met your boy I had visited there. I left the bedside of one suffering child to find another.’
‘How long has she been ill? I mean, when did this start?’
‘Soon after the birth of our son.’
‘You have a son?’
Stefan shook his head. ‘He died before drawing breath.’
‘Oh!’ Julia took his hand. ‘I am so very sorry’
‘It is I who am sorry to have given you pain.’ He squeezed her hand, his fingers iron bars. ‘It is my pain to bear and not to share.’
‘I beg your pardon.’ Daniel Masson came through the curtain to the Box, saw the chairs pushed together, Julia holding Stefan’s hand and turned to go.
‘No!’ Stefan stood up. ‘Do not go, Herr Masson!’
‘Forgive the intrusion. I was bringing Mrs Dryden a glass of wine.’
‘Sir, your appearance is timely. I am making a burden of sorrow. It ought not to be. Give my apologies to the rest of the party. Say I am called away.’ He kissed Julia’s hand. ‘Gute nacht, gnadige Frau.’
‘Good night.’
Daniel Masson hung back. ‘I guess I barged in on something.’
‘Doctor Adelmann is a friend. He has been of great help to my son.’
‘Your boy is ill?’
Julia couldn’t speak of Matty, not after learning of Stefan’s life. ‘He is better now, thank you.’
‘May I sit?’ Daniel offered the glass. ‘I came to bring refreshment but also to say how unhappy I am with the way the sitting is
thrust on you.’
‘Don’t be. Evelyn suffered a headache most of the day. It’s likely she forgot to tell me.’ She sipped the wine. ‘Are you in London long?’
‘When I came it was only for a month or two but an issue with property holds me. My mother likes England. She is looking to buy here.’
‘And you? Do you like England?’
‘I don’t care for your grey skies. I have a ranch in California where the sun always shines. My mother hails from Philadelphia. A Greville among the first settlers she is genetically inclined toward the British climate.’
‘Your mother returns to family roots and you to advise her in her quest.’
‘Hah!’ Eyes mocking he laughed. ‘Callie Greville Masson doesn’t take advice. She lives and breathes by her own deliberations. A creature no bigger than my thumb and yet she has more energy than the whole of the South African Company and its war-mongering shysters!’
When Julia stared he spread his hands. ‘Excuse me, I’m just back from the Transvaal and saw too much. Mrs Dryden?’ He leaned forward. ‘I must speak with you. It concerns Norfolk and where you live.’
‘The cottage? Whatever can it be?’
‘Ah there you are?’ The door to the Box opened. ‘Beautiful Julianna, bird of Paradise, you haven’t flown away yet?’ Freddie was back with the rest of the party and all private conversation ceased.
The last curtain call echoing they fought to get out. It was madness out in the square people surging up and down waiting for their carriages.
‘Bit of a scrum here, John,’ said Daniel Masson.
‘It’s always the same after a concert good manners go down the plug-hole.’
‘Freddie!’ Mr and Mrs Scholtz were first to leave. ‘We can take you and Mrs Dryden! We’ve room and it wouldn’t be out of our way.’
‘We’re fine, thanks,’ Freddie grasped Julia’s elbow. ‘We’ll take a cab.’
Having suffered his fidgets throughout the opera Julia was determined not to be alone with him. ‘I’d like to go with Mr and Mrs Scholtz.’
‘You’re with me.’ Freddie pushed toward the kerb. ‘You’re delicious candy, Ju-ju, sugar frosting outside and hot spice beneath. I must open you up.’
Seeing him bent on making some kind of display Julia held back. She’d not be alone with him. Her feelings showed. A cab drew alongside and she was lifted inside. ‘See Mrs Dryden back to the Square, will you, Paul,’ said Daniel. ‘John and I will shuffle Carrington along.’ Paul Hellue climbed in. Daniel tapped the door, the cab chugged away Freddie left arguing on the path.
From one unhappy situation to another, Julia set foot in the door and Evie came at a run. With a grasp not unlike Freddie’s, hotly proprietary, she dragged Julia into the hall. ‘How dared you to do it,’ she spat.
‘What?’
‘How dared you lure Bella to your home?’
‘The maid?’
‘Yes the maid! How dared you interfere in the running of my house?’
‘I didn’t think I interfered. I offered a place to stay, that’s all.’
‘Well you’d no right to without talking to me.’
‘You’re right. I should’ve spoken to you but things strained between us there wasn’t the opportunity. I honestly I didn’t think you’d mind.’
‘You didn’t think I’d mind.’ Evelyn’s grip tightened. ‘How little you know of me and the workings of my house. I do mind, Julianna. I am offended and can’t think of any of my connections that wouldn’t feel the same. You have undermined my authority and exposed me to ridicule.’
‘How have I?’
‘Bella was a personal maid. She wasn’t out of sight scrubbing pans. She was intimate to me, helped me bathe and disrobe. She knew my ways and was privy to situations personal to me. How could I or any other sensitive woman be comfortable knowing her in the employ of an acquaintance?
‘I see. Put like that I understand your concern, though I assure you I’d never enquire of your doings as I’m certain Bella would never tell.’
‘How do you know she wouldn’t? These girls have eyes and ears. They see and hear things and can be induced to reveal much for money.’
‘Not Bella! She seems a nice girl.’
‘Pregnant at sixteen? Yes that is nice. Of course she’d tell. A personal maid to Lady Evelyn Carrington, she’d spill the beans to anyone willing to listen.’
‘I don’t know what to say to you, Evie, other than I wouldn’t pry into your life and I’m sorry you think I would.’
‘Don’t be naive, Julianna! You must see how awkward you’ve made things.’
‘But she was desperate! She had nowhere to go.’
‘Then she should have come to me instead of tattling behind my back. I would’ve found a place. Now she’s nowhere to go and is without character.’
‘Why without good character? She’s not to blame. I suggested Norfolk.’
‘And you shouldn’t as she shouldn’t have got herself pregnant. She should have known it was always going to be that way!’
Julia stared. Who is this? Where is the real Evelyn, has some white-faced fury had stolen her soul. ‘Then Bella mayn’t come to Bakers End?’
‘Of course not! Why would you want her? She’ll be popping soon and you saddled with a squalling brat. What will you do then?’
‘Keep her and the baby.’
‘You shall not. ’ Evelyn’s face was set in stone. ‘You shall not keep that baby just as you shall not keep her. You must find a maid elsewhere.’
‘I don’t understand. You dislike me taking Bella and yet were happy to recommend Mrs McLaughlin. Where was your shared intimacy then?’
Evie laughed. ‘There was never intimacy there. She might’ve served the occasional coffee but that’s all. I couldn’t have borne her hands on my flesh. Bella’s young and fresh and clean. She smells of flowers not pissy drawers. The closest McLaughlin came to a secret of mine was via backstairs gossip.’
‘Then perhaps it is as well she is with me.’
‘You say so?’Evie’s eyes narrowed. ‘In point of interest how do you plan to support these waifs and strays when you can barely support yourself? Another mouth to feed, and the baby when it comes, I doubt an extra hundred or so will plug a hole that size in the housekeeping.’
’You think not?’
‘I do think so and I think the same about other dispensations.’
‘What are you saying?’
‘I am saying a stab in the back and the treasure chest is closed. You’ve cooked the Golden Goose, Ju-ju! Nothing left now but the bones. ’
‘I see. Well I’d better go. It’s best I withdraw for the night and catch an early train home tomorrow morning.’
‘As you wish.’
‘Will you allow me to apologise to you for hurt caused, and to Mr Masson for a broken engagement, and to Bella for disappointment incurred.’
Evie was stony-faced. ‘I may pass on your regret to Daniel but will say nothing to Bella. She and her tears left via the back door hours ago.’
‘Oh Evelyn!
‘Don’t you Oh Evelyn me! This morning you questioned my feelings for you. You suggested I sought a gift you were not willing to give. You hurt me when you did that. What have I ever asked of you other than friendship? It’s all I ever asked. Day after day, week after week I’ve given to you. What did you give in return, Julianna, other than middle-class suspicion and ingratitude?’
Julia locked the bedroom door and leant against it, an image burned into her brain, Evie’s mouth sucked in, a shell cracked open and another face peering through. More distress waited in the bedroom. The closet had been stripped of her belongings. Her bag, a railway ticket and the clothes she wore all that was left. The message was clear, leave as you stand.
Three o clock the bedroom door was tried. Julia heard the first fumble and s
aw the doorknob swivel. A brief cessation of movement and then the knob was turned again and furiously worked back and forth.
The twisting ceased. Footsteps padded away down the landing.
‘Oh!’ Julia leapt from the bed and dashing through the dressing room locked the outer door. A moment later that door was tried and with the same fury.
Horrible! The key heavy and cold in her hand she stood gazing at the door. She had never before thought to lock it. Maids needing access she’d always left the key in the lock. There were no maids tonight, Evelyn denying aid.
The rattling ceased. There was an odd hush and then a mouth was pressed to the outer lock and breath blown against the metal. No words, none that she could understand, only a soughing hiss. ‘Ju-ju......!’
All night Julia sat watching the hands of the clock crawl toward dawn. Eventually floorboards began to creak, the maids going about their business.
She unlocked the door. Jamieson, the butler, the chucker-outer, was at the bottom of the stairs. Face impassive he stepped forward. ‘Good morning, Madam.’
‘Good morning.’ She handed back the fur cape.
‘Pardon me.’ He hung it back about Julia’s shoulders. ‘It’s chilly out there first thing in the morning. Best you keep it.’
She didn’t argue. She could hardly walk the streets with bare shoulders.
‘Might I call you a cab?’
‘Thank you, I can walk. It’s not far to the station.’
Julia turned down the path. She’d walked about twenty paces when Jamieson came after her. ‘You dropped your handkerchief!’
‘My handkerchief?’
‘Yes.’
A handkerchief was proffered, a scrap of paper visible through the cloth.
She took it. ‘Thank you, Jamieson.’
He bowed. ‘No, madam, thank you.’
Five
Too Late
Julia didn’t read the note until she was inside the Cottage. Throughout the long train journey home, early morning travellers trying not to stare, the handkerchief remained clenched in her fist along with tears she could not shed. Once indoors and having waded through Mrs Mac’s grievances she went to bedroom and locking the door unfolded the cloth. Scrawled on the back of a laundry list was an address in London and the words ‘she’s here.’
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