Lucilla felt cold with misery as she heard this, but she could not stop listening. She crept closer to the drawing room door.
Now she could hear Lady Armstrong more clearly. “Ah – dear Mrs. Lewis. There is no doubt that you are the most generous of women. And at least Lucilla is a pretty little thing – ”
Aunt Maud gave a snort. “Indeed she is, your Ladyship. But to have a pretty girl always in the house is not ideal. As you know, Major Lewis, my dear husband – so sadly missed – passed away almost five years ago now. The loss has been unendurable. And, now, when I find myself ready to – marry again – ” Lucilla heard aunt give a sniff, as if she was about to cry.
“My dear Mrs. Lewis!” Lady Armstrong’s voice was warm and soft. “I quite understand. You have been alone too long. And – you are still a young woman.”
“Oh, your Ladyship! You are indeed so wise and so insightful!” Aunt Maud sighed. “I am ready to embark upon the married state once more and I must confess there is a gentleman who is interested. But it is impossible with my niece in the house.”
“Why?” Lucilla heard Ethel say. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Hush, dear,” Lady Armstrong said to her daughter. “Of course Mrs. Lewis will not want to have a young and pretty girl at her dinner table when her beau comes round courting! That would not be appropriate or sensible – Mrs. Lewis will want his eyes to be on her alone!”
“You understand me perfectly, Lady Armstrong,” said Aunt Maud. “It simply would not do. I wish to be married again and I will not have anything or anyone stand in my way. There must be no distractions or impediments to come between myself and the object of my affections.”
There was a peal of laughter and then Lucilla heard Ethel’s voice. “Oh, Mama! Poor dear Lucilla! We must find a husband for her as quickly as we can and then everyone will be happy! But where is she?”
“I am here!” Lucilla exclaimed, stepping through the door. “I have just come down. I am so sorry to keep you waiting, Lady Armstrong.”
“Why, my dear! Such a pretty dress. Those ruffles on the sleeves are just perfection,” Lady Armstrong said, raising a gold eyeglass so she could peer at Lucilla through it.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Lucilla sighed and gave a polite curtsy.
She tried to put out of her mind the conversation she had just overheard.
The fire was now blazing merrily and there was a tray of tea laid out beside it. Ethel then rose to her feet and came over to Lucilla, kissing her on both cheeks as if they were best friends. Lucilla was quite surprised by this, for she had only met Ethel once before, at the engagement party, and she was not at all sure that Ethel was someone she would like to have for a friend, as she seemed quite loud and rather overbearing.
“I’m so glad you were able to come to my party,” Ethel was now saying, and then she whispered so that only Lucilla could hear, “you made quite an impression on a certain gentleman!”
Lucilla thought of the dark-haired young man, who had refused to dance with her. She remembered the look in his brown eyes when he had come to the salon and heard her playing. He had seemed so sad and she wished that she had been able to continue with the Chopin étude, so that he could have listened and enjoyed it, just as Papa used to do.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Lady Armstrong.
“Ethel, darling,” she was saying, “Why don’t you two young things take a stroll outside? Mrs. Lewis and I are so comfortable here by the fire and I am sure you don’t want to listen to our silly old chatter.”
“What a great idea!” Ethel cried. “We shall go and have a look around the shops, won’t we, Lucilla!”
And she bustled Lucilla out into the hall and called for the parlour maid to bring her hat and coat.
“But – it’s raining,” Lucilla said, looking at Ethel’s exquisite cream and blue dress and her matching leather shoes. “Your outfit will get splashed.”
“Oh goodness, that doesn’t matter!” Ethel laughed, and turned so that the parlour maid could help her into her beige woollen coat. “Now that I have Mortimer in the bag, I need never worry about such trifles again.”
And she then took her large hat from the maid and peered into the hall mirror to make sure that she had the veil arranged in just the right way.
Now the parlour maid was holding up Lucilla’s old navy blue velvet coat, so she could slide her arms into it.
“Oh really!” Ethel said, as she watched Lucilla put on the little velvet hat that went with her coat. “That hat is only fit for a schoolgirl. I can’t walk out with you looking like that. Don’t you have another?”
Lucilla shook her head forlornly, but Ethel was already stepping out of the door, so she took an umbrella from the stand by the front door and hurried after her.
The two girls picked their way between the puddles as they walked along the pavement and all the time Lucilla was trying to hold the umbrella over Ethel’s hat, although she did not seem to mind that the rain was falling on it.
“We shall now go to Whiteley’s Department store,” Ethel announced. “I am hatching a little plan!”
Lucilla was surprised that Ethel should make such a suggestion, as she had only been to Whiteley’s with her aunt once, when they had been to buy the dress she had worn to the engagement party.
The store was not far from Aunt Maud’s house and was a vast square building with many floors.
As they went in through the big glass door, Lucilla looked around at all the bolts and rolls of fabric that were laid out on counters everywhere. There were silks and satins in every colour of the rainbow and thick heavy tweeds in soft green and brown shades that reminded her of the winter colours of the fields and hedgerows that surrounded her old home.
“Come on, quickly!” Ethel seized her arm and was pulling her onwards. “You are an old slowcoach.”
Then they found themselves in a part of the store where a group of tailor’s dummies stood silently waiting, draped in velvet and wool coats.
“Good afternoon, Miss Armstrong,” a stout man with hair slicked down over his forehead came to greet them. “How may I help you?”
“This young lady, as you can see, is in dire need of a new coat,” Ethel replied, lifting her veil and folding it back as she smiled at Lucilla. “Do you see anything that you like?”
Lucilla’s face felt warm. What was Ethel thinking of? She could not possibly buy a new coat. She had no money of her own.
“I think this is very nice.” Ethel stroked the sleeve of a soft pink wool coat with a smart trimming of fur at the cuffs. “Try it on!”
“No – really, I mustn’t!” Lucilla stammered and was about to explain that she could not possibly afford something quite so luxurious and expensive, but the shop assistant was already lifting it down from the dummy and holding it out for her.
Ethel took hold of Lucilla’s collar and pulled her old velvet coat from her back. “Go on!” she insisted. “Try it! It’s just perfect for you.” Reluctantly Lucilla slid her arms into the silk-lined sleeves of the sublime coat and then felt the luxurious soft warmth of it as she wrapped it around herself.
“Oh!” Ethel’s pale face was flushing with excitement.
“Look at that! You are transformed! The pink is a perfect match for your hair – and it makes your eyes look really blue too.”
The shop assistant invited Lucilla to look at herself in a long mirror beside the display of coats.
For a moment she felt that she was staring at the reflection of someone else altogether, a proud and happy girl with a glorious mane of shining brown hair, dressed in a winter coat that looked fit for a Russian Princess.
The Princess smiled back at her, her huge blue eyes shining with delight, and then Lucilla remembered where she was and what she must do and she turned away from the mirror.
“It’s very lovely,” she said to the shop assistant, “but I cannot possibly afford to buy something like this. Please can I have my own coat back.”
Ethel was
rummaging in the silk handbag that was hanging over her arm. “Don’t be so ridiculous, Lucilla” she chided. “That coat is yours. It’s absolutely made for you and it would be criminal of you to walk out of the shop without it.”
Lucilla felt her cheeks turn red with embarrassment as she watched Ethel pull out a bundle of notes and count a handful of them out to give to the shop assistant.
“There,” she exclaimed. “It’s yours, Lucilla.”
“No, no! I cannot possibly – ” Lucilla tried to pull her arms out of the lovely coat and hand it back to the shop assistant, but Ethel stopped her and held up the big bundle of money that was still left after buying the coat.
“Mortimer gave me all this yesterday to spend on whatever I liked,” she crowed. “And now I’ve decided I want to spend it on you! I can’t be seen out with someone who looks like an old ragbag.”
“But what will your Mama say?” Lucilla was desperately trying to think of some way to stop Ethel.
“It’s nothing to do with her. It’s between me and my fiancé!” Ethel held her head high under her huge hat.
“But Aunt Maud might not be at all happy for me to accept such a lovely gift – ”
“That silly old aunt of yours just wants to get you married off as soon as possible,” Ethel told her. “I don’t suppose for one minute that she will make a fuss about me buying something that makes you look so pretty.”
Lucilla was confused and upset, as it seemed as if Ethel did not care how she felt at all. “I don’t know – what to say!” she whispered.
“Try ‘thank you’!” Ethel smiled and told the shop assistant to put Lucilla’s old coat in a bag so they could carry it with them. “Come along, now we are going to have tea,” she added when he had done so.
As they sat at a little table in the restaurant on the top floor of the department store, sipping piping hot tea and nibbling on currant buns, Lucilla decided to make the best of the situation and tried to thank Ethel for the coat.
“Oh – thank dear Mortimer, darling, if you must!”
Ethel’s green eyes looked down at her plate, as if she was embarrassed.
“Is it – nice? Being engaged?” Lucilla asked after a moment.
Ethel did not look up, but concentrated on breaking up her bun into little pieces and picking out the currants.
“It’s utterly marvellous,” she replied. “I shall never have to ask Mama and Papa for another thing!”
“And – do you think that you will be happy with – Mortimer?” Lucilla could not but remember how much older than Ethel the American stockbroker had seemed. Almost like an uncle, as he had bent over her hand to kiss it.
“Oh, crumbs, yes.” Ethel looked up now, her green eyes glowing. “We shall have a house on Park Lane, an apartment in New York and a villa in the Italian Lakes.”
“What I meant was,” Lucilla continued, “will you like spending time with him?”
Ethel shrugged. “I don’t suppose I’ll see much of him, once we are married. He’ll go off and work and visit his Club. And I shall be able to get on with my own life.”
Lucilla thought Ethel’s face had gone a shade paler as she said this and her eyes looked bitter.
“Do you love him, Ethel?” she asked after a pause. “Yes, of course I do! He’s so kind,” Ethel flashed back and she gave Lucilla a stern look. “We’ll be very happy, don’t you worry. And so will you, when we find a beau for you.”
“I really do hope so, Ethel. I often think of Mama and Papa and how happy they were. I’m glad that – they – that the accident happened to both of them, as they would have wanted to always be together – they loved each other so much.”
Her eyes stung with tears as she recalled the awful day the telegram had arrived at Wellsprings Place, telling her that Lord and Lady Welton had been killed by a sudden avalanche high in the Alps.
“Oh, love!” Ethel sighed. “Nothing but trouble, if you ask me.” She looked bitter and angry again and then began to fiddle with her currant bun once more.
“Love is the best thing in the whole world!” Lucilla cried. “I cannot imagine spending my life with someone I did not love!”
Ethel frowned at her. “Love can be all very well,” she said, “but I want money. I’ll love my house in Park Lane and that will do me very nicely, thank you!”
Lucilla shivered at these words and at the cold look in Ethel’s eyes. “Haven’t you ever been in love with any one?” she asked.
“Oh, yes,” Ethel replied and pulled her veil down so that the spotted net hid her eyes. “And much good it did me. Come along, Missy, let’s go and show your aunt what we found for you at Whiteley’s!”
*
Aunt Maud and Lady Armstrong were sitting very comfortably by the fire when the two girls returned and, much to Lucilla’s surprise, her aunt just smiled when she saw the new coat.
“How very kind!” she purred at Ethel, “and you are very thoughtful to my niece.”
Lady Armstrong nodded in agreement. “Absolutely,” she added. “Just what Lucilla needs. A good example for her. She will be following in Ethel’s footsteps before too long, never fear!”
“Let’s hope so,” Aunt Maud replied. “Thank you so much, dear Lady Armstrong, for your help and advice. I shall act upon it without delay.”
Lucilla felt a strange sense of unease as she heard this, but she was tired by the afternoon’s shopping and was longing to go to her room and rest, so she did not stop to think what her aunt might have meant by these words.
As she lay on her bed, gazing at her beautiful pink coat on a chair, she suddenly wished that the young man with the brown eyes could see her wearing it. ‘It’s just the sort of look he might like,’ she thought to herself. ‘He would notice me, if I was dressed like a Russian Princess. After all, he wanted to hear me play Chopin – ’
And then she told herself not to be so silly. She did not know anything about him, not even his name.
And – had not she heard him talking about Ethel? Could it be that he and Ethel had once – been in love?
She must stop thinking about him, for she had only met him for just a few moments and he had not taken any notice of her at all.
‘I will find someone to love,’ she told herself. ‘If I am patient, I know it will happen. It happened to Mama and Papa and it will happen for me!’ But the young man was still in her mind and she could not stop herself thinking about him all that evening.
*
The next day, Aunt Maud went down to the kitchen and spent a very long time in consultation with the cook. When she finally came back to the drawing room, where Lucilla was busy darning an old petticoat, she then announced that she was holding a dinner party that very evening.
“A very dear friend of mine, a Mr. Pargetter, will be joining us,” she said, her cheeks reddening as she spoke. “And a second gentleman, too, an acquaintance of your new friend, Ethel, will make up the quartet.”
Lucilla’s heart leapt in her breast. Ethel must have spoken to the dark-eyed young man and it was he who would be coming to dinner!
Never mind that he had been upset and angry and he had not wanted to dance with her at the party. Now he had thought better of it and Ethel had persuaded him to come and visit her.
“I’m glad to see you looking so cheerful,” Aunt Maud commented, “and I am sure I don’t need to tell you that you must look your best this evening. Though I must remind you to devote yourself to the young man Ethel is introducing. Mr. Pargetter is my guest and he has come to see me. I don’t want you trying to attract his attention.”
Lucilla remembered what she had overheard her aunt saying to Lady Armstrong. And she had no intention of trying to distract Mr. Pargetter, whoever he might be.
All her conversation and all her attention would be devoted to the dark-eyed young man and the very thought of seeing him again made her feel as light and joyful as a butterfly.
She took a long time to get ready that evening. It was a shame that she had only
one evening dress, the pale-blue silk she had worn to the party, as she would have liked the young man to see her in something different when they met again.
Then she had an idea. Among the few things Lucilla had brought with her from Wellsprings Place was a peacock blue stole that had belonged to her Mama. She threw it around her shoulders and then tied her brown hair into a loose knot, for, as well as being the very latest fashion, this showed off her abundant shining tresses to their best advantage.
She looked in the mirror and there, once more, was the Russian Princess, draped in brilliant blue with her mass of hair framing her delicate face.
Downstairs in the hall she could hear the front door opening and the sound of voices and she knew that it was almost time for her to go down.
Lucilla did not wait for her aunt to send the parlour maid to call her. Her feet scarcely touched the floor as she ran down the stairs.
Aunt Maud was standing by the fire, talking to a large gentleman with a shining bald head.
Lucilla could only see his back view, but she at once realised that it must be Mr. Pargetter. She stepped into the room, remembering to keep her eyes down and to behave in as modest and mouse-like manner as she could, as she knew that she must not attract Mr. Pargetter’s attention or her aunt would be angry.
“My niece, Lady Lucilla Welton,” Aunt Maud said.
Lucilla curtsied politely, keeping her gaze fixed on the hearthrug.
“Good evening, Lucilla,” the man responded in an American accent. Lucilla felt her hand taken in a strong clasp, as the man reached out and raised her fingers to his lips.
She tried to draw back, confused, as she had not expected her aunt’s friend to be an American, but his grip on her hand was too strong for her to escape. “Mr. Pargetter – ” she began, suddenly feeling very afraid.
“So, we meet again,” the man said. “You’re lookin’ swell, Princess.”
Horrified, Lucilla looked up to find herself face to face with Harkness Jackson.
Joined by Love Page 3