A Collar of Jewels

by Pamela Pope

  Ellie had no regrets at leaving Southampton. It had been her home for three years but she hadn’t put down roots. The place had never inspired any great affinity, and it wouldn’t sadden her if she never saw it again. Mainly though, it had been important to leave so that Max would know he couldn’t walk back into her life and expect her to resume any kind of relationship, business or otherwise. She wanted nothing to do with him.

  Mama welcomed Grandfather Cromer with caution. It was so long since she had seen her father. The once dynamic and overbearing character had become an irascible old man, but it was impossible not to admire the courage which had enabled him to set out at the age of seventy-six to start a new life in a new continent.

  ‘I’m pleased to see you, Father,’ Sibylla said. ‘Elena seems to have reformed you, though how she’s done it I just don’t know.’

  ‘“Elena”? Why don’t you call her Ellie like everyone else?’ he demanded.

  ‘Because she was christened Elena. Now, do you want to live with us, because if so I hope you will try to fit in.’

  He smiled wickedly. ‘I bet you’ve told your posh friends they’ll be meeting a titled Englishman. Oh, I’ll behave myself, don’t you worry.’

  For the first time ever Ellie saw her mother discomfited and realised the effect Grandfather Cromer must have had on her in her youth.

  Papa, to his credit, remembered the early help Sir Robert had given him, and tried to make the transition easier. It was, as Grandfather said, no great thing really. Since the coming of the bailiffs he hadn’t called anywhere home.

  It was William who won the hearts of everyone and set the seal of approval which Ellie sought. He was a great delight to his maternal grandparents, so different from Frederick’s boys. Clarissa was unfortunately still barren after several years of marriage, and Jefferson, who had disappointed his father by becoming involved with theatre work, showed no sign of wanting a wife.

  ‘Nothing is the same,’ lamented Papa. ‘John Harlan ran for Mayor on the strength of being a Princeton footballer, and Carter Harrison tried to outdo him by posing for posters on a racing bicycle. I ask you, where has the dignity gone? Trying to catch the imagination of the young voters who don’t know enough about politics to fit in a flea’s ear! Whatever is the world coming to?’

  ‘You must admit, Conrad, that the photograph made us laugh,’ Mama reminded him. ‘There was Harrison with his moustache and sweater and knickers, sporting a pendant with eighteen bars hanging from it to represent his runs with the Century Road Club. It was quite ridiculous.’

  Jefferson produced a copy of the picture for Ellie and Grandfather to see. It proclaimed: Not the Champion Cyclist, but the Cyclists’ Champion.

  ‘It looks more like a music-hall poster,’ laughed Ellie.

  ‘The Germans swung the vote in favour of Carter Harrison, of course,’ Drew said. He had become staid and serious since his advancement in the Union Atlantic Railroad Company. ‘Harrison speaks their language and drinks their beer.’

  ‘Well, at least he’s Chicago-born,’ said Papa. ‘It remains to be seen if he gets the eight-hour working day, the garbage improvements and the immigration support he’s promised.’

  Yes, it was good to be home indulging in the kind of conversation she had grown up with, and Ellie was happy.

  It was good, too, to see her godfather again.

  ‘My dear Elena, how I’ve missed you,’ he greeted her, and hugged her warmly. ‘I would have come to see you on one of my visits to England, had I known where to find you.’

  ‘I’m afraid your name isn’t very popular at Court Carriages,’ she told him, after a long discussion about the business. ‘My Uncle Julian objected strongly to the American competition.’

  ‘He’d better pray, then, that the Wagon-Lits organisation doesn’t get a foothold over there. It’s prevented me expanding into Europe.’ And the talk went fascinatingly on.

  George Pullman arranged a special reception in his garden to celebrate Ellie’s homecoming; it reminded her of her eighteenth birthday party. Florence was there with her husband, Frank Lowden, and their son George Mortimer Pullman Lowden who was the apple of his grandfather’s eye. The earlier rivalry between Ellie and Florence still lingered.

  ‘Don’t you think my son is far more handsome than hers?’ Ellie asked Clarissa.

  ‘Without doubt,’ came the expected answer.

  Mr Pullman himself looked tired and much older.

  ‘Poor George hasn’t been the same since the strike,’ said Papa. ‘Pullman City is now annexed to Chicago and there’s talk of getting a Supreme Court Order to make him sell the houses to workers. He never wanted that.’

  It came as a great shock to everyone when George Pullman died very suddenly on 19 October, at the age of sixty-six. He’d had a massive heart attack. All Americans were shocked at the news and there was speculation as to who would take over as head of the Pullman Company, none of his children having shared their father’s passion for it. The late President Lincoln’s son, Robert T. Lincoln, was favoured as the most suitable, and indeed that was what happened. The Harvey family grieved over the loss of their good friend and neighbour, Ellie most of all. Her godfather had meant so much to her, and at the interment at Graceland Cemetery she broke down when the dear man who had been a precious link with her childhood was laid to rest.

  The days breezed by, carrying Ellie from one activity to another like a bee from flower to flower. It was wonderful to renew old friendships, and she had so many invitations she couldn’t accept them all. Her sojourn in England had wiped away the stigma of her failed marriage and she was once more the toast of the town.

  There was one visit, though, which she undertook as a duty early on, and that was to see Max’s mother. Ellie had warm memories of Hedda Berman and it was only fair that she should get to know William. The meeting was difficult, however. Hedda took her grandson into an emotional embrace which upset him for the rest of the time they were there, and wariness marked her attitude towards her daughter-in-law.

  ‘My son is a good man. Why can you not live together?’ she asked, after the formalities had been dispensed with. ‘I do not understand.’

  ‘He left me, Momma Berman. He didn’t want me,’ said Ellie.

  ‘But he wants you now. He has repented. Why can’t you forgive him? Surely they teach the law of Moses in your Catholic Church.’

  ‘Love is the most important Commandment, and Max has never loved me.’

  ‘I’m sure that isn’t true.’

  ‘Well, until the day he proves his love I shall not be living with him. We’re tied for life by our marriage vows, but that doesn’t mean he can drop me and pick me up again just as he pleases.’

  The conversation bored William. He began to misbehave, and was so busy tugging at Ellie’s skirt and grizzling that he didn’t see a little girl come and stand in the doorway. She stared at him with disapproval.

  ‘Grandmother, I don’t like boys like him,’ the child said, pouting.

  The two women turned. William stopped crying.

  ‘Galina, come and meet your cousin,’ said Hedda, drawing the girl to her side.

  Ellie stiffened as she looked at Galina, seeing her now in a different light from when she had saved her infant life. She was so like Oliver. Her flame-coloured hair was as bright as polished copper, her mouth small and determined, the chin pointed to give her a heart-shaped face. Only her eyes were different. They were as dark as Max’s, and were the only indication that she came from Berman stock. She was dressed in a plain black dress which came to her knees and showed the white broderie anglaise frills on her pantaloons. Black stockings covered her thin little legs which seemed too fragile for the black buttoned boots. The sombreness of her clothes gave her a drab, plain appearance, but the signs of future beauty were unmistakably there, though William was too young to appreciate them.

  ‘You’ve got hair like a scarecrow,’ he said to her, scornfully.<
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  ‘And you’ve got a big nose and big feet,’ scoffed Galina.

  William was not standing for that. He set about his cousin with such ferocity that it took Ellie several minutes to disengage him, but he didn’t come off best. Galina had used her fingernails to scratch his face and she had drawn blood. It was as much as Hedda could do to hold her; so eager was the child to continue the battle, and even then tongues and grimaces were used to display their sentiments about each other.

  The visit was a fiasco which Ellie didn’t repeat. Galina Devlin was not a likeable child, which made it even harder to accept that she was rich at Ellie’s expense.

  *

  Just before Christmas, Max came back to Chicago. He telephoned the Prairie Avenue house to say that he would be visiting his wife at four o’clock in the afternoon so that she wouldn’t be able to say she’d known nothing of the arrangement. Ellie hadn’t answered either of his recent letters so he presumed she was still discarding any mail from him, disposing of it unopened.

  It was only the second time he had been to this house, and he vividly recalled the interview in the anteroom on the previous occasion. This time he was shown to the luxurious drawing room where the red, blue and gilt painted pipes of a huge organ dominated the decor. This was a great improvement on his previous reception, which he took as a sign that he now had a position of sorts in the Harvey family.

  When Ellie came in, he was captivated anew by her loveliness. Today she wore an expensive gown of midnight blue, and with jewels decorating her throat and ears she looked every inch a Chicago socialite. He could hardly believe she was married to him, but he saw with relief that she still wore her wedding ring.

  ‘If you’ve come to try and make me change my mind about Court Carriages you’re wasting your time,’ she said. ‘This is my home now. It’s where I’m staying.’

  Her pride was another mantle, cloaking her in an impenetrable aloofness. He longed to shake her free of it. Into his mind came pictures of her in the cotton frock she had worn in Pullman when she was pregnant with William and he wished it were possible to have that time over again. How differently he would use it.

  ‘I came partly to give you this,’ he said, handing her a long white envelope. ‘I was afraid that if I sent it through the mail, you might burn it without examining the contents.’

  She took it. ‘I read your last two letters. They don’t alter anything.’

  ‘This is a cheque to cover the dowry money you were deprived of,’ Max told her. ‘I’ve sold my furniture business in Albany.’

  Surprise rendered her silent for several seconds. She held the envelope as if it were red-hot and studied it while she drew breath. Then she attempted to hand it back.

  ‘I don’t want it,’ she said. ‘It was Oliver who stole my money, not you. It isn’t your responsibility to repay it.’

  ‘Take it. I was as guilty as Oliver and it’s only right that I should try to make amends.’

  ‘You can never do that as long as you live.’

  ‘Won’t you at least let me try?’

  ‘It’s too late, Max. The wrong you did me was unforgivable. If you’d left me while we were in Pullman I might have been able to consider it. I might even have understood if you’d gone away with another woman, and perhaps forgiven you. But to desert me in a foreign country was like taking an unwanted dog onto the plains and dumping it. You had no compassion whatsoever, and now I have no feelings for you.’

  ‘It was done on the spur of the moment. I didn’t have time to think.’

  ‘That is the weakest excuse I have ever heard. I loathe you now, and I shall go on loathing you forever.’

  Her sentiments were expressed with cold conviction, but he noted that the envelope she gripped was fluttering slightly. However, she was gracious enough to invite him to stay for tea. Neither of her parents were at home. Max talked of Court Carriages and gave Ellie news of Julian Cromer, who was at the Works from dawn till dusk and making himself unpopular with the men by expecting too much. Her uncle was driving himself hard and expecting others to do the same, with little reward.

  ‘You and Julian ought to get on well,’ she said, pouring tea from a silver pot. Cream lace ruffles at her neck gave her skin a softness he longed to touch. ‘His main interest is in luxury cars, the kind you design.’

  ‘On the contrary, the man won’t work with me. He wants me out, but the harder he tries to get rid of me the more I dig in. I learnt a lot when I established Berman’s. I did damn well out of it. Now I’ve given up everything else to take over Oliver’s position and I intend to see Galina’s inheritance is managed well.’

  ‘How ironic. If you’d stayed with me, the company might one day have been ours instead of Galina’s.’ She was understandably touchy about anything to do with Court Carriages.

  Prudence brought William downstairs to join them a short time later. Max’s heart jolted at the sight of his son, this time dressed in short turquoise knickerbockers and a white frilled shirt. The boy eyed his father with the same suspicion as before, but behaved impeccably, and was treated as if he were much older than his three years. Max wanted to take the child out to the garden and play with him as any normal father would do, but at the first overture William shrank against his mother. She picked him up and held him straddled across her hip like the child of any tenement-dweller. Max felt a throb in his loins. She was all woman, a creature to make any man excited.

  ‘He’s settled well,’ Ellie told him. ‘Everyone spoils him, though.’

  ‘I heard about his meeting with Galina and their instant dislike of each other.’

  A smile lifted the corners of her mouth. ‘Your mother and I had to hold them apart like squabbling puppies in the park. It wasn’t funny at the time, but now …’ William was fidgeting and she put him down. He ran off alone. ‘Galina is very precocious.’

  ‘Life hasn’t been easy for her, living with old people. I’m taking her to England straight after Christmas. Nanny Simmons has agreed to look after her.’

  ‘I’m glad,’ said Ellie. ‘Nanny could have come with us, of course, but she has family in Southampton. You need have no worries. She’s a very caring woman, and well-qualified.’

  ‘I also employ Mrs Hovringham. She misses you very much — talks of you all the time. Everyone speaks so highly of you, Ellie.’

  ‘Whereas you had no use for me. It’s a pity you had to discover my worth from others.’

  ‘Ellie, come with us.’

  ‘No, Max.’ She had melted slightly, but her attitude remained the same. ‘Didn’t you listen to a word I said earlier?’

  The time had come to tell her of the other purpose of his visit. Persuasion was obviously having no effect so he would need to be firm.

  ‘There’s something important you must know, Ellie,’ he said. ‘I want my son to be brought up in the Jewish faith. In order for that to happen he must be with me, so whether you agree to come or not I want to take William back to England.’

  Ellie’s face became ashen. She was completely unprepared for such a demand and he hated having to be so cruel. But her refusal was instantaneous.

  ‘Never! Never, do you hear?’ she cried. ‘I won’t countenance even the suggestion. William has already been baptised into the Catholic Church and goes to Mass on Sundays. And as for him going anywhere with you … You must be out of your mind.’

  ‘Then I repeat, come with us.’

  ‘I will not.’

  ‘I’m your husband. I can insist on it,’ he said.

  She was trembling, and she wrung her hands together. Her voice was like ice. ‘Don’t ever try to claim any rights to me. You have none.’

  ‘But I have rights to William.’

  ‘Get out of my home, Max, and don’t ever come back. I’m going to issue orders that you’re never even to see William.’

  ‘Ellie, listen to me —’

  ‘You, a railroad waiter, think you can dictate to me!’
Her arrogance incensed him. ‘We’ll see, shall we!’

  She moved towards the bell-pull to summon the butler, but he forestalled her, dragging her away from it. His arms closed round her masterfully and his mouth found hers, silencing her outraged protests. The feel of her full lips beneath his own was fuel to the fire in him, and he continued to kiss her even when her teeth brought the taste of blood to his mouth. In her fury she had never been more desirable.

  She kicked and struggled for several minutes, but he tightened his hold. His fingers dug into her back between her shoulderblades, and the weight of his broad chest kept her own hands pinioned between them so that she was helpless. She tried to toss her head, but the backwards tilt of it ensured her mouth remained captive until he was ready to release her, and his longing for their complete union was almost overpowering. Now he knew why he had been celibate.

  Finally, he let her go. Deep, sharp breaths escaped him; shame engulfed him. He had used his physical strength to prove she couldn’t insult him and get away with it, but there was no satisfaction. On the contrary, he had now added to the complexity of their relationship by antagonising her further, and by proving to himself that his growing appreciation of her fascination and virtue had not been idle fantasy. She was everything he wanted.

  Ellie didn’t back away. She stood with her feet firmly planted in the luxurious pile carpet, and she didn’t touch either her lips or her dishevelled hair.

  ‘Don’t expect an apology,’ he said.

  She, too, was regaining her breath. With a jerk she thrust out her chin, and she spoke between her teeth: ‘If you ever come near either me or William again you’ll regret it forever. I swear I’ll prove that you knifed Oliver to death, and in England you’ll hang for it.’

  ‘Ellie! Damn you, there’s no way you can do that. You know it would be a lie.’

  ‘Do I? You thought you saw Julian near the Sun Hotel. He would testify if I asked him to.’

  ‘Perjure himself?’

  ‘Perhaps he wouldn’t need to. Perhaps he also saw you. And you had enough reasons to commit murder.’ She swung round and this time he didn’t stop her tugging the bell-pull. ‘Remember that, Max, and stay away. We don’t need you.’