Lloyd glanced at his brother. ‘That, in a nutshell is the gist of what I was about to say to you, Joey.’
Chapter Three
Rhian ran her fingers over the silk blouse Sali had lifted out of her wardrobe. ‘It’s lovely, but I couldn’t possibly accept it unless you allow me to pay for it.’
‘Pay for my cast-offs? I wouldn’t hear of it.’ Sali held it in front of her. ‘Just look at how much weight I’ve put on. It will be a long time before I can get into this again.’
‘Two months,’ Rhian suggested.
‘I doubt it will stretch over my bust after the baby is born, and it has a back fastening, so it would be useless for nursing.’
‘And when you finish nursing the baby?’
‘It will be out of fashion. Besides, Lloyd and I have no intention of stopping at three.’
‘You want more children?’ Rhian asked in surprise.
‘I’ll let you know after this one is born, but I wouldn’t mind four, or even five.’
Rhian took the blouse from Sali. It was high-necked and light cream with a frill of lace around the collar. She turned it around and saw a price tag fixed to the top button. ‘It cost a guinea and you’ve never even worn it!’
‘I grew too fat before I had a chance.’
Rhian imagined it teamed with her cream linen summer skirt or the blue winter suit she was wearing. It would look perfect, as she suspected Sali well knew. ‘If you’re sure …’
‘You’d be doing me a favour. I have a rule never to buy anything new until I’ve cleared something old from my wardrobe. If I didn’t stick to it, we’d have to buy another half a dozen bedroom suites to accommodate my clothes. You have no idea what a temptation it is to work in Gwilym James. Every time I buy in a new line I want to keep most of it for myself.’ Sali folded the blouse into a paper bag, ‘About Joey?’ she began hesitantly.
‘I met him at Tonypandy station. We had lunch in the City Restaurant, and we were going to see the moving pictures in the Park Hall but came here instead. Thank you for this.’ Rhian took the bag from Sali. Seeing that she was still worried, she added, ‘You really don’t need to worry about me and Joey because we are just friends.’
‘Really?’ Sali didn’t look convinced.
‘Really,’ Rhian reiterated. ‘I made it clear to Joey before we got on the train this morning that this outing wasn’t going to be any different to the outings I make with the girls. We each paid our own way and all we’ve done is talk.’
‘And what did Joey say when you told him that going out with him was no different to going out with the girls?’ Sali probed.
‘He said it was fine by him.’ Rhian kept Joey’s full answer to herself.
‘That doesn’t sound like the Joey Evans I know.’ Sali took a woollen shawl from a drawer. ‘If we’re going to get Joey back to the shop by seven we ought to make a move.’
‘We could just as easily take the train.’
‘If you do, it won’t give Lloyd an excuse to call on his father. Although Joey lives at home he works such long hours Lloyd can’t help worrying. His father hasn’t been strong since he lost his leg in the train crash.’
‘But he is all right, isn’t he?’ Mr Evans’s gruff manner had terrified Rhian when she’d first met him, but it hadn’t taken her long to realize that beneath the brusque crust was a kind heart.
‘I think so,’ Sali answered cautiously. ‘He visits Victor and Megan at the farm a couple of times a week and sometimes stays over with them. We’d love to have him here more often, but’, she gave an apologetic shrug, ‘he hates being surrounded by servants and although Lloyd and I would like to live more simply, the trustees of Harry’s estate prefer him to live in the house that he will inherit. My solicitor, Mr Richards, said that if we shut up the house, it would probably cost more to get it back in good condition by the time Harry comes of age than it would to pay the running costs, which are offset by the produce from the farms that come with the estate. And by living here, Lloyd and I can deal with any small problems as they arise rather than wait until the next trustees meeting.’
‘It is a lovely house.’ Rhian looked around. The bedroom suite was Victorian, too ornate to appeal to modern taste, but there was no denying the craftsmanship that had gone into carving the mahogany four-poster bed, matching wardrobes, dressing table, washstand and desk. Two chairs upholstered in blue velvet stood either side of a sofa table in front of a huge window that overlooked the gardens. A Persian rug covered most of the floor and white silk drapes on the bed and windows and a white silk bedcover lightened the impact of the furniture. ‘I used to think Llan House was big until I visited here.’
‘It is big, but it’s also beginning to feel like home. It’s amazing how much space children take up,’ Sali patted her ‘bump’, ‘even before they’re born. Just when I thought that I could clear some room in the nursery by putting away Bella’s baby things they’re needed for this one.’
‘You are lucky.’
‘With Lloyd and the children?’ Sali smiled. ‘I know. But I’m also lucky with the house. I always liked visiting my aunt when I was a child, and I feel close to her here. It was so generous of her to leave everything she owned to Harry.’
‘I have a small present for you. That’s if you want it.’ Rhian opened her bag.
‘You shouldn’t have,’ Sali protested. ‘Not after that lovely vase you gave us for Christmas, not to mention the doll you bought for Bella and the drawing materials for Harry.’
‘It’s small and it didn’t cost me anything. Mr Larch always takes photographs of all the staff on New Year’s Eve. This year he gave each of us three copies as presents.’ She handed Sali a cardboard folder.
‘This is beautiful.’ Sali studied the photograph. ‘You’re wearing the dress I gave you for Christmas.’
‘He said we could put on our best clothes.’
‘I have to get a silver frame for this. You look stunning. Your face, your hair …’
‘Mr Larch says that I’m one of those people who photograph well. I must be, because I don’t believe for one minute that I look like that.’
‘The camera never lies. This is exactly what you look like. I have to show this to Lloyd.’ Before Rhian could stop her, Sali swept from the room and down the stairs.
Joey leaned against the newel post at the foot of the stairs, watching Lloyd, Sali and Mari mill around the hall as they dressed the children in their outdoor clothes.
‘So can I have a photograph?’ he whispered to Rhian when she stepped back from the mirror after pinning on her hat.
‘No.’
‘That’s not fair. You have three,’ he complained.
‘Two after giving Sali one. Besides, you know what people would think if I gave you a photograph of myself.’
‘No, tell me?’ He gazed at her through teasing eyes.
‘They’d think we were boy- and girlfriend.’
‘That’s exactly what you told me we were this morning.’
‘Not that kind of boy and girlfriend.’
‘There’s different sorts?’ he questioned, feigning innocence.
‘You know there are,’ she answered, refusing to be irritated by him.
‘I’d keep it safe on the chest of drawers next to my bed. No one would see it except me. And I’d kiss it every night to remind myself that the original would never grant me that favour.’
Rhian was glad when the elderly butler, Mr Jenkins, opened the porch door at the sound of carriage wheels crunching over gravel.
‘It’s Robert, Miss Sali,’ he announced.
‘Rhian?’ Joey called softly, when Sali, Lloyd and the children went to the front door.
‘The answer’s no.’
‘All right, I understand that you’re not prepared to part with a photograph but you’re not going back to Llan House wearing that old cloak, are you?’
She glanced down. Her cloak looked shabbier than ever in the elegant surroundings of Ynysangharad House. �
�I did intend to go shopping this afternoon. Somehow I never got around to it.’
‘A fairy godfather went for you.’ He held up the carrier bag he had brought from Tonypandy.
Curious, she looked inside. ‘Oh, Joey!’
‘The ladies’ top-of-the-range cashmere.’ He pulled it out as if he were a conjurer producing a rabbit from a top hat. ‘And in your size, I believe, madam.’
‘You told me you couldn’t get one,’ she said accusingly.
‘I lied. I had it sent up from the Cardiff store.’
‘I have to pay you for it.’
‘It’s a present.’
‘There is no way that I am accepting an expensive present, let alone clothes, from you,’ she said heatedly.
‘I’d swap it for a photograph.’
‘The answer’s no!’
‘“A lady may only accept a token gift from a gentleman,”’ he recited in a high-pitched voice that was a fair imitation of Mrs Larch’s. ‘“An embroidered handkerchief, an unostentatious box of sweets or chocolates or a very small bottle of cologne. She may never, never accept anything expensive, especially clothing, and expect to”’, he reduced his voice to a whisper, ‘“remain a lady.”’
‘You read the lady’s manual?’ She laughed at the idea of Joey reading a guide to etiquette.
‘How else would I know how to behave around a real lady?’
‘And you’ve met Mrs Larch?’
‘She deigned to come into the store once, although she wasted no time in letting us know that it wasn’t up to the standards of the stores she usually patronized.’ He shook out the coat. ‘Try it on.’
‘Not until I pay for it.’
‘I won’t pay for it until the end of the month when the purchases I’ve made against my personal account are due, so why should you pay me sooner?’
She gazed longingly at the coat that she had coveted for so many months. ‘I won’t try it on until you take the two guineas.’
‘If you absolutely insist on paying, it’s two guineas less twenty per cent discount, which is,’ Joey looked to the ceiling for a few seconds, ‘one pound thirteen shillings and fourpence halfpenny, rounded down to the nearest halfpence.’
‘That was quick.’
‘I’m not just a handsome face, although that’s all most girls see.’ He lifted her cloak from her shoulders and held out the coat. She slipped her arms into the sleeves and fastened the buttons.
‘You two ever coming?’ Lloyd shouted impatiently. He glanced back at them. ‘Nice coat, Rhian.’
‘The girl has taste,’ Joey agreed.
‘Sali and the children are waiting.’
‘One second and we’ll be with you, Lloyd.’ Joey stuffed Rhian’s cloak into the bag. ‘I forgot all about the toffees I bought for the children. See what a bad influence you are on me.’ He set the tin on the hallstand.
‘I’ll pay you the two guineas for this or nothing at all.’ Rhian gazed at herself in the hall mirror. The coat looked even better on her than she had hoped it would. The fashionable slim cut flattered her trim figure and the sheen on the cloth gleamed in the electric light of the hall.
‘Then I’ll take nothing at all.’ Joey crossed the hall and handed the butler the bag. ‘Mr Jenkins, would you be kind enough to pass this on to someone who can use it?’
‘Yes, Mr Evans.’
‘Goodnight, Mr Jenkins.’ Rhian caught up with Joey.
‘Goodnight, Miss Rhian.’ He gave her a rare and rusty smile.
‘I’ll still pay you the two guineas,’ Rhian hissed as Joey helped her up the iron steps into the carriage.
‘You will pay me exactly what I paid for the coat, and one more thing,’ he whispered in her ear as she took his arm. ‘Ask your Mrs Williams if you can change your day off with one of the other girls. And preferably not for a Friday or Saturday. A Tuesday or Wednesday would suit me perfectly.’
Bronwen bustled into the kitchen. ‘More tea, toast and butter please, Cook.’ She turned to Rhian. ‘They’ve almost finished their porridge so you can take up the haddock but be warned, the mistress is in a worse mood than usual.’
‘We don’t need telling.’ Meriel picked up the fish slice and began lifting the smoked haddock fillets from the milky stock she’d used to simmer them. ‘I heard her shouting at the master when I went out to the ty bach half an hour ago. And the way she was yelling, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were stuffing cotton wool into their ears at the top end of the valley.’
‘I can understand the master marrying a woman half his age three months after the mistress passed on. After all, he’s a man,’ Bronwen declared, as if his sex was excuse enough. ‘But what I can’t understand is why the new mistress married him if she had no intention of sleeping in his bed.’
‘You have no business discussing the master and mistress, Bronwen,’ Mrs Williams reproved. ‘Mr and Mrs Larch pay our wages, the least we can do is respect their privacy.’
‘We’re only talking among ourselves, and we all know what’s going on.’ Meriel eased a second haddock into the tureen. ‘There’s no way we wouldn’t, given the way Mrs Larch screams blue murder whenever the master knocks at her bedroom door. And when she starts on Miss Julia, Master Gerald or us, I think she’s training to take a job as a caller on Ponty market.’
‘Tea, toast and clear the porridge bowls before Rhian gets up there with the fish.’ Mrs Williams filled Bronwen’s tray and sent her out.
Rhian watched Meriel arrange the sixth and last fillet of smoked haddock in the tureen. She covered it with a lid, placed it on her tray and walked up the stairs. Bronwen was leaving the dining room with the empty bowls. She rolled her eyes heavenwards as she passed. Rhian knocked on the dining-room door and opened it.
Silence, cold and glacial, had settled over the Larches’ breakfast table, chilling the atmosphere and freezing out conversation. Rhian couldn’t help but contrast the strained atmosphere with the friendly one the late mistress had fostered at family meals.
‘At last!’ Mabel Larch exclaimed. ‘I thought we’d be here waiting at lunch-time.’
‘Sorry, ma’am.’ Rhian eased the tray on to one arm, lifted the lid of the tureen with the other and handed the mistress the fish slice and fork. Mabel helped herself to the largest fillet.
Julia gave Rhian a smile of commiseration when she carried the tureen to her chair. Julia took a small fillet. Edward Larch set aside the copy of The Times he had been reading and picked up the fish slice. The fillet broke as he tried to lift it, Rhian leaned forward in the hope of catching the broken piece on her tray but the tureen slipped and fell upside down on the carpet.
‘You stupid girl!’ Mabel Larch flew out of her chair and slapped Rhian soundly across the face with her right hand, which was holding a knife.
Shocked, momentarily stunned, Rhian stared at her mistress for a moment. As blood began to flow down her cheek, pain set in and she gulped back a sob. Dropping her tray on top of the tureen, she fled from the room across the hall and down the stairs barely aware of the master’s shouts behind her.
‘You’re lucky you didn’t lose your eye.’ Mrs Williams pressed a tea towel soaked in cold water over the side of Rhian’s face.
‘Old witch! Hitting us! For two pins I’d pack my bags and clear off right now,’ said Meriel.
‘I hope not after the time you’ve been here, Cook.’ Edward Larch knocked at the open door. ‘May I come in?’
‘This is your house, sir,’ Mrs Williams said coldly.
‘And the kitchen is your and Cook’s preserve, Mrs Williams.’ He studied Rhian with real concern. ‘How are you?’
‘As you see, sir.’ Mrs Williams lifted the towel to reveal Rhian’s bloodshot eye and bruised cheekbone.
‘I have come to apologize for my wife’s behaviour. She wasn’t feeling well this morning.’
‘If you don’t mind me saying so, sir, that’s a pathetic excuse,’ Mrs Williams observed, anger overcoming her usual reserve with the master.
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‘I know I have no right to ask, but I was hoping that we could keep the knowledge of this incident within the house.’ Edward looked to the housekeeper. When she remained silent, he added, ‘I have no doubt that Mrs Larch will apologize to Rhian herself later in the day.’
‘I will bring the matter up with Mrs Larch in Rhian’s presence, sir,’ Mrs Williams said firmly. ‘I cannot have my staff treated in this fashion and I would prefer not to leave any of them alone with her in future.’
‘You run the household as you see fit,’ Edward conceded, in the hope of preventing any of them from walking out. ‘Take the day off and rest, Rhian. You will let me know how she is this evening, Mrs Williams?’
‘I will, sir.’
‘I could tell my friends that I walked into a door,’ Rhian suggested, hating the thought of anyone leaving Larch House because of what had happened to her.
‘I would be grateful, Rhian,’ Edward said quickly. ‘My wife has retired to her room, Mrs Williams. I will tell her to expect you later on this morning.’
‘You have finished breakfast, sir?’ the housekeeper enquired pointedly.
‘We have, Mrs Williams, thank you.’
‘Then Bronwen and I will clear the table.’ Mrs Williams signalled to Bronwen, who picked up two trays and handed one to the housekeeper. They followed the master up the stairs and into the hall where Gerald and Julia were dressing in their overcoats.
‘Where are you going?’ Edward asked.
‘I promised Simon Rowan that I’d help him build a station for his model train set before term starts and I have to go back to school.’ His stepmother’s display of temper had embarrassed Gerald and he couldn’t look his father in the eye.
Sinners and Shadows Page 5