by Comfort Me
She was smiling but she was pleased to see a sour expression on the woman’s face, especially when the butcher asked, ‘How is Miss O’Neill?’
‘She can’t walk as far as she used to but she’s fine in the house. She and Julia are great friends,’ said Anna.
‘She’s a grand lady,’ Julia said. ‘Very brave. We have a great crack together when she doesn’t be having visitors.’
Frances was delighted when Anna told her about the eavesdropper. ‘That’s her! That’s her!’ she exclaimed when Anna described her and Anna had to tell her every word that had been said, over and over again.
James laughed when she told him about it. ‘You seem to have made Frances very happy,’ he said.
‘I think I did,’ said Anna.
‘You can’t blame her for feeling bitter towards the woman, though,’ said James. ‘How did you know it was her?’
‘I didn’t really,’ Anna admitted. ‘It was just the way she was worming close to eavesdrop and Frances has often told me about her. I’m always ready to strike a blow for any woman who’s bullied and unable to strike back.’
James said nothing but laid his hand on hers, which was gripping the arm of her chair, and she relaxed and smiled.
Anna had no worries about the dinner but the familiar one about the separate rooms reared its head again and she spoke to James about it.
‘The ladies’ coats will have to go on my bed,’ she said. ‘That’s what’s usual at parties and ladies want to do their hair after taking their hats off. I’m not worried about Mrs O’Brien but Mama and Aunt Clara!’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ he said and on the Saturday night she found that he had pushed his wardrobe into her room and placed two silver-backed hairbrushes that she had given him for his birthday on top of the tallboy. There were double beds in both rooms and the two wardrobes were part of a bedroom suite.
They were both nervous and half regretting the invitations but James said as they said goodnight, ‘Even if something goes wrong, they’re all family or old friends, so it won’t matter,’ and Anna went into her room smiling.
On Sunday the preparations went smoothly and the dinner was a great success.
The guests all arrived together and Anna led the three ladies upstairs to shed their hats and coats and visit the bathroom. James took the men into the small room they called the study for pre-dinner drinks.
The O’Briens’ visitor, Dr Hugh Parr, was impressed with the house and when they were seated round the table he asked James about it. ‘It’s a little gem,’ he said. ‘Especially with so much new property around it. I’m surprised it wasn’t knocked down for building land.’
‘We were lucky,’ said James. ‘An old lady lived here for about fifty years, almost a recluse, so the house was not available.’
‘But surely the speculators were waiting,’ Dr Parr said. ‘I believe mansions have been knocked down for building land all around here.’
‘Two things helped,’ James said. ‘The garden is large but there’s not enough ground to interest a builder and I made an offer as soon as it came on the market.’
Anna and Julia had brought in soup tureens and begun to serve it. ‘Asparagus soup, not too heavy to take the edge off their appetites,’ Julia had suggested but the soup was so delicious that the guests, led by Dr O’Brien, had second servings of it.
James carved the sirloin and Julia carried round dishes of potatoes, followed by Anna with cauliflower and carrots, then Anna slipped into her place at the table while Julia served horseradish sauce and gravy.
They had placed the serving dishes with some food remaining in them on the table and Dr O’Brien said heartily, ‘That’s good. If these are up to your usual standard, Julia, I’ll be back for more.’
He laughed but Anna thought Mrs O’Brien seemed embarrassed and she said quickly, ‘We’ll be disappointed if second helpings aren’t needed. Frances is keeping more of everything warm in the kitchen.’
Julia was pouring wine but at that moment there was a diversion when Frances appeared in the doorway. ‘The roast potatoes,’ she said tragically.
‘Holy Mother!’ Julia exclaimed, ready to abandon the wine but Anna said, ‘No, carry on Julia. I’ll get them.’ She brought in a dish of roast potatoes and went round the table with them, thinking bitterly, Just when everything seemed to be going well. How could we all have forgotten them?
When she came to James he looked at her and winked, then whispered, ‘Remember, only family and friends,’ and she immediately felt better.
Dr Hugh Parr was fascinated by the high standard of the meal and the informality of the serving and studied his host and hostess with interest. He wondered who was responsible for the tasteful decoration of this little gem of a house. Everything was light and modern, yet nothing jarred. The wife he thought, looking at her graceful movements and intelligent face, yet Hargreaves himself had run his hand lovingly over an antique desk in the study. Perhaps they had chosen the furnishings together.
They seemed to be in accord and he decided that both must be responsible for the air of peace and harmony in the house. No servant problems here, evidently. He turned to Clara, who sat next to him, and said, ‘I’ve never before tasted such food. Truly food for the gods, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, Julia is a trained cook but my niece grew the vegetables,’ Clara said proudly.
‘Did she indeed,’ he said. ‘A very talented lady.’
Captain Furlong was sitting opposite them and heard the conversation and he said to Anna, ‘You never showed any interest in gardening before you were married, Annabel.’
‘We didn’t have a garden, Father, did we?’ she said. ‘But I always loved flowers.’
‘The garden had been neglected for some years,’ James said. ‘Before we moved in we had it tidied up a bit and dug over, borders and lawns laid out, and we had a jobbing gardener for three days a week at first. Now he can only come for one day a week but Anna discovered she had green fingers.’ He smiled at her. ‘She only has to stick a twig in the ground and it grows.’
Anna laughed. ‘James does all the dull, heavy part of gardening. I have the easy side, planting and weeding. Norah helped me to choose plants.’
‘Norah used to own a florist’s shop,’ Mrs O’Brien said to Dr Parr. ‘She made the loveliest bouquets and wreaths.’
‘She did all the flowers for the church for Dorrie’s wedding,’ Mrs Furlong said and explained to Dr Parr, ‘Our younger daughter.’
‘She and her husband hoped to be here while I was ashore,’ Captain Furlong said, ‘but she was too ill to travel from London.’
‘They’ve missed a feast. Michael would have enjoyed this,’ Dr O’Brien exclaimed. He seemed about to say more but a look from his wife seemed to silence him.
The main course was cleared away and the charlotte russe and a cheeseboard brought in. The charlotte russe was a great success and Anna told everyone that Julia had been making it for years before she ever tasted it.
‘None ever came down from the dining room in the mansion where she worked but she made one here just for the four of us. We thought it was delicious, didn’t we, James?’
‘Yes, I could have eaten it all myself, but I didn’t dare, not outnumbered three to one the way I was,’ he said with a grin.
Relief at the success of the dinner made him feel confident and light-hearted. He asked Captain Furlong about his voyages to China, telling him that he often wondered about foreign lands when he was dealing with ships’ manifests.
This led Dr Parr to say how much he was enjoying his stay in Liverpool. ‘I’m a landlubber,’ he said, laughing, ‘but I’m fascinated by the River Mersey and all the shipping. I felt privileged to see the Cunard ship Lusitania setting off on her maiden voyage to New York.’
‘Yes, a wonderful sight, Wonderful!’ Dr O’Brien exclaimed. ‘I was as excited as Parr. And she did it in under five days – Liverpool to New York. Amazing!’
‘She did it in four days,
nineteen hours, fifty-two minutes,’ said Captain Furlong. ‘A record but soon someone will beat even that.’
‘As long as they don’t take risks to do it,’ Mrs Furlong said. ‘Human life is more important.’
Anna looked at her mother with a new respect. Perhaps Mama really was ill before, she thought. She certainly speaks more sensibly now. Mrs Furlong also spoke prophetically, although no one around the table realised it at the time.
Later, Anna and James showed their guests round the rest of the house and Frances invited them to see her room. Everyone admired it and Dr O’Brien said, ‘Perfect for you, Frances. I don’t know how you managed those stairs for as long as you did.’
‘Yes, I dreaded leaving the kitchen, although James always lit a fire in my bedroom and put a hot water bottle in my bed,’ Frances said.
‘That was very kind of you,’ Dr Parr said, looking at James with respect.
His face had grown red and he said gruffly, ‘Only trying to repay Frances for all she’s done for me since I was a child.’
Later, the whole party walked round the garden, although Mrs Furlong went no further than the flower garden at the back of the house, where she sat on the seat where Anna and Isabel had often sat.
‘I’ll stay here, if you don’t mind,’ she said. ‘It’s so lovely and such beautiful scents. The roses are beautiful.’
‘They were here when we came,’ Anna said. ‘I like scented plants. I’ve got mignonette and musk and stocks and of course night-scented stock and tobacco plants.’
Her father stayed with her mother and James joined them on the seat while the rest of the party walked round to the kitchen garden. They admired the neat rows of cauliflowers and cabbages and onions and the neatly staked peas.
‘I had broad beans as well but they got black fly so we had to destroy them,’ Anna said.
Dr Parr was interested in the waggon wheel buried near the kitchen door, with different herbs growing in the sections of the wheel. Sage, parsley, mint, rosemary, coriander, chives and fennel were all flourishing but the bay tree in the centre was not.
‘It’s too cramped, I think. We’ll have to move it,’ Anna said. ‘Julia uses bay leaves often.’
‘Does she use the other herbs?’ Dr Parr asked and Anna said, smiling, ‘Yes, all of them but don’t ask me for which dishes. I can never remember.’
Meanwhile, Captain Furlong was saying to James, ‘You have a very good house here. When you were trying to tell me the state of your affairs I’m afraid I was unable to listen but I had many worries at the time.’
It was clear that he was ready to listen now and James said readily, ‘I haven’t got the figures by me now but I wanted you to know that I could look after Anna. I inherited money and I have a good position in an old, established firm of importers in Hackins Hey.’
‘You’ve certainly done well with this house,’ Captain Furlong said.
‘Yes. I intended to buy it for cash but a colleague at the office advised me to take out a mortgage. He said my money was earning more than the mortgage would cost so I took his advice.’
‘But you have to make mortgage repayments from current income,’ the captain said.
‘Yes, but it’s well within our means. My salary is very generous and we have a bonus at Christmas and an increment every year and Anna is an excellent housekeeper.’ He saw Mrs Furlong’s head jerk round and he added hastily, ‘I mean she never stints on food but she spends the housekeeping money very wisely.’
‘Yes, I’m very impressed with Annabel,’ her father said, ‘and she seems very happy.’
Later, when the guests had gone, James told Anna that her father had enquired about his finances. ‘He told me he was sorry he didn’t allow me to tell him before we were married, because of his worries, but he seemed to want to know now.’
‘Did you tell him?’ Anna asked.
‘Yes, he had a right to know and we’ve got nothing to hide, have we?’ James said.
They were sitting on the garden seat, both happy and relaxed now that the visit was successfully over and able to admit how nervous they had been.
‘I was terrified of carving that joint. Pictured it skittering away from me down the table,’ James said.
‘Fancy us all forgetting the roast potatoes,’ Anna said, ‘but it didn’t matter and everyone enjoyed the food. Dr Parr is a nice man, isn’t he? He gave Julia two sovereigns and told her what a wonderful meal he’d had. She gave one to Frances.’
‘She’s a good girl,’ James said. ‘He admired the house too. Said that some people in London had all these light colours but he didn’t expect to see it in the provinces.’
‘Provinces!’Anna exclaimed indignantly but James laughed.
‘It’s how they see anywhere but London. I told him about Eastbourne Street and said we liked the style so we recaptured it here and I told him we bought the furniture in salerooms. He was asking about the desk in the study and I told him the state it was in, and the same with the dining table and chairs, and how you recovered the seats of the chairs.’
‘You seem to have told him a lot,’ Anna said.
‘I do, don’t I?’ James said. ‘I suppose that’s why he’s so successful. He’s so easy to talk to. He’s very impressed with you, Anna. Thinks you are very talented.’
Anna stood up and walked over to a rose bush. ‘I wish I was,’ she said, bending over a rose to smell the perfume.
James looked at her tall, graceful figure and smiling face and felt a rush of feeling which made him grip the seat. It took an effort of will not to go to her but he quickly recalled an incident in the garden earlier and that helped.
Anna had been with her aunt and Mrs O’Brien, who were looking at a flower border. The two doctors were strolling to join them, followed by James, when Dr Parr remarked, ‘I didn’t realise you were related to the Captain, O’Brien.’
‘By marriage,’ Dr O’Brien said. ‘His daughter and my nephew.’
James had paused and missed some of the conversation but he suddenly heard the word D’Arcy. Anna’s head had jerked round and she broke off a twig. She turned back to the other ladies, bending her head to hide the blush which covered her face, but James had seen it.
Now he thought bitterly, She still cares for that swine and said abruptly, ‘I must have a pipe,’ and went back into the house. He sat for a while in the study, smoking and trying to recapture the happiness he had felt, but he felt both sad and confused and tried to understand why.
The day had been a success and everyone had admired Anna’s talents. I’m a very lucky man, he thought. A wonderful wife, a happy home, good health and enough money and yet suddenly it all seems empty. I should be perfectly happy but I feel miserable. Why?
His mind knew the reason but shied away from it. They had married for companionship and Anna had done enough and more than enough to make the marriage work. Whatever she felt for D’Arcy she had concealed and she had done everything she could to help him and enrich his life. Their marriage was a success, Anna was happy and satisfied with the arrangement and he must keep to his side of it.
He jumped to his feet and went upstairs, opening the door of his bedroom then going into Anna’s room. He began to move his wardrobe and paused. The room was fresh and sweet-smelling, the scent of the lavender water that Anna used filling the air.
James leaned against the wardrobe, trembling, with perspiration rolling down his face and not from the effort of moving the wardrobe. He leaned his face against the wood, then suddenly, savagely, pushed the wardrobe into his own room. He mopped his face and unbuttoned his collar, then shut the doors of both rooms, unable to face going into Anna’s room again for his hairbrushes.
Twilight was falling and Anna had come in from the garden to the drawing room when he came downstairs. She turned to him, smiling, but he snatched his hat from the stand and said brusquely, ‘I’m going for a walk. Don’t wait up for me. I may be late.’ He escaped through the hall door, feeling that tonight the usual b
rotherly goodnight kiss was more than he could bear.
He walked for miles, his mind a jumble of thoughts about Anna, about Dorrie, about D’Arcy and about himself. He was exhausted when he returned home but except for the gaslight in the hall the house was in darkness and everyone apparently in bed.
James lay awake for a long time, wondering whether he had hurt Anna by his abrupt plunge away from her but at breakfast the next morning she seemed unperturbed.
‘Did the walk make you feel better?’ she said. ‘I had some indigestion myself. I think we were too keyed up and nervous to digest the food properly.’
‘You’re probably right,’ James agreed thankfully. ‘We’ll be better for the next one.’
At lunchtime he told Henry Mortimer about the success of the meal and Henry said, ‘Splendid. You’re a lucky man, James.’
Since Henry had advised him about buying the house they had become close friends and now lunched together every day. Now Henry told him that he would be unable to lunch with him on the following Thursday as his wife was coming into Liverpool and he was meeting her for lunch. ‘She likes to do her Christmas shopping early,’ he explained.
‘That sounds a good idea,’ James exclaimed. ‘I might suggest Anna does it one day.’
‘Perhaps the same day and we could make a foursome for lunch,’ Henry suggested, but James thought Henry should consult his wife before he said anything to Anna. ‘She’ll love the idea,’ Henry said confidently but James still thought they should be sure before he spoke to Anna about it.
Mrs Mortimer was enthusiastic about the plan and so was Anna. ‘I’d love to meet Henry Mortimer and his wife,’ she said. ‘I’ve heard so much about him.’
It was arranged that the two ladies would shop separately but all would meet outside Lewis’s and a friendship began that day that lasted throughout their lives.
Anna and James were busy and happy visiting salerooms and working together on various ideas to improve the house.
James had taken a firm grip on his feelings and decided not to explore them too deeply. He had retrieved his hairbrushes from Anna’s room but had not lingered there.