When Day is Done

  ‘No, but you don’t want to be talking like that, girl. Kate just lives in a dream world as far as Mr Barnes is concerned. She never has no ideas about marrying him.’

  ‘But she could marry him,’ said Josie. ‘I’m sure he loves her.’

  They heard Kate approaching and hastily began to talk about something else. Kate made no reference to the earlier conversation and was relieved that Josie said no more about Henry. She felt that it was hard enough knowing about Agnes and Henry and, bound to secrecy as she was, being unable to stop Josie romancing, but fortunately the girl seemed to have lost interest in the subject.

  Josie was still small for her age, but plentiful food and good living conditions had cleared her skin and given her a fashionably rounded figure, and her sparkling brown eyes and dark curly hair made her very attractive.

  All the van men and delivery boys were captivated by her, and a plumber who was called in gave serious pursuit. He constantly handed in notes and posies of flowers and hung about hoping to see her on her day off. Josie treated all of them lightly.

  ‘I’m not getting tricked like me poor mam must’ve been,’ she told Kate. ‘And I’ve got to watch me good name, see, ‘cos I haven’t got no family behind me.’

  ‘But you could be friendly with them, Josie,’ said Kate, whose soft heart was touched by the sufferings of her admirers.

  ‘I’ll be friendly as long as they take no for an answer,’ Josie laughed. ‘Look don’t touch is me motto.’

  Kate smiled. ‘But don’t think you haven’t any family behind you, Josie,’ she said. ‘We’re your family now. Aunt Mildred would make short work of anyone who treated you badly.’

  ‘I wish you was my sister, Kate,’ Josie said wistfully. ‘Although I know you’ve got your Rose.’

  ‘In a way you’re more like my sister than Rose is,’ Kate said with a sigh. ‘I see a lot more of you than I do of her.’ Then she added cheerfully, ‘I’m looking forward to seeing her soon for Christmas. I’ll have to get on with the handkerchiefs for my Aunt Beattie.’

  ‘Well, at least I haven’t got no needlework to do,’ Josie laughed. ‘Good job, the way I sew.’

  Although Beattie seemed so indolent, she noticed everything that Kate wore on her visits, noting that her clothes were always dark and plain although of good, hard-wearing material, and that she always wore strong boots, even though it was Sunday. She said nothing, but her Christmas present to Kate was a fur hat and muff and a pair of shoes. Mildred’s face reddened and her eyes glittered with temper when she saw them, but she only said, ‘I don’t hold with all this present-buying and Christmas trees. A lot of foreign nonsense!’

  ‘Queen Victoria and Prince Albert started it,’ Rose said, and Mildred snapped, ‘That’s what I said. German nonsense. And don’t be pert, miss.’

  Beattie sat up. ‘My Rose is not pert,’ she said, her usually soft voice sharp, and Kate said hastily, ‘Oh, Aunt Beattie, this muff is lovely. So warm, and the hat too.’

  Rose adjusted the hat and fluffed Kate’s hair out round it, and the dangerous moment passed. ‘Rose tried the hat so that I could decide,’ Beattie said. ‘It looked so nice I bought one for her too.’

  Mildred snorted but said nothing, and Beattie admired the six handkerchiefs which Kate had hemmed and embroidered for her, then rang for tea to be brought in.

  The girls had exchanged books. Rose had bought copies of Hard Times and The Pickwick Papers for Kate, who knew her sister loved poetry and had given Rose a copy of The Golden Treasury bound in leather. Mildred accepted gloves from Beattie and sweets from Rose with a bad grace.

  Mildred cut the visit short and on the way home was still obviously angry. ‘Beattie should mind her own business. Shoes indeed. Have you been complaining to Rose?’ she asked suspiciously.

  ‘Of course not,’ Kate said. ‘I was as surprised as you, but I think Aunt Beattie is very generous.’

  ‘She’s got too much money,’ Mildred said. ‘Doesn’t know what to do with it. Buying a hat for that girl too. Cheapens the gift to you. It’s all nonsense anyway.’

  ‘I don’t think it cheapens the gift,’ Kate said. ‘I’m delighted with it, and the books from Rose too.’

  ‘Don’t answer back, miss,’ Mildred reproved. ‘You’re as pert as your sister,’ and the rest of the journey passed in silence.

  Kate still attended morning service at the Mission with her aunt, and on Christmas morning she proudly wore her hat and muff and the new shoes. As they left the chapel, two of the members stopped to speak to them. Kate heartily disliked both of them.

  Mr Hopkins was a small, pompous man with a few hairs plastered over his bald head and soft, moist hands. His wife was a wispy woman with a whining voice which she used, under a pretence of Christian concern, to say something unpleasant to everyone. Now she looked at Kate’s luxurious hat and muff and said to Mildred, ‘Is it wise, dear Mrs Williams, to allow Kate to dress like that? I understand she took the place of your maid who left. Shouldn’t she dress according to the station in life to which God has called her?’

  Kate blushed, but Mildred’s head came forward and her eyes glittered as she stared into Mrs Hopkins’s face. ‘You should be ashamed to say that you listen to ill-informed gossip,’ she hissed. ‘Katherine is helping me to run the guesthouse and her station in life is as my niece. My mother, Katherine’s grandmother was a Miss Green, related to the family of the Marquis of Salisbury, who owns the Manor of Everton. Our family is considerably better than any in this congregation, including your own. Come, Kate.’

  She stalked away, followed by Kate, who was full of admiration for her aunt. Mildred walked so fast in her anger that Kate had difficulty in keeping up with her, but she managed to gasp, ‘Is that true, Aunt Mildred?’

  ‘Of course it’s true,’ Mildred snapped, slowing down a little. ‘I don’t tell lies.’

  ‘I didn’t know,’ Kate murmured. ‘Mama never told us,’ and Mildred retorted, ‘I’m not surprised. She would never have been allowed to marry your father while our father was alive.’

  Kate felt that her father was being insulted, but she was anxious to hear more, so she said nothing, and Mildred went on, ‘My mother’s maiden name was Green and she was distantly related to the Marquis of Salisbury, and to Mr Bamber Gascoyne, MP, and his brother General Gascoyne. Some day I’ll show you the family tree which my father had done. Certainly we’re far above that creature who dared to speak like that. I’ve given them something to think about anyway,’ she added with satisfaction.

  Kate breathed a long, wondering sigh and Mildred glanced at her and said astringently, ‘Don’t let it go to your head. I wasn’t born to keep a boarding house, but when life deals you a blow, you fight back. Whatever you have to do, you do it better than anyone else, and with dignity. That’s how you show your breeding.’

  ‘Yes, Aunt,’ Kate said meekly. She still found it impossible to love Mildred, but she felt even more respect for her. She was old enough now to understand what Mrs Molesworth had meant about Aunt Mildred’s husband dying in another woman’s bed, and to realise what a blow that had been to a proud woman like Mildred. Now she felt that her aunt had explained her philosophy of life to her, and she admired her strength of character.

  Kate longed for Christmas Day to be over. Mr Barnes and Miss Tate had gone to their respective homes for Christmas, so there was no hope of a kind word from Henry, and Mrs Molesworth had the day off, so Kate was unable to ask her about Mildred’s revelations. Joshua Hayman had gone to his sister’s house, and Dorothy Norton, Jack Rothwell and Mrs Bradley had all been invited out for Christmas dinner.

  Mildred and Kate ate their meal in the dining room, waited on by Josie, who then had her own in the kitchen. Kate longed to talk to someone about what Mildred had told her, but she felt that it would be unkind to discuss it with Josie, who knew so little about her own family. She looked forward to talking to Mrs Molesworth the next day. The charwoman might even be able to add some details, though Kate fe
lt that she must be unaware of the aristocratic connection.

  Later, in bed, Kate allowed her mind to dwell on Henry. How could she let him know about what she had learned today? And would it make any difference to him if she did? Did she want it to make any difference? If he didn’t care for me before, would I want being well-born to change things so much? She suddenly buried her head beneath the bedclothes.

  I’m a fool, she thought. Henry has never even thought about me like that. He’s just been kind to me because he’s a kind young man. He’s in love with Miss Tate, and she is with him and that’s how it should be. Yet a spark of hope still burned in her. If it was to be so many years before they could marry, perhaps he and Agnes might tire of each other and he might turn to Kate. I’ll always love him anyway, she told herself, whatever happens.

  Henry had given her a flask of lavender water for Christmas, and she had put it on a shelf where she could see it from her bed. Now she got up and took it down. ‘I believe it’s good for headaches,’ Henry had said, smiling, as he gave it to her. Now, as Kate dabbed the lavender water on her forehead and on her wrists, she wondered sadly if it was good for heartache too.

  Chapter Six

  During the next visit to Greenfields, as soon as they were alone, Kate told Rose about the incident at the Mission and the comments by Aunt Mildred.

  ‘Has Aunt Beattie ever mentioned being related to the Marquis of Salisbury?’ she asked.

  ‘Dozens of times,’ Rose said carelessly. ‘I don’t take any notice. She’s always rambling on and it’s about forty times removed anyway. Miss Tasker says class doesn’t matter. It’s only an accident of birth and it’s what people are rather than who they were born that counts.’

  ‘She seems to have unusual ideas,’ Kate said doubtfully.

  ‘She has,’ Rose exclaimed, her eyes sparkling. ‘She’s wonderful. She’s a New Woman but Aunt Beattie doesn’t know, of course. Some of us go to her study at lunchtime and she tells us about women who are doing something with their lives. People like Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, who’s a doctor, and of course Mrs Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia. I’m going to be like them.’

  She sounded so excited that Kate felt she should warn her, but she knew it would be useless so she only said, ‘I wish I knew more about our family. Mrs Molesworth has told me a few things but she doesn’t really know much about them. She only helped her mother, who did the rough work.’

  Rose laughed. ‘I know more than they think about the family. I’ve been dying to tell you. You know the cook here used to be a kitchenmaid for our grandmother? Well, she got a bit tiddly at Christmas and told me all about them.’

  ‘Drunk, do you mean?’ Kate asked.

  Rose laughed at her shocked expression. ‘Yes. Why not? Her betters do it all the time.’

  ‘I was just surprised,’ Kate said. ‘What did she say?’

  ‘I told her that Aunt Beattie had said her father was well respected and wealthy and he made his fortune out of sugar. She laughed and said, “And the rest.” Apparently our grandfather gambled on the Stock Exchange and did some shady deals as well. When he died he left his money for his wife’s use, and after her death to his three daughters, but by the time his debts were paid they only got a small amount each.’

  ‘I think Aunt Mildred bought the guesthouse with hers,’ said Kate.

  ‘And Mama drank hers,’ Rose said flippantly. Kate gazed at her, unable to believe what she had heard, and Rose laughed. ‘Oh Kate, your face! Mrs Phillips said Dada came out of the army just before he married Mama. With his gratuity he went into business with another man, a scoundrel who tricked him and went off with all the money. That’s why we had to move from that house they had in Princes Park, but Dada never touched Mama’s money.’

  ‘I remember that house!’ Kate exclaimed. ‘There were servants, I think, but I liked our other house better.’

  ‘Mrs Phillips said Dada worked like a dog so Mama didn’t have to do anything, and paid a neighbour to do the rough work there. She said Mama just sat and whinged, and he was probably glad when he got called up as a Reservist.’

  ‘What cheek!’ Kate exclaimed, and Rose laughed again.

  ‘I told you she was drunk,’ she said. ‘And she said after he was killed Mama should’ve looked after us but she just drank herself to death with the money she wouldn’t use to help Dada. Oh, she really loved Mama, I could tell.’

  ‘I’m glad you can laugh about it, Rose,’ Kate said indignantly. ‘I think she had a cheek to talk like that, drunk or not. Poor Mama was sick.’

  ‘Oh Kate, I don’t know how you can make excuses for her. She was selfish to the bone and she treated you so badly. Keeping you off school to wait on her hand and foot, and when you left school it would’ve been even worse. She wouldn’t have cared what happened to you after she died when you wouldn’t have been able to earn your own living.’

  ‘I don’t see it like that, Rose,’ Kate said. ‘I was glad to help her.’

  ‘I say Mrs Phillips was right,’ Rose said stubbornly. ‘People think Mildred has used you, adopting you to be a skivvy for her, but Mama used you just as much. She’d have used me too if I’d let her, but I wouldn’t.’

  She flung her arms around Kate and hugged her. ‘It’s not fair, Kate,’ she said passionately. ‘You got the dirty end of the stick with Mama. You had no childhood, and then to have to go to Aunt Mildred and be worked to death and bullied there with no nice clothes or anything.’

  ‘It’s not like that, Rose, really,’ Kate protested. ‘I’m quite happy there. I know I have to work hard but I’ve got good friends in Mrs Molesworth and Josie, and the guests are nice.’ She hesitated, then said, ‘Henry Barnes is lovely. He’s been very good to me since the first day.’ She waited for her sister to ask for more details about Henry, but Rose only said, ‘I wish I was, happy I mean. I’m like a prisoner here, just a handrag for Aunt Beattie. I have to be available all the time in case she wants my company or wants me to do something for her. It’s not enough that she’s got Essy running round after her.’

  ‘But she’s very kind to you, Rose, and I’m sure she loves you. And you’re happy now at the Select School, aren’t you?’ Kate looked so anxious that Rose relented.

  ‘Yes, I’m happy at school,’ she said, ‘and when I get annoyed here now I think about what Mrs Phillips told me about them and laugh to myself. Especially when I look at that picture of our grandfather with his sanctimonious expression.’

  ‘I don’t know whether I’m coming or going,’ Kate said with a grin. ‘Aunt Mildred tells me about our posh relations and before I get used to the idea you tell me about the cook telling you the bad things about the family.’

  Rose linked her arm in Kate’s. ‘Yes, but the bad things are more interesting, aren’t they?’ she laughed. ‘Come up to my room and see my new dresses.’

  In the bedroom Rose showed Kate several new dresses, then from the back of the wardrobe she took a faded pink rose wrapped in tissue paper. ‘The undergardener gave it to me,’ she giggled. ‘He said it made him think of me when it was fresh.’

  ‘Oh Rose, isn’t that romantic,’ Kate breathed, but Rose laughed. ‘No, it was daft. He pinched it from the glasshouse and he’d lose his job if anyone knew. I told him so.’

  ‘But you kept it,’ Kate teased.

  Before they went downstairs again Kate told Rose that she was wrong in thinking that Mildred bullied her. ‘She used to be always shouting at me,’ she said, ‘but not since she told me that I could help her to run the guesthouse. Now it’s more like me bullying her. Getting her to agree to all sorts of changes.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear it,’ Rose said. ‘And I admire your pluck. I don’t think I could manage her.’

  Back in the drawing room, Kate watched Rose closely, deciding that she was like a chameleon blending into her background. Beattie obviously doted on her, patting her hand or her cheek whenever she was near, and Rose responded with butterfly kisses which delig
hted Beattie. I couldn’t do that just after criticising her, Kate thought, but she told herself that it was necessary for Rose to play a part at home. At school she could be herself and be happy.

  Especially with admirers bringing her roses, Kate reflected with a smile. She wished she could talk to Rose about Henry, but although she had mentioned him several times over the years, Rose had never shown any interest or encouraged confidences. Probably when I talk about him she thinks of him as just one of the guests, Kate thought. Now that neither Mrs Molesworth nor Josie seemed to want to talk about Henry, Kate longed to mention his name, but there was no one in whom she could confide.

  Perhaps for the same reason, Agnes Tate often spoke of Henry to Kate. She told her a few weeks later that Mr Barnes’s sister was ill again but had been cheered because their brother had returned from abroad and was now in the Liverpool office of his firm.

  It had become general knowledge among the guests that there was an understanding between Agnes and Henry, although no announcement had been made and no one spoke of it.

  Several changes among the guests occurred at this time. Mr Hayman’s asthma, from which he had always suffered, had become worse and the doctor advised him to live further inland. He decided to retire, and went to live with his widowed sister in Shropshire. Dorothy Norton left at about the same time. She had obtained the headship of a country church school and announced it triumphantly at the Sunday-evening meal.

  ‘She’d have shown better manners if she’d told me first,’ Mildred said to Kate, and Mrs Molesworth said she knew why Miss Norton had found a new position. ‘She’s been as green as grass since she found out about Miss Tate and Mr Barnes. They never got on like, her and Miss Tate.’

  Kate had never liked Miss Norton, a moody young woman given to sulks and always thinking that others were better treated than herself, and she felt uneasy when alone with Mr Hayman. ‘Mr Macfeely’ the charwoman had dubbed him, and certainly he seemed to like to pat and stroke Kate and Josie. So Kate saw both guests go without regret. Two young bank clerks moved into their rooms, both quiet and pleasant young men.