Harmony House

by Ruth Hay

  Hilary has kindly offered Eve her choice of furniture from here, and Mavis has selected some of her own fine antique pieces, currently in storage, for Harmony House. I think it will be interesting to see how each bedroom reflects the style of its owner. That applies also to the decoration each of us chooses for our private rooms. If you need help, I am happy to do it. For example, I believe it would be special for any of us who has a set of good china, to choose one place setting for formal meals. We can use ordinary dishes for the rest of the time.

  Jannice and I decided to donate most of what remains in her home to the groups who provide furniture for refugees from Syria who are being assisted to get set up here in London. Any extra kitchen wares can be donated in this way after the storage cupboards at Harmony are filled with whatever you all need for cooking your favourite meals.

  Something else we are considering is to invite Interior Design students from Fanshawe College to stage Jannice’s home for buyers. We hope to get a sale more quickly that way. It could be an idea to request these students come to Harmony House also. There are certainly a few design issues to sort out there!”

  No one could disagree with this statement. Hilary then took over the meeting again.

  “Vilma, you are so knowledgeable and helpful. Thank you for this summary. I think it’s safe to say we are well on our way with two houses sold, one to sell, one house to be handed over to an agent, and one apartment to be vacated. Now, let’s fix a date for our next inspection. It will be our first since we became the official owners. I guarantee everything will look different seen from that perspective.”

  The wedding photographer arrived in a van. He brought his assistant, a bright young girl on a Visual Arts work experience placement from Western University. Vilma was not initially impressed by the girl’s appearance, especially the silver ring clipped to her eyebrow, but she soon learned how competent Rihanna was with materials and lighting equipment.

  It was a mutual decision to take photographs in the hallway of Jannice’s home as the bannisters were the original polished oak and the wallpaper was faded almost to oblivion and therefore not in competition with the clothing.

  Vilma could not help but think of the first moment she saw Jannice floating down the stairs in what they now called ‘The Wedding Dress’. Once Jannice was fastened into the dress properly and had her hair piled on her head under the magnificent hat with just two black, shiny curls cascading to the shoulders, she looked exquisite. Almost as if the dress was made for her. Rihanna and Josh were struck dumb for a moment.

  He went back out to his van and brought in more side lights and a mesh cover for the main light, saying the more diffused lighting would suit the subject better.

  Vilma was not present for the actual shooting. She was busy setting out the next outfits which were arranged over the beds in the bedroom at the top of the stairs and where she could hear what was going on below. She and Jannice had selected a stunning slate-blue day dress with a long-sleeved top puffing out a little at the shoulders, and with a peplum waist over a full skirt. The blue fabric was decorated with braid on the high neckline, the cuffs, and in two places around the skirt hem. Under the dust cloth which had covered this outfit, they found a smart blue hat with a long feather attached to the crown and sweeping downward to the back of the neck. It completed the picture perfectly.

  Josh placed Jannice with her hand on the front door with the stained glass panel above. It was as if she was going out on the town for afternoon tea with lady friends.

  Next came a stunning evening dress in a lilac shade. Vilma powdered Jannice’s chest and neck to show off the low neckline and the thin ruffled straps that sat above her shoulder bones. The ruffles were repeated on inset panels all around the skirt. These panels began at the tiny waistline and billowed out to the floor in an inverted V shape. The waist was so small that Vilma knew the woman for whom this dress was intended had to have worn a laced corset. She was surprised when the dress fit Jannice although she claimed to have held her breath the entire time Rihanna was arranging the folds to show off the ruffles and she had to breathe shallowly the rest of the time in case the delicate fabric would tear apart.

  Josh had a tall candlestick in his van that looked exactly right for this photograph and Rihanna looped Jannice’s hair up, leaving strands around her face and adding long crystal earrings that looked like diamonds in the subtle lighting.

  By the time two more photographs were made, both Jannice and her dresser were almost exhausted, but Rihanna, who had helped Jannice to climb back up the stairs and then seen the garments displayed on the bed, begged for just one more. She had picked out the pale gold dress that Vilma was not sure about, as it was neither a low-cut evening dress or a fabric, or colour, likely to be worn during the day. Rihanna loved the monochrome effect of head-to-toe gold and said it would photograph well. Jannice climbed into it and descended the stairs one more time holding a feathered fan of Josh’s in her hand.

  When they were finished, Josh and Rihanna joined the women in the kitchen for a cup of tea and ginger biscuits. The inevitable questions began.

  “So where did these outfits come from?”

  “They came from the back of my attic, in a locked wardrobe, and as far as I know they have been there since I was born.”

  “Hmmm…. more than likely, much longer than that,” said Josh. “I know clothing styles and these are probably late Victorian or possibly Edwardian, which makes them older than this row of houses. The question is, how did they get there?”

  Vilma and Jannice exchanged glances. They did have another discovery which they were saving for the Antiques Show but Josh seemed to be knowledgeable about the era and perhaps he could help them.

  “I’ll get it,” confirmed Jannice, as she jumped up and ran upstairs to her bedroom.

  Josh and Rihanna contented themselves with more cookies and waited to see what was coming.

  She arrived with a letter in her hand and placed it carefully in the centre of the kitchen table facing toward Rihanna and Josh.

  * * *

  Dear Ma,

  I know this is going to be hard for you to believe but you know the circumstances.

  My mistress has been quite ill since the dreadful ferry capsized on the river and her beloved

  Sidney was drownded. At one time we thought she would pass away from grief as she were

  proper pale and sickly and the Doctor had me bring her sweet milk every two hours on the dot.

  Now, she is a little improved, thanks be to The Good Lord, but she does not want to

  see ever again the beautiful clothes specially made for her wedding day. She swore to me she will never marry another man after Sidney. She gave me the job of removing the lot from the house before she rises from her bed again.

  Ma, I cannot bear to throw these lovely things away or even sell them. I will always see

  the picture in my mind of my Miss Amelia standing before the long glass admiring herself and telling me about her honeymoon plans in Europe.

  Can you find a place in our old home for these dresses? I know you have Bridget, Maeve and Ryan and little Maisie to care for but I will send a man from the big house to help stow them for you if you can see your way to storing them until I can think what to do next.

  Please Ma. Send a note back with the messenger boy to let me know what you decide.

  I am praying for guidance in this. I am enclosing this week’s wages as usual.

  Your loving daughter,

  Erin O’Connor.

  * * *

  “Well, now, this is quite amazing. Did you find it with the clothes?”

  “It was in an envelope pinned to the very back of the wardrobe. We only found it recently and we are not sure what to do with it.”

  “This is historical information,” said Rihanna. “It needs to go to the university, along with the clothing.

  I am pretty sure the incident Erin refers to is the 1881 capsizing of the Victoria Ferry in Springbank Pa
rk. They used to run regular ferry boats from the Forks of the Thames up the river to the park. When this disaster happened there were almost two hundred passengers drowned, mostly women and children wearing the long, heavy clothing of the time. You can still see the plaque erected on the path by the place where it happened.”

  Vilma recovered first from the vision of so many women and children struggling in the river to keep their heads above water amidst a nightmare scene of screaming and shouting.

  “The problem for us, Rihanna, is that we need to raise money with these outfits. We can’t just donate them.”

  “No problem there, Jannice.”

  Josh was re-reading the letter and thinking fast. “You have a great story here. I have a pal at the newspaper who would love access to these photos and the story of the desolated bride. I noticed her name, Amelia. It’s a long shot, and I would need to get Eldon House on board with this, but there’s an outside chance the Amelia in the letter is the favourite granddaughter of Amelia Harris, the matriarch of the family. Her nickname was Milly and I think she never married.

  Whatever, the publicity would bump up the price of these artifacts and the person who bought them could gift them to the Historical Society, or the Museum, or Eldon House, or the University when they wished to. You would get the money you need first of all.”

  Vilma’s mind was buzzing.

  “That’s an absolutely brilliant idea, Josh. What do you think, Jannice?’

  “I can’t believe all this. It’s a lot to take in when you put the parts together. Let me get it straight.

  So Erin gave the clothes to her mother, am I right?”

  Heads nodded around the table.

  “But this house can’t be the one the clothes arrived at because it likely wasn’t built then and it was never big enough for a family the size of the one Erin describes. I am coming back to the question of how the wardrobe got here and why I knew nothing about it from my parents?”

  Jannice was right. There were still questions to be answered.

  Josh was the first to respond.

  “You may never have all the answers, but I can speculate a little. Your family name is Irish, right?

  Lots of families immigrated to Canada in the Irish famines and took up work labouring or in service.

  It’s possible, I suppose, that your ancestors lived in London, or even Lucan, where there was a big community of famous Irish families, including the Donnellys. They were used to crowding into small cottages at that time. Four or five in a bed wasn’t uncommon.”

  Rihanna interrupted her employer. “I think it’s likely Erin’s salary was keeping her family’s head above water. As the children grew up and took on jobs, the housing situation would improve and a better home could be found.

  I believe the wardrobe moved along with the family. If you think about it, there might have been accusations of stealing if the contents of that wardrobe had been revealed. No poor immigrant family could afford clothes like these we saw today. Over time it might have become one of those family secrets, locked away and mostly forgotten.”

  Jannice had a strange look on her face as she listened to Rihanna’s theories.

  “Do you know, I think you have hit the nail on the head, so to speak. I remember now, when I was a wee girl my papa spoke about his mother being ‘in service’ once upon a time. I thought it was a place he spoke about. The term meant nothing to me then. I never heard another word about ‘service’ as work until today. It all begins to make sense.”

  “Well, if you approve, I will send you proofs of today’s photographs and you can tell me if you want to go ahead with an article in the newspaper. I think it would be best published before the antiques event at the museum for maximum impact.”

  Jannice still looked bemused by all she had heard. Vilma responded in her place.

  “Josh and Rihanna, it’s been quite an experience with you today. I think I can speak for Jannice and ask you to go ahead. If your reporter friend is willing, send him along here. I know he will get an interesting story for the paper. And thank you both for everything.”

  * * *

  Later that day, the letter was carefully taken upstairs and stowed, with its original envelope, in a folder Vilma had found.

  The dresses were returned to the wardrobe inside their cotton covers and the wardrobe locked up tight.

  The ladder to the attic was left down since traffic up and down had been so frequent. Jannice decided she would do some more dusting and cleaning up there in case the reporter wanted more photos.

  They went back to the kitchen, and more cups of tea, so they could talk over everything that had been said there. The story of Erin O’Connor’s life was amazing to them. Whether or not the trousseau belonged to a member of the Harris family was not as important to them as the tiny insight into life in the past when London was a much smaller town.

  Vilma asked Jannice if she would come with her to tour Eldon House.

  “I confess I have never been there, but now I have a real urge to see what life was like for a rich family in those days, especially if there is information about how the servants lived.”

  “I think we should go together as soon as this place is sold. If Josh is right and the story helps us get a good price, it would be a fitting tribute to a young Irish girl who must have been a trusted servant to her mistress.”

  They shook hands on that decision and went back to the mundane business of clearing and cleaning but their hearts were lighter with the hopes that had been given to them.

  Chapter 22

  When the six women converged on the Harmony House site, they found it was a hive of activity.

  Hilary tracked down the site supervisor while the rest of the party had to be content with admiring the building from the safety of the garages to the side of the property.

  Once Hilary had been equipped with a hard hat, she was permitted to enter and speak to the man with the name Frank Watson written on his yellow hat.

  “I was under the impression the major work had been finished, Mr. Watson.”

  “We are still working on the elevator shaft. The stairs have been removed, but the problems arose with the secondary section of the shaft from the kitchen area down to the basement level. A new opening has to be made to accommodate the elevator. We are examining the possibilities of using two or more kitchen cupboards for this.”

  “I see. Will the laundry area be affected?”

  “I hope not. If we have to move it, there’s sufficient space down there but plumbing and electrics may have to be reset and that takes time.”

  “Mr. Watson, the future residents of this home are here with me. Is it possible for us to enter by the rear and inspect only the west side of the building, keeping well away from your workers?”

  He rubbed a calloused hand over his face as he considered this request.

  “I hate to turn you away. Is it Mrs. Dempster?”

  She confirmed his assumption with a nod.

  “Could you wait for about 30 minutes? We have a lunch break then. I’ll get the boys to set up a tape beyond where you should not enter for safety reasons, then you can do whatever you need to for the next hour. Will that suit?”

  “Perfectly! Thank you.”

  The women were quite pleased with this solution and spent the time wandering around the property. Spring-like weather had made an appearance lately but it was more than likely to vanish again soon. They viewed the tower-side of the building and speculated how much storage they would get from the three double garages, then they walked around to the rear gardens, where the flowerbeds were now visible and the first shoots of bulbs were pushing up toward the light.

  “This is going to be a wonderful outdoor area,” exclaimed Mavis. “I have never had a garden of this size. It will be super to work here and keep what has been done in the best of shape. Is anyone else interested in gardening?”

  Hilary, who had walked off to the back of the garden, waved her hand in assent but the oth
ers were too busy looking through the windows into the lower house area with Honor, who was explaining the layout for them.

  Mavis was about to follow Hilary when she caught sight of a woman approaching from the street. She was not wearing a coat and Mavis guessed she must be a neighbour.

  “Hello, there! Can I help you?”

  “Possibly. I came over from the house next door to see if you were the new owners.”

  “We are, but we have not yet moved in. I am Mavis Montgomery.”

  “Good. Louise Ridley. My husband Dennis and I live next door. I hope you don’t think it’s a typical nosy neighbour enquiry but we have been wondering what on earth is going on here. You see we have been watching the house being built for some time now, and then no one moved in after the builders left. Quite frankly, we are confused. Our house value could be affected if something strange is going on here.”

  “I see.” Mavis was not sure how to respond to this enquiry but she could see genuine worry on Louise Ridley’s face. This would be their nearest neighbour and it was important to start off in the right way and establish a good relationship.

  “I’m not sure if you will think it strange, Louise, but we are a group of six London women who have decided to live together in support of each other. We are all ordinary people and we will welcome your help in this process. At the moment we are waiting for an elevator to be installed. After that we will move in. Have you ever been inside?”

  “No. There’s never been anyone in residence who could be asked. I am relieved to hear you are not some weird commune or wiccan group. The woman who came here once with a little girl had such a fight on the front porch with, I presume, her husband, that the whole neighbourhood heard them. I am glad she will not be back. The sale sign went up shortly after that incident and since then, nothing.”