by Dilly Court
Then panic set in and she struggled, pushing him away. ‘I – I can’t, Jem. I’m sorry.’
‘It’s all right, Kitty. I understand.’
Hardly able to look him in the eyes, Kitty shook her head. ‘You deserve more than I can give you, Jem.’
Stroking her hair back from her forehead, Jem’s generous mouth curved into a smile. ‘Don’t fret, Kitty. I know what you been through and I swear that when the time comes for me to love you properly, as a man should, you’ll not be afraid and you’ll not be disappointed.’
‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘I know, girl.’ With his arm around her shoulders, Jem gave her a hug. ‘We’ll be all right you and me, Kitty. We’ll face it all together and we’ll come through because I love you.’
Next morning Bella was up before Kitty, and had somehow managed to drag her portmanteau and travelling trunk down three flights of stairs to the hall. She was standing by the mirror, fixing her bonnet, when Kitty came down the stairs.
‘So you’re going then?’
Bella flashed her a smile. ‘I’ll be in Paris this evening.’
‘What will I tell Leonie? She’s six years old, she’s not a baby any more.’
‘Tell her I love her and I will come back for her one day.’
‘Won’t you reconsider? Oughtn’t you to send Rackham a telegram or something to make sure he’s still there?’
‘I’ve often stayed in Paris with Giles and he always uses the same hotel. I know he’ll be there.’
Kitty glanced up as Jem came down the stairs behind her. ‘Jem, make her see sense.’
‘I think Bella knows what she’s doing.’
‘You could help me find a cab,’ Bella said, pulling on her gloves.
‘I’ll do better than that,’ Jem said. ‘Kitty and me will come to Victoria with you and see you off on the boat train.’
‘We will?’ Kitty folded her arms across her chest. ‘You ought to be stopping her, not encouraging her in this wild goose chase.’
Jem brushed her cheek with the tip of his finger, smiling into her eyes. ‘You and me have a bit of business to do after we’ve seen Bella off.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Wait and see.’
Kitty had to bite back tears as the train pulled out of Victoria Station. If anything happened to Bella she knew she would never forgive herself, and she prayed silently that Giles Rackham would prove to be as true as Bella believed him to be. Although she was appalled by Bella’s selfishness and her callous indifference to Leonie’s feelings, Kitty could not entirely blame Bella, who had been abandoned by all those she loved and trusted: first Maria, then Rackham, Desmond and now Edward. Beautiful, kind and selfish Bella. Kitty saw her suddenly as a child yearning to be loved. They had been through so much together that they had become as close as any sisters, and saying goodbye hurt.
She gripped Jem’s hand and he gave it a comforting squeeze, silently passing her his handkerchief. Wiping her eyes, Kitty allowed Jem to steer her out of the station to the hackney carriage stand. Having settled her inside, Jem gave instructions to the driver and leapt in beside her. The cabbie urged his horse out into the street, which was choked almost to a standstill with horse-drawn vehicles, motor cars and omnibuses.
‘Where are we going?’ demanded Kitty. ‘Why all the mystery?’
Jem sat back against the squabs and grinned. ‘There’s someone I want you to meet, Kitty.’
The streets of Knightsbridge were unfamiliar to Kitty, but in the end she gave up trying to get Jem to tell her where they were headed, and sat back to enjoy the view. The cab went at a spanking pace along Buckingham Palace Road, turning onto the Embankment, heading west towards Chelsea. Finally the cab drew to a halt outside a terraced Georgian townhouse.
Jem leapt out, paid the cabbie, and held up his hand to help Kitty onto the pavement. ‘You’re going to meet the man who’s been the making of me,’ Jem said, rapping on the brass lion’s-head door knocker. ‘Captain Madison, who’s been like a second father to me.’
Moments later, the door was opened by a plump, pleasant-faced woman, dressed in mourning black.
‘We’re not too early, I hope, Mrs Weston,’ Jem said, dragging off his cap.
‘No, indeed. Come inside.’ Nodding and smiling at Kitty, Mrs Weston held the door open.
They were shown into the front parlour that was simply, but comfortably, furnished with dark furniture and heavy green velvet curtains at the tall windows. It was, Kitty thought, looking around, a distinctly masculine room. The walls were covered with pictures of sailing ships and, jostling together on every available surface, there were curios from foreign parts. On the mantelshelf there was a startling array of clocks, all telling different times. Before she could ask Jem the reason for such an apparently mad display of time telling, the door opened and a thin, slightly built man with grey hair and whiskers entered. He clapped his hands on Jem’s shoulders in a rough mannish form of embrace and turned to Kitty with a beaming smile. His shrewd, grey eyes crinkled at the corners and Kitty found herself smiling back.
‘So this is the young lady you’ve told me so much about, Jem.’
‘Yes, Sir,’ Jem said, proudly. ‘This here is Kitty Cox. The prettiest girl in London.’
Jem hooked his arm around Kitty’s shoulders. ‘And this, Kitty, is Captain Jasper Madison.’
Instinctively, Kitty bobbed a curtsey, but the captain took her by the hand and gave it a squeeze that made her bones creak. ‘I’m delighted to meet you at last, Kitty.’
‘Me, too,’ Kitty said. ‘I’m pleased to meet you, Sir.’
Captain Madison took a seat in a big leather chair by the fire. ‘Well, sit down! Sit down, both of you. Make yourselves at home. Mrs Weston will be bringing us some tea and, if we’re very lucky, some of her delicious seed cake.’
Kitty settled herself on the edge of the sofa, folding her hands in her lap. ‘Has the poor lady lost someone close to her, Sir?’
Captain Madison looked puzzled for a moment and then he slapped his hands on his knees, chuckling. ‘My good Sophia has worn black ever since the accident at sea that took the life of her husband more than twenty years ago. D’you know, Kitty, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her wearing anything else, not in all those years.’
Encouraged by his twinkling smile, Kitty pointed to the clocks. ‘They’re all wrong, Sir, except one.’
‘They show the time in New York, Tokyo, Auckland, Hong Kong and Bombay,’ Jem said, standing with his back to the fire. ‘For instance, if you think about Auckland, it’s the middle of the night there.’
‘Well, I never did!’ Kitty stared at the clocks in amazement.
‘I’ve heard so much about you, Kitty,’ Captain Madison said, smiling. ‘And Jem didn’t exaggerate a bit.’
Kitty was saved from answering by Mrs Weston bustling in with a tray loaded with tea and cake. ‘There,’ she said, smiling at Kitty. ‘You can be mother, dear. Just ring the bell if you need any more hot water.’ She whisked herself out of the room, closing the door behind her.
‘I’ve explained everything to the cap’n,’ Jem said, taking the cup of tea from Kitty and passing it to Captain Madison. ‘I’m not going back to the ship.’
‘Tell him he’s making a big mistake,’ Kitty said, casting an appealing look at the captain. ‘Tell him, Sir.’
Captain Madison shook his head, sipped his tea and then replaced the cup firmly on its saucer. ‘Jem came to see me yesterday and we had a long talk. I’ve been thinking about it all night.’
‘I knew you’d come up with some good advice,’ Jem said, flinging himself down on the sofa beside Kitty. He snatched her hand and held it in a vice-like grip. ‘You just listen to what the captain has to say, Kitty.’
Captain Madison’s eyes twinkled but his lips curled in a rueful smile. ‘I’m not the oracle, Jem. Tell me one thing. How do you propose to earn a living if you leave the shipping company?’
Jem’s grip on Kitty’s fingers tightened. ‘There’s plenty of work down at the docks, Cap’n. I started as apprentice lighterman when I left school. I can always go back to that.’
‘No, Jem.’ Kitty pulled her hand free. ‘You’ve got a future in the merchant navy. I’ll not let you throw it away.’
‘But, Kitty –’
‘Just a minute.’ Captain Madison rose to his feet, took a tobacco jar from the mantelshelf and a pipe from a wooden rack, before settling himself back in his chair. ‘There are some men who are born to the sea; salt water runs in their veins and the moment they feel the swell of the ocean beneath the keel they can put life ashore out of their heads. But for others, being separated from their loved ones and being far from the sight of land is a constant misery. Jem’s father and I were men of the first sort. Jem is the latter.’
‘That’s true, Sir,’ Jem said, nodding. ‘I thought as how I could follow in my father’s footsteps, but I’ve done all the adventuring I want to. Now I want a home and a family and I’m prepared to work hard for it.’
Captain Madison lit his pipe, puffing clouds of blue smoke up the chimney. ‘Then listen to what I have to say.’
‘I’m listening, Sir.’
‘My next trip is to be my last. I’m an old man and I don’t mind admitting it. My seafaring days are behind me, but the thought of endless landlocked days have made me carry on at sea longer than I’d intended. I’ve no family of my own and no wife to share my sunset days.’
Jem jumped to his feet. ‘Don’t talk like that, Sir.’
Captain Madison smiled, gripping his pipe between his teeth. ‘Don’t worry, lad. I hope I’ve got a few more years before I die and I don’t intend to waste them. I’ve got a tidy nest egg put aside and, with my bonus for this last trip to New Zealand, I plan to buy a craft that can be converted into a pleasure boat. There’s money to be made taking day-trippers up and down the river, but I can’t do it on my own. That’s where you come in, Jem.’
‘Me, Sir?’
‘We’ll need to search out a suitable vessel, have it made ready and then I’ll need a man I can trust to skipper it. I’ll handle the business side of things but I’ll teach you how to take over and run it on your own, for when the day comes that I can’t do it any longer.’
Jem ran his fingers through his cropped hair. ‘I don’t know what to say, Sir.’
‘There’s one condition.’ Captain Madison took the pipe from his mouth. ‘That is that you sail with me, as second mate, on my final voyage.’
‘But, Sir …’ protested Jem.
‘It’s part of the bargain,’ Captain Madison said, tapping the contents of his pipe into the fire and refilling it from the tobacco jar. ‘You’ll earn a bonus and you’ll study for your skipper’s certificate while you’re at sea. We’ll do this thing properly, or not at all.’
‘My mother and Kitty need me at home, Cap’n,’ Jem said, pacing the floor. ‘I can’t go away and leave them homeless.’
Kitty jumped to her feet. ‘What a lot of nonsense you talk, Jem Scully. Here’s the captain offering you the chance of a lifetime and you’re worrying about details. Betty and me will be fine. Don’t you worry about us.’
‘You’re a remarkable young woman, Kitty,’ Captain Madison said, getting up and holding out his hand. ‘Jem is a lucky young fellow to have a girl like you.’
Jem and Kitty argued all the way home in the hackney carriage. Jem insisted that he was not going back to sea unless he saw Kitty and his mother settled and secure. Kitty told him that he would be a fool to pass up such an offer from a man whom he admitted had been a second father to him, and didn’t he owe the captain something for the way he had looked after him during his years at sea? They were still squabbling like a pair of starlings when they entered the house in Sackville Street.
The salon door opened and Betty rushed into the hall. ‘Jem! Kitty! I could hear your raised voices outside in the street. What will the neighbours think?’
Jem and Kitty looked at each other and burst out laughing.
‘What’s so funny?’ demanded Betty, offended.
Jem flung his arms around her. ‘It’s so good to see you, Ma. I’ve missed you.’
‘And I’ve missed you too, son,’ Betty said, smiling and returning his embrace. ‘But I don’t understand what was so funny.’
‘Just us being silly,’ Kitty said, suppressing a grin as the tension leached from her body. Worrying about what the neighbours might think seemed so trivial compared to the huge decisions that they had to make, with their future hanging in the balance, but sharing the humour of it with Jem had eased the situation between them. There would be plenty of time to explain everything to Betty later, when they were on their own. In the meantime, she had something to do that simply couldn’t wait another day.
‘Where are you going?’ demanded Jem, as Kitty made for the door.
‘There’s something I must put right. Someone who was a good friend to me and whose feelings I hurt, though I never intended it that way. You enjoy a quiet time with your ma. I won’t be long.’
Florrie opened the door to the servants’ entrance. ‘Kitty!’
‘I must see George,’ Kitty said, putting her foot over the threshold. ‘Is he about?’
‘I daresn’t let you in. Miss Iris has given orders that none of us is to have anything to do with Lady Mableton’s household and that includes you.’ Florrie glanced nervously over her shoulder.
‘Please, Florrie. I must see George. I promise I won’t stay more than a minute or two.’
Florrie bit her lip, frowning and shaking her head. ‘I can’t.’
‘All right then, just close your eyes, count to ten and then forget you ever saw me.’
Florrie pulled a face, but she closed her eyes and stood aside.
‘Ta, Florrie,’ Kitty said, brushing past her. ‘You’re a brick.’
Avoiding the kitchen and running up the back stairs, Kitty made her way to the entrance hall. She came to an abrupt halt, hiding behind a pillar as she heard Mr Warner’s voice giving instructions and George’s monosyllabic replies. Then Mr Warner’s brisk footsteps crossed the marble floor and she heard the faint sigh of the hinges on the green baize door leading down to the servants’ quarters and kitchens. Peeping round the corner, she saw George on his own, polishing the brass door furniture.
‘George.’
He spun around, dropping the polishing rag, his face crumpled in shock. ‘Kitty! What the bleeding hell are you doing here?’
Kitty stooped to pick up the rag and handed it to George with an apologetic smile. ‘I had to see you, George. I couldn’t let things end between us in a bad sort of way.’
George grabbed the rag, scrunching it up in a ball. ‘You made a proper fool out of me.’
‘No, George. I didn’t. We were just friends, I told you, and told you that it couldn’t be any more than that, you just didn’t believe me.’
‘Well,’ George said, rubbing hard at the brass door handle. ‘I believe you now.’
Kitty watched him for a moment, desperately trying to find the words that would comfort him, salve his hurt pride; for hurt pride was all it was, she was certain of that. ‘You’re a fine, honest man, George. You deserve someone better than me.’
George stopped what he was doing and straightened up, facing Kitty and looking her in the eye. ‘I deserve better than the way you treated me, Kitty. You should have told me that there was someone else, right from the start.’
Kitty laid her hand on his arm. ‘I didn’t know it myself until now. I’m so sorry, George.’
George opened his mouth but, before he could speak, the sound of horses’ hooves and carriage wheels made him open the door and look outside. ‘My God. It’s Captain Edward and his new bride. We weren’t expecting them until tomorrow. Get out quick, before they see you.’
Chapter Eighteen
Kitty started towards the back staircase, hesitating as Mr Warner came striding towards her from the di
rection of the servants’ quarters. The expression on his face was enough to make her dash for the front entrance, where George stood, stiff-necked and red in the face, holding the door open for the new arrivals. Darting past him, Kitty caught her heel in the hem of her skirt, stumbling over the top step. She regained her balance but landed awkwardly on her right ankle, which gave way beneath her, sending her tumbling down the remaining steps straight into the arms of Captain Sir Edward Mableton.
Warner strode down the steps, his face blank with outrage. ‘Begging your pardon, Sir Edward. This young person has no right to be here.’
Edward set Kitty back on her feet. ‘It’s all right, Warner. It was an accident.’
‘I’m sorry, Sir,’ Kitty gasped, momentarily winded. ‘Please, Captain Edward, don’t blame George. It was all my fault, Sir.’
Edward stared at her for a moment, and then his handsome features melted into a charming smile. ‘Why, it’s Kitty Cox, isn’t it?’
Kitty bobbed a curtsey.
‘Edward, I’m waiting.’ A stern voice emanating from the carriage made everyone turn to look at Edward’s new wife, whose expression showed that she did not appreciate being kept waiting.
‘Don’t run away, Kitty,’ Edward said, in a low voice. ‘Just coming, Adeline, my sweet.’
Kitty hesitated, eyeing Mr Warner; she could see that he was inwardly seething with indignation, but he would not question an order from the master of the house and he stood to attention, staring straight ahead of him.
‘Warner will show you into the drawing room, my dear,’ Edward said, handing Adeline from the carriage. ‘I’ll be with you in a moment.’
Adeline paused, giving Kitty an appraising look. ‘Don’t be long, Edward.’ She picked up her skirts and followed Warner up the steps.