She decided to double up the number of slaves so that her guests would each have a body slave to attend to their personal needs. She supervised the cleaning and polishing of the bedrooms and the making up of the beds. She helped Callie Mae and Minda to make cookies, sugar biscuits, slate biscuits, brandy snaps, almond biscuits, plum cake, chocolate cake and fruit tarts.
For the first main meal she decided to have two hundred oysters, beef collops, three joints of roast mutton, fricassee of five chickens, a roast goose, buttered crabs, boiled beef and fruit tarts.
The house slaves were terribly impressed and thrilled. There had never been such a stir and excitement at Forest Hall in years. For the first time they felt a bond with Regina, even if it was a tenuous one. Through her cool efficient manner they detected threads of anxiety. It made them anxious too that everything would go right and Forest Hall hospitality would be a match for any in Virginia.
Melie Anne would say worriedly:
‘I think I’d better give them glasses another polish, Miss Regina. Don’ they look kinda cloudy to you?’
Or:
‘Joseph, you sure you done all that silver?’
Callie Mae would say:
‘Miss Regina, ain’t we got a recipe for another kinda cake? Just plum and chocolate don’ seem that much.’
Or:
‘Lord’s sake, hope we’ve got enough butter and cream in that spring house!’
When the big day came, everyone was up at the crack of dawn and before long the low, mournful whine of the jack could be heard as it began to turn the spit in front of the fire to roast the meat. The whine soon rose to a louder, grating pitch, then there was a crash and a silence before the whole procedure began again.
Regina had been so busy planning menus and hurrying about supervising and helping with various tasks, she had not had any time to think about what she was going to wear. Now she began to worry about her appearance. Harding had not given her enough time to order any new dresses and she spread all her gowns and petticoats over the bed and chairs of Harding’s room, so that she could examine them and try to make up her mind which she should wear first.
She felt that first impressions were most important. If the first evening, the first meal, were successful, everything would be all right. The tone would be set, everything would run smoothly after that.
She decided eventually on her flowered silk gown and white petticoat trimmed with lace and pleated at the hem. With it she wore white silk stockings and white silk slippers. For jewellery she chose diamond earrings and a diamond ring. Surveying herself in the pier glass, she felt tolerably pleased with her appearance. In the more delicate shades of the flowered silk she would not appear as dull and dowdy next to Annabella as she’d felt she had in the bottle green gown.
Flemintina was ordered to powder her hair once she’d donned a powdering gown. The slave had never done this job before and the proceedings ended with Flemintina in tears and Regina in a temper, saying that she would be whipped and then sent to the fields to work in future. Harding was forced to intervene. He sent Flemintina back to Lottie’s room and bawled at one of the other slaves to come and clean up the mess of powder.
Eventually she was ready, the house was gleaming perfection, and the table was set. Of course it was far too early and afternoon tea would be served in the drawing-room first. But it made Regina feel safer to know that all the important tasks had been completed.
Then suddenly there was a cry of:
‘Hello, the house!’
The waiting slaves hurried to attend to the visitors. Harding and Regina went to the front door and watched the arrival of the first coach, a very handsome green and gold four-wheeler with one footman standing at the back and another sitting at the front, both dressed in crimson and white livery, powdered wig and three-cornered hat. The carriage was drawn by four frisky horses. One of the footmen jumped down and hastened to open the door. Out stepped Annabella with a daring display of rose pink slipper and silk-stockinged leg under a foaming rose silk dress. Her face was flushed, her eyes bright, sparkling blue and her yellow hair shimmered in the sun. She was like a beautiful flower bursting into bloom from the carriage.
She pattered over to the foot of the stairs where Harding and Regina were standing, then with wide panniered skirts ballooning up, she curtsied very prettily.
17
‘YOU haven’t seen round the house, have you, Nancy?’ Harding asked after they had had a refreshing cup of tea. ‘Come, let me give you a tour.’
‘We shall all come,’ said Annabella, jumping to her feet. ‘Regina, you must show me all the changes you have made since you have become mistress.’
They went upstairs first, making the hall flare into life with their vivid gowns. Annabella glided on in front with Harding, her rosy skirts shimmering. She kept turning to talk to him with blonde curls bouncing and lashes fluttering and shoulders making coquettish little gestures.
Nancy followed with swaying sensuous movements in her striped apple green and rust gown with its low front revealing her voluptuous bosom. Regina walked with stiff dignity, edging up her delicate froth of skirts as she climbed the stairs.
‘Ah, Regina,’ Annabella enthused, ‘how well you must have trained the slaves. I dare swear there isn’t a speck of dust anywhere, and everything is so prodigiously well polished. I can see myself reflected wherever I look.’
She was thinking, however, that the place reflected Regina. Every room was indeed immaculate but they had a stiff unlived-in look. There was no warmth or personality revealed anywhere, except that of a cold and obsessive woman.
Even the dining-room was the same with its virgin white table cover, napkins and cutlery and glasses all set out in perfect formation like soldiers. Annabella fluttered around admiring the yellow pine walls and the chocolate-coloured curtains, then she suddenly swooped on one of the napkins.
‘I must show you a wondrous trick with napkins. I’m sure it will intrigue you.’
And before Regina’s expressionless face, Annabella proceeded with deft movements of her fingers and hands to transform all the flat napkins into elegant swans.
‘My God, what a difference.’ Harding was impressed. ‘The table looks really interesting now.’
‘And if you tell the slaves to bring a basket of fruit,’ Annabella said, ‘I shall build a pyramid of fruit on this silver tray.’ She lifted a tray from the sideboard and made a space for it on the table. ‘And flowers, ah, yes, an elegant floral arrangement in the centre of the table would be magnificent, I’m sure, and I have been told that I have considerable talent for floral arrangements.’
‘You have obviously many talents, mistress,’ Harding said.
‘I know what I shall do,’ Annabella clapped her hands. ‘I shall construct floral arrangements everywhere. A wisp of fern, a little perfumed posy, a dash of colour in each bedroom would be most stimulating and inviting, don’t you think?’
Harding made to say something but changed his mind and just bared his teeth in a grin of interest.
‘And a glow of sunny hues in that dark corner of the hall over at the ballroom side of the staircase. How nice and welcoming that will look when your other guests arrive. Regina, hurry do, summon your slaves, tell them what we require. I will show you how to accomplish everything. We will have a mighty bustle and lots of fun.’
Regina did not move and Harding rang the bell to summon the slaves, commanding them to bring an abundance of flowers and ferns and fruit and to waste no time about it.
Regina betrayed not the slightest quiver of emotion but in fact she had never been nearer to broken-hearted tears. She had worked harder and more conscientiously in the past few days than she had ever done in her life, such was her anxiety to have everything perfect. Exhaustion, both physical and emotional, was now threatening to catch up with her. But it wasn’t just tiredness or even disappointment, although her disappointment was keen enough. All her life, since leaving Glasgow, all she had gone through to
build up the image and the position she now had, was disintegrating and disappearing as if it had never happened. She was a servant again with furtive lowered eyes, she was frightened and unsure again, completely at the mercy of wealthy self-assured people like Harding and Annabella.
Stiffly she followed Annabella’s instructions and soon the three women, helped by a harassed crush of slaves, had completed the floral and other arrangements and changed the appearance not only of the dining-table but of the whole house. Now the royal blue of the stair carpet was picked out in the blue of wild flowers and made more noticeable. The wood floor in the hall was a garden of reflection. Even the stair bannister sprouted an artistic nosegay.
‘Now I must fly and change my gown,’ Annabella said. ‘I still have the heat and the dust of the journey upon me. Come, Nancy, you must do the same. Your gown is monstrously creased. Don’t just stand there!’
Nancy rolled her eyes and followed Annabella upstairs, leaving Harding and Regina to return to the drawing-room. Harding lit a pipe and Regina went over to stare out the window. Eventually Harding poured two glasses of whisky and handed her one with a look of disgust.
‘For God’s sake, can’t you look a bit more cheerful? I know it’s too much to expect you to exude any normal human warmth but surely you could force yourself to smile now and again for the sake of your guests.’
‘I’ll never forgive you.’
‘Forgive me?’ He looked genuinely surprised. ‘Forgive me for what?’
She sipped at her whisky, grateful for its calming and comforting properties.
‘Forgive me for what?’ he repeated in a louder, more irritable tone. ‘What the hell’s going on in that twisted mind of yours now?’
‘This is no time for a quarrel with guests liable to come back downstairs any minute and other guests due to arrive at the front door.’
‘Does that mean you are going to nurse your grudge, whatever it is, all the time during their stay and cast an icicle gloom on us all?’
‘I don’t think anyone will notice what I look like or what I’m doing as long as Mistress Annabella is around.’
‘Ah! Now I understand. Jealousy is rearing its ugly head again.’
‘It would fit you better, sir, if instead of criticising me, you looked to yourself. You obviously forget that I am your wife, not Mistress Annabella, and that this is my home, not hers.’
He was prevented from answering by a cry from the front of the house that heralded the other guests. As they both left the room, Annabella and Nancy met them in the hall. Nancy was wearing a violet gown to match her eyes with a petticoat of the same colour embroidered in miniature flowers. Her black hair was padded high at the front and powdered. She was taller with more voluptuous curves, but Annabella, in high-heeled slippers and enormous hoop, was a stunning sight. Her hair was powdered high and smooth at the front and clustered with curls at the back decorated with sapphires the same sparkling blue as her eyes. Her pert face beneath the powdered confection of hair sported patches and she wore a sapphire brooch at the front of her low-cut gown which drew the gaze to the daring bulge of her breasts. All but the nipples were revealed. Her gown of rustling shimmery gold was trimmed with cobwebs of lace which also looped across the silver petticoat and trailed from the elbow length sleeves. A sapphire and diamond bracelet and rings flashed on her hand and she was fluttering a jewel-coloured fan.
Suddenly Regina felt insipid in her white gown with its delicate floral pattern and even her diamonds faded into insignificance.
‘Gracious heavens!’ Annabella cried. ‘Who owns the splendid chariot and six I saw approaching?’
‘That’ll be George,’ Harding said. ‘Colonel Washington and his wife.’
‘I shall go into the drawing-room.’ Annabella manoeuvred her skirts sideways so that she could get through the door. ‘You may present Colonel Washington and his wife to me there.’
Harding glanced at Regina.
‘You’d better wait in the drawing-room too.’
She gave him a look that flashed like a dagger before turning away and following Annabella and Nancy.
As it happened the Abercrombies had arrived at the same time as the Washingtons and they elected to go straight upstairs to wash and change their clothes after the journey. Shortly afterwards Mr and Mrs Jeffries arrived and they also were shown upstairs and a slave sent running to fetch hot water for washing. Eventually everyone gathered in the drawing-room for introductions and refreshing glasses of whisky or brandy. The men made a leg and the ladies curtsied low. Soon they were sauntering through to the dining-room chatting and laughing at Annabella’s teasing banter. Once seated between Harding and Abercromby, she chose for the most part to carry on a conversation across the table in Washington’s direction but which included and interested all the company.
‘Ah, Colonel Washington, not so long ago I was conversing with the master of another Mount Vernon.’
‘Another Mount Vernon?’ his wife, Martha, gasped. ‘Surely you are mistaken, Mistress Blackadder.’
Annabella widened her eyes.
‘And the master of this Mount Vernon in Glasgow is called George.’
‘Tease! Tease!’ accused Mrs Abercromby.
‘No, indeed I am not teasing.’ Annabella enjoyed a few dainty sips of wine then dabbed at her lips with her napkin. ‘George Buchanan is his name. He had a plantation close to yours on the Potomac, Colonel, and was very friendly with your brother. When Mr Buchanan bought Windyedge east of Glasgow he changed the name to Mount Vernon in honour and remembrance of that friendship.’
Candles were lit as they still sat on enjoying the leisurely meal and the wine. The candle flames polished the fruit and glistened the silver of the tableware and enriched the tints of the flowers and the ladies’ gowns and jewels, and the brocade of the gentlemen’s coats, and gave their lace jabots and cuffs a pearly glow.
Washington and Abercromby told tales of their adventures with the militia fighting the French and the Indians. Then Annabella riveted everyone’s attention again by recounting her adventures with Prince Charles Edward Stuart and his Highland army but in the manner of an entertaining storyteller. She did not harrow or embarrass the company with details like the betrayal and torture of Jean-Paul.
Washington eyed her with considerable admiration. He had a huge, muscly frame and was six feet two or more. His back was as straight as an Indian’s and his blue-grey penetrating eyes were overhung by a heavy brow.
‘You must come and visit our Virginia Mount Vernon, Mistress Blackadder,’ he told Annabella.
She favoured him with a smile.
‘I’m sure I would greatly enjoy the experience, Colonel. I always prefer originals but alas I am returning to Glasgow immediately after this visit. All the plans for the journey are made. My Papa awaits me.’
‘Some other time perhaps?’
‘Well, at present I have no plans for returning to Virginia but of course one never knows what changes the future might bring. Little did I ever dream, for instance, that I would ever inherit a Virginia plantation.’
Mr Jeffries peered round at her.
‘The Cunningham estate is a large one, Mistress Blackadder. You will have problems there.’
She laughed.
‘Not I, Mr Jeffries. My sister, Nancy here, and her husband, Morgan. I leave all the worries of running the plantation to them. Well?’ She glanced from Harding to Regina in a sudden flutter of restlessness. ‘Aren’t we going to retire to your prodigiously beautiful ballroom for some musical entertainment?’
Regina rose politely. She had been longing to suggest that the company adjourn from the dining-room but did not get the opportunity because of the continual flow of conversation that Annabella encouraged. A quick word with one of the slaves sent him hurrying on ahead to light all the candles in the ballroom.
They had not been lit earlier because she had not expected the room to be used. Not being able to play a musical instrument herself and therefore not bei
ng able to entertain the guests on the spinet and the fiddle that were kept there, she thought it would only prove embarrassing to go into the place. She might have known, of course, she told herself bitterly, that Annabella would be more than able to charm everyone with her performance on the spinet and to accompany Mrs Jeffries who had a pleasant singing voice. Mr Abercromby, it turned out, could play the fiddle and, while he did so, Harding partnered Annabella in a minuet. Soon they were all joining in other more lively jigs and country dances.
Later that night, lying beside Harding in the four-poster bed in his room, not a word, far less a touch, passed between them. She knew he was thinking of Annabella and making love to her in his mind. Annabella’s presence was so real in the bed that Regina expected her at any minute to take substance. She felt sick and disgusted, and as remote from the man at her side as if he had been transported to another world from her. There was nothing but coldness and danger around her. Her instincts for survival sharpened and long into the night she lay stiff and alert. Her mind kept tracking innumerable apprehensions and perils like beasts in the forest, never certain if she came face to face with them what she could do to defend herself.
The next day she was more exhausted than ever and she was glad when Harding took the guests out riding. At least then she could give orders to the slaves and organise the day’s meals in peace. Harding had said that it was the height of bad manners not to accompany the guests but she ignored him. To confess that she was feeling confused and terrified, that she would not be able to cope with all the necessary arrangements, was to betray weakness and make herself dangerously vulnerable. She had nightmare visions of Annabella taking over Forest Hall completely and to prevent this she was determined to hang on and do all that was necessary at all costs. Insecurity mingled with suspicion and the slave who innocently remarked on how pretty all the flowers were in the house was immediately banished to the fields. Another who was overheard saying what a lively and cheerful person Mistress Annabella was suffered the same fate. The remaining slaves, nervous and unsure, whispered furtively among themselves and stopped immediately Regina came near, which made her all the more suspicious and angry.
The Tobacco Lords Trilogy Page 81