Some Veil Did Fall

by Kirsty Ferry

  The paper was a printout showing a scanned copy of a commission. Adam had commissioned the wedding portrait of Ella as he had promised and this was clearly the invoice. But what made Becky’s heart flip, was that it was signed by Lydia and not Adam.

  Part Two

  ELLA

  1865

  Ella, having pleaded a headache, watched from the bedroom window as the riding party made its way out of the grounds. She wasn’t sure where they had decided to go in the end, although chances were that they had fixed on Whitby as arranged. Her attention had wandered and she was relieved that this afternoon, at least, she didn’t have to try to be sociable.

  She picked up the invitation again; a celebratory dinner party, no less. She loved Lydia deeply but she did not always love her demands.

  Ella had known Lydia for many years, since their days as schoolgirls, in fact, and as such had been a frequent visitor to Lydia’s home at Carrick Park. Lydia’s older brother, Adam, owned the family estate now, and at the age of twenty-one, Lydia was anything but anxious to take an active part in running the place. No, she left that to Adam and preferred to host parties and balls and generally enjoy herself with the frivolous lack of care that seemed indigenous to her nature. Six years separated Adam and Lydia, and Lydia had always been babied and indulged by everybody in the Park.

  Lydia’s current house party was made up of her unfathomable cousin Jacob, whom Ella had known for years and reserved judgement upon, and a childhood friend of the family’s called Helena – who, if she was honest, Ella had barely any time for. Ella was sorry that Adam wasn’t here – she had always gotten on well with him and they shared a deep despair of Lydia at times. Also, Adam was not that fond of Helena, and Ella knew that if Adam had indeed been here, they would have been able to bear her slightly better together.

  Ella walked over to the wardrobe and pulled it open, fingering the delicate fabrics of the gowns that shimmered out at her. It was impossible trying to decide what to wear to these social occasions that her dearest friend was so attracted too. Ella didn’t particularly enjoy them; dinner parties especially. Once the wine began to flow, people began to slur and repeat themselves. It was hard work keeping up with them. She moved back over to the window, ensuring the riders had disappeared from sight.

  When she was quite sure she was alone in the house, she pushed the door open and made her way downstairs to the drawing room. She knew the piano would be there waiting for her and Lydia had, after all, given her free rein, as she did every time she came to the Park.

  ‘Darling,’ Lydia would say, ‘you are practically my sister. You practically live here with us during the holidays, so you can do whatever you please.’

  Ella sat down and ran her fingers gently over the piano keys. She pressed an ivory and smiled as the note thrummed through her fingertips. She shuffled some scores around, chose a piece, then placed both hands on the keyboard and started to play: Mozart, her favourite. She understood the tone of the music by the vibrations, and the classical feel of Mozart suited her far more than the angry notes of Beethoven, which she often thought was ironic.

  The music came to an end, and as she sensed the last few notes dying, she became aware of a shadow falling across the piano. Her stomach knotted and she turned slowly, dreading who she might see there. A man was standing, smiling at her. He was dressed as if he had just returned from a journey and was clapping. Her eyes flicked towards his gloved hands and back to his face. He had always borne a striking resemblance to Lydia, and that was still the case.

  Like Lydia, the man was tall and had fair hair that turned blond in the sunlight. His eyes were a darker shade of brown than Lydia’s and they crinkled up at the edges when he laughed – which was frequently. His skin was lightly tanned at the minute, thanks to the fact he had been abroad for quite some time and his travelling clothes, although dusty, were smart and well-cut. His velvet-collared overcoat hung off his broad shoulders, and Ella noticed the ends of his large necktie had become untucked from his waistcoat; and she had a ridiculous urge to straighten him up a little.

  Instead, she smiled at him.

  ‘Bravo,’ he said. ‘You still play very well. Là ci darem la mano. Mozart. I would recognise that anywhere.’ He pulled his gloves off and threw them onto the table. He walked over to her and held out his hands.

  ‘Thank you,’ she replied. Then she broke into a wider smile. ‘Adam – how wonderful to see you. I didn’t expect you but I cannot say it is a disappointment that you are here.’

  ‘And it is anything but a disappointment to see you,’ he replied. ‘I’ve missed your last few visits – it is a shame that I have to travel such a lot. It’s been, I would say, too long since we were all together.’

  Ella stood up and held her hand out. ‘I have heard you are doing well. Lydia constantly sings your praises.’

  Adam took her hand and bowed over it. Ella curtseyed and Adam raised his eyes to hers. There was a smile in them.

  ‘I suspect the others have gone riding? And that you have managed to escape it yet again? Your piano playing still defies belief, by the way,’ he said.

  Ella didn’t take offence. For one thing, she was grateful that he appeared to be speaking in measured tones. There was nothing worse than people trying to exaggerate the words. It made it too difficult to have a conversation; she had never had that issue with Adam.

  ‘Lydia said she had invited a special guest to stay with us when I wrote last week. I had no idea it was you,’ he continued.

  Ella smiled back. ‘Lydia is a wonderful person. I can only assume that your return is the reason for our dinner party tonight. She did not tell me you were coming, so therefore I shall have to be cross with her when I see her.’

  ‘She has arranged a dinner party? Oh, no. Lydia is not so wonderful then.’

  Ella frowned. ‘I hope it will just be us. As you probably know, she has rounded up your cousin Jacob and Helena Warner. They are all staying here, but they are, as you correctly assumed, out riding at present. I am not sure when they will return. And my instinct is that Lydia is plotting something, anyway.’

  She looked around, trying to locate a bell-pull. ‘I feel I should try to get you something to eat or drink,’ she said, ‘unless anyone welcomed you when you came in?’

  ‘I just let myself in,’ he said. ‘They haven’t realised I am home yet.’

  He indicated for her to sit down and she lowered herself onto the edge of the sofa. He turned and went to the corner of the room where he pulled a rope and then headed back towards her. She watched him come closer and silently prayed he would have sense enough to sit with the light on his face. He had the choice of two chairs and, to her relief, he chose the one facing the window. She should have known. Even as a boy, Adam had often been more considerate than his sometimes wilful younger sister.

  Adam sat back and crossed his legs, steepling his fingers. ‘So Jacob and Helena are here?’ he said. ‘How fortuitous for them. Helena has been in love with Jacob for at least a century.’

  Ella laughed. ‘Perhaps Lydia thought it was time to act,’ she said.

  ‘Something like that,’ replied Adam, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled. ‘But it is you I am particularly interested in.’

  Ella dropped her gaze. ‘Oh, I am just the same,’ she said. ‘As you see, I still enjoy my piano playing.’

  He leaned forward and took her hands in his. She looked up at him. ‘And these?’ Adam said, squeezing her hands. ‘Do they still speak like they used to? I could never keep up with you.’

  ‘Not so much,’ admitted Ella. ‘I try to manage in other ways now.’

  ‘I am getting the sense that they need to flutter, Miss Dunbar. Don’t let anyone stop you.’

  Ella opened her mouth to protest, then thought better of it. He was right. It was more natural to her to use her hands to
emphasise her points; but it was usually best just to pretend, as she always did. Lydia had tried to learn finger spelling a while ago but had lost patience with looking at a sheet of paper. Ella had given her some practical lessons and they could now, eventually, have some sort of conversation with each other. Ella smiled inwardly at the thought.

  ‘I always meant to learn properly,’ mused Adam. ‘I wanted to be able to do all that with you. Oh – that must be our maid. Please, excuse me one moment. Watch her; she won’t make any show of not having known I was back.’ He released her hands and turned to the door.

  Ella looked up, seeing a young girl come in and curtsey. The girl, Elizabeth, was a sweet little thing. She would often smile shyly at Ella when she passed her in the corridors, breaking, Ella guessed, all the household rules.

  Adam spoke to Elizabeth and she nodded, scurrying off down the corridor, no doubt to gather together a tea tray.

  Adam turned back to Ella. ‘Do you see? Not a flicker from her. Anyway, tea will not be long. And I still cannot believe how well you play the piano. Where did you learn? I don’t think you ever told me.’

  ‘I don’t know. Truthfully, I just watched people. I read scores. I followed the notes and taught myself. I understood what the scores meant and learned to place my fingers on the keys the way others did. The vibrations seemed the same. So I assumed I had done it right. Please. I don’t want to talk about it any more, though. It embarrasses me.’

  The honest answer was, though, that she had refused to accept she shouldn’t do the same as any other young girl in her position. She painted, she read, she rode – albeit grudgingly – she sewed and she played music. The only thing she didn’t do was sing. Apart from that, and despite the fact that her hearing had gradually deteriorated, to the point where she was now completely and utterly deaf, she hoped that there was nothing to recommend her as different in any way.

  ‘Would you be interested in a little exercise after our tea?’ asked Adam.

  ‘Not if it involves horses,’ replied Ella.

  Adam laughed. ‘So indignant!’ he said. ‘You have always been the same. What is it about them you dislike so much?’

  Ella shuddered. ‘I don’t dislike horses, I just dislike riding them,’ she said. ‘I understand it is a necessary evil, however.’

  ‘Well, would you prefer a more sedate walk with me around the gardens?’ he asked.

  ‘That seems much more preferable,’ replied Ella. ‘Oh – here is your tea coming.’

  They waited until the tray had been placed on a small table beside them, and Adam thanked the maid. Ella fussed over the tea cups and Adam waited until they each had a cup in their hands.

  ‘So have the others been gone long?’ he asked. ‘Should we expect them back too soon?’

  ‘I wouldn’t have thought so,’ replied Ella. ‘Miss Warner suggested a long ride towards the coast. I believe she mentioned the Abbey ruins.’ She coloured slightly. ‘Well, I understand that to have been the plan anyway. I could not swear for definite.’

  ‘And when did they discuss the destination?’ asked Adam.

  Ella dropped her head in embarrassment. ‘You are teasing me,’ she said, but there was a smile in her voice. She raised her eyes and tilted her head to the side, bracing herself for his next comment.

  ‘Aha! You see – that familiar look of guilt. I know you better than you think,’ said Adam. ‘When was it? Did they tell you outright? Knowing those characters, it won’t have been decided beforehand unless Lydia decreed it.’

  ‘They may have been on the driveway,’ said Ella slowly. ‘I may have caught them discussing it before they departed …’ She left the words hanging.

  ‘You spied on them from the window,’ said Adam. ‘Good girl. Well, we have plenty of time then. Come now, drink up. I want to enjoy some time with my sister’s irritating little friend before they all return and spoil my fun. We could never get anything past you, could we?’

  ‘Oh, you could sometimes,’ said Ella, ‘if you were devious enough to turn away from me.’ She spoke without malice. Adam had always been easy to get on with. ‘But as you say, Lydia and I could plan things right in front of you, and you would have no idea.’

  ‘That damned finger spelling,’ said Adam. ‘Wait here.’

  He stood up and walked over to a desk. On it was a walnut box – a writing slope, with Lydia’s initials and the house crest embossed on the lid. He stood with his back to Ella and she watched him fiddle with the box, then turn back to face her. He held a sheet of paper aloft and smiled triumphantly. ‘I knew where it was. Lydia always kept it in there. She was terrified she would lose it and it would fall into my hands and spoil her fun. Strangely enough, I managed to find the secret drawer one day when she was out. It was in there. My sister is so transparent at times.’ Adam sat down and studied the paper. ‘I need to revisit this, I think,’ he said.

  Ella quickly fluttered her fingers at him. You will never manage she spelled. She smiled at him as he stared at her blankly. ‘Good luck,’ she told him.

  After the tea, Ella found a light cloak in her wardrobe and, fastening it as she left her room, met Adam at the bottom of the grand staircase. His face lit up as she came down the stairs and he held his arm out for her.

  ‘No horses. Let us walk,’ he said and guided her out of the house.

  Carrick Park was an oddly built house, part Georgian, part medieval and situated on the moors north of Whitby. It was a good hour’s ride across the moors into the town from the Park and Ella judged that Lydia’s riding expedition might still have a while before they returned. Selfishly, she realised, she hoped that it would indeed be some time before they appeared; it gave her more time to spend with easy-going Adam and less living on her nerves in the shadow of Miss Helena Warner. There was just something about the girl she disliked.

  Ella was a good judge of character; her first impressions were seldom wrong and she had wondered in the past whether this was a type of compensation for her lack of hearing.

  Much as she disliked Helena, she wasn’t overly fond of Jacob either; sometimes she found him looking at her strangely, fixing his grey eyes on her as if he was calculating something in his head and it made her feel quite uncomfortable. It was always a disappointment when she arrived at Carrick Park and he was there; especially, she thought with a blush, when she wanted more of Adam’s attention.

  Jacob was, she thought, a deeper, more brooding character altogether than Adam. His dark hair was always immaculately brushed and parted at the side, whereas Adam’s fair hair was rather tousled and untidy looking. Adam spent, she knew, much of his thinking time raking his fingers through it and that was part of his charm.

  Ella understood there had been some issues with wills and properties in the past and Lydia had confided in her once that she thought the house should really belong to Jacob under the normal scheme of things, but Lydia was a wonderful foil to the mild annoyance that was Helena and Jacob; and now, joyfully, Adam was here as well. Perhaps the dinner party tonight might not be as untenable as she first thought.

  Involuntarily, Ella smiled as her heart lifted with the warm, summer air outside. She looked up at Adam who was apparently studying the topiary. She took in the gentle laugh lines around his eyes and the mouth that was always ready with a subtle quirk of the lips that could express so much and she felt, for once, genuinely contented. A small sigh escaped her own lips and Adam turned towards her, catching her looking at him. She blushed and looked away, feeling him shake with suppressed laughter. He squeezed her arm and reluctantly, she looked at him.

  ‘Are you happy here?’ he asked. The question took her by surprise.

  ‘Why yes, I am,’ she replied. ‘Why do you ask?’

  ‘Because Lydia’s wild ideas are not to everyone’s taste. She has clearly gone into town for some reason, and I do wonder what her expectations
are for this evening.’

  ‘A celebratory meal with friends and family to welcome you home?’ Ella tried. ‘Surely that is all?’

  Adam pulled a face. ‘I think there is more. I think she hopes that she can make a match between our cousin and our friend. The more I think about it, the more I sense it. Lydia is, as I say, transparent.’ He felt around in his waistcoat pocket and brought out the finger spelling sheet. ‘I’m keeping this for a while,’ he said. ‘It might come in useful for tonight. Imagine, we can sit beside each other and converse without involving them.’

  ‘Please put it away,’ said Ella, laughing. ‘You cannot learn it in an afternoon.’

  ‘I can learn what I want to this afternoon. Have no fear,’ replied Adam with a smile. Suddenly, he looked up and the smile left his face. ‘Dammit, they’re back,’ he said.

  ‘I beg your pardon? Did you say they were back?’ asked Ella. She turned to follow his gaze, her heart sinking. Dammit indeed. She saw the three horses cresting the drive from the moors towards the house; one tall, confident young man and two slender young ladies were riding them. She narrowed her eyes as they came closer, trying to catch their conversation.

  ‘Apparently your sister called a halt to the expedition – something about a blinding headache. Oh!’ Ella laughed. ‘Miss Warner is asking her whether that girl’s headache was contagious. That is me, of course. That was my excuse. Now, your cousin looks to be angry about something …’ Ella shook her head. ‘He has turned away. I don’t know. Oh no, quick!’ she pulled Adam into a gap in the topiary. ‘I think Lydia saw us. Are they coming?’

  Part of her wanted to stay hidden away in the cool green of the hedge, but the rational part wanted to know if the riding party was heading her way. She certainly didn’t want them to pull up outside her hiding place with no forewarning.