A Woman Undefeated (46 page)

“Marvellously.”

“And is it having to pay out for doing up the new shop that bothers yer, or generally that the dressmaker’s isn’t makin’ enough money to pay the bills?”

“A bit of both really.”

“Then how would it be if Sheldon bought Anne Rosemary? Can it afford to do that? Then you could pay rent back to Sheldon, then we’d have both our names on everything!”

“Why, Maggie, that sounds the perfect solution to everything. It just goes to show that hidden in that head of yours, lurks a mind with business acumen. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it. We could keep the shop name, pay a nominal rent and perhaps find a tenant to live in the premises above.”

Of course, Mr Arlington had to be told of the new situation, and there was a trip to the solicitor for Betty and Maggie again. Betty continued to do her own accounts and paperwork but now, when people looked at her, she was her poised and elegant self again.

Unbeknown to Betty, though, Mr Arlington also had plans for using some of the Sheldon company’s resources. He had inside information that a railway line might be laid from Hooton to Neston. He could see the sense in buying parcels of land and was keeping his ears open for the announcement of an auction.

The two women stood outside the old chandler’s shop waiting for Mr Freeman, the builder, to arrive. It was a chilly, blustery day and both were grateful when he turned up a few moments later, saying he had got tied up estimating someone else’s job.

The shop inside was even colder, run down and very dirty. It was hard to imagine the place being turned into a warm and welcoming fashion house.

“So, what I want today,” said Betty, no doubt feeling pleased that they were about to embark on a new challenge, “is for everybody to put forward ideas of how they would like the shop interior to look. We’ll discuss it over a cup of tea later, and I would like Mr Arlington to take notes. Madeline, as our designer, you can begin.”

“I have been giving it some thought and I see canopies of Regency stripe positioned above each gown rail and down both sides of the shop. Cream and gilt upholstered chairs at various points throughout, a polished wooden floor with a large Eastern rug. Colours to be pink, cream and green and the walls to be painted white, with just a hint of a something in it. At the back of the shop, I see three changing rooms, big enough to accommodate the crinoline, with long mirrors attached to the walls within. In each window, I would suggest draped organdie and a little material from the canopies, with only one model on a dais, elegantly dressed in whatever fashion we decide.”

There was a little applause from her listeners, who had tried with their imaginations to visualize.

“Annie, your turn next,” said Betty. “What would you like to see?”

“If possible, I don’t want ter be seen. I would like a room that kept me out of sight and then the jumble I get meself into wouldn’t
be on show.” Everyone laughed at this, as Annie was a messy worker, leaving pieces of unfinished work all over the place.

“Maggie?”

“Well, what Madeline and Annie have said I could agree with, but maybe from Annie’s point of view, it would be best if we made a workroom for her upstairs. You see, if we had a tenant upstairs, we are probably talking of a rent of three or four shillings. I feel a better idea would be to create an independent sewing room, that would be able to do alterations on clothes that have been bought elsewhere.”

There was a stunned silence from everybody. Annie giggled nervously, Madeline and Betty smiled, but Mr Arlington had a face like thunder. Why, no one seemed to know.

Madeline decided to come to her rescue and fill the pause with another proposal.

“Advertising, I think, is what is needed. It is no use having a splendid establishment and having only passing trade. I think that now the train comes into Hooton from Chester, we could advertise in the Chester Courant and mention there’s also an excellent station trap service to our front door. I know it would be expensive to begin with, but worth it in the long run if it also attracted the carriage trade.”

“Yes, well, thank you everyone,” said Betty happily. “Shall we adjourn to your office, Mr Arlington? Mr. Freeman could get his men to start with some cleaning and washing down of the walls. You know where I am, if you need me, Mr. Freeman? Just across the way. Maggie and Annie, do you want take your lunch now and we’ll talk later, and Madeline, thank you for coming and I’ll see you very soon.”

“I think I would like to see Mrs Haines in my office, if you don’t mind, Miss Rosemary. There are one or two things I would like to discuss.”

Mr Arlington glowered at Maggie for some reason known to himself, but she stood her ground and didn’t turn away meekly.

“As yer wish. Now, or after I have had my lunch break, Mr
Arlington? Only I’m rather hungry, as I came from Selwyn Lodge in a bit of a hurry today.”

“Now, Maggie.”

He turned on his heel and stalked away. Annie and Madeline looked at each other, filled with dread. Betty laid her hand on Maggie’s arm as if she was about to caution her, but she simply smiled back. It was going to be very satisfying to do what she had in mind.

“Before you go, Maggie,” said Madeline, “can I have a quiet word?”

“That’s fine, Maggie,” Betty said. “You stay and talk to Madeline, Annie and I will go to the bakery and bring you back a pie.”

“I’ve been so excited about today,” Madeline told her, “that I forgot to say that Johnny is staying at the Brown Horse with us. He said he would like to renew his acquaintanceship with you.”

Maggie’s heart began to thud, and it wasn’t because of her appointment with Mr Arlington. Foolish, she knew, because what was Johnny to her now?The son of a friend that once helped her down the hill to Killala. It seemed like eons ago. But gone was the ragged girl with no hope in her life, who had been dependent on a husband with doubtful aspirations. Now she was a genteel young woman, who had all the comforts she could wish for, with a vibrant up and coming business and the love of her little son and the adorable Hannah. Johnny wouldn’t even recognize the girl he had cruelly snubbed that day on the quayside. So, what did he want with her? Curiosity? A friendly visit so he could report back to his mother? She told Madeline that she would receive him after supper, around eight o’ clock that evening at Selwyn Lodge.

“Yes, come in,” snapped Mr Arlington, when Maggie knocked on the office door, after she had taken her time eating her pie and sharing lunch time with Betty and Annie.

He was sitting at his desk with his back to the window and he motioned that she stand before him. He didn’t even bother providing her with a chair. His tone was menacing, as he asked
her, how dare she interfere with the running of the Sheldon Loan and Property Company? How dare she suggest a new venture to be carried on from above the new dressmaker’s shop? Who was she to say what rent should be paid up there?”

“I think you get carried away with yourself, just because you are Miss Rosemary’s companion and reside at Selwyn Lodge,” he thundered. “If I had my way you would be dismissed, but I have to bow to the owner’s judgement. It isn’t up to me who I can sack.”

Maggie took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She could see the familiar red mist drifting in front of her eyes, but she had been waiting for this moment ever since she had been belittled by him that evening at Seagull Cottage, and now she was going to watch him eat those words he had just tried to berate her with. Her voice was fairly steady, though she was burning up with anger, but she managed to give the impression of a woman in control.

“I’ll let yer into a little secret, shall I, Mr Arlington? Miss Rosemary is not the owner of the Sheldon Loan Company. I am. If there is any sacking to be done, I will do it. Yer seem to have got above yerself, though I have to admit yer have done a very good job for me.”

Maggie watched, as he looked at her in disbelief. Then he laughed as if he had just heard a good joke.

“You?” he said, pointing a finger at her. “You? An Irish immigrant without a penny in your pocket, taken pity on by the Haines family and brought across to here. Oh yes, Alice told me. You would have rotted in that hovel of yours, if Jack hadn’t found it in his heart to have married you and given you a new life. Then you latched on to Miss Rosemary and everybody knows the tale from there. Well, I think we’ll have the owner up. I can hear her coming through the front door now. If she doesn’t verify your story, I’ll make sure you are dismissed. I’ve never heard such cock and bull rubbish in all my life.”

Betty came up the stairs as fast as she could make it, when she heard Mr Arlington shouting. From the look on both Maggie and
the office manager’s faces, she could see there had been a massive row. Maggie was looking mutinous, Mr Arlington snorting and pawing like a bull, though what she had expected, knowing that the man had called her friend into his office, without her being present, Maggie would never know!

Maggie could see from her face, that she knew she was going to be called on as the peacemaker, as both of them had things to offer her in the end.

“Is this about the ownership of the Sheldon Loan Company, Mr Arlington?” she asked gently, as he helped her into a chair. The man nodded, irritably.

“Yes, I can confirm that Maggie Haines is the owner, she invested the money when it started out. She also owns half of the property side, which means she has a share in the dressmaker’s shop.”

Both of them thought the man was going to have a seizure, as he slumped back in his chair, loosened his cravat and pulled at the collar of his shirt.

“Oh, dear lady,” he breathed, his words coming out with difficulty, as he gazed in Maggie’s direction.

“How can I apologize? Oh, what a gaffe I’ve made. It’s just......from what my landlady told me, it couldn’t possibly be the truth!”

“When Maggie’s husband made a lot of money from his pugilistic activities, he asked her to keep some of it for him,” Betty explained, sticking partially to the truth, as it was really none of Mr Arlington’s business, as to where the money had come from. “Then, as you know, he went away and Maggie was scared to be holding on to such a sum. She came to me for advice as to what she should do with the money. I said I would invest it for her in my name, because she is under twenty-one. Then a while ago we put the whole thing on a legal footing. So, if you want to, you can ask for the truth at the Chester Bank.”

“Oh no, Madam. I believe you,” he said, mopping his brow with a pristine handkerchief.

“I am truly sorry, Mrs Haines. I will clear my desk straight away and you can appoint another in my place. I’ll be sorry to go, because I have enjoyed my job and found it very challenging.”

“No, don’t do that,” Maggie said, thinking that if he left, they would never find a man of his calibre to replace him.“Apology accepted. Stay and carry on.” She waved a hand airily in his direction, then turned to Betty.

“He’s made us a lot of money and we do appreciate that, don’t we? In fact we were thinkin’ of a little bonus for you, Mr Arlington. I’m sure once you’ve got used to the idea of me being a proprietor, we shall all work together very well.”

Later she confessed to Betty that if she hadn’t come up when she did, there might have been a murder to mop up.

“I would have hit him if yer hadn’t come up and put a stop to his shenanigans. The ignorant eejit was coming out with that rubbish that Alice had fed him. But, he’s bin put in his place and, let’s face it, we do need him. He’ll probably work even harder, just to show us poor lowly women that we need a man to front this place.”

To be honest, Maggie had enjoyed her moment of glory. The man truly had a high opinion of himself.

That evening, as the two women sat sipping their sherry before being called into dinner, Maggie remarked casually to Betty that she was expecting a visitor. She had dressed carefully in her purple gown and matching bodice and had draped a shawl with the same colour fringes around her shoulders for warmth. She was planning that she and Johnny would sit out in the conservatory and, at that time of the year, it was rather cold.

“I’ll need yer to, what’s the word, to chaperone us, Betty. It’s a man I met in Killala, the son of a lady I used to call on. He’s Madeline’s brother-in-law. Do yer remember when we went to the wedding and he got her out of the carriage with that huge dress and train? Well, while he was staying at the Brown Horse, he asked Madeline did she know of a young girl who had come over and settled in Neston? She said she didn’t, but one day we were
talking and it turned out that the person was me. He’s home on leave again, Madeline let me know this morning. He’s a sea captain by the way, and he’s comin’ ter see me, ter renew our acquaintanceship, he said.”

“A sea captain, you say? Oh that’s very interesting. My father was a sea captain, as you know. We’ll make him quite welcome, dear and you can catch up on each other’s lives since you last saw him.

But remember you have a secret and, if I were you, I’d keep it to myself.”

Johnny walked up Burton Road just after half past seven. He had been persuaded by Madeline to wear the clothes he wore at her wedding. He had left them at the Brown Horse, because he had no occasion to wear such fancy clothes on his sailing ship. He was rather nervous, silly really, because he had no reason to be. But what if he got to this Selwyn Lodge place and found that the girl he had spoken of wasn’t the same one? He looked over the hedges at the houses that he was passing by. They were splendid dwellings, grand and imposing. The Maggie he knew from Killala couldn’t possibly live in one of these!

He thought back to that day when she had pleaded with him to be taken back to Ireland. A ragged, tattered girl with enormous tears in her eyes. He had been so unsympathetic, only wanting to be off to the tavern with his crew. But, she had been married to a fellow by then. It was her husband who should have had the responsibility of her. Then Madeline had told him that the husband had been found dead in his lodgings across in Liverpool. His conscience still troubled him of his promise to meet her the following spring, just to check that she had settled in, and to report to his mother that all was well with her. His mother still asked if he had sighted Maggie, when he chose to visit Killala on one of his leaves. The company he had worked for had abandoned the delivery of cattle over to the River Dee, so, he had switched to the transatlantic run from Liverpool and captained a cargo ship instead. It was easier than what he had been used to, and he had a good
bosun on his crew. For every trip he made, he was given two days leave, while the ship was checked, loaded and made ready for the away.