A Woman Undefeated (49 page)

She beckoned to Maggie again, this time to sit on a stool on the other side of the table. Then she took hold of the girl’s left hand and traced some lines with a forefinger. Seeming satisfied, the gypsy then looked into a big glass ball that she had placed in the middle of the table. It looked milky, until she caressed it slowly with her hands, then it went crystal clear.

“I see two men in yer life, Maggie.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. How did the gypsy know her name?

“One man is fair haired, the other is dark. Danger is lurkin’ there. You will travel over a great expanse of water. Another child will be born ter yer. Riches are fer the takin’, but beware of a parasite in yer life. Someone close ter yer will die in horrible circumstances. Yer will have a long life.”

Then the woman stood up abruptly, as the ball turned back to being milky again. She held out her hand for her money, which Maggie thrust into her palm, shakily.

She stumbled down the steps, with the gypsy’s words ringing in her ears, as she blinked in the bright sunlight, for it had been a little dark in there. She walked back to Madeline and the children slowly, contemplating all that had been said and trying to make some sense of it. Would she really be travelling across the water to Jack, to live in America and, have another child? Would she share in the riches of Jack’s promoter business? A dangerous business, if truth was told. But she didn’t want to do any of it. She wanted to stay there in Neston, reap the rewards of her loan company and be settled in her life.

“Someone close ter yer will die in horrible circumstances”. Well that could be Jack as well. His job was dangerous, mixing with all those fighters. He could be landed a fatal blow. Then she could marry Johnny and have his child. The expanse of water to be travelled could be over the Irish Sea!

What fantasy. She glowered at Madeline when she drew level, for insisting that she should go.

“That’s why it warns yer in the Bible, not ter get mixed up with mediums and fortune tellers. I’m all confused now, Madeline, after what the gypsy told me. It’s best ter take life as it comes.”

“Oh, what did she tell you?” Madeline’s curls bobbed merrily, as she waited excitedly to be told.

“Are you going to have lots of babies like I am? We’ll have to get busy, me and Ted. You know she never mentioned anything about my dress designs.”

“Well, she wouldn’t, would she? How would a gypsy know about how good yer are at designing dresses? She’ll only tell yer about women things, because that’s all she’s goin’ to know. And I’m not goin’ to say what she said, but I won’t be making baby clothes. Except fer you, that is.”

Ted and Johnny came ambling over. Madeline regaled them with the gypsy’s forecast, but told them Maggie wouldn’t let her know what had been said to her.

“Come on, Maggie,” Ted said, teasing.

“Are yer goin’ ter meet the man of yer dreams? Share that big place at Selwyn Lodge with him?”

It was said in a joking manner, but both Johnny and Maggie looked uncomfortable. He was poking fun at them, they could see, because he made a point of looking their way.

“Would you and Mikey like one of those ice creams?” Johnny asked her gently, trying to bridge the awkward silence that had sprung up between them.

“Then afterwards we could take him on the swing boats. I used to love them when I was a boy and the gypsies used to come to Galway.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon companionably, sampling the delights that the fair had to offer. Later, Maggie took the worn out Mikey back to the arms of his nursemaid. He and Hannah had nursery tea, then were tucked up in bed tenderly.

She sat with Betty in the drawing room. They were to have their meal together, then Johnny was to call for her around half past seven. The gypsy’s words had upset her and she confided in the older woman, relating what the gypsy had said. Of course she was told off soundly by Betty, who didn’t believe in dabbling with the hand of fate.

“I don’t want me life to change in any way, Betty. I’m happy here with what I have. I’m not looking fer riches, though I’d be happy with a handsome man! This expanse of water she was talkin’ about, makes me think I’ll be joining Jack in America, and that is certainly what I really don’t want te do.”

“I’ve told you, Maggie, that fortune telling is all a load of twaddle. How can someone see into the future? If they could, they would become a millionaire. Now, you might think the dark haired man is referring to your sea captain friend, but believe me when I say, that nothing can become of your friendship. You must talk to him this evening, in case he has other ideas. To change the subject though, Maggie, isn’t that field where the gypsies camp the field that Mr Arlington was talking of? That and the one across from it? It would be as well to consider buying both the fields, and there are also a few for sale along Liverpool Road.”

“Has he shown yer a list yet, Betty, because I don’t really want us buying that field fer business use when there might be others we could buy instead. Those gypsies have bin comin’ to Neston for a very long time and we’d make a lot of people very disappointed if they stopped coming. All because of a new railway line.”

“Tut, tut, Maggie. To succeed in business you must put a different hat on. Business and emotion do not mix.”

“Betty,” she smiled, tickled with her choice of platitude, “that’s a corker, that is, coming from you!”

She changed her bodice to a creamy blouse, got rid of the crinoline cage and wore starched underskirts instead, then pinned up her hair and sat a small pink bonnet upon it. She put her black lace up boots on, then surveyed herself in the cheval mirror, pinching her cheeks to heighten their colour, proudly telling herself, that she would do.

But, why was she going to such lengths over her appearance, she thought, remembering her earlier conversation with Betty? There was no future for herself and Johnny, even though she knew she hadn’t imagined that look he had given her that afternoon, when he had walked at her side to purchase ice cream for her. It was one of appraisal, a measured look, as if he was considering her to be a possession. Something he wished to acquire.

Nothing like the look he had given her when they had parted on the sea front, when she was a ragged immigrant and he was running the cattle boat. That look had been bordering on horror,
in case she was going to become a limpet in his life. A clingy person who would take up his time. Of course, she had now become desirable to him. Gone was the dirty, tangled hair that she had worn any old how, gone was the shabby, threadbare clothing and the smelly bare feet. Instead, she had become a clean, wholesome young matron with money in the bank. Ted and Madeline would have told him that, she knew, because they wouldn’t be able to keep that information to themselves.

“Mrs Haines” called Mary, tapping on the door of the bedroom and disturbing her preoccupation. “Mrs Haines, your visitor’s here.”

“Thank you, Mary, I’m coming now. I’ll be down in just a minute. Tell Mr Dockerty that I’ll be with him soon.”

The maid set off at a fast pace, to give the message to this fine upstanding man, who she had shown into the drawing room. Then she flew into the kitchen to tell the cook that Mrs Haine’s fellow was there again!

“Good evening, Maggie,” he said, as she presented herself before him and handed him her velveteen cloak to settle around her shoulders. “May I say you are looking particularly beautiful tonight”

(That advice had come from Madeline, women liked to be complimented on their clothes.) “I am looking forward to spending the evening in your company.” (That was advice from Ted) “Shall we walk down to the entertainment? I have to admit I’m not an experienced dancer. I hope you don’t mind.” That was from Johnny’s heart. He had two left feet as far as dancing was concerned.

“No, it doesn’t bother me. The last time I was dancing, it was at a ceilidh with me mammy and dada. We can sit and watch and I can catch up with whatever you’ve bin up to.”

Johnny was looking his handsome best. He had changed his shirt for a white one with pin-tucks and around his neck he wore a black cravat. He put out his arm for her to link him, as they walked together to the hallway.

“Don’t be late,” shouted Betty, from the conservatory, as she
hadn’t bothered on that occasion to stir herself from her after dinner coffee. “And don’t forget what I told you!”

“Do I sense a mystery, Maggie?” Johnny inquired, as they strolled down Burton Road.

“No, it’s just Miss Rosemary doin’ her chaperone act. She’d come with us if it wasn’t fer her aches and pains. I’ll have te get the doctor in, she’s bin like this now fer days.”

Madeline and Ted were waiting. They had grabbed a table and some seats, so the four of them could sit comfortably together on the paved area at the back of the Bowling Green tavern. The married couple had agreed a plan, that after an hour or so they were going to disappear. They all watched as people danced happily to the music provided by a local three piece band. Sometimes a waltz, then a square dance. Everyone was having a really good time.

As if by prearranged signal, Madeline said that it was time to check that the pub’ towels in the Brown Horse were up on the beer pumps, which meant that the customers knew that it was closing time.

It had become a little chilly once they had gone and Johnny drew his chair up closer to Maggie.

“I keep wanting to apologize about that day you met me on the cattle run, Maggie. It was unforgivable, the way I neglected my duty towards my mother’s friend. She took me to task when I got back home and I told her what I’d done. She said you should have gone to her for help, instead of being whisked away by the Haines’s. I’m sorry, my dear, that is all I can say. I could have saved you such a lot of hardship if I’d listened to my heart instead of joining my crew at the inn.”

“Johnny, yer don’t have ter apologize. I’d made me bed by then and on it I had to lie. I was expectin’ Mikey. I didn’t know it then, but if I had to live me life all over, I wouldn’t want to be without him.”

“Yes, he seems a great little chap. You are very fortunate. So, how did you manage to fall on your feet? Living in that great big house like you do?”

“It’s all down to Miss Rosemary. She took pity on me and helped me make a cloak, when it was winter and I didn’t have any decent cover to me name. Then I found some money. Do yer remember that feather mattress yer helped me down the hill with? Well, I found it in there. I hope yer not going ter tell Ted or Madeline any of this. It’s a private conversation.”

Johnny shook his head and assured her it would go no further.

“So I took the money to Miss Rosemary fer safe keepin’. It wasn’t a lot, but she invested it for me and it will all be mine when I’m twenty-one.”

“Which is when?”

“Oh, I haven’t had me nineteenth birthday yet. It’s in August. Mikey and I share the same day. But ‘til then, the money buys property, keeps the household going, goes out in loans and keeps comin’ back again.”

“So you’ll be a wealthy woman when you’re twenty-one? That is astonishing, when you think you had nothing two years ago.”

“Well, it’s shared with Miss Rosemary, that’s why I live at Selwyn Lodge with Mikey and Hannah.

I’m like a companion to her, now she’s old and got no one.”

Johnny stood up, pulling up the collar on his jacket purposefully, as the wind from the sea had started gusting, causing many of the revellers around them to pause in their enjoyment.

“It’s getting late, we must be heading back. I’m leaving in the morning. Another trip, with a cargo of coal this time. It’s a dirty, sooty job for the crew, but it pays good money. May I presume on your kindness and call on you next time I’m here? I must away to see my mother on my next leave.”

“Of course yer may, and do give yer mother me good wishes.”

Johnny escorted her back to Selwyn Lodge, then hurried, no doubt, back to the Brown Horse and Ted, presumably to tell his brother of all he’d been told.

Next day, at the weekly meeting, Mr Arlington was very insistent regarding a decision on which parcels of land he was to bid for in July.

“Well, I don’t think it should be that land on Raby Road,” Maggie began.

“This is because Maggie went to the gypsy fair yesterday,” explained Betty, inconsequently.

“Why can’t we buy land on Liverpool Road?” Maggie, persisted. “It’s only pasture there and there’s plenty of that around. Anyway, Miss Rosemary, can we afford it? How much land can Mr Arlington bid for? Remember we still have all our bills ter pay.”

“I think we can stretch to three parcels. We’ll leave the gypsy field, if it is going to cause you consternation, but we’ll have the one on the other side of Raby Road. Plus Mr Arlington can bid for two fields in Liverpool Road. Now, Maggie, are you satisfied with that arrangement?”

Of course she was! It was good to see “His Nibs” trying to look deferential. He must have thought that Maggie was a bit mental to put the gypsies before financial gain.

Later, as she and Betty sipped their tea in the fashion showroom, Annie busy treadling away upstairs, Maggie was asked if she had enjoyed the dancing.

“Yes, but Johnny said he had two left feet, so we just sat and watched the others.”

“Did you tell him about Jack and why he disappeared?”

“Afraid not, but I did tell him that I found the money in the mattress and how I would get my investment when I’m twenty-one.”

“Oh, Maggie,” Betty groaned. “You know nothing about this man. You’ve taken him into your confidence, just because his mother was your friend? Let me tell you a little story that might help you to make up your mind about him. I have never told anyone about the humiliation I felt, long ago when I was a young girl in my early twenties.

During my time as a semptstress at Lorne Hall, I fell in love with a footman. He was very similar in appearance to Johnny and that’s why this memory springs to mind. Nothing seemed to upset him, he was always cheerful and easy to get along with. He was
the only man I thought I could spend the rest of my life with. But he had a roving eye and I have to admit I wouldn’t give in to his pressure, for a bit of a tickle in his room above the stables. So he pursued one of the under maids instead. I won’t tell you her name, because you’ll know then who I’m talking about. Eventually, she found she was expecting, and that left me heartbroken. As you know, my father made a lot of money selling the goods he brought back from the Orient and we eventually moved into Selwyn Lodge. Well, that young man plagued me then. He brought me flowers and little gifts, hung around Burton Road waiting for me to come out, followed me, even though I had told him that I wanted nothing more to do with him, and generally made a nuisance of himself. Eventually my father had a few strong words with him, which seemed to do the trick and he took himself off to marry the unfortunate young girl who had given birth to his baby. The reason I am telling you this, Maggie, is because I think that Johnny is a bit of a cad. You told me of his unsympathetic attitude towards you, when you asked him for his help, but now you have become an attractive proposition to him, two years on. He did not look like a man who was at ease in your company, but I noted he was impressed with your surroundings when he came to call.