Debutantes (27 page)

‘Who are you?’ she breathed.

‘Just a young person who helps around the house and dresses the young ladies’ hair,’ said Justin amiably, and then looked bewildered as Elaine continued to stare at him. Daisy and Violet exchanged puzzled looks.

‘This is Justin Pennington, a nephew of a neighbour of ours.’ Violet gave Justin an annoyed look and made the introduction with a little of the Duchess’s quelling manner about her. ‘Justin, this is our Aunt Elaine.’ She came forward with her hand outstretched. ‘How do you do? I’m Violet, the eldest of the family.’

‘I’ll go and fetch Poppy and Rose,’ said Daisy. Before anyone could say anything she turned and went rapidly down the back stairs. By the time she had reached the gallery Justin had caught up with her.

‘Coward,’ he remarked.

‘What about you?’ retorted Daisy.

‘I made a considered judgement that it would be against the interests of my client, or perhaps I should say my potential client, to be present at any preliminary and informal conversation,’ he said haughtily. ‘In any case,’ he added in his normal voice, ‘I think that Violet will do better with a girlie chat and laying the secret of the family poverty before her aunt. She does that sort of thing well.’

‘Race you to Morgan’s cottage,’ replied Daisy, shooting out through the back door and starting to run. He caught up with her easily though and they jogged companionably through the trees.

‘You get them; I’m out of breath.’

Daisy waited until her sisters came out with Justin before saying, ‘Come on, Poppy. Show some interest in a long-lost relative, especially one that provided your party dresses.’

‘Oh, I can’t wait to see her; what a romantic moment in the middle of my dreary life,’ intoned Rose. She began to run back towards the house and Justin followed her. Poppy and Daisy, left alone, stared into each other’s eyes.

‘Has she said anything yet?’ asked Poppy, and Daisy shook her head and explained about Bateman, Great-Aunt Lizzie and then Violet.

Dinner was a strange meal – completely dominated by talk of India. One by one, Michael Derrington and his aunt enumerated acquaintances and places and cross-questioned Elaine for up-to-date news. It was as if they feared to leave a silence at the table. Rose made a little game of slipping in wise remarks like, ‘Ah, the Rana, not the Maharana, I see,’ but the other three girls ate in silence. Coffee was served in the drawing room – an unusual piece of grandeur these days, and when that was over, Great-Aunt Lizzie said decisively, ‘Well, dear, what brings you back to England after all this time?’

‘Nigel Coxhead died and I had to come over to sort out some of his affairs,’ said Elaine quietly. ‘That was my husband,’ she continued, turning to the four girls sitting primly on the sofa. ‘He was quite elderly,’ she explained as Violet opened her mouth to say something. Violet shut it again and gave an uneasy glance at the other two.

‘You were left well provided for, I trust?’ Great-Aunt Lizzie raised a delicate eyebrow, her back as straight as a ramrod, her old eyes hooded.

‘Very well,’ said Elaine quietly.

There was an uncomfortable silence. The Earl looked at Lady Elizabeth but she said nothing.

And then Elaine broke the awkward silence by turning to Violet with a warm smile. ‘We must have a long talk in the morning about your clothes – for your coming-out,’ she said, and Violet’s face lit up.

‘Next year, perhaps,’ said the Earl firmly and Violet’s face fell again. She stared fixedly at the fire, her eyes bright with tears. Elaine looked at her and hesitated and then she took a deep breath, almost as though she were summoning up courage, and turned to face her brother-in-law.

‘No reason why it shouldn’t be this year,’ she said courageously. ‘There’s time enough to arrange everything. I can present Violet and look after her season. This is something that I would enjoy, Michael. I’ve decided to hire a house in London for the next couple of months. There’s no reason why I should not present Violet, is there, Aunt Lizzie? As you will remember –’ now she looked across at her aunt, and her soft-featured face grew a little hard – ‘as you will remember,’ she repeated, ‘I was presented myself when I was only seventeen years old. It was King Edward then,’ she said with a smile at Rose, who nodded wisely, but refrained from slipping in a short biography.

Rose, like all of us, thought Daisy, was breathless at the sudden drama that had erupted. All through dinner when the servants had been in and out of the room, Elaine had appeared sweet, shy and docile, following her aunt’s choice of conversational topics, but now, with the family gathered around an unusually hot fire, she seemed suddenly to have seized the initiative and to have become brave.

‘No, no,’ Elaine repeated the word firmly. ‘I remember my season very well and I am sure that I can steer Violet through all its problems and be a support and comfort to her at this very important time of a young girl’s life.’

And once again her eyes met Great-Aunt Lizzie’s, and the two women stared at each other for a long minute, both faces slightly flushed in the firelight.

And the older woman was the first to drop her eyes.

‘You know, Michael, that might be a very good idea,’ said Great-Aunt Lizzie, and the girls held their breath.

But the Earl was in a good mood. He had enjoyed reliving his life in India, and though a little sadness had come into his face at the memories of his dead wife, he had laughed at some of Elaine’s stories and had chortled with glee at the report that one of the most dashing young officers of his day was now bald, overweight and suffering from gout.

He smiled at his sister-in-law. ‘Well, it’s very generous of you, Elaine, and we would appreciate it. Are you sure?’

‘Mary would have wanted it,’ said Elaine gently, and Daisy held her breath. They all avoided mentioning the name of Mary Derrington, but now the only reaction was a look of gentle melancholy and a slow nod of the head. He put his arm around Poppy, who sat beside him on the sofa and hugged her, but looked across at his eldest daughter.

‘Well, Violet . . .’ he started to say, but Violet had jumped up and thrown herself on Elaine.

‘Oh Elaine, no one has ever done such a lovely thing for me in my whole life.’ Daisy saw her father wince and was pleased when Rose said, ‘You should promise to be her slave for the rest of your natural life.’

Even Great-Aunt Lizzie, who tried to discourage Rose’s odd remarks, laughed with relief at this.

‘And the other girls will be company for her and we’ll all have such fun shopping,’ said Elaine. ‘And don’t worry, Aunt Lizzie, I’ll make sure that they have lots of educational visits to the British Museum and . . . and . . . places like that,’ she added. ‘I’m staying at The Ritz for the moment. I’ll have to see about hiring a house, but I suppose the lawyer might help.’

‘I know what,’ said the Earl, suddenly inspired. ‘You take Bateman with you; he’ll do everything for you. Find a house in a suitable place and hire staff. You can leave everything to him. He’s used to doing that sort of thing. He did it for Mary and myself when we were young. He’ll have you sorted in a couple of days. We’ll send him up by train so that he has everything ready by the time you arrive. And take Morgan too. The man has nothing to do here but go on errands to the village. In London he will be wonderful. He’s a very reliable chauffeur. You can get him to drive Violet around to all those little lunches that girls have and take the other girls to museums and everything like that; and the girl Maud – she can trail around with them so that you don’t have the bother of chaperoning, Elaine. Lizzie, you can manage without Morgan, can you? No visits planned for the next few weeks, and anyway,’ he went on without waiting for an answer, ‘he can always come back if you need him – you’ll have a telephone, won’t you, Elaine? Well, there you are, Violet, your old father has had a few good ideas on the trot.’

‘You’re a genius,’ said Violet, bestowing a warm smile on him but then turning back to Elaine with a pleading look on her face. ‘Do you think that we could have a coming-out ball for me – just a small one?’

‘Most of those town houses have folding doors between the drawing room and the dining room, dear,’ said Great-Aunt Lizzie knowledgeably. ‘You’d have enough room for twenty or more couples to stand up in the ones that I remember.’

‘And Bateman will organize everything for you,’ said the Earl.

‘It will be wonderful to have dear Bateman, and a chauffeur and a car.’ Elaine sounded as if great wealth had descended on her and her brother-in-law smiled benevolently on her as she got to her feet.

‘You’ll have to excuse me,’ she said. ‘I think I will retire early – after the journey . . .’

‘Into darkest Kent,’ put in Rose helpfully.

‘I’ll go up with you and see that you have everything you need,’ said Violet. Her face was aglow with pleasure and her eyes shining with excitement.

Money simplifies everything, thought Daisy. They had left Beech Grove Manor four days before. Daisy, accompanied by Elaine’s maid and Maud, travelled by train and the others came up in the car, driven by Morgan. Bateman had found a lovely mews house in Mayfair and there was even a garage for the Humber with a bedroom over it where Morgan could sleep.

‘All the other chauffeurs in Mayfair will laugh at your ancient car,’ teased Daisy when he met them at the station.

‘Then they’ll show their ignorance,’ said Morgan with a shrug. ‘This is a good car – very comfortable.’

‘That’s true.’ Daisy nodded. She had enjoyed the journey in the steam-puffing monster and felt that it was like the first step towards being an independent young lady, but there was no doubt that the Humber was a very comfortable car. It was nice sitting in the front seat with Morgan, who had fetched her from the station; Great-Aunt Lizzie would never allow them to do that, no matter how squashed they were in the back seat.

Poppy had claimed a bedroom at the side of the house, overlooking the busy main road, and had hung a sign on the door, much to Violet’s disdain, saying: TWINS. KEEP OUT. Rose had a tiny room which she christened THE BOUDOIR. Violet and Elaine had the only rooms with dressing rooms attached so it was settled that the two lady’s maids should sleep there.

And the following morning the shopping began.

‘Harrods, Morgan,’ murmured Elaine as they trooped into the big car. Violet had decreed that the shabby tweed coats should be left in their bedrooms so they were cold until they stepped inside the hothouse atmosphere of the shop.

‘It’s like fairyland,’ said Violet in a whisper, and Daisy suddenly felt very fond of her. The yearning, ecstatic look on Violet’s face showed how deeply she had suffered when it had looked as though all of her dreams were doomed to die.

‘Let’s go to the children’s department first. A nice soft wool coat with a velvet collar for you, Rose, I would think,’ said Elaine decisively.

‘I don’t think I can carry all of these clothes,’ said Rose after an hour had passed. She stared in a bewildered way. ‘I feel like Sara Crewe at the beginning of
A Little Princess
, or else her doll,’ she added.

‘Wear the coat and that dress and the rest can be parcelled up and put in the car,’ said Elaine. ‘Now, Daisy, I think it’s your turn. Violet, dear, we’ll leave your things until after lunch. Morgan can take the other three girls home and you and I can have a wonderful afternoon.’

Sometimes in the course of the next few days, Daisy was reminded of the doll called Daisy and all her outfits. Elaine got such huge pleasure out of selecting clothes for the four girls and was tireless in pursuit of perfection. On one occasion, in Harrods, the saleswoman stared fixedly at Daisy for almost a minute before rushing off and returning with a single dress on a hanger.

‘This is
parfait
,’ she declared.

‘Bet she’s just pretending to be French,’ muttered Rose, but Daisy only had eyes for the dress.

‘Black!’ exclaimed Elaine, looking doubtful. ‘But she’s only sixteen.’

‘
Oh, mais Madame, mais Madame
.’ The woman became even more French in her agitation. ‘
Le bon dieu
created
Mademoiselle
to wear black. Look at that hair, that skin!’

‘I thought perhaps pink; I don’t know what her father will say,’ Elaine murmured weakly, but she smiled then, her blue eyes lighting up with admiration. ‘It is gorgeous on you, Daisy. If you like it you may have it.’