“Harm?”
“Yes, the baby and all that. He thinks that we should have you looked at. It’s all rather difficult but I do agree with him. The Duchessa has recommended a midwife … a poor woman who will be ready to serve us well for a good payment. You will be Lady Stevens during the examination. We have to change identities. Never mind.
It will be a little rehearsal.”
I was thinking too much about Leigh and wondering what the result of this affair would be to worry much about the encounter with the midwife.
Harriet staged it perfectly. She had touched up my face to add a wrinkle or two and make me look older. She had assumed the character of a young girl and so good was she that she played the part to perfection. Christabel and Gregory were helpful.
I was examined by the midwife hi one of the small rooms and quickly informed that all was well with me and I could expect a normal delivery in due course.
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Harriet was delighted with the result-not only with the midwife’s verdict but the way in which we all played our parts.
“You can be sure,” she told the midwife, “that we shall follow your instructions and look forward to the time when you come to help Lady Stevens bring the little one into the world.”
Like many of Harriet’s dramatic announcements it resembled the last line of the act.
And indeed it seemed so. Leigh had gone and Beau Granville must have recovered from the attack, for we heard a month later that he had left Venice.
“He won’t come back,” said Harriet. “I doubt he’ll ever want to see Venice again.”
I hoped that would be so.
I must settle down now to the quiet time of waiting.
The summer was beautiful. It was hot, but by nature of our mission we lived quietly.
Harriet and I were often together. I developed a desire to make clothes for the baby and I did so under Christabel’s guidance. Harriet would smile at us benignly and I marvelled that she who had such a taste for gaiety should be content to shut herself away in this manner. She was playing a part, and how well she played it!
She rested in the afternoons, she walked rather slowly about the palazzo and discussed symptoms of pregnancy with Caterina, the chief of the women servants who was the mother of five children, and she deceived her completely, for if she were in any difficulty she would always pretend that it was due to her imperfect knowledge of the language.
Gregory had to return to Court and was loath to go, but she insisted. He was not necessary to the plan now that he had given his blessing to his wife’s pregnancy which, said Harriet, had strengthened the case considerably. It was arranged that he would return as soon as he was able and perhaps by that time the child would be born and we could all return to England.
“We should be back before Christmas,” said Harriet. “The child is due in mid-October, and by the beginning of December it should be old enough to travel.”
It was August when Gregory left. In two months my child would be born and I was beginning to find it difficult to hide my condition. The loose gowns we wore were a great help and I kept to my rooms and those of Harriet a good deal. I think she made a better job of being a pregnant woman than I did of attempting to deny I was one.
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In a way they were happy months. I had never felt quite like this before. A serenity had settled on me. I thought almost exclusively of the child. I forgot Jocelyn and my heartbreak over his death for weeks at a time. I forgot the terror I had suffered at the Duchessa’s ball. All that seemed to fade away and there was only this life which was growing within me-making itself felt every minute of the day. I longed for my child.
I did not even think very much of what would happen after its birth. I knew it was going to be close to me for the rest of my life. I thought I had loved Jocelyn with all my heart but I loved this child beyond anyone I had ever known.
I liked to sit with Christabel and talk about the wonders of motherhood. She was wistful. Poor Christabel! She told me she would have loved to have a child.
She would one day, I told her.
She said rather bitterly: “If what happened to you had happened to me, there would have been no kind friend to help me out of my troubles.”
It was almost as though she resented the fact that Harriet had gone to such pains to help me.
But this was not really so. She was careful of me and had done a great deal to help me. She had made some exquisite garments and I should treasure them even more than those which Harriet had bought for the baby. Harriet had sent to one of the shops and asked them to call on her. She received the proprietress in her bedroom where she reclined on the bed. I was present, seated on a chair close by.
“Put the things on the bed,” commanded Harriet, “where I can see them. Oh, that is beautiful. You understand, signora, how it is. Sometimes I feel I must keep to my bed. My time will soon come.”
The saleswoman nodded sympathetically and said that Lady Stevens must take great care. When was the little one expected?
“In October. I can hardly wait.”
“The waiting is so irksome,” said the woman. “I have two of my own.”
“Is that so? Then you must know all about it. I have two boys, you know. Of course, I am not so young as I was when they were born!”
“Lady Stevens will always be young,” was the answer.
Harriet smiled, well pleased, and spent lavishly.
Did she hope for a boy or a girl? asked the saleswoman.
“You know well how it is. One hopes for a boy. One hopes for a 136
girl. And when it comes it is always what you wanted most. Is that not so?”
It was agreed that it was.
So they chattered; and knowing exactly how I felt as an expectant mother, I could not help but congratulate Harriet on a superb performance.
So the days passed.
September came. It was still very warm. I did not go out at all now. I felt it better not to. Christabel shopped for me. She liked to go into the square and buy ribbons and the things I needed.
I did lessons now and then as my mother would have expected us to, and it seemed incongruous to me that a mother should be in such a position. I had been fifteen on my birthday in the July just past.
I urged Christabel to go out more. There was no reason why she should not. Some protegee of the Duchessa-a certain Francesca Leopardi-became friendly with her and the two went out together now and then. Francesca asked permission for her to visit the Palazzo Faliero, which Harriet immediately gave, and it became a practice of hers to go there.
She even spent a night there occasionally, which I thought was good for her because she blossomed noticeably during that time. I believed it was because at last someone was interested in her for herself and not because of her association with us.
But to tell the truth I gave very little thought to her. I was absorbed by my baby; and Harriet was of course the same because she was completely wrapped up in her part.
By the beginning of October, Harriet began to have certain qualms about me. It was the first time she had faltered.
I was young, this was my first child, and she was suddenly afraid that all might not go well. So far she had succeeded in playing her part to perfection. The only tricky moment had been the examination by the midwife. Now she wanted the midwife to move into the palazzo and it would mean, when she did that, that there could be no more pretence.
Harriet talked about it a good deal. She went to see the midwife and came back elated.
“My dear Priscilla, she lives in a hovel. Yes, nothing more than a hovel. There is one way to deal with her. Money. She will have to be in on the secret. It is no use my pretending that I am pregnant to her. The time has come when a good performance must be supported by factual detail. Naturally she would be well paid for coming to the palazzo and spending a week or so here when the birth becomes im-137
minent. But if we take her into our confidence-which we shall have to do in this case-and offer what will to her be a fantastic sum of money if she keeps our secret.
. . I am sure she will do so.”
“Do you think she can be trusted?”
“I shall mingle bribes with threats. An irresistible combination, I assure you.”
“Harriet, you have been so wonderful to me.”
“Nonsense, my dear child, it has been my pleasure,”
“All these months when you have lived so quietly …”
“Enjoying every minute. My dear, I intend to see you out of this trouble. It has been an exacting role, but worth it.”
I went to her and kissed her, which pleased her. She liked demonstrations of affection.
“You are as my own child, Priscilla,” she said. “As I have said, I always wanted a daughter. And you are like my own. I was so involved with the Eversleighs. I was one myself once. So no more talk of gratitude and who owes this one what. As I’ve told you, I owe a big debt to your mother and I find it very gratifying to discharge my debts. Now let us be practical. Yes, I shall send for the midwife and have a little talk with her. You shall be present.”
She did so without delay. “For,” as she said, “I shall not feel happy until the woman is here. I want her to be on hand the moment she is needed.”
The midwife was rotund and pale faced, with lively black eyes, a patched gown and a cloak which showed signs of past grandeur and must have been presented by a client some years before. Her name was Maria Caldori and she was the mother of five children, which, said Harriet, was a good point, as it was always well to have firsthand knowledge of a subject.
Harriet brought her up to my bedroom and closed the door firmly.
“Now,” she said, “I have something of great importance to say to you. If you were paid well to keep a secret would you be prepared to do so?”
The woman looked startled. A faint tinge of colour had crept into her cheeks. Harriet mentioned a sum of money which made her blink. I had a notion that she had never heard of such a sum in the whole of her life.
“You would do a great deal for so much, I don’t doubt, signora.”
“I would do nothing which could set the law on me,” said the woman, visibly trembling.
“This is nothing to do with the law and all you will be asked to do 138
is say nothing. It is your silence which can put this money in your pocket.”
“What is this, my lady? Please tell me what it is.”
“First I want your promise to be silent. There is nothing wrong in what you are asked to do. In fact it can only be good. All you need to do is say nothing. No one will ask you questions.”
“It is about the … baby, my lady?”
“You shall have half the money now,” said Harriet, ignoring the question, “and half when the matter is over. But first I must have your word on the name of God and the Holy Virgin that you will in no circumstances tell of what you learn in this house.”
“My lady, I swear. In my profession there are sometimes secrets. I have always been discreet.”
“You will need to be discreet now. You may think that when the money has been paid and we have gone, you are free to speak of what you know. If you do so, you will have broken your word and you will be punished. Do you know what happened to an English gentleman not so long ago? Have you ever heard the name of Granville?”
The woman was trembling a little. I saw the sweat on her forehead.
“I heard, my lady. He was very bad … because of what happened to him.”
“It could happen to you, signora, if you betrayed a trust. It will not, I know. You are too wise. You are going to take the money, which is more, I vow, than you earned in the whole of your life before bringing babies into the world and now and then waiting on the nobility. What is it to be?”
The woman lifted the cross which she wore about her neck and swore on it. Nothing on earth should drag the secret from her.
It was dramatic, another of Harriet’s scenes, and naturally she played it to perfection.
“I trust you,” she said. “And now you will find the matter very simple. When you came here before you did not examine me but this young lady. She is the one who is to have the child. For certain reasons we do not wish it to be known that the child is hers. All you have to do is attend her, make sure she has the best of care, bring a healthy child into the world with as little inconvenience to the mother as possible and hold your tongue.”
Relief spread across the midwife’s face.
“My lady,” she said, “it is nothing… it is little…”
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Then she stopped, obviously afraid that if she made it sound too easy the fee might be lowered.
She went on: “Your secret is safe with me. There are many such in my work. I shall say nothing. I shall let it be believed that the child is yours, my lady. Oh, my lady … and signora …” She looked at me apologetically. “It often happens there are certain secrets.”
“I am sure that in your profession it is one secret after another, but remember how well you are being paid to keep this one and remember too that Venice will not be a very healthy place for you if you fail to keep it. Now you are free to look after your patient.”
Harriet left me alone with Maria Caldori, who asked me a great many questions, examined me and declared herself delighted with my condition.
“Two weeks perhaps,” she said. “It may be sooner. Babies like to choose their own time.”
Harriet had arranged that I should sleep in her room and had had a small bed brought in. The fact was that she occupied this and made me sleep hi the large one hi which the child was to be born.
Maria Caldori occupied a room close by and was in constant attendance. I think she enjoyed her part in the conspiracy and whenever we had visitors I would leave her and Harriet together and Harriet said she did her part very well. “Mind you,” she pointed out, “I carried her along. But I must say she played with a certain conviction.”
Christabel was very land and eager that I should not be put to any strain. I had never seen her so contented as she was at that time. She was out a good deal with Francesca and again and again I was struck by the change hi her.
The weather was still warm and I was feeling the heat very much. As I did not go out a great deal I liked to sit at the doors of my room which opened onto the veranda and watch life pass by on the canal.