The Silk Vendetta (25 page)

“I think you are probably wise.”

“Who shall say? The Countess thinks we are unenterprising.”

“Better be that than bankrupt.”

“I agree.”

“So you are in a dilemma.”

“Not really. Grand’mere and I are adamant.”

“But regretful,” he said.

“Yes, regretful.”

We were talking animatedly when Julia came along. She was stylishly dressed in a costume of midnight blue edged with sable. She looked very elegant in a type of riding hat with an ostrich feather trailing over the brim. I had seen the costume and the hat before for they had both come out of our showrooms and when I saw them, my first thought was: Grand’mere has genius.

Julia opened her eyes with surprise; but I immediately thought that this did not express her true feeling, and I had a notion that she had come out here to find us. It must have been that we had been seen together by some of her friends and that our meetings were a matter of some interest. As a widow with a child I was not expected to lead such a restricted existence as a young unmarried woman and the fact that I had been seen at the same spot on several occasions with an eligible bachelor would cause some speculation.

“Well, fancy finding you here! Of course … you come with Katie. Children do love the parks.” She sat down beside us. I felt insignificant in my simple walking costume beside her in all her glory.

“I like to take a walk now and then,” she said. “Exercise is supposed to be good for you. I have the carriage waiting for me not far off. I thought, Drake, that you were in Swaddingham.”

“I shall have to go down in a day or so.”

”Of course. You have to get them all in a good humour before the election. When do you expect it?”

“In the not too distant future.”

“I’ll come and help,” said Julia.

“That’s kind of you.”

“I find politics fascinating,” she went on. “All that going among the people and kissing the babies … and you’re half way there.”

“It’s not quite as easy as that,” said Drake with a laugh. “Our opponents might be good baby-admirers, too.”

“Poor Drake! He works so hard,” said Julia, laying a hand on his arm. “He really is wonderful.”

“You have too high an opinion of me.”

“I am sure that would be impossible. You must come and dine tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” he said.

She smiled at me. “Sorry I can’t invite you, Lenore. You see, it is so difficult. There is a shortage of men … and a woman on her own …”

“Oh, I quite understand.”

“You ought to get married. Don’t you agree, Drake?”

”I think that is a matter for Lenore to decide for herself.”

“Of course these things can be helped along.”

I looked at my watch and said it was time I was going. I called Katie who came running up.

“Hello, Aunt Julia.”

“Hello, my darling.” Julia kissed Katie effusively.

“You smell nice,” said Katie.

“Do I, dear? You must come and see me some time soon.”

“When?” asked Katie.

“We must wait to be asked definitely, Katie,” I said.

“We’re asked now.”

“Aunt Julia will tell us when she wants us.”

“But she said …”

“We really must go,” I insisted.

“Of course,” said Julia. “We’ll excuse you, won’t we, Drake?”

“I’ll escort Lenore and Katie home,” said Drake.

Julia pouted. Then she said brightly: “I’ll tell you what. We’ll ride in my carriage.”

I was about to protest when Katie cried: “Oh yes …please.”

And so we rode home.

Julia had somehow conveyed to me that she was displeased by my meetings with Drake. I remembered in the past how very taken she had been by him. She still was, I could see.

I was not sure of Drake. I think he was not pleased by the intrusion.

Katie was, however. She kept talking about the horses and sang clopetty-clop all the way home.

After that we often met Julia. She knew, of course, the time we should be there, and she would find us somewhere near the

Serpentine; or if we were in St. James’s Park she knew we should be feeding the ducks.

“I do enjoy my little walks,” she said. “So good for one. And it is such fun to come upon familiar faces and sit down and talk.”

She dominated the conversation and managed to discuss people whom I did not know, so that I was often excluded.

I wondered what Drake was feeling. He was too polite to betray this, and sometimes I wondered whether he was pleased to see Julia. He did smile quite often at her inconsequential chatter. It was very feminine, I supposed, and perhaps he found that attractive.

She had a way of disparaging me through supposed compliments. “Of course, Lenore is such a wonderful business woman. I could never be that. It must be wonderful to be so self-reliant … such a wonderful manager … like a man really … Lenore doesn’t need any looking after.”

I don’t know why I should let it annoy me, but it did. She was, of course, calling attention to her own helpless femininity which was supposed to be so attractive to the opposite sex.

In any case those mornings were spoilt, and because I felt so bitterly disappointed I tried to analyse my feelings for Drake.

I so much enjoyed being with him; I was intensely interested in all he was doing and I felt I should like to share in it.

In his turn, he was interested in the shop. The Countess had said I must not call it “the shop.” It was “the salon.” “What’s in a name?” I had asked. “A tremendous amount,” she had retorted. ”I have often told you that it is not so much what things are as what people believe them to be. A shop is somewhere where things are sold over the counter. A salon is where artists deign to sell their work.”

“I’m learning,” I replied. “The salon it shall be.”

When I had told Drake this he had been very amused. He had listened intently to the story of our beginnings. He was so interested in everything I was doing. He enjoyed being with Katie and it was clear that she was fond of him. I had a cosy feeling that when we had walked back with Katie in between us, holding our hands, the Countess, who had seen us, had felt some approval. “You looked … right… like that,” she said.

As for Grand’mere, she had never been one to hide her feelings and her opinion was obvious.

I was very touched to consider how her one thought, throughout her life, had been to care for me. She had been heartbroken when Philip died; she had seen through my marriage all her dreams coming true. But I had been without Philip for a long time and she was visualizing another dream with Drake at the centre of it.

It would have been impossible for me not to consider which way I was going. Drake’s persistent visits to the park, our growing friendship, the manner in which a special light came into his eyes when he saw us—they were all significant. There was a possibility that he was falling in love with me.

He was eager for me to go down and see the manor at Swad-dingham and we were to pay the visit the first weekend after the Parliamentary recess.

And myself? I could never forget Philip and that honeymoon in Florence which had ended so tragically, and since my feelings for Drake were beginning to grow into something very serious, I thought of those days more and more.

I had grown up considerably since my marriage. I had been young, simple and innocent. I had known little of the world then. Perhaps Philip had been a little like that, too. We were like two children. Could we have gone on like that? I had suddenly been brought face to face with tragic reality. I had become a mother and there was now one person in my life who was more important to me than myself. I had learned something about the seriousness of making a living for myself and my child; and our close approach to failure and possible penury had matured me considerably. The worldly Countess had taught me a great deal about people. I no longer lived in that ideal world which I had believed lay ahead of Philip and me; there were things in life which were ugly and these had to be recognized and fully faced.

Now I was asking myself how deeply had my love for Philip gone; and had I built it up to such proportions since his death? Had I told myself I could never love a man again?

Had I really known Philip? Could it be possible that there had been some dark secret in his life and that he took his life rather than allow it to come to light? Was that just possible? No, I could not believe it. Philip had been good and true and innocent … as I was. Then why had it happened as it did? And if he had not shot himself who had and why? There was only one conclusion: Either Philip shot himself or someone else did. And in any case there must have been some dark secret in Philip’s life of which I had known nothing.

I had loved Philip, but then, had I really known him? With him I had first learned the meaning of love between men and women. Our relationship had been tenderly romantic. But he was dead. Perhaps it was time that I ceased to mourn him. My meetings with Drake were beginning to tell me that I was not meant to lead the life of a nun.

When I watched him, coming towards me, my spirits lifted. I tried to see him dispassionately: a tall man dressed with quiet, good taste; he had always been distinguished looking as a boy; now that was accentuated. I admired him very much; I was happy to sit close to him and I was pleased when he touched my hand. Yes, I was attracted by him for the days when I did not see him were dull days and I found myself looking forward to that Swaddingham weekend with a joy that resembled Katie’s.

Julia came to the salon. She always arrived in style with her carriage, her obsequious coachman and the little boy who was equally eager to please.

I dreaded her visits which was foolish. She was a very good customer. As she said, she simply adored clothes.

She was a great spender—so different from the Julia of our childhood. She had had her tantrums then and had always been self-indulgent, but she had lacked this overwhelming confidence which being a rich widow had brought her.

The Countess always greeted her effusively.

“I am so glad you came in. I was just saying to Madame Cleremont that the burgundy velvet is just you. I said to her that before we show it to anyone else Julia must see it.”

Then she would hustle her off to the showroom where there would be tut-tutting from the Countess because of Julia’s growing waistline. The burgundy dress had fitted but only just. “My dear child …” (The Countess often fell back into that relationship they had shared during Julia’s launching.) “You must cut out this penchant for food.” And Julia would giggle and become almost a girl in the Countess’s company.

Of course she bought the dress as the Countess intended she should. Then she sought me out.

“Charles is getting married, “she told me.

“Oh … really?”

“It’s about time. Un manage de convenance. You know what I mean. I hear that Sallonger’s are not doing so well now. Charles is not like Philip, you know. He needs money and he’ll get it. She’s a little older than he is and not the most beautiful woman in the world, but my dear, she is gold-plated.”

“I hope it is successful.”

“She’ll get what she wants … a husband … and he’ll go his own sweet way … as he always has done. I told him once he was a ruthless philanderer. He just laughed at me and said, ‘Fancy your noticing that, little sister.’ “

“Perhaps he’ll settle down.”

“What! Charles? Do you believe that? I wish I could find someone for Cassie.”

“Cassie is happy enough.”

“You’ll probably get an invitation to the wedding.”

I did not answer and she went on: “You’re seeing quite a lot of Drake Aldringham, aren’t you?”

“We meet in the park, as you know, as you are often with us.”

“He’s very much a man of the world, you know.”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“A little like Charles in a way.”

“Like Charles?”

“Well, men are mostly alike … in one respect.”

I stared at her in amazement.

”With women, I mean. I know him very well and in spite of all this… clever business and so on…you’re a little innocent in some ways.”

“I don’t know what you are suggesting.”

She laughed. “Don’t you? Just think about it then. Drake is a very great friend of mine … a very close friend. … As a matter of fact … Never mind. Do you really think that burgundy velvet suits me? I wish the Countess wouldn’t go on so about my weight.” She looked at me archly. “Some people tell me they like it. It’s warm … and friendly … and womanly. I don’t think men really like those beanpole types.”

She was looking at me a little scornfully. It was true that I was very slender. Grand’mere worried that I did not eat enough.

I was glad when Julia went; and then I kept turning over in my mind what she had said.

I hated to think of Julia as a rival. Yet she did not like our meetings in the parks; she was eager to tell me he was her friend … close friend, she had pointed out. What did she mean by that? Was she warning me in comparing Drake with Charles?

I thought Julia was jealous, and I remembered her fury of long ago when she knew that Drake had left after a quarrel with Charles; and that had been on my account.

It was a few days later when I first noticed the man in the park. He was sitting on a bench near the one which we occupied and whenever I glanced casually his way he seemed to be looking in my direction. I fancied I had seen him there before.

He was of medium height, dark-haired, greying at the temples; he might have been about forty years of age, distinguished looking in a foreign way. It was something about the cut of his clothes as well as his looks which made me feel that he was not English.

Julia had joined us as usual. Katie played happily; Drake, who had been talking animatedly before Julia’s arrival, was now restrained.

I was beginning to think that as Julia resented my friendship with Drake so much, and made a point of joining us, I should find some excuse not to come. Cassie would be only too happy to take Katie to the park.

The next day I saw the man again. He really did seem to watch me intently. I might have thought I had imagined this but Julia had noticed.