Page 15 of Debtor’s Daughter

Chapter 5

Dear Jack,

I hope all is well with you. I have the most exciting news. Our neighbour, Mr Weston, has been an absolute godsend. Tomorrow, he is escorting us to meet Lady Montagu. He is close friends with her son, Lord Ashburton, and assures me she will know how best to assist me in launching Caro into society. To have such a respected woman, from the highest echelons of society, take an interest in our affairs is more than I could ever have dreamed of. I do not know how I shall ever repay him for his kindness, not only to myself and Caro and Auntie, but to Gideon, too. He played with darling Giddy yesterday and even had him stay to tea. Can you imagine? Giddy can speak of nothing else but when he can see his friend ‘Westie’ again.

Of course, I don't doubt he's trying to win Caro's affections, but it shows me what a good-hearted man he is. Caro would be safe if she were to marry such a kind and caring fellow, though his past and notoriety for gambling and drinking are a worry, I do not wish her to find herself with a man like Papa, but he says such days are behind him. If I remember correctly from the gossip around him, there was a woman involved, a broken heart, perhaps. If so, I must hope that he is mended now and the love of a beautiful girl like Caro is enough to make him forget all others. If only I can bring her to encourage his suite.

I hardly dare ask, but how are things at home? Has that dreadful man moved in yet, and how are poor Wallace and Mrs Goodall? Please give them all our fondest love and good wishes, for you may rely upon them not to give us away. Is our stepmother still in residence? Have they any idea of our whereabouts?

―Excerpt of a letter from Mrs Magdelina Finchley to her friend and neighbour Mr Jack Woolgar.

27th September 1850, Berwick Street, Soho, London.

“Perhaps I ought to have worn the green?” Maggie fretted as Sally put the final touches to her coiffure.

“Oh, Maggie, do stop worrying so. You look beautiful. The blue is stunning against your lovely eyes. Such an unusual colour they are,” Caro said, looking up from her position at the window, poised as lookout for Mr Weston.

Sadly, Maggie had assigned her the position as Caro still seemed oblivious to Mr Weston’s charms. A pity she had not been in the garden when he had brought Gideon home, for that had been a sight to stir any woman’s heart. It had certainly stirred Maggie’s.

Nonsense, she told herself briskly. She was a widowed lady with a son; such romantic nonsense was behind her. Yet the vision of Mr Weston’s powerful physique, clad in his shirt and waistcoat, and with his sleeves rolled to the elbows, holding Gideon’s small fingers gently in his far larger hand, was one she was having a good deal of trouble banishing.

She returned her attention to the looking glass, giving herself a critical once over. What would Lady Montagu see? Was the woman in the looking glass the picture of a respectable widow, the kind of lady who would do nothing to cause the woman any anxiety when deciding whether to take Caro under her wing? Did she look mature and decent? Mature? Really? Mature was old. Was she old now? Were those crow's feet about her eyes? Surely not. Maggie peered closer, squinting at the tiny little lines.

“Mrs?” Sally said, her frank gaze upon her mistress. “Is aught amiss?”

“Are those wrinkles?” Maggie said, her heart thudding. She told herself she was becoming hysterical, but that didn’t seem to help.

“Where, missus?” Sally asked, putting her face very close to Maggie’s. “I can’t see nowt.”

“There!” Maggie said, certain she was being ridiculous now.

What did it matter if she had the first signs of wrinkles? It didn’t matter if she was covered in them, head to toe. No one cared what she looked like, her time was done. She must stop forgetting that. Caro was all that mattered. Nothing else. She would go on very well with Auntie once Caro was married. They would have Giddy to dote upon and to fill their days. Well, until he was old enough to go to school, and… and then university, and then to marry and go away and have a life of his own.

Maggie swallowed, the coming years yawning before her like a great gaping maw, ready to swallow her up.

“Maggie!” Caro said, and Maggie jolted from her nightmarish thoughts at the unusual level of exasperation in her sister’s voice. “He’s here.”

“Oh!” Maggie leapt to her feet with such haste she knocked over a silver-backed hairbrush, a bottle of scent and a ceramic container of pearl powder. The expensive articles crashed to the floor but mercifully didn’t break.

“It’s all right, Mrs Finchley, I’ll deal with it. You run along now,” Sally said, shooing her mistress out of the door before she could wreak any further havoc in her anxiety.

“Come along, Maggie, dear,” Caro said, taking her arm and steering her towards the stairs. Maggie frowned at her little sister, unused to being the one needing guidance and careful handling.

“I’m quite all right,” she said with a touch of indignation as she made her way down the stairs.

To her relief, she discovered Priddy had greeted Mr Weston and shown him into the parlour, which was blessedly free of Aunt Connie, who’d not yet come down.

“Mama! Mama! Westie is here—” Gideon cried, barrelling past her as she reached the bottom of the stairs and darting out of her reach before she could grab him.

“Giddy, he’s not here to play with you,” she told him, hurrying in his wake as he burst into the parlour.

“Aha! Master Gideon, how do you do?” Mr Weston said, crouching down and holding out his hand.

This at least had the effect of halting Gideon in his tracks as he remembered grown-up people shook hands first. Maggie winced as her son wiped his nose on his sleeve before taking Mr Weston’s hand and shaking it vigorously.

“You come for tea?” Giddy asked. “To play ball?”

“Not today, my fine fellow, but I did bring you something.” Giddy watched as Mr Weston produced a small parcel wrapped in muslin. “I saved you some cake for your tea. It’s a good big slice, but you may only have it if you are a good boy whilst I take your mama and your aunties out for a little while.”