AllFreeNovel
Share Us
For a while, there was bustle and disturbance, but before too long everything was arranged as Pa liked it, the brandy glasses were replenished and they settled down either side of the fire, just as they had done at Chadwell Park and at the Fullers Road house before that.
“Well, this is very cosy, Will. I’ll like it well enough here, I dare say, so long as there’s not too much of that French stuff. I like a good piece of meat fresh from the spit. There’s nothing like it.”
“I am sure Stepmother will order everything to your liking, Pa. She got into the way of it very quickly after you were married last year.”
Pa frowned. “Will, I don’t like to carp, because you know better than I do what’s the proper way to go on, but I don’t quite like you calling her‘Stepmother’in that way. You could call her‘Ma’,or perhaps‘Mother’, if you prefer.”
“But she is not my mother, and it goes against the grain to give that title to another lady.”
“The girls do it. Look how prettily they call her‘Mama’.”
“But Ma was‘Ma’to them, and Stepmother… the new Mrs Fletcher is‘Mama’. It is a different term. I should be glad to address my stepmother in whatever way makes you happy, but not if it means giving her the same title as my real mother.”
“You called your mother‘Ma’often enough, just as you call me‘Pa’.” He sighed. “You still resent me remarrying, don’t you, Will?”
“Not at all,” Will said stiffly. “I confess I was suspicious of her motives at first, but once I understood how things were between you, I withdrew all my previous objections.”
“You think I’m a fool, I suppose, to fall in love at my age, but there it is. My Lizzie makes me very happy, and I can only wish the same for you when your turn comes.”
“I shall not marry for love, that much is certain,” Will said, smiling at his father. “That sort of nonsense is all very well for the girls, and for you, if you wish it, but we are moving up in the world now, and I must marry for advantage. Rosie is destined to marry a lord, and I plan to marry a lord’s daughter.”
Pa chuckled. “I believe you’ll do it, too. You have the charm of Old Nick himself. But what do you think of this Lady Failsworthy? A strange creature, I call her, and all those parcels she was laden with are set to my account, I don’t doubt.”
“True, but it was agreed that she might buy herself some fashionable clothes,” Will said. “She has been living very quietly since her widowhood, and her wardrobe is out of date. If she is to introduce Stepmother and the girls to her noble acquaintances, then she must look the part.”
“Aye, I dare say. I hope this will work, Will. Lizzie’s set her heart on firing Rosie off into the very best company, and she’s pinning all her hopes on this cousin of hers. Or rather, she’s a cousin of Lizzie’s first husband. They sound very grand, the Haygarths. Not that they seem to come to London very much themselves, but they’re proper gentry, unlike us, so they must know everybody. I just hope Lizzie won’t be turned away at the door when she calls on Lady Failsworthy’s friends. It would break her heart if she’s snubbed by these grand people, after all this effort.”
“It is a pity the Plummers will not help us,” Will said. “After selling Chadwell Park to us, and receiving us in Hertfordshire with complaisance, I am sure we all expected to be part of their circle in town, too.”
“Aye, that would have been for the best, but it was Sir Owen who was so keen to treat us civilly. Lady Plummer never liked us above half, and she’s the one who’s in London. We’ll just have to do the best we can with Lady Failsworthy. She’ll be able to open a few doors for us… or for you, anyway. I’ll not be going into that sort of society.”
“What will you do with yourself?” Will said. “You will be thoroughly moped sitting at home by yourself while we jaunt around to balls and routs and all manner of delights.”
“Well, I’ll not be sitting at home by myself, that’s for certain,” Pa said, chuckling. “Lord, Will, I’ve friends enough in the City who’ll be glad to see me. All the people I did business with for years haven’t just vanished. But I’ll not tread on Lizzie’s toes, that’s for certain. I’ll keep out of the way when she’s entertaining. I’ll only have my friends here when she’s out for the evening with the girls. But you can invite your friends, too, if you want.”
Will hardly knew how to answer him. “Oh… I dare say I shall not see them very much. We have drifted apart over the years.”
“I hope you’re not planning to drop your less elevated friends now that you’re moving up in the world, Will. I’d be sorry to think you’d grown ashamed of men you were happy enough to spend time with in the past.”
“I am not ashamed of them, Pa, but Stepmother is right about this. If we are truly to leave behind our roots in trade and become gentry, as we all hope, then we have to move in a different kind of society. When I was at school, I was a mercer’s son and my friends were also the sons of men in trade — an attorney, a bookseller, a shipbuilder, a mill owner. The sons of aristocrats kept to themselves and ignored us. But now I am a gentleman, and if I am to establish myself in that society, I have to leave behind my past. It is not possible to have a foot in both worlds. I think you understand it very well. You are choosing to stay in the old world of trade, where you feel comfortable, but I have never been entirely at home in your world. I choose to leave trade behind and embrace the world of the gentry. That is what Grandfather wanted for me when he insisted that I be educated at Harrow and Cambridge, and that is what I want, also. It is my destiny, Pa. Just as Rosie’s destiny is to marry a lord and connect us to the nobility, so mine is to use that connection to raise the whole family to a new level in society.”
“You’ll leave your old father behind you in the dust, then,” Pa said sadly.
Will smiled. “I trust I should never be so ungrateful. You will always be my pa, however high I fly in years to come.”
“Well, that’s a relief. Pass the brandy, will you, and ring the bell for one of this army of footmen to light the candles. It’s getting dark in here already.”
~~~~~
‘To Miss Jupp, St Peter’s Road, Sagborough, West Riding. Dearest Belinda, How grand I am become! Grosvenor Square! I cannot tell you how much I like it here. Not that I disliked Chadwell Park precisely, but being in town again is so comfortable. Angie and I share a room at the front of the house, and there is a little desk — an escritoire, more properly — beside the window, so as I write I can look down into the street and the gardens in the centre of the square, which we are allowed to use. There is a railing all around the outside, but there is a key to open the gate, and Mama says we may walk there together sometimes, to take our exercise. I can see a path running around the outside, just inside the railings, and other paths leading inwards — so intriguing! There is a girl walking there now, with a splendid Negro footman behind her, wearing the most ravishing bonnet. The girl, I mean, not the footman, obviously, for just think how odd he would look with feathers curling around his face. I shall try to write more tomorrow, but I may be very busy, for we are to have dancing lessons. Oh, Belinda, such joy to be able to dance again, for there has been only one ball in all our three months in Hertfordshire. Is that not disgraceful? And now we shall have dancing lessonsevery dayand soon there will be balls several times a week, and I believe I shall expire from pleasure. May you have as much happiness this spring, my very dear friend, and Ricky too, of course, although pray tell him he is not to enjoy the assemblies so much this year, since I am not there to be his partner. Your affectionate friend, Rosie.’
2: Dancing lessons
The following morning, the campaign to launch Rosie into society began in earnest, with the arrival before breakfast of Monsieur Bouchard, the French dancing master engaged to teach the ladies the steps.
“If he is French, then I must be a Chinaman,” Will said crossly, as he entered the dining room.
“He is from Paris,” Lady Failsworthy said indignantly. “He comeshighlyrecommended.”
