Once again they visited Selfridges where they were escorted to the department that sold ballgowns. An assistant brought out a selection for her to look at and Kitty almost drooled over each one – although when she dared to look at the prices her eyes opened wide.
‘Don’t get worrying about the expense.’ Max waved his hand airily. ‘Just consider it an investment. We must have you looking your absolute best for your debut.’ Then when he saw Kitty stroking a gown in deep purple he advised her, ‘No, I think we should stick to a pastel colour to play on your youth and your innocence. What about this pale blue one here?’
Kitty thought it rather plain, but she supposed it wouldn’t hurt to humour him and try it on so she obligingly followed the assistant to the fitting room while Ruby and Max took a seat to wait for her.
‘I think this will show your colouring off to perfection,’ the shop assistant told her as she did up the row of tiny buttons at the back. She then turned Kitty to the mirror and as she glimpsed herself, the girl gasped.
The dress was daringly low cut and off the shoulder, emphasising her smooth skin. It was then drawn to one side beneath the bust before falling away into a long skirt that rustled delightfully with every movement.
‘You look exquisite,’ the assistant breathed as Kitty turned this way and that, admiring herself in the tall cheval mirror. There was no decoration of any sort anywhere on it and yet the superb cut of the gown and the sheer simplicity of it against her dark hair was quite stunning.
‘Shall we go out and see what your parents think about it?’
Kitty giggled but didn’t say anything as she followed the assistant from the room.
Ruby blinked with surprise when she emerged while Max stared at her, openly admiring.
‘It’s perfect,’ he decided. ‘But now she will need some long evening gloves and satin slippers to go with it.’
‘Of course, sir.’ The assistant hurried away as Kitty did a twirl for them.
‘I wasn’t that keen when you chose this one,’ she admitted then. ‘But now I have to say I love it.’
Ruby was feeling more than a little miffed. She could well remember the time when she would have fitted into that gown, but those days were long gone and suddenly she felt old and frumpy.
The assistant arrived back then and Kitty lifted the hem of the gown and slipped her foot into the dainty satin slipper. ‘I feel like Cinderella,’ she joked, and Max laughed with her. The long gloves completed the look and Kitty felt sad when she was led back to the changing room to have her new finery taken off. While the assistant gave orders to have everything wrapped in tissue paper and boxed, Kitty got dressed and rejoined Ruby and Max.
‘The next thing we need to do is get some photographs of you taken,’ Max told her as they stepped out of the shop.
‘Photographs?’ Kitty was puzzled. ‘What do we need them for?’
‘Publicity, of course.’ Max smiled at her broadly, revealing a set of straight white teeth. For a split second, the image of a wolf flashed through the girl’s mind. ‘We shall need one for a poster advertising your appearance at the club, and then my journalist friend will want one for his newspaper if he likes you.’ Personally, he failed to see how anyone could not like Kitty, although he wisely didn’t say that in front of Ruby. He had an idea that she was feeling a little put out and for now was keen to stay on the right side of her. ‘Luckily,’ he went on, ‘I know just the chappie. He has his own little studio in Mayfair and he’s photographed quite a few of my clients for me. We’ll go there now, I think. There’s no time like the present.’
‘But I’m feeling rather tired,’ Ruby objected peevishly. Max had informed her when he’d arrived at the house earlier that he’d not managed to secure any further bookings for her as yet and she was still stinging about that.
‘Not a problem, my pet.’ He patted her hand and she smiled sweetly at him until he went on, ‘We’ll just hail you a cab to get you safely home and then I shall take Kitty myself.’
‘No, no.’ The smile slid from her face. ‘I wouldn’t dream of allowing poor Kitty to go without me.’ Inside, she was seething. There had been a time when Max had danced attendance on her, and her wish had been his command … but lately she had been seeing less of him. She’d also noticed the way he looked at Kitty and didn’t like it one little bit! But then she also knew that she must be sensible. She wasn’t getting any younger and needed to think of the future. Kitty was capable of earning her a lot of money, so for now she would remain all sweetness and light, but it would be woe betide him if Max tried to push her too far.
Soon they were back in the automobile and heading for Mayfair. Ruby insisted on sitting in the front while Kitty sat in the back, and on the way she was ominously quiet although when they eventually arrived she plastered a smile on her face and told Kitty, ‘There’s no need to look so nervous, dear. Just relax and do what the photographer tells you.’
Kitty glanced around at the houses. It looked to be a very nice neighbourhood, but she could see no sign of a studio. She was somewhat surprised when Max led them to the door of a tall terraced house surrounded by low white wrought-iron railings.
‘Richard has his studio at the back of the house,’ he explained. ‘He’s such a good photographer he doesn’t need to advertise. Richard has photographed royalty, so you needn’t be worried.’
Kitty nodded as she clutched the large flat boxes containing her new outfit and accessories. Max had told her she would need to wear them and she hoped there would be somewhere private where she could put them on.
A young maid opened the door and ushered them inside.
‘Could you tell Mr Fitzherbert that Max Thomas is here?’ Max said pleasantly and bobbing her knee the young maid hurried away to do as she was told.
She returned almost immediately to inform him, ‘Mr Fitzherbert is expecting you, sir, and said for you to come straight through.’
They began to follow her along a hallway and as they went Kitty stared admiringly at the opulent surroundings. It was more than obvious that this Richard Fitzherbert wasn’t short of a bob or two if his home was anything to go by. The wallpaper alone looked as if it had cost a king’s ransom and Kitty wondered if it was silk. It certainly looked as if it was. Photography must be a lucrative business, she thought.
They passed a number of closed doors before the maid stopped in front of one right at the back of the house and threw it open. She ushered them inside – and instantly the most handsome man Kitty had ever seen came towards them with his hand outstretched, and Kitty’s heart began to thump wildly. He had thick blond hair and eyes the colour of bluebells, and he was so tall that she found herself having to look up at him. His white shirtsleeves were rolled up to just above the elbows and she found herself unable to look away from his bare muscled arms. She knew that she should say something in reply even if it was only ‘hello’, but to her dismay she found that she was speechless, and so he turned his attention back to Max with a broad grin on his face, making her blush an even darker shade of red. She silently cursed herself. What a naïve little country bumpkin he must think she was!
‘Why, Max, old chap, how lovely to see you.’ He shook Max’s hand warmly. ‘And our Ruby too, looking as lovely as ever.’ He raised Ruby’s hand and kissed it gently as she giggled girlishly, then he turned his attention to Kitty and suddenly her legs went all wobbly and for the first time in her young life she was well and truly smitten. She thought he must be about thirty years old and as he then kissed her hand she started to tremble. ‘And this must be Ruby’s niece, Kitty, the new star in the making.’ His look was openly admiring. ‘It seems that good looks and talent run in the family.’ As Ruby preened herself at the compliment, he went on: ‘Why, it’s going to be an absolute pleasure to photograph you, my dear.’
Kitty blushed to the very roots of her hair but then she began to look around and was astounded at the room in which she found herself. It was absolutely enormous. Various cameras stood abo
ut on tripods, and there was a selection of different backdrops pinned all around the walls. On one wall was what appeared to be a Roman temple with marble pillars that reached up to the ceiling, and another wall made her feel as if she was back at Treetops in the bluebell wood. She had a sudden yearning to be there and quickly looked away from it. If she was going to be a star it wouldn’t do to burst into tears at the drop of a hat.
The third wall was covered in photographs and she moved closer to examine them. Many of them were what she would have expected to find in a photographer’s studio, such as family portraits, but these were nothing like the stiff formal poses she had seen many times before: these were of happy relaxed family groups, and others of children in natural laughing poses. Another series showed London’s famous landmarks. There was a beautiful one of the sun setting above Westminster Abbey, another of the River Thames at sunset that she could barely drag her eyes away from. And then the breath caught in her throat. She had spotted framed photographs of young women draped in voile, in various stages of undress, and she quickly averted her eyes.
Two large glass doors took up most of the fourth wall and through them she glimpsed a garden, which again reminded her of Treetops. The wide-open spaces she had been surrounded by as she was growing up were yet another thing that she missed about home.
‘Now why don’t you go behind that screen there and get changed while Max and I have a whisky and a little chat. I assume you have brought a more suitable gown to be photographed in?’ Richard’s voice brought her thoughts sharply back to the present and she nodded numbly.
‘I’ll come and help you,’ Ruby volunteered. When Ruby was in her new gown, her mother said: ‘We shall have to leave your hair loose about your shoulders for today, but on the night of your performance I think we might pile it on top of your head and tease it into gentle curls.’ Then she changed her mind. ‘Though saying that, wearing it loose makes you look young and vulnerable, which is what the public likes so we’ll have to decide.’
When Kitty was ready, Ruby arranged her hair and hitched the low neckline of the dress down a fraction, revealing yet more cleavage, which made Kitty feel very uncomfortable. But then her mother clearly knew what she was doing so she didn’t dare to protest.
When she stepped from behind the screen in the beautiful new gown, Richard said, ‘I say!’ and began to look excited. ‘Beautiful!’ He quickly took his place behind a camera and waved Kitty over to the backdrop of the bluebell wood. ‘A nice natural setting for you, I think,’ he said, his voice preoccupied. ‘Now turn slightly away from me and glance back across your shoulder, and be sure to stand still until I tell you to move.’
Kitty self-consciously did as she was told.
‘Wonderful!’ he exclaimed as the camera eventually clicked. ‘Now lean towards me and let your hair drape down across your neckline – that’s it, lovely! Now hold your arms out to me and give a little pout. Well done, Kitty.’
He was so complimentary and excited that it was infectious and soon Kitty’s confidence grew and there might have only been the two of them in the room as she did everything he asked her to. She suddenly wondered what Sunday would think if she could see her now, and just for a moment wished that she was there with her so that she could ask her for guidance. But then she pushed the thought aside and gave herself up to the pure joy of being in Richard’s presence.
Chapter Twenty
‘You did really well, my dear,’ Max praised her as he drove them back to Chelsea sometime later. ‘I’m sure Richard will have some wonderful shots from this afternoon’s session and we should be able to see them before long. He has his own dark room and develops his photographs himself.’
Kitty smiled in the back seat as she basked in his praise.
‘I’ve also been giving your name some thought. How about Kitty Nightingale? It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think, Ruby, my love? And it’s perfect for a singer.’
‘Yes, I quite like that.’ Ruby was keen to turn the subject back to herself now. Kitty had had far more than her share of attention for the afternoon, the way she saw it, so she began to chat of other things as Kitty sat silently staring from the window and dreamily thinking of Richard’s handsome face.
Once back at the house Ruby dismissed her, saying, ‘You’d best go and get Mabel to hang your new gown up for you. It was ridiculously expensive and we don’t want it all creased on the big night, do we?’ She then took Max’s arm possessively and marched him off towards the drawing room as Kitty tripped lightly away up the stairs.
As it happened Mabel was already in her room when she got there, putting away her freshly laundered clothes. This was another thing that Kitty was finding strange. Back at Treetops, Sunday had taught the older girls to wash and iron their own clothes as part of her plan for their independence, but here everything was done for her. Mabel even came to her room to turn the bedclothes back for her each night and it was taking some getting used to.
‘Oh, hello, miss,’ the friendly maid greeted her as she eyed the box in Kitty’s hands curiously. ‘I shan’t be a jiffy. Just need to finish this and I’ll be out of your way.’
‘Oh, it’s quite all right, Mabel,’ Kitty assured her, and as she gently lifted the gown from its box, Mabel couldn’t stifle an exclamation.
‘Blimey!’ She came to stand beside Kitty and stroked the material reverently. ‘Why, that is just so beautiful! I can’t imagine ever wearing summink like that, let alone owning it.’
‘I’m going to wear it for my first stage performance,’ Kitty explained excitedly. ‘And that’s not all. I’ve been and had lots of photographs taken today for publicity.’ Kitty found Mabel very easy to talk to, probably because they were of a very similar age.
‘Really? Where did you have them took?’
‘Mr Thomas took me to a photographer in Mayfair. He’s very well known, apparently. His name is Richard Fitzherbert.’
Mabel snorted. ‘Oh, he’s well known, all right, miss. Always in the newspapers he is, with some pretty girl hanging off his arm. And he’s rich too – has no need to work from what I’ve heard. His father is an earl, I believe. Cor, it must be nice to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth, mustn’t it?’ Then, suddenly remembering who she was talking to, she bit her lip. Ruby liked the servants to stay firmly in their place and wouldn’t approve at all of her talking to her niece like this. And Mabel couldn’t afford to lose this job, as her family in Vauxhall relied on her wages. ‘Begging your pardon, miss. I didn’t mean to talk out of turn.’
‘It’s quite all right.’ Kitty smiled at her as she fetched a hanger from the wardrobe and hung the gown on it. Mabel quickly whisked it off her and placed it in the armoire. ‘Now what’s for dinner this evening? I’m actually quite hungry for a change.’
‘I reckon Cook’s done a leg of lamb,’ Mabel answered as she made for the door, leaving Kitty to think about the handsome photographer and to remember the way he’d looked at her.
When she went down to dinner later on, she found Ruby in a dark mood. Max had left – to have dinner with another client, he had said – and she was none too happy at the prospect of spending an evening without a male companion.
Kitty, however, was still excited about the afternoon they had just spent and chattered away to Miss Fox about it. When she came to the part about the photographs the older woman scowled at Ruby.
‘You took her to Fitzherbert’s?’
‘Yes, why shouldn’t I?’ Ruby snapped, ready for a row. ‘Everyone knows he’s a wonderful photographer and Max needed some photos to use for publicity.’
Miss Fox clamped her lips together and Kitty noticed that from then on the atmosphere became strained. When the meal was over she was glad to escape to her room. The second she had gone Miss Fox turned on Ruby furiously.
‘Whatever made you take that young girl to the likes of Richard Fitzherbert?’
‘Oh, Foxy, don’t start, I can feel a headache coming on,’ Ruby groaned, stroking her for
ehead dramatically.
Miss Fox glared at her. ‘Don’t come that with me, my girl,’ she scolded. ‘You can develop a headache at the drop of a hat, usually when you’re hearing something you don’t want to hear. But it’s Kitty I’m concerned about. I thought it was strange when you agreed to have her after all these years of never giving her a second thought – but now I’m beginning to see the light. You want to exploit her, don’t you? I’m not daft, you know! Your income is drying up, along with your admirers, because of your fondness for chocolates and gin, so could it be you want your own flesh and blood to go out and earn for you now?’
‘Of course not,’ Ruby denied, a little too quickly for the older woman’s liking. ‘You’ve heard Kitty sing. She has the voice of an angel and she wants to be on stage – so who am I to hold her back?’
‘Hmm!’ Phyllis Fox still wasn’t convinced and decided there and then that from now on, she would be keeping a very careful eye on things.
The next morning Kitty was down in the hall waiting for the postman as usual, but once again there was no letter from Sunday and after the postman had gone she trooped into the drawing room with a miserable expression on her face. Mabel found her there when she went in with a feather duster.
‘Are you all right, miss?’ Kitty had a face as long as a fiddle.
‘Yes, I’m fine thanks, Mabel. I’m just disappointed that I haven’t received a letter from home as yet, that’s all. I’m beginning to think they have forgotten me.’
‘I’m sure they haven’t, miss. But this is your home now.’
‘I suppose you’re right,’ Kitty sighed.
‘Look, I have to go out in a while to do some shopping for Cook. Why don’t you come along an’ keep me company?’ Mabel suggested kindly. ‘It won’t be very exciting but at least it will get you out of the house.’
Kitty brightened instantly. ‘I’d like that. Thank you, Mabel, but can’t you please call me Kitty? “Miss” is so formal.’
The Little Angel Page 16
