A Great Beauty

by A. O'Connor

  After dinner, out came the accordions and fiddle and the dancing started.

  “I’d say whoever designed and built this drawing room, they never thought it would witness a céilí!” said Kitty as Michael swung her around to the music.

  “Ah, it’s great to have you here, Kitty,” he said. “I can hardly believe it.”

  The party went on until the early hours of the morning and they all went to bed at four, exhausted.

  The next morning, Kitty got up late. She knocked on Maud’s door but, realising she was still asleep, she made her way downstairs.

  The scene on the ground floor was very different from the previous night. All signs of the party had disappeared. The men were all gone and only the girls were there, busy typing away on the typewriters on the dining-room table.

  “How’s the head this morning?” asked Kathleen, smiling at her.

  “Not as bad as Maud’s, I’ll bet!”

  “Come on down to the kitchen and I’ll get you some breakfast,” Kathleen said, getting up and beckoning to Kitty.

  “Where’s Mick?” asked Kitty as they left the room.

  “Oh, sure, he was up at the crack of dawn. He was out the door at seven thirty to make eight o’clock Mass at the Brompton Oratory – he goes there most mornings.” They entered the kitchen. “Bacon, eggs, sausages?”

  “Yes, please,” said Kitty, sitting at the huge kitchen table. “Can I help?”

  “No, not at all – I’m well used to cooking in this kitchen by this stage.”

  Kitty watched as Kathleen busied herself at the stove with the frying pan.

  “What time will Mick be back?” she asked then.

  “Probably not till this evening, Kitty. He usually meets Lady Lavery at Mass and has breakfast with her before she drives him directly to Downing Street for the negotiations.”

  “Oh – I see,” said Kitty, digesting the information.

  “Don’t worry – you won’t be bored!” smiled Kathleen. “Mick has left instructions and money and I am to take you and Maud out shopping for the day and buy you whatever dresses you want – he even said I was to buy myself one while I was at it!”

  “That would be Mick. He has a big heart,” said Kitty.

  “Ah, the biggest!” said Kathleen. “Kitty, I’m so glad to have met you at last. I’ve been posting letters to ‘Miss Kitty Kieran, The Greville Arms Hotel’ nearly every day since we arrived here! I was dying to know what you were like! Easily known Mick would get only the best!”

  Kitty felt overcome by her kind words and that somebody actually knew or had realised that she and Mick were in a serious relationship and that it wasn’t some guilty secret.

  “Thank you, Kathleen,” she whispered.

  “It’s all a bit daunting over here, but don’t let it worry you too much. And don’t worry about any of those Englishwomen who are swarming around Mick – take it from me, he only has eyes for you!”

  As Kitty sat there, she knew Kathleen’s words were meant to comfort her, but her last reassurance had only confused her.

  CHAPTER 48

  Kitty and Maud had spent a whirlwind of a day in the West End as Kathleen showed them around.

  “I feel there isn’t a shop left in the city we haven’t gone to!” said Maud as the three women walked down Regent Street carrying many shopping bags.

  “I don’t know how you spend every day over here, Kathleen, without running out to look at the latest fashions!” said Kitty.

  “Today’s a treat for me, girls – usually all I get to see is my typewriter!” said Kathleen. “We’d better get back to Cadogan Gardens now as Mick is taking both of you out for dinner tonight and we don’t want to keep him waiting.”

  “Mick will wait until we’re ready!” said Kitty with a wink at Maud.

  As they headed down Piccadilly Circus, Kathleen was intrigued by the two young women, particularly Kitty. They were obviously from an affluent background, were well educated and very glamorous. After their initial intimidation at being in a city which was so big and so unlike their small town, they took to the place like ducks to water. They seemed to have plenty of money to spend and London suited people like that very well! But Kathleen knew that Maud was engaged to Gearóid O’Sullivan and that things were very serious between Kitty and Michael. And this perplexed her because neither of the women had mentioned the treaty or politics for the whole day. As it was all anyone spoke about at Cadogan Gardens, it was strange to encounter two people who didn’t have the same level of obsession as everyone else. Kathleen wondered if the girls were just being discreet, but she strongly suspected that was not the case. What perplexed her was how a relationship with someone like Michael, who lived and breathed politics, would work out for someone like Kitty who clearly did not.

  That evening, Kitty spent a couple of hours getting ready. She was wearing a dress and hat that she had bought that day and she checked her appearance in the mirror for the hundredth time. There was a knock on the door and Maud walked in.

  “Will you come on, Kitty! Mick says they won’t hold the reservation for us at the restaurant if we’re too late!”

  “Ah, I’m sure they’d hold it for the great Michael Collins!” said Kitty, turning from the mirror and facing Maud. “How do I look?”

  “You look gorgeous, Kitty. He’s a lucky man – now, will you come on!”

  Maud grabbed Kitty by the hand and dragged her out of the room. The two women giggled as they made their way down to the hall where Michael was pacing up and down, looking at his watch.

  Hearing the giggling, Michael turned around. “Will you come on!”

  He stopped short when he saw the two women on the bottom step.

  “Well, don’t you look beautiful!” he said as he stared at them.

  “You’re not too bad yourself!” said Kitty, admiring the suit he was wearing – no doubt chosen by Hazel Lavery on Savile Row.

  “Are we worth the wait?” asked Kitty as she posed with her hand behind her head.

  “You are – and longer!” he said.

  As the girls put on their coats, Kathleen and the others came into the hall to see them off.

  “Paint the town red, Mick!” called one of them as Mick offered an arm to each sister and proudly walked them out the front door.

  Once they were out in the cool evening air, reality hit Kitty when the newspaper men came rushing to them. She hid her face as they hurried to the automobile parked outside where Emmet and Joe were waiting.

  “Who are these women, Mick?” shouted a newspaper man. “Are they your sisters?”

  “Girlfriends?” shouted another.

  “How can you live under this scrutiny?” demanded Kitty as they drove away, stressed by the attention which she had only experienced for one day.

  “Sure, didn’t I live under far worse conditions when I was being hunted day and night by the police and army?” said Michael. “What’s a few newspapermen compared to that?”

  Kitty nodded but wondered if that was bravado. Michael was a naturally shy person and, in a way, living on the run with nobody knowing what he looked like suited his personality. Being here in London, exposed every day, must be torture for him she imagined.

  Emmet pulled the automobile up outside a swanky restaurant in Knightsbridge, got out and opened the back door.

  “Thank you, Jeeves!” said Kitty in a fake upper-class accent as he helped her out of the vehicle.

  “You are welcome, my lady!” he said, winking at her.

  They made their way up the steps of the restaurant.

  “Your people are a lovely bunch!” Kitty said.

  “I knew they’d all love you!” said Michael.

  “Sure, what’s not to love?” she said, doing a small twirl as they entered the restaurant.

  The staff took their coats, then the manager led them into the restaurant.

  The restaurant was very ornate, with gold-framed mirrors on the walls and a decorated ceiling. As they walked through it, Kit
ty became aware that people were looking at them. Then the diners started whispering and talking as a ripple of excitement ran though the room. She felt very uncomfortable as they reached their table.

  One of the waiters pulled a chair out for her. She sat down and glanced around at the staring and talking faces.

  “What is wrong with them all?” Kitty hissed to Michael.

  “They’re fine, just ignore them – you’ll get used to it after a while,” he said as he took a menu from another waiter.

  “I could never get used to this!” snapped Kitty.

  “Pretend they’re not there!” urged Maud.

  “Sure!” said Kitty sarcastically as she looked at a matronly woman who had taken out her opera glasses and was looking at her directly through them.

  “Could they not have put us in a more private place, somewhere in a corner out of public view?” asked Kitty.

  “I’ll ask them to move us,” said Michael, standing up.

  “No!” snapped Kitty, catching his arm and pulling him back down on his chair. “It will only make it worse if we move at this stage!”

  She began to try and concentrate on the menu the waiter had given her.

  “So, I turned to Churchill and I said ‘Will you stop beating around the bush and tell me what’s on your mind?’!” said Michael as they started on a dessert of ice cream and cake.

  “What did he say?” asked Maud.

  “Churchill looked at me and said, ‘Young man, you should learn some manners and patience!’ And I said to him, ‘I’ll show you manners if you show me patience!’”

  Maud burst out laughing.

  Kitty bit her lower lip. The whole evening had passed mainly talking about the treaty. They had barely discussed home or anything else – even Maud and Gearóid’s forthcoming wedding didn’t get a look in. And all the time they were being rudely stared at by fellow diners.

  “Then Lloyd George turns to me and says –”

  “For goodness’ sake, Mick, will you give it a rest!” snapped Kitty.

  “Kitty!” cried Maud.

  “Give what a rest?” asked Michael, shocked by her outburst.

  “Lloyd George, Churchill, Birkenhead, and Lord and Lady Lavery! I’m sick of hearing about them all and I’ve only just arrived in this bloody city!”

  He looked at her, not sure how to respond.

  Suddenly an elderly man came up to the table.

  “Excuse me – you are him, are you not? You are Michael Collins?” he asked.

  Michael responded, “Yes, yes, I am.”

  The man’s expression suddenly turned to cold anger. “I just want to tell you that if I were twenty years younger I would challenge you to a duel! You murderous scoundrel! I could hardly finish my venison knowing you were in the same room!”

  With that, he turned and marched away.

  The manager came rushing over. “I am so sorry, Mr. Collins! I cannot apologise enough for that!”

  “It’s fine, it’s not your fault,” said Michael.

  “Let’s just go, Mick! Let’s get the bill and get out of here!” Kitty pleaded to him in a whisper.

  “The bill, please,” said Michael to the manager.

  “Of course, Mr. Collins,” he said and he rushed away.

  They sat mostly in silence on the drive to Cadogan Gardens, with only Maud trying to lighten the mood by occasionally speaking.

  Late though it was, there was one journalist still outside the house.

  “Lord save us!” said Kitty as she passed him on the way to the front door. “Would you not get yourself home out of the cold and into a warm bed!”

  “Can’t, miss. My editor says I have to stay here for the whole night in case I miss anything.”

  “The only thing you’ll miss tonight is a good night’s sleep in a bed!” said Kitty as she went in the front door.

  The others were still up partying in the drawing room.

  Kitty walked straight across to the stairs.

  “Kitty! Where are you going?” asked Michael.

  “To bed, Mick – I’m very tired. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  He watched her walk up the stairs.

  Maud shrugged. “She’s exhausted, Mick. And I think all this is a bit too much for her. She wasn’t expecting it to be as invasive and all-consuming as it is,” she said, before she turned and went into the drawing room to join the party.

  “Are you alright, Mick? How was the restaurant?” asked Kathleen, coming up from the kitchen.

  “Bit of a disaster … no privacy,” sighed Michael. “Do me a favour, Kathleen. There’s some poor sod who’s been told he has to stay outside the house for the night by his editor. Will you bring him out some hot tea and something to eat?”

  “I will, surely, Mick. And why don’t you get yourself off to bed – you look as if you could do with an early night, for once.”

  He nodded and, sighing, climbed the stairs to his room.

  CHAPTER 49

  Kitty slept well that night. She fell into a deep slumber as soon as her head hit the pillow.

  The next morning, she got up late. As she thought about the previous night, she didn’t know how to deal with Michael that day. Should she apologise or should she be angry? Her overriding emotion since she had arrived in London was disappointment.

  She felt they were all living under tremendous pressure. There were always policemen outside and often newspaper men. She saw that Michael’s bodyguards had guns on them at all times. Mixed with this was the terrible pressure everyone was under to bring back a treaty and peace to Ireland. Kitty felt sometimes you could cut the atmosphere with a knife.

  There was a gentle knock on her door.

  “Come in!” she called, and Michael came into the room looking sheepish.

  “Did you sleep well?” he asked.

  “I did actually,” she answered.

  “I was wondering if the two of us could go off today – just the two of us – and spend some time together?”

  “Do you not have to meet Lloyd George and the rest of them?”

  “It’s Saturday – we have no meeting scheduled for today.”

  She sighed. “But where could we go without being disturbed by some stranger? We can’t even leave the house without a journalist being there or people staring.”

  “We can leave the back way – there will be no journalists there. Make our way through the back alleys … I’ve often done it, if I need to go for a walk alone. We’ll make our way to a pub I know. There’s just a few old fellas drinking there, they won’t even spot us.”

  She managed to smile and nod.

  “I shouldn’t have come to London,” she said as they sat in a quiet corner of the pub.

  They had slipped out the back of the house undetected. And the pub was in a quiet corner of Chelsea.

  “Of course you were right to come!” he protested.

  “No, Mick! You’re too busy with affairs of state to be entertaining me. I never realised you were living under such pressure here.”

  “But I wrote to you ever day saying what it was like!”

  “But seeing is believing! And there’s something else, Mick – you’re enjoying it! You are enjoying all this attention and pageantry and that’s the biggest shock to me!”

  “I am not enjoying it! I never wanted to come here – I was forced to come,” he said.

  “But you’ve settled into this role so well,” she said, “more than I could ever have imagined.”

  “I’ve had to adapt to survive. I had to! I’m representing Ireland and I have to put my best foot forward.”

  “I just – I just don’t know where it leaves us,” she said.

  “Leaves us? It leaves us where we were – unchanged.”

  “But is there room for me in this new life of yours?”

  “You’re my fiancée. You’re going to be my wife, for fuck’s sake!”

  “I don’t feel like your fiancée over here.” She looked down at her fingers as she spoke
. “Nobody knows we are engaged. I feel like a nobody, or a floozie who just dropped by.”

  He couldn’t help from laughing as he reached over and took her hands in his.

  “You know we decided the time wasn’t right to announce the engagement, not until the treaty is done and I’m back in Ireland … and there’s Harry to consider. We have to tell him in person and he won’t be back till Christmas – but that’s not that long away.”

  “I know,” she whispered, suddenly feeling as if everything was right and safe as he held her hands. “I’ve missed you, Mick. I’ve missed you so much. I love you very much.”

  He blinked a few times as Kitty was never somebody who wore her heart on her sleeve. She was much more prone to show her feelings through a joke or a well-placed putdown than an open display of emotion.

  “And sure, you’re my world, Kitty. Don’t you know that?”

  “I hope I am. I just don’t know if I can compete with all these new people in your life.”

  “But there’s no competition. You’ve already won the race,” he said as he pulled her close.

  They spent the rest of the day in the pub and, as evening came, they left and went to a small quiet hotel and had dinner there.

  As they talked for hours, Kitty felt as close as she could be to Michael. Politics were left aside as they spoke about each other and plans for the future. As the night drew in, they still sat at the table in the hotel restaurant which was empty by then.

  “I guess we’d better make a move back to Cadogan Gardens,” he said eventually.

  “I don’t want to go back there, Mick, not tonight,” she said.

  “Not go back?”

  “No. There will just be another party there and more shouting and laughing and dancing … I just want to be with you … let’s stay here …”

  “But they’ll be closing up soon,” he said, looking around at the empty restaurant.