It was spring, the sycamores on the pavements were coming into leaf. Alec Murgatroyd now professed an interest in religion, and took to rising early once or twice a week to attend communion at St John’s with Bella. Once back, he would help her prepare breakfast and carry up the trays to the dining room. Bella began to look considerably happier. Elizabeth, too, cast off some of her grief for her father. Her back straightened. She smiled more often. Her schoolwork improved. She received a glowing end-of-term report at Easter. Frannie and Cora’s reports were much less satisfactory.
Harriet and Robert were not slow to recognise the change in the household, or who had caused it. They quickly became anxious about the possible consequences. A trip to the sea had been planned for themselves and Frannie and Cora, on the grounds that the girls, who had just got over bad colds, needed a short period of recuperation and that Robert was badly in need of a rest.
‘If we leave Murgatroyd and Bella together in this house for a week…’ speculated Harriet, brushing her hair in front of the glass in the bedroom one evening.
‘You can’t be suggesting…’ said Robert. He was already in bed.
‘I am suggesting,’ his wife said firmly.
Robert responded, though without conviction, ‘Henry has been dead only a year. And Murgatroyd is my clerk. And from a very humble background, I might say. It can’t be true.’
‘Stranger things have happened,’ said his wife, beginning to plait her hair. ‘Much stranger.’
Robert knew it. He said, ‘So you’re telling me that while we’re away, the relationship between Bella and Murgatroyd might strengthen.’
‘Let’s not beat about the bush. I’m telling you that he might seize the chance to pop the question,’ Harriet told her husband. Plait finished, she turned to face him. ‘Robert – don’t pretend you haven’t seen the signs.’
He sighed. ‘What to do?’
‘That’s what I’m asking.’
‘Cancel the holiday?’
His wife nodded.
‘And get rid of Murgatroyd. Is that what you want?’
‘Yes. It’s the only way.’
The holiday was cancelled, and for the next week, Harriet stood guard over Alec and Bella as much as she could. But there was no way of preventing two people living in the same house from ever meeting, or of stopping them from attending church together. It became plainer and plainer that Alec adored the pretty widow, while Bella respected his practical abilities – to draw up accounts, for example, or, on one occasion, relight the temperamental kitchen range, which had gone out just before breakfast.
Robert Warren looked grave as Bella recounted this feat over breakfast – which was late – and rustled his newspaper threateningly. He realised he must get rid of Alec Murgatroyd, but wondered if even that would achieve his ends. He faced the horrid possibility that the threat of losing his lodgings and his employment might make no difference to Alec. It suddenly seemed feasible that Alec might indeed marry Bella. He could get another job and keep himself, wife and stepdaughter, and it would not be too long before he investigated the family finances, discovering, among other things, that the house at Linden Grove belonged to the widow and not her brother. Robert’s businesses were doing well, but he needed money to expand. To have to pay for his family’s accommodation would upset his plans. He spoke seriously to his wife that night.
Next morning, after Robert and Alec had gone to the office, Harriet asked Bella to sit down in the drawing room. She was blunt. ‘Bella, I believe that young man is taking an interest in you. I hope you’re not giving him any encouragement.’
‘What do you mean, Harriet?’ asked Bella, apparently bewildered.
Her sister-in-law looked at her. Did Bella really not know what she meant? Was she a hypocrite or a simpleton? Or was it just that her parents had succeeded in bringing up the perfect young lady, a woman with absolutely no ideas, desires, thoughts or opinions of her own, always content to be ruled by others? Even after marriage and motherhood, Harriet reflected, Bella was still more like a biddable child. Harriet decided that her best tactic was to exploit this innocence and gullibility. She adopted a more placatory tone. ‘I mean, my dear,’ she said, ‘that it would seem to me, and to your brother also, because I have spoken to Robert about this and he is also most concerned, that in your naïveté you may be encouraging feelings in young Mr Murgatroyd which I’m sure you don’t mean to.’
‘He is – very kind,’ Bella said.
‘Indeed he is,’ Harriet told her. ‘But – here is the problem. What seems to you like the natural association of two people living in the same household may be something deeper on his side. And I’m sure you agree that however accidentally these feelings have arisen, the whole thing is most unsuitable – you so recently widowed, he a man of a much lower class than yourself, and younger. You do see, Bella, don’t you, that anything like this can be seen as disrespectful to poor Henry’s memory and could give rise to all kinds of unpleasant talk, directed not just at you but all of us. And there is Elizabeth to consider, too.’
Bella looked uncomfortable, and said, hesitandy, ‘But – but I’m sure you’re reading far too much into all this, Harriet. I have no feelings for Mr Murgatroyd other than friendship.’ She cast down her eyes and added, ‘And if I believed he felt more for me than he should, I would be anxious.’
Harriet said earnestly, ‘Bella, he does feel more, I’m sure of it. Please, for your own sake, and the sake of Elizabeth, draw back. If you’ll not listen to me, I’m afraid I shall have to ask Robert to speak to you.’
Bella sniffed and replied, ‘I feel quite upset, Harriet, that you should suggest I am conducting myself wrongly – and to use poor Henry’s name in this manner – I…’ She stumbled. ‘Well, I feel upset.’
‘It’s for your own good,’ Harriet told her, roughly. ‘Don’t be a goose, Bella,’ she ended, and left the room in a huff, wounding Bella’s feelings even more.
Harriet was depending on Bella’s reliance on the firm opinion of others. She had always done what she was told. But this time, although Bella sat and puzzled for a quarter of an hour before she had to go shopping for the evening meal, nothing of Harriet’s words made any sense to her. At tea-time she said to Harriet, ‘I do think you might be under a misapprehension about Mr Murgatroyd, Harriet.’ And Harriet, fearful of making Bella grow obstinate, said nothing.
That night harsh words were exchanged between Robert and Harriet in their bedroom. Robert said, ‘We’ve cancelled our visit to the seaside, and your talk to Bella has done no good. They were playing cards tonight and laughing together. Now I’ll have to sack him, there’s no alternative. This is a nuisance. He’s an able clerk, and it’ll take months to train another. And we lose a paying guest used to our ways, all at the same time. Bella’s a goose, and he’s another.’
‘Very well, Robert, dismiss him,’ Harriet said. ‘But do it soon.’
‘I suppose so,’ he said reluctantly. ‘But I’m shocked you haven’t more influence over my sister.’
‘Then you try it,’ snapped Harriet. ‘And see how far you get.’
‘What a business, what a business,’ groaned Robert. ‘All right, I’ll try.’ He shut his eyes firmly and feigned instant sleep.
He did not have time, for the next day, after communion at St John’s, Alec Murgatroyd urged Bella Armitage to sit beside him on the bench outside the church and, as a bread van slowly clopped past them down Linden Grove, proposed marriage to her.
He had little to offer, he said, and, for all he knew, for he came from humble surroundings, she might look on him with disfavour. Then, a little more firmly, he added that he had learned to love and respect her, and was fond of Elizabeth, and his greatest desire was to marry her and provide a home for her and her daughter. It was very soon after Bella’s husband’s death, he knew, but could he even hope that one day she would be his wife, he would be the happiest man alive.
Bella’s first emotion was one of fear. Wasn’t this precise
ly what Harriet had been so angry about? What would she say now? And yet – Bella liked Alec. She found him kind and supportive, and her life had improved since he had moved in to Linden Grove. As she sat on the bench she was forced to admit that if Alec went away, she would feel very desolate. Her head down, she murmured, ‘This is such a surprise.’
He took her hand. ‘I very much want you to be my wife. May I speak of it to your brother?’
Bella grasped the suggestion with relief, understanding that men were supposed to talk to men and decide matters between them. ‘That would be best,’ she said in a low voice.
‘He may not be pleased,’ warned Alec.
‘Oh – perhaps – but surely he cannot…’
‘May I hope that you are considering what I’ve said, that you are not completely against the idea of marriage? I should be consoled if I could think I had some chance.’
‘I must think,’ Bella said in confusion. ‘And perhaps, if you were to speak to Robert – Mr Warren…’
Breakfast was silent. Elizabeth gazed from face to face as they all ate their porridge at the dining-room table. Bella was chasing the food round her plate, not concentrating at all on eating. Alec Murgatroyd, in his black suit and stiff collar, managed to drop a spoonful of porridge on his trouser knee. He went off with some relief to clean the spot. Robert coughed, remarking, ‘Careless eating habits our friend Murgatroyd has.’ Frannie tittered, then began a dispute with Cora about Cora’s friend Amelia, claiming that Amelia did not really like Cora and that Cora only retained Amelia’s friendship by giving her sweets. This Cora denied loudly, and was told by Harriet Warren to ‘Be quiet, Cora, or you must leave the table.’ This silenced the astonished girl, unused to being snapped at by her mother. Harriet was beginning to fear that, with alarming speed, matters between her sister-in-law and Alec Murgatroyd had progressed in exactly the direction she did not want. Could it be possible that Murgatroyd had already made some kind of an avowal? She glanced at her silent husband. His paper lay untouched by his plate. Bella looked up. She offered him a dish of kippers. ‘Will you have some, Robert?’ she asked nervously. He did not look at her.
Frannie and Cora instantly refused to partake, and asked for boiled eggs. On another occasion they might have been indulged and Bella would have gone downstairs to boil their eggs for them. This time Harriet merely said, ‘Be quiet, girls. Eat or do not eat. What’s on the table is all there is.’
Harriet’s heart sank as Alec came in. Standing in the dining-room doorway he said, ‘Mr Warren. As we have twenty minutes before we need to leave, may I speak to you privately, when you have finished your breakfast?’
Robert put down his knife and fork. ‘I have finished my breakfast,’ he announced. ‘Say what you have to say.’
‘In private,’ repeated Alec.
‘Surely we need have no secrets in this house,’ Robert declared.
Alec looked at him in perturbation. Frannie and Cora both stared, while Elizabeth’s expression was puzzled. Bella looked down at her plate, blushing to the roots of her hair. Harriet, furious, knew now that Alec had been too quick for them. He had already asked Bella to marry him. There was a moment of complete silence.
Then Alec mumbled, ‘It is a delicate matter,’ and almost before his words were out, Robert brought his fist down on the breakfast table, making crockery and cutlery bounce, and shouted, ‘Very well, Murgatroyd. In private, if you like, but let’s be quick.’ He leapt from his chair and led the way, flinging the connecting door between dining and sitting room open, and, followed by Alec, disappearing from view.
There was, at first, silence from the sitting room. Harriet sat grim and straight-backed in her chair. Bella, downcast and anxious, glanced timidly at her sister-in-law from time to time. Frannie, Cora and Elizabeth sat wide-eyed and quiet as mice.
Then the shouting began. The thick door of the room failed to muffle Robert’s voice; words and even whole sentences could be made out: ‘upstart’… ‘taking advantage of our trust’… ‘villainous conduct’.
‘Perhaps, Bella, you would like to take some of the dishes to the kitchen, to spare the maid,’ Harriet said in a low, cold voice.
‘No, Harriet. I would prefer not to,’ Bella said in a quavering voice. Then she looked down at her plate again.
‘Why is Father angry with Mr Murgatroyd?’ Cora asked in the little-girl voice which was usually considered endearing by her mother.
‘Frannie, Cora, Elizabeth – go to school,’ was all the response she got.
‘It’s too early, Mother,’ Frannie ventured.
‘Never mind. Go,’ ordered Harriet.
Robert was still shouting, Alec responding on a lower note, as the girls silently got their hats and coats from the big cloakroom in the hall.
Halfway up Linden Grove, on their way to Ferndene Hall, Cora, who was a clever judge of adult situations, tossed her head, bouncing her long, blonde plait on her back, and said, ‘He wants to marry Bella, but Father won’t let him because he’s common, and he’s only the lodger.’
‘Paying guest,’ Frannie corrected automatically.
Elizabeth stopped walking. She had known Cora to be right before. Her mother could marry somebody else, of course, now her father was dead. Alec could have asked her to be his wife. But even if he had asked, it didn’t mean her mother wanted to marry him. She hadn’t looked very pleased at breakfast; more nervous and anxious, as if something had gone wrong. And Uncle Robert was angry, because he thought Alec should not have asked her. But she supposed her mother might be happy with Alec. She had certainly cheered up since he arrived, and he would look after her, which would be good because, Elizabeth had to admit, her mother was not very adept at looking after herself. But what would it mean for her if Bella married Alec? Would they have to leave Linden Grove?
‘Come on, slow coach,’ said Frannie. ‘It’s no good thinking about it. Father won’t let Bella marry Alec’
‘Would you please call her Aunt Bella,’ Elizabeth said. ‘That’s what you’re supposed to call her. And actually, you’re allowed to marry who you like, once you’re over twenty-one. So if my mother wants to marry Alec, she can. So there. Your father doesn’t own everything, you know. He’s not the king. So there.’
‘Hoity-toity,’ Cora said. ‘If your mother got married you’d have to go away and live in a slum. So there yourself She concluded, triumphantly, ‘Alec’s poor. You’d be poor and have to go into service, and fetch coal and scrub floors and do all the laundry.’
‘I’m going home,’ declared Elizabeth and, without another word, she took to her heels and ran back along Linden Grove. Frannie called, ‘Elizabeth! You’ll get beaten.’ But Elizabeth ran on, her hair escaping from her plaits, a stocking falling down.
She arrived home to see Alec Murgatroyd, suitcase in hand, coming slowly down the steps. Robert stood at the top. He did not at first notice Elizabeth, panting from her run, one hand clutching the railings outside the house.
‘I shall dispatch the rest of your property to your parents,’ said Robert in a clear, cold voice.
Alec turned. He seemed near tears, but forced out the words. ‘Mr Warren, I hope any reference for a prospective employer will reflect my work for the firm, and won’t be connected with personal matters.’
‘Hah!’ said Robert. ‘You’ll have to see what kind of a reference I’m prepared to give a man who has so seriously abused the friendship and hospitality of an employer.’
‘You’ll ruin me,’ Alec said.
‘You should have thought of that earlier,’ replied Robert. ‘And now, if you don’t mind, I don’t want to continue this discussion of private matters in the street.’
Then his eyes turned on Elizabeth. He seemed quite stunned to see her. ‘What are you doing? Why aren’t you at school?’
Alec, too, saw her. He advanced, took her hand, said gently, ‘I have to leave. Please try to persuade your mother to see me.’
‘Will you kindly stop mauling my niece,’ Rob
ert cried. ‘Or have you decided to turn your attentions away from the mother towards the child?’
‘You are disgusting, Robert Warren,’ Alec told him. ‘You’re a filthy-minded bully. You turn your relatives into skivvies, your employees into slaves.’ He turned and walked off up Linden Grove, towards the underground station.
Robert glared after him, furiously. Then he shouted, ‘Go to school, Elizabeth.’
‘I’m ill,’ she said.’
‘Come inside then,’ he said impatiently. ‘And go straight to bed.’ As she followed him in, he said, as if to himself, ‘My God. There seems to be no end to the trouble a man can be put to in his own home. It’s not enough, not nearly enough, just to earn a living, hard enough in these times, and get a little peace at home.’ He opened the door into the sitting room. Bella was in a chair, sobbing; Harriet standing over her, speaking. Seeing Robert, she stopped. Robert told her angrily, ‘Here’s Elizabeth back, saying she’s ill. Will someone please look after her. This is a house full of women, yet all is confusion and disorder. I’m leaving for business. Harriet, I tell you, when I return I expect some decent peace and quiet in my own home and absolutely no further reference to this disgusting matter. And I don’t want to hear the name of that man ever again spoken here. Do you understand?’
‘Yes, Robert,’ she said in a low voice. He glared at Bella, then went and leaned over her. Speaking directly into her face, he said, ‘Do you understand? This is over. You’ve been a fool, an utter fool. But it’s over. I never want to hear anything again about Alec Murgatroyd. Henceforth, he no longer exists. And you can cease your constant visits to St John’s, too. It’s unhealthy and unwholesome. If time is hanging so heavily on your hands that being constantly in and out of church is all you can find to do, let me tell you, there’s plenty to do here. This house is in a deplorable condition. In future you will attend church on Sundays with the family, and that’s all. Is that understood? And,’ he said, turning round to go, ‘when I return I want this establishment back to normal – no arguments, no depressed looks, above all, no tears, red eyes and sniffing. If that’s not done,’ he concluded, turning and giving her a dreadful look, ‘then it’ll be the worse for everybody. I shall make sure of it.’ He went out, slamming the door.
Elizabeth and Lily Page 7
