Julia buttoned on her gloves. ‘I promised Mrs Rowan that I would call into the vicarage some time to discuss the Sunday School arrangements for Easter. I know it’s months away, but she likes to plan ahead.’
‘Will you be in for lunch?’ Edward glanced through the open dining-room door. Mrs Williams had picked up the tureen, which was miraculously undamaged, and was heaping the fish back into it. If the carpet was stained, he couldn’t see it.
‘We thought we’d go on from the vicarage to Pontypridd, Father. Gerald wants to see David Copperfield in the Park Cinema and I’d like to treat him and Simon.’
‘In that case, enjoy yourselves.’ As it was obvious that neither of his children wanted to remain in the house with Mabel, Edward took a sovereign from his pocket and handed it to his son. ‘You can treat your sister and Simon to lunch in the Park Hotel on me, Gerald.’
‘Thank you, Father.’
‘I’ll see you at dinner. Mrs Williams, there’s no point in laying the lunch table just for the mistress. Perhaps you could send a tray up to her room?’
‘I will, sir.’
Edward waited until Julia and Gerald left the house, before climbing the stairs.
‘If that is you, Edward, I am changing,’ Mabel called out, when he knocked her bedroom door.
Edward turned the knob. The door held fast. He set his knee beneath the lock and pushed with all his strength. The doorframe splintered at his third attempt. Brushing shards of wood from his trousers, he walked in. Mabel leapt to her feet from the chaise longue, where she had been lying, reading a copy of Woman’s Weekly. She tugged the neck of the robe she had changed into high around her throat, and tightened the belt.
‘How dare you break in on me when I am resting in the privacy of my room!’
He pushed the door behind him. ‘How dare you assault the staff in my house!’
‘The girl was clumsy –’
‘The girl was serving me and it was an accident.’
‘What is the point of me working hard to refurbish your house when the servants ruin my new carpets?’
‘Mrs Williams was cleaning the carpet when I left and it didn’t look ruined to me.’
‘It wouldn’t. Men never see dirt, even when it’s staring them in the face. I am mistress of this house –’
‘You won’t be mistress of anything if you slap any of the staff like that again, Mabel. You weren’t even aware that you were holding a knife. You could have killed Rhian.’
‘Rubbish!’ The chill expression in his eyes unnerved her. ‘You will be late for the office.’
‘I think it more important that I deal with this situation. I told Mrs Williams you are unwell, and I have asked the servants not to mention what happened outside of this house.’
‘Really, Edward, so much fuss for a slap the girl deserved.’
‘Mrs Williams told me that she won’t allow any of the maids to remain alone in a room with you.’
‘And you agreed? You’d take her side –’
‘This is not a question of sides but common decency. Did you ever hit any of your maids at your father’s vicarage?’ he demanded sternly. He’d regretted marrying Mabel on their wedding night, but it was only now that he was beginning to understand just what an act she’d put on when they’d met, and how little he really knew her.
‘Father says they need to be chastised, like children.’
‘Not in this house. Do I make myself clear? Do I?’ he reiterated.
‘You would allow that girl to go unpunished?’
‘I have never punished anyone for an accident and I’m not about to start now. Stay here until Mrs Williams comes up. When she does, you will apologize not only to Rhian but also to her.’
‘I will do no such thing,’ she retorted warmly.
‘Then you will leave this house.’ He spoke quietly but there was no mistaking his resolve.
‘As your wife I am entitled to your respect.’
‘Respect has to be earned, Mabel, and you have done nothing whatsoever to earn it from the servants, the children, or,’ he paused for the import of his words to sink in, ‘me. Frankly, even before your appalling behaviour this morning, I was sorry I met you, let alone married you. Now, I can only wonder at my insanity in ever allowing you near me.’
‘You promise you will tell us all about the show when you get back, Rhian?’ Bronwen pleaded.
‘I promise. But I don’t doubt that it will be the same show that you and Cook saw last Thursday afternoon,’ Rhian answered.
‘If it’s any different, I’ll get Ianto to take me again this Thursday. He’s on mornings in the pit this week. But then I might do that anyway. He hasn’t seen it and it will give me an excuse to go again; it was really good.’
Rhian went to the window. It was a Tuesday morning in early April, over three months since she had spent her first day off with Joey. The sun was shining, the few clouds in the sky wispy and white, but the trees that bordered the garden were dipping and swaying alarmingly in the wind.
‘If you’re checking the weather, Rhian, I can tell you now, it’s bitter out there.’ Mrs Williams waved to the milkman, closed the kitchen door and dropped his account book into the dresser drawer where she kept the tradesmen’s records. ‘Williams the milk was just saying it’s a north wind that’s blowing, making it colder out there than it was last month.’
‘But it looks as though it’s going to be dry.’ Rhian refused to let the temperature spoil the day ahead that she and Joey had planned.
‘It does,’ Mrs Williams agreed. ‘But it’s also going to be freezing in the Malsters’ Field in Pontypridd. So don’t go thinking that you can dress for spring. That blouse is far too thin.’
‘Not with this jacket, Mrs Williams.’ Rhian slipped the cardigan of her knitted suit over the cream blouse Sali had given her.
‘I suppose not, provided you wear your winter coat and muffler on top.’
‘I intend to, Mrs Williams.’
‘You going to call in on Mrs Evans?’
‘We are.’ Rhian smiled.
Mrs Williams thrust a package at her. ‘Something small I made for the new arrival, I only hope it still fits her. I never knit a stitch until after the birth for fear of tempting fate and the way the mistress has been lately it’s taken me two weeks to finish it.’
‘Whatever it is, I’m sure Sali and baby Edyth will love it.’ Rhian smiled.
‘I wish I was going to Broncho Bill’s Great Wild West Exhibition,’ Mair sighed enviously.
‘Isn’t your mam taking you tomorrow?’ Mrs Williams poured herself and Mair second cups of tea.
‘She is, but it won’t be like going today. Just think, real-life Cowboys and Indians, in Ponty, like in the pictures.’
‘Not like in the pictures, Mair, because they are real. You wait until you see the Indians, Rhian, and the attack on the Deadwood Coach, and there’s an Indian girl who’s the best woman shot in the West-’
‘Let the poor girl see them for herself, Cook,’ Mrs Williams admonished.
Rhian wrapped a white mohair muffler around her throat and pulled on the beret and gloves she’d knitted to match it.
‘You did a good job on that accessory set, Rhian. You couldn’t have bought better in any shop in Cardiff.’ Mrs Williams sniffed loudly and Rhian sensed she was about to make one of her disparaging remarks about Joey. ‘I suppose you’re going with –’
‘Joey Evans, Mrs Williams, yes.’ Rhian unclipped her handbag and slipped the package the housekeeper had given her into it.
‘Well, I give him this much, if he has been out with any other girls since he’s been walking out with you, he’s kept them well hidden these last thirteen weeks. But that’s not to say they don’t exist, mind.’
‘We are just friends, Mrs Williams.’
‘So you keep saying.’
Rhian went cold at the thought of Joey paying court to another girl. She saw the housekeeper watching her, and repeated, ‘We really are just frien
ds, Mrs Williams.’
‘You may think so, my girl, but I don’t believe for one minute that friendship is all that boy has on his mind. Has he ever talked to you about his intentions?’
‘Friends don’t have intentions. They go out together and have a good time.’
‘Speak of the devil and he appears.’ Mrs Williams shouted, ‘Come in,’ at the door.
Joey removed his trilby and smiled. ‘Good morning, Mrs Williams, Bronwen, Meriel, Mair.’
‘Is it a good morning, Joey Evans? I hadn’t noticed,’ Mrs Williams replied flatly.
‘It’s beautiful, Mrs Williams. Cold, crisp and clear.’
‘Never mind the weather, just you take good care of Rhian.’ The housekeeper picked a thread of lint from Rhian’s coat. ‘You’ll be in by ten.’
‘I’ll have her safely back by then, Mrs Williams.’
‘See that you do. Have a good time, Rhian, and make sure he behaves himself.’ The housekeeper closed the door behind them.
‘Rhian’s so lucky.’ Mair gave another of her theatrical sighs. ‘Beautiful clothes, a handsome boyfriend who looks like a matinee idol –’
‘The first lesson every young girl should learn is “handsome is as handsome does,”’ Mrs Williams interrupted briskly. ‘And Joey Evans has a long way to go before he’ll convince me that he’s changed his wandering ways. Now if we’re going to get the upstairs breakfast served on time, we have to get our skates on. Mair, clear this table; Bronwen, lay the table in the breakfast room. I’ll check the menu with Cook and set up the trays.’
‘I think Mrs Williams is actually beginning to like me.’ Joey took Rhian’s hand and nestled it in the crook of his arm as they walked down the drive of Llan House.
‘I don’t know how you can say that. She’s downright rude to you.’
‘It’s not what she says; it’s the way she says it. I can tell that underneath it all, she’s fond of me.’ He pulled two tickets from his inside pocket and waved them under her nose. ‘The best seats, undercover …’
‘Bronwen said all the seats are undercover. They’ve put up the most enormous marquee that seats ten thousand people.’
‘Some seats are more undercover than others,’ he continued unabashed. ‘The most expensive have the best view of both rings. And these are the most expensive and comfortable. The man at the box office promised me that we’d get cushions.’
‘I hope we also get space. Bronwen said the tent was packed so full when she went with Meriel they had difficulty drawing breath.’
‘I’m surprised anyone can draw breath around Cook, given the size of her. She probably swallows all the available oxygen for miles around.’
‘That is cruel. She can’t help her size.’
‘She doesn’t overeat?’ Joey asked in surprise.
‘No more than the rest of us.’ Furious with Joey, Rhian wasn’t prepared to let the matter drop. ‘Looks aren’t everything, Joey. You might be handsome but as Mrs Williams says –’
‘Handsome is as handsome does,’ he chanted in a bored tone. ‘I wish I had a penny for every time she has said that about me. And I can’t help the way I look any more than Cook can.’
‘No, but –’
‘What?’ He stopped walking and stood in front of her.
‘You could try to be nicer.’ As always, whenever he looked her directly in the eye, she became flustered.
‘I thought I was always nice to you,’ he said softly.
‘Well, you’re not,’ she countered.
‘Tell me how I can be nicer?’
‘By walking me to the station in time to buy chocolates for the children, and catch the early train so we can visit Sali before the show.’
‘We said we’d have lunch with Sali, not breakfast.’ Despite his protest he stepped back and offered her his arm again.
‘I’d like to spend some time with Bella and Edyth.’
‘The doting aunt.’
‘And why not?’ she retorted in indignation.
‘I spoke as the doting uncle. What is the matter with you? I thought we’d planned the perfect day out and you’re spitting pins and needles.’
‘Nothing’s the matter with me,’ she retorted unconvincingly.
‘Mrs Williams been having a go at you about me again?’
‘No more than usual.’
‘Perhaps she’ll leave off after today.’
She didn’t ask him to explain his remark because she guessed what he meant. But she had absolutely no idea how she would react when he brought the subject up again.
Rhian refused Joey’s offer to hire a cab when they arrived in Pontypridd and insisted on walking to Ynysangharad House. When they left the top end of Taff Street, she stepped off Victoria Bridge, which carried traffic over the River Taff, and climbed the steep steps of the Old Bridge alongside it. A crowd of small boys in ragged clothes were leaning precariously over the edge of the stone parapet, trying to see the animals tethered at the back of the enormous marquee that almost filled the Malsters’ Field.
‘… My granddad saw Buffalo Bill’s show in Cardiff when he was young and he said they had real buffaloes. They were ‘normous.’ One of the urchins sketched an outline in the air to indicate just how enormous a buffalo was.
‘I doubt there are any buffaloes in Broncho Bill’s show.’ Joey pulled the boy back from the edge before he plunged into the river fifty feet below. ‘If there were, the Observer would have printed pictures of them. And they only mentioned horses.’
‘I know there aren’t any,’ one boy smaller and thinner than the rest said authoritatively. ‘But there is a band, Prairie Bob’s Great Cowboy Band. They’re real cowboys, with guns and hats and everything. I saw them and heard them play.’ He held out his hand. ‘Give us sixpence, mister, and I’ll show you a place where you can crawl under the tent and see the show for free.’
Joey looked at Rhian. ‘What do you say? Shall we crawl under the tent and see the show for free?’
‘Most certainly not. You’ll be sorry if a policeman catches you. You’ll get half a dozen strokes of the birch,’ she lectured the boy.
‘Thanks for the offer, son, but it would spoil the lady’s dress. But here you go.’ Joey opened the tin of toffees he had bought for Bella and Harry and handed each of the boys a sweet.
‘You do realize that you’ve just rewarded criminal behaviour,’ Rhian informed him when they reached the other side of the river.
‘My brothers and I did a lot worse than sneak under a circus tent to see a show for free when we were kids.’
‘Lloyd and Victor criminals? I don’t believe it.’
‘Thank you. From that comment I take it that you think I’m capable of worse than them. But believe you me, my brothers weren’t always the upright citizens they are now. Shall we walk up to the house alongside the canal? I know it’s cold but the primroses might be out and we can pick a bunch for Sali if they are.’
‘All right.’ She tried to sound casual. The canal walk to the house was longer, prettier – and more secluded than the main drive.
He took her hand when they left Bridge Street. ‘It’s times like this I realize just how little fresh air there is in Tonypandy, especially in the store, and most especially between the perfume and shoe and luggage departments. Between the smell of leather and the scents of violet, gardenia and attar of roses it’s a wonder I can breathe.’
‘Perhaps you should move the departments further apart.’
‘That, madam, would make for too much work.’ He dropped her hand, picked up a stone and tossed it into the narrow canal.
‘If everyone did that, there’d soon be no canal for the barges to float on.’
‘One stone – and it’s probably already sunk deep into the mud.’
‘It’s one stone more than was there a minute ago,’ she said with mock gravity. ‘If the canal fills up, everyone will know who to blame.’
He picked up another stone and pressed it into her hand. ‘Go on, try it. It�
��s fun. I promise not to tell if you don’t.’
‘You just want to make me as guilty as you are.’
‘Of course.’
‘I refuse.’ She dropped the stone on to the path.
‘Have you ever thought how one tiny instant can change your whole life?’
‘Like throwing one small stone?’
He brushed his gloves together to rid them of the dirt he’d picked up, opened his coat and took a small box from his inside pocket. She looked from the box into his face and froze. She sensed what he was about to say and she was terrified. All she wanted was for things to remain as they were, but she knew that nothing she could say would stop him. Not now. But that didn’t prevent her from trying.
‘Please, don’t, Joey!’ She didn’t hear herself speak and she knew her plea had remained unspoken.
‘You changed my life that day we escaped the sales and went into the tea shop. I knew I loved you before then, but that morning I realized that I didn’t want to live without you. I hope you’ll accept this, even though it’s everything a lady should reject,’ he warned with mock gravity. ‘It’s too valuable to be a token. And it’s not something that you can use and discard like perfume, sweets, chocolates or a handkerchief.’ He opened the box and she stared, mesmerized by the ring nestling on its bed of worn black velvet.
‘I know it’s old-fashioned but it was my mother’s. And that’s why I hope you’d like and wear it.’
‘I couldn’t possibly accept a family heirloom from you. What would your father and brothers say?’ She gasped, finally finding her voice.
‘My father gave it to me, just as he gave Lloyd my mother’s wedding band for Sali and her engagement ring to Victor for Megan. This was my mother’s regard ring. He bought it for her when they started courting. Apparently they were all the rage thirty odd years ago and they were called regard rings because the stones spell out the word “regard”.’ He pointed to the gems set in a simple gold band. ‘Ruby, emerald, garnet, amethyst, another ruby and finally a small but real diamond. Most of my father’s friends gave their girlfriends paste rings set with glass, but he said that he knew my mother was the only girl for him from the moment he set eyes on her, so he bought her the real thing. She deserved it, and’, he dropped the mocking note from his voice, ‘so do you.’
Sinners and Shadows Page 6
