‘The United States has never known a proper war, except against itself,’ stated Hannelore. ‘I do not think President Wilson would make a good commander. It is good commanders who win wars.’
‘The Americans did win against the British when they fought for their independence,’ murmured Miss Lily.
‘Too long ago.’ Hannelore’s words were precise. ‘Germany has the munitions factories. The men, the training, the culture of war that makes good officers. The English are schoolboys playing football.’ Hannelore dabbed her lips. ‘German sabres beat English footballs or Russian pitchforks every time.’
There was a silence at the table. If war comes, Hannelore and the rest of us will be on different sides, thought Sophie. ‘So you really think war between our countries is possible?’
‘Possible does not mean inevitable. War is never inevitable.’ Miss Lily’s calm voice made Sophie think of a swan again. ‘Especially not if neither side is sure of winning. Germany may have more troops, but it does not have as many ships. It’s called the balance of power. The Kaiser doesn’t wish for war, nor does our King George. They are cousins, after all.’
It was as though a blanket had been lifted from the room. Even the candles burned more brightly. Of course England at war was impossible, thought Sophie.
Miss Lily smiled. ‘The Kaiser keeps the Prussians, who are the holders of the military culture of Germany, in check. The English Liberals keep the Conservatives from mobilising more men. Every year that war doesn’t break out means it is less likely. Peace becomes a habit, like war was a habit for Prussia for too long.’
‘England worries about the Irish rebels in Ulster, and Germany worries about the Balkans. They have too much trouble on their own doorsteps to fight each other. They may compete in Africa, and in the Middle East, but not in Europe.’ Emily looked at Miss Lily for approval.
Sophie looked out the window. The snowman had melted. The grass showed green under the lingering drifts of white.
Impossible that war could come to these gentle fields. Wars were from long ago, or in other places.
Chapter 24
You can live your life for years making certain assumptions. Then suddenly you look at them, and nothing is the same.
Miss Lily, 1914
The silver coffee pot sat on the table by the fire. The cake trolley sat next to it, laden with fruitcake, cherry cake, sponge cake with jam and cream, and small madeleines with fluted tops.
It’s to make this seem normal, thought Sophie. A chat around the fireside, not a lesson in …
Miss Lily put down her plate. ‘Very well. Let us begin. In four months’ time you will all be engaged in what is called “the season”. Girls your age, in your position, have less than a year to acquire a husband and a mate who will provide them with the life they wish to lead.
‘Society likes to pretend that this season is a light-hearted affair, not one with major consequences for the girls involved. Girls are rarely trained to take best advantage of the months ahead.
‘So this is why you are all here. Each of you has decided you should have the chance to manipulate your own futures. Women have few weapons. Of these, the greatest is charm. Now I would like each of you to say what has brought you here.’
‘But it is private —’ began Emily.
‘Trust between us is, perhaps, the point.’ It was Hannelore. ‘Very well. I will tell you why I am here. The simple answer — that is the correct phrase, is it not? — the too-simple answer is that my mother’s older sister suggested this visit. Suggested carefully, with hints, since I was sixteen.’ She smiled at Sophie briefly. ‘You are thinking that I am a fairy-tale princess. Perhaps that is true, if you have ever heard any of the fairy-tales of my country.’
Hannelore looked out the window at the vanished snowman. ‘I was ten years old when a Serbian revolutionary blew up our carriage. We were driving out for a picnic by the lake. He rolled a bomb made from a wine bottle under the horses’ feet. I saw him do it. I thought it was just a game, like English skittles. Have you ever seen horses explode, Miss Higgs? I remember that, although I know I could not really have seen it, except in one moment of clarity perhaps, before my life was shredded with them. Then I didn’t think at all.’ She looked down at her hands in her lap. ‘When I woke I was in a peasant house. My mother, my father, my sister were laid out on the floor, very straight, very correct, with cushions under their heads as if they were alive. I think the peasants must have wiped off the blood too. I have scars —’ Hannelore shrugged ‘— not where you see them easily, so they do not matter much. I was sent like a parcel to live with my aunt, till my older brother left school and took over our estates.
‘One day, soon, I will be sent like a parcel again, into a marriage chosen by my great-uncle, agreed to by my brother. It will be a marriage that is good for Germany. I will have no choice.’
‘Can’t you refuse?’ put in Sophie.
Hannelore smiled. ‘Why should I do that, if it is good for my country? But I do not want my life to end with my marriage. When people speak of me at my funeral I want them to remember the woman who arranged alliances as well as dinners. The map of the world is changing. I can either sit with my embroidery and watch it happen, or I can be part of it.’ Hannelore met their eyes. ‘My ancestor was Catherine the Great. She created an empire, and she had lovers. One day, perhaps, I may do the same.’
The room was silent again. ‘I … I am so sorry about your family,’ said Sophie at last. Lovers! she thought. A woman planning to have lovers! And an empire.
She would love an empire. The corned-beef empire. Or even to create her own. She almost smiled at her sudden longing. What empire could an ordinary woman create? An ice-cream empire?
She glanced at Hannelore. All thoughts of smiles vanished. Was this the first time the prinzessin had told anyone about her parents’ death?
‘It must have been terrible,’ said Emily.
‘Did you feel like a ghost — that perhaps you had died too, and no one had noticed?’ asked Lady Alison softly.
For once Hannelore didn’t smile. ‘Will I tell you the truth in this too? I do not miss my parents. I did not even know them. My father was always at court, my mother at the Riviera with her lover. We knew about him but never mentioned it … The revolutionary chose the one day of the year when we were all together.’
‘And your sister?’ asked Lady Alison, even more quietly.
‘Yes. I miss my sister. Every day I miss my sister. But I will live enough for both of us.’
Miss Lily spoke. ‘Thank you, Prinzessin. I know that was not easy for you. Miss Carlyle?’
Emily shrugged neatly. She put down her coffee cup. ‘My father is not dead. That is the problem. Yes, I know that sounds heartless, but believe me, he wishes he were dead too.
‘My father had a stroke two years ago. Since that time he has not been able to speak, has not been able to feed himself. He smells, despite the best of care, and he is conscious enough to know it. He used to be a cabinet minister. Every prime minister for twenty years has eaten at our table. As far back as I can remember, affairs of the nation were decided at our house parties. But his success was due to Mother too, and he knew it.’ Emily glanced at Miss Lily. ‘My mother studied here with you? She’s never said she did, but she’s implied it.’
Miss Lily nodded. ‘One of my first. You might say we taught each other.’
‘No one visits since my father’s stroke. My mother stays at his side, her life as empty as his. But she will leave him to give me a season to find a husband who can offer me something of what I have lost.’
‘Only one?’ asked Sophie softly.
Emily shrugged. ‘I might be invited to stay with family friends for a few days of the next season. But a girl who does not “take” in her first season is accounted not first-class marriage material.’
‘And if you become a political hostess, then your mother may be part of that world again too.’ Miss Lily’s voice was soft.
<
br /> Emily nodded. ‘My mother said to me last year, “Sometimes I hear their voices in the dining room. But when I reach it they are never there.” She asked me if I thought she was going mad. Sometimes … sometimes I think she hopes she will. If she were mad, she couldn’t do her duty, could be free. There is so much that needs doing in the world, and this may be the only way I can be involved.’
‘At least you’ve been involved. I hardly knew your world existed.’ Sophie looked at the others. ‘I’m sorry. My being here is selfish. I have a father who loves me, a man who wants to marry me. I’m here because I thought it would make me more acceptable.’ She stopped and grinned. ‘Give me a way to crow over the unpleasant woman who will be my mother-in-law. That’s not enough for me now. Miss Lily has shown me a richer world. I still don’t know if I want to be part of it,’ she added frankly. She glanced at Miss Lily. ‘I’m trying to be honest.’
‘And succeeding slightly too admirably,’ murmured Miss Lily. ‘Lady Alison?’
Lady Alison’s hands were pressed down on her lap. ‘I am here because my grandmother told me to come. I think she too is one of Miss Lily’s “friends”.’ She made the word ‘friends’ sound like boiled lizards. Miss Lily merely nodded.
‘My parents died when I was twelve. My cousin then became the present duke. The estate and all its income were of course entailed. My grandmother has no money, nor have I, although her expenses are paid for by the estate. The estate barely covers its expenses. My season will be paid for by Miss Higgs’s father, a far more lavish one than my cousin would have provided for me. I … I don’t want a season. I hate parties and crowds. I don’t want a husband either. But without one my life will be nothing when my grandmother dies, and she has said that my being here will help me.’ She met the eyes of the others. ‘I think she is wrong. That book is disgusting. People should not be animals.’
Miss Lily bent towards her. ‘Lady Alison, your grandmother the dowager duchess is very dear to me. If you dislike our discussions, you may read a book, or go for a walk — whatever you choose. But I hope you will stay for a few. Your grandmother feels your life has been too limited, too sheltered. It is just possible that she is correct, that you may find you enjoy the world once you are more comfortable with it. Not all marriages must be physical,’ she added quietly.
Lady Alison’s eyes blinked like a frightened sheep’s.
Miss Lily sat back. ‘So let us begin with the most important of all lessons. Charm.’
Sophie watched Lady Alison show faint relief. One of the Suitables had been to Charm School back in Sydney. It had involved flower decorations, and paper fans in the fireplace in summer. It had not involved bulls and cows.
Miss Lily was speaking again. ‘They say you’re born with charm. Anyone who says that, of course, isn’t charming at all. Charm is learned. Sometimes it can even be taught. But there are two kinds of charm. The first is facile, like a bouquet that will be thrown away when no longer needed.
‘True charm is based on care for other people. So often we are locked in the tiny box of ourselves. Caring is something that cannot be faked. Caring is when you ask about her ladyship’s rheumatism, or about the major’s gout, or little Billy’s measles — and remember to ask the next day about his spots. Caring that your maid is tired after waiting up for you, and making sure that she sleeps too, when you have a nap the next afternoon before a ball.’
She smiled. ‘Charm relies on pleasing others. But to please others you need to understand what they want. The word is “empathise”. Think what it must be like to be the other person. What do they need to make them happy? Sometimes a word is enough — the right word, at the right time, even if the happiness it brings is fleeting.’ Her lips parted in the deep Miss Lily smile. ‘You may find that making others happy brings deep fulfilment to yourself as well. But a charming person also has power. And for a woman …’ She shrugged. ‘Charm is the only power that lasts. Beauty fades. Money will be controlled by a husband or father or elderly uncles. But charm … that is yours forever.
‘So, I would like you to practise empathising with the servants.’
‘The servants?’ Emily gave a sharp laugh.
Miss Lily looked at Emily levelly. ‘You use a servant to lace your dress, so you can use them to practise empathy. And one day you may find the loyalty it brings you — from your maid, your butler — will also bring you information, sympathy, discretion. Wages can pay for these, but you may not always have money. Loyalty lasts forever.’
‘Do unto others,’ said Lady Alison quietly. For the first time her hands rested calmly in her lap.
‘Perhaps, my dear, you are closer to true charm than you realise,’ said Miss Lily. She looked around at them, warm and welcoming within her perfect composure.
She likes us, thought Sophie. And then, But that’s just the point. She cares about us. That is what she is trying to teach us.
‘Once you learn to see and feel another’s needs, to see them as a person as vulnerable as yourself, you will find that charm comes naturally. But until that time there are five steps, quite enough for a dinner party, for charming your hostess at a Friday-to-Monday, or even for willing the man you are interested in to your side. Yes, Prinzessin, you may take notes, but I think the steps are simple enough to remember when you have tried them once.
‘Step one: make the other person smile. That is relatively simple: smile at them, with a delight at seeing them or meeting them, real or feigned, and they will smile back. Hannelore, if you would smile at Lady Alison?’
Hannelore gave a surprisingly impish grin. Lady Alison’s face lightened automatically as she gave one of the few smiles Sophie had seen from her.
‘You see?’ said Miss Lily. ‘So simple. Lady Alison smiles, and now, for a little while, she may even feel like smiling.’
Lady Alison’s smile deepened. ‘Perhaps,’ she said.
‘Now step two. Miss Higgs, could you say something one of us will agree with? Once someone has agreed with you, you have opened the door to their trust. The thought can be mundane and still be effective: “Lovely weather for this time of year”, or “Don’t the gardens look quite charming?” or it can be more profound — one inspired by true empathy: “No one can understand what it is like to lose a child, Mrs Smith.” Miss Higgs?’
Emily, she thought, choosing the greatest challenge. Who is Emily? What does she feel? ‘It is hard when men offer us nothing but trivialities, don’t you find, Miss Carlyle?’ she offered.
Emily stared at her, then nodded with reluctant admiration. ‘If you came up to me at a garden party and said those words, I’d want to keep talking.’
‘Then perhaps, Miss Carlyle, you will try this next step,’ said Miss Lily. ‘Say something that will interest your listener — and if possible make sure you have prepared beforehand something that will.’
Emily will try Hannelore, thought Sophie. She already knows what Hannelore is interested in. But instead, Emily turned to her. ‘I imagine you have dogs on your property back home? You must miss them dreadfully. I don’t suppose you would like one of the puppies?’
‘I would love one —’ She had almost forgotten it was an exercise.
Emily gazed at her, the triumph in her eyes not quite hidden.
‘Was that true?’ asked Sophie quietly. ‘Are you really offering me a puppy?’
‘Quite true. Would you like one?’
‘The question is academic,’ said Miss Lily. ‘I will not have a puppy distracting you these next few months. I know my own limitations,’ she added.
Suddenly they were all laughing. Just as Miss Lily intends, thought Sophie. Miss Lily met her eyes. Her own crinkled, even more amused.
‘Step four: praise the person you are speaking to. But if you praise too effusively, you will appear to be currying favour. Casanova once said — I doubt your educations have covered Casanova; he was a man who spent his life attracting women, then evading the consequences — that if you want to attract an intelligent w
oman, you praise her beauty; if you want a beautiful woman to adore you, you praise her intelligence. Prinzessin, will you give us an example?’
Hannelore nodded slowly. She turned to Lady Alison. ‘I think you have been unappreciated all your life, Lady Alison, by yourself most of all. You are beautiful, but have never seen it.’
‘Oh.’ Lady Alison stared at her, a flush beginning at her neck and rising into her face.
‘That,’ added Hannelore, ‘was a most true statement too.’
‘Good.’ Miss Lily’s smile reappeared. ‘I happen to agree. You don’t always need to praise with such insight, but the world will be a sweeter place if you can. But a simple “Oh, I was sure you’d know the answer, Lady William” will do.’
‘Now for the last step. Praise another person. “Doesn’t Miss Smith look lovely tonight!” Praising another person automatically makes the praise reflect on you. Criticism will rebound on you as well, so use it minimally, if at all. Better to say, “Oh, I am quite sure the rumour isn’t true; she is such a lovely person.” Lady Alison, would you care to try that one?’
Lady Alison nodded, the flush still on her cheeks. She turned to Sophie. ‘The prinzessin is most kind, isn’t she?’
‘Always, I suspect,’ said Sophie softly.
Hannelore shrugged. ‘Kindness is all one has to give.’
‘But you —’ Sophie stopped. Hannelore must be wealthy. The diamond earrings she had worn the previous night had looked priceless. But one didn’t speak of money, except in offices.
Hannelore smiled gently. ‘I have much that is the prinzessin’s, but little that is my own, to dispose of. The jewels must go to my children, or my brother’s children. My bills are paid, my needs supplied from my brother’s estate. But long ago my aunt taught me that kindness is still mine to give.’
‘So,’ said Miss Lily pronouncing it ‘Zo’, almost as though Hannelore’s German accent were contagious. ‘Have you charmed each other?’
Miss Lily’s Lovely Ladies Page 18
