Long Acre

by Claire Rayner

  By the time she reached his office she felt a good deal better, though her head still ached and she still displayed a most dolorous countenance. Surely she could manage to sort things out with this man. Surely she could!

  CHAPTER SIX

  In fact, it was rather more difficult than she had expected. First of all, he refused to speak of anything until she had eaten and drunk, sending a surprised-looking nurse hotfoot to the kitchens to bring her bread and cold beef and a mug of hot ale spiced with cinnamon. He ensconced her beside the fire in his neat little office, stirring the embers in the grate to dancing flames, and then sat and watched her as she ate the food with great eagerness and drank her ale with equal relish. By the time she had finished it all, putting down the empty mug with a sigh, her headache had receded to become little more than a dull memory of itself behind her brows, and she was relaxed and comfortable and much less woebegone.

  And, she realized, had therefore lost some of her advantage. To persuade him of her need for help and to convince him that she was not deserving of some sort of reprimand for hiding away in the hospital for all this time would have been much easier if she had remained as she had been when she came into the office, white-cheeked and tearstained. But now, warm and rosy from the combined effects of ale and firelight and with her gown a trifle stretched over her comfortably full stomach she felt and therefore knew she looked far less appealing.

  She sat up straighter and looked at him on the other side of the fire, sitting leaning back in his chair with his legs outstretched and his hands in his trouser pockets, and tried to think herself back into the state of sadness in which she had been when he had found her and been so charmed by her helplessness, rearranging her face into a suitable expression; and suddenly he laughed, throwing back his head and opening his mouth wide to show strong white teeth.

  ‘Oh, Miss Lucas, you remind me very much indeed of my wife, you know, and of my young daughter! I recollect that your brother is an actor — are you of the same profession? I think you must be, for my wife has just the same gift that you have of making her face speak for her, and she was always of the theatre — and now my Cecily bids fair to follow her —’

  She stared at him, her embarrassing situation quite forgotten for a moment. ‘Your wife, sir, is of the theatre? Does she — could she — oh, sir, could she help us find a part, do you think? Not for Fenton yet, of course, but for me — for of course I am an actress — and then for Fenton when he is quite well again? We are so sorely in need of —’

  He shook his head. ‘My wife, Miss Lucas, is my wife! She does not occupy herself upon the stage any more, of course! Although she is often engaged upon producing drawing-room tableaux for her friends and for charitable purposes, you know — ’ He frowned for a moment. ‘Now, we must speak of you! I did not bring you here to speak of my family affairs!’

  He was suddenly annoyed with himself; this young woman who could at one moment fill him with the pity owing to a sad child, the next with sheer sensual feeling of the sort due only to a wife — or a courtesan of some skill — and then make him as prosy as an old woman sitting in a chimney corner, was very irritating; and he was tired, and had worked hard all day. This matter must be settled forthwith. His voice took on a harder edge as he sat up and looked at her very directly.

  ‘Now, Miss Lucas! We must get down to cases. Why were you skulking in that room in your petticoats? And have you been using it all the time your brother has been here? And with whose connivance has it all been possible? I have a shrewd idea of the answer to the last question, but I wish to hear it from your lips, so that the matter may be sorted out. I must tell you that Nellie’s — Queen Eleanor’s hospital — is a well-run institution and does not permit some of the excesses that occur at other establishments.’

  She looked at him for a long moment, her lower lip caught between her teeth and thinking hard. Should she try to beguile him? Should she play the captivating lady of the world, the helpless child of misfortune, the — almost imperceptibly she shook her head, and with the unerring instinct of the born performer made the right decision. She would be direct, telling him the plain unvarnished truth, and asking his help, rather than his mercy, and his appreciation of her as a fellow human being rather than as an object of pity.

  So, sitting very upright with her hands crossed primly on the lap of her crumpled gown, she did just that. She started at the beginning, with her mother’s death. She told him of her English Papa and his many stories of life in London and the theatre, and how she and Fenton, who had done his best to take care of her, she assured him, had decided to come to London to seek both their fortunes and their theatrical forebears.

  ‘For, it seemed to us, sir, a great likelihood that there would be some that would recollect our father, for although it is more than twenty years since he left here to go to Boston, people do remember, do they not? My Cabot uncles are always talking of matters that occurred forty years ago, as though it were but last quarter day! Well — we came — ’

  She wondered for a moment whether to admit that they had mulcted the captain of the Daniel Boone of his just payment and discarded the idea. There was no need to be excessively direct, and she went smoothly on, but Freddy Caspar noticed the faint change in her tone and rhythm of speech and wondered what she had left out. But he was so interested in all she was saying that he let her run on, and dismissed the moment of doubt that split second of hesitation had aroused in him.

  And she was well worth listening to, for she sketched in very graphic words the picture of their first weeks in London, the high hopes with which they had started, the slow loss of their spirits, and the moments of despair which almost overwhelmed them. And then, as she told of the day upon which Fenton had so swiftly leaped to save her life and Graham Foster had come to their rescue her account became even more vivid and he almost felt the fear and guilt with which she had been so consumed.

  Her eyes were dark as she stared at him, her mouth drooping. ‘I know my brother can be a little difficult sometimes, sir,’ she said. ‘I know there are some who think him — well, a little selfish and — and shallow, you know. But he is not. He is very absorbed in the matter of building his career, I grant you, and that can make even the best of persons seem antipathetic to others. But at bottom he is a good and loving brother, and the dearest boy! He did not hesitate for a moment when I was so foolish as to walk under those hooves. And a man who can risk so much for his sister — well, he is a worthy person, is he not?’

  Freddy nodded, any shreds of doubt about her veracity melting away in the warmth of the response she had aroused in him. All his life he had been a person who much valued family ties; a true friend to those to whom he gave his regard freely, to his relations, towards whom he knew he had a duty as well as great affection, he was as a rock. There were none in his family who would not turn to Freddy in times of anxiety, and he had become for all of them — his mother and stepfather and their children, his wife’s brother as well as his grandfather and aunt — a bulwark. Looking after all of them as well as his own wife and children was what Freddy believed himself to exist for, and to find that this patient of his, who had undoubtedly seemed to him at times to be shallow and ungrateful was in fact a young man of genuine family feeling, was all he needed to forgive all. Fenton’s alternating sharpness and smooth sweetness, all his sulks and his megrims could be laid at the door of his anxiety for his sister’s welfare while he was cooped up in pain in a hospital bed. Whatever plans had been made to protect Miss Lucas during this difficult time were, however underhanded they might seem, made for the best of reasons, Freddy told himself, and even young Foster’s complicity would have to be forgiven under the circumstances.

  And so he smiled at the girl in the chair opposite him, a smile that lifted his face into a much younger expression, and raised her hopes vastly.

  ‘Well, I think I can see what the situation has been. And why you did as you did. It was of course highly irregular, but we will say no more �
� ’

  She dimpled at him, her eyes sparkling and her hands slipping into a supplicating posture. ‘And you will not punish poor Mr Foster, sir?’

  ‘None of your beguiling tricks with me, ma’am!’ Freddy stood up and looked down at her. ‘Recall, if you please, that I am the husband of one who once used the self-same pretty behaviours you are using now! I know them all! No, I will not punish Mr Foster, not because you ask me not to, but because I can quite see that the poor wretch had little choice in what he did. To one as inexperienced as he, your stage wiles must have acted like laudanum upon anxiety! He will be told, of course, in no uncertain terms, of my displeasure. But my grandfather will not be told, so there will be no need for Mr Foster to have any fears! The question now, of course, is what we do with you? You cannot remain here, that much is sure!’

  ‘No — I suppose not.’ She looked up at him trustfully and he grimaced and turned away. Take her home to Phoebe? No, that was not the solution, he told himself, and could not quite decide why. Phoebe would welcome the girl, he was sure; they had room and to spare in their handsome house in Tavistock Square and her presence there would discommode nobody. But, all the same, he thought not. Concerned as he was for the welfare of his patient — and he was a special patient, after all, having responded so well to the use of Mr Lister’s technique — and for his patient’s sister, he could not extend his care too far. But a solution must be found.

  It was in thinking of Fenton as a patient that he found his solution, and he turned back to her smiling with some relief.

  ‘I have the very answer! There is another patient of mine — a lady who has suffered considerable attention at my hands and professes herself exceedingly grateful, and is always asking me to make use of her services in any way I wish. Now, she and her daughter reside very near here, in a most comfortable little house, and they have rooms to let. I daresay — indeed, I am quite certain — that I can prevail upon them to accept you and your brother, who progresses well and will, I think, shortly be ready to join you, as lodgers. That will do capitally! And then — ’

  She shook her head, almost impatiently. ‘But you do not seem to understand! If we had the money to pay our shot anywhere we would not have any difficulties! We could stay where we are, at the hotel — where our luggage is. It is because —’

  He brushed that aside. ‘You need not worry about that matter. Your account at the hotel will be paid and your luggage reclaimed. Also, Mrs Miller and her daughter will be settled with your first month’s rent which will, I am certain, be much less than that for the hotel. Then —’

  ‘You are very kind, sir!’ she said, and jumped up and ran towards him, her hands outstretched, and at once he shook his head and said sharply, ‘You must not regard this money as a gift nor me as a financial benefactor, Miss Lucas! That would not be proper at all! I can arrange to loan you the necessary funds from the Nellie’s Bursar’s supply — he always has some moneys to hand, from the various charitable bodies which support us — but we will expect it repaid as soon as you may!’

  Her face crumpled again. ‘But how? How are we to repay when we have no work, and no —’

  ‘I have thought of that as well!’ He smiled again, and the moment of tension dissolved. ‘My brother-in-law owns and manages an establishment in King Street; near by Mrs Miller’s lodgings. It is a Supper Rooms where respectable people may eat a meal and enjoy some agreeable entertainment. He, I am sure, will find for you, and your brother in due course, some work that you may do, using your talents. I have not of course seen you perform, and must trust to it that you are a capable entertainer, but he will be able to assess your value, I am sure. And then, when you are earning, well, you will be able to pay back what you owe to Nellie’s and then in due course set about repairing your own fortunes. It really seems to me that there can be no better plan — ’

  ‘I am deeply grateful to you, sir,’ she said, but there was a note of dubiety in her voice that he found a little irritating. Had he not come up with a most splendid and suitable plan, and offered to put himself to much inconvenience to settle her affairs? To cavil now was to be most ungrateful.

  She seemed to recognize his feeling and went on hastily, ‘I am much indebted to you for your plan, and for your offer of help in obtaining both respectable accommodation and employment, and above all for the loan of such as we need to get back our luggage — but it is the work you suggest about which I am concerned. You see, Fenton and I — we are actors, and — ’

  ‘Oh, as to that, have no fears!’ Freddy said. ‘I know that the bill Oliver — Mr Lackland, my brother-in-law — presents at his Supper Rooms is very varied. I daresay he will find something that is suitable to your talents. So, it is agreed! I trust you are content, for it grows late and I am expected at home. I would like to put the matter in hand and see you settled tonight, and then be on my way.’

  She was all contrition. ‘Indeed, sir, it is settled. We will worry about the work that your brother-in-law offers when he has offered it, shall we? Then if — well, we shall see what follows!’

  She was tired again now. The effects of the ale, which had been strong as well as hot and spicy, were receding and her headache was returning, and she rubbed her eyes suddenly, as a child does, and he nodded and went to his desk to unlock and take out a large iron box.

  ‘Well, you shall tell me which hotel you are at, and I shall send the porter to pay your account, and collect your luggage. Then, we shall make our way to Mrs Miller in Long Acre and see you comfortable.’

  ‘I hope she will be there and able to take me at such short notice,’ Amy said and yawned, and he smiled at that.

  ‘She will be there! Mrs Miller is a most respectable lady, and spends all her time at her own establishment when she is not here with me seeking relief for her many aches and pains and assorted tribulations. She will be there!’

  Amy sat and dozed by the fire while the porter, grumbling mightily but not daring to refuse Mr Caspar’s request to take himself to the Albion Hotel in Great Russell Street, went to collect their luggage. Then, when he returned, she was roused by Freddy, bundled into a shawl he had obtained from she knew not where, and taken out to the four-wheeler cab which waited outside. Her luggage was piled on top, a sight which made her eyes light up in delight. The thought of being able to dress properly again in her own clothes instead of the dreary gown that Mr Foster had filched from his sister lifted her spirits in a way nothing else could have done, and she climbed into the cab, with Mr Caspar assisting her, with a will.

  ‘I shall tell your brother in the morning all that has transpired,’ he promised her when she suddenly remembered that dear Fenton knew nothing of what was afoot, and tried to climb out again to run up to the ward and wake him and tell him. ‘You need not fear. I doubt he will object to all we have arranged!’

  ‘No, I am sure he will be very grateful,’ she said and put her hand on his arm and peered up at him in the darkness of the cab as it rocked its way across the old cobbles towards Long Acre, a few streets away. ‘As indeed I am. If I had but known how kindly and — and sensible a person you are, I would not have prevailed upon poor Mr Foster to do as he did —’

  She paused then and added reflectively, ‘I think perhaps I will have much to explain to him. For he — well, I think perhaps he has a small tendre for me, and that will never do!’

  ‘I am sure he has,’ Freddy said and his voice was amused in the darkness. ‘Since I have not the least doubt that you made sure he would, in order to aid you in your nefarious doings!’

  ‘Well, perhaps I did,’ she said, and giggled. ‘But you know, it was not difficult! He’s a very — very new young man! No town polish at all! I was amazed when he said he had lived always in London, for he seems to me just like the boys who come to Boston after living all their lives on the farmsteads. Rather tedious, you know and —’

  ‘Tedious or not, he risked much for you,’ Freddy’s voice sharpened. ‘You must not forget that!’

&n
bsp; ‘Of course I shall not! I am most appreciative of all he did! But — well, he is not a man, is he? As you are!’

  ‘This part of town is much known for its coach manufactories,’ Freddy said in a repressive voice. ‘No doubt you are aware of the odours that are reaching us. Turpentine, and of course timber, and paint —’

  ‘I had wondered,’ she said demurely, and sat beside him in the darkness, careful not to touch him and wickedly aware of the way she could disturb even a man as glossy with town polish as Freddy Caspar. Her spirits began to lift, and she breathed deeply, absorbing the pleasant woody smells which indeed filled the musty air of the cab, and thought happily, if a little sleepily, about the morrow.

  As ever, the young Lucases had fallen on their feet; Fenton was nearly well, they had had their debts paid and their possessions restored to them; been given a place to stay, which no doubt would be pleasant enough, and even the promise of work of a sort. From now on, surely, she told herself, yawning yet again, everything would surely be quite splendid.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  It was, if not precisely splendid, certainly comfortable. Mrs Miller, a round lady of diminutive stature who made even the slight Amy feel positively carthorse-ish, had greeted the knock on her door, a red-painted and brass-knobbed door set flush with the street, by peering out with great suspicion through the curtains which tastefully draped the window set in the brick wall beside it. But then, as she had recognized Freddy Caspar, she had rushed to unbolt and unlock it, accompanying every action which much twittering and gasping and Bless My Souls and Dearie, Dearie Mes, and sundry other breathless comments.

  Her house was, Amy decided after her first rather doubtful glance, a charming one. Tall and narrow, it boasted on each floor, of which there were four, only a narrow passageway and a staircase and two small square rooms set neatly one behind the other. Mrs Miller led Freddy and Amy and the grunting porter bearing the luggage up the first flight of stairs, talking and gasping all the way.