by Dilly Court
‘How can you possibly know what I’ve been doing? You arrived barely two days ago.’
‘Zilla told me about your venture into trade, and your relationship with Edric.’
‘So you visited Zilla first. You didn’t think to come and see me.’
‘I can always be assured of a warm welcome from Zilla.’
‘You always go back to her in the end, and I think you always will. I don’t know what I ever saw in you, Captain Starke.’
Anger flashed in his eyes and his lips hardened into a thin line. ‘Zilla is an old friend, and a woman I respect, but it seems you were eager enough to go into business with Edric Hamilton. I should warn you that he already has a wife and children.’
‘I know that, and I made sure that Beatrice was happy with the arrangement. Edric and I are partners. It was your precious Zilla who introduced us.’ She angled her head. ‘What did she tell you?’
Jack looked away, shrugging his shoulders. ‘She said that he’d squandered the money I used to buy him out on women and drink.’
‘That’s all in the past. I truly believe he’s doing his best for his family now.’
‘You seem to have a high regard for him.’
Indignation replaced the emotions that raged within her breast. She faced him, glaring. ‘You have a nasty suspicious mind, but you ought to know me better than that.’
‘I know men, and in particular I know Edric. We parted amicably enough, but I could see that he was going nowhere. He’s a weak man and you’d be better off without him.’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Mirabel cried angrily. ‘I don’t need you or Zilla or anyone outside my family.’ She could see that her last words had struck home and she pursued her advantage ruthlessly. ‘Yes, I have a family. They’re not my blood but they love me and I love them. You walked away from me in Florida. You could have tried to stop me leaving but you did nothing.’ She flung out of the cabin, gulping back tears of frustration and anger as she headed for the companionway.
Jack caught up with her as she raced along the deck, slipping and sliding on the icy surface. He grabbed her by the arm. ‘You can’t leave like this. The Munroes have planned a special dinner for all of us.’
She wrenched free from his grasp. ‘Are you afraid of insulting your employer, Jack? Dear me, I thought you were your own man, or has all the rum you drank in Florida softened your brain? It’s certainly hardened your heart.’ She faced him furiously, experiencing a feeling of triumph when his face paled beneath his tan. ‘I don’t need you or Edric or any man, come to that. I’m a free woman now and that’s the way I intend to stay.’ She tossed her head and stalked off down the gangway.
Chapter Twenty-five
IGNORING THE HAIL and sleet Mirabel walked briskly, heading in the direction of home. Tears ran unchecked down her cheeks, but she was in a mood to fight the elements or anyone who got in her way. She pushed past the groups of men idling round as they waited in the hope of being hired for a few hours’ work, ignoring their suggestive comments, and headed for Great Tower Hill. Her instinct was to go home, but she needed time to herself and she went straight to the office. At least here she was safe from Gertie’s probing questions. She set to work balancing the accounts for the last month’s trading, but the figures seemed to dance about before her eyes and she found herself staring out of the window into the uniform greyness of the sky and the water.
After a while, when she could hardly feel her fingers and toes, she decided that she ought to light a fire in the grate, but the coal scuttle was empty and when she went outside into the yard she discovered that someone had used up what was left in the sack she had bought and paid for. She returned to the office and was startled to find Ethan standing by the door. ‘I’m so sorry, Belle,’ he said quickly. ‘We meant well, honey, but I guess we misjudged the situation.’
‘I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have run off like that, but it was impossible for me to stay.’
‘Jerusha is mighty upset.’
‘I know you both meant it kindly, but Jack and I have nothing more to say to each other, and no doubt your ship will return to America very soon and I shan’t see him again.’
‘That’s a matter between the two of you, Belle. As for me, I’m on my way to see a shipping agent who’ll handle my affairs this side of the Atlantic, but Jerusha asked if you’d take tea with her this afternoon. She feels bad about the way things turned out, and you’d be doing her a kindness if you’d set her mind at rest.’
‘Of course,’ Mirabel said earnestly. ‘Tell me where to meet her and I’ll be there.’
‘She remembers a place called Gunter’s from when she was last in London. She said she’ll be there at three o’clock and she hopes you’ll join her.’
‘I’ll be there, and please tell her not to worry. It’s as well I’ve seen Jack now and we know where we stand.’
Ethan kissed her on the cheek. ‘That’s settled then, honey. Goodbye for now, but I hope we’ll meet up again before Jerusha and I leave for Paris at the end of the week.’
Mirabel saw him out, closing the door with a thoughtful frown. She would take tea with Jerusha, but first she had something to say to another lady.
Zilla stared at her through a haze of blue smoke as she stubbed out her cigarillo. ‘Really, my dear, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Don’t play the innocent with me, Zilla. You told Jack that I was consorting with Edric and he believed you.’
Zilla’s eyebrows were raised in twin arcs of surprise. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Why would I say something like that?’
‘It’s what he thought you said. What did you tell him?’
‘My dear Mabel, can’t you see that the poor man is mad with jealousy? I told him that you had gone into a business partnership with his old friend Edric. Where was the harm in that for a man of commonsense? But we’re not talking about a rational human being, are we? No, you silly girl, we’re dealing with a man who is desperately in love but won’t admit his feelings even to himself. They’re simple creatures, the male of the species. I ought to know; I deal with them on a daily basis.’
‘You make it all sound so logical.’
Zilla leaned forward, her green eyes dancing with mischief. ‘Bed the brute, Mabel.’ She threw back her head and laughed. ‘I’m sorry, my pet. I forgot that you are the virgin widow, and unversed in the ways of love.’
Mirabel rose to her feet. ‘It’s not funny, Zilla.’
‘No, I suppose not.’
‘I think he has real feelings for you.’
‘Really?’ Zilla reached for her wineglass and took a sip. ‘No, my duck, you’re mistaken. I doubt if Jack ever loved me, apart from in the carnal way. More importantly we’ve remained friends, and in my own selfish way I do care for him. I’d like to see him happy, and I think you are the only woman who’s ever touched something deep inside his soul.’ She held the wineglass up, gazing into its rich ruby depths. ‘This is more to my liking than any man ever could be. Fine wines and good tobacco will comfort me in my old age.’
‘I should go now,’ Mirabel said, glancing at the clock on the mantelshelf. ‘I have to be at Gunter’s tea shop at three.’
‘Hurry off then, Mabel. But remember what I’ve just told you. Jack Starke is yours for the taking. You’d be a fool to let him get away a second time.’
‘I’m not sure whether you’ve done me a favour by telling me all this, Zilla. He made it clear that he thought the worst of me.’
‘Just send me an invitation to your wedding,’ Zilla said, chuckling. ‘You’re a capable woman now, Mabel. You can handle a wild one like Jack.’
Mirabel left the house in Tenter Street feeling more confused than she had when she had arrived. She hailed a cab and went straight to Gunter’s.
Jerusha leapt up from her seat, scattering cake crumbs on the floor. ‘My dear Belle, I am so sorry for what happened this morning. I truly thought I was doing the right thing for both o
f you.’ She beckoned to the waiter. ‘A fresh pot of tea, please, and some more of those delicious pastries and two bowls of ice cream.’
Some of the tension leached from Mirabel as she sat down opposite her friend. Jerusha’s kind heart was only exceeded by her love of food, especially anything sweet and sugary. ‘It wasn’t your fault, Jerusha. You couldn’t have foreseen the outcome.’
‘But he loves you, Belle. We talked about you often during the voyage across the Atlantic, and of course I knew how you felt about Jack. Then, when Ethan introduced him to me I guess I knew why you fell for him in the first place, and you seem so right for each other.’
Mirabel selected a small fancy cake and bit into it. ‘People change. The first person he thought of when he arrived home was Zilla. He went to see her, and when she told him that I’d gone into business with his old partner he accused me of having an affair with Edric. I can’t forgive that.’
‘I guess he was jealous, Belle. Men are like that, even my Ethan.’ Jerusha sat back as the waiter picked up the teapot and replaced it with another. The cakes and ice cream followed in quick succession, and Jerusha clapped her hands. ‘I love ice cream. I’m going to ask for their recipe so that my cook can make it back home.’ She spooned some into her mouth. ‘This is so good, honey. You must try some.’
‘I can’t believe that Ethan was ever anything but the good-natured man he is today.’
Jerusha opened her eyes wide. ‘Oh, but he can be a bear when he’s angry. I danced with an old beau at the barbecue last summer and Ethan was like a man possessed.’ She uttered a sigh of satisfaction. ‘So you see, you mustn’t allow Jack’s quite natural reaction to come between you.’
Mirabel picked up her spoon. ‘I’ll give it some thought, but I’m not going to apologise. I’m not sure I like being married. Maybe I’ll choose to become an old maid and keep my sanity rather than spend my life worrying about what my husband says and does.’
Jerusha licked her spoon. ‘You don’t know what you’re missing, sugar.’
Suddenly the house in Savage Gardens seemed overcrowded and too noisy for comfort. Bodger had been there when Mirabel returned from Berkeley Square and Gertie was fussing around him, demanding to know everything that had happened to him from the time he parted from them in America until the Munroe Star docked in London. Mirabel sat and listened, trying hard to look interested although her thoughts kept wandering, and after a while Alf took himself off to the pub. The boys were bombarding Bodger with questions, and the girls were clamouring for his attention. Mirabel made an excuse to go to her room, but finding herself alone for the first time that day she could think of nothing but the fierce altercation between herself and Jack. As she lay down to sleep she could hear Zilla’s words repeating over and over again in her head, and the ache in her heart refused to go away.
Breakfast next morning was much quieter than normal. The children had stayed up late and were tired and irritable. Gertie was in a hurry to get them fed and out of the way and Tilda had allowed the porridge to burn, going into a sulk when Gertie reprimanded her in front of her brothers and sisters. The sudden arrival of Edric gave Mirabel an excuse to leave them all to their own devices, and she ushered him into the study. ‘You look upset, Edric. Take a seat and tell me what’s bothering you.’
He remained standing, twirling his cap between his fingers and shifting from one foot to the other. His bushy eyebrows and beard were pearled with raindrops and water dripped off his jacket onto the Turkey carpet. ‘I’ll come straight out with it because I don’t know how else to say it, but I think we should go our separate ways.’
‘Why? I don’t understand. What’s brought this on?’
‘I heard that Jack Starke is back.’
She stared at him, perplexed by his attitude. ‘What difference does that make?’
‘He’ll tell you that I’m a bad lot and turn you against me. I’d rather we finished on a good note than go through all that.’
‘Please sit down, Edric. Looking up to you is giving me a crick in the neck.’ Mirabel perched on the edge of the desk waiting until he was seated. ‘This is all nonsense. I’ve come to know you and Beatrice, and I think of you as my friends. We work well together, don’t we?’
He nodded vigorously. ‘We do, but maybe you’ll change your mind when you hear about the way I used to behave. I’m not proud of myself.’
‘Whatever happened in the past is over and done with. You’ve proved yourself to me, but if you’re not satisfied with the way things are going I wouldn’t want to hold you to our agreement. We have no legal contract and you’re free to walk away if you so wish.’
‘I don’t.’ Edric’s craggy features creased into a grin. ‘I’m not going back to my old ways, and I’m grateful to you for helping me out of a tight spot. I’d almost given up trying when you came along and saved me from myself.’
She smiled, breathing a sigh of relief. ‘I don’t want to break up our partnership.’
‘Jack won’t approve. He doesn’t think much of me and he’ll think even less when he learns that I squandered the money he gave me for my share of the ship.’
‘Then perhaps you ought to take this opportunity of putting things right between you,’ Mirabel said firmly. ‘His ship is the Munroe Star, unloading in the London dock. Go and see him and set things straight.’
He stood up, ramming his cap on his unruly mop of hair. ‘I’ll do that. I’ll go now, and I’ll tell him what a fine woman you are.’
‘Better keep my name out of it. Jack and I aren’t on the best of terms at the moment, but don’t concern yourself with that.’
Edric’s brows lowered in a frown. ‘I hope it didn’t have anything to do with me?’
‘Don’t waste time worrying on my behalf. I can look after myself.’
She sat for a while after he had gone, but she had work to do and idling around the house would not cure a bruised and sore heart or put money in the bank. The office needed to be open for business and the books had to be balanced. Their reputation was growing and the need to knock on doors was lessening, although it was slow progress, but she was her father’s daughter. Despite Wiley’s base accusations Jacob Cutler had been a shrewd businessman and had made a great deal of money. Had it not been for his misalliance with Ernestine and the machinations of his grasping manservant, Mirabel knew that she would have inherited a small fortune. She had been robbed of a large part of it, but that made her even more determined to live up to her father’s reputation in business. He might have been many things, but she wanted to believe that he had been honest and fair in his dealings. With that in mind she put on her cape and bonnet and set off first for Cutler’s Castle.
Mrs Tweddle had already begun her day’s work and was busy cleaning the windows in the morning parlour. The smell of vinegar and lye soap wafted in eddies around the entrance hall and Mrs Tweddle sang as she worked. Mirabel congratulated her on her progress.
‘Thank you, Mrs Kettle. It’s been a bit of a challenge, I have to admit, but another couple of days and you’ll be able to think about putting furniture back in the rooms.’
‘You’ve done a splendid job, Mrs Tweddle. I don’t know how I would have managed without your help.’ Mirabel left the house with the cleaner’s words fresh in her mind. She had not come to a decision as to the future of her childhood home. It could be rented out or she could sell it, or she might decide to move in and make it her own. Now that all traces of Wiley had been removed by the application of elbow grease, soap and water, she was beginning to see the possibilities of returning to Catherine Court. Alf and his sons were earning a wage and could afford to pay rent on the house in Savage Gardens, and she had no emotional ties to the property. It had been Hubert’s home, not hers. She realised with a pang of regret that she could walk away and not grieve for the life they had shared albeit for such a short time. The future was hers now to do with what she pleased. She was financially independent, and the respectability of widowhood might have been t
hrust upon her, but Hubert, even in death, had given her a social standing to which a spinster could never aspire. She set off for the office. The house could wait; the trade of the busy River Thames could not.
She arrived to find a small queue of men standing outside the door. Apologising for keeping them waiting she turned the key in the lock and went inside. They filed in after her and she dealt with them in turn, handing out bills of lading, taking payment for small shipments waiting for delivery and offering a quote to the last man, who had come on behalf of a brewer who required a carrier for a significant quantity of barrels of ale. As he left she realised that she had not had time to take off her outdoor garments, but it was almost as cold inside as it was out on the wharf, and she had forgotten to ask Danny to buy a sack of coal. Her fingers were blue, and it was not just the ink that caused them to change colour. She cupped her hands over her face and blew on them, Perhaps Alf and the boys were still tied up alongside and she could send one of them to purchase coal and kindling, or maybe she could attract the attention of Ned and Jim, who were scavenging on the foreshore below the Tower that morning. They often came back with bags of coal that had fallen from barges as they unloaded at coal wharves. She was about to get up when the door opened and a man entered on a gust of cold air. ‘Good morning, sir. May I be of assistance?’ She broke off, rising swiftly to her feet.
He stood for a moment, casting a critical eye around the sparsely furnished room. ‘So this is where you hide out. You’re a difficult woman to find, Mrs Kettle.’
‘What do you want, Jack?’
‘I’ve come to apologise for my behaviour yesterday.’ His tone was neutral and there was a hint of wariness in his eyes.
For some reason Mirabel found his apology more chilling than his unfounded accusations. ‘There’s no need. I’ve forgotten it already.’ She met his gaze with a steady look, but beneath the desk top her hands were clenched and her fingernails were digging painfully into her palms.
