by Val Wood
He called a few days after the funeral. It was a bitterly cold evening and he said he had come straight from his office. He was wrapped warmly in overcoat and wool scarf, and when he removed his top hat he shook off a flurry of snowflakes.
Susannah greeted him when he was shown into the sitting room. ‘Will you stay for supper, Freddie? James isn’t coming in until later, so Laura and I will eat early.’
‘No, thank you, Susannah,’ he said. ‘I still have much to do, sorting out Maria’s affairs. Good evening, Laura.’ He bent to kiss Laura’s cheek. ‘You’re looking well.’
‘Good evening, Uncle Freddie.’ Laura’s cheeks flushed, and she felt rather embarrassed over what she thought she knew. ‘I hope you are well, in the circumstances?’
‘I am.’ He sighed. ‘Though it’s been a difficult time. A shock, you know.’ He glanced at Susannah and Laura turned her eyes away.
‘Laura, would you mind asking Smithy to ask Cook to hold supper back for half an hour?’ her mother asked.
Laura rose from her chair, musing that her mother could easily have rung the bell and told Smithy herself. She wants to speak to Uncle Freddie alone. Do I stay out of the way? Do I let them discuss whatever it is Uncle Freddie has called for? ‘Yes, of course,’ she said. ‘And would you excuse me, Uncle Freddie? There’s something I need to do before supper.’
She left the room and heard her mother say, ‘Freddie dear, won’t you come and spend Christmas with us? You mustn’t stay alone at this time.’
Laura didn’t hear Freddie’s reply, for the front doorbell rang, making her jump. ‘I’ll go, Smithy,’ she called out. ‘Perhaps it’s James after all.’
She opened the door, prepared to deliver a sardonic quip to James for his unreliability, but swallowed her words when she saw Edmund Ellis standing on the doorstep. He wore a heavy caped coat and on his head a bowler hat, which made her smile. It seemed incongruous on him. When they had walked by the estuary he had worn a soft leather one more suited to him.
‘Mr Ellis!’ she murmured.
He took off the bowler and held it awkwardly in both hands. ‘Miss Page. Laura. How – how are you? I called in the hope of seeing your brother.’
‘James didn’t mention that you were calling. Don’t tell me he has forgotten you were coming! That’s too bad of him. Please come in.’ She opened the door wider to admit him.
He stepped inside the hall. ‘I beg your pardon. He, erm, he wasn’t expecting me. I, erm, I was in the vicinity and I’m – so sorry.’ Edmund ran his finger round the collar of his coat. ‘I – it was on impulse, Miss Page. Not the thing to do at all, I realize. I forget that town and country manners are quite different.’
She stood watching him flounder for a moment, then, raising her eyebrows, said loftily, ‘Hessle is hardly town, Mr Ellis.’ She saw a slight flush touch his cheeks. Then she laughed. ‘Please come and meet my mother. James isn’t here. He won’t be in until late.’
‘I don’t wish to intrude,’ he said awkwardly. ‘Perhaps you are in the middle of supper? No? Well then, if it isn’t inconvenient.’
She paused with her hand on the knob of the sitting room door. ‘Not inconvenient,’ she said. ‘As a matter of fact, a friend has also just called to see my mother.’ She suddenly remembered that she hadn’t passed on her mother’s message to the housekeeper. ‘Would you care to stay for supper? James won’t be back and Freddie can’t stay.’
‘Thank you, no. It’s unthinkable. I will be pleased to be introduced to your mother, but then I’ll take my leave of you. It was thoughtless of me to call without an invitation.’
She gave a slight smile and thought that she would be happy for him to call whenever he wished. With a flutter of disbelief, she sensed that James was not the reason for his visit.
‘Mama, we have a visitor,’ she announced. Her mother was standing by the fireplace, one hand on the mantelpiece, and Freddie was still in the same position as before. ‘May I introduce Mr Edmund Ellis? He was in the vicinity and came to call on James.’
Edmund gave a slight bow, but Susannah moved towards him, her hand outstretched. ‘I’m pleased to meet you, Mr Ellis,’ she said, and Edmund bowed again over her fingers. ‘You were most kind to invite James and Laura to your home.’ She turned towards Freddie. ‘I must introduce you to our good friend Frederick Cannon.’
The two men shook hands. ‘Have you come far, Mr Ellis?’ Freddie gave Edmund a searching glance. ‘It’s a cold evening for travelling.’
‘Only from Hull. I – I’ve been visiting the Corn Exchange. My home is in Holderness.’
‘Oh!’ Freddie looked startled, but, recovering quickly, said, ‘I trust you won’t travel back tonight?’
‘No,’ Edmund said. ‘I’ve found lodgings in Hull and will leave early in the morning.’ He turned to Susannah. ‘Mrs Page, I do apologize for calling unannounced, but I wished to invite James and Miss Page to visit us again. We generally have a few friends to dine with us shortly before Christmas. We haven’t decided on the exact date as yet, but’ – he looked at Laura – ‘if there is a particular day that would be convenient … ?’ He again addressed her mother. ‘And perhaps you would give us the pleasure of your company also?’
Susannah’s eyes gleamed as she glanced at Laura. ‘That is most kind of you,’ she said. ‘But I’m afraid we couldn’t possibly consider coming to Holderness until winter is over.’ Edmund’s face fell at her words and he twisted his hat in his hands. ‘But in the early spring perhaps,’ she added. ‘If you would care to invite us then?’ Her expression became pensive. ‘It’s a long long time since I was in your part of Holderness, though I come to Hedon several times a year.’
‘Skeffling is not so far from Hedon,’ Edmund said eagerly. ‘I could meet you there and show you the way.’
Susannah gave a wistful smile. ‘I think perhaps I might remember it.’
He departed then and Laura showed him out, opening the front door to see a sprinkling of snow. ‘Have you come by hackney?’ She peered out into the night.
‘No, the brougham,’ he said, gazing at her profile, her fine eyes and high cheekbones. ‘We use it when the weather is bad. It’s old but reliable.’
‘And you have your very fashionable bowler to keep you warm and dry!’ she said banteringly, turning towards him.
He looked at her teasing eyes and laughing mouth, then down at the bowler hat which he spun round and round in his hands. ‘I thought it would impress you,’ he admitted. ‘But I feel I might have been mistaken.’
‘I didn’t consider you to be a modish man, Mr Ellis,’ she said wryly, ‘and if you are, and if my opinion is worth a trifle, I must tell you that fashionable attire doesn’t impress me in the least!’
He nodded his head slowly as he gazed into her eyes, then turning to the open door he reached out his hand holding the bowler and flung it, sending it spinning into the night.
Laura let out a peal of laughter. ‘There was no need to take such drastic action!’
He smiled with her and clasped her hand. ‘I bought it only today. You know, don’t you, that I came to see you and not James?’
Slowly she released her hand from his grasp. ‘You are impetuous, I think, Mr Ellis.’
‘Edmund, Laura, and I’m not usually so.’ His eyes searched her face for approval. ‘May I call on you? May I ask your mother for her permission? Must I wait until spring before I see you again?’
She swallowed. ‘I don’t know,’ she whispered. ‘It’s too soon. We have only just met.’
‘It’s not too soon.’ He took her hand again and, turning it over, he kissed the palm. ‘Forgive me,’ he said. ‘I’m nothing but a fool since I met you. I may seem hasty but that’s not my nature, or at least it wasn’t until I first saw you. Did you not find it odd that James should receive an invitation so soon after our meeting at the Fleet?’ He stroked her hand, which she hadn’t withdrawn. ‘I barely remember James from school,’ he said. ‘But I knew I had to see you again.�
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There was the sound of the sitting room door’s being opened and he dropped her hand. ‘Let me write to you at least,’ he whispered urgently. ‘Please!’
‘Yes,’ she breathed. ‘But I must show your letters to my mother. Be circumspect above all else.’
‘I will.’ He grinned with delight. ‘Be sure that I will.’
Freddie took his hat and coat from the housekeeper, who bade him goodnight. A worried frown creased his forehead. ‘Don’t go to Holderness just yet, Susannah, will you?’ he said as she stood with him by the door. Laura had said a swift goodnight to him and run upstairs. ‘These young people don’t know each other.’
She smiled. ‘I said that we wouldn’t. ’Roads will be bad. I know how hazardous they can be. But we’ll go in ’spring,’ she said softly. ‘I’d like to go back. I’m ready, I think, to see all the old places again. Mr Ellis seemed a pleasant young man, didn’t he?’ she added.
Freddie gave a soft non-committal grunt. ‘He patently didn’t come to see James,’ he said. ‘That was obvious.’ He paused. ‘Don’t let him call on Laura,’ he murmured. ‘We know nothing of him. I’ll make enquiries about his family.’
Susannah’s eyes gazed softly into his. ‘Very well, Papa!’ she breathed, smiling gently. ‘If that is what you wish. But we do know of his family,’ she added in the same low tone. ‘The Ellises are well known Holderness people.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Laura received the first letter from Edmund a few days after his visit. It was formal and polite, addressed her as Miss Page and apologized to her and her mother for calling without an invitation. ‘I regret that time and my manners did not dictate to me that I should send a card to James before calling,’ he wrote, ‘but quite often out here in rural Holderness if friends, ladies as well as gentlemen, are in the vicinity of one another’s houses, then we are apt to visit and enquire after each other’s well-being. Perhaps we would be considered socially inferior by some, but we are busy working people and I make no apology for that.’
He went on to tell of his journey home, and remarked that winter was coming with a vengeance.
She showed the letter to her mother, for it had obviously been written for her to see. Susannah smiled and said, ‘He knows nothing of our life, Laura. Perhaps he thinks that we sit at home every day waiting for morning or afternoon callers! If he does think that, then I suggest you write and tell him otherwise. Let him know that you are an emancipated young woman with interests, opinions and views of your own.’
‘Oh, I think he realizes that already, Mama,’ Laura replied dryly. ‘We had animated conversations when James and I visited Skeffling.’
‘He came to see you, of course,’ her mother commented. ‘James was only an excuse. Had James been here, I wonder what they would have talked about?’
‘Well, not farming, of that I’m quite sure!’ Laura laughed. ‘And not the weather. Banking, perhaps? That seems to be James’s sole interest!’
‘Freddie thinks that we should be circumspect, Laura,’ her mother said cautiously. ‘We both saw that Mr Ellis is obviously taken with you. It wouldn’t do to let events move too fast too soon.’
Laura, unreasonably provoked by Freddie’s well-meaning concern, answered abruptly, ‘I realize that Freddie has always taken an interest in us and given sound advice, Mama, but I’m quite able to make up my own mind about who shall be my friends!’
‘That I realize,’ her mother said, equally briskly, ‘but Freddie seemed unduly anxious, so perhaps it’s as well that winter is here and that your friendship with Mr Ellis is confined to letter writing!’
During supper Laura thought that her mother seemed preoccupied, but she often was for she was always busy. She supervised the accounts of the Hedon and Beverley inns, sometimes calling on the managers unexpectedly, and did the same with the two shops in Hull. Laura and James too were often called on to discuss the businesses and their opinions asked on the running of them.
Over coffee, Susannah said quietly, ‘I’ve asked Freddie to come to us for Christmas, Laura. It is quite fitting that he comes. Widows must stay at home during the mourning period, but it is not the same for widowers, who must of course go about their business as usual.’
Her cheeks had flushed slightly and she lowered her eyes as she spoke. ‘I did not like to think he would spend the holiday alone in his house with only the servants for company. Besides which, he – he has things to think about, and discuss with us.’
‘With us?’ Laura said. ‘Why with us?’
‘He has no-one else. He’s always considered us as his family.’ Her mother’s voice was not only quiet, but tearful too, Laura recognized, so she didn’t question her further but merely said warmly, ‘Of course he mustn’t be alone. And I suppose it is a large house too, too big for a single person?’
Her mother said she believed that it was, though she had never visited it, but didn’t give any hint, which was what Laura was waiting for, that perhaps she and Freddie might marry when his mourning was over. It’s too soon, Laura told herself. Freddie would want to wait. He wouldn’t want to invite any scandal by marrying too quickly after his bereavement.
Laura wrote back to Edmund Ellis, as her mother had suggested, and told him that they were not in the least conventional and rarely went calling; nor did anyone leave cards on them. ‘Not now,’ she wrote, ‘though I believe they once did. My mother is far too busy for such things and so am I. I am like your great-aunt Julia in that respect, though I don’t knit or sew for charity but aim to organize others. I am not a blue-stocking, but I have an interest in politics and philosophy and like to read on both subjects.’ She paused in her writing as she recalled that it was Freddie who had encouraged her in this.
‘I do like feminine things,’ she continued, ‘but tend to disregard anything too frivolous, and as you will already have gathered I do express my own opinions. I shall quite understand, therefore, if after hearing of my improper and unladylike disposition you do not wish to continue our correspondence.’
She sent off the letter after giving it first to her mother to read, who told her that she thought she had been rather severe with the young man.
‘Not at all, Mama,’ Laura exclaimed. ‘If he wishes to know me, then know me he will, for I shall tell him myself of my headstrong character and rebellious nature!’
Nevertheless she waited anxiously for an answer, hoping that she had not been too discouraging, and one came just three days later. There were the usual polite enquiries after her health and that of her mother and brother, and then a wry comment on her lifestyle. ‘I had thought of you as a young lady who would like to embroider, or play the piano, with perhaps a gentle game of cards for amusement, and for exercise a short walk in the garden or around the drawing room if the weather were inclement.’ She smiled widely as she continued reading. ‘That is the impression you gave on visiting us here at Burstall House, so I must say how disappointed I am to hear that that is not the case.’
Within the letter was another sheet of writing paper, intended for her eyes only, and containing a pressed red rosebud. ‘Dear Laura,’ it said, when the other had addressed her as Miss Page.
It is bitterly cold here. There are icicles a foot long hanging from the barn doors and gutters, and sparkling white frost covers the trees and bushes. The robins’ breasts are vivid scarlet as is my nose from being outside all day, and yet when I cut through the garden this morning I spied this pristine precious rose still clinging tenaciously to the bush. How it has survived I know not, but I picked it thinking of you, and send it with my admiration.
Edmund.
She was touched by his sentiments. She hadn’t considered him romantic and yet he clearly was. She felt a flutter of excitement. We do not know each other, she reflected. And I am wishing that we did.
Freddie arrived on Christmas Eve. He wore a black armband over his coat sleeve and his shirt cuffs were linked with black jet, but he displayed no other sign of mourning. He was
laden with parcels and had a hint of suppressed nervousness about him. Laura and James were coming downstairs as Mrs Smith opened the door to him. He kissed Laura and shook hands with James and wished the housekeeper the season’s greetings, giving her a small parcel as he did so. ‘Just a little something for Boxing Day, Mrs Smith.’ He fumbled in his pocket and brought out another. ‘And one for Cook in appreciation of the excellent suppers she has given me.’
When she had gone, taking his coat and hat, he followed Laura into the sitting room where Susannah was waiting. She rose from her chair to greet him. ‘My dear,’ he said, ‘it’s so good to see you.’ He gave her a kiss on her cheek. ‘Thank you for inviting me.’
Laura felt that the last few words were for the benefit of her and James, and she saw the flush on her mother’s cheeks and the nervous swallow in her throat as she spoke. ‘We would have been saddened to think of you spending Christmas alone, Freddie. Isn’t that so?’ she said, turning to Laura and James.
James nodded vigorously and said, ‘Do you know, I can remember when I was young asking Mama why you couldn’t come and spend Christmas with us, and she had to explain that you had a home of your own. I cried, I think,’ he admitted sheepishly; and then apologized profusely to Freddie for his inane blunder when he had only just lost his wife. ‘I’m so sorry, Uncle Freddie,’ he said. ‘It was tactless of me to remind you of happier times.’
Freddie glanced at Susannah and was about to speak when Mrs Smith came in with a tray set with glasses and a sherry decanter. ‘Cook says to thank you very much, Mr Cannon,’ she said, before leaving the room, ‘and that she will thank you personally on Boxing Day.’
James got up and poured them each a glass of sherry, then lifted his glass in a toast. He glanced at Freddie. ‘Should we drink to absent friends?’ he asked. ‘Though I never met Mrs Cannon, I’m sure she is sorely missed.’
