Brilliance

by Rosalind Laker

  She left him to Ethel’s attentions and when she had seen everything she returned to the gateway where the steamroller had arrived in the lane. It was hissing and steaming, giving out its aroma of tar. Its driver, sitting high in his seat like a king on a throne, was wiping his hands on a greasy rag and listening attentively as Daniel told him precisely what he had to do. By now a stepladder had been mounted on the wheeled base that Lisette had seen earlier and Jim was high on it with his camera ready at the angle needed to follow the action when he would be pushed or pulled according to what was needed.

  Arthur soon arrived in his chalky make-up and wearing a top hat and a checked suit that was short in the sleeves and legs, which added to his comical appearance. Immediately work started, but there were various hitches and delays before eventually, after several retakes, the film was completed. Throughout it had brought loud bursts of spontaneous laughter from those assisting, for it was as if before a camera Arthur became completely transformed. Here was a defiant little man with an amusing strut, taking a leisurely stroll in the middle of the lane and deliberately ignoring the steamroller approaching behind him. Sticking his nose up in the air, he strode ahead, refusing to get out of its way and, if any attempt was made to pass him, he dodged leisurely one way and then the other. The driver, coaxed by Daniel, shouted and gesticulated wildly in fury, giving his best while keeping his vehicle on its unremitting course. At the right moment Arthur nipped out of the way and a dummy was thrown down in front of the rollers to be replaced by a flat cut-out of Arthur on the far side as the driver drove on. When the film was spliced Arthur would appear to spring up again unharmed while the driver stood up to shake a furious fist after him as he ran away into the distance. A fade-out would swallow him up.

  Applause greeted Arthur as he returned from his final spurt of speed, but he did not acknowledge it, changing once more into the gloomy individual unknown to the cameras.

  Work continued throughout the day and set a pattern for the following weeks, everybody at the studio getting a day off on Sundays if there had been enough good weather for maximum filming during the week, otherwise it was work as usual. On free Sundays Lisette and Daniel drove out into the country where they walked through the woods and followed the gentle grassy slopes of the bow-backed Sussex Downs. She loved the views that stretched as far as the sea, pierced by the distant spire of Chichester Cathedral

  The public performances at the Queen’s Hall had been a great success and there had been non-stop performances to accommodate all who wanted to attend. Afterwards the programme moved to a hall in Chichester where it received the same approbation, Jim having used the camera on scenes and events there too.

  With the coming of the warmer weather Lisette sometimes went swimming, hiring one of Mr Jenkins’ bathing machines located west of the pier. Why they were called ‘machines’ she did not know, for no machinery was involved. They were just huts on large wheels with a door at each end. One entered at the rear and there was a bumpy ride down the beach until the machine was hub-deep into the sea. There the horse was unhitched and led back up the beach while the occupant, now in her bathing costume, could emerge directly and modestly into the waves. When her swim was over the procedure was reversed, the horse being hitched to the opposite end of the machine to draw it up the beach again. Daniel was never able to swim with her on these occasions, for bathing was segregated, but there were warm nights when they went down to the sea away from the resort and discarded their clothes to swim naked together in the moonlight-flecked water.

  Daniel had become aware that soon it would no longer be a novelty for people to see themselves and local vistas on the screen. So, except for special occasions or important sports events, he concentrated throughout the summer on turning out innumerable one-reel comedies, for which there was an insatiable demand.

  With the sea being so near there were plenty of opportunities for comic actors to fall in and out of boats, get large artificial crabs pinching their toes, become entangled in fishing nets, be buried in sand up to the neck and also be chased by irate husbands for spying on lady bathers through a telescope. He often found new talent among comic actors who performed in the resort’s small theatres, one in particular called the Olympian Gardens had given him three good comic actors, but if he was unable to attend the shows he relied on Lisette to go alone and report on any possible talent.

  Filming continued into the autumn, but the shorter daylight hours soon slowed down production almost to a standstill. Then Daniel, leaving Jim in charge to carry out whatever work was possible on brighter days, left home to gather in orders for his animated pictures from London and elsewhere in the country. He was often away for weeks at a time, during which he also kept a lookout for a possible new site for his studio

  Lisette knew he had become dissatisfied with its present position, partly because the farmer who owned the land had refused to let him rent a neighbouring meadow for expansion, which was becoming necessary. Another reason was that he had tried in vain to get gas lamps installed for extra illumination, oil lamps being only a feeble help on a gloomy day. The local gas board had refused his application as the studio was considered to be too far out of the resort for the cost involved. At the same time electricity was beginning to replace gas lighting in major cities in the United Kingdom and in other parts of the world. Daniel saw it as the solution to winter filming.

  During his absences Lisette, although she missed Daniel, was never lonely. She had met a fellow countrywoman, named Veronique Desgrange, who was married to a local businessman, and through her Lisette had met two other Frenchwomen living in the district. The four of them met often in one another’s houses. Otherwise Lisette was kept busy reading scripts, for would-be scriptwriters had started sending their work to Daniel. She also wrote some herself, although hers were dramas and not comedies, for she knew that eventually Daniel would move into drama and she would have her work to show him when the time came.

  It was a December afternoon, shortly before she was expecting him home again, when Tom brought her two letters that had come in the post. One was from her Paris lawyers, which she guessed would be about her inheritance due in January, and another was from Joanna, which she opened first. They had corresponded ever since Lisette had written to her after settling down again in Lyon, although Joanna knew nothing of Marie-Louise’s birth or the trauma that Lisette had suffered afterwards. Lisette was pleased to read that her friend was holding another exhibition of her paintings, which seemed to sell well. There followed the usual invitation to visit, but as yet Lisette felt unable to accept, for she was in charge when Daniel was away and all too busy working with him when he was at home and in action at the studio.

  She was about to open her lawyers’ letter when Mrs Pierce entered the room and made a surprising announcement.

  ‘I’ve come to give in my notice, madam.’ The woman’s face was grim and her hands were folded firmly in front of her.

  ‘Whatever has happened to bring that about, Mrs Pierce?’ Lisette asked with concern.

  The reply came stiffly. ‘It is what has not happened and I’m at the end of my patience in waiting for it. When I heard you were coming here from France I naturally expected a marriage to take place soon after your arrival. That has not taken place and I see no sign that it ever will.’ Her next words came in a rush of embarrassment. ‘There is a great deal of gossip in the neighbourhood about you and Mr Shaw living in sin. For the sake of my own good name I cannot stay any longer under this roof.’

  Lisette regarded her steadily. ‘In that case you must leave immediately, Mrs Pierce. I would not want your conscience to be troubled for a moment longer.’

  Mrs Pierce looked taken aback. ‘I’m willing to work out my month’s notice.’

  Lisette shook her head. ‘Certainly not. Do not be afraid that I’ll refuse you a reference, because I have found no fault with your work. I will write it now for you to collect as you leave.’

  The letter was written. Lise
tte was putting it ready on the kitchen table when Daisy came to her in tears.

  ‘Do Tom and I have to leave too, madam?’

  Lisette raised her eyebrows. ‘Tom spends more time working at the studio than he does here in any case. As for you, Daisy, of course I don’t want you to leave.’ Then she added dryly, ‘Unless your mother has expressed doubts about your being here.’

  ‘Oh, no!’ Daisy’s whole face showed her relief. ‘She’s glad I’m here. As you know, madam, she has a boarding house in the resort, but she was a housekeeper once until I came along. She has always said those were her best days. Is there any chance of her applying for Mrs Pierce’s place?’

  ‘She may not wish to do that.’

  ‘Oh, I think she would, The house we live in ain’t ours, only rented, and it’s not all honey having summer visitors with their howling kids that wet the beds and families that get bad-tempered and quarrelsome when it rains and they can’t enjoy themselves on the beach. Then in winter it’s travelling salesmen that drink too much and try to have their way with my mother and me too, if you get my meaning. People take advantage of a woman on her own and sometimes they slope off without paying their bills. Please would you just see her, madam?’

  Lisette smiled. ‘Yes, Daisy. If she is willing, tell her to come tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime I’ll take over the cooking.’

  She returned to the sitting room where she opened the letter from her lawyers and received an unexpected shock. It informed her that recently they had been working on her behalf to try to regain some of her late father’s bequest to her, which, unbeknown to them, had been siphoned away by her stepmother through a loophole in his will. The vanished money had gone in costs for the upkeep of the château where major alterations had taken place. This was quite a separate matter from her late grandmother’s bequest, which would come to her intact and which no outsider could touch.

  Lisette crumpled the letter in outrage at her stepmother’s deviousness. Then, springing to her feet, she paced up and down in her frustration at being powerless to take any action. Isabelle in her greed had taken revenge by the only means open to her.

  Underlying Lisette’s rage was her bitter disappointment that now she would not be able to use her father’s money to help Daniel to build a new studio when he found a new site that was suitable. He had made it clear a while ago that her grandmother’s bequest was solely for her, but he had not known what she would inherit from her father and it was that money that she had planned should make her an equal financial partner in his enterprise. But now she foresaw endless arguments over his determination not to risk her income in any way.

  That night she could not sleep, this knowledge hanging over her like a heavy cloud. At three o’clock she went downstairs and unburdened herself in a long letter to Daniel, too upset to wait until he was home again.

  As a result of her disturbed night Lisette was still somewhat distracted when Daisy’s mother, Maisie Robertson, arrived at the time arranged for her interview. She was in her early forties, a pretty woman, round and smiling with the same large blue eyes as her daughter, her light brown hair curling up under her feather-trimmed red hat. Everything about her was neat and clean.

  ‘I’m a widow,’ she began, ‘and have been since before Daisy was born, I started in service as a scullery maid and then rose to parlour maid and eventually I became housekeeper to two elderly spinsters. I can’t give you a reference from them, because I left in a hurry for reasons of my own. But I was with them for four years, which should show you that I was satisfactory, although you would have to take my word on it as I have no proof to offer.’

  Lisette had been hearing echoes of her own interview with old Judge Oinville in the woman’s words. She wondered what hardships Maisie Robertson had endured after leaving the spinsters’ employ, but at least her baby had not been taken from her.

  ‘My late father was a local fisherman here at the resort,’ Maisie continued. ‘We had fallen out in the past, but when he was ill towards the end of his life he let me come home to nurse him. With the little bit of money he left me I started renting the boarding house and taking in lodgers. At this time of year without the summer visitors business goes down and its mostly commercial travellers, who only stay a night or two, so I could easily shut the house and come on a month’s trial if you wished. I’d like to get back into service in a proper home and Daisy has been real happy here with you. If you should decide that I suit you, I would give up the boarding house and move into the rooms that Mrs Pierce occupied.’

  ‘But there is no guarantee that Mr Shaw and I will be living here permanently,’ Lisette said. ‘In fact there’s every chance that he might move the studio elsewhere at any time.’

  Maisie Robertson gave a quick reply. ‘But you’ll still need a good housekeeper and a reliable maidservant wherever you go, madam.’

  Lisette gave a smile. ‘In that case you may come for the month’s trial as soon as possible.’

  When Daniel returned home two weeks later with a wad of orders for his productions he was surprised to find that a new housekeeper had replaced Mrs Pierce.

  ‘What was the reason for her leaving?’ he asked Lisette as they sat at dinner.

  ‘Her conscience troubled her. She felt unable to remain under the same roof as a couple living in sin,’ Lisette replied. ‘But Daisy is still with us and it’s her mother who has taken over the housekeeping duties.’

  He merely raised an eyebrow, but made no comment. At the end of the meal he went into the kitchen. The past housekeeper had cooked well, but her replacement was even better. ‘That was an excellent dinner, Mrs Robertson,’ he said.

  She beamed, partly with pleasure, but also because she liked good-looking men with a virile look about them. Turning back to the dishes in the sink after he had left again, Maisie discussed him with her daughter.

  ‘Why don’t she marry him, Daisy?’ she pondered aloud. ‘He wouldn’t have to ask any other woman twice.’

  ‘He wouldn’t want anybody else,’ Daisy replied. ‘Anybody can see that.’

  ‘Maybe he hasn’t asked her. So many men like to have their cake and eat it too.’

  ‘Or perhaps he’s asked her and she has refused him. She is a very independent lady, as you’ll soon find out if you haven’t noticed already.’

  Maisie paused for a moment, a dripping plate held in mid-air as she waited for her daughter to take it. ‘She’s French, of course. Foreigners often have different ideas about things. In any case the two of them are sort of stage people anyway, being connected to entertainment as they are.’

  ‘I suppose so.’

  ‘Therefore the same rules of marriage don’t really apply to them. I know that from some of the actors and actresses from the Olympian Gardens and the theatre at the end of the pier that stayed with me during the summer months. Sometimes there was scarcely a wedding ring among them and they were always in one another’s bedrooms.’

  Daisy had heard it all before and wanted to know something far more important. ‘Your month’s trial will be up soon, Ma. Have you thought yet whether you want to stay on here?’

  ‘Yes, I have. I’ve weighed everything up in my mind. Miss Decourt is always busy reading and writing scripts or at the studio, and she has found no fault with my work or me. There’s no more scrubbing floors here with a village woman coming in daily. I’ll have comfortable accommodation in those two rooms off the kitchen near my own bathroom. There’s a good regular wage and time off. What’s more, you could live here too if Miss Decourt agrees. There’s that storeroom next to my rooms, which would make a nice little bedroom for you if the trunks and valises in there were stored elsewhere.’

  ‘Oh, Ma!’ Daisy exclaimed with relief. ‘I’m so glad you like it here.’

  She had her own reason for being pleased with her mother’s decision. It meant an end at last to all the extra chores she had had to do at the boarding house when her day’s work was done at the cottage, because her mother was a stick
ler for having everything spick and span. Although she would have preferred not to continue to be under her mother’s watchful eye, always having to say where she was going and kept to a strict nine o’clock curfew, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.

  Although neither Daniel nor Lisette referred again to the reason for Mrs Pierce’s departure he had not forgotten it. It was in his mind again that night as he began to make love to Lisette in their wide bed. Then passion obliterated all else.

  It was during Maisie’s trial period in late November when Daniel was away again for a few days that Joanna came to stay, having given up expecting Lisette to visit her for the time being. They embraced each other joyously. Joanna had put on weight about the hips and breasts, but her waist was still small, giving her the ideal hourglass figure that was what most women wanted.

  It was as if they could never stop talking as day followed day and yet still Lisette felt unable to tell Joanna about her lost child. It was only with Daniel that she could share her deep feelings for Marie-Louise.

  ‘You must love this Daniel Shaw very much indeed to give up living in your beloved France,’ Joanna declared as they sat talking. ‘Do you feel that you’re starting to put roots down into English soil?’

  ‘Roots?’ Lisette echoed smilingly. ‘I’m not sure yet. You must remember that I still have roots in the Bellecour house and maybe they will never let me break free.’

  Joanna shrugged. ‘Don’t ever let that house come between you and Daniel,’ she advised seriously.

  Lisette laughed lightly. ‘That could never happen.’

  ‘Shall you marry him?’

  ‘It’s most unlikely. I was still helping him with magic lantern shows when we last discussed the state of marriage, the restrictions of which did not appeal to either of us.’

  They began talking of other matters. Lisette enjoyed every moment of Joanna’s visit and it amused her to see how her friend was fascinated by everything to do with the studio and motion picture making. When some snow fell and lay for several days, which was unusual in the south, Jim was able to use its brightness with the weak November sunshine to make three new comedies, all of which had comic policemen in various ridiculous situations. Joanna did not miss any of the action, arriving before filming started and staying until the end of it, laughing and clapping her hands at all the antics like an excited child. When one of the comic actors had to fall into a pond, breaking the ice at the end of a scene and losing his policeman’s helmet, Joanna was the first to reach him with a warm blanket.