Shoddy Prince

by Sheelagh Kelly

  ‘Then it certainly had the desired effect. Anyway, I think Oriel’s over her disappointment now. She’s doing very well at college and she intends to go into secretarial work when she leaves. So,’ she turned her face to beseech him as they came nearer the door to Miss Bytheway’s room, ‘I’d be pleased if you didn’t mention it at all – but thank you for being so understanding.’

  His expression soothed her. ‘Not at all. I’ll keep well away from the subject when I see Oriel – where is she by the way?’

  ‘She’s in there,’ Bright mouthed, jabbing a finger towards the invalid’s room. ‘Reading to Her Majesty. There’s no college today.’

  Noel issued a confidential nod then, donning his best professional smile, entered Miss Bytheway’s room. Nat’s face looked up at his entry – God she was like her father! The physician donated cheerful greeting to Oriel before noticing that there were tears streaming down her face. ‘Good heavens! What…?’

  ‘The Titanic,’ wheezed Miss Bytheway, ‘a dreadful business. All those wretched people. Run along now, miss.’ She patted Oriel’s hand. ‘You can read the rest of it to me later. She has a very soft heart.’ This latter comment was for the doctor, who looked kindly upon Oriel and said he hoped to see her before he left. Echoing his desire, she folded the newspaper and left the room in order to allow him to treat his patient. True to his word, Noel made no mention of her disappointment, at least not to Oriel. He was, however, sufficiently annoyed and curious enough to ask Miss Bytheway whilst he was examining her how she had known that Oriel’s illegitimacy was to blame for the girl’s failure. The response he got was very enlightening, though ethics prevented him from disclosing this confidence to Bright. A shame, for she would have been extremely interested and much more would have been understood, but he had been sworn to silence by the old lady and he would not break his word.

  * * *

  There were, though, some hometruths to be shared with the man whom Noel judged to be responsible for most of Bright’s suffering. All day it irked him, and immediately he had finished with his evening surgery he lighted the lamp on his carriage, put flame to his twentieth cigarette of the day and drove round to Nat’s address.

  Nat was relaxing by the fire in his back parlour with Talbot, his only company, laying across the hearth. It was a masculine room clothed in red wallpaper and leather upholstery, its decor gleaned from his memory of the Scaum residence but with the cosiness of the Maguire house too. The smell of burning wavered under his newspaper; he lowered it, sniffed and looked around. A tiny piece of coal had flown out and was singeing the dog’s thick coat. ‘You silly old sod, you’re on fire! Get up.’ The dog merely thumped its tail on the rug.

  Nat gave a ruttly laugh; he had not long recovered from bronchitis. ‘Can’t you feel it? You must be daft.’ He repositioned his paper as if to read, offering a hypothesis to Talbot. ‘If I stood on your nose would you mind?’ The dog continued to lay there, tail thumping on the carpet. Nat chuckled. ‘If I shoved a red hot poker up your bum would you still love me?’ Another series of thumps. Nat delivered his chesty laugh again, leaned forward and picked the cinder from Talbot’s coat. In that same instant the doorbell rang and the hound ran off barking. ‘Christ, you silly old… you nearly frightened the life out of me.’ Nat followed the hound and held his collar as he opened the door to his friend. ‘Now then, Noel, how are you? Take your hat off, I’ve told you before, Talbot doesn’t like people in hats. Come in and have a drink with me.’

  The doctor was swift to remove his Homburg and the dog lowered its hackles, though still nosed him with suspicion as he entered. ‘Would you remind him I saved his life?’ Noel attempted to take off his black coat, which was very tricky when one was pressed into a corner.

  ‘He won’t hurt you now.’ Nat preceded his guest into the back room and poured two glasses of whisky. Noel hung up his overcoat and sat down without waiting to be asked. ‘Is something burning in here?’ He sniffed the air.

  ‘Only the dog.’ The doorbell sounded, drawing exclamation from Nat. ‘I’m popular tonight.’ He hurried after Talbot who had again sprung barking to the defensive.

  ‘I doubt it,’ muttered his guest.

  Nat spared a glance for the tone, but continued to the door, returning with Spud whom Noel recognized at once.

  ‘Hello, Spud, remember me?’

  The visitor, being conversant with Talbot’s idiosyncrasies, had removed his hat before entering, his big face creased in thought until Nat revealed the identity of the stranger. ‘Oh aye! Now then, Noel, how’re you doing?’ Spud, his ears blue, edged over to the fire.

  ‘I’m very well, thank you. How are you?’

  ‘Oh, not so bad.’ Spud played with the rim of his hat.

  Nat did not ask his employee to have a drink. ‘Got something for me?’

  Drawing no offence from this abruptness, for he had come to accept Nat’s unwillingness to socialize with him – he was after all the boss – Spud handed over the money he had collected and left shortly afterwards.

  ‘He works for me,’ explained Nat, reseating himself by the fire.

  ‘Doing what?’

  ‘Oh, nowt that’d interest you, just a dogsbody. He hasn’t changed much, has he?’

  ‘No,’ agreed Noel. ‘Some people never turn out like you expect them to, but Spud hasn’t disappointed me.’

  ‘Ah well, he can’t be that daft ’cause he’s got himself a wife and two bairns. It’s more than we’ve got.’ The host took up his glass. ‘So, what have you been doing with yourself lately?’

  The leather armchair creaked as Noel wriggled his back into it. He tasted his drink. ‘As a matter of fact I’ve been speaking to Bright and your daughter.’ As the colour drained from Nat’s face he added, ‘Punch me if I’m wrong.’

  Nat took a drink to aid recovery. ‘You’re not wrong.’

  ‘I don’t know how you have the gall to admit it.’ The visitor showed disgust.

  The normally quiet man betrayed agitation. ‘Why did you ask then – and what’s it got to do with you anyway?’

  The doctor put down his glass and leaned forward. ‘Nothing in the least. I just came here to find out what sort of a shit could leave a young girl in that condition and run away. Have you any idea what she’s had to suffer?’

  Nat jumped from his chair. ‘You don’t think I’m proud of what I did? But for God’s sake I was only fifteen…’

  ‘So was she!’

  ‘Yes, well… there’s more responsibility thrust on the bloke, isn’t there?’ Nat began to circle the room, watched closely by a protective Talbot. ‘We’re meant to look after them. How could I look after her when I was locked up in there with no money? I didn’t intend to go away for good.’ He sat down again, snatched up his glass and emptied it. ‘Once I’d made my fortune I was going to come back for her, only it didn’t happen like that. When I came back to York I didn’t have a meg, I didn’t know if Bright still lived at home…’

  ‘And you didn’t bother to find out.’

  ‘Oh, you’d bloody know! I did as a matter of fact, and all I got for my pains was the shit belted out of me by her brothers – twice!’ Nat’s blue eyes glistened with self pity and anger. ‘They said she didn’t want anything to do with me.’

  ‘So you just gave up.’

  ‘Oh stop being such a holy sod!’ Nat jumped up again and clinked the decanter at his glass. ‘You’d have done the same in my position and don’t kid me you wouldn’t.’

  Noel was sure that his friend was correct, but wasn’t about to agree. After gulping his whisky, he studied the face that he had come to know well, with all its little nuances, and watched intently as those dark good looks gradually relaxed from agitation to pathos.

  The awaited explanation came. ‘I fully intended to keep looking for her.’ Nat was calmer now, his eyes beseeching the other to understand. ‘But I didn’t find out where she was until you gave me a clue, and then it was too late. I couldn’t be a father to a fou
rteen-year-old girl who didn’t know me from Adam – and she wouldn’t have wanted a rag and bone man for a father. I doubt if Bright would have wanted me for a husband, either, after what I’d done to her.’

  ‘And with that opinion you inflict yet another injustice on her,’ accused Noel, sparking irritation in the other.

  ‘Well, I don’t know what she thought about it all do I? She might have hated me.’ Nat spread his hands in despair, then looked into the other’s eyes. ‘Does she?’

  It was such a pathetic request. Noel knew that with one kind word he could resolve the whole cruel saga, could write a fairy tale ending to Bright’s unhappiness. But he did not, for if Bright was to be happy then he had suddenly decided that he would be the one to make her so. He did not know how, for his mother would never countenance his marriage to a servant. He did not know when. What he did know was that his own feelings would never allow him to play matchmaker between Bright and this man here. ‘I have no idea,’ he answered quietly, looking down into his glass. ‘She never refers to you… except to express dismay that you’ve taken to spying upon Oriel.’

  Nat snorted. ‘Spying? I just wanted to make sure she was all right, that’s all.’

  ‘Well, she is all right, and her mother wants you to leave her alone. She doesn’t want Oriel to be frightened by the persistent attentions of a stranger.’ In retrospect that had been too harsh. ‘I’m sorry to be so brutal, but that is what you are, what you’ve chosen to be.’

  Nat hid his wounds under a mask of ice. ‘If that’s what she wants, I’ll leave them both alone. And now you’ve got the information you came for, you’ve wrung this confession of guilt from me, I’d be obliged if you’d bugger off.’

  Noel looked chastened and, with some reluctance, rose. ‘I didn’t come here to gloat, Nat. I came to speak frankly as somebody who cares about the pair of you, who recognizes the unfairness of it all. You’ll do yourself no good by wishing for things that cannot be, believe me.’

  Nat spoke through clenched teeth. ‘I’ve said I won’t bother her!’

  The doctor felt unease that his straight-talking might have given birth to a worse problem. ‘Yes, well, I sincerely hope this won’t ruin our friendship?’

  Nat dealt him a puff of derision, then at the look of genuine concern in the other’s brown eyes, he relented. ‘Oh, what the hell… I’ll give you a ring next week.’

  The other looked relieved and left in a more ebullient manner.

  ‘Good! We’ll have a night on the town and see if we can find you a wife – it’s way past time you were hitched.’

  ‘Oh aye, and what about you?’ There was a sardonic twist to the lips that drained the whisky glass.

  ‘I wouldn’t inflict my mother on any poor girl.’ Noel laughed. This was his pat answer when anyone enquired as to his lack of a wife. In truth it was just that he had never met a female he wanted to be with for the rest of his life. He knew that folk considered him odd. He thought it odd himself that he had never felt really attracted to a woman until he had met Bright, and even now it wasn’t a sexual attraction but that of a dear friend. She would make a perfect wife, except for the handicap of her station, but this was not insurmountable. With this in mind, he went to the hall, making the error of donning his hat before he reached the exit. In a trice Talbot was up and barking. Nat enjoyed a touch of malice before restraining the dog, who finally allowed the doctor to leave.

  Alone again, Nat pondered on what his friend had said. ‘What d’you think, old lad?’ he asked Talbot. ‘Do you think I need a wife?’

  The dog gazed at him adoringly and thumped its tail.

  ‘No, neither do I,’ agreed his owner. ‘We’re all right, on us own, aren’t we?’ He gave an empty sigh, then refilled his glass and sat back in his chair. Did he mind that Bright viewed him as a threat? His memory took him back to the evening he and Bright had lost their virginity, had conceived Oriel; he imagined her warmth around his flesh, her tenderness at his tears… yes, he minded, but what could he do? He supposed Noel was right, a man of his age should have a wife and children, maybe then he would be able to forget Oriel and her mother.

  * * *

  Knowing her concern, Noel was quick to inform Bright that Nat had promised to abandon his surveillance.

  Her brown eyes widened. ‘You’ve seen him?’

  ‘Yes, I bumped into him by accident in town the other day,’ lied Noel, forbidding any questions on the other’s whereabouts, ‘and took the opportunity of relaying your fears. I don’t think you’ll have any more trouble.’

  ‘Oh…’ An immense sadness came over Bright; it showed in her eyes.

  ‘That was what you wanted, wasn’t it?’ Noel’s face was perplexed, though deep inside he had guessed now that to remove Nat’s physical presence had not been enough. Bright was entrapped by a memory.

  Too late, she tried to hide her grief. ‘Yes of course. Thank you, Noel, that was very thoughtful of you.’ She smoothed her apron and led him up to Miss Bytheway’s room, wanting to enquire, did Nat ask about me? But she was too afraid. ‘Was he well?’

  ‘Yes, quite well. As a matter of fact he’s to be married.’ Noel felt this comment was only slightly premature.

  Bright flinched and said nothing more as they went to the old lady’s room.

  When he came down, Noel took tea with the mother and daughter as usual and, before leaving, posed the question, ‘How long have I been coming here now? Six or seven years?’ He laughed. ‘It’s odd, isn’t it, all that time and yet I must have only spoken with you on a dozen occasions when I’ve come to tend Miss Bytheway. If you add up the actual days, we haven’t really known each other more than a fortnight! Yet I feel as if we’re lifelong friends.’

  ‘We are in a way.’ A nostalgic Bright was thinking of the times she and Nat had visited the other’s house in Hull Road.

  He nodded thoughtfully. ‘Yes, I suppose we are.’

  Oriel, sensing the different atmosphere, was watching them like a hawk, eyes darting from one to the other.

  Noel leaned forward, impelled to ask if he could perhaps visit in a non-professional capacity, but was at the last moment inhibited by what others would say. There was no rush. It would wait a couple of years. Now that Nat was out of the way it wasn’t as if anybody else would want her. You’re waiting for your mother to die. No, I’m not! It’s just… well, there’ll hardly be others queueing up to marry her, will there. I can’t see the need for haste. Feeling Oriel’s intent gaze, he turned to catch her. She started, then smiled. He grinned back and rose abruptly. ‘Well, I’d better say goodbye until the next time.’

  ‘We look forward to seeing you then, Noel.’ Though smiling, Bright was only half aware, the other half of her mind picturing Nat with his bride.

  * * *

  In fact, Nat’s bachelorhood was to continue for another year and in the end it was not loneliness that propelled him towards matrimony but a much greater threat. A war that had been on the cards for months now exploded across Europe. The August sun, which only last week had beaten down upon a sea of boaters and white duck suits, now illuminated regimental badges upon a mass of khaki. York thronged with eager volunteers, hustled and bustled with housewives rushing to queue for supplies that would carry them up to Christmas. Troops were mobilized by car, cab and motor cycle, and every green sward became a training ground or airfield. At first it was predicted that the duration of hostilities would be short, but when blood continued to spill over into 1915 Nat decided to act, for if push came to shove it would be the single man who was called to arms.

  Nat had never had difficulty in attracting women, who seemed to find a challenge in the combination of his dark looks and cool reserve. It was with this same icy detachment that he selected a pretty candidate whose father was in trade, showered her with artificial charm and proposed wedlock. Under such determined onslaught the girl was swept off her feet, though her parents were more reticent and decreed that the couple must get to know each other a lit
tle better before they granted their consent. They were also unhappy that a mature man of thirty-four showed no inclination to join up, but Nat assured them he was every bit as patriotic as the volunteers and would enjoy a much more important role here by supplying the Army with metal for its guns. Their decision swayed, Violet’s parents finally gave their consent for Nat to marry their girl.

  Whilst the war had spelled momentous change for some it had done little to alter Bright’s world. After the initial excitement of waving Fulford’s soldiers off to the battlefields and marvelling over the aeroplanes that took off within view of her rear window every day, she continued in her drab mode of life. On this cool but beautiful April morning she rose and dressed as normal, went down, waking Oriel on the way, ran outside with a jug to the milkman’s cart, made breakfast and set a tray for her employer.

  ‘I’ll take it.’ Oriel came in, suitably dressed for the weather in a blue knitted jacket over a white blouse and navy skirt. Arms above head, she tried to fasten her ribbon into a bow. It was her final year at college, though she had no idea what she was going to do once her secretarial examinations were over. Her mother took charge of the ribbon, then gave her a tray which Oriel carried to the old lady’s room.

  Bright finished dishing up their own breakfasts and seated herself at the table, reaching for the teapot as Oriel reappeared.

  The girl sat down, her face almost as white as her collar. Immediately Bright knew what had caused that pallor. ‘Oh no, she isn’t?’

  Moisture welled in Oriel’s eyes and she nodded. The joy of this lovely morning caved in. Bright banged down the teapot and clasped her head in her hands. ‘Oh my God, what’re we going to do?’ For a while they sat there, stunned, then a tear rolled down Oriel’s cheek and Bright came around the table to comfort her. ‘Oh, there!’ She cradled her daughter’s head, stroking and petting.