Poor Caroline

by Winifred Holtby

  He stooped to gather up the red carnations, now drenched in champagne, trodden upon and broken, and as he fumbled clumsily among the scattered olives and glass and flowers, the sense of his desolation swept down upon him.

  The telephone broke shrilly upon his misery. At first he let it ring; then the absurd hope that it might be Gloria, which even as it rose to his mind, he rejected, sent him to the instrument. He heard a familiar voice.

  'Hallo. Hallo. Is that you, old dear? I say. You know who this is? Yes, Delia! Look here. You do anything to-morrow? 'Cause I'm bored. This damn job's come to an end. I've got the chuck. Couldn't we go somewhere?'

  'Couldn't we?' Johnson responded to the old appeal. 'Look here, lil' old thing. What about Paris?'

  'What, Paris! You don't mean it! Oh, boy. This is so sudden.'

  'Yes I do. You gotta passport? Good. I'll get two tickets for the boat-train at Victoria 8.20 to-morrow night. Let's do a little trip together. Yes. Yes. I've got the cash all right. Need a holiday.'

  'But honest. Not joking?'

  'Abso-ballyutly. I was thinking of going off f'ra day or two in any case.'

  'Well, I don't mind. But how will all your good works get along without you? What'll you do about your Christian Cinema Company and poor Caroline?'

  Johnson laughed into the telephone. 'I'm fed up with the lot of 'em. You're the only woman in the world I can bear to look at at the moment. You won't let me down, darling, will you? We'll have a lovely time together. A lovely time. We might go to Egypt. Cairo, you know, an' Alexandria. 'Smy belief I've been in London too long. Say, baby, we'll paint Europe red, an' to Hell,' he was about to add 'with Gloria!' but checked himself in time with a laugh that was half a sob, and called to her, 'to Hell with your Poor Caroline!'

  Chapter 7 : Caroline Audrey Denton-Smyth

  §1

  on Thursday, April 4th, Caroline faced her depleted Board across her pile of papers. From the chair, Mr. Guerdon blinked and cleared his throat. Hugh Macafee sprawled reluctantly on her right.

  She despised both of them. Mr. Guerdon was a conventional man. At last she saw beyond his apparent liberality and progressiveness to his temperamental and invariable timidity. He could do nothing unsafe, and nothing that his fathers had not done before him. She had been deceived at first because, his fathers having been Quakers, pacifists, humanitarians and radicals, he had pursued these interests from filial convention and lack of initiative, just as in other circumstances he would have pursued imperialism, tariff reform, evangelicalism and fox hunting. Well, she knew him now. He was of no more use to her.

  Hugh Macafee was purely selfish. He had never cared for the high ideals of the company. All that he wanted was to find someone who would finance his inventions.

  She could manage them. That morning she had taken an egg beaten up with the remainder of Father Mortimer's brandy for her breakfast. She felt that she could face tigers on an egg.

  'I - er - I suppose that we are all here,' muttered Mr. Guerdon.

  'I looked up the constitution of the company,' said Caroline briskly, 'and so far as I can see, nothing was laid down about a quorum. Of course I'm not saying it ought not to have been but there it is, and until we have co-opted other directors, I suppose we must act alone.'

  'Well, I suppose so. Really, there is not much to do. Let me see. . . .'

  If Caroline had not prompted him, Mr. Guerdon would have let the whole meeting go to pieces. He did not care. He wanted to escape to his comfortable little home up at Golder's Green. Caroline knew. A high note of moral indignation rang in her voice as she began to read.

  'A meeting of the Board of the Christian Cinema Company Ltd. was held on March 11th at the offices in Victoria Street. Mr. St. Denis was in the chair. Present, Mr. Macafee, Mr. Guerdon, Mr. Johnson and Miss Denton-Smyth, Honorary Secretary. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. Under Correspondence the Honorary Secretary read a letter from Mr. Joseph Isenbaum announcing his resignation from the Board. The Board accepted the resignation with regret and instructed the Secretary to write a letter to this effect to Mr. Isenbaum.'

  The formal phraseology of the minutes soothed Caroline as the familiar words of the Church service soothed her. Here lay security in a world of fleeting values. Disciplined by the ritual of business convention, the defection of Isenbaum appeared less tragic. What had these calm sentences to do with sleepless nights and days of aching misery? As she read the flat record of her own defeat, she found herself able to regard with something like complacency this retreat of her directors.

  The minutes came to an end.

  'Let me see.' Mr. Guerdon blinked and licked his lips. 'Any business arising out of the minutes which is not on the agenda?'

  Nobody spoke.

  'Well, then, I think we pass on to correspondence.'

  Caroline drew from her file a large sheet of mauve paper, scrawled across with writing in brilliant purple ink. She felt perfectly calm now, though she was very cold and her throat hurt her.

  'I have here a letter which I received since the last Board meeting from Mrs. St. Denis, and though I think we all know about it, I believe I ought to read it.' Her voice was even steadier than usual as she read: -

  'March 20th, 1929.

  dear Miss denton-smyth,

  I am writing on behalf of my husband to say that he has been ordered by his doctors to leave England immediately on account of his health, and is leaving to-morrow for the South of France. It is probable that he will not be allowed to spend another winter in England. As you probably know, his lungs were affected by his War Service. In that case he has asked me on his behalf to tender with great regret his resignation from the chairmanship of the Christian Cinema Company. He thanks his colleagues for their loyal and helpful co-operation, and wishes me to say how much he regrets the necessity for this step.

  Yours truly,

  gloria st. denis.'

  'Well,' said Mr. Guerdon. 'I suppose we must accept that. It comes to the same thing in the end.'

  This was the first shadow of challenge. Caroline braced herself for battle.

  'Don't you think, Mr. Guerdon, it would be better if I wrote to Mr. St. Denis and expressed the regret of the Board for his ill-health, and said that we should be delighted to appoint a Vice-chairman, to serve during his absence but that we very much hope that, as soon as he is better, he will be able to rejoin us? You see, he has been ill before and got better. I understand that the Mediterranean is very beneficial to the lungs.'

  'Well, I don't really see the point of that under the circumstances. It seems to come to much the same thing in the end.'

  'I don't agree with you, Mr. Guerdon. It doesn't come to the same thing really, because in one case Mr. St. Denis remains our chairman, and in the other he doesn't. Of course you might say that he won't consent to remain as it were a sleeping partner, but I think we ought to give him the benefit of the doubt.'

  She would not let herself know what the two men wanted to say. They were rats fleeing from a sinking ship. Rats. Or mice, rather. The Quaker with his long soft twitching nose and weak eyes was rather like a large lugubrious mouse.

  'Well, Miss Denton-Smyth, I really think - What do you say, Macafee?'

  'It's all one to me.' Hugh Macafee had heard nothing. He cared nothing. He was thinking about the bichromated glue process used in half-tone reproduction.

  'Thank you, Mr. Macafee,' said Caroline. 'Very well then, I'll write to Mr. St. Denis to that effect.' She did not say to which effect. She was trembling with the secret ardour of the conflict. She hurried on to her next point. 'And I have another letter of resignation from Mr. Johnson. He just says that business has taken him abroad indefinitely and that he is very sorry to have to resign. I must tell the Board what a loss that is. He was most kind last month in helping me go through the books. I've missed him very much. Yes, it was March 26th he wrote that letter. I believe he left that same evening. I don't know where he has gone. Probably back to California. I
understand that the Anglo-American School of Scenario Writing is closed. I went round to Essex Street, but the caretaker told me it was all shut up and some new firm was in possession.'

  The two directors made no comment. Mr, Guerdon had his own fears about Mr. Johnson. He did not wish to be involved in that gentleman's business transactions. The sooner he escaped completely from his disreputable connection, the better. Hugh Macafee was thinking that if Brooks would not give him a free hand, he could always find someone else in the States who would be interested in his colour process.

  Caroline was aware of their discomfort. She had no mercy. She was no longer afraid. Facing the worst brought her a sense of exhilaration. She was stronger than both of these stupid men together.

  She read other letters. They dealt with the small change of public business.

  There was a request from the Bishop's Council of Public and Private Morality, asking the company to pass a resolution in favour of a Children's Censor. There was a request from the Sabbatarian League, asking the company to send two representatives to a protest meeting against the Sunday Cinema. There were several invitations to Trade Shows of special films. All these signs of activity were reassuring. They proved to Caroline that the company had taken its place in society, that it was needed, that it was co-operating with all those other pioneers who strove to leave the world a better place than they found it.

  Mr. Guerdon listened with impatience.

  'Is that all the correspondence?' asked Mr. Guerdon. 'Secretary's report, then, please.'

  Caroline gave it. Her reports were always long, detailed and optimistic. She loved writing them, and was continually surprised by the amount of work that she managed to achieve between the Board meetings. She had spoken at six drawing-room meetings and three conferences. She had interviewed eight firms. She had received such and such letters and attended such and such functions. If no very concrete result had come from all this activity, at least it proved that useful propaganda was being done.

  Her fellow directors failed to be impressed.

  'Have you the balance sheet?' snapped Mr. Guerdon.

  'Well, I haven't exactly been able to prepare a full balance sheet,' smiled Caroline. She was not so happy about this item on the agenda, because she felt that she had fallen short of her standard of efficiency and helpfulness. But really one could not attend to everything at once. 'I have been very busy, as you know, and then Mr. Johnson was in the middle of helping me to put the books straight, which was very kind of him, when he went abroad, because as you know that is the part of the work that I have had least previous experience of, though willing to do my best until we could afford a permanent trained accountant. So of course he found that there were a good many accounts outstanding which he said must be paid off by quarter day. I expect he knew he might have to go abroad, and wanted to get everything straight for us, so he helped me to get the cheques made out, and so far as I know' - she brought up her lorgnettes and bent over the paper - 'our bank balance now stands at £35 41s. 7d., which is perhaps not very grand, but when you think what other similar societies have to do with, and then we have no salaries to pay out,' she added proudly.

  Mr. Guerdon wanted to ask, 'Where is the £2,500 we had in January?' But his desire was for quiet and speedy escape. He suspected that Johnson might not be perfectly straight. He had never been sure of St. Denis. But Isenbaum had not cared what happened to his original investment and the de la Roux girl was Miss Denton-Smyth's cousin, and naturally she might be expected to look after her relative's own interest. The whole thing was a frost, and the sooner it was allowed to melt away the better.

  'Well, we have to accept your statement, Miss Denton-Smyth,' he said. 'Now I come to the next item on the agenda, appointment of new directors, and as what I have to say seems to fit best in here, I have to offer the Board my resignation. I am very sorry, but these meetings have been a great tax upon my time, and I, personally, do not see that I can be of any further use to the company.'

  Caroline looked up at him. She had suspected this. He thought that she would be frightened, did he? She smiled serenely, though her heart drummed a summons to battle.

  'I am very sorry to hear you feel like that,' she said cheerfully. 'Well, Mr. Macafee, you and I seem to be the only directors left.'

  'What's that? What's that?' asked Hugh, rousing himself. 'Oh, but I'm going to America, you know. I'm done with England, and I'm sure the Christian Cinema Company can do without me. You can make what use of the Tona Perfecta you like. It's a good film, whatever Brooks says. I'll have to see this new Hollywood one a good deal more before I'd believe it's better than mine.'

  'You mean to resign too?' asked Caroline in a cold little voice.

  'Well, you can take it as you like. I'm off. And I've wasted enough time here already. If that's all I'll be going.'

  'So that seems to be the end of our business, I think, Miss Denton-Smyth,' said Mr. Guerdon. 'Well, it has been a very pleasant venture, and I am sure I have enjoyed it very much.' One must get out of these things pleasantly, he was thinking. Caroline could see the thoughts scurrying about in his brain like mice, Mouse, mouse, mouse, she thought in scorn. 'I suppose it is really no use going through the other items in the agenda, because we may take it, I think, that the company must be voluntarily liquidated. We hope, I think, that our work together has done a little good by demonstrating to the public the need for a clean, decent cinema, and perhaps one day when things are more propitious and the state of trade justifies greater commercial enterprise, we may hope that something of the kind will be started again. I take it that the balance of- er - £35 odd will cover outstanding expenses. We shall have, as a matter of form, I take it, to call a shareholders' meeting. But as Mr. Isenbaum makes no objection to winding up the company, I suppose that Miss de la Roux will adopt the same attitude. There are no more shareholders of more than a pound or two, and I imagine that they will give us no trouble. A purely formal meeting, just to put everything in order. I suggest that we fix it for next week and then you can send out the notices, and if Miss de la Roux cares to attend, she can.'

  'I see,' said Caroline. 'You mean that you both want to resign and then that we can wind up the company?'

  'I think that it seems the only sensible thing to do. Of course -'

  Mr. Guerdon hesitated, not because he had any qualifying suggestion to make, but because hesitation was part of his nature. Caroline took her opportunity.

  'But just a minute, please, gentlemen. I want you to notice that I put down on the agenda that I had some proposals to make about the names of new directors I wanted to put forward for acceptance by the Board. I quite realize that we must replace Mr. Johnson and Mr. Isenbaum who have already resigned, and I was going to suggest the names of Father Roger Mortimer and Miss Eleanor de la Roux. They have both shown great interest in the company, and Father Roger Mortimer as a representative of the Church will be I am sure most helpful if we can persuade him to join us, and Miss de la Roux is as you know our chief shareholder and I always think that we ought to have the younger generation represented on a Board like this which is working for the future.'

  She paused, because she could not for the moment continue. She was perfectly calm. Her brain felt cool and orderly. Why then did her mouth feel so dry, and her heart race so violently? She was not afraid. The company would not disappear if she chose to continue it. The half-hearted might fail her, but she would work alone. She would have a new Board, a new spirit. She would start again with spiritual rather than material power. She had been wrong, perhaps, to look for help among financiers and engineers. The power of the spirit could overcome the power of this world. Though a thousand fell on her right hand, yet should destruction not come nigh her.

  'Well, Miss Denton-Smyth, if you act, you must act alone. My resignation is before you. I really am afraid I can't consider going on. It's out of the question, if you come to think of it.'

  Mr. Guerdon began to gather up his papers.

  'W
ould you both mind sending in your resignations in writing?' asked Caroline. 'We have to do this in order. And perhaps while you are still directors you would give your sanction to the co-option of Miss de la Roux and Father Mortimer, and, naturally, we must have others. Perhaps Mrs. Dawson Woodley and Mr. Maccullam Scott.'

  'But, Miss Denton-Smyth, I think I must suggest that really it is no use now, just at present, while trade is so bad, trying to go on.'

  'I intend to go on, Mr. Guerdon.'

  'But the vote of the Board has gone against you; Macafee and I both think it wiser to dissolve - write off our debts -and so on.'

  'Well, of course, gentlemen. You can both resign. But I don't believe that you can prevent me from reconstituting the company. I shall have to take legal advice, because I am not quite sure of exactly what are the proper steps at this moment. But I can assure you of this, that whether we call it the Christian Cinema Company or something else, and whether you choose to go or to remain, the work goes on. I'm not going to give up now. If you won't help me, I shall carry on alone. That is all I have to say.'