Ellie Pride

by Annie Groves

  Ellie told herself that Connie was not deliberately trying to be hurtful, and tried to smother the sharp stab of unease Connie’s high spirits were causing her.

  ‘I must go down and check that everything is in order,’ she told Connie. ‘The band should have arrived, and –’

  ‘Oh, Ellie, let me come with you,’ Connie begged.

  A little reluctantly, Ellie agreed.

  ‘Oh, Ellie, you are so lucky to live here,’ Connie pouted enviously as she followed Ellie through the drawing room, its carpets removed for dancing and the double doors opened between it and the smaller sitting room.

  The air in the large double room was heavy with the scent of the flowers Ellie had chosen. Bearing in mind her mentor’s advice, she had opted for simple but opulent arrangements of white and green, and the effect was breathtaking. In the conservatory perfumed candles echoed the scent of the flowers, and beyond the conservatory, further illuminations winked enticingly in the garden.

  To Ellie’s relief the whole week had been dry and warm, so that those who wished to take a stroll in the garden would be able to do so.

  The butler was showing the band to their places, and Ellie hurried over to remind him to make sure refreshments were provided for them.

  The band leader, an extremely handsome young man, smiled warmly at Ellie, but before she could say anything Connie had pushed past her and was demanding to know if the band would play her favourite tunes.

  ‘Connie!’ Ellie rebuked her sternly. She knew that her sister meant no harm, but she was a young woman now, and must learn to behave accordingly.

  Connie tossed her head and threw Ellie a challenging look.

  ‘Ah, Ellie! There you are!’

  Ellie tensed as she heard her uncle’s voice.

  ‘Oh, Uncle Parkes, I am so grateful to you.’ Rushing past Ellie, Connie ran to their uncle and almost threw herself into his arms.

  ‘My, my, that is indeed a warm welcome,’ Josiah Parkes smiled, and, as he looked down into Connie’s excited face, Ellie felt as though someone had dropped a stone deep down inside her, a cold, icy, hard stone that was sending out painfully sharp ripples of warning.

  There was something in the way their Uncle Parkes was looking at Connie that made Ellie want to rush over and wrest her sister from him.

  She could hear the panic in her own voice as she demanded, ‘Connie, we must go upstairs and get ready.’

  Ellie suspected that it was only the thought of being able to parade herself in her finery that made Connie obey her.

  They were halfway up the stairs when Connie tossed her head again and announced, ‘It isn’t fair that you should be able to live here, Ellie, and I should have to live with our horrid and mean Aunt and Uncle Simpkins. I don’t see why I shouldn’t live here as well. In fact –’

  ‘Connie, if we don’t hurry we shall be late,’ Ellie warned her. Her heart was thudding painfully. It wasn’t just herself she felt afraid for now, she recognised, but her sister as well. Connie was not like her! She had no sense of self-preservation! She was too young to be aware, as Ellie was, of the meaning of that lustful look their uncle had given her.

  ‘So, Jarvis, have you given further thought to the, er, business opportunity I mentioned to you?’ Affably, Josiah Parkes offered his companion a cigar from the box on his desk.

  ‘Well, it certainly sounds tempting,’ Jarvis Charnock acknowledged, ‘especially if its success can be guaranteed.’

  There was a greedy, eager note of oily anticipation in the man’s voice that told Josiah Parkes all he needed to know. His fish had taken the bait, now he just had to reel him in and secure his catch!

  ‘My dear sir, there can be no doubt!’ Josiah’s expression was an artful mixture of gravity, confidence and sincerity. ‘I have previously been involved with a consortium of other gentlemen in this kind of business enterprise to our great mutual financial advantage.’

  ‘And there is no question of the insurers not…?’

  His catch was growing fearful, wary of the bait and yet still eager to snatch at it!

  ‘The risk is placed only with the most reputable of insurance companies,’ Josiah reassured him. ‘That, after all, is an essential part of the arrangement. There is no way, my dear sir, that I would recommend that you risk your vessels with an inferior insurer – no way at all. After all, if the unthinkable were to happen and you were to lose one, then naturally you would want to be able to recover the cost of your loss! Not, of course, that that is likely to happen. Not with vessels of the seaworthiness and quality of yours, my dear Charnock!’

  He could see the dull, unflattering purple-red surge of colour mottling the other man’s face as his gaze slid evasively from his own.

  ‘These insurers are going to require certification regarding my ships.’

  ‘A mere formality, I can assure you, and one which I will be delighted to put in hand on your behalf.’

  ‘Scuttling ships – it’s a very risky business, Parkes.’

  His tongue wetted his thin lips, and Josiah Parkes could see beads of sweat shining on his forehead. Josiah gave the other man a reassuring smile and raised his eyebrows.

  ‘Risky? Not at all, I do assure you!’ Still smiling, he changed the subject.

  ‘I understand that you are currently looking for a suitable wife for your son. My wife’s niece is staying with us at present, Charnock,’ he commented with apparent casualness. ‘My wife and I have a fondness for her, and I should be prepared to settle a handsome dowry on her to see her married to the right young man.’

  ‘Are you suggesting that my son should marry your niece?’

  ‘What could be a happier outcome to our business relationship, my dear Charnock, than to see our young people united in marriage? And as I have already said, I am prepared to settle a handsome sum on the girl.’

  It was a business arrangement that he had only just thought of, but which would suit him very well. He congratulated himself on his astuteness. Charnock wouldn’t dare renege on their deal once his son was married to Ellie.

  ‘Aye, well, as to that…’ Jarvis Charnock frowned. It was true that he did want to see Henry married. He had already received a very negative response from the families of the three girls he had decided would make suitable brides for his son.

  Anxiously, he returned to their earlier discussion. ‘You’re sure there won’t be any risk of anything going wrong – the insurance company refusing to pay out…enquiries being made…?’

  Smiling, Josiah lifted his eyebrows in silent confidence, causing Jarvis Charnock’s voice to trail away in a fading splutter of anxiety.

  ‘Why should they not pay out? A vessel is attacked by pirates in the South China Sea, an area notorious for such attacks. Your brave captain, whose palm has already been well greased to play his part, testifies to that attack – there can be no question of them not paying out.’

  ‘But as to the matter of changing the bills of loading for the ships, so that –’

  ‘You are worrying unnecessarily, Charnock, I assure you. If I were to whisper in your ear the names of those who have already benefited from such ploys, you would be astonished. Now, as a first step in our shared venture, I would suggest that you extend the company’s Board of Directors –’

  ‘To include yourself, I take it?’ Jarvis Charnock interrupted him sourly.

  ‘To include myself, yes,’ Josiah agreed urbanely.

  ‘It seems you’ve thought of everything,’ Jarvis told him, even more sourly. ‘You had best draw up the necessary papers.’

  ‘Excellent. Let us rejoin the others, so that I can introduce my niece to you. I am already looking forward to the felicity of our two families being united. My niece is a comely girl with a sensible head on her shoulders.’

  ‘Comely? Aye, she might be that, but will she be a good breeder?’ Jarvis demanded coarsely. ‘Grandsons – that’s what I want. Grandsons who’ll have a deal more of my blood in them than the wheymilk my son inherited f
rom his wretched mother!’

  ‘Ellie, my dear.’

  Ellie tried not to flinch as Mr Parkes placed a proprietorial arm around her waist, holding her just a little bit too tight. She could smell the cigar he had been smoking, and the rich aroma of brandy on his breath.

  ‘Come and let me introduce you to Mr Charnock here. He is a client and a business colleague of mine. Charnock, did I not tell you that she was a comely piece?’

  Ellie blushed to hear herself so described, looking over her shoulder to where her Aunt Lavinia was seated fanning herself, wanting her to come to her aid and rescue her from her embarrassment and self-consciousness, but her aunt was not looking in her direction.

  ‘Charnock here has a son he would have you meet, Ellie. He is newly returned to Liverpool from Japan, is that not right, Charnock?’

  Without being able to specify why, Ellie knew that she did not particularly care for Mr Charnock.

  ‘Come here, Henry, and see if you can manage not to stutter for long enough to speak with Miss Pride,’ he was demanding curtly, jerking his head towards the young man standing hesitantly behind him.

  Immediately Ellie felt intensely sorry for Henry Charnock. It was obvious to her that he was both uncomfortable with his father’s conversation and anxious in his company.

  ‘Miss P-P-P-Pride…’ There was a slight hesitation in Henry’s voice as he bowed jerkily over her hand, but whether it was due to a speech impediment or caused by nervousness Ellie didn’t know.

  ‘So you have recently returned from Japan, Mr Charnock?’ Ellie enquired politely. ‘From what I have read about it in the papers it sounds as though it is a most interesting country.’

  Immediately the nervousness left Henry’s face, to be replaced with an expression of intense enthusiasm and pleasure.

  ‘Indeed it is, Miss Pride. The country and its people are making such strides into the twentieth century, and when one thinks that until so very recently they were still living in a way that we would consider to be positively medieval, I –’

  ‘Dammit, Henry, don’t start boring Miss Pride about Japan.’ The angry contempt in Henry’s father’s voice was clear as he cut across him.

  ‘Come, Charnock, there’s someone I want you to meet,’ Mr Parkes announced, taking the other man firmly by the arm. ‘Young Henry can stay here and talk to Ellie about Japan.’

  Ellie could see the relief in Henry Charnock’s face as her uncle firmly bore his father away.

  ‘Oh dear, I’m afraid I have rather been wished upon you, Mr Charnock,’ Ellie apologised ruefully, once they were on their own.

  ‘No, no, pleasure to have your company. And, please, no need for formality. Always think of m’father when anyone refers to “Mr Charnock”.’

  ‘What, even in Japan?’ Ellie couldn’t help teasing him.

  Once again it was as though his whole personality underwent an instantaneous transformation. ‘Called me “Henry-san” there,’ he explained. ‘Wonderful country, Miss Pride, and wonderful people too. Can’t speak highly enough of them. Just wish Father would allow me to stay there.’

  ‘Perhaps if, one day, you are to take over his business,’ Ellie answered him gently, ‘he wishes to ensure that you are familiar with every aspect of it.’

  Henry Charnock gave her a half-wry, half-sad look, as he replied, ‘My father letting anyone take over the business – that will be the day. It is all down to my mother that he has been able to make it so successful, you know. It was failing when he inherited it from his father and it was my mother’s money he used –’ He stopped, shaking his head. ‘I’m sorry, I’m embarrassing you by speaking so freely and on such short acquaintance. It is just that you are so easy to talk to, Miss Pride. I am not much of a conversationalist and most young ladies find me dull.’

  ‘Oh, no, I am sure that is not true,’ Ellie objected.

  Already she felt a sense of protectiveness towards him akin to that she felt for her younger siblings. He might be a little awkward and hesitant, but she suspected that most of his nervousness was caused by his father’s domineering, hectoring manner towards him.

  It was true that he wasn’t a strikingly handsome man, like Gideon, and could not even be described, in all honesty, as even a passingly handsome one, having thin hair and pale blue semi-myopic eyes set in an undistinguished-looking face. But his eyes were kind and gentle, and he was tall enough, even if his propensity to stoop bowed his shoulders and made him look both apologetic and somehow older than he was.

  Maybe too he was a little on the thin side, and the nervous hesitation in his speech would perhaps make some young women contemptuously dismissive of him, but Ellie was not one of that sort.

  ‘Tell me some more about Japan,’ Ellie invited him kind-heartedly.

  Shy and unsure of himself Henry might be, but his company was preferable to that of her uncle. Ellie could still feel her flesh burning from the weight of his arm about her waist.

  ‘Yokohama sounds a truly fascinating place, Mr Charnock,’ Ellie marvelled.

  They were standing in the conservatory, where Henry had been telling her about life as a foreigner in Yokohama, and the foreign trading centre, which was known as ‘Ichi Ban’.

  ‘And everyone trades from that place?’ Ellie asked him, genuinely interested.

  ‘Virtually. It really is the most fascinating world, Miss Pride. The people and their culture…and despite what my father chooses to believe, the business we have there is very profitable. I would like to see us doing more trade with Japan. They are looking to build up their own fleet and to take on Europeans to help them achieve this. I myself –’ He broke off as he saw Ellie suddenly turn her head in the direction of a noisy burst of male laughter from the other side of the room. ‘I am sorry, I must be boring you.’

  ‘Not at all,’ Ellie assured him.

  She had thought she had detected Connie’s laughter mixed with that of the young men, and as she looked across the room she saw to her dismay that her sister was indeed with them, and behaving in a most indecorous manner. Torn between the good manners that dictated that she remain with Henry, and her concern for her sister, Ellie hesitated and then saw with relief that her cousin Cecily and her husband were making their way to join Connie.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Ellie apologised to Henry. ‘You were saying…?’ There was, she noticed, virtually no trace at all of his stammer when he was talking about Japan. He even seemed to stand straighter, and to gain in confidence and demeanour.

  ‘I would like to be based out there permanently but I’m afraid my father would never agree.’

  Ellie felt very sorry for him. ‘Perhaps if you could prove to him just how profitable a connection with Japan could be…?’ she suggested.

  Henry shook his head. ‘He will never allow me to do that because he does not want to have it proved. I have tried to persuade him to have the new ship we are shortly to take delivery of dedicated to the Japanese run, but Father will have none of it! Unfortunately he has a determined ally in my cousin George. In fact,’ he continued bitterly, ‘I suspect that my father would prefer to have George as his son instead of me and, to be honest, Miss Pride, I sometimes wish that he might be,’ he added with a burst of passionate candour. Then, quickly colouring up and apologising, ‘I am sorry. I am supposed to be making polite conversation with you, not burdening you with my problems. My father is right: I’m not very skilled at entertaining young ladies, and despite your good manners, I am no doubt boring you.’

  ‘You are not boring me at all!’ Ellie denied firmly. ‘But I think my aunt will be very cross with me if I continue to monopolise your attention. I see that supper will soon be served, and then afterwards there will be dancing.’

  ‘May I be allowed the privilege of dancing with you, Miss Pride?’

  Ellie dimpled a teasing smile at him. ‘You fibbed to me, Mr Charnock, when you said that you are not skilled at entertaining my sex,’ she laughed as she handed him her dance card.

  Iris had
said that in some of the more bohemian London circles dance cards were now out of fashion, but her mother had argued judiciously that Hoylake was still conservative enough to expect to see such conventions adhered to, and so Ellie had arranged for every young lady to be presented with one of the specially printed cards. But it wasn’t dance cards that were to the forefront of her mind as she hurried away from Henry Charnock, but her sister, Connie.

  ‘Cecily, where has Connie gone?’ Ellie asked anxiously, glancing worriedly out into the darkness beyond the conservatory doors. Surely Connie could not have been foolish enough to go out there with the young men Ellie had seen her with.

  ‘My mother has taken her upstairs to talk to her,’ Cecily replied, looking uncomfortable. ‘I know that Connie doesn’t mean any harm, Ellie, and no doubt the excitement of her first proper ball has overwhelmed her somewhat, but I have to tell you that Mama was very cross with her for her want of conduct.’

  ‘She is high-spirited, I know,’ Ellie tried to defend her.

  ‘Oh, Ellie, she was flirting most outrageously with several young men – and, well, her behaviour was quite wild.’

  ‘It isn’t your fault, Ellie,’ Paul said kindly. ‘And you must not blame yourself. If anything, I suspect that it is because your Aunt and Uncle Simpkins have kept Connie so close that tonight’s jollities have gone to her head a little.’

  It was half an hour before Connie came back downstairs, her expression angrily mutinous.

  ‘Connie…’ Ellie began, hurrying to her side.

  ‘Oh, don’t you start,’ Connie stopped her rudely. ‘You are just as bad as everyone else! It is all very well for you, Ellie. Our Aunt and Uncle Parkes dote on you whilst our Aunt and Uncle Simpkins hate me.’

  ‘Connie, I’m sure that is not true,’ Ellie protested in distress.

  ‘It is true,’ Connie insisted. ‘They hate me and I hate them. It is not fair, Ellie. Why should you be living here with every luxury, whilst I am stuck in that cold miserable house with nothing?’