by Anne Baker
‘Good, good,’ he said, with a look of surprise on his thin face.
Millie led the way to James’s office where Miss Franklin was placing a typed agenda in front of each chair. The heads of the departments were already assembling round the boardroom table. James was fussing around and she found that as well as Marcus, his elder son Nigel was here.
‘Hello, Nigel,’ she said, ‘I haven’t seen you for years. Welcome home.’ He’d really changed. He was more elegant than Marcus, with a pencil moustache and a deep tan.
‘Thanks. I’m glad to be back.’
‘When was it you went to India?’ she asked. ‘Nineteen thirty-six?’ He was wearing a well-cut suit with his pocket handkerchief showing just the right amount of corner protruding from his breast pocket. He’d taken great pains with his appearance.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I was very sorry to hear about Uncle Peter. How are you?’
‘I’m managing, thank you.’ Millie saw Marcus was closing the door so she sat down and Andrew took the seat next to her.
Andrew Worthington opened the file he’d brought and said to Millie, ‘I’ve got the figures worked out for last year. I think you’ll be pleased, there’s a further increase in profits.’
He’d regularly attended Pete’s monthly staff meetings where they’d been greeted with cups of tea and if possible biscuits. He could see there would be no such comforts this morning.
James rapped on the table and called the meeting to attention. ‘I’d like to start by introducing my elder son Nigel to you,’ he said.
Nigel beamed round the table, looking fit and much slimmer than the rest of his family.
‘I’ve been waiting for him to be demobbed,’ James went on, ‘before I felt I could—’
The door opened and Dan Quentin and Albert Lancaster came noisily in to join them. ‘Are we late? Sorry, Mr Maynard.’
Into the silence that followed, Andrew heard Millie say, ‘Demobbed, Nigel? I didn’t know you were in the army, I understood you were working in the Colonial Service.’
‘I was,’ he said in the same rather lordly manner his brother had. ‘Everybody is being demobbed at the moment; that was a slip of Father’s tongue. I knew it was my duty to come home and join the forces but, try as I might, I couldn’t get a passage. But I was needed there in the Colonial Service.’
James rapped impatiently on the table. ‘As I was saying, I’ve been waiting for my sons to return home before I retired. I want you to know that I’ve decided to go at the end of the year. And starting in the New Year, Nigel and Marcus will take over from me and run the company.’
Millie straightened in her seat. Andrew could see she didn’t like that but he thought under the circumstances she should have expected that Peter and James would be replaced by younger family members.
James went on in a strong, dictatorial voice, ‘Nigel and Marcus will bring new energy into the company. They have a great many plans and they’re going to reorganise everything to take the business into the future. As you know, it’s a changing world and if this company is to be as successful as we all hope, then we will all have to change with it. It’s going to take a lot of hard work but I know you’ll all be behind the fourth generation of Maynards, helping them to achieve it.’
That seemed to Andrew like a lot of hot air meant to motivate them to work harder, but a not unusual way to open the meeting. The men were all nodding their agreement.
Millie asked with frigid politeness, ‘Do we need new plans?’
‘Of course we do, Millie, we have to progress. A business can never stand still. Either it drives forward or it starts to fall back.’
Andrew rustled his documents. He believed James knew exactly how good their progress had been since the war ended.
Millie spoke up again. ‘May we know what new plans Nigel and Marcus have?’ There was a moment’s silence. James’s antipathy was evident, Millie’s interruption was unwelcome.
Marcus took over from his father. ‘I’m sure you’ll all agree we need new lines. The company has launched nothing new on the market since before the war and we have only light floral perfumes.’
‘We three have discussed it,’ Nigel said, ‘and we believe a stronger perfume might be more attractive to today’s customers.’
James took over again. ‘We need a change of emphasis on what we produce, a perfume with more general appeal so we can increase our customer base. I’m sure you all agree with that.’
‘No,’ Millie said firmly. ‘I’m not sure that I do.’
But James took no notice. His face was glowing with enthusiasm. ‘Look how popular “Evening in Paris” is proving to be. The sales have grown overnight. We need to get away from flowers and use something stronger, woodland spices perhaps. If we forge ahead with the work now we could get it launched on the market in time for the Christmas trade.’
‘That would be quite impossible,’ she said quietly.
Andrew heard a snigger that was quickly changed to a cough. He could see that the three experienced department chiefs were taken aback by James’s announcement. Since Millie would own half the company once probate was granted, he thought she was right to speak up.
Marcus rounded on her to demand, ‘Why not, if we’re all prepared to put our backs into it?’
‘I can’t believe that you and your father know so little about the business your company is in,’ she said. Andrew could see that the men were ready to applaud that. ‘There are two very definite reasons. Firstly, we are slowly growing our customer base, but it takes time because we make luxury products that sell at high prices that not everybody can afford.’
‘Of course.’ Marcus was getting angry. ‘We all understand that.’
‘We can’t compete in the mass market for toiletries. Lever Brothers make a superb range which they can sell at very reasonable prices because they operate on a huge scale. What our customers are looking for is something that is different, more top of the market. Their tastes are different.
‘Secondly, it takes at least one year and sometimes much longer to develop a new scent and put it into soap and talc. The perfume has to be stabilised so the soap we make today smells exactly like the soap we made last month, or last year come to that.’
‘Obviously,’ James growled. ‘That’s common sense.’
‘The finer the perfume, the longer it takes to develop,’ Millie went on furiously, ‘and we also have to be sure that the soap still holds the scent while it is being used. Don’t forget it can be in the soap dish on the side of the bath for a month or longer.
‘And thirdly, Billy Sankey has to make sure he can obtain a steady supply of the essential oils and fixatives and anything else we put into a new perfume.’ She paused for breath. ‘Where is Billy? Is he not in this morning?’
‘Yes, he is,’ several voices assured her. Billy Sankey was their buyer.
‘Why isn’t he here?’ She looked from James to Marcus. ‘Did you ask him to come?’
‘Er . . .’ Father and son were looking at each other. Andrew smiled behind his hand, he guessed they hadn’t rated Billy highly enough to ask him to a senior staff meeting. He was a bit of a rough diamond but he was reputed to be very efficient at his job.
‘We can’t do anything without Billy,’ Millie said firmly. ‘Not while so many things are in short supply. He draws up the contracts with our suppliers. There’s also the new wrappers for the soap to be printed and the tins for the talc to be made and contracts drawn up for them to ensure we don’t run—’
‘Hold on, Millie,’ James interrupted. ‘We’ve heard enough of your opinions.’
She carried straight on. ‘There’s another very important thing I haven’t said yet. We don’t need new lines at this time as we can sell everything we make ten times over. Isn’t that so, Mr Quentin?’
‘It is
.’ Dan Quentin was their sales manager who had fought in the war and returned when it finished. He looked like a polished country gentleman and exuded charm. ‘It’s never been easier to sell because the country has been starved of everything for six years. A good deal of our production is going for export and we could sell twice the volume being made.’
‘There you are,’ Millie said. ‘Those of us who have been involved in running this company are agreed that our strategy must be to increase production over the next year or two. We can take our time over preparing new lines. They aren’t needed at this time. Ask any of the staff here.’ Andrew noticed that the men’s smiles disappeared at that invitation.
James rapped on the table and said in icy tones, ‘We need to keep to the agenda or this meeting will drag on all day.’
‘I quite agree,’ Millie said, picking up her notebook and pencil and getting to her feet. ‘James, you haven’t really made plans at all, those were just vague ideas from the top of your head.’ She looked from Marcus to Nigel. ‘You both need to learn something about this business and how the company functions before you can run it successfully.’ Then she strode out, closing the door quietly behind her.
Andrew’s jaw dropped. Millie had more guts than he’d given her credit for but she’d lost her temper with them. That had been a mistake and it had really got their backs up. That was not the way he’d have done it.
There were a few moments of silent embarrassment; both Nigel and Marcus looked more than a little put out by Millie’s outburst. It was left to James to pick up the agenda and carry on. The meeting broke up some ten minutes later, having floundered and run out of impetus.
Andrew went back to his office, slumped into his chair and absent-mindedly took a sip from the cup he’d left on his desk. The tea had long since gone cold; he crashed it back on its saucer and considered what he’d learned at the meeting.
It had been very noticeable that the other side of the family had talked brashly about their big plans for the perfume department without ever discussing them with Millie. As she owned half the company he could understand why she’d been a bit miffed, but she’d shown up their incompetence in front of all the senior staff. Nobody likes to have their mistakes pointed out to them in public and James and his sons seemed particularly needy about being thought to be in control. They would have hated that.
Nobody had taken to Marcus. He might be Pete’s nephew but he didn’t have his charisma. The general opinion was that he was snooty, that he treated everybody as though they were inferior beings and, worse, that he was quite sure he could help them do their jobs more effectively. Andrew knew they laughed about Marcus behind their hands and said he had an overblown ego. They would have enjoyed seeing Millie lay into them. None of them knew anything about Nigel.
But the joint owners of this company had had a very public fight. James and his sons looked set to do their utmost to force Millie out. Andrew reckoned she’d be lucky to hold out against them. He was afraid she might have a big fight on her hands.
Millie was livid as she went back to the laboratory to busy herself with routine tasks, hoping the work would calm her down. Half an hour later the phone on her desk rang. Denis answered it and called, ‘It’s for you. It’s Mr Douglas, your solicitor.’
Millie hurried to talk to him. ‘I’ve received probate for your husband’s will,’ he told her. ‘I can now settle his estate. Could you come in and see me this week?’
‘What about tomorrow?’ Millie made the appointment feeling glad it would soon be settled.
Moments later the door flew open, and James followed by Marcus stormed in. ‘Out,’ James he said to Denis, waving him towards the door. ‘Take an early lunch.’
‘No,’ Millie protested, ‘he’s helping me. Why are you ordering my staff about?’ But Denis had disappeared. ‘What’s the matter?’
James was angry. ‘To take that confrontational attitude to us in front of the staff was totally uncalled for.’
‘Yes, I know, I’m sorry.’
‘It was unforgivable, Millie,’ James blustered. ‘I’m glad you realise you mustn’t say things like that. It lets the side down, does the firm no good, and it’s very bad manners.’
‘I apologise. I should have chosen my words more carefully.’
‘You tried to make a fool of Marcus.’
Millie was not going to have that. ‘Oh no, Marcus made a fool of himself.’ She swung round to him. ‘You made yourself look a complete ass.’
‘Millie, you can’t—’
‘Just for once hear me out.’ Millie was getting angry. ‘Pete got this company going again after the doldrums of the war years. Now it’s being run by the senior staff without Pete, but they’re doing all right. And today, without knowing the first thing about it, you burst in and give them a wake-up homily about working harder and getting new products out by Christmas. I had to point out why it wouldn’t be possible. They’d have thought me pathetic if I’d gone along with that.’
James looked fit to burst, his face was puce.
‘All right, Father,’ Marcus said, ‘let me handle this.’ He turned to Millie. ‘Obviously we’re not going to find it easy to work together. We seem to be temperamentally unsuited.’
She said as patiently as she could, ‘Perhaps if we tried, we could find a way.’
‘You’ll have to find a way,’ James thundered. ‘You’ve got to work together.’
Marcus said in a more amicable tone, ‘I understand you’re going to inherit Uncle Peter’s half share of the company. Father says you’re considering selling it back to the family.’
‘No,’ Millie said.
‘You haven’t made up your mind yet, have you?’ James’s furious gaze levelled with hers. ‘You said you wanted time to think it over.’
‘I did not. I thought I’d made it clear at the time that I meant to keep it. Without Pete, I need to go on working. Making perfumes is what I know and there aren’t many jobs about like this. I want to stay.’
‘Well, of course,’ James began more diplomatically, ‘we could keep you on as an employee after we’d bought your share.’
‘No thank you,’ Millie said. ‘I’ll not agree to that.’
James was holding up his hand. ‘Don’t dismiss it like that. Maynards started this business, they’ve always owned it and you aren’t family.’
Millie’s blood was coming to the boil. ‘I married into it.’
James said vindictively, ‘It isn’t right that you, a stranger, will hold so many of our shares. Nigel and Marcus are true Maynards.’
Millie was ready to burst with fury. She wanted to let fly and tell him how mistaken he was and that he and his sons were not of the Maynard bloodline. She wanted to tell him that Eleanor’s diaries said he was the son of a village woman who had wandered in front of the guns at a pheasant shoot. That Frederick and Eleanor Maynard had brought him up out of the kindness of their hearts because he had no living relative left to do it.
Millie had to bite her lips. It took real effort to choke back the words. She wanted to put him in his place, use the knowledge which she knew would do it. Instead, she made herself say as calmly as she could, ‘Pete decided it was right and that is the legal situation.’
James lost his temper. ‘You’re a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who got her hooks into Peter. You thought you’d made your fortune, didn’t you? He must have been out of his mind to marry a girl like you, a junior employee heavily pregnant with the child of a fraudster and a thief.’
Millie felt that like a slap in the face. It took her breath away. She’d thought all that was long since forgotten. Never had she been so tempted to get her own back, but it was a Maynard family secret that had been kept for over six decades and not hers to tell.
She managed to grind out, ‘You might remember that Pete and I have two sma
ll sons. You can’t deny that they are of the Maynard bloodline. In time, Pete hoped that one or both might work in the business.’
‘But they are no use to us at this time, and may never be.’
Millie took a deep breath. The words to destroy James hovered on her tongue, but it might also destroy the family and their company. It was in her interests, and those of Simon and Kenny, to maintain the peace and keep the business growing. She said, ‘James, I’ve spent most of my life working in this business. I know ill health has kept you out of it, but you left everything to Pete and you’ve lost touch with what is going on here. You know nothing about how this business is trying to recover from the war. You remember only how it used to be run twenty years ago.
‘And as for you,’ she fumed, turning to Marcus, ‘you must accept the heads of departments know more about running it than you do. All your experience has been elsewhere. It’s no good sitting in your father’s office pontificating about it, he can’t help you. You need to start at the bottom, talk to the staff not at them. Treat them as intelligent human beings. You’ve got to find out what’s possible and what’s not. Above all, talk to the accountant and find out where the money is made.’
‘We’ve done that,’ James thundered.
‘Then why are you running down what Pete has achieved? Why all this nonsense about you three turning the company’s fortunes round?’
‘We have to,’ James insisted. ‘The object now is to make more money.’
‘I suppose, Millie, you think you could make a much better job of it.’ Marcus was flushed and haughty. ‘You see yourself as general manager, do you?’
She was furious. ‘No, I do not. As I told you, I want to stay here in charge of perfumes, which is just as well as you won’t find it easy to replace me. I own half this company, that’s as much as you three own together. If you have any plans, you need to consult me first. If you want to change the way Pete has set things up then we’ll have to discuss it.’
‘You have a very high opinion of your own ability,’ Marcus sneered. ‘I do hope it’s justified. That illegitimate daughter of yours has certainly not inherited much brain, but why would she, when her father was a fraud and a thief? She’s quite useless. I dictated some letters to her the other day and she made a complete hash of them. They had to wait until Miss Franklin came back from holiday to sort them out.’
