A Change of Fortune (2 page)

A quick look at the clock on the wall told her that there was still nearly an hour of the lesson left, so she put her head down as if working on her essay and returned to her musing.

Would she be able to go home for Christmas? How she hoped so. The lovely house they had in Russell Square was always so festive, with a huge brightly decorated tree and crackling wood fires burning in the grates. Her mother made a great show, trying to outdo her friends. That was important to Elizabeth Winford: the social round and making an impression seemed to be the only things driving her mother’s life. Her daughter came very low on her list of priorities. Eugenie accepted that. She really didn’t know her mother all that well, as she’d had a nurse from the time she’d been born and then off to boarding school at the age of six. Her father loved her, though, and she adored him. He was from New York and still spent most of the year there. She didn’t know much about his business, but Cyrus D. Winford was obviously a wealthy man. She had asked him many times to explain his work, but she found it hard to understand. It was all very
confusing. Still, she’d ask him again when he came home. He was very patient.

‘Miss Winford.’ Miss Staples was standing beside her. ‘You are to go to see Miss Patterson-Hay at once.’

The head’s office was up a flight of stairs, at the end of a long corridor lined with portraits of past dignitaries who had either run the school or made some important mark in life. Eugenie was sure she’d never be one of them! She was bright enough but not academically brilliant. Not that that mattered too much at this school. The girls were taught all the social graces – how to run a large household, make polite conversation and generally fit into the upper echelons of society. She walked briskly, for it was not the done thing to keep Miss Patterson-Hay waiting. When she issued a command, it had to be obeyed with alacrity.

On reaching the door, she paused to catch her breath, wondering what on earth she had done now. It wasn’t unusual for her to be hauled in front of the head for some misdemeanour, but she couldn’t think what this urgent summons was for. To be taken away from a lesson – something quite unheard of – was worrying.

She knocked firmly and waited.

‘Come.’

Turning the ornate brass doorknob, Eugenie stepped inside the room.

‘Ah, Eugenie.’ Miss Patterson-Hay studied her carefully for a moment and then sighed. ‘Sit down.’

What? Now she really was worried. The girls were never called by their Christian names at the school, and
certainly
never
told to sit in the presence of this lofty personage. She obeyed by perching nervously on the edge of the delicate regency chair, hands clasped in her lap.

‘You are to return home immediately. Pack a small bag. The maid will see to your trunk, and it will be sent on later.’ The head looked at her with something very close to sadness in her eyes.

Eugenie was alarmed. ‘But why, Miss Patterson-Hay? Am I not coming back? Have I done something wrong? Am I being expelled?’

Miss Patterson-Hay held up her hand to stop her. ‘You are not being expelled. Your family have sent for you. That is all I can tell you. Your father’s chauffeur is waiting outside the main entrance for you.’

Forgetting her manners, Eugenie rushed to the window. The Rolls-Royce was parked on the sweeping driveway, with Edwards standing beside it.

‘You have been a bright student, if somewhat wilful at times, Eugenie, and we shall be sorry to lose you.’ The severe lady actually smiled. ‘Apart from the academic studies, we have tried to teach you self-discipline and strength of character. Those qualities will stand you in good stead in the future.’

Her senses were reeling as she focused on the woman behind the desk. One thing was clear: she wouldn’t be coming back here, and that was upsetting. The thought of leaving her friends … She fought back the emotion that was trying to burst out, along with a torrent of questions. Now she was sixteen she’d known that she would have to leave soon and maybe go to a finishing
school. Her mother was extremely old-fashioned in her outlook. But not walk out like this – not like this! ‘May I have the time to see my friends?’

‘You must leave immediately. You may write to them. Goodbye, Miss Winford.’ The dismissal was abrupt, as if the head wanted to be rid of this unpleasant task.

‘Goodbye.’ Eugenie’s voice shook and she left the room quickly, before she made a fool of herself. Self-control was a prized quality in this school and much encouraged. She closed the solid oak door behind her and ran. Tears clouded her vision, but she didn’t need to see where she was going: she’d attended this school for the last five years and knew every inch of the building. Although she’d wanted to go home for a visit, leaving Templeton was not something she’d thought of doing for a while yet. The regime was strict, but she had been happy here. A gulping sob escaped as she ran.
What was going on?

After packing a few necessities, she hurried to the waiting car.

‘Ah, there you are, miss.’ Without smiling Edwards took her bag and held open the rear door of the car. When she scrambled in, he closed it and put her bag in the boot. The trunk, her father always called it in his lovely American accent. Had her father come home unexpectedly and sent for her? But no, he’d have come for her himself if that had been the case. Her insides were turning somersaults with anxiety.

Edwards got in, started the car and drove slowly down the long oak-lined drive. Her throat closed with
distress as she swivelled round and gazed at the beautiful limestone mansion until it disappeared from sight.

‘What’s happened?’ she asked the silent driver, turning round to face the back of his head as they left the school gates. He was usually quite talkative, but today he’d hardly uttered a word.

‘Can’t say, miss.’ He closed the glass partition, making further conversation impossible.

There was nothing for it but to wait until she arrived home, and she felt like crying in frustration. Why all the secrecy? She was so bewildered that it was impossible to stop all manner of disasters running through her fertile mind. Yet she couldn’t come up with one reason that could wrench her so abruptly out of the school. Fifteen minutes ago she had been struggling with an essay … She wiped away a tear as it trickled down her cheek. She’d never know what Miss Staples thought of it now.

There was a strange hush about the house when Eugenie rushed into the drawing room. As soon as she saw the scene, she knew that some great disaster had befallen them. Her mother was prostrate on the couch, moaning, with her personal maid, Gladys, trying to comfort her. As Eugenie rushed to her mother, she was stopped as someone caught her arm in a fierce grip.

‘Leave her!’

Eugenie looked into the harsh face of her mother’s sister: her Aunt Gertrude. How she disliked this woman. She was sharp, unkind and never had a good word to say about her father. Wrenching free, she knelt in front
of her mother. ‘Where’s Papa?’ She used that term of address because it always made him laugh.

Aunt Gertrude hauled her to her feet. ‘He’s dead. Lost all his money and shot himself, the coward.’

Eugenie almost fainted as the callous announcement stunned her. She held on to the back of a chair to steady herself. The word that raged through her mind was not one Miss Patterson-Hay would have approved of. The bitch! The lying bitch!

‘Don’t look so shocked. I always knew he would end up in trouble.’ Aunt Gertrude’s expression was smug.

Incensed, Eugenie lashed out at the considerable bulk of her aunt. ‘He wouldn’t do that!’

‘Well, he has,’ her aunt sneered, ‘but at least he had the decency to do it in America. That saves us the expense of a funeral.’

A red mist gathered in front of Eugenie’s eyes and she launched herself at the taunting woman but was caught from behind and lifted off her feet by the only man in the room. And if she disliked her aunt, she loathed him. He was supposed to be a good friend of the family, but she knew that her father had never liked him. And she tried to stay out of his way, because he was always trying to touch her. She kicked back with her foot and caught his shin, making him grunt in pain. He dropped her and laughed. He actually laughed.

She spun round to face him, fists clenched ready for a fight. ‘You’re lying! How could he lose all his money? And if he did, he wouldn’t kill himself. He isn’t a coward! He isn’t!’

‘Your aunt’s right.’ He still had a smirk on his florid face. ‘Your father lost all his money in the stock-market crash last month and didn’t have the guts to face the consequences.’

A loud moan came from her mother, who hadn’t opened her eyes or bothered to acknowledge her daughter’s arrival.

The fight drained out of Eugenie. It must be true. She was finding it hard to accept. Her dear father was so kind, with a ready smile and soft rolling American accent. Her mother had hated it and tried to make him sound more English, but she’d loved it. She wouldn’t have cared if they didn’t have money. They’d have managed somehow. He shouldn’t have left her. How could you leave someone you love? He had loved her, hadn’t he? He had been the only one in her life who had shown he cared for her. Her mother’s one interest was in attaining a high position and moving in the right circles. Her Aunt Gertrude couldn’t stand the sight of her niece … and what the blazes was Albert Greaves doing here? He wasn’t family.

‘Now that you’ve calmed down, perhaps we can sort out this unholy mess,’ her aunt snapped. ‘We have only three days before the bank confiscates the house and its entire contents.’

There was a strangled scream from her mother and Gertrude glanced over her shoulder. ‘Be quiet, Elizabeth!’ She turned her attention back to the girl standing in front of her. ‘At least you’ve got more fire than either of your parents. Your mother will be coming to live
with me. I will not, however, be burdened with you as well. Albert will take you in.’

Eugenie ground her teeth but remained silent. They could forget that plan right away, for nothing on this earth would make her move into
his
house.

‘How old are you now?’ her aunt demanded.

‘Sixteen.’

‘Damn. That’s a bit too young, Albert. It will cause gossip. You’ll have to wait at least a year before marrying her.’

‘That’s all right, Gerti, she can still live with me.’

Eugenie’s stomach heaved as her gaze swept from one to the other in disbelief. She was in the middle of a terrible nightmare.
Marry him?
He was at least fifty, bloated from too much food and drink – and she’d never liked the way he looked at her.

‘Of course she can. You can get your sister to look after her.’

Her aunt appeared satisfied with the arrangement as Eugenie fought back the bile. What they were planning for her – without her consent – was too dreadful to contemplate.

‘Splendid, that’s you settled, then, Eugenie. You’ll still live in luxury, for Albert is wealthy. That ridiculous school you’ve been attending has made you unfit for any other kind of life.’

‘Mother!’ She rushed over to the couch. ‘You must pull yourself together. You can’t let this happen.’ She whispered, not wishing to let the others hear her pleading so desperately. They were arranging her life as if she
had no say in the matter! But she did. It was nearly 1930, for heaven’s sake, and she was old enough to make her own decisions. Her father would never have allowed this to happen. The pain that thought caused was almost unbearable. But he wasn’t here any more.

Mrs Winford moaned and pushed her away. ‘Do as you are told.’

It was clear there wasn’t going to be any help from her mother; she was too distraught to think straight, and anyway, she was well aware that her mother had no great affection for her. She didn’t know why, because, as far as she knew, she’d never done anything to upset her mother.

Eugenie was shaking so badly it was difficult to stand up. With sheer determination she found the strength from the anger now raging through her. So her aunt thought she wasn’t fit for anything but a life of ease. Well, she was wrong about that! All her life she’d had a determined nature, and if she wanted to learn something or to do something differently, then she never allowed herself to be beaten until the task had been mastered. She would do anything – except marry that odious man!

‘You’re wasting your time appealing to your mother.’ Aunt Gertrude had a look of contempt on her face for her sister. ‘She’s lost the only thing in life she cared about. Money.’

‘I want to know what happened!’ Eugenie stubbornly stood her ground. ‘How could father lose all his money?’

Albert Greaves stood in front of her with a sneer
on his face. ‘Your father was one of the elite brokers, a member of Wall Street. He was always so sure of his position and wealth, but the crash wiped him out.’

‘I always told him what he was doing was too risky, but he wouldn’t listen to me.’ Aunt Gertrude looked superior. ‘He should have invested some of his money in property and gold like all sensible people, but he gambled and lost. You’re lucky to have someone like Albert to take you in because you’re now destitute, Eugenie. You’ll be moving out of here in three days. Go to your room and start packing. You may remove only your personal things from this house. Everything else has to remain.’

Eugenie ran from the room, anxious to get away. She needed time to think. Once in her own bedroom she flung herself on to the bed and allowed her grief and fear to overflow. She would mourn her father in private, and then she must decide what to do. One thing was certain, though: she would not go to that horrible man.

There was so much to grieve for: the loss of her father, her home, her school and her friends. She sobbed freely and remembered the game they played in the dormitory at lights-out with the aid of a torch. There were four of them: Alice, Paula, Mary and herself. They drew a circle on a large sheet of cardboard and divided it into four sections, one for each of them, then they had spun a coin and if it fell tails up in your space, you had to do a forfeit. They’d got up to all sorts of innocent things, like creeping up to the head’s door and leaving finger marks on the highly
polished brass handle, or squeezing through a window at night to bring back a flower or leaf. Leaving the dorm at night was strictly forbidden, and they’d had great fun carrying out the forfeits.