Remember Me (19 page)

‘That suits me fine,’ said Freddie. ‘I’m always pleased to spend some time in Scarborough. I’m staying here for the weekend, and I shall be coming to see the show tonight.’

‘Good,’ said Percy. ‘You’ll be very welcome, and the other two if they would like to stay. I’d better call them in and tell them what we’ve decided, Letty and me.’

The other two artistes had been waiting in what was the residents’ dining room. Percy felt sorry, and rather embarrassed, too, about the decision he and Letty had made. It seemed mean to take two out of the three. He had been tempted to take the singer as well, but he knew the ill feeling that that might cause amongst some of the other singers in the company. Dora Daventry, however, didn’t seem too put out at the news.

‘Never mind,’ she said. ‘It’s only what I expected. I watched the show this morning and I could see that you already have quite enough singers. Very good ones, too. I know I’m only an amateur, but I hope I might get a chance to go professional, sometime.’ Like Freddie Nicholls, she performed at local events in her home town, Huddersfield, where she worked as a shop assistant.

‘I hope so too,’ Percy told her, ‘and we wish you every success. Leave your address with us just in case we need to contact you. You never know in our business how things are going to turn out.’

Jeremy Jarvis was delighted to have been taken on. He had done a little professional work but was ‘resting’ at the moment and had returned to his other occupation as a barman, in the neighbouring town of Whitby. As all three of them were staying the night in Scarborough they agreed that they would attend the performance that evening. They left together, the best of pals already, it seemed, saying that they would go and have a fish and chip
tea before watching the Pierrot show.

Percy wondered whether it would be a good idea or not to introduce the newly appointed artistes to the rest of the troupe. He decided that perhaps it might not be, not yet. There were sure to be murmurings amongst some of the members; not many, maybe, but it might be better to wait a while before breaking it to them, tactfully, that in October they were to have some new colleagues. The trouble was that they had been the same little select troupe for so long, and some of them had grown complacent and inward-looking. Even though they had been told about the advertisement, it would come as a shock to be asked to curtail their acts a little to accommodate the newcomers.

As it turned out, however, the matter was taken out of Percy’s hands to a certain extent. At the end of the performance Freddie Nicholls excused himself from the other two, saying that there was someone in the troupe he had met before, to whom he would like to go and say hello. Dora Daventry and Jeremy Jarvis seemed to have struck up quite a friendship and didn’t appear to mind at all. And if they thought it strange that Percy Morgan had not offered to introduce them to the members of the troupe, they did not say so.

Freddie waited outside the tent that he had seen the lady artistes enter until Madeleine Moon came out. She seemed surprised when the tall, dark-haired young man stepped up to her and said, very
politely, ‘Hello, Madeleine. Do you remember me?’

She was startled for a moment. Nobody, except Dan, ever called her Madeleine. She looked at him more closely. He was quite attractive in an odd sort of way. His nose was a shade too long and his mouth too wide, but there was an appealing glint of humour in his grey eyes.

‘I’m Freddie Nicholls,’ he said, ‘although I was Frederick then, actually. But Freddie sounds better for a stage name. The boy conjuror? You know, when you won the talent contest, and I was second?’

‘Why, yes, so you are!’ she said in surprise. She smiled at him. ‘How nice to see you again. Of course I remember you. So…what are you doing here? Well, that’s a silly question; I expect you’re on holiday, aren’t you?’

‘Obviously you don’t know,’ he replied. ‘I’ve been for an audition this afternoon with Percy Morgan and – guess what? – I’m joining the company in October for the autumn tour.’

‘Are you? Well, that’s wonderful,’ she said. ‘I knew Percy had put an advert in the
Stage
, but he’s kept very quiet about the auditions. Anyway, congratulations! I’m sure you’ll enjoy being with us.’

‘I was surprised to see you singing with them,’ said Freddie. ‘But then again, perhaps I wasn’t. We all knew you would win, that afternoon. How long have you been with them?’

‘Two years,’ she replied. ‘I live in Scarborough, you see, so I was able to keep in touch with them. I did a few appearances as a guest artiste, and then when I was fifteen my father agreed that I could join them.’

‘And you’re glad you did?’

‘Yes, I’ve never regretted it.’

‘Listen, Madeleine… What are you doing now?’ he asked. ‘Would you like to come for a stroll with me, and perhaps we could stop and have a drink somewhere? Then you can tell me all about the…Melody Makers. That’s what they’re called in the autumn, isn’t it? Or…perhaps you’re meeting somebody?’

She hesitated for a moment before replying. ‘No…as a matter of fact, I’m not. Yes, Freddie, that would be a nice idea.’ Of course, if Dan had been there, as he should have been, it would have been different.

‘Aha, I see you two have met,’ said Percy, appearing suddenly from his dressing tent. ‘I guessed you might remember one another.’

‘Yes, Madeleine’s going to tell me all I need to know,’ said Freddie.

‘Don’t frighten him off then, will you?’ laughed Percy. ‘Off you go and enjoy yourselves.’

He watched them, Maddy and Freddie, as they walked across the sands and up the steps to the promenade. Those two make a very nice couple, he mused.

Chapter Fifteen

S
omething else of note that happened in the month of August was the return of Samuel Barraclough to Scarborough. He had been awarded a first-class degree in Geology at Leeds University, and after a few weeks’ holidaying with his fellow students, all now ready to make their way in the world, he had decided, at last, to visit his family. His expedition to Peru was due to begin in the second week of September.

William pretended to share his wife’s enthusiasm for her son’s visit. Obviously, she was delighted at the prospect of having her eldest child at home for a few weeks. But William knew that it was only a duty visit. He was sure the young man was fond of his mother; he must give him credit for that, but he knew that Samuel only came to see them when he had nothing better to do. This was his home, though, whenever he returned to Scarborough, and he must be accommodated. It meant that the twins, Tommy and Tilly, would have to share a room. Faith had decided it was no longer appropriate for them to occupy the same room as a rule, but now, with Maddy home as well, there was no alternative.

There were mixed reactions when Faith broke the news to the rest of the family, over the dinner table on Sunday, that Samuel was coming to stay. He would be arriving in two days’ time and was staying for about three weeks. And he would be sleeping in what was usually Tommy’s bedroom.

‘He’d better not mess about with my things, then,’ said Tommy. ‘I’ve got my engines and everything laid out just the way I want them.’ He was mad about anything to do with railways at the moment. In his bedroom he had a circular railway track on a tabletop, on which he ran his Bassett-Lowke clockwork engines, as well as goods waggons and passenger coaches. He also had a station and miniature figures of passengers, railway guards and porters. Every Christmas and birthday his collection grew a little larger.

‘Put them all back in their boxes then,’ suggested William, but Tommy said he would rather not.

‘I shall still want to run them when I come home from school,’ he said. ‘Samuel can’t have my room all the time. He can sleep in it, but I’m allowed to go in whenever I want to. Anyway, he’ll be out most of the time, won’t he?’

‘We must make him welcome whilst he’s here,’ said Faith. ‘You don’t often see your big brother, do you?’

‘And you’d better not mess with my things either,’ said Tilly to her twin brother, on hearing that she had to share her room with him. ‘I shall
have to move all my dolls, and Teddy as well, onto the window sill.’

‘Huh! Why should I want to mess around with a lot of silly old dolls!’ scoffed Tommy. ‘I’m only sharing with you because I have to. And I hope you don’t still snore, that’s all.’

‘I don’t snore!’ retorted Tilly. ‘Listen to what he’s saying, Mummy! I don’t snore, do I? Shut up, Tommy!’

‘Stop it, you two,’ said Faith. ‘It will be lovely to see Samuel again. He’ll be able to tell you all about what he’ll be doing in Peru. That’s exciting, isn’t it?’

‘S’pose so,’ said Tommy. Then with a little more enthusiasm, he added, ‘I looked it up in my atlas. And it’s miles and miles away, right at the other side of the world.’

‘No, it’s not,’ retorted Tilly. ‘It’s Australia that’s at the other side of the world, isn’t it, Uncle William? Our teacher said so.’

‘Yes, that’s right, Tilly,’ agreed William. The twins’ knowledge of geography seemed to be rather better than his had been at a similar age, although he did remember the map of the world, with all the red parts showing the countries that belonged to Great Britain. He was very pleased at the way the twins were developing and how they were both engrossed in the things they learnt at school. They were not his children, but he took a keen interest in them. And he was pleased at the way they had accepted him as a surrogate father. ‘Australia is at
the opposite end of the world, that’s what we’ve always been told, although I don’t suppose many of us will ever go there. But Peru is a very long way away, too. It’s in South America, isn’t it, Tommy?’ He knew very well that it was, but he guessed that Tommy would like to air his knowledge.

‘Yes, that’s right,’ Tommy answered. ‘And the capital city is Lima.’ But to William, all these places – Australia, South America, Africa – had about as much relevance as the moon. And were just as impossible to get to, for such as him.

Maddy and Jessie looked at one another, but made no comment about Samuel’s impending visit. Maddy intended to keep all her thoughts to herself. She had not set eyes on her stepbrother since that awful time in Leeds and she was not looking forward to meeting him again. She doubted, though, that she would see him very much. She would be working most of the time and most probably he would not condescend to go and watch a Pierrot show.

But that was where she was wrong. Samuel arrived on the Tuesday and Maddy saw him only briefly until the Wednesday, when Faith had organised a tea party for the whole family, in honour of his arrival. The clothing emporium that Faith managed was closed on a Wednesday afternoon, as was the office where Hetty worked, and the furniture store where Jessie was now employed.

It was quite a gathering of folk around the table that teatime, to partake of a rather earlier than usual meal. Faith had insisted that Maddy must be there. Her evening performance started at six-thirty and, to Maddy’s surprise, they were all going along to watch. In addition to William, Faith and Isaac, Maddy, Jessie and the twins, Faith had invited Patrick and Katy, and Hetty Collier. And Samuel, of course, was the guest of honour.

Maddy wondered what he thought about it all. She had changed her opinion of Samuel drastically and imagined that he would be viewing them all with a sardonic eye, wishing that he were somewhere else, far away from the family that he only condescended to visit once in a while. She was surprised, however, at how chatty and charming he was with everyone. He took an interest in Tommy’s trains and in Jessie’s new job and told her, Maddy, that he was looking forward to seeing her in her Pierrot costume, and was she going to sing the ‘Scarborough Fair’ song again? She found she was able to speak to him quite normally and she was relieved to think that what had happened between them appeared to have been forgotten. But she knew that she still did not entirely trust him.

It was the first time that Samuel and Hetty had met. Her visits had never coincided with his, and this was the first time he had returned since she had been living and working in Scarborough. She now had her own flat in a road leading off the
Esplanade, quite near to where her father and family lived. Maddy noticed that the two of them seemed to be getting along very well indeed. They were sitting next to one another at the tea table, and she was aware of a few whispered comments and giggles going on between the pair of them. And later, at the performance, she noticed that, again, they were sitting together, and from the way they exchanged remarks and smiled at one another it would appear that they had known one another for ages.

She wondered if she should warn Hetty about him, but on reflection she decided that that might seem spiteful and vindictive. Besides, Hetty was plenty old enough to look after herself. In fact, she was several years older than Samuel.

‘Shall we go and have a drink?’ said Samuel to Hetty when the show had finished.

‘Yes, thank you. I would like that very much,’ she replied.

They distanced themselves from the rest of the party who were heading towards the dressing tent to wait for Maddy; nobody appeared to notice their absence. The two of them made their way up to the North Bay promenade and from there to North Marine Road which ran parallel to the promenade and was where the undertaker’s business and shop were situated.

‘So you’re working for my stepfather?’ said Samuel as they walked past the premises.
‘Your…father, of course, isn’t he? Goodness me! What a complicated family we have, you and I. All these stepbrothers and half-sisters and God knows what. It’s hard to get the hang of it sometimes.’

‘Yes, I agree,’ laughed Hetty. ‘And me arriving on the scene as I did two years ago, it quite took the wind out of William’s sails. But I’m pleased to say that everything has worked out well between him and me. I liked him straight away. He’s a decent fellow.’

‘Yes, he’s all right is William,’ replied Samuel. ‘Not that I’ve seen a great deal of him and Mother since they were married. I’ve been away at university, and I’ll be even further away before very long. I was flabbergasted, I must admit, when the news broke – about you, I mean. Well, the crafty old devil! I thought. But I’d always suspected there’d been something between him and Bella Randall. Sorry, Hetty – your mother, of course. I hardly knew her, but I remember she was a very attractive woman. You are very much like her, as I expect you know. William must have thought he was seeing a ghost when you turned up out of the blue.’

‘Yes, it was rather a shock for him. I gather there had been some bad blood between her and William at one time. A good deal of resentment, but by the time she died I think she had managed to come to terms with most things. And your mother, Faith; well, she’s been wonderful about it
all. What a lovely person she is.’

‘Yes, I must agree that my mother is very patient and understanding. Quite saint-like, in fact. Now, what about this place?’ He stopped at a small public house on St Thomas Street, the street that led to the town centre.

‘Yes, that looks like a respectable place,’ said Hetty. ‘We’ll just have one drink, shall we? It’s quite a long walk back to South Bay.’

‘Oh, don’t worry about that. We’ll call a cab when we’re ready,’ said Samuel with an air of nonchalance. He held open the swing door, inclining his head graciously towards her as she entered.

There were a few people at the bar and Hetty studied Samuel as he stood waiting to be served. She knew that he was a few years younger than herself, twenty-one to her twenty-six, but no one would imagine, seeing them together, that there was any age difference at all. Samuel had the appearance and bearing of a man in his mid-twenties or even more. The old cliché of ‘tall, dark and handsome’ fitted him perfectly. He sported a small moustache, which made him look older than his years, and he was the picture of sartorial elegance in his well-cut light-coloured sports jacket, grey flannel trousers and the straw boater which he now held casually in his hand. He did not smile very much except when something amused him, although he seemed to have smiled more than usual whilst in her company; and
when he did his dark brown eyes lit up with a humorous, although faintly sardonic, gleam.

She had gained the impression that Maddy was not too keen on him, and Jessie, too, did not speak about him very much. It seemed to Hetty that Samuel had not been as overjoyed at the marriage of William and Faith as the rest of the family seemed to be, and he appeared to be something of an outsider. But she had decided that she liked him and was ready to give him the benefit of the doubt. He was a personable young man and she knew she would be pleased to have his company for the next few weeks until he departed for South America. That was, of course, if he wanted to go on seeing her, as she guessed he might.

‘There we are – one port and lemon,’ he said, returning to the table in the corner of the saloon.

‘Cheers, Hetty,’ he said, lifting his tankard of ale. ‘Here’s to us, and to the rest of our various family members. But chiefly…to us.’

‘Cheers, Samuel,’ she replied.

‘Let me see,’ he began, putting down his glass and looking intently into her eyes. ‘You and I, we are not related, are we? We’re not…brother and sister, in some complicated way?’

‘No, I don’t think so,’ she replied, smiling. ‘I don’t see how we can be. William is not your father. I’m half-sister to Maddy, and to Patrick. But I’m not related to Jessie and the twins, although Jessie claimed me as an extra sort of sister when I came to
live here. You and I, we could possibly be called stepbrother and sister, I suppose, but that’s stretching things a bit far.’

‘Just as I thought,’ he replied. ‘Then you and I can be friends, Hetty, without worrying about what anybody might say. And I hope I might have the pleasure of your company whilst I am here in Scarborough.’

‘That would be very nice,’ she replied, quite sedately. Samuel, studying her appraisingly across the table, decided that he liked what he saw. Henrietta Collier would do very well to keep him amused before he departed on his expedition. She was a good-looking lass; the very image of that Bella who, from all accounts had been, ‘no better than she ought to be’. A daft expression that didn’t make any sense at all, but that was what he had heard folks say about her and he knew what they meant. It was another way of saying that she was a woman of easy virtue. Not that he imagined for one moment that Hetty was like her mother in that respect. She appeared to be a most respectable and well-brought-up young lady. But she might well have inherited some of her mother’s tendencies…or her father’s, for that matter. William had risen somewhat in Samuel’s estimation after the news of his philanderings as a young man had come to light, two years ago. Who would have thought it, the randy old dog!