Remember Me (28 page)

But Percy, despite the competition on the other side of the headland and the rising cost of the overheads, refused to be downhearted. He had his own faithful followers on the North Bay who returned year after year, and he was convinced that the improved show would attract larger and larger audiences.

The season started well, with a spell of warm late spring weather, which encouraged audiences to sit and take their ease. The new acts and the recently improved ones proved popular. Barney and Benjy received a spontaneous round of applause when they appeared on the stage the first few times. It seemed that word had got around that Barney had been absent for a while, but now the couple were back together again, which was as it should be. Audiences at Pierrot shows liked tradition as well as something new.

The summer audiences had not seen Freddie or Jeremy before, as the two young men had only joined the company in time to start the touring season. Freddie’s conjuring act was immensely popular and he invited young members of the audience onto the stage to assist him with his card tricks. He had dispensed with his flight of doves whilst performing in the open air. Even though they were docile, he could not risk them taking wing and
disappearing into the bright blue sky with the wheeling seagulls. Snowy, the white rabbit, was a great favourite, though, with the children.

Likewise, Jeremy’s ventriloquist act was a novelty that was enjoyed by everyone. They sang along with Tommy the Toff as he ‘Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo’ and Desmond the Drunkard, ‘Down at the Old Bull and Bush’.

They welcomed back the familiar acts as well: Madeleine Moon singing her plaintive folk songs, then, as a contrast, the more popular songs of the day; Nancy and her performing dogs, Daisy and Dolly, both looking a little older, but still behaving well and obeying commands. There would come a day, however, when they might have to retire and be replaced by younger and sprightlier dogs. Daisy had taken to sitting down, now and again, in the middle of an act, as though she was staging her own little protest; but Nancy was putting off the evil day for as long as she could. Frank, the ‘Music Man’ and Susannah, the soubrette, performed singly and as a couple. Word had clearly got around about them as well. Audiences cheered when they appeared together, seeming to know that they would soon be a couple in real life as well as on the stage. Then there was Percy Morgan; who would have believed he had such a splendid voice? He was usually seen in his role as stooge to Pete, or as a comedian in his own right; but he and his partner, Dora Daventry, another artiste who was new to the summer
audiences, certainly did add a ‘touch of class’ to the show. And Pete Pritchard, Nancy’s husband; the show would not be the same without Pete. He was tremendously popular in his roles as bottler and funny man; an all-rounder who held the show together, appearing in most of the sketches and popping up in whatever capacity he was needed.

At the end of the first week takings were up quite a lot compared with the same time the previous year, and Percy was thankful and hopeful. With regard to Frank and Susannah, their situation seemed to be common knowledge now. He had warned them, however, at the start of the divorce proceedings earlier that year, that he did not want any hint of scandal to touch the Melody Makers. They had a good number of faithful followers – older men and women, more ‘Victorian’ in outlook – as well as the younger generation they had attracted in recent years, and any talk of impropriety might prove damaging to the company. As it happened, the report of the divorce proceedings did not appear in the local papers. The couple were now awaiting the final decree to be made absolute, then they hoped to marry before the end of the summer season.

The marriage of Frank and Susannah was not the only one being planned at that time. Patrick Moon, Madeleine’s brother, was to marry his fiancée, Katy, at the end of June. The wedding had been arranged for the last Sunday in the month, at the Methodist
Chapel on Queen Street, where Patrick and Katy and, indeed, all the Moon family, were regular attendees. It was an unusual day for a wedding, but Katy wanted Maddy as well as Jessie to be a bridesmaid and Sunday was the only totally free day for the Pierrots. Katy was the only daughter of rather elderly parents and she had been welcomed wholeheartedly into the bosom of the Moon family. She regarded Maddy, and Jessica too, as the sisters she had never had. Katy had already chosen her wedding dress, with the help of her mother and Faith, from an exclusive selection at Moon’s Modes.

Katy wanted her dress to be kept a secret until the big day and so, after a slight alteration carried out by Miss Muriel Phipps, the wedding gown was hidden away in Katy’s wardrobe. Simple ankle-length dresses of cornflower blue silken satin, a colour which would suit both Maddy and Jessie, had been ordered from the warehouse in Leeds that supplied much of the stock for Moon’s Modes. It promised to be a happy occasion. The young couple had many friends in addition to family members. Katy was an only child, but apparently there was a plethora of middle-aged aunts and uncles to be invited to the wedding.

Maddy had been biding her time, waiting for a suitable moment to have a talk with Hetty. She wanted to find out, first of all, if the friendship between Hetty and Samuel had come to an end. If
that was the case, then there would be little point in saying anything about what she had seen.

Her opportunity came when Hetty was invited to Sunday tea at the beginning of June. Fortunately Jessie went out as soon as they had finished their meal, for a bicycle ride with a few members of her cycling club.

‘It seems ages since I saw you,’ Maddy began as the two of them sat together in the bedroom she shared with Jessie.

‘It is ages,’ replied Hetty. ‘It was Christmas time, wasn’t it; and you were trying so hard to be cheerful and to put on a brave face in spite of not seeing Dan… I’ve only mentioned it because you seem to be quite all right again now. William and Faith told me that it was all finished between the two of you. I’m really sorry, Maddy; but you’ve got over it now, have you?’

‘Yes, I have,’ said Maddy. ‘Well, most of the time; I try not to think about him. I’m very busy, of course, and I have lots of friends in the company. I have no time to be miserable. And…what about you? Are you still seeing Samuel? I hope you don’t think I’m being nosey, but Jessie told me you were still writing to him and seeing him every now and again.’

‘Yes, I’ve been over to Leeds a couple of times at the weekend since he started lecturing at the university. It was…very nice. We went out for a meal on the Saturday night, and once we went to
Roundhay Park on the Sunday. I had to come back, though, in the afternoon, to start work on the Monday.’

‘And has he been over here to see you?’

‘No…no, he hasn’t. Apparently he has a lot of preparation to do at the weekends, although he did manage to take some time off when I went to see him. He’s very keen to make a go of this lecturing, you know, after the disappointment over the expedition.’

‘And he’s quite well again now, is he, after his illness?’

‘Oh yes, he seems to be. It was just the climate that didn’t suit him.’ Hetty’s face suddenly took on a different expression. She had appeared, and sounded, quite normal and cheerful, but now she seemed anxious. She looked doubtfully and a little fearfully at Maddy. ‘As a matter of fact, I’m not at all sure how he is at the moment. I haven’t heard from him for…it must be three weeks, and he used to write every week at first. We weren’t courting or anything like that, not seriously, I mean; but I was getting very fond of him, and I thought he felt the same about me. But now…I just don’t know. You don’t mind me telling you, do you, Maddy? I shall go mad if I don’t talk to somebody.’

‘Of course I don’t mind,’ said Maddy. ‘You probably realise that…well, I’m not actually too keen on Samuel myself. I’m sorry to say this,
Hetty, but it might be as well not to get too involved with him. He’s not the sort of person that you can trust entirely…or at least that’s what I think.’

‘He hasn’t said that it’s over between us,’ said Hetty, ‘but if he doesn’t want to see me again, then I think he should have the courage and the decency to tell me. Don’t you think so, Maddy? Dan was honest with you, wasn’t he?’

‘Yes, I agree,’ said Maddy. She took a deep breath. ‘Listen, Hetty. I didn’t really want to tell you, but I think it might be better if I did. You see…I saw him, Samuel, in Leeds. I was with Freddie one night – you know, the conjuror? – and Samuel was there, in the same restaurant, with a…with a lady. Actually, I’m using the term reservedly. She was…well, she seemed rather common, and she looked quite a lot older than Samuel. And I could tell that they knew one another rather well.’

Hetty let out a tremendous sigh. ‘To be quite honest, I’m not surprised. I guessed there might be someone else, possibly more than one. You were right to tell me, Maddy.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘I really have been the most absolute fool.’

‘You weren’t to know what he was really like,’ replied Maddy. ‘Samuel can be very charming when he wants to be. But now you can have the satisfaction of telling him that you don’t want to see him again.’

‘I’m afraid it’s rather too late for that,’ said Hetty. Her dark brown eyes filled up with tears. ‘You see… I’m expecting his baby.’ She covered her head with her hands and began to sob.

Chapter Twenty-Two

‘O
hh…no!’ Maddy realised immediately that her cry of surprise, verging on horror, could do nothing to help Hetty. Indeed, it would only serve to make her feel worse. But it had been an involuntary reaction, as a myriad of thoughts flitted through her mind. This was Hetty, the very moral young woman who had lost her fiancé because she had refused to give way to his too amorous advances. But now…this was dreadful!

‘I know,’ Hetty sniffed through her sobs. ‘You must be shocked and thoroughly ashamed of me, behaving like that. And I know everybody else will be too.’

‘No!’ Maddy shook her head emphatically. ‘Of course I’m not shocked or ashamed.’ And that was the truth. Maddy was just amazed that Hetty could have allowed this to happen, and she felt worried for her, too, as the awful truth began to dawn on her. ‘I’m surprised, perhaps. But then…maybe I’m not. I’ve just told you that I didn’t trust Samuel. This just proves that I was right.’

Hetty gave a weak smile. She had stopped sobbing now; it was not really characteristic of her
to give way to tears and to show her feelings so openly. ‘You mustn’t blame Samuel entirely. It takes two, you know, and I can’t say that I was…unwilling. I lost Alec – you remember? – because I behaved rather prudishly. So this time…well, I didn’t. I suppose I wasn’t thinking about what the consequences might be. At times like that…you don’t. And now…I’m in a right pickle, aren’t I?’

‘What are you going to do?’ asked Maddy, feeling very helpless.

‘I have no idea at all,’ replied Hetty, ‘especially now, after what you have just told me.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Maddy. ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything.’

‘Of course you should. Even more so, the way things have turned out. I know I could never trust him, so marriage would be out of the question. I doubt if he would agree to it anyway.’

‘Yes, I certainly wouldn’t want to see you married to that awful stepbrother of mine, but my father and Aunty Faith would be furious if they knew, and they would probably insist that he…well…made an honest woman of you, as the saying goes.’

Hetty smiled again, wryly. ‘Aren’t you forgetting something, Maddy? Our father has no room to talk, has he? Aren’t you forgetting how I came on the scene?’

Maddy put her hand to her mouth. ‘Oh…yes!
I’m sorry. I forgot, for the moment.’

‘Yes; William and my real mother, Bella, let things go too far, and then he wouldn’t marry her. The circumstances were rather different, of course. From what I’ve gathered, William was very young and quite innocent; and from what I learnt of Bella I’m sure she led him astray. No doubt he was scared to death, poor lad, when he knew what had happened. Anyway, she upped and went back up north, didn’t she? And I was adopted.’

‘But Samuel is older, and he certainly isn’t an innocent young man, is he?’ replied Maddy. ‘Not by any means.’

‘Quite so. He knew what he was doing. I knew I wasn’t the first,’ she added sagely. ‘Although for me…it was the first time. No doubt he found that very satisfying. Another conquest, another notch on his bedpost.’

‘Are you going to tell him?’

‘No! No… I had been wondering what to do. I was trying to delude myself that he was busy and hadn’t had time to write. But now, well, I know differently, don’t I?’

‘Are you quite sure, though…that you are having a baby? I mean, couldn’t you be mistaken?’

‘I’m afraid not. I’ve missed two periods and I feel…well, I just know. I shall go through with it, though,’ she went on in a determined voice. ‘To do anything else – to try to put a stop to it – would be foolish and dangerous, and very wrong as well. And
I certainly won’t let him – or her – be adopted, like I was. I know there’s a stigma attached to illegitimate babies, but I shall hold my head up high and face the consequences.’

‘I think you’re being very brave,’ said Maddy. ‘But Samuel will have to know sometime, won’t he?’

‘I suppose so, but let’s not look too far ahead, eh? You are the only person I’ve told, but I know other people will have to know before too long. One thing I do know is that William and Faith would never cast me aside. I shall just wait a little while and see how things go. I feel much better, though, now I’ve told you.’

‘Have you seen a doctor?’ asked Maddy. ‘Perhaps you should…’

‘No, I haven’t, not yet. But that’s something I must do before long. Now…shall we go and join the family downstairs? They’ll be wondering what we’re doing.’

‘Catching up with one another’s news,’ said Maddy. ‘That’s what we’ll say. After all, we haven’t seen one another for ages. I’ll keep your secret, Hetty. I’m so glad you felt you could confide in me.’

‘You’re my sister, aren’t you?’ Hetty put an arm around Maddy and kissed her cheek. ‘As I’ve said before, it was a lucky day for me when I came to find William, and found all of you.’

‘In spite of what has happened?’ asked Maddy.

‘Yes, in spite of everything. It’s at a time like this
that you need a family. And I know that mine won’t let me down.’

One of them already has, thought Maddy, but she did not say it. Hetty was a strong young woman and Maddy knew that she would find her way through this problem. But if she, Maddy, could get her hands on Samuel, there was no telling what she wouldn’t do to him!

It was a perfect day for a June wedding. The sun shone from a cloudless blue sky as Patrick and his new bride stood on the chapel steps posing for a photograph. A young man by the name of Bertram Lucas had recently opened a photographic studio on North Marine Road, near to the premises of Isaac Moon and Son. Patrick had been impressed by the selection of photographs in the window display, consisting of indoor and outdoor pictures, both in sepia and black and white, and had consequently booked the young man to take photographs of his forthcoming wedding.

After the one of the bride and groom had been taken they were joined by the bridesmaids, Maddy and Jessie, and the best man and groomsman, friends of Patrick from his school and Sunday school days.

Then a group study was taken with the family members of both the bride and groom gathered around the happy couple. Bertram suggested that a few chairs should be brought out from the nearby church hall – where the wedding breakfast was to
be held – to help with the arrangement of the group.

Patrick and Katy sat on the two centre chairs, looking radiantly happy. Patrick was well-known for his jocular personality. He was always ready with a laugh and a joke whatever the circumstances, a trait he had developed as an antidote to his sombre career. Today, though, he was not laughing, and his smile as he gazed upon his bride was one of wonder and adoration.

Katy was a small girl, dark-haired and insignificant in appearance, until one looked at her lovely hazel-green eyes. They were her best feature, glowing with a radiance that revealed her inner beauty and the warmth of her nature. At times she seemed overshadowed by Patrick, not the sort of girl you would notice in a crowd. But today she looked as beautiful as any bride could be. Her dress of pale cream silk-satin – which Faith had suggested was more flattering to her than a stark white – was high-waisted with a deep V-shaped neckline inserted with lace and pleated silk, and a high stand-up lace collar of the style worn by Queen Alexandra (and all ladies who followed the fashions of the day). Her headdress of cream flowers held a hip-length silk-gauze veil.

Patrick’s suit was medium grey; he had decided to have a change from the black he was forced to wear for funerals, and with it he wore a high-collared shirt and a cream silk tie that matched the cream carnation in his buttonhole and the cream
roses and carnations in Katy’s bouquet. On the chairs to his left were his father, who was similarly dressed, Faith, and at the end of the row, Grandad Isaac.

Faith looked truly beautiful, as she always did; her outfit today was the very epitome of elegance and caused more than a few heads to turn in her direction. This was never her intention – she was a very modest woman – but William, over the years, had grown accustomed to the admiring glances she attracted wherever they went. Her pale blue silk dress had a pleated cummerbund of a deeper blue, which matched her elbow-length gloves and her large wide-brimmed hat trimmed with ostrich feathers. The ankle-length skirt narrowed towards the hem and was split to just below the knee to facilitate movement.

Katy’s parents, Mr and Mrs Hancock, sat to the right of Katy. Mrs Hancock was rather more soberly, but still smartly, dressed in a pale green tailored suit with a small-brimmed matching hat, topped with a cluster of cock’s feathers in emerald green.

Behind the row of chairs stood Maddy and Jessie, the best man and groomsman, a middle-aged couple who were godparents to Katy, and at the end of the row was Hetty. She had seemed unwilling to be part of the family group, but William had insisted that she was a member of the family and must be included. And seated at the front, on the ground,
were Tommy and Tilly. Tilly was very pleased with her appearance in the new deep pink dress she had been allowed to choose herself. Her mother had argued at first that pink was not a colour to be worn with ginger hair. But Tilly had insisted that that was the only dress she wanted, and it had to be said that it suited her and her colouring very well. Tommy was rather less pleased with his knickerbockers and short jacket, which felt stiff with newness. He hadn’t particularly wanted anything new, but his mother had insisted that he must look smart.

Samuel, not surprisingly, was conspicuous by his absence. He had, of course, been invited to the wedding, but he had declined the invitation saying that he would be away that weekend on a potholing expedition to Derbyshire with a group of his students. It had been arranged several months ago, or so he said, and it was not possible for the date to be changed or for him not to accompany them.

Most probably it was only Faith who was really disappointed at his absence. Hetty had been relieved on hearing that he would not be there. She had written to him soon after her conversation with Maddy, telling him that it might be as well if they did not see one another again. She was sure he must have other commitments in Leeds? she queried. Maybe that was why he had not written lately?

He had replied, eventually, in a similar vein. Yes, he had been busy with all sorts of things and he
simply had not had time to come to Scarborough. He had enjoyed her company, he wrote, but he agreed that it might be as well if they did not see one another again except, of course, as friends. It was inevitable that they should meet from time to time because of the family connection.

Hetty was relieved in a way. She and Samuel had managed to extricate themselves from a relationship that she knew, now, would never have gone anywhere. At the same time she was anxious and heartsore. She was expecting his child. A doctor had now confirmed this; he had assured her that she was fit and healthy and the child was due in six months’ time, which would be sometime around Christmas. Her condition was not obvious to anyone yet, but she knew she would not be able to conceal it for much longer.

As she looked at the happy bride and groom she felt a pang of sadness and loneliness, although she was able, also, to rejoice with them. They were a lovely couple and she wished them every happiness. And she knew, too, despite her feeling of aloneness, that she was a part of this joyous family gathering. She felt, deep down, that they would all support, rather then condemn her when they knew the truth. But she could foresee difficult times ahead.

Maddy’s eyes were upon Hetty as they all trooped into the church hall after the outside photographs had been taken. She was the only one who knew Hetty’s secret and she was relieved to see
how well her half-sister seemed to be coping with what must be, for her, something of an ordeal. She was smiling and chatting and behaving very normally, although Maddy feared that she must be agonising deep within herself.

Nobody could possibly have guessed that the young woman was pregnant. She had chosen her wedding outfit from Moon’s Modes. It was a high-waisted silken dress with a fashionable narrow ankle-length skirt, in a shade of deep coral pink that suited her dark colouring. Her matching straw hat was trimmed with a large petersham ribbon bow. Like Faith, she looked the picture of elegance.

The ladies of the chapel had organised the wedding breakfast, which was really a tea, the wedding having taken place in the afternoon, well away from the times of the morning and evening services. As a special concession the Sunday school scholars were, this afternoon, meeting in the chapel itself instead of in the nearby hall.

It was, indeed, a chapel tea party, but on a grander scale. There were well-filled plates of boiled ham and tongue, new potatoes, mixed salad with boiled egg, and dishes of beetroot and pickled onions with a bottle of salad cream in the centre of each table. The band of six ladies – their best dresses covered with floral pinnies and still wearing their hats – cleared away quickly and efficiently, and then brought on the dessert in glass dishes. This was ‘Methodist’ trifle, as it was called in some
quarters, made with fruit juice rather than sherry, in the chapel tradition, but bursting with succulent fruit and topped with fresh cream.