The India Fan (23 page)

id you take a cab?

es, I did. The driver looked surprised, but I made him wait for me to come back. I didn want anyone to know where I was. It was awful . . and then her. She sneered at me. She kept calling me the Countess. Then she told me I had to find the money, for if I didn come with it she was going to let the world know what I had done. She said I had deserted my child and a lot of other unpleasant things. I said I hadn. I found a good home for the child. She said, rusilla found that. You would probably have left her on someone doorstep so that you could go on with your life.I told her she was wrong. I did care about Fleur and when I was married I was going to take her. I know it will be all right once I am married.

shall not come to your wedding, Lavinia. It such a mockery really. Have you thought how you are deceiving Dougal? You will be standing there in virginal white

h, shut up. Are you going to help me or not? Can you see how miserable I am?

can do anything. / haven any money.

not saying give her money. I just know if you talked to her she listen to reason.

o, she wouldn.

he would. She has always admired you. I know you can persuade her. Please, Drusilla, go to London. You know how you like to see Polly and Fleur. Please, Drusilla.

And then I knew I had to go.

I considered what I should say. It gave me something to think about. The wedding plans were going ahead, as Lady Harriet did not see why there should be any delay. I might not be exactly in love with Dougal, but I did not want to hear about them.

I said to my father, think I will go and see Polly.

know.He smiled. ou want to go and see that child they have adopted. You are very fond of her, are you not?

ell, yes and I am very fond of Polly.

good woman,he said. omewhat forthright, but good at heart.

I went, and as usual Polly was delighted to see me. I did not tell her where I intended to go, for I felt she would try to dissuade me. She would think I should not involve myself further in Lavinia affairs. I had done so once and that had brought them Fleur and she could not regret that; but, as she would have said, once is enough.

I took a cab to Fiddler Green. The driver looked at me in surprise but did not comment. I asked him to wait for meot outside the house, but a little distance away.

He looked at me as though he thought I was on some nefarious mission. I wondered whether Lavinia had had the same experience.

I found my way to No. 20 Fiddler Green. It was a tall house showing signs of what must have been an attempt at grandeur; but now the stucco was broken away and what should have been white was a dirty grey. Four steps leading to the front door were broken away; two mangy-looking stone lions stood on guard. Lavinia had told me to knock three times, which meant that I wanted Janine, who was on the third floor.

I did so and waited. It seemed a long time before Janine appeared.

She stared at me for a few seconds in amazement. Then she cried, rusilla! Whatever made you come here?She lifted her shoulders. ou better come in,she added.

I was in a dingy passage with a staircase facing me. The carpet on the stairs was showing signs of wear and was threadbare in places.

We went up three flights and the carpet grew shabbier as we rose. She threw open a door to disclose a fairly large room, sparsely furnished. She turned to me, grimacing. ow you see how the poor and needy live.

h, Janine,I said, so sorry.

ust my luck. Everything went wrong for me.

e wanted to know what happened since I heard of the fire.

verything lost Aunt Emily dead and all those people with her. That stupid George. It was his fault, you know. I told her how dangerous he was and that we should all be burned in our beds one night.

es, he was certainly dangerous.

angerous! He destroyed everything for Aunt Emily and for me, too. I was going to marry Clarence Oh, I know he was simple, but he adored me. He would have given me anything anything I asked. And then he died killed by that stupid George.

e didn know what he was doing. Oh, Janine, what a blessing that you weren there on that night.

ometimes Ie almost wished I had been.

on say that.

do say it. How would you like to live in a place like this?

o you have to?

hat do you mean do I have to? Do you think I would if I didn have to?

urely there is something you can do? People of education usually become governesses.

ell, I don intend to.

hat will you do then?

planning. It made me mad when I saw all that fuss over Lavinia Framling. When you think of her and that child and there she is queening it over everyone. It not fair.

ne has to make up one mind that life never is fair.

intend to get something out of it anyway.

he told me you had asked her for money.

he would! And why shouldn she give me something? I helped her. Where would she have been without me? I reckon the noble Earl would not be so keen if he knew he was getting soiled goods.

on be bitter, Janine.

t not so much bitterness as sound thinking. She has everything. I have nothing. Well, then, I think it is about time I took a share.

ou will regret this, Janine.

am sure I shall not. I want to start a business. I could, I am sure. Making hats. I think I quite clever at it. I know someone who has a little shop. If I could find the money I could go in with her. I have to have the money and I don see why Miss Lavinia Framling should not provide me with some of it.

oul need more than fifty pounds.

She looked cunning. intend to have it.

t blackmail, you know, and that is a crime.

ould she take me to court? That would be nice, wouldn it? Miss Lavinia Framling bringing a charge against someone who knew she had an illegitimate child whose existence she was keeping secret. I can see her doing that, can you?

anine, it is not the way.

ou tell me another.

should think you could work work and save. You be happier that way.

certainly should not. In some ways you are a simpleton, Drusilla. The way youe worked to keep that little matter a secret and all for her. She thoroughly selfish. Do you think she would have helped you in the same way?

o.

hen why bother? Let her pay up or take what coming to her.

She looked fierce and very angry, and I knew there was nothing I could say to divert her.

I looked round the room and she noticed my glance.

rim, isn it?she said. ou can see why I want to get out of it.

do, of course, and I am very sorry. Where were you that night?

ou remember the Duchess?

es, I do.

er family decided they would take her back. They might have been ashamed of themselves dumping her on Aunt Emily like thatut I think perhaps it was something to do with money. They wanted to have her under their noses so that she couldn make a will leaving it all to someone else. They didn trust Aunt Emily. They weren far wrong on that one. I had to take her home. There was no one else. It was too long a journey to make in one day, so I was to stay the night at the family stately home. It was a bit different from this, I can tell you.

I nodded.

o, you see, that what happened. Everything gone in the fire. The house would have been mine. That was worth something. I could have started some business. But I wouldn have had to because I would have married Clarence. I have been set up for life and now nothing. The place wasn insured. How could Aunt Emily have been so foolish with madmen like George about!

ut you were lucky not to be there.

f you can call it luck.

e come to ask you to think again.

She shook her head. o, she got to pay. She has to give me some of what she got.

he doesn have a large allowance.

hen I want a share of what she got, and when she marries her noble lord

o you mean you will go on demanding money? You told her that the fifty pounds she gave you would be all.

ell, it not. I desperate, Drusilla. I not going to let a chance like this go by.

ou won do it, Janine, I know you won. Youl stop it. Whatever you feelnd I do understand your bitternesst is wrong.

t right for me. It time someone taught Lavinia Framling a lesson. She always thought she was superior to the rest of us because of that red hair.

h, Janine! Listen. I shall come to see you again. I could take you back with me to the rectory. You could have a holiday with us. We might be able to find some work for you to do. We know a number of people, and if you were recommended by a rector it would be a help. You could stay with us until you found work. Leave this place

She shook her head. ou are good, Drusilla,she said rather gently. ou are worth twenty of Lavinia.

I smiled. y value has gone up. You told Lavinia twelve.

overestimated her. Actually she not worth anything at all. I sorry for this earl. He going to have a nice dance with her. She one who can leave the men alone. Ie seen one or two of those in my time.

think she may settle down when she marries.

know you were top of the class, Drusilla, but you are a babe in arms when it comes to the facts of life.

o listen to me.

have.

o you are going on with this blackmail.

going on getting money until I set myself up.

t a mistake.

l be judge of that. Did you keep a cab waiting?

es.

ou better go then. He might not wait. He wouldn believe anyone who came here would be able to pay him. Hel think youe made off.

e didn seem to think so and he said he would wait.

appreciate what you have done.

f I hear of anything I shall come along and let you know.

She smiled at me and shook her head.

And that was all I could do at the time with Janine Fletcher, but I did not give up hope.

I avoided telling Polly where I had been. I knew she would have disapproved and told me to keep away. But I was sorry for Janine. I think in a way I always had been. She had had such a strange life; there appeared to have been little affection from Aunt Emily. Janine had been sent to an expensive school because Aunt Emily had had plans for a rich marriage and she must have intended to select one of her clients for her. Poor Clarence had been an ideal young man for the case. Oblivious of what was going on, affectionate to anyone who showed him kindness and rich into the bargain. He was like a puppet to be manipulated, and Aunt Emily had performed the manipulation with skill. And now instead of making a desirable marriage, poor Janine was alone and penniless; so she had taken to that most despicable of crimes: blackmail.

I wrote to Lavinia and told her that I had made little headway with Janine. She was adamant.

I could image Lavinia dismay on reading that letter. She would rage against Janine and perhaps against me for failing to perform the mission satisfactorily. But she had to know the truth.

Polly said, s anything wrong, love?

o. Why should there be?

ou seem thoughtful. You can tell me, you know. That Dougal he seems a bit of a fool to me to be taken in by that Lavinia. I like a real man, I must say, one who can see what what and is not going to make a fool of himself. I think you were a little bit fond of him.

e is a very charming man, Polly, and clever.

She sniffed. it of a jackass, if you ask me.

ots of men fall in love with beauty. Lavinia is really lovely. Going to Court has done a great deal for her and she has some exquisite clothes.

en don marry clothes-horses not if theye got any sense.

olly, I was not in love with Dougal Carruthers and he did not throw me aside to marry Lavinia. He had never asked me to marry him.

thought

hen you thought wrongly. Lavinia will be a countess. Can you see me as one?

hy not? I reckon you could be Queen of England if you wanted to.

don think Prince Albert would think so. And I shouldn fancy him either even if Her Majesty was willing to abdicate in my favour.

h, you!she said, smiling. ut you know there nothing you can tell me.

I tried to forget Lavinia affairs. I concentrated on Fleur, who was more enchanting than ever. I used to sit by the kitchen fire in the evenings and neither Polly nor Eff omitted to mention every day how well the fire drew nowadays, throwing a glance at the bellows which had pride of place nearby. I listened to their cosy talk while they heated the poker and put it red hot into the stout; and then I felt a certain peace. Somewhere at the back of my mind was the fact that I should always find a home where I would be loved and cherished. I had Polly, Eff and Fleur. In my most despondent moments I should never forget that.

One day Eff said, econd Floor 32 says her relation is the Honourable Mrs. Somebody.

onourable my foot,said Polly. hat one always going on about her high-class relations.

he got breeding,said Eff. know about these things.

On such matters Polly had to bow to Eff superior knowledge. ell, what about her?she added, conceding the point by implication.

his cousin or somebody going abroad. Oh, hoity toity, she is connected with the highest in the land. This cousin, or whatever she is, is looking for a companion to take abroad with her have to be a lady and know how to manage things.

I had been in a soporific mood, watching the leaping flames and seeing pictures in them, when suddenly I was alert. A companion to travel to get right away. Janine, I said to myself.

t sounds like a good post,I said aloud.

ood post!retorted Eff. t one in a million. Now if I had been young before I met Him it just the sort of thing I would have jumped at.

hy, you always hated foreigners, Eff,said Polly with a little laugh.

heye all right in their own country and that where I be seeing them.

I was still thinking of Janine.

I said excitedly, ne of my old schoolfellows is rather hard up. She is looking for a post. I was with her the other day.

ou didn say,said Polly. id you run into her somewhere?

es. I know she needs work. I wonder if