The Silk Vendetta (14 page)

In due course Easter was with us and Julia was delivered by Miss Everton into the hands of the Countess and the real process had begun.

The workroom was very quiet. Cassie said Emmeline was sulking. Grand’mere made two dresses—one for Cassie and one for me—out of the material left over from Julia’s needs. We called them our coming out dresses.

August came and the season was drawing to an end. No dukes, viscounts, baronets or even a simple knight had asked for Julia’s hand. She was to come down to Epping for a few weeks’ rest after her strenuous time, and then she would go up to London again, and under the excellent guidance of the Countess of Bal-lader make a fresh onslaught onto London society.

Philip and Charles had returned from France. Philip came to the house occasionally. He spent a lot of time in the big work- room. I would be there often with Cassie and he would talk enthusiastically about what he had seen in France.

He was worried about his father’s health. Sir Francis would insist on going to Spitalfields and he did tire easily. Philip thought he should rest more—something which Sir Francis refused to do.

There was a great deal of excitement in London for Charles had produced some fantastic ideas which had been of inestimable value to those who were researching on new methods.

“Charles of all people,” marvelled Philip. ”Who would have thought he was interested enough? He has contrived some formula. He said he has been working it out for some time. So odd. He gave no sign. I should never have thought he was such a secretive fellow. … To keep something like that to himself! At first I was inclined to be skeptical … but it seems it is just the climax to something our people have been working on for years. I’m having a special loom made, Madame Cleremont, and I’m going to bring it up here to you, but this has to be secret until it is launched. I don’t want any rivals to get a whisper of it. It is going to produce a certain weave which will bring a special sheen … not seen before. I think it is going to produce something quite different from anything we have done before. And to think that the clue to this perfection has come through Charles!”

The new loom arrived and Grand’mere used to talk to me about it every night when we were alone.

“Philip is so excited,” she said. “I think we shall soon have perfected it. Who would have believed it of Charles! And the funny thing is now that he has given us the key which is bringing it to perfection he seems to have lost interest. Philip is most excited. I think we’ll have made it in a few days now. We shall have to make sure it remains Sallongers’.”

“There is that patent Philip mentioned at the Crown and Sceptre.”

“That’s right.”

Philip had been at The Silk House for about two weeks. He was caught up in the excitement.

“This could be something quite unique,” he kept declaring.

Then came the great day. Philip took the piece of silk material which Grand’mere handed to him and they looked at each other with shining eyes.

“Eureka!” shouted Philip.

He seized Grand’mere and hugged her. Then he turned to me, lifted me up and swung me round. He kissed me heartily on the lips.

“This is going to be the turn of the tide,” he said. “We will celebrate.”

“At the Crown and Sceptre,” said Grand’mere, “with whitebait and champagne.”

Cassie came in. She stared at us in amazement.

“It’s a great occasion, Cassie,” I cried. “That which has been sought has been found.

“Cassie must join us in the celebration,” I added.

Philip took the material and kissed it reverently. “This is going to bring success to the Sallongers,” he said.

“Don’t forget the patent,” I reminded him.

“Wise girl,” he cried. “I shall see to it this very day. We need a name for it.”

Grand’mere said: “Why not Lenore Silk? Lenore has had a hand in it.”

“No, no,” I cried. “That would be ridiculous. It is Charles’s really and yours, Philip … Grand’mere’s too. I have just stood by and done the fetching and carrying. Let’s call it Sallon Silk. That’s part of the family name and we have alliteration’s artful aid.”

On consideration it was decided that that was a good name. And that evening we sailed to Greenwich and, as Grand’mere had suggested, celebrated on whitebait and champagne.

For some time we talked of little but Sallon Silk. It was an instant success and there were articles about it in the papers. Sallongers were commended for their enterprise and the prosperity they were bringing to the country. ”There is no silk which can match its excellence,” said the fashion editors. “Nothing from China or India, Italy or even France can compare with it. Sallon is unique and we should be proud that it has been discovered by a British company.”

We used to talk about Sallon when we were in Grand’mere’s workroom. Philip was often there discussing new ways of turning the invention to advantage. At the moment it was very expensive and a Sallon Silk dress was an essential of every fashionable wardrobe; but Philip wanted to use the method for producing cheaper material and so putting it within the reach of many more women to possess a Sallon Silk dress.

It was now being made in the factories. New looms had been installed for the purpose and Grand’mere, to her delight, was experimenting with an idea to bring out a cheap version.

She, Cassie and I were caught up in the project. Julia was in London where the Countess had moved into the house in Grantham Square and she was chaperoning Julia on her engagements.

We were into another year. I should soon be seventeen. Grand’mere had always implied that that was an age when wonderful things would happen.

Then the blow fell. Sir Francis had another stroke and this time it was fatal.

It was a bleak January day when they brought his body to Epping for burial. The coffin lay in the house for two days before it was taken to the mausoleum. There was to be a service in the nearby church and then Sir Francis would be brought to his last resting place.

The whole family was assembled at the house. Lady Sallon-ger assumed great grief which I felt could not be genuine for she had seen so little of him and never seemed to miss him. She insisted on going to the service to see the last she said of “dear Francis.” She was carried down to the carriage, looking frail in her black garments and hat with the sweeping black ostrich feathers. She held a white handkerchief to her eyes and insisted that Charles should support her on one side and Philip on the other.

It was chilly in the church. The coffin stood on trestles throughout the service, then it was taken to the carriage and we made our slow ceremonial way to the mausoleum.

Standing there in the bitter wind memories came back to me. Several of the servants were there and I noticed Willie with the dog in his arms.

On the edge of the crowd was a stranger. She was dressed in black and there was a veil over her face. She looked tragic.

I knew at once who she was and I saw that Grand’mere did too.

“Poor woman,” she whispered.

It was Mrs. Darcy.

The summer had come. Philip was often at The Silk House. Grand’mere used to grow pink with pleasure when she heard his voice. He talked to us about the business.

“There is no doubt,” he said, “that the discovery of Sallon Silk has saved us from bankruptcy. Yes,” he continued, ”things were pretty bad. No wonder my father worried himself into an illness. The French were getting the better of us at every turn. They could produce so much cheaper and I suspect that they were cutting their prices just to wipe us out of the market. Well, we’ve retaliated. Sallon Silk has saved us.”

“Charles must be very proud.”

“He’s not in the office much. He says he’ll come when he’s found some other invention which will revolutionise the silk industry.”

“How very strange,” I said, “that he, who is not really interested—or doesn’t appear to be—should come up with this miraculous discovery.”

“Odd indeed. I begin to think he must have a big feeling for silk after all. He is now having what he calls a good time. I have to say he deserves it and as long as he is ready to settle down in time, we’ll let him continue.”

Now that I was approaching my seventeenth birthday it seemed that I should be out of the schoolroom. I should have liked to work more with Grand’mere. I was getting more and more immersed into the excitement of the new discovery and 1 loved designing gowns which would suitably show it off. There were now several kinds of silk based on the new invention and Philip was introducing new colours which would suit it best. He was constantly involved with dyers and discovering where, because of the local water, the best results could be achieved.

I looked forward to the days when he came and we would sit in Grand’mere’s room and talk. Cassie was often there. She would sit silently, listening, usually on a stool, her knees crossed and her hands clasped about them. She was very happy to be a part of the excitement.

My birthday was in November. Not a good time for a birthday, Julia had always said. It was too near Christmas. The best time for a birthday was in the middle of the year. She may have been right, but I was greatly looking forward to my seventeenth birthday, for it would be a sign that I had passed out of girlhood and was a young woman.

Had I been a daughter of the house there would have been a season for me; but of course there could not be one for a girl in my position.

Julia’s season did not appear, so far, to have done a great deal for her. She was still, as Grand’mere cynically said, “on the market.” She was quite discontented and, I think, a little deflated because she had had no proposal of marriage. As I said to Grand’mere, it must have had a demoralizing effect on a girl.

As for myself I was passing into a new phase. Lady Sallonger was very pleased about it. She was thinking up more tasks for me. “It is absurd … a girl of your age… going to the schoolroom every day. Why, I don’t doubt you could teach Miss Everton a thing or two. I want you to look at my tapestry. I think there is something wrong with the pattern.” That meant her stitches were at fault, but she blamed the design, not herself. “You can come to me in the mornings when you leave the schoolroom. I feel so lonely when I am having my glass of sherry. I want you to talk to me.”

I said to Grand’mere: “Lady Sallonger is going to find new ways of using my time when I leave the schoolroom.”

“We must try to defeat her,” replied Grand’mere.

My seventeenth birthday must be celebrated. She was going to arrange a very small party in her room—Cassie, herself and myself. She would mention it to Philip if he came home and perhaps he might like to join us.

The day came. It was a typical November day—the sort I always associated with birthdays. There was mist in the air and from my windows the forest seemed touched in mystery.

Lady Sallonger had given me a silk shawl which had once belonged to her.

She said: “We should have celebrated your birthday, Lenore, but for being in mourning for Sir Francis.”

”I understand,” I told her.’ ‘I really don’t want a celebration. I ‘m just glad to be seventeen.”

“Seventeen! I remember my seventeenth birthday. What a day! There was a party at the Hall. I wasn’t ‘out’ then. You would have loved the Hall. It was very grand, very baronial. Of course there was a great fuss when I married Sir Francis. My people were against it. Trade, you know …and they guessed that I should have married right at the top. I could tell you some tales.”

“I expect you will,” I could not help replying.

She missed the irony. In fact I was sure she did not listen to anything anyone else said.

I told her the silk shawl was lovely. It was. It was hand-painted with blue and pink butterflies on green leaves; but I was beginning to feel that it was not so wonderful to be seventeen if I were to be pressed into further duties.

In the afternoon Lady Sallonger developed a headache—a real one, which meant that she must stay in her room and lie in the dark. Miss Logan and I got her to bed and left her.

As I came out of her room I saw Philip coming up the stairs. He had just arrived.

“Oh, Philip,” I cried, “how nice that you have come home on my birthday!”

“But of course I did. Where is my mother?”

“She has just gone to bed. She has one of her headaches.”

“So you are free. I wanted to talk to you.”

He opened the door of his mother’s sitting room. “In here,” he said, “where we can be quiet.”

We went into the room. He shut the door and, putting his arms round me, kissed me.

“Happy birthday!” he said.

“Thank you, Philip.”

“At last you have reached it.”

“Yes, I’m seventeen. It does seem to have taken a long time to get there.”

He took my face in his hands. “I promised myself that I would wait until then.”

“For what?”

“I have something for you.” He fumbled in his pocket and took out a velvet covered case.

“What is it?” I asked. “For you. I hope you like it. If it doesn’t fit they can do something about it.” I opened the case and there was a ring. It was splendid—an emerald surrounded by diamonds.

“I thought the green would suit you,” he said. “Your eyes look a little greeny sometimes.”

“This forme, Philip!”

“It’s meant to mean something. An engagement ring.”

He took my left hand and slipped it on the third finger. Then he kissed it. “It is what I’ve wanted for a long time, Lenore.”

I was bewildered. Grand’mere had hinted at this, but I had never really believed her. I thought she was imagining what she wanted to happen.

“Lenore,” he went on, “I’ve loved you for such a long time, and all this excitement we’ve had lately has brought us closer together. Do you feel that?”

“Why … yes.”

“Then …”

“But Philip … I wasn’t expecting this. I feel so … I don’t know … so foolish really … so uncertain … not knowing.”

“Didn’t you know I was waiting for this day?”

“No.”

“I thought it was so obvious. You look a bit shocked. It is just the surprise, isn’t it? I mean you do care for me?”

“Of course I care for you. You’ve always been so good and kind to me. It’s just, I suppose, that I am not ready.”