Beggars and Choosers (9 page)

‘The hat and veil.' Miss Collins snapped her fingers at her assistant. ‘As you see, Miss Watkin Jones, Mrs James, I've used the same lace to trim the hat and make the veil.'

Sali continued to stare at herself in the mirror as the dressmaker pinned on the white, broad-brimmed hat trimmed with frills of lace and white and cream silk rosebuds.

‘Before the ceremony,' Miss Collins covered Sali's face with the veil, ‘and,' she deftly swept the lace away from Sali's face and over the crown of the hat, ‘after.'

‘What do you think, Sali?' Edyth asked.

Sali's eyes misted over. ‘It's beautiful but ...'

‘Your father would not have wanted you to wear mourning on your wedding day,' Edyth declared resolutely.

Overcome with emotion, Sali turned aside.

Edyth turned to the dressmaker. ‘This dress is exactly right, Miss Collins, understated yet elegant. It would not look out of place at court. Once the town sees it, you will be hard-pressed to fill the orders that will flood in. Every bride in Pontypridd will be clamouring to buy one of your creations.'

‘Thank you, Mrs James.' The dressmaker glowed at the compliment as she helped Sali unbutton the dress.

‘Thank you, Miss Collins, and not only for my wedding dress,' Sali added. ‘The morning, afternoon and evening gowns are beautiful.'

‘It is a pity they all had to be black or grey, Miss Watkin Jones.'

‘I am sure Miss Watkin Jones, or Mrs James as she soon will be, will return to order more gowns as soon as she is out of mourning, Miss Collins.' Edyth glanced at her watch as she rose to her feet. ‘Would you please arrange for the accessories Miss Watkin Jones has chosen, her trousseau and wedding dress to be delivered to Ynysangharad House this afternoon and send a message to Mr Horton to tell him that we will be leaving the choosing of Mr James's and Miss Watkin Jones's china and silverware until this afternoon? Mr James is expecting us to join him upstairs for lunch.'

‘Certainly, Mrs James.'

Remembering her letter, Edyth removed it from her bag as the dressmaker helped Sali to change back into her walking suit.

‘Bad news?' Sali asked, as Edyth frowned.

‘Inconvenient.' Edyth pushed the letter into her pocket. ‘Miss Collins, thank you again.'

‘My pleasure, Mrs James, Miss Watkin Jones.' Miss Collins opened the door of the fitting room and bobbed a curtsy, as they headed for the lift.

Chapter Five

‘Harry would have been proud of you for going ahead with your wedding exactly as planned, Sali,' Edyth assured her, as they left the lift on the attic floor and walked past the stock rooms.

‘You don't think I am being disrespectful to his memory?'

‘On the contrary, I think you are being brave in adhering to his wishes. You don't need me to tell you how delighted your father was when you told him you wanted to marry Mansel.' As Sali brushed a tear from her eye, Edyth murmured, ‘Have Morgan and your mother been giving you a harder time than usual?'

‘Not really ... but ...'

‘They've been trying to persuade you to observe a full year of mourning.'

‘Two.'

Edyth grasped her hand. ‘Only another six weeks to go. Be strong.' She opened the door in front of her. ‘Mansel has transformed this room. The last time I was here it was as dark and dingy as a chapel vestry.'

‘It's light and airy now.' Sali followed her aunt into a large, comfortable drawing room papered in cream and white striped paper. The green plush-upholstered sofa and chairs were old-fashioned and heavy, as were the round table, upright chairs, and the Turkish rug on the floor was a dismal shade of green, but the scale of the room was forgiving enough to accommodate the furnishings.

‘It smells of paint.' Edyth wrinkled her nose as she inspected the skirting boards and fire surround. Both had been painted cream to complement the wallpaper. ‘No one has lived here since Mr Lewis retired six months before Mansel took over. When Mansel was in school, he often talked about moving in here himself and living the high bachelor life, but then,' Edyth gave Sali a sly look, ‘that was before you accepted his proposal.'

Sali moved to the window and looked down over Market Square. ‘You can see the whole street from here.'

‘And Taff Street, the river and the fields around Ynysangharad House from the window on the other side.'

Sali crossed the room. ‘I wonder why Mansel never suggested that we move in here?'

‘Probably because I told him what it was like when Mr James and I began our married life here.' Edyth unpinned her hat. ‘Despite all the builder's promises our house wasn't ready, so we lived here for four months when we returned to Pontypridd after our honeymoon, and in all that time we never had a moment's peace. Even when Mr James gave the staff direct orders not to disturb him, there was always something that needed his personal attention. An important customer demanding that he and no one else wait on them, a wrong delivery that needed sorting, or an errant assistant to reprimand. And if it wasn't this store, it was the Market Company, the bakery, or one of his provision stores. Believe me, comfortable as these rooms may be, you and Mansel will be better off living in Ynysangharad House.'

‘I am sure you are right.' Sali helped her aunt to remove her cape and hung it together with her hat on a stand next to the door.

‘But, saying that, despite the constant interruptions, we were happy during the short time we lived here.' Edyth looked inward as memories flooded back. ‘However, I wouldn't have been for long. No window or view is an adequate substitute for a garden. Shall we look at what Mansel has done to the rest of the rooms?'

Sali arranged her own hat and coat on the stand before opening a set of double doors to her left. They entered a dining room hung with the same paper as the drawing room and furnished with similar, old-fashioned, sturdy pieces, designed more for comfort than elegance. Three place settings had been laid at a square table that dominated the centre of the room. A vast sideboard filled half the remaining space. On it were a spirit-fuelled chafing dish from which emanated an appetising aroma of leek and potato soup, baskets of bread rolls and butter pats, a selection of cold meats, chutneys, pickles and mustards, a cold vegetable salad, an apple tart, a bowl of clotted cream and a drinks tray holding bottles of sherry, whisky and brandy.

‘Your Uncle Morgan would disapprove of you eating here if he could see that,' Edyth indicated the tray. ‘There's a kitchen, through the inner hall.' She led Sali through a second set of double doors into a tiny, dark vestibule walled by four doors. Unlike the drawing and dining rooms, the kitchen was small. It held a Belfast sink, miniature range, a coal bucket and single cupboard. A scarred pine work table stood in the centre of the room.

‘Bedroom.' Edyth opened another door and they glanced into a dark room that had also been newly papered, this time in pale grey. An enormous four-poster, hung with red curtains and covered with a matching bedspread, stood beside a wardrobe that filled an entire wall. The gloom was due to a massive dressing table that had been placed before the only window and blocked out most of the light.

‘Bathroom.' Edyth looked into a room scarcely larger than a cupboard that held a washstand, slipper bath, cabinet lavatory, slop pails and four huge jugs of water. ‘Mansel really must see about extending the plumbing to this floor. I don't envy whoever has to carry those pails downstairs. Be careful of the walls if you come in here, Sali. I remember that green distemper; it used to rub off on my clothes.'

‘Everything looks fresh and clean,' Sali said, as they returned to the dining room.

‘Apart from the furniture.' Edyth smiled at the confused expression on Sali's face. ‘It is all right to criticise. I didn't furnish this place; my mother-in-law did. Fifty years ago it was probably the height of fashion, but thankfully tastes have changed. I am glad Mansel's spared no expense in redecorating. It would be a pity to allow the rooms to decay. I haven't been up here for a couple of years but as I recall, the wallpaper was a rather dismal brown in all the rooms the last time I was here. It might be as well if he replaced the furniture as well.' She gave a wicked smile as she glanced at the sideboard. ‘How about a small sherry before lunch?'

Sali thought of her Uncle Morgan. ‘I'd love one.'

‘Given your mother's state of health, if there's anything you're unsure of, or anything you want to know about married life you can ask me,' Edyth offered, as they sat companionably either side of the fireplace in the drawing room. Although it was a warm day, a fire burnt cheerfully in the grate. More cheerfully than at home, Sali observed, recalling her uncle's latest edict to Mari to cut coal consumption. A ludicrous order given that until that morning, they could have ordered all the coal they needed from the family colliery at no cost to the household budget.

‘You know Mother is finding it difficult to accept that I am about to be married.'

‘Yes.' Edyth set her sherry glass in the hearth. ‘Please, don't take this the wrong way, Sali, but you do want to marry Mansel, don't you? It's not just something that you are doing simply to break free from your mother and uncle?'

‘Of course I want to marry him,' Sali protested earnestly.

‘Married life does take a lot of adjusting to,' Edyth mused, ‘But the rewards of a successful marriage more than make up for any sacrifices. Your uncle and I were very happy.'

‘You always seemed to be whenever we visited,' Sali concurred.

‘That's not to say we didn't argue, especially at first. I remember quarrelling with him on our honeymoon in Swansea. I stormed out of the hotel and spent an hour searching for somewhere respectable to hide, in the hope that he'd worry about me.'

‘What did you quarrel about?' Sali sipped her sherry. After months of abstinence it brought an unexpected warm and cheering glow.

Edyth frowned. ‘Do you know, I don't even remember ... Yes, I do – he accused me of putting too much milk in his tea at breakfast. I was mortified that he'd dared to criticise anything I did.'

‘And where did you go?'

‘I caught the train to Mumbles and walked around Oystermouth Castle for four hours. It was very cold and damp.'

‘And did he worry?'

‘Not enough to order a search, but he didn't pass judgment on the way I poured his tea at four o'clock. But then, you are so much more sensible than I was at your age. I can't imagine you behaving so foolishly or pouring Mansel's tea any way other than how he likes it. Besides, Mansel is a very different man to his uncle. He is much more sensitive.'

‘I love him very much,' Sali burst out solemnly.

‘I know you do, darling, and I'm sure you'll be happy together.'

‘Mother said –' Sali coloured at the memory of the ugly threats her mother had flung at her that morning. ‘She said ...'

Edyth waited patiently for Sali to finish.

‘She said that I would become an invalid like her if I had children,' Sali finally blurted.

‘And you believe her?'

‘She told me she was healthy before she had children.'

‘That depends on what you mean by healthy. Gwyneth always has been something of a hypochondriac. If she so much as cut her finger she'd have hysterics and demand a maid run for the doctor. Her own mother was always imagining herself ill and I think she instilled the ridiculous notion in both Morgan and Gwyneth that women are delicate creatures that have to be constantly nurtured and cared for like hot-house plants.'

‘Father told me that you had children.'

‘A boy and a girl. Did he also tell you that they died in a diphtheria epidemic just like Mansel's parents?'

Sali nodded in response to the bleak expression in Edyth's eyes.

‘When Mansel moved in with Mr James and me after he was orphaned, I had reached a point where I no longer wanted to go on living,' Edyth said simply. ‘Grief brought us together and it was Mansel who sustained me when Mr James died. It was his idea you live with me after your marriage, not mine.'

‘I know. We discussed it when he asked me to marry him. We both hoped you'd want us.' Impulsively, Sali left her chair and grasped her aunt's hand.

‘I think it is more the other way around. You two have given me far more than I have ever given you in terms of affection and consideration. Like most women of my age I have become self-centred and opinionated. I have also developed an alarming tendency to try to force people into doing things I think will be good for them. And before you contradict me,' she eyed Sali sternly, ‘ask your Uncle Morgan what he thinks of me.'

‘I wouldn't dare,' Sali smiled. ‘He wouldn't stop talking for hours.'

‘It's good to see you smile when you talk about him.' Edyth hesitated. ‘I don't know what Gwyneth has told you, but the physical relationship between a man and a woman can be the most beautiful expression of love, especially between two people who care for one another as much as you and Mansel.' She patted Sali's hand. ‘There really is nothing to be afraid of when it comes to love – or childbirth.'

‘Thank you.'

‘For what, child?'

‘Always being there, to put things into perspective for me.'

‘I hope I'll be there for you for a while yet.' Edyth rose to her feet as the door opened. ‘And when it's time for me to go, I know someone who'll be waiting to take over.'

‘So, Aunt Edyth,' Mansel blotted his lips with his napkin before tossing it over the remains of his apple pie and cream, ‘was the lunch to your satisfaction?'

‘Perfect.'

‘How polite of you not to tell me that the soup needed more salt and the beef was overcooked.'

‘Let's just say that I like it rarer than you.'

‘I ordered a light meal as you have invited guests for dinner this evening. The cook tends to overdo the spread if we have company.'

‘Is that a complaint?' Edyth asked.

‘Never! I wouldn't dare risk injuring Mrs Plumb's feelings. She might refuse to make me another Welsh cake. Coffee?' He left the table. ‘I have everything ready to make it in the kitchen cupboard.'

Edyth glanced at her watch. ‘I haven't time.'

‘Admit it,' he teased. ‘You don't believe that I can make coffee.'

‘I am sure that you can make it; whether or not it would be drinkable is another matter. However, I will have to investigate your talent another day. I received this earlier.' Edyth pulled the letter Mr Horton had handed her from the side pocket of her skirt. ‘Mr Richards has asked me to meet him at two o'clock. Apparently there are one or two matters relating to the Mining Disaster Fund that need urgent attention. A widow with six children has appealed for money to pay her rent. If the matter isn't settled by the end of the day, she and her children will be taken into the workhouse.'

‘You can't help everyone, Aunt Edyth,' Mansel reminded gently. ‘Gwilym James has contributed more to the last six Rhondda mining disaster funds than any other store or shop in Pontypridd.'

‘I know and Mr Richards knows, but a hundred and nineteen men were killed at the National Colliery in Wattstown alone last year, and thirty-three in the Cambrian at Clydach. Mr Richards has received petitions from the Catholic Priests in the area. Some of the widows and children of those men are in dire straits.'

‘The store's charity account is standing at two hundred pounds. You may as well empty it,' Mansel said philosophically. ‘But don't give away too much of your own money. There'll be another good cause next week.'

Edyth turned to Sali. ‘I hope you don't mind if we postpone the rest of our shopping until another day. Unless that is, Mansel can help you to choose your china and silverware.'

‘Me?' Mansel queried in astonishment.

‘Why not?' Edyth enquired in amusement, ‘After all, you will be the one to use it.'

‘What do you say, Sali? If there's time, we could even go on to the jeweller's and look at wedding rings,' Mansel suggested.

‘I'd like to.' Sali looked to her aunt for confirmation that she wouldn't be offending propriety by being seen in public with Mansel while she was still in mourning.