Settling the Account (31 page)

‘Stop your moaning, girl,’ Lizzie said.
‘I’ve told you and told you, this one’s a sort of practice. We
don’t want to go inviting a whole load of strangers till we know
we’ve got it all sorted out properly. It doesn’t matter if we get
the odd thing wrong with just family and a couple of teachers.’

‘Suppose so,’ Maudie allowed. ‘Can I have a
new dress when we have a soyree with fellows, Ma?’

‘We’ll see,’ was Lizzie’s noncommittal
reply.

‘And can I pick what sort of dress it
is?’

‘No, you can’t. You’re too young to know
what’s suitable.’

‘But Ma—’

‘That’s enough buts for tonight. And mind
you don’t start going on about fellows in front of your pa. You
know he doesn’t like to hear you talking like that.’

‘Pa thinks I’m a baby.’

‘That’s because you act like one sometimes.’
Lizzie glanced at the clock. ‘Look at the time! The visitors will
be here soon, you’d better get changed, Maudie.’

Maudie gave her mother a meaningful look. ‘I
want to wear my white muslin,’ she said, her tone so emphatic that
Amy knew this was not the first time that evening the subject of
Maudie’s dress had arisen.

‘Well, you can’t,’ Lizzie said. ‘You’re
going to wear your pink dress. That’s the prettiest one you’ve got,
and you want to look your best for the soyree.’

‘But I
told
you, Ma, I asked Aunt
Lily the other day, and she said I should wear—’

‘That doesn’t matter.
I’m
telling you
you’re to wear the pink, and that’s all there is to it.’

Not in Maudie’s opinion, it seemed. ‘But you
said to ask Aunt Lily about style and things, because she comes
from the city and she went to a fancy school. You
said
that.
And I showed the pink dress to Aunt Lily, and she said—’

‘I’ve heard just about enough of what Lily
has to say for one night,’ Lizzie cut in, her voice rising. ‘Your
Aunt Lily doesn’t know everything there is to know about things, I
might state. She was nearly thirty before she managed to find a
husband, and she probably never would have if I hadn’t shoved her
under your Uncle Bill’s nose.’

The moment the words were out, it was clear
that Lizzie regretted her rare loss of self-control. Maudie stared
wide-eyed at her mother.

‘What a nasty thing to say! Ooh, Aunt Lily
would be so upset if she knew you’d said that about her.’

‘Well, she won’t hear unless any big-mouthed
girls go carrying tales, will she?’ Lizzie said. ‘There’s no need
for you to go butting into your elders’ affairs.’

Lizzie looked around the room for a
distraction, and found it in the younger children. ‘Mickey, it’s
time you and Danny went to bed—you can put them to bed, Maudie.
Give Danny’s face a good wash first, he’s got custard all round his
mouth. And you can check if Rosie’s settled.’

‘There’s too many babies around here,’
Maudie remarked to the room at large before she took a reluctant
Danny by the hand and dragged him down the passage, not before
shooting a dark look at her mother.

‘That girl can be very provoking,’ Lizzie
said. ‘Going on about her dress like that, and making me say that
about Lily! You girls watch your step tonight, I don’t want anyone
else annoying me,’ she told the attentive Maisie and Beth, both of
whom nodded vigorously.

Her composure recovered, Lizzie turned back
to Amy. ‘Fourteen, if you please, and going on like she’ll be an
old maid if she’s not married before the year’s out,’ she said,
aggravation and pride present in equal measures in her voice.

‘You were just the same,’ Amy said. ‘Except
there was only ever Frank for you. What can I help with,
Lizzie?’

‘Oh, I think it’s about ready. Have you
finished those sandwiches, Maisie?’

‘I’ve made
hundreds
,’ Maisie said.
She indicated her mountain of sandwiches to Amy. ‘See how fancy
they look? I’ve cut all the crusts off,’ she added, awed at such
extravagance.

‘The pigs’ll soon clean the crusts up,’ said
Lizzie. ‘Let’s see—yes, those look all right, Maisie. I suppose
they might be a bit thick.’

‘I did them thin as I could,’ Maisie
said.

‘I know you did. Aunt Susannah said make
them dainty, but it’s hard to cut bread thin when it’s nice and
fresh like that. Never mind, they look good with the crusts
off.’

‘I’m staying the night here,’ Maisie told
Amy self-importantly. ‘I’ve never stayed the night before.’

‘Yes, it’ll be too late for her to walk home
by the time we’ve finished,’ Lizzie said. ‘She can share with Rosie
tonight, it’s only a little bed but Maisie doesn’t take up much
room. Where’d you put your nightie, Maisie?’

‘Haven’t got one. I just sleep in me
drawers, or I keep my dress on if it’s cold.’

‘Well, you’re not sleeping in your drawers
here! I’ll sort out one of Maudie’s for you—no, Beth’s would
probably fit you better. I’ll do that later.’ Lizzie scanned the
laden table. ‘Let’s see, we’ve got ham, and pies, and some cold
chicken, then there’s all Maisie’s sandwiches, and cakes for after.
That should be enough. Right, everyone into the parlour, and we’ll
wait for the visitors. Beth, put those kittens back.’

‘But I wanted to show them to Dave,’ Beth
said, a tiny, squirming kitten in each hand. ‘See them, Aunt Amy?
They’re so little.’ She held out one of the kittens, the image of
Amy’s Ginger at the same age. Amy took it carefully in her hands
and stroked it.

‘Well, you can show him another time. We
don’t want kittens in the parlour tonight, climbing on everything.
Someone would only tread on them, anyway. Put them back in the box,
love.’

Beth obediently gathered up both kittens and
put them into an overturned crate that had been made into a bed for
the kittens and their anxious mother.

Maudie came out a few minutes later, wearing
a bright pink dress and a scowl. ‘Aunt Amy, don’t you think this
dress is
awful
?’

It was certainly eye-catching, Amy thought;
she suspected that was the main reason Lizzie so approved of the
dress. No one would ignore Maudie while she was wearing a dress so
well-endowed with frills and in such an intense shade. And the huge
sleeves would ensure that she took up more of the room than anyone
else present. ‘Oh, no, it’s not awful, Maudie,’ Amy said. ‘It’s a
very cheerful sort of dress. I would have loved one like that at
your age.’

‘Maybe it would have been the fashion back
then,’ Maudie countered. ‘No one’s wearing these silly big sleeves
now. And this horrible colour! I look stupid in this thing.’

‘I’ll tell you what, you look ugly with that
scowl on your face,’ Lizzie said. ‘No one would look twice at you
with a face like that, even in that pretty dress. I went to a lot
of trouble making that, my girl, and I don’t want to hear another
word about it tonight. Is that understood?’

Maudie mumbled something that might have
been compliance, but any reply Lizzie was going to make was
interrupted by the arrival of Bill and Lily.

Lizzie scolded them soundly for coming in
the back door. ‘That’s for everyday. You should come in the front
door when it’s a soyree.’

‘I did try and tell you, Bill,’ Lily said to
her unrepentant husband when Lizzie had hurried the family through
to the parlour.

‘Well, we’ll come in the front door next
time,’ Bill said.

‘If you’re asked again,’ Lizzie retorted.
‘
You
can come, Lily, but you can only bring him if he
behaves himself.’

‘Yes, I’ll leave you at home to look after
the children,’ Lily added with a sidelong smile at Bill. ‘I feel
rather wicked leaving them tonight at all—it’s the first time I’ve
ever left Will.’

‘They’ll be all right with Ma,’ said Bill.
‘I bet you Pa’ll keep Arfie up late, that’s the only trouble.’

‘And then he’ll be in a mood tomorrow,’ Lily
said with a sigh. ‘Well, that’ll serve me right for leaving them,
won’t it? I do love the chance to play, though. I had a lovely
session with it when I came down for Maudie’s lesson yesterday. Oh,
Frank, that new music’s wonderful,’ she added.

‘I just sent away for the ones you said to,’
Frank said. ‘I should’ve got you to write the names out for me,
though, it was a beggar trying to figure out how to spell them. I
wrote them like you said, Showparn and all that, but the names on
the music don’t look much like what I wrote.’

‘It doesn’t matter, it’s all
wonderful—especially this one with the terribly long name.’ Lily
leafed through the pile of music on her lap and lifted a few sheets
aloft. ‘T-c-h-a-i-k-o-v-s-k-y,’ she spelt out. ‘Goodness knows how
you’re meant to pronounce it! But it’s stunning music, and so hard
to play! I had a delightful time struggling with it yesterday.’

‘Is it the sort you can sing along with?’
Lizzie asked.

Lily laughed. ‘No, not at all, I’m afraid.
Don’t worry, I won’t play any of that tonight. And I’m not going to
try and make Maudie learn it, it’s much too hard.’

‘I’ll say,’ Maudie agreed. ‘It’s got no tune
in it, either. Just all those notes bumping into one another.’

‘Well, they sent some nice, easy music too,
so there’ll be plenty for Maudie and I to work on over the next few
months. I don’t know what possessed the music shop to send you such
difficult music, Frank. I did say to ask for easy pieces. Actually,
I don’t recall even asking you to order any Chopin, come to
that.’

‘Well, I told them to pop in a bit for a
really good player,’ Frank admitted. ‘I mean, you’ve been going to
all the trouble of teaching Maudie for us, it’s only fair if you
get to play the things you want to as well. I remembered you saying
that name Showparn, and I just hoped they’d send some other music
you’d like as well.’

‘They certainly did. Thank you, Frank, that
was kind of you. I’d better get the music set up before the real
visitors arrive. Will you help me with it, Maudie?’

Lily turned to Maudie and looked at her
properly for the first time since her arrival. Her smile was
replaced by a puzzled expression. ‘Oh, you’re wearing that dress. I
thought we decided your white one would be better.’

Maudie shot an ‘I told you so’ look at her
mother. ‘Ma said I had to wear this thing,’ she said in a
long-suffering tone. ‘
I
wanted to wear the white one.’

‘I see,’ Lily said, the slight smile on her
lips showing just how well she understood. ‘Well, I’m sure your
mother knows best. I’m terribly out of date with styles, it’s so
long since I took any notice of them. And I’ve no girl of my own
old enough to worry about fashions. It’s a pretty shade,’ she
added, but Amy saw the uncertain expression with which Lily studied
the slash of colour the dress made. Maudie, too, saw her aunt’s
expression, and cast a resentful glance at her mother.

The two teachers arrived, and did not need
any coaching to come to the front door. There was a time, Amy
reflected as the unfamiliar women were shown in by Lizzie, when she
would have had to fight down resentment at being forced to meet
someone who had achieved what she had wanted; she was relieved to
find that she could study the teachers with dispassionate interest.
Their lives were so different from her own that jealousy seemed
meaningless.

She even managed to feel more amused than
irritated when Lizzie explained to the visitors that Amy and Lily
had both been teachers. ‘So you’ll all have a lot to talk about,’
Lizzie said.

‘I wasn’t a teacher,’ Amy said. ‘Lizzie’s
always telling people I was,’ she added with a smile in Lizzie’s
direction. ‘I was going to be a pupil teacher, but I never even got
that far. I’m interested in hearing about it, though.’

But there were few opportunities to talk
about teaching that evening. Lizzie installed the women, whom she
introduced as Miss Denton and Miss Harding, gave them each a cup of
tea and proceeded to instruct them in the names, ages and
characteristics of her six children, before moving on to give them
a potted history of the creation of Frank’s Jersey herd and explain
Frank’s role as founder and chairman of the co-operative.

By the time Lizzie had extracted brief life
histories from her visitors in return, it was late enough for
Susannah’s non-appearance to be remarked on.

‘Well, we can’t wait all night for her,’
Lizzie said. ‘I don’t want to keep Beth up much longer, and I want
her to hear some of the music before she goes to bed. Lily’s going
to start teaching her as well as Maudie next year. Now, you pay
attention, Beth, don’t go talking to Dave in the middle of the
songs.’

She turned to face the teachers again.
‘Which one of you wants to play first?’

Miss Denton gave a giggle. ‘Well, I wouldn’t
mind playing something, but I’d rather not be first.’ Her blonde
hair was pinned up in a mass of tight curls at the back of her
head, and the curls shook as she laughed, threatening to tumble
around her face. She looked no more than twenty. Amy felt the
weight of her own thirty-two years more heavily than usual.

‘You can have a go, then,’ Lizzie told Miss
Harding.

Miss Harding stifled a small yawn behind one
hand. ‘I’m afraid I don’t play,’ she said, earning a shocked look
from Lizzie.

‘Oh,’ Lizzie said. ‘I thought teachers all
played piano. Do you play something else?’

‘I’m afraid not,’ Miss Harding said.

‘I expect you like singing, then?’ Lizzie
prompted.

Miss Harding shook her head. ‘No, I’m not at
all musical. I prefer to leave that sort of thing to people with a
gift for it.’ She smiled at Lizzie, apparently quite complacent
about her lack of talent. Amy had to hide a smile of her own at the
indignant expression that flitted across Lizzie’s face.

‘Alice plays rather well,’ Miss Harding
said, drawing a giggle of protest from Miss Denton.

‘I’m pleased to hear it,’ Lizzie answered.
Amy could see that as far as Lizzie was concerned Miss Harding had
gained her invitation to the soirée under false pretences; there
was little chance that a woman so shamelessly lacking in musical
gifts would be invited again.