Felicia's fashions 4cliffie bonus

 

Chapter 4

 

22 Henrietta Street

16^th March

 

Dearest Phip,

To you and only to you, will I admit that I am at very low ebb.  Our next door neighbour is a most unpleasant creature, who makes filthy insinuations; but I have set Mr. Embury on her, for there is nothing Mr. Embury enjoys so much as a nice juicy slander case.  That bad child, Trinity, tied fire crackers to her cloak, and I had to spank her, which I hated doing, and then showed her, in the hearth, how a mere spark makes muslin fly on fire.  She was much upset, but she gave me a cuddle later, and I think does not resent my chastisement.  There is a horrible smell from Miss Timmins’ property, which Trinity swears is the smell of her bad manners, but which I suspect has a more mundane source, and I do not rule out Bailey aiding and abetting my imp in introducing something horrid  somewhere out of reach which is rotting.  I told her that she could wash it down or notice that our business would suffer too. And then, Lord Hartley wanted me to dress his mistress with an opera gown. 

Phip, she is the most awful woman! She looks like a fairy, and I had all sorts of wonderful ideas – can you believe she dismissed a theme of butterflies as bugs??? So I stuck to roses.  And she would have my few meagre yards of Dhaka  muslin, you know, which I got cheap by hanging around the docks and buying water-stained stock and carefully hand-washing it? But it will look lovely with roses on the bodice in white and blush, and the muslin dip-dyed in gradations of rose blush over a pale blue satin petticoat.  She wanted roses around the hem as well, and flounces!  I can’t believe how deedy she wanted it, not an inch of it undecorated instead of letting the fabric speak for itself. Anyway, I’ve been working on it, and Trinity is adept at turning out roses, I settled on silk not chiffon, and had some dyed at one edge to echo the overgown, and it will be sweetly pretty. But I have a bad feeling about all this, and I fancy Lord Hartley can be vindictive, and I fear him trying to ruin me if his lady-love is not pleased.

As Libby says, the Good Lord preserve us from men of consequence.

Well, I will not send out a gown which is less than perfect, whatever the vulgar creature wants, and I will stick to my guns.

Think of me on Saturday morning when she comes for the fitting.

Twin.

                                                                                                         

22 Henrietta Street

17^th March

My dear Miss Timmins,

I fail to see how I can be held to blame for your badly clogged drains, or manners, or whatever it is that causes the smell. Pray, what would you sue me over? Disliking you intensely? Setting my solicitor on you? Allowing my maid to call you ‘Old Curdle-Water’ on the grounds that you could curdle water never mind milk? Why should I care how you feel? You are entirely beneath my notice, and you may take any more of your poisonous little letters to Mr. Embury, my family solicitor. Your problems do not interest me in the slightest.  I have, however, asked my maid, and Bailey, the man of all work, to send down a sufficiency of water to wash away whatever is causing the smell, as this is affecting my business. If this inconveniences you, I don’t really care.

F. Goyder.

 

 

20 Henrietta St

 

My dear Maggie,

How was I to know that chit of a girl who has taken on Flo Piper’s haberdashery was some kind of aristo! The girl looks down her nose, as if she’s better than me, despite having red hair, and looks as if I am something on the sole of her boot. And she has a family solicitor who came to warn me off!

You may be sure I have never had to deal with anyone like that before, normally they cough up to keep me quiet, but one little hint at wrongdoing, and it’s a solicitor all over me, and her little beast of a maid playing practical jokes, and leaving some awful smell somewhere. I’m not going to be able to intimidate her at all, so I might as well come and live with you after all.

Jane Timmins.

 

22 Henrietta Street

17^th  March

 

Dear Phip,

Well, the rose gown is going so well, I am quite putting my soul into it. It will be a thing of beauty.  The other good news is the woman Florence calls ‘Miss Vinegar-face’ and Trinity calls ‘Miss Curdles-water’ is moving, to live with her sister, and may they irritate each other into early graves. Apparently, Florence actually paid her off to stop her spreading rumours that Florence was a madam; we won’t get it back, but I am not stopping Trinity from creeping through the joining attics to introduce some nice fresh herrings into the furniture being boxed up in order for it to travel with her.

I wonder if she knows there is a way from our attic into hers? It takes a slender body to traverse it, but then, Trinity is a piece of chewed twine.

Fee

 

PS I hear Napoleon has all but reached Paris and all have fled before him. I remember telling Libby that Louis XIV was a complete jackanapes, and that any family who were still using the same name after sixteen of them on the trot had to be severely wanting for being unable to think of any other names. I recall she threw the chalk at me, but could not contradict me. So much for the Bourbons.  I suppose we will have to fight Napoleon again as a matter of principle, but I say, give him France, I wouldn’t take it as a gift.

F

 

Hartley House

Grosvenor Square

17^th  March 1815

 

My dear Dempsey,

Correct me if I am wrong, but was it not around 1803 that my brother disappeared for several months before he was found? There was some suggestion that he had spent some time with gypsies after he had an accident in his curricle, and apparently lost his memory.  The doctor held that the wound to his head which he received caused the clot which killed him at Christmas, but he would have been sixteen or seventeen at the time, there being a ridiculous gap between the three of us. Vivienne was five or six, and I was rising twelve. I remember being really worried about Vincent, and got into trouble, running away to look for him.

If I am correct, he took a gypsy lover, because I have happened upon a child of about twelve summers who is the very image of Vivienne. She has a kindly mistress but it is not seemly that my blood should be a maidservant, even one indulged, and even, I suspect, spoiled, like little Trinity. Yes, it is an odd name; I gather, however, not so to gypsies. I do not wish to antagonise her mistress, but perhaps you can make discreet enquiries about the gypsy band who was suspected to have harboured poor Vince, and find out what they know? I do not intend to rush matters.

Sincerely,

Hartley.

 

Hartley House

Grosvenor Square

17^th  March 1815 by hand

 

My dear Miss Goyder,

Hoping this finds you well.

I find myself embarrassed in raising a subject of a delicate nature; but it centres on you maid, Trinity.

Her resemblance to my sister is quite remarkable, and assuming her to be about twelve years old, there was a period in which a member of my family suffered a blow to the head, and vanished for a while. He is thought to have spent some time with a band of gypsies.  Can you let me know, please, what Trinity knows of herself and her origins? I do not want to make any precipitate moves, but if she is my kin, I would not wish to ignore that fact.

Thank you in advance for your kind co-operation.

Hartley

 

“Well, that’s a turn-up and no mistake,” said Felicity. “Trinity, my child, what can you tell me of your life before that awful asylum?”

“Ma was a gypsy, but I didn’t have no pa,” said Trinity. “Ma was shacked up with Stoffer, but he never liked me. When she died, he took me to the asylum and left me there. Is this about me looking like V... Miss Vivienne?”

“It might be,” said Felicity. “But, Trinity!  If you turn out to be related to Lord Hartley, and you prefer to stay here, I won’t make you go with him.  I won’t make you stay, either, so it will be your choice.”

Trinity considered.

“I dunno,” she said. “Would I be a lady?”

“If you are related to him, then you are a lady, and I will treat you as my own little sister. Which I more or less do, anyway,” said Felicity.

She was rewarded with a gamine grin.

 

22 Henrietta street

17^th March by return of messenger

 

Trinity informs me that Stoffer, her mother’s man, was not her father, and that he left her at the asylum from which I retrieved her after her mother died.  I trust you will be able to be more open as I need to know whether to teach Trinity how to be a lady, whether she chooses to go into your household or whether to stay with me. I would certainly recommend a few months at least at the Swanley Court School for Impoverished Gentlewomen which also takes the less impoverished for a fee, and would enable her to make a transition to lady more gently than being put through a rather fast course on the subject without other girls her age to help her. We have had some rough diamonds in our time.

F. Goyder                                                                                                                          

“Rough diamonds! I wonder what she means by that,” said Hartley, throwing the missive to Helen Nuttley, to whom he had spoken of the matter.

“I imagine there are some gently-born families on the verge of poverty, like mine,” said Helen, tartly. “I retained a genteel manner, but it was hard at times. Some gentlefolk live very hand to mouth with a small amount of land which they must cultivate themselves, and then, of course, there are those who have made the investment of joining the army, where wives and children live in and associate with the baggage train.  It must be a brutalising experience. At sea, likewise.”

“My goodness! Yes, I can quite see that,” said Hartley. “If I take the child in, though, I do not want her to feel that she is being packed off to school out of the way until she learns our ways.”

“You will have to engage the aid of Miss Goyder to exercise tact,” said Helen.

“I know; not my strong suit,” said Hartley.   

 

Hartley Ho.

 

Dear Miss Goyder,

Thank you for your measured and reasonable response. I do not want the child to feel I was shuffling her off to school as an embarrassment; but assuming she is my niece, I would like her to have the opportunity to have an education and mix with other girls of her own class, if you think she will not be teased for her upbringing.

It is something we should discuss in consultation with Trinity herself, once my lawyer has found out more.

Hartley.

 

“He might look down his nose... and it’s a very fine nose for looking down, and enters the room ten minutes before he does, but he has his priorities right,” said Felicity, showing the second note to Florence.

“Dear me, yes, indeed,” said Florence. “I am glad he means to do right by her.”

“This is me?” said Trinity.

“This is you,” said Felicity. “I recommended that you might like to go to the school I’ve been attending, and to be honest I was considering asking you if you’d like to go, anyway.”

“School? What for do I need that?” said Trinity.

“Well, I’ve used it to make a fine profit on my starting investment, by knowing what to buy and how to sell, as well as learning fine embroidery, and enough to converse with anyone about current affairs,” said Felicity. “I’m not very good at some lessons, but generally speaking, school has been great fun. I enjoyed it.”

“Right. I can think about it?”

“Certainly. I’ll miss you if you do go, but we can write.” Felicity winked at her. “There is an art teacher, and art is taken seriously.”

“Oh!” said Trinity. “So I could be learned more about drawing?”

“You could be taught more,” said Felicity. “In fact, it would be an absolute crime not to have you taught more, and I am sorry I didn’t think of it sooner.”

“Oh, Miss Goyder! You already give me stuff to draw with, and let me have time to draw!”

“But you could learn to draw and paint better,” said Felicity.

 

22 Henrietta Street

17^th  March

 

Dear Phip,

My waif and stray might be going to school at Swanley Court if  she turns out to be related to my illustrious customer for whom I am dressing his sister, her duenna and cousin, and his mistress. The one I complained about.

It would be nice for Trinity who is far too clever to be treated as a menial all her life.  Also, her talent in drawing is so good, it would also be an absolute crime not to teach her more.

Anyway, Hartley has impressed me with his desire to take her wishes into account.

And as for how it goes with his mistress, that’s tomorrow, and I’m trying not to think of it.  Anyone we know would love the gown but she is a strange sort of woman.

I love you, twin.

 

Felicity.

 

22 Henrietta St.

17^th  March

 

Dearest Libby,

The little maid I took on is a prodigy in the talent of drawing and it would be a crime not to train her further.  Moreover, she may turn out to be the niece of Lord Hartley, who has intimated that he will want her to be acknowledged, and educated.  She is still making up her mind whether she wants to go.  She is rough around the edges, but very clever. I fancy Clio might take her on as a protégé.

 

Felicity