Secret for a Nightingale (23 page)

The nature of the man came out in his books. All that erotica . hinted at. You could realize that he revelled in it. Aubrey met him at the Minster. He was completely bowled over. There is a hypnotic quality about him. It was soon after that meeting that Aubrey was experimenting with drugs. “

“I am sure that man has played a diabolical role in our lives,” I said.

“But one day he will be brought to justice. Believe me.”

There was a pause and then she said: “Susanna … oh no, Anna … I must remember that … what are you going to dor ” Live here until some plan comes to me. “

“It must be difficult, living as an unmarried woman when you have a husband from whom you are living apart.”

“There is no reason why that should affect me. I have taken on this house. My father rented it and now I do. Almost everything he had I have inherited. I am quite comfortable here.”

“You have a pleasant staff… sisters, isn’t it?”

“Yes. They were with my father and they are staying with me. Then there is the coachman and we have another girl now, a seamstress.”

“A seamstress! Do you mean you employ a seamstress permanently?”

“She does other things besides. She came to me in a rather special way.” I told her the story and she was most interested.

“I went into a hospital when I brought her here,” I concluded.

“It was a horrible experience and one I cannot forget. I am just haunted by the memory of all those beds close together and those poor creatures on the point of death … dirty … un cared for. I can’t bear to think of it.” She nodded, and I went on vehemently: “Something has to be done.”

“Well, at least you took the girl away and she has a good home now. By the way, my parents are having a family dinner-party … there will only be us. They want you to come.”

I hesitated.

“They know all about this and they sympathize. There’ll be no need to say anything. You’ll just be Miss Pleydell. You ought to get out now and then. I don’t suppose you do often, do you?”

I shook my head.

“It is the last thing I have wanted to do. I want to be here alone. I am well looked after. Jane and Polly would do anything for me and so would Lily Craddock and Joe the coachman.”

“It will be different coming to us. Do come.”

I still hesitated, but as she was persistent I said I would.

There was great pleasure in the household when they heard I was going to a dinner-party. I was sure that in the kitchen they had decided it would be good for me.

Lily said it would be an occasion for me to wear the green velvet dress she had made. She had added the post of lady’s maid to her duties and I had to admit that she filled it well. She had natural good taste and her attitude to me was one of almost adoration which I found a little embarrassing and not really deserved.

Joe, too, was delighted as he drove me in the carriage to the residence of Sir Harry and Lady Carberry close to the Park.

“That’s what carriages is for,” he commented complacently.

I was far less eager than the rest of them, even though my host and hostess would know my story and there was no fear of an embarrassing exposure; but all the same it did bring back to my memory times which I was trying to forget.

I was greeted warmly by Amelia and her husband and parents.

“We are not quite alone,” said Lady Carberry.

“Henrietta and her fiance called this morning and Mama asked them to dinner,” said Amelia apologetically.

“I believe you have met Henrietta.”

She was coming towards me. I remembered her well. She was the vividly attractive girl I had met at the Minster before my marriage.

“The Honourable Henrietta Marlington and her fiance. Lord Cariton,” said Lady Carberry.

I was surprised by the fiance. He was not quite as tall as Henrietta, who was almost as tall as I was, and he must have been about twenty years older than she was. There were pouches under his eyes. I was disappointed in the vibrant Henrietta’s choice.

“Miss Anna Pleydell,” said Amelia, introducing me.

“Oh … we’ve met before.” Henrietta was opening her sparkling eyes very wide.

“I thought…”

“Miss Pleydell lives in London now,” said Amelia firmly.

“She is in the house her father took when he came back from India. It is very convenient.”

The Honourable Henrietta looked as though she were about to pursue the subject of our meeting before and I guessed she was remembering me as Aubrey’s fiancee and was wondering

what had happened. It struck me that she was an impulsive person who did not pause to consider before she spoke. But somehow Amelia had managed to convey that questions were not to be asked. I knew she was thinking how unfortunate it was that Henrietta was a fellow guest.

We went into dinner and I found myself opposite Henrietta. We talked about India. Lord Carlton knew it well and he had at some time met my father there. Conversation was lively and I found myself joining in and enjoying it. There was talk of the Great Exhibition which had been opened to the public from May to October of the previous year and what a great achievement it was and what a credit to Prince Albert.

“The Queen is delighted that people appear to appreciate him at last,” said Lord Carlton.

“But not for long,” added Sir Henry.

“They will soon find something in him to complain of.”

“There is a great deal wrong with the country, I believe,” said Lady Carberry.

“It looks as though Lord Derby will resign.”

I said on impulse: “One thing that’s very wrong is the state of our hospitals.”

Everyone was looking at me and Lord Carlton said: “Surely a young lady like you has not had experience of such places?”

“Tell them, Anna, about your little adventure,” said Amelia.

So I told them about the carriage incident and how I had taken Lily to the hospital and therefore I could speak with some authority.

“I could never have imagined such a place,” I told them.

“The smell was overpowering, sickening, and those people unwashed … un cared for. And they call that a hospital! It’s a disgrace. How can people allow it!”

There was a silence round the table. Then Lord Carlton said: “My dear young lady, you are vehement. You remind me of the Nightingales’ daughter.”

“Oh, how is Fanny?” asked Lady Carberry.

“It’s such a long time since I’ve seen her.”

“She worries a lot about Florence. So does poor old WEN.” I think. As for her sister, Parthenope . she is almost frantic about what they call Florence’s obsession. “

It was the first time I heard that name which was to become so important to me.

“Tell me why I remind you of Miss Nightingale, Lord Carlton,” I asked.

“She’s got some notion that she has a mission … being called by God. And what do you think it is? She wants to be a nurse! You know the family. Henry. It’s most unsuitable. No lady can become a nurse.”

“She would be turned thirty now, I suppose,” said Sir Henry.

“Time she grew out of her fancies.”

“Florence should have grown out of them years ago. It’s sheer obstinacy. WEN. thinks the world of her, however.”

“Who is WEN.?” I asked.

“William Edward Nightingale, who has the misfortune to be the father of this headstrong young lady. I don’t think they will ever succeed in getting her away from all this. Do you know, she has been to some place in Germany. Kaiserswerth, I think is the name.”

“I have heard of that,” said Lady Carberry.

“It’s some sort of institution … charity, I think. They have a school for orphans, I believe … run by nuns or deaconesses. They have a hospital there.

Flo actually went there to work. Apparently she enjoyed it. “

“Yes, and they treated her like a servant. Then she came back and declared she had enjoyed it more than anything she had ever done.”

“And when you think what WEN. and Fanny have done for that girl! She could have made a brilliant marriage.”

“Perhaps she did not think that a brilliant marriage was the best thing that could happen to a woman,” said Henrietta.

I was listening avidly and excitement was gripping me.

“In Germany, did you say?” I asked.

“I’m sure it was Germany.”

“I’d like to know more about it.”

“Just one of those institutions. Here today, gone tomorrow,

I should imagine. People like to do good for a while but they soon get tired of it. “

“Poor WEN.,” said Sir Henry, ‘all he wants to do is live in peace.

And all Fanny wants to do is get her girls well married. Good-looking girls too, both of them . and particularly Florence. “

“So she felt she had a mission,” I said slowly, and I noticed Henrietta was studying me closely.

She said: “It must be exciting to be called … like the infant Samuel, wasn’t it? Didn’t it happen to him?”

“Well, you’ve been called,” said Sir Henry.

“You’ve been called to marriage almost as soon as you came out.”

There was general laughter and I could see that Lady Carberry thought we had had enough of Miss Nightingale’s obsession, and determinedly she led the conversation to other subjects.

But a seed had been planted. I felt very excited and it seemed to me that I was being guided in some strange way. First my encounter with Lily Craddock and my introduction to the horrors of those institutions they called hospitals; then my awakening from the lethargy into which my melancholy had plunged me and facing the fact that whatever had happened to one, one must go on; and now tonight.

Ideas were forming in my mind.

Joe was talkative as he drove me back, telling me stories of his adventures on the road from London to Bath. I listened half-heartedly.

My thoughts were far away. He was in a contented mood. I had no doubt that he had consulted with Jane and Polly and that they had all decided that this was a sign that I was coming out of myself.

The next day I had a visitor. I was astonished when I went into the drawing-room to receive her and was confronted by the Honourable Henrietta Marlington.

She held out her hands to me.

“I hope you don’t mind my calling so soon. I had to come. I had to talk to you. I couldn’t last night. It’s all so secret.”

I looked at her in surprise and she went on: “Oh, I know it seems inquisitive, but it is not really … or not all that. I do want you to help me, and I think you might. I believe you’d understand.”

“Of course, I’ll help if I can.”

“I liked what you did for that girl, and you cared so much about the hospitals.”

“Anyone would care if they could be made to see them.”

“Oh, I don’t think everybody would. First of all, you did marry Aubrey St. Clare, didn’t you? Oh, don’t worry. I’ll not breathe a word. Only I must know. It is important to me.”

“Why?”

“It’s like an example, you see.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well, that’s what I’m going to explain. May I sit down?”

“Of course. I’m sorry. I was taken by surprise. Would you like some tea?”

“That would be cosy, wouldn’t it?”

I rang the bell and Jane appeared.

“We’d like some tea, please, Jane,” I said.

“Very good, Madam,” replied Jane. The manner in which she slipped into being the model parlour maid when the occasion demanded it always amused me, for when we were alone the relationship was hardly that of mistress and maid.

“This is a pleasant house,” said Henrietta, after Jane had gone.

“Yes, my father and I found it when we returned from India.”

“I heard of your father’s death. It was very sad.”

“And unexpected,” I said.

“That’s always harder to bear.”

She nodded.

“The house is just about the right size for you, I imagine,” she said.

I smiled. I knew she was making trivial conversation until the tea arrived and we could be undisturbed.

After tea was brought and Jane had discreetly retired, Henrietta said:

“You must be wondering why I have burst in on you like this. It’s unconventional, isn’t it? But then I am unconventional and, I believe, so are you. That is why I had the courage to come.”

“What is worrying you?”

“Quite a lot.”

“And you think I can help?”

“I don’t know of anyone else who can or would.”

“Tell me what it is.”

“It’s getting married. You see, now I come to think of it, I don’t want to.”

“But how do you think I can help … about that?”

“I thought you could tell me what to do.”

“I can’t think what I could say except break it off, and you would know how to do that much better than I.”

“Well, let me explain. They are all so eager for this marriage.”

“I imagine Lord Carlton is.”

“Oh, not only him. It’s my mother and father and the whole family.

There’s a big clan of Marlingtons. They are everywhere and they are all terribly poor and they all have the family name and estates and things to keep going. All my life I have heard nothing but fears about dry rot in the woodwork and death watch beetle in the roof. I just accepted that it would always be like that until I discovered they were all relying on me.

“Henrietta will make a good marriage,” they used to say. Really, I was brought up with that purpose in mind. Money hard to find was invested in me. The finest finishing school in the world, trained in all the arts of allurement. I dance, I sing, I play the pianoforte; but most important of all, I have had to learn the art of conversation . not serious conversation, the light-hearted, rather frivolous kind how to coax and wheedle and assume complete adoration of the men around me, providing of course they are influential enough and I believe that means rich enough to warrant my attention. “

I smiled.

“I think a lot of young ladies are brought up with such aims and so-called ideals.”

“You weren’t?”

“Mine was not a normal upbringing. I was in India, you see, and that made a difference; and when I was in England I went to school and spent my holidays with some relations in a country rectory very humble compared with the society in which you obviously move.”