The Secret Rooms: A True Gothic Mystery (52 page)

The next morning – Dec 21 – and all day, we just did I do not know what – except send telegrams to say she was not going away today, as she was supposed to before, but would stay till tomorrow.

Then Dec 22nd was a sad day. K. had to go to Xmas at Hyndford, as she had promised to. I took my darling to Grantham and saw her to Scotland, and I took the train to London. I was far too wildly happy to be sad at leaving her.

The day after, John received a worried letter from Kakoo. ‘My happiness is so complete that I am in a state of nerves lest anything
should happen to destroy it,’ she wrote. ‘But you musn’t let it will you John? To see you, all such thoughts would vanish. It won’t be long now. Be very nice to Mother. She is rather miserable.’

When Kakoo got home, she found her parents were horrified at her engagement. During a long talk they explained to her that – with the exception of wealthy heiresses – it was virtually unheard of for the heir to a dukedom to marry a commoner. Their branch of the Tennant family was rich, but not rich enough. Annie, Kakoo’s mother, doubted whether John was serious; and, even if he was, she was convinced his parents would oppose the marriage.

A letter from Annie was waiting for John when he arrived back in London. It was the first he had heard from her. She had not written to congratulate him after he and Kakoo had wired from Belvoir to tell her of their engagement:

My dear John

You and Kathleen must forgive me for not replying at once. Her telegram knocked me flat! Frank and I could not feel happy unless your
parents approved
. It would be so dreadful if they didn’t.

Kakoo’s just what you see and know. I always think of her as the most transparent – perhaps too transparent creation on earth. I have been thoroughly selfish and only thought of myself and so I could not write before. I have been completely shattered since Frances
*
left and now this seems the end of all things for me and the beginning of what I hope will be a glorious life for you two. But I don’t feel that this
can
be without your parents’ approval. You would not be happy and if
you
were not happy Kakoo would be wretched.

Frank breaks down when he thinks of Kakoo leaving as they have made home so wonderfully happy and all the best of the sunshine will go with her.

Now for what I call the horrible part. Kakoo won’t have more than £2000
^†
a year to start with, but she’s so simple in her tastes
and not extravagant. But I can’t write any more about her – it’s too upsetting.

I hope you are as happy as Kathleen is – I can see by her letter – Bless you and I will love you.

Annie S. Tennant

I do
hope it’s alright
with your parents.

John was due to meet Annie, who had come down to London, the next morning. The meeting did not go well. ‘It was a funny morning,’ he wrote in his journal, ‘Mrs Tennant not really liking the thought of K. leaving her by marrying, and also not much liking me.’

Later that day, Annie wrote to John to explain her apparent ambivalence:

Darling John

I fear I was very inarticulate this morning, but I was feeling very deeply all sorts of things. I felt that I wanted to give you everything I possessed! You were so kind to me, and I see that you really do love Kakoo. If only I could make myself believe that your parents were pleased. I can’t help thinking that they are not quite – you see, you are their precious only son and they would want
everything
for you. But after seeing Kathleen’s face, and now yours, I feel as if the whole thing had been planned by the Almighty, and as if things of the Earth become mundane and dropped away! I wish your father would write to Frank – or, who breaks the ice first!? Frank will be easy enough –
all
he wishes is that people should be happy and that he needn’t be in London but allowed to remain in the North of Scotland where he can shoot, fish and golf! He adores his daughters and gives in to them in everything.

Annie needn’t have worried. Violet and Henry were thrilled. They wanted to keep John in England; the fact that Kakoo didn’t have a title or a large fortune didn’t matter. They knew that if John married her in January, as he planned to, he would not go out to Egypt to join
his division. They were also keenly aware that if John and Kakoo married early in the New Year, the heir they longed for might be conceived. If so, even if John insisted on going back to the Front, the future of the family would be guaranteed.

Unlike Annie, Violet had replied to the telegram the couple sent her from Belvoir by return:

20 December 1915

16 Arlington Street

Darling John

I am all smiles as if nothing mattered in the whole world to me –
because you
are so happy!

It was
wonderful news
– and war and victory fade because I know you are happy – and your little new world is my world too for pleasure thinking of it.

Bless you both

First thing the next day, she sent them a telegram:

Good morning darlings. Mother

Then came an effusive letter to her future daughter-in-law:

My dearest little Kakoo

John is so happy and it makes us all jubilant. He is such a darling – as you know, and will know … How I long to see you. Meanwhile, I want you never never to feel me the ordering ‘Mother-in-law’, but just a second edition of your Mother and a very loving one.

The sun is shining and I am having a divine spell of joy – and freedom from anxiety – with John ‘on sick leave’ and John so absolutely happy.

À bientôt little Kakoo

Your loving VR

Henry had responded to the news equally quickly. As Violet was writing her ‘all smiles’ letter, he was writing his own:

December 20

16 Arlington Street

Dear Boy

From what your mother tells me I gather you have made up your minds to get into double harness – my sincerest congratulations and I trust you will be very happy.

May I venture to send my affectionate greetings to the future Lady Granby?

And I am

Your affectionate father

Rutland

All that remained was for the Duke and Duchess to sort out the terms of the engagement with Mr and Mrs Tennant.

It was Henry who ‘broke the ice’ by writing a letter to Kakoo’s father. He replied straightaway:

My dear Duke – I am delighted that you are pleased with dear Kakoo and I feel convinced that John will be a most considerate loving companion. I will do everything in my power to further their happiness.

This terrible war haunts me daily as my eldest boy is in the Flying Corps who is now in France and being shot at every day. I marvel at our apparent cheerfulness.

I am so glad you play golf and hope to have many a match with you.

Yours ever

Frank Tennant

Henry wrote back to suggest a meeting to discuss the details of Kakoo’s marriage settlement:

‘My dear Duke,’ Frank replied:

Thanks for your delightful letter. I will let you know when I am in London, which I dislike very much at present.

I intend to settle on dear little Kakoo £10,000
*
in good securities also give an allowance of £1500
^†
per ann. My English solicitors are Stow Preston and Bob Lyttleton, 35 Lincolns Inn Fields …

With every good wish and prosperity for the New Year

Yours ever

Frank Tennant

Annie Tennant had also written. Evidently, she was still mystified as to why the Duke and Duchess had so readily agreed to the marriage:

27 December 1915

My dear Duke – thank you
so
much for your very kind note. I feel very bewildered – it all seems so sudden. Kakoo is my child and I love John too and I could not have been happy if you and his mother had disapproved and this seems to sum up everything.

As John is your precious only son and so adorable, I thought you might not be pleased somehow as my darling Kakoo has not all the things that are sometimes valued most in the world – like great wealth etc. but she has the qualities that make for enduring happiness, utter selflessness, and great joyousness and a high sense of honour. John’s name and fame will be in safekeeping for ever. They are somehow a wonderful couple in their amazing happiness. Frank adores her and I know how he will love John and how he will help them and how generous he will be to them.

I dare not think of Home without her. John was so good to me and I have taken him into my heart forever.

Yours very truly

On 28 December, John went to stay with his future in-laws at Innes House, a remote Scottish castle near Elgin, which Frank Tennant used for shooting. His visit was a great success. Soon after he arrived, he wrote to his father:

Father dear

Just a line to say we are both well and very happy. How very nice you were to Kakoo and me at Belvoir – I did appreciate it so much.

Just going out shooting – blowing a gale – and they have sent me Charlie’s guns instead of mine, so I shall have some difficulty in impressing my future papa-in-law with my power of killing birds.

Love, your affectionate Son

The absence of enmity was striking. It was the first time in his adult life that he had ended a letter to his father with love.

A month later, on the afternoon of Thursday 27 January 1916, John and Kakoo were married at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster.

‘It really was the most movingly lovely sight,’ Cynthia Asquith, Kakoo’s close friend, noted in her diary. ‘It made one cry to think they would ever be old or dead. John looked a like a glamorous knightly figure with perfect technique: he held her hand and everything in the most inspired way. She looked divine in the best wedding dress ever seen.’

The wedding was organized by Violet and
Margot Asquith, the prime minister’s wife. They had not allowed the war to overshadow it. The one concession to the events taking place across the Channel was that John was dressed in his service uniform. In every other respect, it was a glittering social occasion. The following day, a full-page report appeared in the news section of
The Times
:

The bride, who was given away
by her father, wore a Venetian gown of white satin with a gold brocade train four yards long and a short mantlet of old Venetian family lace; the sleeves were long and close-fitting, and she had a long white net veil with a wreath of orange blossoms. Lady Diana Manners, who was one of the bridesmaids, designed the bridesmaids’ gowns in the medieval manner; they were of white chiffon belted in silver worn with flowing veils of blue tulle held by silver bands. Each of the bridesmaids carried a tall branch of almond blossom. The Hon. Stephen Tennant, who wore a Romeo suit with a jewelled belt, was the page.

SOME OF THE GOWNS

The Duke of Rutland was among the first to come to the church, and most of the guests were there early. The Prime Minister arrived with Mr and Mrs Bonham-Carter, and Mr Balfour [Prime Minister 1902–1905]. The Duchess of Rutland wore gold charmeuse with gold tissue in her hat and rose pink velvet cloak bordered with fur. The Marchioness of Anglesey, in white box-cloth, brought her little daughter, Lady Caroline Paget [aged 2] in a little ermine coat and hat. Mrs Asquith wore a black charmeuse gown made with a ruched cape and trimmed with chinchilla; her hat was black with emerald feathers.

Mrs Tennant wore black and white embroidered taffetas; Lady Robert Manners had a long mauve coat trimmed with skunk; and the Countess of Wemyss was in black and white. Lady Tree had a pervenche panne long coat made tight-fitting and a plain black sailor hat. The Countess of Drogheda wore black and gold, Lady D’Abernon grey chinchilla furs with a black coat and skirt, and Lady Arthur Paget a musquash coat bordered with skunk. Mrs Hwfa Williams and Lady Randolph Churchill (who was with Mrs Churchill) both wore black velvet.

THE GUESTS

Among those present were:-

The Italian Ambassador, the Spanish Ambassador, the Duchess of Buccleuch, Countess Nadia Torby, Prince Bibesco, the Marquis de Soveral, the Marchioness of Bristol and Lady Augustus Hervey, the Earl and Countess of Chesterfield, the Dowager Countess of Arran and Lady Winifred Gore, the Countess of Lanesborough, the Earl and Countess of Albemarle, the Countess of Dundonald, and Lady Marjorie Cochrane, the Earl of Wemyss, the Countess of Lytton, with Viscount Knebworth, the Countess of Essex, the Dowager Countess of Clarendon, Viscount Valentia, Viscount and Viscountess Gladstone, Baroness d’Erlanger, Lady Nunburnholme, Lord and Lady Knaresborough, Lord and Lady Glenconner, Lady Wantage, Lord and Lady Manners and Lady Islington.

The newspaper also listed
the main wedding presents:

Bridegroom to bride, large aquamarine chained with diamonds; Duke and Duchess of Rutland, jewels of diamonds and aquamarine-diamond ring, lace veil, canteen of silver and cutlery, travelling suitcase, and cheque; Mr and Mrs Frank Tennant, rope of pearls and diamond star, diamond and emerald brooch, old Japanese lacquer and four silver candlesticks; Lady Diana Manners, diamond watch; Marchioness of Anglesey, cheque; Lord Robert Manners, early silver salts; Mr Asquith, books; Mrs Asquith, black lacquer chairs; Captain Charles Lindsay, old manuscript; Lady Wantage, yellow lacquer sidetable; servants at Belvoir Castle and 16, Arlington Street, George III silver salver; employees at Belvoir, silver gilt Ambassador’s inkstand; villagers of Rowsley, Queen Anne walnut and gold mirror; Derbyshire tenants, William III dressing table silver.

Following the wedding, a reception was held at Lord Glenconner’s house at Queen Anne’s Gate in Westminster. After an hour, John and Kakoo left to catch the train to Belvoir, where they were to spend their honeymoon.