The Silver Touch (30 page)

‘You have?’

‘Oh, yes. When he first started that little cough I knew it had its origins in the short time he spent on gilding. As a person gets older small disabilities take a bigger hold and have to be properly treated. That’s all there is to it.’

‘But Father is barely fifty. If he were well he would be in his prime.’

‘As he will be again shortly. Goodness me, how you do run on. Put away your needless worries and let us talk of other matters.’

Letticia remained unconvinced. A word with Joss and Alice confirmed that they shared her anxiety. Before she left she confronted John and begged him to come into the city with her and see a physician whom she could recommend. He smiled and shook his head firmly.

‘I’ve already seen an excellent doctor and I’m seeing no more. I’m in your mother’s capable hands and her medicines are all I need. Stop worrying about me and take care of yourself. That is what’s important now.’

It was to be her last visit until after her baby was born since travel was not advised in the last three months any more than it was in the first three. As she journeyed home, she formed the request she would put to Richard, hoping that he would not refuse her.

‘Very well,’ he agreed, after she had explained the situation. ‘The rules shall be relaxed for Peter in the circumstances. He may go home more frequently, but only until such time as Hester is proved right. I’ve had faith in her skills ever since she cured that poisoned finger for me.’

Letticia was uplifted by her husband’s optimism. Perhaps she was underestimating her mother’s powers. Nevertheless, she was relieved by the thought that Peter, who at eighteen was refreshingly level-headed, would be able to give her frequent reports on her father’s health.

Until this new turn of events, Peter had been given no privileges in his apprenticeship, even though his master was his brother-in-law. Both John and Richard had been in agreement that it should be this way, sharing the opinion that those seven years of hard work were good character-training as well as a lesson in life. As for Hester, she was thankful every day that Peter was in such a highly esteemed workshop, both for his sake and her own because, after her long wait, he was at last securely on the path that would bring about the fulfilment of her dream for the name of Bateman. Whenever she saw him they would talk at length together, she eager to hear of the progress he was making and never failing to drop into the conversation some mention of how splendid it would be when he had a workshop of his own in the city. She was taking no chances this time, although she accepted now that Alice had known better than she that Joss would never have been happy in the thrust and drive of London life. They had a baby now to cement their contentment with each other and another was on the way.

Peter was fully prepared to have his own business when the time came. He knew without any false modesty that he was going to become an exceptional goldsmith. There was a kind of liquid power in his hands to which precious metals responded as if recognizing their own. Richard was a strict taskmaster and never praised, but Peter had come to recognize a low-key comment that told him a workpiece had been exceptionally well done. Deeply attached to his family, as all the Batemans were, even Letticia having had bouts of homesickness after her marriage in spite of the social whirl in which she had revelled until her present pregnancy, he had a dual reason now for wanting to return more often to Bunhill Row. He was in love with Elizabeth Beaver.

It was a source of amazement to him that he had known her from the first day of moving in from Nixon Square and yet had not noticed that over the years she was becoming an integral part of his life. A certain awareness came upon him, soon lost in the excitement of the day, when he had been ready to leave to take up his apprenticeship and she had come with the gift of a cravat, which she had sewn herself for him. Then she had stood with his mother and brothers and sisters to wave to him as his father drove him away in the gig. Some while afterwards she had suffered a long illness during which she nearly died. He had written to her several times and although she replied when she was better he did not see her, for she had been sent to stay with an aunt at Brighthelmstone in the sea air until such time as she was deemed fit to live inland again.

Her return home coincided with a visit of his to Bunhill Row. Joss fetched him in the gig one Saturday evening and as they approached their home she must have sighted them, for suddenly there she was, her bright face freckled from the seaside, her hair flying out like a golden banner and her muslin skirt billowing over her tossing petticoats as she ran to meet him. He stared at her, as once long ago she had stared at him, and was conscious of an awakening in him that must have had its beginnings in the shock of hearing she was ill or even before that, dating back to some time he could not remember. He sat forward in the passenger seat and sprang down before Joss had brought the gig to a halt.

‘Elizabeth! Is it really you? After all this time! Are you quite recovered?’

‘Completely!’ She put her hands into his which were outstretched to her and he clasped them hard.

‘Then you’re back to stay?’

She nodded joyously, her gaze absorbing him as if she had been long starved. ‘So whenever you come home now it will be like old times.’

His smile spread wider. ‘Even better, I believe. It’s wonderful to see you again.’ His words brought a marvellous bloom to her face and he saw that he had made this day a true homecoming for her as well as for himself.

They went hand in hand into his home. Hester, coming down the stairs, saw how they were looking at each other and smiled to herself. It was a development she had long foreseen and one that she welcomed whole-heartedly. Elizabeth was not, and never would be, another Alice. No retiring violet here, but a vivacious girl with a quick mind, who had shown the same courage with the boys in climbing trees and rough games simply to be near Peter. With her tenacity for life she would be ready to share his ambitions and encourage him, whatever the initial hardships.

Later that evening Peter held Elizabeth in his arms and kissed her for the first time. It was a moment of wonder for them both, a new discovery of what each held for the other. Even she, who had always loved him, trembled at the strength of tender feeling that had come upon them.

During the months that followed, Hester saw in Peter an enormous capacity to love the woman of his choice that was the same in Joss towards Alice. She did not think it would ever be like that for William or Jonathan, for their natures were entirely different. More and more her animosity towards William was growing. It was a torment to her, for she reminded herself constantly that he was her own flesh and blood, but her tongue became sharp with him as if on its own volition and at times she, who had never slapped her children, had to struggle not to strike him for some impudence. With John she discussed at length what apprenticeship he should take, for he was approaching his fourteenth birthday and as yet nothing had been arranged.

‘I’m afraid no master will keep him whatever trade it is,’ she admitted. ‘He’s too wild in his ways to conform for any length of time.’

‘I’ll talk to him.’

When she heard the outcome of the conversation, her glance of disbelief went from John to William and on to Ann who had been called in to speak on her brother’s behalf. ‘A goldsmith?’ she echoed incredulously. She returned her gaze to William. ‘But what interest have you ever shown? You are never in the workshop. It is Jonathan who spends some part of each day there.’

William gave her a straight look. ‘You’ve never wanted me there, Mother.’

She could not deny the truth of that. ‘And for what reason, pray? Did you ever try to work seriously, or resist the temptation to commit some tomfoolery?’

Ann intervened quickly. ‘William knows his record, Mother. It’s nothing to be proud of, but then I’m sure it’s not easy for everyone to work for his or her own family. I think William deserves his chance. He confided his hopes to me quite a while ago. This is not an aim that has arisen on impulse.’

Hester spread her hands questioningly. ‘Who would take him? Most masters investigate thoroughly the background of a prospect apprentice. William has gained a sorry reputation for himself in this neighbourhood with his pranks and his girl-chasing.’

She saw William turn crimson to his ears. He had not known that certain aspects of his behaviour in recent months had reached her ears. Ann spoke up again.

‘Richard will take him. Letticia has already put William’s case to him and he is prepared to give him a chance.’

Hester guessed that her son-in-law had not been easy to persuade and it was a measure of his affection for Letticia that he had agreed. ‘On a certain condition, I suppose?’

‘Yes. William must work hard and obey the rules.’

Hester turned to John. ‘What do you think?’

‘William should have his chance.’

She inclined her head in deference to his decision.

‘Then I agree.’ There was none of the excitement in her that she had known when first Joss and then Peter had been accepted as apprentices into workshops of repute. Something of her thoughts must have shown in her face, for William suddenly raised both clenched fists abruptly, like a pugilist in anticipated victory, and shouted out at them all defiantly: ‘I’ll be the best goldsmith ever known!’ Then he slammed out of the room before anyone could speak.

Letticia came to fetch him away to his apprenticeship in her coach. She combined the expedition with a chance to let her parents enjoy the sight of her baby daughter, whom they had not seen since the christening two months before. William, eager to get to the city, did not appreciate the lecture she gave him all the way there and tried to look attentive while shutting his ears to her words. His eyes sparkled when they entered the noise and bustle of the busy streets. Before long he would know every inch of London where fun was to be had.

The next day, in order to emphasize all she had said, Letticia took him to an exhibition of Mr Hogarth’s paintings, wanting him to see those that depicted in stages the rise of the good apprentice and the downfall of the bad one. William studied them. He did not say it to his sister, but he thought the bad apprentice had a far jollier time of it, in spite of a miserable demise, than the sanctimonious counterpart with his priggish expression when being beamed upon by his master.

‘Now do your best,’ Letticia cautioned when she relinquished him to the workshop. She had sponsored him mostly for their father’s sake, knowing the house would be more peaceful in her brother’s absence and hoping that in a new peacefulness John would have a better chance of rallying from the lung weakness that was steadily getting a heavier grip on him. What puzzled her most was her mother’s total inability to see or to accept that he was continuing to get weaker. It made her desperately uneasy. If it had been any other woman she would have suspected her of slight insanity, but there was no one more alert and realistic than Hester. Why then was there the peculiar mental block as far as John’s condition was concerned?

It was a relief for Hester to have William away from home. Her conscience had troubled her greatly about the deterioration of her attitude towards him. Now that he was gone she hoped his visits would be infrequent. Her prayers were for him to do well and overcome the folly in his nature. Richard had rewarded Peter for achievement by letting him come home far more often than previously arranged; she wanted William to achieve the same success without being granted the same privileges. It puzzled both her and John that Richard should suddenly have become so lenient. John did not really approve and although she was inclined to agree with him, she could not help but be pleased that Peter and Elizabeth should have the bonus of extra time in which to see each other.

Another summer came and went. Richard, visiting with Letticia, gave John and Hester a report on William’s first year.

‘The boy has goldsmithing in him, there’s no doubt of that. When he’s at the bench he has no other thought in his head but the task in hand.’ There was a pause. ‘When he’s away from it, I’m afraid it’s another matter.’

John looked concerned. ‘Don’t be easy on him.’

‘I’m not. To date he has received more punishments in twelve months than I expect to mete out to an apprentice in seven years. What brings him most to heel is taking him off the work he likes.’

‘Pray continue to do that.’ John paused to turn his head aside, coughing with a handkerchief pressed to his mouth. Then, after a sip from the glass of madeira that Hester had served to him and to Richard, he recovered. ‘I want William to achieve his aim to be a better goldsmith than any of us.’

Richard raised his glass. ‘I drink to that. There is nothing better than to see promise fulfilled.’

Nobody ever mentioned John’s cough, which now troubled him by day as well as by night. Hester had forbidden it. ‘I don’t want him reminded of it because it’s nothing that can’t be overcome. I have a new syrup for him that is working wonders.’

She was always proved right, at least for a while. During the lapses Ann, who slept lightly, would hear Hester going downstairs to make camomile tea when, after a severe bout of coughing, John finally slept again. Then, putting on a robe, she would join her mother in the candlelight, knowing her company was welcome.

Joss was sitting in the comfort of his own home one evening when his wife summed up the situation in his parents’ house. They had been discussing how he had seen illness in his father’s face long before it had made itself manifest and had decided on that day to join the Bateman workshop when his apprenticeship was done.