Part 13 (2/2)
They finally chose a simple black skirt and a steel-gray blouse with a trim of pale blue around the high neck and cuffs. It was not a color Mina would have chosen, but it softened the lines of Millicent's face, made her gray hair seem striking rather than drab.
Mina was going to suggest that they eat lunch in town but decided not to push her luck with the woman. They ate in the kitchen instead, Mina fixing the potatoes while Millicent sauteed their meat.
On the afternoon of the party, it took the combined efforts of Mina and Winnie Beason's cook and butler to force Millicent out of the kitchen. The effort, and Millicent's incredible anxiety, gave Mina little time to think of her own nervousness. Though they had entertained the firm's employees and their wives with a buffet less than a month before, this was Mina's first dinner party as Jonathan's wife. It was deliberately small, but still she wanted it to be perfect. Laura was busy in the kitchen, but she had brought her sister, who, for a few pennies, scrubbed the hearths in the parlor, the dining room, Jonathan's den and the water closet, and laid wood and tinder in each.
The two girls then swept, washed china and crystal, pressed the cloths and napkins and laid out the table.
”So much bother. It's only a meal,” Millicent commented.
”Your meal,” Mina said, reminding her that the pork ragout and roast beef cooking downstairs had been started by her. ”Now, let's get dressed.”
Mina was just finis.h.i.+ng her hair when Jonathan arrived home. He joined her upstairs and handed her a tiny box, elegantly wrapped in lace and silk ribbon. ”It's your birthday not mine, Jonathan,” she protested.
”And so I bought something for my wife. Open it.” Inside was a cameo surrounded by pale pink amethysts. The matching cameo earrings had tiny amethyst teardrops falling from their bases. ”I'm glad you wore the cream gown,” he said as he fastened the chain around her neck. ”They look as lovely together as I thought they would.”
So he had noticed the dresses. When Mina showed them to him, his mind had seemed to be occupied elsewhere. She kissed him lightly on the lips. ”You had better get dressed yourself,” Mina said. ”The guests will be coming soon.”
”No little box for me?”
”Little! Indeed!” She laughed and left, deciding to check on Millicent before going downstairs.
As she expected, Millicent was more nervous than ever and with far less cause. Her clothes looked beautiful. Her hair, carefully arranged by Laura in a loose bun at the nape of her neck, was flattering and not at all severe. She had a box open on her dressing table and was rummaging through it trying to find some appropriate jewelry when, to Mina, the most obvious choice was lying on top.
”The blue brooch,” Mina said, reaching for it.
”No!” Responding to the panic in Millicent's tone, Mina jerked her hand back. ”It was ... Well, I couldn't.”
Mina believed she understood. Some treasures held too many memories to be displayed. ”The rose quartz brooch?” she suggested.
Millicent nodded. Mina pinned the quartz piece on and, with Millicent following close behind her, checked to see that the guest room was ready for Dr. Seward before going downstairs.
If anyone but Millicent had been with her, Mina would have suggested they both have a sherry. Instead, they inspected the kitchen, the dining table laid out for nine, and sat in the parlor waiting for the first guests.
Jonathan had just joined them when Winnie and Emory Beason arrived. The butler went out and returned with a large gift- wrapped package.
”A surprise from me and from Aunt Millicent,” Mina said, drawing the woman close to her. ”Open it, Jonathan.”The artist had wrapped his work carefully in layers of tissue. Jonathan lifted out the oval portrait and stared at it a moment. ”It's been so long,” he whispered, staring at his likeness; then he set it aside to reach for a second package in the box.
”Is there some mistake?” Millicent whispered.
Mina shook her head. Jonathan unwrapped a second portrait, not of Mina but of Millicent. The artist had softened her sharp features, showing the girl she had once been. Like Jonathan's, the portrait was lightly colored, with soft brown hair, a touch of color in the cheeks.
”Do you like them? I do,” Jonathan said, handing hers to his aunt.
”Did I really look like that?” Millicent asked.
”You still do,” Jonathan replied, kissing her forehead.
”We'll hang them together,” Mina said.
Laura was already clearing away the pictures and bric-a-brac on the mantel, revealing two new hangers, not the one Millicent had expected to see. As they walked into the parlor, Millicent looked down at her younger self and began to weep softly. The others noticed but said nothing. Jonathan's portrait was handed up. Then Millicent turned hers around and raised it for Laura. As she did, her expression abruptly hardened. Mina was about to ask what was wrong when the front bell distracted her.
Basil and Amelia Lloyd entered. Basil Lloyd had been Jonathan's first employer in Exeter and had referred him to Mr. Hawkins.
The two men had rekindled their friends.h.i.+p in recent weeks, and it had seemed right to invite them. Their presence also made it less likely that the others would begin to talk of their strange journey. Mina certainly did not want to dwell on it, nor did she think it was right for Jonathan to do so.
Lord G.o.dalming had persuaded Jack Seward to leave work for a few days and attend the gathering. Now Seward came alone.
”Is Arthur coming?” Jonathan asked.
”Arthur is not well. He sends his regrets but has some hope of joining us later.”
”Perhaps for cake,” Mina said and noticed how Seward winced at the thought of the man's presence.
When introduced to each arrival, Millicent greeted them mechanically. Mina would have understood nervousness, but not this frigid detachment. Throughout the meal, Mina tried to draw her into the conversation, but Millicent said little, smiling only once when a compliment on the meal was directed to her.
They were midway through their cake and cordials when Arthur arrived in the company of Lord Gance and a young woman, Rose Lewis, who said little but sat close to Arthur with her hand constantly on his arm, his shoulder or, most inappropriately since he still had a black mourning arm band on his jacket, his lap.
Her coloring and features were so much like Lucy's that Mina understood the attraction Arthur must feel for her. As to his behavior, he seemed somewhat drunk. Seward, a teetotaler, must have found his excess infuriating. Even now, in the presence of a woman whose laughter was infectious, he sat in a wing chair and scowled, his expression perfectly mirrored by Millicent, who was, if possible, even more scandalized.
Mina had intended to take the women into the parlor. Minnie was anxious to tell Amelia Lloyd about the work of the hospital. It also would be courteous to rescue Millicent from what she seemed to view as a trying affair. However, Mina doubted she could separate Miss Lewis from Arthur and place her in the company of strangers.
Jonathan suggested that Mina play the piano. Since her talents were somewhat limited, she pulled out sheet music and looked for her easiest pieces. ”Let me,” Rose suggested, then sat down and began playing a piece by Stephen Foster. ”I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair.”
Before the others could start to sing, she began in a voice so perfectly beautiful that no one dared to mar its quality by adding his or her own. She followed it with the sad song ”Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming” and a slower piece from HMS Pinafore, ”Sorry Her Lot to Love Too Well.”
Though the last song was no more than romantic drivel, tears came to Arthur's eyes, and rolled slowly down his cheeks. He did not brush them away.
”Give them something difficult, lovey.” Gance called to her when she had finished. She nodded, stood and began a cappella a beautiful aria in a stunning soprano.
”Aida,” Gance said when she had finished. ”Miss Lewis is on the stage. She recently finished an appearance in a revival of Patience at the Savoy Theatre in London.””Where for the few days of her performance the elevators were less interesting than the show,” Emory Beason added dryly, commenting on the latest exotic addition to the Savoy's lobby. ”I should have recognized the face if not the name, Miss Lewis.”
The woman smiled and bent over his chair to kiss his cheek, making certain to hold it long enough to give him a glimpse of her cleavage. ”We must go,” she said possessively to Arthur. ”I have to return to London tomorrow. Mr. Sullivan is staging a heavy round of rehearsals. We open in two weeks with The Mikado. Do come.”
At the door, she hugged Mina and Jonathan as if they were old friends and kissed Emory Beason one more time. With Arthur on one arm and a scowling Jack Seward on the other, she led the men to Arthur's motorcar. Then they were off, with Rose Lewis driving and beeping the horn.
”The little tart!” Winnie whispered to Mina with mock disapproval.
Millicent, who had heard the comment, added coldly, ”I wouldn't be so polite.”
When Mina and Jonathan were alone in their bedroom, Jonathan expected Mina to show some elation. Everything had gone so well, even better than expected thanks to Arthur's amusing friend! Instead, Mina sat at her dressing table, cleaning her face, saying little until she blurted, ”I can't see how Arthur can bear to be near that woman when she looks so much like Lucy. How could he not think of Lucy constantly?”
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