Homecoming Girls (3 page)

Thomas excused himself and wandered off to talk to some other friends, for there were lots of young people there who were well acquainted with them all, as well as older people. Grace and Martin Newmarch, the twins’ parents, were prominent citizens and the wedding of Elizabeth had been a talking point for months.

‘Should we circulate, do you think?’ Clara said. ‘Is it expected of us?’

‘No,’ Jewel said easily. ‘Elizabeth and Patrick will do that;
it’s their wedding. Let’s sit down and people can come to us. Besides, I want to ask you something.’

They sat down side by side on a sofa; their gowns, which had bustle pads and wire hoops sewn into the skirts, rose up to show their white stockings, and shoes which had matching rosettes stitched on them.

‘When I go travelling,’ Jewel said, ‘I will wear neither hoop nor bustle. I shan’t wear a corset, either.’

‘You don’t need to wear a corset,’ Clara declared. ‘You have such a tiny waist it’s quite unnecessary – but travelling? Jewel! Are you to abandon me as my sister has?’ Her face creased in dismay. ‘Where are you going? And when?’

Jewel squeezed her hand. ‘I’ve got plans,’ she whispered confidentially into her cousin’s ear. ‘I haven’t thought them all through yet but I want to go to America and I’d like you to come with me.’

‘Oh!’ Clara’s cheeks went pink. ‘Me? You want
me
to come with you? Oh! How wonderful!’ She gazed at Jewel. ‘Really? Who else?’

‘No one!’ Jewel said gleefully. ‘Just the two of us. What do you think?’

Clara hesitated. ‘If anyone else had asked me I’d say we would have to have a proper grown-up person with us, like your mama or Uncle Wilhelm, but I know you’d be perfectly capable of travelling abroad without any older companion.’

‘Well, thank you, Clara.’ Jewel laughed. ‘But we are proper grown-up people and quite able to organize a trip abroad!’

‘You are, I’m sure, but I haven’t been anywhere at all without Elizabeth.’ Her face dropped. ‘Or our parents.’ She took a breath. ‘Whatever will Elizabeth say when she hears?’

‘She’ll be madly jealous, but she can’t be included now that she has a husband who can say whether or not she may do anything! We, dear cousin, are absolutely free. So do you agree?’Jewel was quite astounded that Clara hadn’t raised any objections to the scheme.

‘Oh yes!’ Clara enthused. ‘Of course I shall have to ask permission first, but I’m sure my parents will allow it. They’ve
always encouraged us to take every opportunity for a fulfilled life; Mama especially.’

‘Of course! How could I forget?’ Jewel exclaimed. ‘Aunt Grace published a book on the emancipation of women, didn’t she?’

Clara nodded proudly. ‘She did. Twenty-five or so years ago, when women were very downtrodden, and when she was very poor; before she married Papa.’

‘Mm,’ Jewel said thoughtfully. ‘And that’s when she and Mama first met. Mama said that she took Aunt Grace to public meetings and persuaded her to speak up against cheap labour and children being exploited in mills and factories.’

‘They were so brave, weren’t they?’ Clara said quietly. ‘They were going in the face of society to try to gain independence. And they did, for themselves and a few others.’ She sighed. ‘But not for everyone.’

‘But for us they succeeded. We,’ Jewel declared, ‘you and I, Clara, can do whatever we want to.’

‘Within reason, you can,’ Georgiana said the next day when Jewel broached the subject of travelling with Clara. ‘I know you are going to say that because I travelled alone all those years ago it will be easy for you and Clara to do the same. But there were many hazards, and sometimes I acted very foolishly.’

‘But today, Mama, we’ll travel by ship and train, not by dog cart across America as you did.’ She glanced teasingly at Georgiana, whom she had once called Aunt Gianna, but now regarded as her mother. ‘You’ve told me of your adventures so often, yours and Aunt Kitty’s, that I know the stories as well as you do.’

Georgiana smiled. Not all of them you don’t, my darling, she thought. There are some secrets that I haven’t shared. ‘We’ll have to ask your papa’s opinion,’ she told her. ‘He would be anxious about you travelling alone.’

‘But I won’t be alone,’ Jewel exclaimed. ‘Clara will be with me.’

‘It’s the same thing,’ her mother said patiently. ‘Clara is not a seasoned traveller as you are; and when I travelled to America I had Kitty with me, who was such a sensible girl and attended to all my needs. I know she eventually became a friend, but to start with she was my maid.’

‘We won’t need a maid,’ Jewel said stubbornly. ‘We’re perfectly capable of dressing ourselves and we can use hotel laundry services.’

‘Money?’ her mother queried.

Jewel gazed at her pleadingly. ‘I’ll receive my inheritance when I’m twenty-one,’ she said. ‘In two months’ time! Could I not use some of that?’

‘You’ve thought it all out, haven’t you?’ Georgiana said. ‘How long have you been planning this?’

‘Almost a year,’ Jewel admitted.

‘And can you tell me why?’ Georgiana asked. ‘Are you restless, Jewel? Is this town not big enough to hold you?’ I can understand if it is not, she thought. I recall so well how anxious I was to get away, to explore pastures new. To find myself and what I was made of.

‘It’s not that I’m not happy here at home,’ Jewel explained. ‘But when I was young we were always going somewhere different. To the Low Countries or Italy, or to America. And I feel that now I’ve finished my education I would like to see more of the world.’

‘And . . . ?’ Georgiana questioned. ‘Something else?’

Jewel nodded and looked down into her lap and Georgiana marvelled not for the first time at how beautiful she was, her facial bone structure and slight body coming from her Chinese mother, her forthright attitude from her father and, to some extent, her and Wilhelm’s determination that their adopted daughter should grow up to be an independent woman.

‘And,’ Jewel’s voice dropped to a whisper, ‘I’d like to find out more about my father and see where he is buried.’

‘San Francisco!’ Georgiana gazed at her, seeing again the small child who had wept for the father who, although she
hadn’t been told, had only a few weeks to live. Georgiana had promised Edward that she would take Jewel, and look after her and bring her up as well as she would have done her own children if she had had them; which she hadn’t, to both her and Wilhelm’s regret. But they loved Jewel as much as if she had been born to them, although they never let her forget her heritage.

Jewel swallowed hard. ‘I think it’s time that I went, don’t you, Mama? I’m old enough now to face it.’

Georgiana came to her and put her arms round her. ‘If you feel that it is right, then you must,’ she said, with a catch in her voice. ‘But we should speak to your papa. After last year’s financial crisis, life in America is uncertain. He’ll be anxious.’

Wilhelm was indeed anxious. The previous year he had taken a ship to New York after hearing of the panic at the New York stock exchange when it closed for several days after prices tumbled. He had stayed in America for several weeks, taking steps to ensure that his own business interests were stable. All was calm in Dreumel’s Creek, but the Marius Hotel in New York had many cancellations following the financial collapse and was only now recovering. He was reluctant to agree with Georgiana when she said she didn’t think that it would have any impact on Jewel’s intended plans.

‘It might,’ he said worriedly. ‘There are thousands of people out of work and roaming the streets. The country is only just recovering from the Civil War. I’ll be anxious about her safety – and Clara’s too, of course.’

‘They won’t be staying in New York,’ Georgiana said. ‘They’ll go to Dreumel’s Creek and then to San Francisco. I know,’ she said as he took a deep anxious breath. ‘It’s a long journey, but she has a need to go there and it’s not only because of Edward. I feel that she wants to find out about her mother too.’

‘Impossible. She’ll never do that.’ Wilhelm shook his head. ‘There are thousands of Chinese in California. We don’t even know her mother’s full name!’

To Jewel he said, ‘If you feel that you must go, then of course
you must. But we would like to check your travel arrangements and place money at your disposal, as well as give you names of people you can contact in case of any difficulty.’ He saw the stubborn expression on her face; as a child she had always wanted to do things for herself, stamping her foot if she was crossed.

‘It’s as much for Clara as for you,’ he said patiently, and Jewel gave a smile. Never in her life had he been cross with her or raised his voice to her. ‘We owe that to her parents at least.’

Jewel flung her arms round him and hugged him. ‘You are a darling, Papa. I promise I’ll look after her.’

Martin Newmarch was very dubious about the venture at first, though his wife wasn’t. She was quite sure that Clara was capable of looking after herself.

‘Though I hate to say it,’ Grace said in the soft voice that was so characteristic of her, ‘Clara has always allowed Elizabeth to make decisions for her. Now is the time for her to flower; she has an inner strength that we have not yet seen.’

Martin smiled, kissed her cheek and murmured, ‘Just like her mother, then.’

Elizabeth was furious when she heard. She and Patrick had come back from a short honeymoon in the Yorkshire Dales to find that arrangements were already being made. ‘How can you even think of it, Clara? You and I have always done things together!’

‘We haven’t got married together!’ Clara retaliated. ‘You didn’t ask me to join you in a double wedding.’

‘But you said you weren’t ready to marry anyone,’ Elizabeth complained. ‘If you had been we could have done, and gone off on a joint honeymoon.’

Clara shrugged. She was so excited that nothing Elizabeth said was going to make her feel guilty. ‘Well, I’m going to America instead of the Yorkshire Dales.’ She smiled, and her cheeks dimpled. ‘And much as I love it there, I’ve been before. Many times! Now I’m going somewhere quite different.’

There had been much discussion about their travel
arrangements. Jewel was set on going to San Francisco, but which way they should travel posed a dilemma: by sea from Liverpool to San Francisco, which was a very long journey, or overland from New York?

‘Overland,’ Clara pleaded. ‘But first to Dreumel’s Creek. I might never go again, and I would like to see as much of the country as possible. And I do so want to meet Caitlin and Kitty. I’ve heard so much about them. Besides,’ she added, ‘if we go all the way by sea we will be with the same group of people for weeks!’

‘And they might be terribly boring,’ Jewel butted in. ‘I quite agree. Across country will be so much more exciting.’

‘Then you must promise to be very circumspect.’ Wilhelm chewed on his thumb. ‘You must not become involved with anyone, but keep to your own company at all times and always do things together, not alone. We will write to Ted and Kitty Allen to expect you.’

‘And Dolly and Larkin,’ Georgiana interjected. ‘They’ll want to see you, and they can tell you about Edward’s early days in America.’

‘We promise we’ll be careful, Uncle Wilhelm,’ Clara said, and Jewel nodded in agreement. ‘Please don’t worry about us.’

A week before they were due to depart, Jewel and Clara started to say their separate goodbyes to friends, for they didn’t know how long they would be away. Their tickets for the return journey were left open. But they went together one evening to say farewell to Dan and Thomas and their parents.

‘I remember the first time I ever came to the toyshop, Aunt Ruby,’ Jewel said. ‘Mama brought me and there was a smell of toffee and lots of lovely toys in the window.’

Ruby, an exuberant, plump and pretty woman with grey streaks in her dark hair, had been a lifelong friend of Clara’s mother. Both born in extreme poverty, they now had quite different lifestyles, Ruby being the wife of a prosperous tradesman and Grace an equal partner in her marriage to
Martin and in their philanthropic work, but they had remained firm friends.

‘You’re so brave,’ Ruby said. ‘I couldn’t possibly travel away from home like that.’ She cast a glance at her husband, Daniel, who was sitting by the fire.

He looked up at the two young women. ‘Especially not to America, she couldn’t.’ His voice was rather sour, Jewel thought, but then he was sometimes rather grumpy in her presence, and offhand when he spoke to her. It seemed to be only she who had this effect on him, as Clara said he was always friendly towards her, but she accepted that some people regarded her as foreign because of her looks.

Dan barely spoke to either of them, but Thomas, so like his mother, was full of enthusiasm. ‘Golly, to think of you going to America, Clara! We’ll miss you; both of you,’ he added. ‘Though we’re used to you going off on your travels, Jewel.’

‘But it won’t be ’same without you,’ Ruby agreed. ‘And Elizabeth a married woman now. Everything’s changing now that you’re all grown up.’ Her eyes filled with tears. Ruby cried and laughed easily in equal measure. ‘What a silly I am! I’m happy that you’re doing something so exciting, yet sad that you’re going away.’

‘Oh, Ma!’ Thomas laughed. ‘They’ll be back before you realize they’re gone, and they’ll be just ’same as they are now. Won’t you, Clara?’

‘Of course,’ Clara said consolingly, patting Ruby’s shoulder. ‘Of course we will!’