Chapter 26 #2
She hid her feelings until she had left the room, but then she skipped down the corridor in a most childish way, unable to believe that Mr Parry’s advice had worked so effectively.
She hurried back to the coffee house where Mr Parry and Gwen were still waiting for her, and gleefully related her tale.
‘Well done, Jenny,’ Gwen said, taking her hand. ‘You’ve done wonderfully.’
‘Well, that remains to be seen,’ Jenny said. She rubbed her eyes, thinking of the bridges she had enthusiastically just burnt.
There was one more affair to deal with, so once they had bade farewell to Mr Parry, she walked arm in arm with Gwen in the direction of Miriam’s lodgings, where they would part.
‘I’m going to Wales with Mr Parry, Ruth and Bella,’ Gwen told her. She smiled while Jenny congratulated her. ‘He will simply be my employer. At least, at first, though who knows what the future may bring? I hope you and Miriam manage to reconcile.’
Sally wasn’t anywhere to be seen when Jenny knocked on the door, and her replacement admitted Jenny and escorted her up to Miriam’s room.
Miriam opened the door and, in response to Jenny’s unanswered question, told her that Sally had been grudgingly allowed back but was being watched closely by Mrs Godolphin as a precursor to her being returned to her home in Newcastle in disgrace.
‘It’s a shame, but she brought it on herself,’ Miriam said. ‘She’s very repentant, though.’
‘More than Ruth Wynn is, by the sounds of it,’ Jenny remarked, thinking of what Gwen had related on the walk here.
Miriam was dressed in her smock, with her hair wrapped in a headscarf. She wasn’t painting, however, but dusting and tidying. A pair of suitcases were open on the floor.
‘Are you going away already?’ Jenny asked. Her voice stuck in her throat.
‘Not today, but I’m getting my things in order,’ Miriam said.
They faced each other awkwardly. The closeness they’d rekindled over the course of the previous day felt like it had been slammed into one of the cases and shut.
‘We said we should talk,’ Jenny began.
‘I think you should just listen,’ Miriam said, gesturing to the chaise longue.
Jenny sat at one end. Miriam sat at the other, in what Jenny considered a pointed manner.
‘I said I did not like anybody taking opiates, and yet you carried on selling them – even worse, you sold them to somebody who used them to enslave women,’ Miriam said. Her tone contained such a depth of accusation and betrayal that no knife buried in her breast could have wounded Jenny deeper.
‘I know it’s unpardonable,’ she muttered. She wiped her hand across her face harshly, as tears spilled down her cheeks. ‘I won’t try to defend myself, but it is at an end, I promise you.’
Miriam hugged her arms around her chest. She looked vulnerable, and Jenny instinctively reached out to comfort her but stopped before they touched.
‘I didn’t know that’s what Augusta was doing with it. You have to believe me.’
‘I do. As I said yesterday, I’m learning to forgive you. I know how stricken you’ve been by what happened. I’ve seen how brave you were, too.’
‘Not as brave as you,’ Jenny said. ‘I was terrified you’d get hurt. It was all I could do not to rush in there to protect you.’
Miriam’s eyes crinkled at the edges. ‘My valiant defender.’
Jenny shivered. ‘Do you have somewhere safe to stay?’ she asked. ‘Sally will obviously be leaving. Mr Parry will take Ruth back home. Gwen and Bella are going with them. I’m trying to think about what I can do to disappear for a while.’
She’d have money soon, if Mr Parry managed to disentangle her finances from Uncle Conrad’s. He was of the opinion that she should be receiving her initial investment, as well as dividends.
‘I’ll be safe.’ Miriam sat back on the edge of the chaise, looking uneasy. ‘I have been offered the position of companion and tutor to the archaeologist’s family that I told you about.’
‘That’s wonderful for you.’ Jenny tried to keep the sadness out of her voice, but was painfully aware that she was failing. ‘When do you leave?’
‘In two weeks. We’ll take the steamer to France and travel overland from there.’
Miriam stood abruptly and walked to the dresser by the bed. She took out some undergarments and tossed them into the case. She didn’t look as excited as Jenny thought she should be.
‘I shall miss you,’ Jenny whispered.
‘You don’t have to miss me.’ Miriam looked back. Her eyes were wide and inviting. ‘Mrs Stockley has enquired if I know anyone who might teach her daughter the piano. I could tell her that you are adept at it, and see if she will employ you, too. If you’d like.’
‘Do you mean that?’ Jenny stood, her legs feeling wobbly. She walked to Miriam.
‘I do. Perhaps it’s foolish of me because your deception hurt me greatly, more than what you actually did. It will take me a long time to rebuild that trust, but when I imagine leaving you here, my heart cracks.’ She leant forward and took hold of Jenny’s hand. ‘I’m willing to give it time.’
Jenny’s heart swelled to the point of bursting. The chance to travel. Not just to evade Augusta and leave Uncle Conrad’s home, but to see places she’d only dreamed about, and to do it with Miriam at her side. She laughed with joy.
‘I will. If you’ll have me. If they will have me, of course.’
Miriam grinned nervously but her eyes glinted with sultry wickedness. ‘I’ll tell Mrs Stockley that we’ll gladly share a room to save on the expense.’
Jenny put her hands to her mouth. Her throat filled with a lump too large to allow words. She nodded vigorously, then somehow she and Miriam were in each other’s arms, kissing, laughing as their lips met.
It was only later, as they lay tangled wearily in Miriam’s patchwork quilt, talking of the future, that Jenny remembered she might be able to pay her own way, and that a companion didn’t require a dowry, but she’d share it with Miriam without question.
A week later, Jenny and Gwen met at Paddington Station, keeping their distance from the other passengers who were milling around waiting to board the train to Wales.
Bursts of steam hissed, filling the air with the oily scent of coal, mingling with the tang of hot iron.
The minute hand on the clock over the platform clicked forward.
Five minutes more, and passengers would be permitted to board.