Chapter 34
‘Right, ladies and gents. Today’s the day: online shopping. We’ve done our online safety, so now you know when not to put your credit card deets online. Today, let’s find out when you can.’
Hetty had been looking forward to this class, and not just because she and Stella were meeting up after.
Jemima had finished altering Stella’s dress, so technically they could start making their videos.
However, Stella had decreed one evening wouldn’t be enough to film more than a few short videos – Hetty had no idea why not – so that was something for the weekend.
Instead they were going shopping – offline shopping.
Hetty had to admit that while her aunts had done an excellent job of finding appropriate clothes for her, they certainly didn’t help her fit in with other women her own age.
Etta’s wardrobe wasn’t quite in her style either – stretched finances were probably the reason she’d had such a limited selection of plain dresses which Aggie had informed Hetty were ‘quite suitable for the office’.
But there was no office for Hetty – and an alternative way to spend her time was yet to be discovered.
Stella said her Substack was becoming increasingly popular and as a consequence her Instagram following had grown.
If that continued, she might be able to do some ‘commercial partnerships’ or make ‘ad revenue’ by ‘influencing consumers’.
So making these videos would not only be a nice way to fill the hours, but also ‘commercially savvy’, whatever that meant.
She wasn’t entirely sure on the details, but Hetty was more than happy to leave it all to Stella.
As they wrapped up their lesson and headed down the street together, Hetty’s shiny plastic card sweaty in her hand along with her phone, Stella bumped her elbow against hers.
‘Right, so where’s your bag, Hetty? And what’s your budget?’
‘Bag? Like a reticule? I don’t have one. Or a budget, in fact.’
Stella winced. ‘Skint, eh?’ She laughed at Hetty’s confusion. ‘No money?’
Hetty bit her lip. ‘Gosh, no, no need to worry about that. Money’s different nowadays of course, but Aunt Aggie showed me how to see how much I have on my phone.’
Hetty handed over her phone, the screen showing a sum that would have deeply shocked anyone in 1817.
Stella nearly fell over. ‘Hetty. Hetty! What the actual hell? Who are you?’
It was a vast sum in 2023 too, then.
Stella wordlessly marched them both to a reassuringly staid-looking pub, collapsed into a chair and set about ordering a stiff drink on her phone.
Her heart seemed to be beating loudly. It was going to be a difficult one to explain.
Hetty looked at Stella’s serious face and felt a rising sense of fear.
How much could she safely divulge without returning to being Mad Hetty Bainbridge?
For the first time in some weeks she recalled her bracelet, safely stowed in her jewellery box.
‘Please say something,’ pleaded Hetty.
Stella seemed to regain her power of speech.
‘I’m trying to make sense of everything.
You’re in your twenties, but don’t know how to use a computer and you barely even know how to use a phone.
You dress like an old lady. You talk like, I dunno, Jane Austen.
I’ve been trying to take everything at face value, to go with the flow, but honestly …
You have nearly a hundred grand in your goddamned current account. ’
Stella took a deep breath and sat back in her chair. ‘Explain.’
Hetty burst into tears.
In the end Hetty couldn’t bring herself to lie to Stella, so a garbled version of the truth had come out between tears. Stella sat next to her, looking dazed, and full of questions.
‘You come from 1817. Okay. Right, okay. We can revisit that later, because we’re right in the middle of a Wetherspoons and people are … looking.’
A server appeared with two vodka and Cokes and, surprisingly thoughtfully, a box of tissues, illustrating Stella’s point.
‘What I’m getting from this is that you’re not exactly used to having a hundred grand in your current account either.’
‘I have more,’ Hetty sniffed into a tissue. ‘Aunt Aggie says this is for me to spend on “essentials”. The rest is invested with an accountant.’
‘With an accountant. Right.’
Stella rubbed her temples; Hetty watched on anxiously.
‘It’s just … I’ve never dated a rich chick before. My last girlfriend stole half my savings, in fact. That’s why I wanted to take it slow. I might seem easy going, but I find it hard to trust people. This is all a little crazy …’
‘For me, too,’ said Hetty. ‘If you like, I can give it away? Aunt Aggie said much of the interest payments goes to something called the Trussell Trust, which helps to feed people?’
‘Really? That’s pretty cool.’
‘Yes, and she said the family funded part of a university, too. And a hospital. The Kent Wing? To be honest, it was a lot of information to take in and I’m not sure I understood it.’
‘I just – oh wow. It’s not easy to get my head around.’
‘I thought … I thought it would be good?’
Hetty felt like the world was falling out from under her. Her face must have betrayed her, because Stella reached over and gave her a hug.
‘I need some time to think about everything. About what I believe,’ said Stella. ‘I’m just not used to it. To the idea of people having this much money. It’s … It’s a lot.’
Stella left her then with the rest of the tissues and a promise to text her later, but it had felt off, like something had changed between them. So now here Hetty was, lying on her bed, crying so hard her head ached, with Jemima smoothing the hair away from her wet eyes.
‘I don’t understand, Aunt Jemima. I know it’s a lot to take in. But, you know, in 1817, all anyone wanted was to be rich.’
Jemima sighed. ‘It’s the same nowadays, my love – or at least it is most of the time. But Stella has always struck me as an imaginative type – give her some time to process everything. I’m sure she’ll come around. And anyway – would you really want anyone who only liked you for your money?’
Hetty sniffled. No, she supposed not. ‘How do I make her come back, Aunt Jemima?’
‘You can’t. That’s for her to decide.’