When a search has provided the excuse for companionship between a young lady and gentleman, its successful conclusion is not always greeted with the satisfaction it might seem to deserve. It was with dismay that David realized, on a bleak and snow-swept day in January, that his expeditions in Margaret Lorimer’s company had come to an end. Croft House - the fifth property they had inspected together - was precisely suitable.
The house was old and spacious. It had been the centre of a manorial farm before the city swelled to engulf it, allowing an astute owner to grow houses rather than corn on his fields. He had kept enough land to provide a pleasure garden, however, so that the surroundings were verdant. The barns and stables which clustered round the old farmyard had not been used for many years, but were still dry. It would be a simple matter to convert them into dormitory accommodation for children.
Best of all, there was a separate dower house, Lower Croft. More modern than Croft House, it had been designed in the gothic style, with two turrets and a wealth of lead in the windows. Some of its rooms were small and dark, reached only by narrow and twisting staircases; but the drawing room, in which David and Margaret paused to discuss their conclusions, was high and spacious.
‘If you are to appoint a resident supervisor, the offer of a house would make the position a very attractive one,’ David pointed out. ‘You could take such a benefit into account when determining the salary.’
‘So you think this is a purchase which could safely be recommended to the committee?’ asked Margaret.
‘If the price is right, yes.’
David felt little doubt that the price would be right. All through the city - and indeed, all over the country - money was becoming tight. His earlier efforts to persuade John Junius that the debts owing to Lorimer’s Bank should be reduced had met with little success. But although these old debts were still outstanding, the directors had decided to restrict new loans to a minimum. Other banks were acting in the same way. It was a time when those who needed funds would have to sell property, while those who might wish to buy would find it hard to borrow the purchase price. With the fruits of its appeal waiting accessibly at Lorimer’s, the Gentlewomen’s Aid Fund could reasonably hope to be the only bidder for Croft House.
‘Then you should sound more cheerful, Mr Gregson. This is an exciting moment, if our search is over at last.’
‘I’ve no doubt it’s exciting for you, Miss Lorimer,’ David said. ‘But it means that our afternoons together have come to an end.’
He had been surprised at the free and easy manner in which her mother had allowed Margaret to accept him as an escort. The simplest enquiry would have elicited the fact that Betty did not keep her mistress company while the houses were inspected. He could hardly expect such a providential state of affairs to arise again.
‘The committee will need to discuss the conversion and equipment of the premises,’ said Margaret. ‘There will be frequent meetings. We shall see each other often again.’
‘Only in company.’ A kind of desolation swept over him at the thought that she would never know what he wanted to tell her. Dare he declare his feelings to a young woman so far above him in fortune, a woman to whom he could offer nothing? If he let this last opportunity of privacy slip away, he knew that he would never forgive himself.
He might have hesitated still, but Margaret was pulling up the fur-trimmed hood of her cape. It was a sign that she was ready to venture out into the snow again. Desperation drove him to speech, though even now he found himself unable to broach the subject directly, but came at it sideways.
‘I imagine that before too long you may be looking for a property of a different kind,’ he said. Margaret’s expression of surprise made it clear that she did not understand what he meant. ‘I mean …’ he found himself almost stammering in the effort not to put into words what he meant, but nevertheless to have it understood. ‘I mean that ye’ll soon be wishing to set up an establishment of your own. A young lady of your character and prospects - your father must be pursued with proposals for your hand in marriage.’
‘My father has never consented to regard himself as a quarry to be pursued,’ said Margaret. Laughing at the idea, she allowed her hand to slacken on her hood so that its fur framed her face loosely and seemed about to slip back again. Whether or not she knew the direction in which David wanted to steer the conversation, it appeared that she was not rejecting the subject as impertinent. ‘You may be sure, Mr Gregson, that in any arrangement, he is the one to make the first proposal.’
‘And has he made any such proposal to you yet?’
The laughter faded from Margaret’s face.
‘Yes, Mr Gregson. Almost two years ago he planned an alliance which would have been convenient to the business of the Lorimer Line. In case my person should not by itself have been sufficient to allure the other party, a very generous portion would have been allotted to me.’
‘But the arrangement was not concluded?’
‘No. I don’t see myself as a princess to be ceded in a treaty. My brother William, as you may imagine, was not pleased with me. The benefit of the marriage would have been mainly to his ships. We have not been such good friends since that time.’
‘You are telling me that you refused?’
‘I accept your astonishment as a compliment. Yes, I refused.’
‘I’ve never heard anyone say No to Mr Lorimer.’
‘Had you been within a mile of Brinsley House, you would have heard what happens when anyone does. My father believes that he knows what is best for everyone. It is a sincere belief, and I truly think a well-meaning one. He was not pleased with me. But even he was not prepared to turn the princess into a slave.’
‘He’ll no doubt make other suggestions of a similar nature.’
‘I think not, Mr Gregson. He will not lightly expose himself to another refusal on my part, nor will he bend to ask my opinion in advance. It was made plain to me at the time that if I refused the arrangement he had made, I could not expect him to repeat his generosity. I would of course be permitted to remain at home as a companion to my mother.’
‘And does that prospect satisfy you?’
‘Indeed it does not. Any position of dependence is abhorrent to me. I see no means of escaping it, but I would rather be dependent on a husband than on a father. And I have a very strong wish for children of my own.’ She checked herself anxiously. ‘I am being very free with my secrets, Mr Gregson. I hope I may rely on your discretion.’
‘Would it be impertinent for me to ask, Miss Lorimer, what your present situation is?’
There was a long silence. If it had been torture for David to begin the conversation, it now seemed that they had reached a point at which it was as painful for Margaret to continue it. He was asking too much, expecting too much, he realized. She had given him no encouragement to speak, unless smiles and a frankness in conversation were to be counted as encouragement, but his forwardness had not been snubbed. No doubt she had been brought up to believe that it must always be the gentleman who first declared himself. If it had not occurred to her that the difference in their situations was sufficient to make this particular gentleman hesitate before pushing himself forward, that was to her credit. In the eyes of her father, David knew well that he would not be considered a gentleman at all.
‘Forgive me for pressing so many questions on you,’ he said. ‘But my courage is unequal to asking the only one which comes close to my heart. I know that in your father’s plans there could be no place for myself. And I have no right to hope...’
Once again he floundered to a halt, not daring to look at her. Had he made her angry or embarrassed? Would she turn on her heel and walk away from him for ever? To his astonishment he heard her laugh softly.
‘At our first meeting you boasted of your Scottish directness, Mr Gregson. Has a year in our hypocritical English society robbed you of your talent, as it has of your accent? Or is the subject of slaving the only one which can arouse your passion?’
‘I love you,’ he said.
For a long moment they both seemed to be holding their breath. Then Margaret raised her head. Surely it was happiness he saw in her eyes. If so, it was of brief duration, succeeded by the determined expression which he had come to know so well. The hope that she would run into his arms was disappointed. It seemed, instead, that she intended to continue the conversation as though his declaration had not interrupted it.
‘You asked what my situation was, Mr Gregson. Only a short time ago I discussed this question with my father. I asked him what his attitude would be if I were to find a husband for myself. My father and I quarrel very often, but perhaps it is because - as you said once yourself - we are in some ways alike. We quarrelled on this occasion too, but my question was as steady as his anger. In the end, he respected it and gave me an answer.’
‘Will you tell me what it was?’
‘He reminded me that I had forfeited my claim to any marriage settlement of the kind which he had proposed two years ago. He said that in no circumstances would he renew the offer. He pointed out that I have no fortune of my own. He gave it as his opinion that no gentleman of wealth would wish to marry me under these conditions and that no one without wealth could afford to do so. Because I have been brought up in a houseful of servants he believes that I am incapable of living without them. He warned me that if I found someone whose attentions I wished to encourage I must first of all make it clear to him that I have no expectations of any kind. But if, having considered this fact, any suitor should still wish to approach my father, he would be interrogated only as to the respectability of his way of life, and not as to his fortune.’
‘Am I to understand that you would be permitted to follow your own inclination?’
‘Under the conditions I have described, yes.’
‘Even if your suitor was as humble as myself?’
He foresaw the answer before she spoke, but needed the extra moment for his exhilaration to reach its peak. When he first fell in love with Margaret Lorimer he had puzzled over the reason, wondering what there was in her plain matter-of-factness to explain the strong attraction he felt. By now he had had time to learn the answer. It was the independence of her character which had reached out to engage his sympathies. While he stood there, awkward with admiration, Margaret was laughing.
‘You know little of young ladies, Mr Gregson, if you think that one of them would risk disputing with such a man as John Junius Lorimer for the sake of establishing anything as valueless as a general principle. My father was well aware of this, and pressed me for a name. In telling you of his conditions, I consider myself to be fulfilling them.’ He noticed the merriment fade from her eyes, to be replaced with anxiety. ‘My father told me roundly that my attitude was immodest. You may share his view.’
‘I consider your attitude to be honest and brave and -oh, Miss Lorimer!’ Despite the fact that her hand was gloved, he kissed it fervently. An ill-timed cough at the open door interrupted him. Betty Hurst stood there nervously, her fingers and nose red with the cold.
‘Begging your pardon, Miss, but John said to tell you that the wind’s blowing the snow into drifts against the hedges. He’s feared of trouble with the carriage along the drive.’
‘Our business is almost finished. We shall be with him directly. Go and tell him that.’
She spoke briskly and the girl left at a run. David turned back to Margaret, needing to reassure himself further.
‘If you marry me, Miss Lorimer, there will be no coachman.’
‘I am able to walk,’ she said, and her smile was the sweetest he had ever seen. His own, in return, was full of wonder at his own good fortune.
‘Do I understand, then, that your father will be expecting a visit from me?’ he asked.
Still laughing, Margaret shook her head.
‘By no means, Mr Gregson. In the first place, I was forced to confess to him that I had no reason to know what your feelings were, since you had been careful to conceal them from me. He felt this, I think, to be to your credit. I made it clear that I was approaching him solely because I wished to discover how you felt and could not in kindness do so if it were likely to expose you afterwards to humiliation at his hands. In the second place, he is confident that without a marriage settlement I shall be of no more interest to you.’
‘He does me wrong there. He may not expect me, but surely he will not be surprised if I ask for an interview?’
‘He will be surprised, but even the chairman of a bank cannot expect everything in life to be predictable,’ said Margaret. ‘I imagine he will survive the shock.’
She pulled up her hood again, indicating that they should go, and they stepped outside into the cold. The bright sunshine of the afternoon had faded with the approach of evening, taking the sparkle from the snow and replacing it with a tinge of icy blue. The huge skeletons of trees on the skyline were frosted with white, and the lawns which separated the two houses of the estate were covered with a single smooth blanket of snow. The wind dropped for a moment, and David felt himself enveloped by the special silence of a snowscape, as though there were no one else in the world but himself and his future bride.
Alas, it was a silence which could not last. He heard from the farmyard nearby the cough of a horse, the stamp of a hoof, the flick of a whip as John stirred the dappled pair into action. But no more than that. The usual grating of the ironbound wheels was muffled and the carriage appeared and moved towards them almost as in a dream.
‘There will never be another place in the world as beautiful as this for me,’ David said. He felt Margaret’s hand tighten on his arm.
‘You do not think badly of me for my immodesty?’ she asked, anxious to be reassured. ‘I have pondered so often what might be best to do. My father commands us both equally. A woman and an employee. We have few weapons at our disposal.’
‘I am ashamed that it should have been left to you to strike the first blow. From now on I shall speak for us both. You have been brave, not immodest, and we will be as bold to the world and as honest with each other for the rest of our lives as you have dared to be to your father and to me today.’
‘It is not at all the custom.’ He saw Margaret’s lips curling with merriment and would have laughed aloud in the happiness of his situation had the carriage not by now come to a standstill in front of them. John dismounted to pull down the step and David handed Margaret in to her seat. In Betty’s presence neither of them wished to talk. David allowed himself instead to dream.
How to convert the dream into reality was the next question. In the days which followed, it was necessary to plot and plan. Margaret had given him fair warning, and it was not a matter to be taken lightly that a gently reared young woman must somehow be made comfortable on an accountant’s poor salary. Miss Reni had abandoned her apartments in his house shortly after the concert at which he had discovered her connection with the Lorimers, and no new tenant had yet been found. David inquired the price of the rooms if added to his own, but the accommodation, at the top of the house, was dark and damp, with sloping ceilings and small dormer windows. It would never do for someone like Margaret Lorimer. He began to see that what he had gladly accepted as a condition might in practice pose difficulties. John Junius Lorimer, of course, would have known this from the start.
When he had considered the situation as thoroughly as he could, David sent a message to the chairman requesting the favour of an interview on a private matter. He was kept waiting for three days and then summoned to the chairman’s office. On this occasion he was invited to sit, but that seemed the limit of what the chairman was willing to concede.
The words David had prepared were frozen by the unyielding expression of the man who faced him across the huge desk. The greenish-blue eyes were cold. It was never possible to deduce from them what John Junius was thinking, and today they were hooded more inscrutably than usual by the lowering of his bushy eyebrows. David licked dry lips and still found himself stammering as he formally asked to be accepted as a suitor for Miss Lorimer’s hand in marriage.
The chairman did not answer at once, although the request could hardly have come as a surprise. Instead, he continued to stare steadily at this employee who had so sadly mistaken his place in society. The effect was perhaps not what he had intended. So far from intimidating him, the heavy period of silence gave David an opportunity to conquer his nervousness and determine that, like Margaret, he was not to be bullied. He sat up even straighter and set his jaw more firmly.
At last the chairman spoke.
‘Miss Lorimer has acquainted you, I understand, with my intention to make no settlement on her in the event of her marriage.’
‘She has, sir. It is this information which has encouraged me to approach you. In any other circumstances it would scarcely have been possible. You would have been bound to think me a fortune-hunter.’
There was no means of telling what effect this statement had on his hearer, but David’s own eyes sparkled brazenly with the pleasure of turning the old man’s weapon against himself. If there was to be a battle, he determined to prove himself a worthy opponent.
‘Are you aware, Mr Gregson, that Miss Lorimer in a year spends as much on clothing and other personal needs as the total amount of your present salary?’ John Junius paused briefly before answering his own question. ‘No, of course you are not. Miss Lorimer herself is not. She knows neither what she spends nor what you earn. I do not expect in my daughter the ability to calculate expenses and incomes and to balance them to the last farthing. But you are an accountant. I expect it of you. You must know that what you propose is impossible.’
‘I well understand, sir, that it will be necessary for some such account to be presented to Miss Lorimer so that she may fully comprehend the sacrifices which would be demanded of her,’ said David. ‘If I have not done that yet, it is because I have not felt myself free to speak of such matters until I have your permission to do so.’
He had won that round too. For the time being even Margaret was forgotten in the pleasure of pitting his wits against his employer, at whose frown half Bristol fell to trembling.
‘Nevertheless, Mr Gregson, you have presumably considered the matter in your own mind. Do you, for example, expect my daughter to take up residence in your present apartments? I have been there to visit them. They are cramped and unhealthy. It would be out of the question.’
‘I have given a good deal of thought to this matter, Mr Lorimer, and I believe that I have the ability to improve my situation. Certainly I have the ambition to do so. I recognize that it might cause Miss Lorimer distress to live in reduced circumstances in a city where she has previously graced the best society. It is possible that you yourself, sir, might not wish it to be directly observed that she had adopted the style of life of one of your own accountants. It would be my intention, if your permission is forthcoming and if Miss Lorimer accepts the situation when she has fully understood it, to apply for a position in some other place, and to ask only that the chairman of Lorimer’s Bank should support my application with a recommendation which I trust my work here will have deserved.’
‘You have in mind a post similar to your present one?’
David had hoped that this question would be asked, for he had already decided what answer he would give.
‘To work as accountant in the head office of a bank such as Lorimer’s has been of great value to me,’ he said. ‘It is my opinion that I should now be capable of acting as a manager, perhaps at first of one of the minor branches of a metropolitan bank. In a small town this might afford Miss Lorimer a status of which she need not feel ashamed. Thenceforward I would rely on my own abilities to win promotion.’
Yet another silence settled over the chairman’s large office, in which the air as well as the furniture seemed not to have been changed for fifty years. David judged that behind the frowning expression a decision was being made. Perhaps, he thought, it had been made even before the interview began, subject only to his own satisfactory performance. At any rate, the verdict flowed out without any hesitation.
‘I have been over this matter with Miss Lorimer not once but twice,’ said the chairman. ‘On the first occasion at her request and again yesterday at my own. She is a stubborn young woman, and I should warn you that you may not always find that as much to your advantage as it is today. But I am not a duke or a marquis, insistent on pedigree with every marriage. My family has attained its present position by the exercise of its own talents. Never let it be said that a Lorimer undervalues skill and ambition. I have accordingly informed Miss Lorimer that she may receive you at Brinsley House.’
David bowed his head, ostensibly in thanks but actually in relief and pleasure and surprise. He was allowed no time to speak.
‘I do not intend to change my mind on the question of a settlement,’ the chairman said severely, as though repenting of his weakness; but then went on in a more encouraging manner. ‘However, although her behaviour in the past may have been foolish, Miss Lorimer remains my daughter, and I shall make her a small personal allowance. As for yourself, you are correct in believing that the status of my son-in-law cannot be a matter of indifference to me. I shall recommend to the Board of Directors your appointment as manager of Lorimer’s Bank with effect from May.’
This time it was all David could do not to gasp with amazement. What he had said earlier had certainly been intended to win the chairman’s support for his advancement, but he had not anticipated any height as dizzy as this. Whatever the chairman recommended, the directors would accept. This could be no spur-of-the-minute decision. It had all been thought out in advance, no doubt from the moment when David requested the interview.
‘Mr Lynch will be taking his departure then?’ he queried.
‘He will. He is not yet, however, aware of the fact, and he will not learn it from you.’ Suddenly the great eyebrows lifted and the whole force of the chairman’s stare was directed at David. John Junius Lorimer knew as well as Jehovah himself how to make clear the orders which were not to be disobeyed. ‘You will leave for London at the end of this week with a recommendation to a friend of mine at Gurney’s Bank. He will instruct you in those areas of management which are not ruled solely by accountancy. When you leave Bristol, you will give no indication to any of your acquaintances, and particularly not to any member of the staff here, that there is any possibility of your ever returning.’
‘Not even to Miss Lorimer?’
‘I have already told Miss Lorimer that I require her to accept a separation of three months in order that her feelings for you, and yours for her, may be tested. The stubbornness to which I have already referred has caused her to accept my statement as a challenge. She takes it at its face value. She certainly will hope for your reappearance in May. But she must know nothing of my intentions as far as the bank is concerned.’
This time the silence was a final one. All he intended to say had been said.
‘I hope you will allow me to express my appreciation of your attitude sir,’ he said. ‘What you have offered is much more than I deserve or could have presumed to hope for. I would like to say, if I may, that my admiration for yourself is exceeded only by my affection for Miss Lorimer.’
John Junius Lorimer’s head bowed in a nod which was so slight as to be almost imperceptible. It was a gesture which accepted the sentiments and dismissed the speaker. David bowed in farewell and withdrew.
Back at his desk he sat without moving, almost unable to believe his luck. What would his mother have said, he wondered with amusement, if she could have heard that fulsome compliment he had paid the old man? She would have sighed to discover how quickly her straight-speaking Scottish son had been corrupted into mouthing the insincerities of Southerners. It was even likely, David realized, that the chairman himself had little use for such flattery. But he would accept it as an indication that his future son-in-law had good manners and respect for the way of the world. The whole interview had been satisfactory beyond all expectations.
Mr Lynch, passing in front of David’s desk at that moment, paused to stare pointedly at the ledger which lay closed on its surface. David dipped his quill in the ink as a sign that he was resuming work. His gesture of apology was a mock one, but he acted it well. He knew what Mr Lynch could not guess, but he must wait a little while for his triumph.