Friday, 12th July, 1912.
Dear Frances,
Right now – at least, if you’re sticking to the schedule you sent in your letter – you must be in New York City. When you come home I hope you can tell me what the tallest building in the world is like. Frank told me that it is in the centre of New York and is called The Metropolitan Life Insurance Building, which is a rather boring name for a giant tower. It has about fifty floors which I can’t even imagine; I think a building with three floors is pretty big. I would love to know if you have seen it (I can hardly see how you’ll be able to miss it) and whether it really does have fifty floors. That sounds like an exaggeration to me.
Anyway, as I mentioned Frank a few sentences ago you might be wondering if he has finally arrived in our house. And he has. In fact, he arrived this morning, just as we were finishing breakfast.
‘That must be Nugent,’ said Harry, pushing back his chair and jumping to his feet. ‘At last, I won’t be alone in this house of females.’
‘Ahem,’ said Father mildly.
‘Sorry, Father,’ said Harry, shoving his way past my chair and practically knocking me into the leftover toast. ‘I’ll get it Maggie!’ he yelled from the hall, and a moment later the front door was opened and Frank, looking uncharacteristically awkward, came into the dining room.
‘Sorry Mr. Carberry, Mrs. Carberry,’ he said. ‘I didn’t mean to disturb your breakfast.’
‘We’re just finished, dear,’ said Mother, and Father stood up and shook Frank’s hand.
‘You’re more than welcome, my dear young fellow,’ he said. ‘Now, I think there might be some toast left if you’d like some.’
But Frank shook his head.
‘They gave me a huge breakfast at home,’ he said. ‘Not that they think you won’t feed me properly here, of course,’ he added quickly, looking a little flustered.
‘Come on, Nugent,’ said Harry, slapping Frank on the back in a ridiculously hearty fashion. He never normally does things like that, and Frank was clearly taken by surprise. ‘Let’s get your bags up to my room and leave this lot to their toast.’
‘See you all later,’ said Frank, and followed Harry out of the room.
‘What a nice young fellow he is,’ said Mother. She looked at me and Julia. ‘I hope you two won’t be pestering and annoying him. He’s our guest after all.’
The cheek of her, lumping me in with Julia and thinking I would – I can hardly bear to write it – PESTER AND ANNOY Frank!
‘Of course I won’t,’ I said. ‘In fact, I’m going to stay out of his and Harry’s way. May I please be excused and go to Nora’s house?’
Mother nodded and, without another word, I got up and stalked out of the room. At least I tried to stalk. Harry hadn’t put his chair back in under the table and I banged into the corner of it, which really, really hurt, but I ignored the agony and kept on walking. It is very difficult to retain my dignity in this house. I could hear Frank and Harry chatting away upstairs. Ever since Harry’s voice started to change he has sounded very grumbly. Frank’s voice has changed too, but he sounds like a normal person. I was looking for my outdoor shoes when he came down the stairs.
‘Hello!’ he said. ‘Where are you off to?’
‘Just Nora’s house,’ I said. There was a pause, but not an especially awkward one. ‘I hope it’s not going to be too boring for you staying here. When your parents are off on holiday, I mean.’
‘Well, it’s not exactly a holiday.’ Frank’s smile was wry.
‘My friend Frances is in New York,’ I said. ‘I wish I could go there. It sounds so exciting.’
And that’s when he told me about the tall building. But before we could talk about it anymore, Harry came thundering down the stairs saying, ‘Come on, Nugent. Let’s get some lemonade in the kitchen.’ So I left them to it.
When I got to Nora’s she was sitting in the garden reading Anne of Green Gables, while George hit a tennis ball against the wall.
‘That’s a strangely soothing sound,’ I said, sitting down beside her.
‘I’ve barely noticed it.’ Nora’s eyes were bright. ‘Goodness, Mollie, this book is wonderful.’
It’s always a nice feeling when you give someone a book you love and they like it as much as you do. We talked about it for a bit, and I almost gave away some bits of the plot that Nora hasn’t reached yet, but I stopped myself in time. After a while, having made sure that George was out of earshot, I said, ‘I’ve had an idea.’
Because I had. It had struck me on my way over to Nora’s house.
‘Really?’ Nora looked insultingly surprised.
‘We should go to the meeting tomorrow,’ I said. ‘You know, the weekly IWFL one in the Phoenix Park.’
‘What good will that do?’ said Nora.
‘Well,’ I said, ‘Phyllis won’t tell us anything about their plans. We don’t even know for definite if they’re going to go out in the boat. Maybe they’ll announce their intentions at the meeting, and we can see if we can join in.’
‘I suppose it couldn’t hurt.’ Nora was thoughtful.
‘Well, we haven’t come up with anything else,’ I said.
Nora’s face brightened. ‘Actually, I have. A new verse for our song.’
‘Go on then,’ I said.
Nora took a deep breath and then, singing softly so as not to be overheard, she sang:
We will never cease our shouting
’til you heed our Irish call
Votes for men and votes for women
Votes for us and votes for all!
I stared at her in admiration. ‘Goodness, Nora, that’s not bad. And,’ I added, ‘Maggie’s sister Jenny would approve of the votes for all. She thinks it’s disgraceful that working men don’t get the vote and men like our fathers do.’
‘Well, that’s just not fair play,’ said Nora. ‘As Grace would say.’
‘Where is she, anyway?’ I said.
‘At the club, of course.’ Nora yawned and stretched back in her chair. ‘And long may she stay there.’
‘You must admit,’ I said, ‘that the club seems to be doing her some good.’
‘Maybe,’ said Nora. ‘But not at night. She told Mother she thought the camp bed was bad for her back and that meant she couldn’t play tennis properly. So I’ve got to sleep in it all week!’
Maybe Grace hadn’t reformed so much after all. But luckily she’s playing at some beginners’ tournament in the club tomorrow so we won’t have to try and get rid of her before we go to the meeting in the park. We arranged to meet at our usual corner, and it wasn’t until Nora had walked me out to the front door that she remembered something.
‘Hang on!’ she said, when I was already walking down the short tiled path that leads from her front door to the pavement. ‘Didn’t a certain SOMEONE arrive at your house today?’
‘I’m so sorry, I don’t know what you mean!’ I said. And then I ran down the road before she could ask any more annoying questions. Besides, I was already late for tea. I was quite looking forward to talking to Frank over the cake and buns, but when I got home he and Harry were nowhere to be seen.
‘Oh,’ said Mother, when I asked – very casually, and as if I had no real interest in the answer – where they were. ‘I believe they’ve gone out with Frank’s uncle. There’s no room in his house for Frank to stay, but he’s taking both the boys out to the theatre to make up for Frank missing his holiday.’
And now I’m going to bed and they’re still not back. Not that I really care, of course. But it would be nice to have the opportunity to be polite to our guest.
Best love and votes for women,
Mollie
P.S.
I forgot to say that Mabel, that wondrous girl, gave Phyllis a copy of another book about Anne of Green Gables to give to me. It is called Anne of Avonlea, and I have just started it, but it looks just as good as the first one. I don’t know if it’s been published here yet but it is out in America – she got it from her cousins – so I do hope you get hold of a copy of it!