At first glance the prominent colour of the room seemed to be brown. The couch drawn up before the fire and the two big side chairs were covered with a brown corded material. The furniture was a shining brown. There were three small tables with knick-knacks on them. A piece of furniture that looked like a sideboard but like no sideboard he’d ever seen before had silver candlesticks on it. The velvet curtains hanging at the windows were green with a brown bobble fringe and were supported from a cornice pole as thick as his upper arm.
‘Sit down, Mr Connor.’ She motioned him towards one of the big chairs and he sat down, then watched her pull a handbell to the side of the fireplace.
When the door opened she turned to the maid, not the same one who had opened the door to him, and said, ‘I’ll have tea now, Jessie; please bring two cups.’
The girl bent her knee, then went out. He noticed that although her tone was uppish, as always, she had said ‘Please.’
He watched her as she sat back in the corner of the couch. She made a movement with her legs and for a moment he thought that she was actually going to cross them. But what she did was cross her feet, and as she did so her black skirt rode above her ankles and he saw the bones pressing through what must have been silk stockings . . . She certainly looked after herself in the way of dress did this one. She was in mourning but her mourning was silk.
‘I will come to the point, Mr Connor. I have a proposition to make to you.’
‘A proposition?’ His eyes widened slightly.
‘I don’t know whether you are aware that property dealing was only one of my father’s interests.’ She did not wait for him to comment on this but went on, ‘Among other things, he had interests in a number of growing concerns and, since my grandfather died, other small businesses have come into the family. Do you know the Wrighton Tallow Works?’
‘I’ve heard of them.’
‘Well, my grandfather owned the works and naturally they fell to my father, and unfortunately, I say unfortunately, because of the loss of my father they are now my concern . . . How far have you advanced in book- keeping Mr Connor?’
‘Advanced?’ He blinked at her. ‘What . . . what do you rightly mean, miss?’
‘What I mean is, have you studied any further than that which is required to tot up rent accounts? Have you thought of your own advancement in this line, such as that of becoming a fully fledged clerk in a bank, or to a solicitor, say?’
‘No, miss.’ The answer was curt, his tone cold. ‘The opportunities didn’t provide themselves.’ He knew too late that he should have said present, not provide.
‘Opportunities are there for the taking, Mr Connor. This town offers great opportunities to those who are willing to take advantage of them. It isn’t only the shipyards and the boat builders and such who offer apprenticeships in particular crafts; there are the arts.’
The arts! He narrowed his eyes at her. What was she getting at? Was she having him on, trying to get a bit of amusement out of him? The arts! Why didn’t she come to the point?
She came to the point by saying, ‘I have in mind that I need a manager, Mr Connor, someone who is capable not only of taking charge of the property side of my affairs but who could assist me in the running of my other businesses. There are places that need to be visited, books to be gone over. Of course I have my accountant and my solicitor but these are there only for the final totalling at the year’s end, and for advice should I need it. But there is so much to be seen to in between times and my father used to attend to this side of affairs, for you know, if a warehouse or business is not visited regularly those in charge become slack.’ She stared at him without speaking for almost a full minute before saying, ‘Would you consider taking on this post if, and when, you became qualified to do so? You would, of course, need a little training.’
His heart was thumping against his ribs causing his breath to catch in his throat. He couldn’t take it in. She was proposing that he should be her manager. He was peering at her through the narrow slits of his eyes now, he was puzzled. Why wasn’t she advertising for somebody right away if the burden of the businesses was so great on her?
As if she were reading his thoughts she said, ‘I have no doubt I could get someone to fill this post almost immediately, but then the person would be strange to me, and . . . and I don’t mix easily. What I mean is, I take a long time in getting to know people.’
They were staring at each other through the fading light, and in silence again. It was she who broke it, her voice low now, ordinary sounding, no uppishness to it. ‘I . . . I have known you for some time, Mr Connor, and have always thought that you should be capable of much better things than mere rent collecting.’
Before he could answer the door opened and the maid entered pushing a tea trolley.
When the trolley was by the side of the couch she looked at the maid and said, ‘I’ll see to it, Jessie. I’ll ring when I need you.’
‘Yes, miss.’ Again the dip of the knee.
‘Do you take sugar, Mr Connor?’
‘No. No, thank you.’
‘That is unusual; men usually like a lot of sugar.’
He watched her pour the weak-looking tea from a small silver teapot and add milk to it from a matching jug, and when a few minutes later he sipped at it he thought, My God! dish-water.
‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t ask what tea you preferred. You see, they’re so used to bringing me China; I’ll ring and get some . . .’
‘Oh no, please don’t. It’s nice, it’s only different. And’—he grinned now at her—’you can understand I’m not used to havin’ China tea.’
She actually laughed now, and he noticed that it changed her face and made her almost pleasant-looking, except that her nose remained just as sharp. ‘I hope it will be a taste you will learn to acquire in the future.’
He doubted it but he nodded at her, smiling in return.
He took the buttered scone she proffered him and found it good, and had another, and by the time he had eaten a cake that melted in his mouth he was laughing inside, thinking, By gum! they just want to see me now, all them in the kitchen. They just want to see me now. And wait till I tell Janie. My! who would believe it? She had asked if he was willing to learn to manage her affairs. God! just give him the chance. By lad! he had fallen on his feet at last. It wouldn’t matter now if the boatyard never made a go of it. But he hoped it would, for Jimmy’s sake. He mentioned the boatyard to her now. It was when she said, ‘I mustn’t keep you any longer, Mr Connor, you have a long walk home. But I will leave you to think over my proposition. Perhaps tomorrow evening you will tell me what you have decided. If your answer is favourable I can put you in touch with a man who would teach you book- keeping and the rudiments of management. And perhaps you could attend night school. But we can discuss that later.’
He rose to his feet, saying, ‘I’m not more than ten minutes’ hard tramp from my home now; I’m . . . I’m on the waterfront.’
She raised her eyebrows as she repeated, ‘The waterfront?’
‘Yes.’ He squared his shoulders. ‘I became interested in a boatyard, a very small one mind.’ He smiled as he nodded at her. ‘A pocket handkerchief, some folks would call it, but nevertheless it’s big enough to make a keel and scullers and such like. There’s a house of sorts attached. I . . . I took it for my brother. He’s served his time in boat building, small boats that is, the same line, scullers, wherries and such, and it’s always been his dream to have a place of his own where he could build. So I heard of this concern. The man had died, and . . . and it was going reasonable, so I took a chance.’
Her face was stretching into a wide smile, her lips were apart showing a set of strong white teeth. ‘Well, well!’ She inclined her head towards him. ‘I wasn’t wrong, was I? You do have business acumen. Where is this place?’
‘Oh, it’s yon side of the mill dam. It’s so small you wouldn’t be able to see it, not among all the other yards along there. It used to belong to a Mr. Kilpatrick.’
‘Kilpatrick?’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t recall hearing the name. But . . . but I’m very interested in your enterprise. I must come and see it some time.’
‘Yes, yes, do that.’
She walked with him to the door and although the maid was standing ready to open it she herself let him
