She decided to pick up some gifts for a few people and then call in on Grace the Dowager Countess. Grace spent a great deal of time in London and not much evaded her notice in matters of society and relationships.
Adelia found that even the most exclusive shops were very busy and she had to wait for a little longer than she’d have liked for the personal attention of the assistants in Harrods. She bought a very pretty silver-backed brush and comb set for Smith. She didn’t think Smith would use it, but that wasn’t the point. The set was expensive and certainly would not lose value, and it was something that Smith could sell in the future if she needed to or perhaps pass down to some nieces or great-nieces. It was a practical and portable gift though Theodore would not see it that way. She also arranged for some hampers of food to be delivered to the servants at Charlotte’s house in town on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas when traditionally servants were treated to something a little extra.
The press of people all around were making the very atmosphere within the shops close and muggy, and something seemed to skip in Adelia’s chest. Her headache was returning.
“My lady, are you quite all right?” said a distant voice that echoed in her ears. She blinked. It was dark. Water roared, somewhere, loudly. Then she was sitting down, quite unexpectedly, as a cool breeze wafted on her hot cheeks and a reassuring hand rested on her shoulder.
Vision returned, bringing clarity and embarrassment.
“Oh my! I am so sorry! I don’t know what came over me!” she cried in alarm as she realised she was now seated next to a haberdashery display, with three assistants screening her from the general prying eyes of the other shoppers. A matronly woman in the shop uniform smiled and pressed a glass of water into her hand.
“You are the third today, so don’t worry, my lady. Already you are looking better. I imagine you’ve been on your feet for a while, and with all the cares and concerns of life weighing upon you, it all adds up, does it not?”
“I suppose that it does. Thank you.”
Her purchases were wrapped and sent on to the house. The bill would be delivered to Theodore. Adelia took a moment longer to gather herself while a doorman went to fetch a cab for her. It wouldn’t get her home particularly quickly but at least she’d be inside and sitting down. The doorman came back to get her when the cab was ready and lent her his arm as she walked. She still felt embarrassed, as if being taken ill was some kind of social crime, and was relieved when she was at last in the privacy of the cab interior.
That odd sense of impropriety lasted, and she asked the cab driver to drop her a street away from the Lassiter residence, arguing to herself that the short blast of cold air would do her good, but knowing in her heart that it was pure vanity. She simply didn’t want people to think she was getting old, or weak, or “past it”.
She had enough loose change left from what Theodore had given her to bribe the servants, so she was able to pay the driver and he helped her down into the street. She stood and watched him rumble off before she turned to head along the road and around the corner to her daughter’s house.
She had told Charlotte of the plans for her morning’s destinations before she’d left. She wondered, then, if Charlotte intended on going to Grace’s house to speak to her before Adelia could get there, because wasn’t that Charlotte herself up ahead, at the corner of the street? But she was dressed in her indoor clothing, a day dress with a shawl wrapped around her shoulders and she was clearly not going anywhere for a visit; she should not have been out on the street looking like that. And as Adelia hurried forward she realised that there was another figure there. She could see Charlotte’s back and she was talking to someone else who was mostly out of sight around the corner, half-hidden by a low wall.
The figure jerked their head, noticing Adelia’s approach. Immediately they drew their hood more tightly around their face and spun around and fled away.
All she saw was the point of the hood as it whirled in the air.
Charlotte turned and her mouth fell open as Adelia approached.
“Mama!”
“Charlotte! Who was that?”
“Who, mama?”
“I saw you talking to someone. They’ve just gone that way.” Adelia reached the corner and looked up and down the cross-street.
It was empty save for two maids walking arm in arm, and a governess dragging a small boy across the street.
“You must be mistaken. You can’t have seen anyone from that distance.”
“Then what are you doing out of the house dressed like this? It is freezing and you’ll catch your death of cold.”
“You’re quite right, as always, mama. Let us go in.” Charlotte turned and began to walk back to her house.
“Now you just stop right there,” Adelia commanded, using a tone of voice she had not had to unleash for many years.
Charlotte’s pace faltered but she did not stop.
Adelia almost gaped in astonishment. Her daughter was defying her! “Charlotte!” she said, loudly.
Charlotte did relent. She paused and half-looked back over her shoulder. “Mama,” she said, reasonably, “It
