*
The walk through the Mayfair streets to the Yellow Orchid was not very far. They left Hays Mews and walked towards Hyde Park. A few turns to the left and right and they passed through a very short alleyway, opening from the facade of a red-brick Georgian town house. Moments later they emerged onto a wider street. Evelyn looked around her for a landmark and noticed the name of the street. Clarges Street.
“Don’t worry, Evie, it’s not far now at all, just down this street.” Lilian, who was setting the pace and walking slightly ahead of Evelyn and James, sounded excited.
“I wasn’t worried,” Evelyn replied. “I’m just taking it all in.”
“Of course. I simply can’t imagine having never seen these dear streets before!”
“Well, there’s a lot of streets in London for Evelyn to see,” James chimed in. “Perhaps we’ll have to take her out. We can’t have her not knowing anywhere but the Mews, Clarges Street, and Hyde Park, can we now?”
“I arrived at Paddington,” Evelyn told him, keen that he should know she’d managed to make her own way to the house from the station.
“Even that’s not far though. What about seeing the sights? Westminster, Buckingham Palace? The Tower?”
“I would like that,” Evelyn replied. She realised she’d been so caught up in travelling to London and Edward’s mission to get the letter to Lilian that she’d almost forgotten she was in the same city she’d always hoped to visit as a tourist. “If you wouldn’t mind showing me one day.”
“I’m sure we can make time.” James looked pleased. Evelyn was glad of his kindness, which was rather less demanding than Lilian’s.
“Yes, we can,” Lilian interjected, “as long as we can round out the day with tea at Claridge’s.”
“Of course. That’s one of the sights of London too, after all.”
Lilian smiled, satisfied. A few more paces along the road, and she paused. “And now, here it is! One of my favourite places in the whole city.”
Evelyn looked at the building they had halted outside. A town house, like the others on the street, it had all the appearance of being nothing but a rather large house. The exterior was brown bricks and there were white-framed Georgian windows, like most of the houses in this part of London. The only sign that it was something other than a house was that the area immediately outside the door was tiled in white and black tiles and surrounded by a wrought-iron railing. Above the black painted door was a very small sign, with a picture of a yellow orchid. Very small black writing beneath it read Cafe. Jazz etc. And that was all. Evelyn was surprised that Lilian could be so enthralled by somewhere so unassuming and lacking in obvious display or glamour. It made her all the keener to venture inside, to understand Lilian and her world a little more.
Lilian was watching her with a big smile. “It doesn’t look much at all, does it? But you wait, my darling. In here, this is where life feels like it’s worth something.”
“I think that’s rather an exaggeration, Lilian.” James sounded tired, yet still indulgent.
“For you, perhaps. But not for me.”
“Well, perhaps we should go in and allow Evelyn to decide for herself, what do you say?”
Lilian grinned and reached for the brass door handle.
*
Although the exterior of the building looked like a grand residence, this belied the interior which was like nothing Evelyn had ever seen. The whole of the ground floor was one large room, which narrowed towards the rear, where there seemed to be a bar, behind which Evelyn glimpsed rows of bottles on neat shelves. The bar was built from a wood so dark it was almost black, which was matched by the lower half of the walls, the wood panelling reaching as far as a decorative dado rail. The upper part of the walls were a light shade of yellow, dotted with the sconces which provided the electric light. These lights were muted with grey and white stained glass shades with a geometric sunburst pattern. On all of the walls were large mirrors, the shape of which mirrored that straight-edged sunburst style, with black and white enamel accents. The whole impression was something extraordinary to Evelyn, so modern it seemed a vision of the future, not the present, and yet without a trace of vulgarity. She thought it graceful and exciting. All over the black and white mosaic floor were positioned tables and chairs, and these had clusters of people gathered, a riot of bright colours, sparkling gems, feathers and velvet cloaks, black ties and dinner suits and all manner of patterns. It appeared Lilian’s outfit was not so extraordinary after all. The air was heavy with tobacco smoke, mostly from the cigarettes being smoked at every table, but with the sweet fragrance of cigar and pipe to make it a headier, more cloying odour. The smoke and relatively dim lighting made the place seem almost mysterious, only adding to the subversive glamour Evelyn was already half in love with.
A rising swell of conversation and piano notes met Evelyn’s ears as she followed Lilian through the door and deeper into the room. This burst into a series of delighted exclamations, as those gathered inside looked up and recognised Lilian.
“Lilian! Good to see you!”
“Are you singing for us this evening, Lilian? I was so hoping you would be!”
“Lilian Grainger, it’s been far too long since I saw you!”
“Lilian, how are you this evening. Oh, and your brother’s with you too. How nice…”
Evelyn was suddenly surrounded by the attention of a whole flock of smiling faces. She noted
