The Eternal Collection

Chapter One ~ 1886-1

Carmella was sitting in the small sitting room sewing some lace onto one of her mother’s gowns.

She was as near to the window as possible because there was a dismal mist over London and she longed for the clearness of the sunshine that she had loved in the country.

Every day when she woke up she so wished that she was back at Bramforde Hall with the gardens filled with sunshine, the sound of the birds and the horses waiting for her in the stables.

Sometimes she felt she hated every moment that she had to stay in the narrow street with its rows of identical houses and a grey sky overhead, which always seemed to be overcast.

And yet she knew that they had come to London for the sake of Gerry and so she had agreed wholeheartedly with her mother that it was what they had to do.

When the fourth Lord Bramforde died and his son, Gerald, inherited, it was very obvious that they could not afford to stay in the Big House that had been the seat of the Bramfordes since the first Lord was the Master of the Horse to King George II and would have to find somewhere else to live.

It was Gerry who had pleaded with his mother that they should go to London.

“All my friends at Oxford University are having a riotous time,” he said, “and I cannot bear to stay here, vegetating amongst the cabbages without even a decent horse to ride.”

Lady Bramforde had understood exactly what her son felt.

At the same time she knew, if she was fair, it was Carmella who should, if there was any money, have a Season in London and then make her curtsey, if not to the Queen, then to the beautiful Princess Alexandra of Wales, at a ‘Drawing Room’ in Buckingham Palace.

Carmella was just eighteen while Gerald was nearly twenty-two and Lady Bramforde felt it was only right that her beloved son, now that he was the fifth Lord Bramforde, should have priority and be able to live, at least for a little while, as a gentleman should.

There were long family consultations until finally Bramforde Hall was closed up with only two old servants left to act as caretakers.

They journeyed to London, where Lady Bramforde had rented a small house off Eaton Square and Gerry had bachelor rooms as all his friends did in Mayfair.

Carmella had been very unselfish when her mother explained that there was no question of her entering Society as a debutante until Gerry was more settled.

debutanteAlthough she would notify the few friends she had in London and hoped Carmella would meet them, it was doubtful if this would ensure her being invited to even one ball.

“I understand, Mama,” Carmella had said. “Of course Gerry must have the right clothes and he can hardly go to his Club without a penny in his pocket.”

“I only pray that he will not gamble,” Lady Bramforde asserted fervently.

At the same time she agreed with Carmella that Gerry must find his feet before anything could be planned for his sister.

“Don’t worry about me,” Carmella said bravely. “I am perfectly happy with you, Mama, and I will improve my mind by visiting all the Museums and Art Galleries and, of course, the Tower of London.”

Lady Bramforde laughed.

“We will certainly do that with you, my dearest.”

Unfortunately, soon after they were settled in London, Lady Bramforde became ill.

The Doctor ascribed it to the aftershock of her husband’s death, which had been from an accident and in fact she had not been at all strong for some years.

Keeping up a huge house in the country with only a few servants had proved too much for her.

“What your mother needs is total rest,” the Doctor said to Carmella, “and if it could be afforded I would wish her to spend the winter in a warm climate like the South of France. But as I know that is impossible, you must take care of her and keep her from doing too much. ”

“I will certainly do my best,” Carmella promised.

This meant that, since Lady Bramforde was confined mostly to the house, Carmella was too, but she did not complain.

Of course when she read the social columns of the daily newspapers and looked in the magazines, which depicted all the famous beauties who surrounded the Prince of Wales, she wished a little wistfully that she had a chance of at least seeing them.

When her mother did feel well enough, they would sometimes go into Rotten Row in the morning and see the ladies driving in their open Victorias drawn by exceedingly fine horses and the gentlemen mounted on spirited stallions.

They made Carmella long overwhelmingly for the horses that had been left behind in the country.

Now for the last three weeks Lady Bramforde had not been well enough to leave her bed and Carmella had been up and down the stairs it seemed a thousand times a day to take her everything she needed and to try to prevent her from attempting to get up.

“I must be downstairs when Gerry comes back home,” Lady Bramforde said. “There is nothing more boring for a young man than to find women sick in bed.”

“Gerry will understand because he loves you, Mama,” Carmella replied, but that did not prevent Lady Bramforde from wanting to get up.

‘Perhaps she will be well enough to come downstairs tomorrow,’ Carmella told herself.

She knew it was important that her mother should take things very quietly.

She had a sudden fear that she might slip away as her father had done after his accident.

One day he was laughing and saying that he would soon be up and then riding round the estate when the next morning they found him dead in bed.

He had a smile on his lips as if, Carmella thought, he had just enjoyed taking a high jump in style.

‘If anything happens to Mama,’ she thought to herself now, ‘I will be alone and I cannot think what I should do or who would have me to live with them.’

There were very few relatives in London, although there were a number of cousins with the family name of ‘Forde’ scattered over different parts of the country.

Carmella could not remember even one of them whom she had a particular affinity with or who had showed much affection for her father even though he was the Head of the Family.

‘I suppose it’s stupid,’ she reasoned, ‘but we have always been so content with ourselves, Papa and Mama, Gerry and me that we did not trouble about the other Fordes. So they have conveniently forgotten us.’

She was therefore quite certain that if her mother should die, there would be nobody who would really wish to give her a home and she would have to rely on Gerry, who might in a few years be married.

There was little chance, as things were, of her doing the same.

“I am sorry, darling,” her mother had said only a week before she was laid up, “that party we attended this afternoon was so dull for you. I was thinking as I looked round the room that everybody there must be over fifty.”

“The old General was very interesting, Mama,” Carmella answered.

Lady Bramforde gave a little groan.

“You should not be talking to old Generals, but young Subalterns and charming young men who would make you a suitable husband.”

Carmella had laughed.

“I don’t expect to find one at the sort of parties we have been to recently.”

“That is true enough,” Lady Bramforde agreed.

She knew that the parties that they had been invited to had been given by her own elderly relations who were not in the least fashionable and held small and extremely dull ‘At Homes’ at which one of the guests was always the Vicar.

Or there were even duller dinner parties, where neither the food nor the conversation could be described as having any quality about it.

“I shall have to do something about you, Carmella,” Lady Bramforde said. “Although I would not want you to feel conceited, you are growing into a beauty and it is quite wrong for you to spend your time with your mother and her old friends.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Carmella replied. “I am perfectly happy, Mama, and perhaps when he is more acclimatised to London, Gerry will bring home some of his smart friends.”

She knew even as she spoke that it was a forlorn hope for she had the feeling that her brother was rather ashamed of the small townhouse that they had rented near Eaton Square.

It was certainly a great contrast to where he should really be living in the huge house in which his father and his ancestors before him had all been of great importance in the County.

Suddenly Carmella had an idea.

“Why do we not go home, Mama? I know we could not live in the Big House, that would be impossible and far too much for you. But we could take one of the smaller houses on the estate or even a cottage.”

She went on beguilingly,

“At least we could enjoy the gardens, although they are overgrown, and, of course, the Park and the fields I could ride on.”

She thought for a moment that her mother was tempted by the idea, but she quickly said,

“No, Carmella. When I agreed to come to London, I thought first I should be near Gerry and keep, I hoped, a restraining hand on him so that he did not become too extravagant.”

She paused and added rather weakly,

“I determined that once Gerry had found his feet, you shall meet the right sort of people who will entertain you, but that is something we cannot possibly do at the moment.”

Carmella was aware that this was because fitting Gerry out in the right sort of clothes from a really smart tailor had cost what seemed an enormous amount of money.

By this time they had all made sacrifices, especially her mother.

‘I don’t want to go to parties,’ Carmella thought now as she stitched away at the lace, ‘I just want to live in the country.’

She thought, because she was so prejudiced about London that the sun never seemed to shine and there was always a taste of fog in the air or the streets were wet with rain.

‘I want to go home,’ she whispered to herself and then knew that she was being selfish.

She had just finished stitching the last row of lace on her mother’s gown when the door opened and she glanced round thinking that it was one of the maids when her brother came in.

She gave a cry of sheer delight and jumped up, her scissors falling from her lap as she exclaimed,

“Gerry! How exciting! I had no idea you were coming home this afternoon.”

“I wanted to see you, Mella,” Gerry replied, using what had always been his pet name for her, “and I desperately need your help.”

“My help?” Carmella exclaimed and then questioned, “What has – happened?”

She knew by the expression on her brother’s face that something was very wrong.

He walked across the room and she could tell at once by the way he was moving that he was agitated.