Chapter 4: Dinner

“Me collar’s too bloomin’ tight,” Dan Thornton complained, as his wife Dotty brushed the dust off the shoulders of his old dark blue suit jacket, a colour which showed every single speck of dust that landed on it.

And Dotty was diligent about the house, keeping the flat clean was always a priority, so it wasn’t as if it was ‘old dust’, it was probably ash still floating around since cleaning the grate this morning. But tonight, knowing what they were facing, she was becoming obsessed about the dust and made a mental note to brush her husband down again moments before they left the flat.

“Yeah, an’ yer trousers are more like Oxford bags than the narrer trousers wot are apparently the modern fashion, Dan,” Dotty tutted, “at least they are ‘igh waisted an’ ‘ave proper turn-ups to the legs, so shouldn’t look too much like they’re dated the 1935 vintage that they really are. I wus surprised you wus still able to do ‘em up, I suppose we have continuin’ food rationing to fank for small mercies. Let’s ‘ope the lightin’ ain’t too good at Evie’s place.”

“I ‘spect it’s all bloomin’ crystal chandeliers rand their place, Dot, I shouldn’t wonder.”

“Well, less of the bloomin’ swearing, Dan, these is respectable folk an’ fer Gertie’s benefit we needs ter be on our best behav’yer.”

“Yeah, course, I will, Dot,” Danny said, “though I’m blowed if I kin understand why this damned Johnnie fella wants to train up our little girl into bein’ a proper lady? I mean, Gertie’s a great kid, an’ always has been the prettiest fing in the world wot I know, but, well, there must be no end o’ pretty toff bints fer Johnnie-boy to choose from, wivout ‘aving to buy ‘em all their bleedin’ clobber an’ all so she can fit in wiv all the oi polloi.”

“Well, it ain’t Johnnie what’s buyin’ nothink, it’s ‘er new friend Evie’s wot’s bin doin’ all the buyin’ an’ you know she needs to ‘elp wiv that cos it really is the only way that our Gert’ll be accepted as a lady by those wot dunno wot a real treasure she is, is if she’s wearin’ the right cloves wot suits the settin’. As fer why Johnnie’s doin’ wot he’s doin’, well, it’s cos ‘e’s in love, ain’ it, Dan. I’m sure ‘e is. An’ love makes folk do funny finks don’t they? Gertie is our lovely girl and if this Johnnie wants to do the right fing by our girl, well, I for one would give ‘im a great big cuddle an’ gladly call ‘im ‘son’.”

“The motor car’s here, Mum, Dad, are you both ready to go?” called Gertie up from the foot of the stairs, where she had been agitating, watching and waiting for the car to arrive for at least the last ten minutes.

“Damn!” muttered Dotty, “no time ta brush ya daan, Dan, yer’ll jus’ ‘aff-ter keep out of the light as best ya can.”

When her parents reached the foot of the stairs, Evie’s cheerful chauffeur Bob, who Gertie had got to know quite well yesterday, as he had driven her around all day and helped carry much of the results of Miss Eveline’s insistent shopping, had opened the car door on the pavement side ready for the ease of his passengers to get in.

Bob was about Gertie’s father’s age or maybe a little older, Gertie estimated, and Evie had explained to her yesterday that Bob had for a long time been Evie’s and Johnnie’s father’s driver and now that her father was retired and needed his car rarely, and as Johnnie has one of his ex-soldiers as his own driver when he needed one, Evie had asked Bob if he would look after her car and be her driver most of the time now that she was married and her husband had his own driver, and Bob had jumped at the chance to remain in the Winter family’s service.

Bob had clearly been amused by Evie’s gentle bullying of the sweet young girl and her quiet, reluctant acquiescence to accept the inevitable and he had himself made gently amusing asides throughout the shopping expedition. He had decided early on that he really liked this slip of a girl and was pleased for Master John, that he had found such a nice sweet girl, so many that were of his slight acquaintance that he saw at functions that the family were driven to by him were not very nice at all.

“Hello, Miss Gertie,” Bob said with a genuine smile, “I must say that that dress looks really great on you, I do believe that you’re going to knock Master John seven streets sideways as soon as he sees you tonight.”

“Well, thank you, Bob, you’re very kind, even if I know you’re exaggerating. Evie got me this silk dream of a dress with that singular purpose in mind, I think,” Gertie smiled, “We’ll have to see, but I do want to make a good impression on everyone.”

“I know and you absolutely will, Miss. I heard Miss Eveline tell her mother that you really put your foot down to him on the outset that this scheme of his wouldn’t work, but I can see now that Master John was clearly no fool. You’ll be fine, young lady, you just be yourself, because it was the real you, just under the surface, that he fell in love with in the first place and, as you grow more into being a lady, remember that you are still that sweet lovely girl that he fell for, and if you keep showin’ him that side of you, well, you won’t go very far wrong.”

“Thank you, Bob. Oh, here come Mum and Dad, if we sit them together in the back, can I sit up front with you?

“Of course, that’ll be fine, mind you, when I first started driving Miss Eveline’s father, Mr Jacob, the front of that first car was completely open to all weathers and the wind and the rain wouldn’t have done your lovely silks no good at all.”

“It’s a good thing we can now go in comfort then, Bob.”

Bob made sure everyone was seated comfortably before setting off to the Dorsets’ house in Cadogan Square in Knightsbridge.

“I’ve never been so nervous,” Gertie whispered to Bob once they got going. “I mean, Miss Eveline and I seemed to get on like a house on fire yesterday, but what’s her husband like?”

“Don’t you worry, Miss Gertie, Mr George won’t bite, he’s certainly nowhere near as stiff as his old grandfather was. Mr George has known Mr John for most of their lives and they have always been firm friends, which is how Miss Eveline got to know him and learned to admire him as someone friendly, loyal, reliable but also fun to be around. The rest of the Dorsets, mind you, aren’t worth a light but Mr George is a good employer, not too demanding of Jack, his driver, and I think he and Miss Evelyn have a good chance in life as a devoted couple.”

“Oh, that’s a relief,” Gertie smiled back, “but who are the Dorsets exactly?”

“Oh, I’ll let Miss Eveline tell you all about the Dorsets, I don’t think it’s my place to say anything more, sorry.”

“That’s all right, Bob, I’m not prying into family areas where my questioning is unwanted, but I am thirsty for knowledge. I’ve gone from quietly getting on with my own very uncomplicated life and all of a sudden I’m being whisked around the better parts of London’s fancy shops and a classy hairdressers that I wouldn’t have dared step into voluntarily on my own, and now I’m formally dining for the first time in my life with one person I really don’t know at all as well as a possible future husband and I’ve only really spent a short time with. My mind is so full of questions that I feel my head could explode.”

“I can understand that, Miss Gertie, I really can,” Bob smiled in response. “It was a long time ago, around forty years ago, actually, a different but in small ways very similar thing happened to me. Back then I was only a kid about sixteen and knew absolutely nothing about anything at all. I was a simple labouring farmhand on a farm up in rural Derbyshire that even then still used draught horses for ploughing the fields. I was learning animal husbandry from my father and his foreman, mostly by mucking out the stables and the pigs, herding geese and what not. I think I was sucking a straw after cleaning the stables one morning, when the lady from the Big House pointed to me and told the home farm foreman that I looked just the likely young fellow she needed and the next thing I know I was sent by gig into the next town to a motor showroom, where I spent a week in lodgings that the garage owners arranged for me. There I was put hard to work for ten hours a day learning how to drive a motor car and basic servicing from that garage, before I was fitted for a couple of fancy driver’s uniforms. At the end of a whirlwind week and the garage were happy that I wouldn’t let them down, I managed to drive back up to the Big House in this brand new motor car, the first that the lady from the Big House had ever owned, and I’ve been a Winter family driver ever since. I had to learn how to behave in mixed company while surrounded by toffs of every kind, even royalty on more than a time or two. You’re a bright young lady already, Miss Gertie, and you’re a rare diamond in my humble opinion. I reckon you’re more than halfway to being loved by all the family, well the parties what matter, just by being exactly who you are ... all Miss Eveline and Mr John are doing, Miss, is adding a little polish. Just relax tonight, help your folks to relax and not put their feet in it and I know that you’ll be absolutely fine.”

“Thank you, Bob, I can see why your employers like you. I think the ‘Lady from the Big House’ was very ... astute, I think.”

“Well, one of these days, Miss Gertie, I’m expecting to see one more true lady in a long line of astute ladies from the Big House. Without the quality of the Winter ladies, there wouldn’t still be any Big Houses.”

“Is where we’re going, one of the ‘big houses’, Bob?”

“Not that big, Miss Gertie, the Dorsets have their main house, their big house if you like, down in Hertfordshire. Their town house is not small though, it has ten family bedrooms and several parlours, an informal breakfast room, a family dining room, a large formal dining room, and comes with servants’ quarters for up to ten staff, but no ballroom; no need for one, London’s full o’ ballrooms. Cook tells me that even though you are asked to dress for a formal dinner, it is being served in the small family dining room, so you can regard this as a bit of a dry runoff in practice for bigger functions, but will be in quite relaxed surroundings, with only close family in attendance. However, Harry, the Butler, told me that he has set out a couple of extra place settings in the formal hall,” he laughed, “so I think Miss Eveline is going to give you another lesson or two on dining etiquette, about which spoon or fork to use with whatever course.”

“Oh Lord,” Gertie sighed, “she never lets up, that Evie.”

“Indeed, and she never will. I would love to be a fly on the wall for that, begging your pardon Miss, but I had to go all through that with one of the butlers at the Standhopes, cos when the big formal dinners is called for, it’s every servants’ hands to the decks on them occasions.”

“Well, Bob, after I learn how to lay a proper table, and if in future your butler’s ever stuck, I’m on the telephone now, so he can give me a call!”

“That’s the spirit, Miss Gertie, you’re among friends both high and low who want you to succeed, so you relax, enjoy and have fun tonight, won’t you?”

“Yes, I think I will now. Thank you, Bob, it’s really nice to chat with you.”

“You’re always welcome, Miss. In all honesty, I have enjoyed our little chats those last two days.”

“Me too.”

A rather grand and beautifully dressed butler welcomed Gertie and her parents at the front door to the imposing three-storey town house that opened up directly onto the street, other than the twelve steps lined with iron railings leading up to the door. He had clearly been waiting for them as the front door was opened as soon as Bob drove up in the motor car and stopped outside on the otherwise empty square, with the large houses arranged around a large rectangular railing-enclosed garden in the centre.

As well as the butler, a footman and a pair of housemaids helped the three dinner guests off with their coats in the entrance hall and took their coats, hats and scarves away to hang up somewhere probably, Gertie thought, out of sight. Her own coat, of course, thanks to Evie, was brand new and fitted her beautifully, but her parents’ coats, she knew were rather ancient and more than a little the worse for wear after many years without any possibility of replacement.

She wondered if, she was indeed destined to marry into a family who claimed that money would never ever be a problem, that she would have some sort of allowance one day that would enable her to ensure her parents were sufficiently protected from the elements now and into their old age.

“I’m Williams, Sir, Madam, Miss Gertie, I would like to warmly welcome you to Dorset House,” the butler introduced himself while the other unnamed servants helped them out of their coats. “We are dining this evening in the family dining room which is on this floor. It is a small and cosy room, with the fire lit all day to warm it up. The room is candle-lit with the electric lights off and I hope you will find the ambiance relaxed and comfortable. The Cook tells me she is doing a fine roast dinner of Hereford beef and Yorkshire pudding with all the trimmings, so I must admit all the staff are also looking forward to our own little dinner in due course. We will meet up with the hosts and Mr John in the sitting room next to the dining room and you will retire back there where tea and coffee will be served after the meal. Do please let me know if you need anything at all during your time here this evening.”

“Thank you, Mr Williams,” Gertie said, thinking that her parents were too uncomfortable to say much in reply.

“Just Williams, Miss Gertie,” Williams smiled gently at the girl, “only the gentlemen and their guests are ‘Mister’ or entitled, as appropriate. It may seem impolite at first Miss Gertie, and the Dorsets here are among the best of people to work for, but we are comfortable with the status quo and you will get used to us as we hope to get used to welcoming you here often in the future.”

“It sounds, Williams, as if you have your ear to the ground,” Gertie smiled back as she walked next to him towards the sitting room, her parents walking just behind them. “If you wouldn’t mind slowing down just a touch, though?”

“Of course, Miss, not a problem at all,” William replied with a smile, immediately slowing down to match the new pace that Gertie had set, “we have plenty of time before dinner is served.”

“Thank you, Williams, it is only that my shoes are brand new and, although comfortably fitting, my feet are still getting used to them and I have no wish to stumble or start growing bunions or corns.”

“Of course, Miss Gertie, would you like to take my arm to lean on until we reach the sitting room?” He held his cocked arm out in offer.

“No, that won’t be necessary, thank you, Williams, but you are very kind to offer.”

“It is why we are here, Miss Gertie, alert to help where needed and able to step back away when we understand we’re not. I assure you that we are continually attentive and all of us take pride in everything we do here and we also take much reflected pride in our people here, and their family and their friends. I do hope Miss Gertie, to serve you on your visits for many more years to come.”

“And I hope you will be able to have some pride in whatever role I find myself in with connection with the family.”

“Oh, Miss Gertie, we all think you are going to be fine. We can’t help but be aware of what is going on and I can assure you that we are all rooting for you and, if I may be so bold, we are all delighted with what we have heard about you so far. I think some of the younger girls here believe you give everyone hope of being a small part of a modern day fairy tale. If there is anything you are uncertain of or need to know or need help with in terms of etiquette and behaviour, then please don’t hesitate to ask any one of us. This particular branch of the Dorset family and pretty well all the Standhope family are mostly quiet people, they mind their own business but they also do lots of good things for people and charities without shouting about what they do from the rooftops. And they do look after their own, Miss Gertie, not just ‘immediate family’ but those who serve the Winter family, and our Dorsets are considered part of the Winter family.”

The little group soon reached the door of the sitting room and Williams held up his white-gloved hand to hold them there while he knocked, waited a second or two at most and entered the room, introducing the guests as, “Mr and Mrs Daniel Thornton and Miss Gertrude Thornton are here, my Lord.”

The answer was instantly returned, “Please show our guests in, Williams, thank you.”

“Thank you, my Lord, dinner will be served in ten minutes.”

Williams turned and smiled at his three escorts, waving his hand for the guests to enter.

Leading the way, Gertie entered first, her parents close behind. They were welcomed by Evie who moved towards them from the fireplace where the two men stood on either side, the tall, slim figure Gertie instantly recognised as Johnnie and at a similar height but rather broader build of the man next to him, no doubt Evie’s husband, supposedly George Gervaise.

“Gertie, excellent timing,” Evie said as she embraced her new friend, “that dress looks divine on you by the by. I knew it would.”

Evie smiled in return and turned to her parents, while Williams silently departed and shut the door behind him. Gertie assumed he was off to the kitchen to get the dinner served up.

“You must be Mr Thornton, may I call you Dan, sir?” Evie asked and, on seeing the worried but assenting nod of the older man, turned to Gertie’s mother, “Mrs Thornton, wonderful to see you again, may I call you Dorothy or...?”

“Dot or Dotty, please,” Dot Thornton replied with a matching smile.

“Well, please come closer to the fire, the evenings are drawing in, are they not?” Evie said as she hooked both her arms into one each of Gertie’s parents and directed them towards the two smiling men waiting patiently either side of the fireplace.

“May I introduce you to my husband, the Third Baronet Dorset, but please forget the title when we are relaxing at home, we all just call him George,” Evie said, with an impish grin, “George, my dear, may I present to you Dan and Dotty Thornton, my dear friend Gertie’s parents?”

George stepped forward and, with a broad smile on his handsome young face took over from his wife, “Dan, it is a pleasure to meet you, sir, as my dear wife Evie says, I answer to George to my friends and I hope we can be great friends,” as he vigorously shook the older man’s right hand with both his, then turned to Dan’s wife, taking her offered right hand and lifted it to lightly touch his lips. “Dotty, it is a delight to meet you too, and I do sincerely hope we can all be great friends. Talking of great friends, it gives me even greater pleasure to introduce you to my longest and dearest friend who, thanks to my having the good sense to marry his beautiful sister, I am delighted to call him my brother, the Honourable Johnnie Winter, the son and heir of Lord Standhope.”

Johnnie stepped forward, “Please, Dan and Dotty, call me John or Johnnie, as George and Evie have said, there are just your family and mine here tonight and I hope we can begin to cement a firm friendship between us that I hope will blossom into something much more.”

He winked at Gertie, who stood behind her parents, with Evie now having released both her parents and just tucked her arm into one of Gertie’s. Then Johnnie shook first Dan’s hand and then took both Dotty’s hands in his and kissed them both. “Now that we have met and introduced ourselves, I have no desire to delay what has now become my heartfelt wish in asking you for your positive approval in my pressing my suit upon your daughter, Gertrude Thornton?”

Dan glanced at Dotty briefly, she smiled in return, then he turned to look at his daughter standing behind him. She nodded and smiled so beautifully at him that even if he disapproved of anyone who wanted to take his daughter away from him, her smile would have melted any resolve to object.

Dan turned back to Johnnie, cleared his throat and said gravely but clearly, “Lord Standhope, what are your intentions in regard to my daughter Gertie, might I ask?”