Chapter 6

Part 4: Family Complications

Although Amelia’s own affairs seem to be progressing well, she suddenly finds herself confronted with difficulties in the Jefferson family and a reminder of her former life.

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The Connaught Hotel
Belgrave Square
London W1
10/5/1902
Lucy,
I have addressed this letter addressed as you suggested. I hope that it circumvents the attentions of your father and reaches you.

How terribly you are being treated! The cruelty of your father must be quite intolerable. I am sorry I could not convince Mama to be more helpful and I am at a loss as to what else to suggest.

I am resigned to being unable to share my marriage day with you. I know how much you will miss being able to be here. It is so unkind of your father not to let you come. I shall write to tell you every detail and you can be sure that I will be thinking of you as I embark on this next adventure. How different things are for both of us. Do you remember when we sat by the canal as young girls, staring out across the polders, pretending to be princesses and fantasising about our true loves appearing on white horses to pay us court? Then our fear were only of mythical beasts and fantastic ogres, now they have to be of more real things.

Is it true that your father has had your head shaved to make you ashamed to go out in public? How dare he do such a thing! Hold your head up high and expose his appalling attitudes. Do not be down-hearted. Oh, that you were in England – here a woman may chose to wear her hair long, short or shaved without fear of censure. I hope you can find a way to free yourself from this tyranny. I am sure he would never try to prevent any of your brothers doing just what they chose. It is so typical of men’s behaviour in Brabant. Rest assured that whatever you decide to do I will support you.

As to the way things are proceeding here; although I do not wish to burden you with my problems, I fear that all is not running as smoothly as I thought. Lady Jefferson continues to be friendly towards me. I really do feel that she is trying to make me welcome but the same cannot be said for her sister. She came to visit me this week and it was not a pleasant experience.

Where Lady Jefferson is charming, her sister, Cora, seems full of disdain. She arrived with her three daughters, Emmeline, Christabel and Sylvia, with their husbands in tow (quite literally!) and began to quiz me saying how did I think I could be right for the son of an English Baroness. The sisters seemed only too happy to join in with their mother. I felt I ought only to respond politely, rather than simply showing her the door as I should have done. After all, I have no wish to offend Lady Jefferson’s sister. Still, by the end of our meeting, I felt quite low, as though my whole existence had been called into question.

I was disappointed too by the way her daughters added their voices. I would have hoped there might be some solidarity between those of us of the same generation but it seems not. Still, I am determined not to let it upset me. I suppose there will be those that find me dificult to accept but I will not let others undermine my sense of self-worth.

I am seeing James again the day after tomorrow and I am sure that will cheer me up.

Your sister in arms, Amelia.

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The Connaught Hotel
Belgrave Square
London W1
12/5/1902
Dear Lucy,
I can tell that I am going to have to be careful with the family of Lady Jefferson’s sister.

James and I were enjoying luncheon in the hotel yesterday when I was called away from the dining room, supposedly to collect a telegram from Lady Jefferson. When I got to the front desk, none had been received and the receptionsist was full of apology for disturbing me. When I returned to the dining room I saw Lady Jefferson’s niece, Christabel, standing by the table talking to James. She had chosen her outfit in the same style as Miss Mifton’s “dress to intimidate” creations and James was rather gawping at her. I noticed her press a note into James’s hand and then wag an admonishing finger at him before walking out of the restaurant by the far door.

I waited a few moments and then walked back to the table and sat down.

James, bless him for his openness and honesty, immediately volunteered that Christabel had spoken to him. He said that she had been quite flirtatious and that it was not at all the sort of behaviour he expected in a woman who knows that a man is engaged to another. “Look,” he said, “she gave me this,” passing me the unread note. “What can it be, that she would not speak to you about it first?”

I looked at the note and Christabel’s intentions were perfectly obvious to me! “I am in Room 604,” the note read. “You must be missing the spankings you used to get after school and I am sure that Amelia will not have learned how to spank you properly yet.”

I shared the content of the note with James and could see that he was both embarrassed and outraged. “It is very improper that she should insult you so,” he said.

I love him all the more for his loyalty although I do wonder if his appetities might have got the better of him if I hadn’t returned as swiftly as I did. I am beginning to understand why men are so often kept hooded here – it certainly would avoid problems like this.

It seems that Cora and her brood are determined to drive wedges between James and myself. I am just as determined that they shall not succeed. For now, I will hope that Christabel’s unsuccessful attempt at seduction will serve to discourage them. It may seem churlish but I hope she had a most tedious time in room 604 waiting unsuccessfully for James to appear.

In the mean time, perhaps I will visit Miss Mifton again to ‘up my game’. If James is going to have his head turned so easily by leather and stays I would rather they were on me.

Your friend, Amelia.

...

The Connaught Hotel
Belgrave Square
London W1
15/5/1902
Dear Lucy,
How are you? Has your father relented in his mistreatement of you? Has any further, archaic restriction been placed upon you? You know I still hope to see you for my wedding day and not to share it with you will be such a disappointment. Now, though, I am beginning to wonder if it will really happen.

Although it is a fine day here, I fear I cannot enjoy the summer’s warmth. I am thown into a state of considerable melancholy and dread for the future. The cause of my sorry mood is my latest contact with Cora Jefferson!!

I had intended to take the monorail around the park again but, early this morning, she called again and confronted me with a tale that her sister had decided I was quite unsuitable; a foreigner who would “taint the blood-line of the Jeffersons” and a low born person quite unsuitable as the wife of her son.

I was both surprised and shocked but once my initial distress passed I found myself becoming quite angry. You know that I am not one to take insults lightly, especially groundless ones, and I found myself quite unable to accept what Cora said.

Having decided that James and I are well suited and that he is my perfect idea of a husband I am certainly not prepared to let such remarks lie. I have decided to have it out with her ladyship. I do not intend to sacrifice James’s and my happiness on the altar of prejudice and jingoism. I wonder, even, if what Cora is saying is true. It seems greatly at odds with anything that Lady Jefferson might have said but perhaps I am just clutching at straws and I have underestimated the snobbery of the English.

I intend to ask Lady Jefferson if we can talk about the matter face to face. I think that is the only way to resolve things.

If what Cora says is true and Lady Jefferson is resolute and opposes our match, I do not know what I will do. I must marry James. I am sure he sees things the same way but whether he can defy his mother, I do not know. I have not the slightest idea how we might elope and set up a life together and I am sure James has no experience of having to take such actions. Nevertheless we WILL be together.

Your beleagured friendl Amelia...

The Connaught Hotel
Belgrave Square
London W1
15/5/1902
Dear Lady Jefferson,
I was saddened to hear from your sister of your opinion of me. I know that she told me of your words in confidence but it is not my way to take such discourtesy without response.

I quite understand that English success in global affairs may have brought a sense of superiority to all other races but that cannot justify denigrating the culture of others or suggesting that there is some taint to my blood, if these were indeed your words. I am a proud daughter of Brabant and while I may not agree with everything my compatriates believe in, nevertheless it is my homeland. I cannot be other than I am and you must have known I was a “feckless foreigner” as your sister tells me, when you made the agreement with my mother.

I had thought that all was well between us, but it seems not.

I am anxious that you should revise your opinion. This is not just for my own sake but for your son as well. I sense a deepening bond between James and myself and I would hate for anything to jeopardise his happiness.

I think it would be good if we could talk face to face.

Yours Amelia De Kooning ... The Connaught Hotel
Belgrave Square
London W1
17/5/1902
Dear Lucy,
Well, what an exceptional day!

I was at breakfast this morning when one of the waiters approached me, apoligise for disturbing me (they are always SO polite here) and handed me a note saying that I was urgently needed in the hotel lobby.

Pushing my breakfast to one side with some irritation (the poached eggs here are very fine even if the selection of meats and cheeses cannot compare with what Brabant has to offer) and went out, thinking that there had been some problem with my room account or something like that.

In the lobby was a very agitated Lady Jefferson. It was obvious from her soot stained veil and windswept appearance that she had come in haste from Derbyshire by steam motor. Her husband was standing behind her, still wearing his driving gauntlets and goggles and looking rather out of breath; the result as it turned out, of being constantly harried by her ladyship to make all speed from Eyam to town.

“Can you forgive me?” Julia said, opening her arms to me. “My sister has told such dreadful lies.”

Startled, and in spite of her ladyship’s travel disarrayed state, I allowed her embrace just as James came into the lobby, without leash or muzzle, looking at one time both distressed and nervous. “We must talk,” Lady Julia said and resuming her more imperious manner summoned one of the hotel staff and asked that we be shown to a private lounge.

She and I sat. James and Howard stood at the back of the room. Julia took my hand in hers and said that she had come as soon as she received my letter and that she had said nothing of the kind that her sister had claimed. It seems that her sister is deeply upset by the prospect of James’s marriage as she believes this will remove the chance for one of her daughters to succeed to the title as any daughter of mine would take precedence.

There was no question in Lady Jefferson’s mind than that the wedding was to go ahead. She waved her husband forward and he brought out a large ledger from his brief case. Inside Lady Jefferson showed me the many entries for preparations for the marriage. “Surely,” she said, “you cannot believe I would outlay these amounts if I did not desire the ceremony to go forward.”

I was quite convinced by her argument and said so, saying that I hoped her sister would be reconciled to my joining the family as well since I have no desire to cause dificulties. Lady Jefferson thought that would be unlikely. She herself is deeply upset by her sister’s actions and has quite taken against her nieces, saying that any of them will succeed to the title only over her dead body (which I thought for a moment amusng, since that is how the title will pass in any case... ).

What Lady Jefferson is going to do about her sister I cannot say but all is friendship between us again. I am relieved that I ventured to be as direct as I was. If the whole thing had festered on for longer there is no telling what damage it would have caused.

In the end we were reconciled. Lady Jefferson ordered a bottle of chamagne and we all shared a toast to the forthcoming nuptials. She has suggested that I should move into a cottage on the Brinswark Estate, so that I can be near Brinswark Hall for the wedding preparations (I also suspect that it is so she can keep her sister at arm’s length). So, I have to say goodby to the Connaught where I have felt quite at home. I will write again when I am settled at my new address which will be The Dower House, Brinswark Estate, Nr. Eyam, Derbyshire.

I cannot tell you how pleased I am that the doubts about my marriage have been dispelled. It also gladdens me that it was the result of your own good advice never to let unhappiness remain unconfronted. I Hope you can have similar success, I know you will not be knuckling under. It seems unfair to be cheering in my own good fortune when things are still so hard for you but perhaps you will find a resolution to yoru own problems soon.