Page 28 of Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay
‘No, of course not, go ahead.’
Tom hesitates.
‘I’ll just go in here,’ I say and I press the rose on the panel behind me so the secret door magically slides open.
‘Nice!’ Tom says as he runs his thumb across the screen of his phone. ‘Jo, hi, how’s things?’
I hurry through the opening into the privacy of the Ladies’ Chamber, expecting I’ll still be able to hear Tom talking, but the room is surprisingly soundproof, even with the door still open.
I gaze at the portraits again, and once more my eyes rest on the largest canvas in the room – the one of the fifteenth Countess, Clara Chesterford.
She looks extremely elegant as she stands with her long white fingers resting on the top of an ornate dresser behind her. She’s wearing a pale green satin dress, her tiny waist pulled in no doubt by an uncomfortable corset beneath it. Her dark hair is piled up neatly on top of her head with a diamond tiara adorning it, and at her neck is a beautiful jewelled necklace encrusted with what again might be diamonds, with the addition this time of jade gemstones. Her other hand rests at her side, but in it she holds a leather book.
What a strange painting, I think as I gaze up at the canvas.You’re dressed like you’re about to go to the fanciest of parties, and yet you have a book in your hand as though you’ve just been reading?
‘Hi again,’ Tom says, appearing at the door. ‘Sorry about that. Bad manners and all, but there are some calls you just have to take, aren’t there?’
I nod as though I totally understand, but the truth is that not that many people ring me any more. Most of my friends were friends of my ex-husband too, and once he left, they all seemed to fade away with him. Perhaps they were never really my friends at all.
‘This is quite the clandestine little room hidden away in here,’ Tom continues. ‘You’d never know it was here, would you?’
‘No, I only know about it because Arthur showed me a few days ago.’
Was that only a few days ago? So much has happened since we arrived, it feels as though we’ve been here weeks already, not a matter of days.
‘It’s a ladies’ room,’ I explain, ‘for after dinner when the men retire to smoke cigars and play billiards.’
‘Just like mealtimes today, then?’ Tom grins. ‘Except now when people have eaten, it’s separate screens they all inhabit instead of separate rooms.’
‘Very sad,’ I agree. ‘But I’m afraid very true.’
‘She looks quite the formidable woman,’ he says, looking up at Clara.
‘Apparently she was a bit of a tearaway: she nearly bankrupted the place when she lived here.’
‘Really?She doesn’t look the type, does she?’
‘How can you tell? They all looked pretty proper back in Edwardian England, didn’t they?’
‘Ah, it was all going on beneath those tight corsets, I bet.’ He winks. ‘In my experience of history, the tighter the corset the more secrets are hidden beneath it.’
I grin.
‘It’s true,’ he insists. ‘Think about it, as women’s clothing became looser and more comfortable, so did they. They got stronger and more vociferous in their thoughts and actions – for the good, I may add,’ he says. ‘Don’t worry; I’m not against women’s emancipation. I’m all for women having equal rights with men.’
‘I’m glad to hear it, you having a female boss and all.’
Tom salutes me. ‘Talking of which, I’d better get back to work or King Arthur will have my guts for garters!’
‘You can’t call him that.’ I smile. ‘Only Joey seems to get away with it.’
‘To his face.’ Tom winks again. ‘Right, gotta go a-polishing!’
I watch Tom head back out of the door, then I take one last look at Clara before following him.
‘I bet you’d have some tales to tell if you could talk, Clara, wouldn’t you? Tales I’d beveryinterested in sitting down and listening to.’
Twelve
