Silver, p.14
Silver, page 14
“I don’t expect that this is totally unexpected news and I hope that you will spend the remaining few months before we are to marry, to get to know Mrs. Fearncott a little better.” Toby brushed a stray wisp of hair from his brow.
Avery observed his father neutrally, wondering how this turn of events could be factored in to his own fast changing plans for his future.
“I am sure your choice of bride is none of my concern father, how the two of you do together is...”
“For God’s sake Alice don’t be so damned sterile about this. Mrs. Fearncott is to be family. She is to be my wife and, if you allow it, she could become a close second to Mother.”
He let the words hang in the air for a few moments before chasing them down, in another attempt to persuade his daughter of the benefits on offer to them both.
“Georgina is a charming woman Alice and she informs me that you are not too old to take your own place in society, hmm?”
The old man eyed his daughter hopefully but was met with a look of disgust on Avery’s face. As the words fell from the air, the frost lingered. This had already been a topic of discussion. Toby had tried to press upon his daughter, the importance of her prominence on the society scene, in order to secure a husband, but had been met with such anger that he had failed to force the matter beyond an awkward conversation. Avery’s silence was an improvement on the normal hostility with which such a suggestion was met and, foolishly, Toby was cheered a little.
“There now you see, perhaps you would like to attend the ballet with us one evening?”
Toby had already begun to bury himself in to the newspaper and was oblivious to Avery’s contemptuous look.
Of course, Avery was far from pleased with the news and was dreading the fact that the Widow Fearncott wanted to get to know him better. Thus far, Mrs. Fearncott had not been a regular visitor to the Silver house. Evidently, it was more convenient for Toby Silver to visit her in her own home. According to Kate, they were also to be seen together most frequently at dinner, the ballet or the opera and Mr. Silver had spent a small fortune on the woman. Most of the social circuit upon which the two flitted would not be surprised about their marriage and many, Avery acknowledged, would also be hoping a woman’s impression upon the household would bring changes to Avery’s future. A lunch had been planned for the following day and Toby had insisted that his daughter be suitably presented for an introduction to his future wife. As the time of Georgina’s arrival approached, Avery showed little sign of getting ready and had sullenly taken to his room. He was beginning to grow concerned that if this woman took too much of an interest in the way he was living his life, she could jeopardise the fragile plans which he was busy forming.
Kate too seemed concerned, but not about the future. The young maid dealt mainly in the present and she had looked at Avery that morning as if trying to appraise him as the Widow would later do. By the look upon her face she had seen much to disapprove of. Kate had therefore taken it upon herself to select an outfit that would neither impress the widow nor ‘let the side down’.
“You’d best not draw too much attention to yourself’” she had argued. “You don’t want her thinking you can’t look after yourself, do you? If she thinks that grey thing is the best thing in your cupboard then she might want to take you shopping for new clothes.”
As her voice became muffled from within the huge mahogany cabinet, Avery suspected that Kate enjoyed busying herself with his clothes. The dresses, that caused him discomfort and forced him into facing the world as the woman he was not, were a source of great joy to her.
“Ah! Here we go. This one is perfect.” She pulled out a navy blue dress, it was simple as all Avery’s female clothes were but he knew Kate thought it an elegant outfit and he often caught her admiring it. He stood wincing as she helped him dress, prickling visibly as if the fabric cut into his skin where it constricted his body. Kate said nothing but just busied herself, affixing a hairpiece to adapt his unruly hair.
“Does she have any children of her own?” Kate asked.
This had not occurred to Avery and he was suddenly filled with a horror that the acquisition of a stepmother might also herald an extended family all of whom would, no doubt, busy themselves with his welfare and future prospects. The thought was a dire one and his growing sense of unease was all at once evident to Kate. She tried to make it okay again by answering her own question
“I don’t think she does actually. Now that I think of it, I’m quite sure she hasn’t. We would have heard already if she had.”
She finished brushing through his hair and stepped back to appraise the job. Her face was unreadable but Avery sensed her forming a question.
“What is it Kate?”
She shook her head and turned away.
“It’s nothing. Honestly...It’s just…”
“Just what Kate??
“This won’t change anything, will it?”
It was a clumsy question but Avery loved her for asking it. Just as he had begun to feel alone again with his concerns, she assured him that he was not. In reply he turned to face her.
“Everything is changing Kate.”
The girl’s face clouded with a confused look and to save himself from any further discussion, he swept out of the room to meet his father downstairs to greet Georgina Fearncott.
It was a mixture of a formal and informal greeting. Avery’s father was barely recognisable as the dour, quiet man that Avery knew. He positively beamed with delight when introducing Mrs. Fearncott and he waited expectantly for his fiancé’s approval of his daughter. The daughter he barely knew.
“Georgina my dearest, this is my daughter, Alice.”
“Alice,” he hesitated as if to add an affectionate term but did not, “this is Mrs. Georgina Fearncott. Your mother to be,” he added in a boyish tone, delighted with his own wit. It was as if he had brought home a prize. He was obviously pleased with himself. He waited for Avery’s expression to mirror his own delight. It did not come. Though Avery was genuinely moved by his father’s delight it merely marked out his own unhappiness more acutely.
“A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Fearncott. I would like to say that I have heard much about you but I am afraid my father has kept you rather a secret. If only I knew you a little better it should be an improvement.”
Georgina Fearncott’s eyes glittered with disapproval. She had taken in Avery’s appearance from the moment she entered the room and now, at close quarters, she was able to study Avery more exactly. She was quick to respond to his cool greeting as warmly as she could, simply to placate Toby.
“Darling Toby, you never told me Alice was so,” she made a short play of searching for the right word, “tall.” She selected after a moment.
Toby glowered at Avery as if it were his daughter’s fault that nothing appealing could be found to say. This was not starting off as Toby had expected. The three of them were saved from any immediate conversation as the arrival of Jamieson, to serve drinks, presented a welcome intrusion.
“I must say Toby, your home is quite beautiful. These sketches are very impressive.” Georgina had wandered to the small bureau that had been Toby’s wife’s and had picked up some drawings. “Are these yours, Alice?” she did not look around.
“Sadly not Mrs. Fearncott. I do not draw.”
“Indeed?” The older woman turned slightly and raised an eyebrow towards Toby before replacing the sketches and continuing her tour of the room.
“What is exactly that you do on your father’s good will, Alice?” she still failed to meet Avery eye to eye. Avery was beginning to get the measure of how this woman’s opinion was already being formed of him and he was not overly keen to dispel this immediately. Until he was able to more fully form his plan, he could not afford to waste his energy on turf wars with Georgina Fearncott.
“Oh, Mrs. Fearncott! There are a good many ways in which someone in search of self-improvement may usefully be employed in this city other than simply drawing! I could show you some of the charitable works I have been researching in some of the more deprived areas of our great capital?”
Mrs. Fearncott’s slightly curled lip was reply enough for the time being to assure Avery that the woman had no intention of being friends.
“But of course. This will no doubt prove very useful to your future husband how?” she countered.
Toby waded in at this point, not to spare Avery any awkward questions but rather because his stomach indicated that food was being served in the dining room.
“Georgina darling? Shall we?” he offered his arm and led his fiancée through to the dining room.
Avery followed behind watching his father’s neck flush red as Georgina leant close to him and whispered upwards in to his ear. He glanced behind him at Avery as they walked and nodded in approval to the widow. Although quite unaware of exactly what had been said, Avery was not expecting it to be good news.
After the first course had been served, the widow continued with her cross examination.
“Your father tells me you don’t yet enjoy the finer entertainments that our beautiful city has to offer?”
Avery considered the most recent entertainments of which he had partaken and wondered what Mrs. Fearncott would have made of Bateman and Goodwin’s idea of fun.
“If by finer entertainments you mean the ballet or the theatre then no Mrs. Fearncott, I am more inclined to reading.”
“Really? What do you read?”
The last time Avery had read a suitable book which he could discuss with his father’s fiancée, had been at least six years ago, being Gulliver’s Travels. Avery had been expecting just this and was pleased not to have been caught unaware.
“I am reading a fetching story by Elizabeth Gaskell at the moment, perhaps you have heard of it? Lois the Witch?” a faint smile played across Avery’s lips.
His choice of reading material evidently did not meet with approval and was met with a cold stare.
“I am not familiar with her work.”
“Why don’t you tell Alice about your summer plans darling?” Toby started to help himself from the open tureen of sliced pork.
For a moment, Mrs. Fearncott considered Avery as if judging how best to frame the opportunity.
“Well, as your father may have already told you, I very rarely spend summer in the city. I find the heat in town quite oppressive,” she flapped her hands around her face as if to illustrate the predicament she wished to escape. “Since your father has a lot of business between now and November, I had intended to go to my family home in Chalfont St Giles to spend some time in final preparation for the wedding.” She made an attempt to look conspiratorially at Avery but the gesture lost a little something in translation. “I have invited my niece to come along with me for a break. You are about the same age. I am sure you would find plenty in common with one another.”
“Georgina wanted to spend a little time getting to know you, Alice.” her father interjected.
“Amersham has a fine, if small, society scene and I am positive your presence would be met with a good deal of ...interest.”
“I am sure my father would rather I stay to help him here with any arrangements.”
“Nonsense girl! You will go to Chalfont St Giles with Mrs. Fearncott and her niece and the three of you will have a marvellous time.”
Avery’s heart sank and he gritted his teeth as thoughts of a summer spent languishing in his newly acquired identity began to dissolve before his eyes.
“But father?”
“But father nothing,” Toby Silver smiled benevolently as he tucked his napkin in. His life was falling in to place at last. A wife to fill his home and someone else to worry after his daughter. With any luck, this break could be the making of the girl. Could he even dare to hope that the child might find a suitor whilst in the country? He played down Avery’s further protests with a shake of his head and turned his attention instead to Jamieson.
“Break out some wine man, this calls for a celebration.”
~o~
As he stormed past Kate two hours later, Avery was in a foul mood. He was dressed and changed to go out within twenty minutes. Kate, alarmed by his mood, was concerned that he would not take the usual care in concealing his escape.
“Just wait why don’t you? Your father only left a moment ago. What if he comes back?”
“I have to see someone,” he growled as he paced behind the door. “Will you just please go and check the hall.”
“Who do you have to see?” she ventured.
“For God’s sake, Kate, please!”
“I just don’t see what the hurry is that’s all.” She walked away from the door to look out of the window. “If you could only wait until it was dark...” she squeaked as he grabbed her from behind and pressed her against him.
“What are...?”
Avery forced his lips to hers. Taken by surprise, Kate struggled and pushed against his chest, moving her face from his.
“Avery!”
He was taller and stronger and easily pressed Kate back up against the wall. She turned her face upwards, as if to welcome his embrace, and he swallowed her lips in his own in a hungry kiss. His hands cupped her face and her heels were lifted from the ground, her back against the wall and her toes at a stretch to meet her tall mistress. Avery felt a powerful urge to push his hands up under her skirts and to grab handfuls of flesh to draw towards him and as soon as he thought so, he felt sick with fear. He knew that Kate did not choose for him to do this to her; that she was reliant upon him for her livelihood and that he was abusing her trust in him. He pushed himself off the wall, balling his fist at the anger that surged in him at his father, at Georgina Fearncott, at his own body. As the temper continued to rise up in him, he saw Kate, her beautiful face clouded with confusion. He knew he disgusted her and he turned on his heels, in a moment he had left the room. Discovery or not, he needed an outlet for his anger and he needed it then.
~o~
“The girl that was with you that night in the alley, who is she?”
Connie looked quizzically at Avery as he watched her re-dress. She was no longer as wary as she had been about his proposition and she found she looked forward to his visits. As yet, there had been no actual intercourse between them with Avery preferring to watch her touch herself and talk loudly of the things she liked and disliked a man to do to her. She had begun to grow comfortable around him and had taken a real pleasure in having him touch her for a change. He took instruction well and she had delighted in being at the centre of her own pleasure for once.
“Sarah?” she asked “Blonde, little thing?”
Avery coloured as her enquiring eyes latched on to the meaning of his enquiry. She laughed as she slipped on her blouse and leant across the side of her bed to retrieve the flask she kept her gin within. Her skirt was still hitched high and Avery looked away as he caught a flash of her dark pubic hair slick with her own juices. It was a pointless gesture as he had just watched Connie spreading them wide before pushing a thick dildo inside herself. For the last twenty minutes he had clambered on the bed beside her and taken the thick baton and continued to stir at her taking a nipple in his mouth and toying with the puckered flesh between his teeth until she grabbed him by the neck and forced him into her chest. He found himself so engrossed during the act that he forgot entirely that the woman was not Kate and the flash of her sex afterwards made him feel shabby. Far from satisfying him, these excursions were replacing his desire with something far more dangerous; ambition This evening he had been close to pulling out the phallus he had had fashioned for himself and placing this inside her but for some reason he was too shy to do it, despite his great urge.
“Sorry, Sarah, yes what of her.”
Annoyed with the way her eyes danced in amusement at his discomfort, he threw the coins he had counted out on the bed beside her.
“I’d like you to arrange for her services. Here,” he added.
The gesture was crude and Connie was insulted. Although fully aware of the role she played for him, she had felt less like he was a customer. There would never be any trust between them but she was not afraid of him. She was about to snap back at him but she was afraid of losing her meal ticket. Avery had paid double the going rate recently simply to watch her at work with another man, to take lessons or, like today, to simply bring her to a climax while she whispered the same old lines in his ear that she did with all her men. Connie was amused and intrigued by Avery but, most importantly, he paid her well. It was therefore a surprise that she felt a little jealous by his enquiry after Sarah. A far less experienced and sharper looking girl, it seemed like a slight against her and, for some reason, she felt it more keenly from this strange woman than any man.
“And what’s wrong with me?” She felt hot as her cheeks flushed and she thought suddenly of all the instruction she had been giving him over the last weeks, she compared his inexpert fumblings with how skilled his touch had been this evening and she felt both proud but protective. She glowered beneath her fringe, ashamed at being slighted.
Avery stumbled over his apology not wishing to either offend Connie or threaten her loyalty upon which he depended.
“Nothing” he said “nothing at all. It’s just…she…”
He was embarrassed that he should be asking at all and he combed his hair with his fingers waiting for Connie to say something. Though she wanted to hear some apology, some reason for his preference, she was also tired and wanted some time to herself for a change.
“Be here next week at 9. I’m sure she would love the opportunity to earn some extra cash.”
Relieved, Avery gathered up the rest of his things and turned to leave.
“What shall I tell her?” she asked.
“Tell her nothing and it will be worth some extra cash for you.”
As Avery turned and left, closing the door behind him, he did not hear Connie’s words.
“Oh yes, you’re a man alright. Arrogant pig.”
