A slightly built, fair haired young woman came through customs and immigration at Heathrow airport, and stood helplessly looking around. Had she been looking in the right direction she would have seen a man struggling through the crowds, trying to come closer to her. Her eyes were elsewhere. Another man holding up a card bearing her name was closer, and she saw him at the same time as he caught sight of her. He pushed through a near impenetrable barrier of airport trolleys and introduced himself.
’Hello. I’m John Baker. And you must be Laura from Finland. I recognised you from the photograph you sent. Valerie West asked me to pick you up. You did know that, I hope. Did you have a pleasant flight?’
Laura was confused wondering which question she should answer first.
’Yes, thank you. Mrs. West said you would meet me. It is very kind of you.’
’That’s all right. I travel to London almost every week. It’s no bother, believe me. Well, if you’re ready, I have a car waiting outside. Is this your bag? I’ll just find a trolley and then we can go.’
Laura accompanied the man outside to the car, totally unaware of a pair of thoughtful eyes following her progress. A sense of panic took hold of her almost immediately. She had to force herself to remember that in England traffic drove on the wrong side of the road. Even then, although she recognised that the driving style was perhaps more disciplined than that she was accustomed to at home, she was being driven much faster than she cared for. She took a look at the speedometer and worked out a simple sum in her head. Very much faster than she cared for. To help take her mind off such things, she looked with interest at the English landscape, once they had left the city behind them. It was green, much greener than she had expected. Green and open, with no forests to block the distant view. Her driver was talking.
’This is your first time in England, I gather. I hope you’ll like it.’
’Yes,’ she replied. ’I’ve never been outside of Finland before. It looks interesting. I’m looking forward to meeting the children. And their parents too, of course.’
’You’ll meet the children all right. And Valerie. Hansford’s on his travels though, and won’t be back for a few days.’
’Hansford?’ Laura asked, not understanding.
’That’s right. Hansford.’ He glanced at her, then gathered the meaning of her look of puzzlement. ’Hansford West. Valerie’s husband. He’s the father of the twins. It’s not such a common name. I suppose you didn’t recognise it. He’s a buyer for a large department store group and has to travel around a lot. That’s why I picked you up. Valerie couldn’t come because of the children, of course. Still, you’ll meet them soon enough. It’s not far to go now.’
Some time later, they drew up outside a large red brick house, and Laura descended a little stiffly from the car while John took her case out of the boot. The front door opened and a woman came to greet.
’Your au pair, Valerie,’ said John. ’Collected and delivered as promised.’
’Hello, Laura,’ said Valerie, pronouncing the name in an English way. I’m so glad you came. How was your journey?’
’Quite good, thank you. A little tiring. I’ve been travelling all day.’
’Of course. Well, come inside. I have a meal ready. You can eat first, then I’ll show you your rooms, introduce you to the twins, and after that, we can have a little talk. I don’t expect you to do anything today, you’ll be far too tired for that, I suppose, but tomorrow I’ll explain the routine I want you to follow. My husband is away this week, but you’ll meet him at the weekend. I’m planning a small dinner party for then. Just ourselves and a couple of friends. You’re invited, of course. As long as you are with us, you must consider yourself part of the family, at least as far as the twins will allow. I’m afraid they won’t permit you much in the way of free time. They’re a little young for that, and so demanding with it.’
Laura went to bed that night feeling that her employer seemed kind enough, if a little overpowering, being an exception to the apparent rule that the British were reserved and stand offish. She had read somewhere that the English language had an extremely large vocabulary, but she had never before met anyone who tried to use it all in one conversation.
The babies were a pleasure. They also had a good deal to say, but at least their vocabulary was limited. Bill and Ben, they were called. In reality, their names were William and Benjamin. There seemed to be some sort of joke behind the pet names which Laura didn’t understand. For all her employer’s chattiness, she left Laura alone with the children, trusting her to do the job properly. Probably the reality was that she was bored with baby care and didn’t really wish to be bothered with such a time consuming task.
The first weekend came. Hansford West arrived home. Clearly fond of his children, it was noticeable just the same that he didn’t spend very much time in close contact, preferring to discuss the forthcoming dinner party with his wife.
’Is it just the Marshall’s coming?’ he asked. ’No-one else?’
’That’s right, dear. Just the four of us sitting down. Oh, and Laura, of course. I thought we would have a small, rather intimate little group for once.’
Valerie turned to Laura. ’Normally we have several more in the party. A dozen or so. We can easily manage twenty, but really that’s more work than I want to take on. With the twins to think about, I really don’t want more than one extra couple, even if you are helping out.’
*
David stirred. ’Did you say the visitors were called Marshall?’
’Yes. Do you know them?’
’I think I might. But don’t let me interrupt. Please continue.’
*
The dinner party was far from being the success that Valerie would have liked. Nor was it exactly what Laura had expected. The guests were introduced as Rupert and Stella, but she could never bring herself to address them by other than the formal Mr. and Mrs. She disliked them both almost on sight, particularly the woman, who pointedly ignored Laura’s outstretched hand.
’So this is your new au pair,’ Mrs. Marshall said. ’How quaint. All the way from where was it? Sweden? Finland? Ah yes, Finland. A land of perpetual snow and darkness, so I gather.’
She turned away from Laura and addressed herself to Valerie.
’Marion was there last summer. She accompanied Bob when he attended one of those dreary business conferences he seems so keen on, though I never understood what any of them was all about. A dreadful place, she said, all trees and water and full of terribly dull and over-serious people. Worthy enough, I suppose, but dull. It must be quite a change for your au pair to come to a civilised country. I assume she knows how to appreciate it. Does she understand English?’
Laura heard this speech with anger, but managed to keep her face neutral. Rupert advanced on her.
’Of course she understands,’ he said. ’She’d hardly come here if she didn’t. But you must ignore my wife. She’s not qualified to judge. My word, you are pretty. You must come and sit next to me at dinner and tell me all about yourself.’
He held on to Laura’s hand for a great deal longer than was necessary, button eyes peering short sightedly from a puffy face that showed distinct signs of good living.
’When you’ve quite finished mauling the hired help,’ said Stella, ’you might remember what we have come here for.’
By Laura’s standards, it was a strange dinner party. Several drinks were served before the meal, and wine glasses topped up frequently while eating. Laura managed to keep sober by the simple expedient of always having half a glass full, but never actually drinking anything. Of the two guests, it was hard to say which of them was the more intent on drowning whatever sorrows they might have had. To Laura’s dismay, a foot reached out underneath the table and stroked her ankle. She went rigid. It was obvious whose foot it was. Swiftly, she lifted her own foot and brought it down sharply, taking only slight pleasure from the grimace of pain that crossed a fat, puffy face. She regretted having only flat soled slippers and nothing harder and more pointy.
’So,’ said Rupert, ’tell me about your native country, my dear. Is it really as dismal as Stella tries to make out? I’m sure it can’t be when I look at you. Indeed, if you are in any way representative, I couldn’t agree that Finland is full of dull but worthy people.’
Laura started to explain, but soon desisted as she could see that nobody was actually interested, least of all Rupert. By the time she had gathered her thoughts together, the topic had changed more than once, becoming more and more brittle as time wore on.
The evening continued in much the same way. Rupert became more and more objectionable, Stella more and more strident. It was over coffee in the lounge that matters came to a head. Rupert had manoeuvred himself so as to sit next to Laura on a less than comfortable two seater sofa, leaving no room for anyone else. He put his arm around her shoulders in a way which she assumed was supposed to be avuncular but which served only to make the young woman’s flesh creep. His spare hand slipped down to rest lightly on her knee. She tried to push his hand away, but found her own held firmly in his grasp. His grip tightened until it hurt.
’Now,’ he said, in a slurred voice. ’Let’s get better acquainted.’
There was a rustle of expensive silk, and an overpowering waft of even more expensive perfume assailed Laura’s nostrils.
’My dear man,’ said Stella, in a hard, brittle voice. ’My dear man, I always knew of your liking for other women, but I wasn’t aware that you had a penchant for little girls. Your standards really are slipping when you run around after a grubby little communist peasant.’
Rupert’s voice came lazily from the depths of the upholstery. ’But my dear Stella, peasants are all I can afford nowadays. You know the size of our joint account. You should know how far it will stretch. You spend most of it, after all. Or rather, overspend most of it.’
Stella took one step forward. There came a sharp crack as her open hand met his cheek.
’For that you may take me home,’ she snapped.
Rupert turned to the company, spread his hands in resignation and followed his wife to the door, using an elegant silk handkerchief to wipe a trickle of blood from his face as he did so. At the same moment, the twins awoke and started crying. Laura hurried thankfully to their bedroom to calm them down and put them to sleep again, going to her room immediately after in order to indulge in a few tears of her own. Through blurred eyes, she watched as an expensive looking car drew away from the house and wavered unsteadily along the road.
She never saw Stella again, but Rupert became a regular visitor, making it clear precisely why he came. Valerie tried to assure Laura that Rupert was not a man to be afraid of, that he was grossly misunderstood. It was he who was their friend, rather than Stella. She was accepted more for Rupert’s sake. It was Stella who was a spendthrift, and who had certainly caused the slump in Rupert’s income. It was Stella who was so hard and brittle that she had virtually and actually frightened away a good many customers, both current and potential. It was Stella who was giving him a rough ride because Rupert’s businesses were slipping financially and money was getting tight. Stella always did like money too much. In practice they were living apart nowadays, even though still sharing the same house. Rupert shouldn’t be blamed for taking consolation wherever he found it. He was a man after all, and that’s what men are like. His real need was a good woman to look after him. All this and more, was drummed into Laura’s ears over the weeks and months that followed.
’Someone like yourself would be very good for him, you know,’ said Valerie. ’He is a very good catch, when all is said and done. I mean, his business may have gone down a bit, but he certainly isn’t poor even now. He still has money.’
’He’s still married,’ said Laura, frantically searching for something to say.
’Oh, never mind that. Nobody worries about that sort of thing nowadays. At your age you can hardly be inexperienced yourself. Anyway, he will obviously be divorced before very long. You could do well for yourself there.’
That was the point at which Laura felt she wanted to return home. Her experience, or lack of it, she felt, was not a subject open for discussion. Regretfully, but with determination, she made her decision clear to the Wests, and some of her reasons for coming to that decision. They were not pleased, but could do nothing to keep her.