Dear Mrs Hatherwick

Mr Price and I wish to thank you for the delightful tea party you hosted so gracefully yesterday afternoon. We enjoyed ourselves royally and must congratulate you on contriving such a convivial atmosphere. Please pass on our warmest regards to your friend Mrs Doughty, a lady I hope henceforth to be able to call my friend, too.

I do hope you were not too troubled by Mrs Waterhouse’s rather vague answers in relation to your husband’s conduct in her home. I gathered from your demeanour that you were making a humourous reference to his fondness for walking around late at night. I urge you not to think anything of her inability to recall seeing him in her house at such a time. She has suffered nervous troubles ever since the Winter of ’45, poor lady, and uses sleeping draughts now, so she would most likely be unaware of any movements in her home after 9 o’clock.

Congratulate your cook for the most sumptuous spread and please reassure your Mr Villiers that we found him most entertaining – he could surely find a career in the music halls if he ever tires of being in service.

We must meet again in the New Year. Since our husbands are so thick with each other, I am sure there will be ample opportunity for further relaxation in your delightful company.

Yours most sincerely

Agatha Price

Belgrave Square
Dec 15th 1851

Josiah has agreed to me having a small party here to mark the festive season. I shall ask Mrs Doughty, Boo, Miss Guiser and some other acquaintances I have made since we arrived. I will not invite Mr Pitt, after his behaviour towards me at Boo’s house last time I visited. I had only asked whether he might wish to invest in Josiah’s new venture and he flew into a rage, shouting that his life was bound up enough with my husband’s and he wanted no deeper involvement than that. The Lord alone knows what he meant, but Boo went white as he said it. He has always been an angry sort of man, so I shall give it no further thought – but neither will I give him an opportunity to speak to me that way again.

That has made me think – I suppose I should approach the wives of Josiah’s business partners, too. I have never met them, not even in the Summer since they did not accompany their husbands to our Ball, but I am informed that they exist, so I shall make an effort to include them. Perhaps they will make their way here in another outlandish form of travel. If they have tired of hearing about underground transportation, is it possible they might fly?

Belgrave Square
December 14th 1851

I have become quite the engineering widow. Josiah has taken to staying out all night at least three nights each week, at the home of Mr Waterhouse with whom he is now deeply involved in business. I do not like him being away but if I am to profit from his enterprises I suppose it must cost me somewhere in the process. He is quite loving when he is with me, after all.

But this business with that awful man has troubled me more than I like to admit. I am sure he is waiting outside this house, watching our movements and choosing Josiah’s time away from here to commit his nefarious practices. He is deliberately trying to cause us harm by behaving appallingly and claiming to be Josiah whenever he is challenged. It is exactly what he did in Clacton. Josiah told me that he did indeed go to Bow Street almost as soon as I told him what the policeman had said the other day. Nothing came of it, I gather, and no further action is to be taken. I know Josiah is more bothered by this than he claims. He has moved my jewellery box to a safer position and I am to ask him for whichever pieces I need a day or so in advance. It is very solicitous of him but I am beginning to be afraid for my safety when Josiah is away at night. I am not convinced that Villiers would behave with the same protective instinct that a man would for his wife.

Dear Boo

The strangest thing has happened. There was a tremendous clanging at the street door yesterday morning and outside was a policeman asking for Josiah. I did not know what on earth to do.

He said that a man answering Josiah’s description had been witnessed behaving strangely in Leicester Square. Well, Boo, it can only mean that that dreadful man has returned to prey on us! I informed the policeman of Papa’s connections with the legal profession and said that I was in no doubt that the man concerned was not my husband. I began to tell him of the imposter we have had to suffer, but he couldn’t have been less interested. In fact, he was extremely short with me on the matter and said that if and when Josiah returned home I was to make sure he presented himself at Bow Street without delay.

What did he mean by the words ‘if’ and ‘when’ ? Who was behaving strangely and why did the police think it was Josiah? Honestly, Boo, I am quite concerned. Josiah did not return home last night – although that is nothing strange these days as he is so wrapped up with the underground transport project he is working on – so I have not had chance to tell him what he must do. I am sure he will walk in soon with a perfectly sensible explanation about it all.

In the meantime, I must do what I can to prevent Villiers from presenting himself at Bow Street instead. He was keen to go and see what he could do to help them in their enquiries, he said, but I am sure his attendance there is not necessary at this stage.

I will call soon and tell you the outcome of this story, as soon as I know what it is myself!

Yrs

Effie x

Belgrave Square
Dec 3rd 1851

Josiah has become very attentive of late. Ever since I told him how gorgeous Little Bradstone was and how much Boo was enjoying motherhood. I wonder what is on his mind.He coos and twits over me if I so much as cough and he is constantly asking me if I have everything I need. He leaps up and runs to my dressing room when I mention looking for a new comb or pin for my hair and this morning he even laid out my clothes for me as I was washing at the stand! I laughed so hard to watch him doing servant girls’ work that I knocked over the water jug and drenched myself. I cracked the jug a little on my chair. Josiah ran to my aid and would not hear of me going to fetch another nightgown. Instead he raced to the dressing room and came straight back with a dry one. He seems not to want me to exert myself at all where my own toilet is concerned.

I suppose I shall have to inform the landlord about the jug. I may ask Villiers if he can repair it or seek a replacement on his London walkabouts. Heaven only knows where he goes, but the other day he came back with a Chinese silk kimono. I thought it was a gift to me from Josiah at first, but then I saw Villiers wearing it late one night as I went to look for some water. I must ask him where he bought it.

My Dear Boo

I am the lady wife of an Entrepreneur! Josiah has gone into business with some of those boring men you met. I confess I do not fully understand the nature of the enterprise but he tells me he is a founding father of a new travel system, whereby people will be able to move around London – honestly, Boo this is incredible – below the surface of the roads. People will sit in carts inside huge tunnels, some of which will be dug even lower than the Thames itself! They will walk down great flights of stairs to reach these tunnels and then climb back out and find themselves in a completely different part of the city. Truly, it is a thing of the future.

Josiah has asked me to suggest that Mr Pitt might like to invest in this as well. I cannot in all truth explain the details or answer any of the sensible questions that might be asked of me, but I should like the chance to mention it when I next see you. Do you think we might both become wives of famous businessmen?

I will be coming to celebrate the anniversary of your becoming a mother as soon as I have completed the gift I am embroidering for you. Might I spend a few moments then trying to help you both conceive of the idea of travelling under the ground? It does sound exciting.

Till we meet, which will be soon,

Kisses to LB and to you my dear

Yrs

Effie x

24 Belgrave Square (!)
London

November 12th 1851

Worrying news from Blindingham. It seems that Mrs Everdown went up on Tuesday to request that her dumpling of a daughter be given back her place as laundry maid. As she reached the Hall, she came upon Cook, who had collapsed on the steps. It is a blessing she did, I suppose, for Cook may have lain there a good deal longer had Mrs Everdown not cared about her daughter’s lost wages. She managed to find the Gardener and they helped Cook to her quarters. So, it seems that to show gratitude for the saving of Cook’s life we have to give up our linen to the mangle. We shall no doubt be sleeping on brown paper when we return.

Boo’s baby will be a year old on the 20th of this month. I wonder whether I shall ever join her in the joys of motherhood. Josiah and I have not been blessed – although in truth it is not just blessing that we require in order to produce the heir to Blindingham. I must find a way of persuading him to return home at a more conducive hour in the evenings. What is the point of him spending his days amassing our fortunes if we have no-one to whom we might bequeath them?

24 Belgrave Square (!)
October 28th 1851

I have had the most delightful day. I walked to Boo’s house – Villiers walked with me but at a distance, thankfully, so we had no need of noodling conversation. Papa has insisted that I do not walk unaccompanied in London, lest that loathsome man who is pretending to be Josiah should accost me. I do feel safer knowing that Villiers would willingly throw himself on any man that approached me, so I am grateful for Papa’s advice. Josiah gave a dismissive snort when I told him that I was afraid of this imposter. He is brave man to thumb his nose in the face of such a vile character, I cannot but admire his valour.

Boo was delighted to see me, as I was to see her. And how Little Bradstone has grown – he is quite the little man. He does not walk yet but he smiles and waves with great charm. I have not seen him since the Ball but he seems strangely familiar to me with his nose and his chin, bless him.

She had invited Mrs Doughty and Miss Guiser – how warmly they greeted me, I was almost overcome. We took tea and talked about all manner of things. I felt positively metropolitan and have left the villager in me behind at Blindingham. Here, I am a woman of importance.

Boo enquired constantly about the Girl although I had tried my hardest to reassure her that they need never meet. She seems unable to let the matter lie. She expressed surprise that I did not know the address of Josiah’s associate and was astounded when I told her that I thought the child was being cared for by an underservant at the Hall. Perhaps she thinks of being parted from Little Bradstone and it is that thought which exercises her so. I do wish she would forget that terrible incident.

Josiah was absent when I returned to our rooms, but he came back with such a clattering later in the evening that I thought at first he was being chased. He threw open the main door, and ran upstairs like a man possessed, calling my name all the time. I was quite excited by his passion as he approached me in the dressing room where I was preparing to retire. It transpired that he was anxious to ensure that my jewel case was safe and that its contents were all in place. I think, knowing him as I do, that he is more concerned about that imposter than he likes to confess. I love him all the more for his trying to make light of it so as not to worry me.

24 Belgrave Square
London

October 22nd 1851

My Dear Dear Boo

We are neighbours once more! Josiah has found us the most exquisite set of rooms this year. We have improved on Brunswick Square, if such a thing were possible!

I am faint with excitement at the prospect of seeing you and Little Bradstone again. Do send word straight away to let me know when I may call. I have so much to tell you. We have brought more staff with us this year, which will mean I can entertain right royally, and Villiers is with us this winter. He is to act as Josiah’s business secretary but he will also oversee the other servants. So, I am to be a lady of leisure once more!

I am keen to be reunited with my London friends – do you think you might invite Mrs Doughty and Miss Guiser to tea when I come to see you? I do not wish to impose, Boo, but I would so love to see them again as soon as possible.

I want to reassure you that when you visit me in Belgrave Square – I have to pinch myself whenever I think of that as my address – that you will not be confronted by the Girl. Josiah has loaned her to an associate of his who found himself suddenly without staff. I have not see her since my arrival and am unlikely to, according to Josiah, since she is living in. She is to serve this man for the forseeable future and certainly while we are in Town. I am quite relieved to be without her, I do not mind admitting, and have sent for the old Girl to see to me. Fortunately she was quite free to come to us.

Write back immediately, Boo and we shall soon be together again – I cannot wait!

Yrs

Effie x