An Unexpected Proposition

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today we are in Lettice’s chic, dining room, which stands adjunct to her equally stylish drawing room. She has decorated it in a restrained Art Deco style with a smattering of antique pieces including a rather fine Chippendale cabinet.

 

Lettice is hosting a luncheon for her future sister-in-law Arabella Tyrwhitt who will soon marry her eldest brother, Leslie. As Arabella has no sisters, and her mother is too unwell at present to travel up to London from Wiltshire, Lettice has taken it upon herself to help Arabella shop and select a suitable trousseau. So, she has brought her to London to stay in Cavendish Mews, rather than opening up the Tyrwhitt’s Georgian townhouse in Curzon Street for a week, so from there she can take Arabella shopping in all the best shops in the West End, and take her to her old childhood chum and best friend Gerald Bruton’s couturier in Grosvenor Street for her wedding dress. Lettice has invited a few of her friends from her Embassy Club coterie whom Arabella met there the other night. Lettice has asked her best girlfriend, the recently married Margot Channon and one of her other dear friends Minnie Palmerston. As both ladies are married, Lettice is hoping they may be able to shed some light on what life is like as a married woman with Arabella whilst also sharing in an afternoon of delicious food and delightful gossip.

 

Now luncheon is over, and the ladies have adjourned to Lettice’s drawing room where they carry on their high spirited conversations over digestives, and raucous laughter echoes across into the dining room where Edith, Lettice’s maid, is putting some of the glassware and fine china used at luncheon back into the Chippendale cabinet where they belong after having washed them. A consummate maid, Edith is very discreet and unlike other domestics she isn’t particularly interested in gossip, so she doesn’t pay attention to the conversations being had in the drawing room as she quietly stacks the gilded Art Deco patterned dinner plates onto the second shelf of the cabinet. She hums ‘Toot Toot Tootsie’* to herself as she does so. She smiles as she does, thinking of how she and her beau Frank Leadbetter danced cheek to cheek at the Hammersmith Palais** to the tune on her day off last Sunday, so she doesn’t notice the approach of a pair of footsteps.

 

“Excuse me, Edith,” Margot begins.

 

Edith releases a startled gasp as she leaps into the air in fright, almost dropping the silver gravy boat in her hands as she does. “Oh Miss de Virre, err, I mean, Mrs. Channon.” Edith is still adjusting, like most everyone else, to Margot’s newly married status. She grasps at her chest as she breathes heavily. “You didn’t half scare me!”

 

“Oh, I’m sorry Edith. I didn’t mean to startle you.” Margot says kindly, stepping back slightly on her gold louis heel.

 

Edith looks at her mistress’ best lady friend. She is very beautiful with dark eyes and dark hair framing her pale face. Her hair is swept into a smart chignon at the nape of her neck where it is held in place by an ornate tortoiseshell comb. She is dressed in an afternoon frock of burnt orange silk de chiné with a boat neckline and a handkerchief hemline that swishes softly around her figure when she moves. Edith wonders if it was made by their friend Gerald Bruton the couturier. Edith remembers he made Margot’s wedding dress and several other pieces of her trousseau. The colour of the gown is enhanced by her dark hair and by a long bright green bugle bead necklace that cascades down the front of it and her matching chandelier earrings that swing and tremble from her dainty lobes.

 

“Can I help you, Mrs. Channon?” Edith asks. “Was everything at luncheon to your satisfaction?”

 

“Oh quite! Quite, Edith. Your roast was delicious, as were the tarts for dessert.” Margot falls silent but doesn’t turn or attempt to walk away.

 

“Is there something you need?” Edith queries.

 

“Actually, there is, Edith.” Margot says after a moment. She turns and looks over her left shoulder, down the length of the dining room into the drawing room where Lettice and Minnie are entertaining Bella with an amusing story about their escapades as they sip their digestives. She turns back to the maid. “May I ask for your discretion?”

 

“Of course, Mrs. Channon.”

 

“Good. Because I don’t want Minnie to hear us, so I’ll be quick.” Margot pronounces lowering her voice.

 

“Very good Mrs. Channon.” She moves the right-hand door of the Chippendale cabinet so that it obscures the view of Lettice, Minnie and Bella, and affords the two ladies a modicum of privacy behind it. “That’s better.” she says. “Now, how can I help?”

 

“You know how Dickie… err, Mr. Channon and I have moved around the corner from here and taken a flat in Hill Street.”

 

“Yes Mrs. Channon.”

 

“Well, you see, I need a competent maid to come and manage my household. It’s all in a bit of a muddle. I’ve borrowed one of Mummy’s maids, Pegeen, but she really isn’t suitable.” Margot shakes her head sadly as she toys with the rings on her fingers abstractedly.

 

Edith’s eyes grow wide, and her mouth starts to gape with incredulity as she takes a sharp intake of breath after hearing Margot’s words.

 

“Oh no! No, Edith!” Margot hisses. “You misunderstand me.” She shakes her head, making the chandelier earrings swing about, catching and reflecting the light from the pendant light overhead prettily. “I’d never try and poach you from Lettice.” She raises her elegantly manicured hands in defence. “Lettice is one of my oldest and dearest friends. I’d never be so beastly as to steal you away from her.”

 

Edith lets out a sigh of relief as she cradles the silver gravy boat in her arms.

 

“No,” Margot continues in an assuring tone. “I just thought, well, that you might know of someone looking for a position. Lettice told me that you weren’t very happy in your last position, and I wondered whether perhaps there might have been others you’ve worked with who might be dissatisfied with their current employer.”

 

Edith turns away from Margot and places the gleaming gravy boat on the second shelf of the Chippendale cabinet next to a salt shaker. She runs her finger along its foot thoughtfully and smiles to herself before turning back around again to see Margot’s expectant face.

 

“As it happens, I do know of someone, Mrs. Channon.” the maid replies confidently. “Who is currently looking for a new position in these parts.”

 

“Oh hoorah!” Margot clasps her hands. “Well, I don’t really know how this is done, Edith. Can you give me her details? Or perhaps if I give you mine? You could pass them on for me?”

 

“Now just wait a moment, Mrs. Channon.” Edith cautions her, holding up her careworn palms. “Not quite so fast, if you please. This is my very good friend, Hilda. I’ll not recommend anything to her until you’ve given me a few more specifics.”

 

“Of course, Edith.” Margot sighs. “What would you like to know?”

 

“Firstly, this is a live-in position, isn’t it?”

 

“Oh yes Edith. The flat has a lovely little maid’s bedroom off the kitchen, just like here.”

 

“And your flat is how big?” Edith asks.

 

“Well, it’s a trifle bigger than here, as there are two of us.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“There is a drawing room and dining room, obviously. It has two bedrooms like here, but the second one is a guest bedroom so she wouldn’t have to clean it every week, just air and clean it before we have house guests.”

 

“And how often is that?”

 

“Well, I don’t really know.” Margot considers. “We haven’t been there all that long, but I don’t suppose it will all that often. There are two dressing rooms, oh, and there’s Mr. Channon’s study as well.”

 

“And would my friend be required to cook for you, like I do for Miss Lettice?”

 

“Well, Mr. Channon and I dine out quite a lot. We’re barely home really. We also have our little house in Cornwall where we will spend some time once Lettice has finished redecorating, so breakfasts for both of us when we are home, the occasional luncheon and dinner.”

 

“What about sewing?”

 

“Sewing, Edith?” Margot gazes at Edith, a look of confusion on her face. “I need a maid, not a lady’s maid.”

 

“Will my friend be required to do any mending of linens, embroidery or the like.” Edith clarifies.

 

Margot looks perplexed. “I shouldn’t think so, Edith. If anything like that needs doing, I’ll get one of Dickie… er, Mr. Cannon’s parent’s maids to do it.”

 

“That’s good because Hilda doesn’t sew. Her mother didn’t like sewing, so she never learnt like I did. I tried to teach her a few basic skills, but she’s got no real aptitude for it.”

 

“I have the laundry sent out, like you do here, and I’ve engaged Mrs. Boothby to come twice a week to do the harder jobs.”

 

“Very good Mrs. Channon.” Edith acknowledges coolly, not giving away her thrill that this might be the perfect job for her friend Hilda to get her away from the mean Mrs. Plaistow.

 

“And I’ll happily pay a wage commensurate to your own, Edith.”

 

“Miss Lettice doesn’t pay me board wages*** when she goes away for weekends in the country, only at Christmas time.”

 

“Oh, I don’t even know what board wages are, Edith.” Margot assures the maid with a shrug of her shoulders.

 

Edith ruminates for a moment, her gaze drifting around the dining room: anywhere but Margot’s anxious face.

 

“If you don’t mind me asking, Mrs. Channon, if this is such a splendid position, and if you’re such a good mistress, why isn’t this Pegeen you’ve got working for you currently, suitable?” Edith glances at the inside of the black japanned door of the Chippendale cabinet, as if she can see Lettice, Minnie and Bella through it. She lowers her voice to even more of a whisper. “And why don’t you want Mrs. Palmerston knowing you’re looking for a new maid?”

 

“Well, you saw Minnie at luncheon today.” Margot replies. “She is rather,” She chews the inside of her cheek as she considers what adjective to use to describe Minnie Palmerston. “Highly strung shall we say.”

 

“Yes, I did notice that, Mrs. Channon.” Edith replies with a quick nod of acknowledgement.

 

“Well, her histrionics mean that she has some difficulty keeping maids for any length of time. I don’t want her to pilfer and squander any potential candidates you might send my way. After all, you really are such a brick, Edith.” Margot reaches out and places a hand on Edith’s forearm, which the maid finds overfamiliar and rather discomforting. “I’m sure anyone whom you recommend to me would be a brick too.”

 

“Thank you, Mrs. Channon.” Edith smiles proudly, blushing at the compliment and lowering her gaze demurely. “And why is Pegeen not a suitable candidate?”

 

“Well, for a start she is my mother’s maid, and I only have Pegeen under a grace-and-favour arrangement for a short time.” She pauses.

 

“And?” Edith presses her for her unfinished thoughts.

 

“And I caught her going through Mr. Channon’s desk drawers.’ Margot sighs. “I don’t want a prying maid. I also found her trying on my dresses twice and I caught a definite note of my La Jacinthe**** scent on her yesterday. I want a maid I can trust, like Lettice trusts you. Pegeen is definitely not to be trusted.”

 

Edith takes only a moment to decide whether this opportunity is good enough to pass on to Hilda.

 

“If you’d please supply me with your details, Mrs. Channon, I’ll be sure to pass them on to my friend Hilda. She can then choose if she wishes to pursue your offer of employment. That’s how it’s done.”

 

“Oh Edith!” Margot exclaims. “Lettice is right! You really are such a brick!”

 

“I don’t know what you mean, Mrs. Channon.” Edith demurs. “Now, hadn’t you best go back to the rest of the company before you are missed?”

 

“Oh yes, you’re right Edith.” Margot agrees, and so saying, she turns on her heel and walks away.

 

Edith carefully closes the beautifully decorated Chippendale cabinet with its ornate hinges and walks towards the green baize doors that lead back into the service area of the flat, barely able to contain her excitement. Only last week as they stood in Mrs. Minkin’s haberdashery shop, Hilda was complaining about how awful it was working under Mrs. Plaistow and how she was looking for a new position. Pushing open the doors and slipping through it she is thrilled that she may have the solution to her dear friend’s problems.

 

*Toot Toot Tootsie (Goobye) was one of the most popular songs of 1922, written by Gus Kahn, Ernie Erdman and Dan Russo, made popular by Al Jolson.

 

**The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in its last years simply named Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007. It was the first palais de danse to be built in Britain.

 

***Board wages were monies paid in lieu of meals and were paid in addition to a servant’s normal salary. Often servants were paid board wages when their employer went on holiday, or to London for the season, leaving them behind with no cook t prepare their meals. Some employers paid their servants fair board wages, however most didn’t, and servants often found themselves out of pocket fending for themselves, rather than having meals provided within the household.

 

****La Jacinthe is a scent created by French perfumier François Coty that was launched in 1914. With a fragrance of hyacinth as the name suggests, it was promoted as being "A tribute to stately radiant beauty that recalls the goddesses of Ancient Greece - the scent of classic hyacinths." It ceased production around 1933

 

This elegant domestic scene may not be all you consider it to be, for it is made up entirely with pieces from my 1:12 miniatures collection, including pieces from my teenage years.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

 

Made by high-end miniature manufacturer, J.B.M. the black japanned Chippendale cabinet has been decorated with chinoiserie designs. It also features very ornate metalwork hinges and locks. The Chippendale black japanned chairs are also made by J. B. M.

 

The top shelf features white wine glasses all of which are artisan pieces, spun from real glass, that I acquired as a teenager from a high street shop that specialised in dolls and doll house miniatures. The red wine glasses on the right are also hand spun glass pieces from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. The Georgian water jug between the glasses comes from Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces.

 

The middle shelf contains pieces of Lettice’s gilt edged dinner set featuring highly stylised blue Art Deco patterns. The gravy boat in the middle, like the water jug above, comes from Warwick Miniatures in Ireland.

 

The linen on the bottom shelf has been trimmed by hand with some dainty pieces of lace and was made for me by a miniature artisan sewer in Sydney.

 

The paintings on the walls are 1:12 artisan pieces made by Amber’s Miniatures in the United States. The geometric Art Deco wallpaper is beautiful hand impressed paper given to me by a friend, which inspired the whole “Cavendish Mews – Lettice Chetwynd” series.

 

Done