Page 18

Chapter 18

Sunday 9 April 1911

Ursula didn’t believe in making people wait all day for their birthday presents.

She had called Finlay into the parlour the night before and explained that he must be up, dressed, and in the dining room at eight o’clock, and not a minute later, even though it was Sunday, and he would normally have been a little slower to rise.

He wasn’t impressed but the sight of his father on the other side of the room had quelled any objections he might have otherwise voiced.

By a little after seven, Ursula was downstairs.

She helped Isobel make the batter for the drop scones and went through to the dining room one last time just before eight o’clock to make sure everything looked pretty.

As requested, John and Finlay were sitting at the dining table, on time, waiting slightly impatiently for Ann to wake up and get out of bed.

Isobel had been tasked with going outside to knock on the front door very energetically at five past eight, and if that failed, she was going to ring the bell a few times.

It was only a couple of minutes after the loud banging when they heard the first squeak of the floorboards on the landing upstairs.

‘Hello?’

Ursula put her finger to her lips to stop the others replying.

‘Where is everybody?’

They heard Ann’s footsteps as she came down the stairs, and then the dining-room door opened slowly.

‘Happy Birthday!’ Ursula allowed John to go first, and then Finlay, before she joined in.

‘Oh! This isn’t what usually happens.

’ Ann stared, wide-eyed, at the large box which took up at least a third of the table, and the smaller packages which were beside it.

‘Is this all for me?’

‘It is indeed.’ John got to his feet and wrapped his arms around her.

‘Happy Birthday, little one.’

‘But shouldn’t we wait until later?

I mean, presents are for the afternoon when visitors come, aren’t they?

That’s what Mother always said.

’

‘We thought you might like them a bit earlier this year,’ said Finlay.

He tapped the top of the large box.

‘After all, you’ll be wanting to start using your encyclopaedias.

’

Ann’s face fell.

‘I suppose so.’

Ursula took charge.

‘Isobel has made drop scones, and there is warm syrup to pour over them. We thought you might like to open your presents first, because syrup is sticky.’

‘You definitely don’t want the pages to get stuck together,’ Finlay added.

Ann realised that the only empty seat was the one Father used, at the head of the table.

He pointed at it. ‘Today, you are the most important person in the house, so you take my chair.’

Two parcels were arranged in the space where the place setting should have been.

Ann took her seat and lifted the first one off the top.

It was covered in what looked like newspaper and was tied up with garden twine.

Ursula hadn’t seen the wrapping until Finlay had added it to the collection last night.

She approved of his creativity.

Ann read the label: ‘From Finlay’.

She undid the knotted string and pulled the paper aside.

‘Seeds!’ She spread the packets out on the table.

‘This is so exciting! Snapdragons, and cosmos, and calendula and poppies and nasturtiums and marigolds, and ooooooh, sweet peas.’ She shook the wrapping paper.

‘And basil and chives and parsley as well.’

Ursula glanced at Finlay.

She had provided the nasturtiums and the cosmos, but the rest were nothing to do with her.

He was smiling to himself, unaware of exactly how much he had just shot up in her estimation.

Ann wanted to study all the seed packets in detail, one at a time, but she realised everyone was waiting for her to move on to the next gift.

‘I’ll need to learn all the Latin names.

Maybe the encyclopaedias will help me with that.

’ She arranged the envelopes carefully in alphabetical order, and then stopped for a moment to study the words on the wrapping.

‘This is from a seed catalogue.’ She looked at Finlay.

‘Where did you get it?’

John cleared his throat.

‘We were printing them for a garden supplier last week. It’s one of the first big sheets off the press, before we do a proper print run.

Your brother thought you might like it.

’

‘A whole catalogue.’ The excitement in Ann’s voice was unmistakeable.

‘That’s like giving me two presents at the same time.

Thank you very much.

’ She smiled at Finlay.

‘If you want to help me plant some of them, that would be alright.’

‘They are all for you,’ he replied quickly.

‘I’m not the gardener in the family.

’

Ann put the seeds and the catalogue aside and studied the next parcel.

The cream-coloured box was tied around and around with enough green hair ribbons to last for several weeks even when Ursula had allowed for the current rate of loss.

Ann undid the bows and paused to enjoy the moment.

She knew that this was her real present, with the encyclopaedias still ahead of her.

The lid of the box was stiff, and it took a moment to loosen it, but when she managed to get it off and she saw what was inside, she didn’t know what to say.

Sitting in crinkly tissue paper was something she hadn’t even known she wanted, until it was suddenly there in front of her.

Her very own grown-up bag, in her favourite colour in the whole world.

‘Is this really for me?’ She lifted it out of the box and got off Father’s chair so she could put it across her shoulder, and twirled around to see what it felt like.

‘It’s from both of us,’ John said, with an unexpected catch in his voice.

‘Ursula thought it was time you had something that befits a young lady of thirteen, and I agree with her.’

Ann snapped the catch open and looked inside.

‘It’s purple!’ She found the second clip and undid it.

‘And there’s another pocket as well.

Look, Finlay. Isn’t it splendid?

’

From the other end of the table, Ursula saw that John had been right, and Finlay had indeed seen the significance of the green, purple and cream.

He looked at his sister, enjoying her delight for a second time, and then glanced across at Ursula and nodded, very slightly.

Not approval, exactly, but an acknowledgement.

Ann took the bag off and stowed it carefully in the box.

‘I think I know what this is,’ she said, nudging the huge cardboard box on the table, which had no birthday wrapping at all.

To her surprise, the box moved.

She pushed it a little harder and it moved again.

‘Perhaps if we put this on the floor for you?’ said John.

He lifted it down onto the carpet without any effort.

‘How peculiar, it’s not heavy at all.

’

Ann came over to have a closer look.

‘I think it must be empty.’

‘Are you sure?’ John was enjoying himself.

‘It’s very securely packaged.

Do you not want to see what’s inside?

’ He took one of the best knives off the table and cut the string.

‘There, now you can have a proper look.’

Finlay and Ann looked at one another.

He shrugged. ‘Don’t ask me.

I have no idea.’

Ann moved the cardboard flaps out of the way and peered inside.

‘There’s an envelope at the bottom.

’ She reached down to pick it up.

The suspense was broken by the arrival of Isobel, who came in carrying a tray.

The smell of warm drop scones was instantly recognisable.

‘Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you might be ready for these.

I can come back later.

’

‘Not at all.’ Ursula had an idea that Isobel’s curiosity had got the better of her.

‘Just put it on the sideboard and we’ll be ready in a few moments.

The birthday girl has found a mysterious envelope and we all want to know what’s inside it.

’

Ann went back to her appointed seat at the head of the table and sat down.

‘Not encyclopaedias, then,’ she whispered to herself as she sliced open the flap of the envelope with a butter knife.

She pulled out two pieces of card and gasped.

‘Tickets!’ She could hardly speak.

‘Tickets to see The Great Lafayette at the Empire Palace Theatre on Tuesday the ninth of May.’

‘I will take you to the theatre,’ said John.

‘It’s the late performance and Ursula thought that you and I might like to have an adventure together, just the two of us.

What do you think?’

‘I would like that very, very much.’ Ann looked at each one of them in turn.

‘Thank you. I think being thirteen is going to be my best year ever.’