Evening dress – part one
Author's notes: The Blacketts, the Walkers and the Callums belong to the late Arthur Ransome.
Claude Amery is the invention of either the late Dorothy L. Sayers or Jill Paton Walsh and it is a measure of how very good indeed Thrones, Dominations is that I cannot tell the difference.
Claude Amery was advised by Harriet Vane to have a second play ready in case the first one was a success. However ungracious his manner was, he evident took her advice so well that the second play was put on in late September 1937 after the first was put on in early August 1937.
Evening Dress
"Of course," said Nancy, "What is it?" It was rare for Helen Blackett to ask for anyone's help and Nancy felt almost relieved at the chance to do something for her aunt.
"Come and see the first night of the play. Bring some friends." her Aunt Helen said.
"I'll bring Susan, if she's not on duty."
"Susan is one of the Walkers, isn't she? What about that brother of hers? Or the others?"
"John is at sea. The others are all still at school, in Portsmouth. If you want me to bring someone else, I could ask Dot and Dick Callum too, if they haven't gone to university by then. Dot likes intellectual sort of stuff. You've met them. When is the first night?"
"A fortnight's time. Term won't have started for them. Oxford and Cambridge always do start later." Aunt Helen looked around to make sure Lillian was out of hearing. "I'll treat you to the tickets."
"No need, you do a lot for me already. It's still the beginning of term, practically. I can afford four tickets for the gallery, even if the others will let me treat them."
Nancy did not want to say that, with the possible exception of Dorothea, they would probably not enjoy the play, so she felt obliged to pay for their tickets. She suspected the Claude Amery play was not exactly Aunt Helen's cup of tea either. Not that Aunt Helen would ever admit as much. She didn't blame her aunt for that. Lillian had designed both sets and costumes.
"Except that I'd like you in the stalls." said Helen.
That meant two things, Nancy realised. Firstly, Aunt Helen was really concerned about this. Secondly, it meant getting dressed up, really dressed up with a proper evening frock. She had mastered looking respectable, neat and business-like in a way that would have astonished her only a few years ago. She remembered her gloves and wore a hat when in the vicinity of college. (Well nearly always.) But her aunt needed her to turn up and look as if she was the sort of person who often went to the theatre and could afford a seat in the stalls. It didn't matter one bit that she wasn't pretty, but it would be better if she didn't actually look like someone's dowdy provincial niece invited to boost first night numbers.
She squared her shoulders. Her aunt wanted her help to help Lillian. She would do it. A pity her best frock looked a bit more Sunday- go-to church than sophisticated evening dress, but it would have to do.
Helen Blackett watched her niece's face. Nancy's feelings were reflected on her face just as they were on Molly's. Why is my niece the only twenty-year old girl in London to regard dressing up for an evening at the theatre as some kind of disagreeable chore? Who taught her to see nice clothes as a punishment? Well I know who, but I do wonder why Molly let it happen.
Helen saw Nancy square her shoulders. She wanted to rush to the other side of the table and hug Nancy; she looked for a minute so like the little girl she had been, putting on a brave face "so Peggy knows there's nothing to be scared of." She hadn't hugged either of her nieces in ten years. This probably wasn't the best time to start again.
Instead she suggested, "Would you like to borrow something of mine? We could always put a couple of darts in at the waist and turn the hem up an inch if you need it."
"Are you sure?" said Nancy, "I mean won't you want to wear it yourself?"
"Since my work has become more fashionable, or rather fashion coincides more with my work, I occasionally do have a need for an evening frock or two or three. Just because you usually see me in slacks and a smock doesn't mean I always wear them. Come upstairs and have a look."
Helen laid three dresses out on the bed although thought she knew which Nancy would prefer anyway. Sure enough, Nancy picked up the plain, black bias-cut dress first, turned it over, noticed it was backless and put it back in the wardrobe. Well, thought Helen, it was very backless. There was a pale rose pink dress with one long sleeve and a bare shoulder. It fell straight and tight until mid-thigh and then broke out into a cascade of ruffles. That went back with barely a glance. The remaining dress was a deep sea-green. The rayon material fell in very fine pleats and it had a V neckline and cape sleeves. Helen thought of it as her "non-committal" evening dress.
"Why don't you try it on?" Helen suggested, "We'll see if you need anything else to go with it?" And she went downstairs to clear the Sunday lunch dishes from the table.
"The length is fine on you." she said when Nancy presented herself for inspection. "And I have a bag to go with it that Lillian made. I don't even think we need to take it in – those pleats let it fall quite nicely as it is and the waist has a tie at the back. What about shoes? Mine will be too big."
"We have to have shoes for country dancing and so forth for college. They'll do."
"And what about a coat?"
"Mine's blue and the dress is a blue-green. They should look alright together."
"Nancy, your coat looks like school uniform."
"It was school uniform. I hadn't grown out of it so it didn't make sense to change it. I just unpicked the badge."
"Come upstairs again. I'll try to remember what I used to wear with the dress. There's a little string of seed pearls that used to be my mother's that you could wear with it if you liked"
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"Nancy, you don't have to apologise for inviting me to the theatre, nor even for asking me to dress up." said Susan, over high tea in a corner-house the next Saturday. "Sometimes I'm just grateful to be sitting down. Anyway, I've dragged you along to whodunits with me a few times."
"They had proper stories. I'm afraid this one won't – just people being miserable in verse."
"I don't think it will be that bad. They wouldn't have put on two plays by the same person so quickly one after another if it was going to be that awful."
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"You'll get more wear out of it than Dorothea will out of one of her dresses. It is not an extravagance, Dick." said his mother. "So you will go properly dressed to this play. The Blacketts have been very good indeed to both you and Dorothea. You should be glad to go properly dressed to this play if it helps Miss Blackett's friend. What is it she's done again?"
"Set and costume design."
"Well mind you notice something good about it and say so. Where's Dorothea?"
"She's rummaging around in your wardrobe for something to go with her dress." Dick said and made his escape. Maybe there was something to be said for wearing new clothes with Susan who wouldn't make a comment and Nancy who would be a comrade in affliction before he had to wear them among strangers at Cambridge.
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Dear Nancy,
I know we agreed to ignore birthdays, but as you pointed out in July, twenty first birthdays are different. You broke the rule first. I hope you like this. Anyway, pirates should have jewellery from exotic places and foreign seas even if the straits of Gibraltar aren't the Caribbean and silver isn't gold. When I discovered the stone was called Amazonite, I thought I really had to give you this. Apparently, it doesn't come from the Amazon. I didn't have enough language in common with the shopkeeper to establish where it did come from!
Things looked as if they were going to get rather lively a short while back, then they looked briefly as if things were going to get very lively indeed. Since then things appear to have got a lot quieter (at least for us) but we remain very busy. I still only know a very little bit of Spanish, but it's amazing how much both sides can convey with mime, providing no-one minds making a fool of themselves. To be honest, we all need the light relief sometimes. The worst bit has been seeing children so young so afraid. The best bit is seeing how quickly they realise that this ship full of men speaking a strange language means them no harm. A sweet is a sweet in any language! It looks as though we at least will be back doing escort duties fairly soon.
I hope your final year at college begins well. I'm glad to hear your landlady regards Susan as a respectable visitor! Much as Susan loves her training, I think she finds living surrounded by other student nurses a bit wearing – I know how much she enjoys spend time with you occasionally.
Happy Birthday,
With best wishes,
John
The accompanying tin had once contained throat lozenges. When Nancy opened it, she found a small silver pendant and with a slightly translucent bluish-green stone. John had folded and sewn a piece of cloth which might once have been a handkerchief to make a little cushion for it and had loosely tacked the delicate silver chain to the cushion to keep it in place. It was this care, rather than the gift itself, which filled her eyes with tears. Amazon pirates did not cry. The thing to do was write back and thank John immediately.
At the end of the letter she encountered the usual dilemma. Letters to Titty, Dot or Susan finished "with love". She didn't quite feel comfortable putting that on a letter to John. Nancy grinned wryly at own dishonesty. She didn't quite feel comfortable putting that on a letter to John first. A few times she had started to write it, only to change her mind and change the "l" to a "b" at the last minute. Sometimes the "wishes" had become rather cramped as a result. A thought struck her. She looked back at John's letter. Had the "b" started out as an "l"? John started both letters with the same type of loop, so it was hard to tell. It was just possible to imagine that the "e" had started out as an "o". The "s" had never been anything else. Not enough evidence to form a firm conclusion, but enough to suggest a hypothesis as Dick would say.
Nancy addressed the envelope. She turned back to the letter and quickly wrote "With love, Nancy", making it look as hurried as possible. She went out to post the letter before she changed her mind.
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"Aunt Helen?"
"Yes."
"Would you mind if I didn't wear that necklace after all?"
"Of course, I wouldn't mind. May I ask why?"
"I've been given a pendent for my birthday and….. I'd rather wear that."
"If it's from your great aunt you certainly better had wear it – no matter how hideous it is. She does seem to have the most uncanny way of finding out about things." Helen hoped that news of what she was wearing to the first night would not somehow make its way back to Harrogate. Maria Turner had the most unfortunate way of making poisonous little remarks about someone you cared about and demanding your agreement. If you defended them in any way, or even just disagreed, you were accused of rudeness. A noncommittal answer or a studied silence just brought further needling. Molly's own good nature made her such an easy target for this sort of thing.
"Oh, it's not from her – and it's not in the least bit hideous either." said Nancy, rather hastily. Aunt Helen was most unlikely to be stuffy about the "not accepting presents from young men" rule, but Nancy felt that explanations were always best avoided.