CHAPTER TWENTY

The following morning, Margaret had nothing at all to do. She tried to amuse herself: she watched Charles angrily order about the servants who, in his mind, could not do anything right; and she visited Evie's room where the wedding dress was being shown to all of the women, but she could not make herself as excited as the other screaming and laughing women in the room. Finally, she managed to see Henry and asked him for a few moments to talk. He asked her to join him in the library.

"Oh, I don't really have anything to say," she said. "I just wanted to be with you for a couple of minutes. You go ahead and talk. I'll just listen."

He began talking about little, unimportant things, such as the bad road out in front of the house, and Margaret listened carefully, not minding his words at all. She had decided that by simply loving him, he would eventually change and begin to live more passionately.

He asked her to accompany him to the wine cellar, which she was more than happy to do, since she was so bored. The number of bottles down there astonished her.

"We'll never finish all this!" she cried, then, seeing Henry and his servant share a laugh, realized that she had just said something very silly. It would take some time for her to get used to her new life, but, at the same time, she wanted to make sure not to let it change who she was.

Eventually, the wedding took place. It seemed like nothing to Margaret, so quick and simple. Hardly anything compared to all that had happened in preparation for it. She knew that her wedding would be much larger. Many people had refused their invitations to Evie's wedding, including her Tibby and Helen. This would not happen with hers.

Then, after the newly married couple drove away in their car for their honeymoon, Margaret saw a new, small group of people coming toward the house.

"Who are they?" she asked Henry.

"Must be people from the town, who've just come to see the wedding gifts. Do me a favor and entertain them for a bit, while I hide. I'm not ready to be social just now."

"Of course. Run along," she said, quite happy to help him.

When she approached the newcomers, she saw, much to her surprise, Helen among them.

"My God! Why are you here?" she asked.

"I've brought two poor, starving guests with me, the Basts. He's lost his home and his job, Margaret. Because of us, he's lost everything!"

And it was true. Standing behind her were both Leonard and his wife, Jacky. Everyone at the party was looking at them.

"Helen, what were you thinking? How could you do this on Evie's wedding day?"

"We want to see Mr Wilcox, and this will be our only opportunity," Helen said with fight obviously in her voice.

"Hello, Mr Bast ... Mrs Bast," Margaret said with an effort to be polite.

"I'm sorry about this, Miss Schlegel ... " Leonard said, looking shy and embarrassed.

"It was all my idea!" said Helen. "He needs a job, Meg. That's what I've brought him here for."

"Well, I want that for him, as well, but coming here today does not help his situation. Go to a nice hotel tonight and get some rest, then go back to London tomorrow. We'll help him find a job later this week," Margaret suggested.

"I'm afraid that you can't help me," Leonard responded, "I'm lost. I had the only job that I could do, and now it's gone. For rich people it's easy to change this or that job, but for someone like me, you have only one chance. If that chance goes bad, then there's no hope of ever finding anything else."

"Okay. Just take them to the hotel in town, and let me talk with Henry myself. It's our only hope of helping these two. Coming here and screaming about all this being his fault will get you absolutely nowhere. Now go. And Helen ... I have much more to say to you when we have more time. Your behavior has truly surprised me."

The three newcomers walked back to the road to head to the hotel and Margaret went to talk with Henry. She found him and led him away from the party into a small, quiet room.

"Henry, dear, I need to speak with you about the possibility of helping someone find a job," she began.

"Oh, and what's his profession?" he asked.

"Bank clerk. He's twenty-five."

"And why does he need a job?"

"His company had to make its staff smaller. Since he was one of the youngest, he was asked to go."

"Fine, I'll be happy to meet with the fellow, but please don't ask me to do this kind of thing often."

She was happy with his decision and promised never to make such a request again. They went back out among the guests, and as she looked about them, Margaret was annoyed to see that Jacky was still at the food table eating cake. Apparently, Helen and Leonard had left her there while they went to find a hotel. Suddenly, Jacky looked in their direction and yelled out, "Hen, baby!"

Henry quickly turned away from her.

"What? Don't you love me, Hen?"

"So these are the people Helen brought with her? Henry asked in a slightly angry voice.

"Why is she calling you 'Hen'?" Margaret asked, very confused.

"Come now, don't pretend like you don't understand! I'm a man, after all. I do what men do. You've gone a bit too far, this time, Miss Schlegel, having your sister bring these people to my home. Well your little plan has worked. I am revealed. I hope you are happy. Now, I will kindly free you from our engagement."

"She was your lover?"

"Was ... Ten years before," he said just before turning away from her and saying goodbye to a guest who was preparing to leave the party.

Margaret then left, feeling terribly sad. Not for herself, but for Mrs Wilcox, the real victim.

(end of section)