Dearest E:
I hope you will have a pleasant time at Clavering St. Mary’s. The D. says you may find the host and hostess rather crude, but otherwise very respectable, nice people. He is on several Boards with your father. You are not likely to have met any of your fellow guests, but no doubt you will find them quite agreeable. And in any case you must bear in mind that you are giving your services for a noble cause. I hear from Mabel that last week you had quite a success in “The Duke of Killiecrankie.” The D. says that if everything else fails you will be able to come out as a star!!!
By the way, one of the new Peers will be included in the house party. He is what the D. calls “a Lloyd-George Particular,” all the same, he says, he is quite a good fellow. He has made his money rather suddenly, but from what one hears he is extremely wealthy. And that is something to bear in mind with things so black over here and the outlook for land so uncertain.
The only people you are likely to know are our old friends the Lancelots who live in the neighborhood. Perhaps you may get out one day to see them.
As you will be among strangers I am sending Pikey to look after you. And “under the rose” she is bringing a bottle of the D.’s choicest Chateau Briault as you may be a little run down after your recent Labors in the cause of charity. If you are bored with your present task you must remember that you are giving your services for St. Aidan’s. Much love,
Your affectionate mother,
Charlotte Carabbas.
P. S.: The D. says the new Peer has at least £60,000 a year.
A second reading of this letter filled Elfreda with fury. Somehow it was so typical of her mother; of the mother who was a curious mixture of kindness, naïveté and cupidity; of the mother who cared for them all so much in small things and so little in great ones. Behind these careless phrases of Lady Carabbas her youngest daughter read her intentions only too clearly.
As Elfreda sat back in her corner and turned things over in her mind a kind of cold rage began to dominate her. Had she been left any choice in the matter she would not be going to Clavering St. Mary’s at all. No one she knew would be there. But she had not been consulted. Her autocratic father had promised one of his friends “in the city” that she should go down there and take part in some private theatricals in aid of a war charity. For nearly a year now she had been living in London with a married sister and working for the V. A. D. at one of the hospitals, but from time to time she had taken part in various entertainments with considerable success.