Gertie Golden Girl Pt. 06

Chapter 6: ENGAGEMENT

Johnnie and Gertie announce their engagement

Like the Dorsets, the Winters used a smaller, much more intimate family dining room where they enjoyed their family luncheons and evening dinners, and it was to this room that Maisie led the couple, even though Johnnie clearly knew the way there already.

"Mr John, begging your pardon, Sir," Maisie said, as she led the happy hand-holding couple to the stairs, "but we still have a reduced staff here at the minute and it is one of us jobs to supplement the waiting staff, in particular to any of Miss Gertie's needs but also help serve if the number of guests is larger than today. It is a simple and informal family luncheon today, just the two light courses, and I am informed that Miss Gertie has been trained by Miss Eveline in the rudiments of formal dining but I will be on hand to help if I see a need or if I am called upon by her for any reason. I will stand by the wall out of the way until needed. When you all retire to the sitting room, where I believe Lady Standhope wishes to speak to you both privately, I will catch up with dealing with Miss Gertie's soiled morning clothes and laying out what she needs for the afternoon, when I understand you will be wanting to use the motor car to show Miss Gertie around the village and the church and churchyard."

"Thank you, Maisie," Johnnie smiled at the girl's back as she led the way down the staircase and, unseen by the maid, he winked at Gertie, "I will acquiesce to your interpretation of your particular duties with regard to my fiancée, but beg your indulgence if your duties impinge upon the time I wish to spend with Miss Gertie."

"Of course, Mr John, I am sure that I will find other occupations to engage me when either of you consider necessary," she replied, "just tell me and I will disappear."

"I'm sure you will, thank you, Maisie," Johnnie smiled in return.

Maisie stopped at the open doorway of the luncheon room and waved the couple through before following, closing the door and moving to stand by the wall near the door.

"Ahh, Johnnie, you are late, we have held back luncheon to await your arrival," said his mother as she rose from the table where she sat next to her husband and walked towards them. Her husband smiled crookedly at the newcomers but did not rise.

"My apologies, Mama, but I must take all the blame," Johnnie owned up to his mother, "I was totally engaged in discussions with Gertie which prevented us from readying ourselves after our morning ride and I allowed the time to escape us until the luncheon gong caught me by surprise. Even then, I was rather tardy in getting changed and Gertie and her efficient lady's maid were patiently waiting on me."

"Well, that's what happens when you refuse to have a man assigned to help you get dressed and properly set out and look after your apparels," his mother gently admonished. She then turned to Gertie and walked towards her, her own arms outstretched to hold both Gertie's hands, "And look how well turned out you are, well done, Gertie, my dear, and how rosy cheeked you are from your riding this morning, having witnessed how well you sit ahorse from the rose hill beyond the west garden."

"Thank you, Ma'am, I did enjoy the horse ride, but I'm a little stiff now."

It was then that Lady Standhope noticed the ring about her neck and turned her head to where her husband, Lord Standhope remained sitting, "Oh look, my dear, our grandmama's engagement ring is hanging around Gertie's neck, our young man has finally chosen his bride."

She took Gertie into her arms and embraced her warmly, then kissed both her cheeks. "Well, my dear Gertie, welcome to the family, you better start calling me Mama from now on. Now, come and meet Papa."

"But, Ma'am, we are only unofficially engaged."

"Of course you are my dear, as far as the public are concerned, they would consider five weeks of courtship most improper for any couple to consider preparation for a lifetime spent together, but we are not ordinary people, are we not?"

"No, you are extraordinary, really extraordinary," Gertie admitted, "But I am but an ordinary girl, not extraordinary in any way. I mean, I am perfectly happy but... how can I possibly carry this off? How could I be accepted into this, this exalted company, or society at large? I'm the daughter of a boilermaker and was brought up in the East End of London, near enough to the Bells of Bow that they could keep me awake at night just from the wind blowing through the tower...."

"And I," Lady Standhope retorted, "was born the fourth daughter of a poor journeyman watchmaker the that very East End and I sang and danced in a chorus line for my supper long before my Charles saw something in me that he liked and learned to love. We may be Earl and Countess, Lord and Lady, Gertie, but first we are human beings with feelings and, because we count ourselves among the other Lords and Ladies, and are only a couple of steps from royalty, so we can do just what our hearts tell us to do. Now tell me, did my son Johnnie here ask you to marry him and at the same time offered you this ring to wear around your neck?"

"He did, he placed on my finger first, to check the fit, it is a little loose," Gertie smiled at Johnnie who stood quietly smiling, now standing next to his seated father, who Gertie now realised was in a wheelchair, a rather grand one, but a wheelchair all the same.

"And you accepted his proposal? Now, why did you do that, my dear?" Lady Standhope asked her gently.

"I did accept, and I did so because I love him and I believe he loves me."

"You couldn't say no, then?"

"No, not then I couldn't, but now we're not alone in our little bubble and declaring... well, now I have to face the world and the euphoria wears off, I suppose--"

"You suppose nothing of the sort, my girl." Lady Standhope was firm. "Johnnie loves you, you love Johnnie, we, all of us will love you. You're family now and you will call me Mama and my husband Charlie here, you will call him Papa, all while you're here at the Manor, or at our London home, or we are together alone or with the staff here. You are unofficially family to the general world, but that will change in time. The staff are all close-lipped and will maintain your cover until the official announcement is made at... mmmm... Christmastime, I think, that will be the perfect time, a gift for us all. Is that all right with you, Johnnie, dear?"

"Perfectly, of course, Mama." Johnnie replied and embellished his word with a confirming nod.

"But--" Gertie stuttered.

"No buts, Gertie, what is done is done and you are now one of us. Naturally, you are worried about how you will fit in with us rich toffs and all our fabulously wealthy friends, when you feel that you lack the breeding, well, there's no such thing as breeding. That fool Hitler filled his stupid head and his mindless followers with all that damned nonsense and we soon made short work of those ideas! Fitting in, being 'one of us' is really nothing about where your from but where you are heading, it's all about using applied knowledge to make you comfortable in any setting and we know that you are bright, quick to learn and not at all as stupid as most ordinary people are who do not continually try to improve themselves. Evie tells me that you are coming on a storm with her training, and we can always accelerate that until you are comfortable in any company or situation that you are likely to find yourself in. I can appreciate that you are also concerned about being a poor girl among everyone else in our company, who is rich, well, that is easily fixed. I will ring Barrington this afternoon and he can drive up tomorrow. Mmm. Barrington has just had a baby, well, Barrington's wife has and it wouldn't be at all fair to either of them to drag him away on a Sunday. Johnnie, can you stay here until Monday or Tuesday?"

"Sorry Mama, a little problem at work, the State of Hungary, if you remember?"

"Damn it, yes. Those slippery Communists," Lady Standhope said, then added in an aside to Gertie,

"Never trust a negotiator who creates mischief and says he is only being a complete bastard for the good of his people, when we all know he is only doing what he thinks is good for himself."

"Evie's coming up isn't she?" Lord Standhope said, although Gertie thought it was a barely audible mumble, as if the Lord's lips were affected by too much to drink. However, his diction was so sharp that Gertie could understand every word.

"If Evie is to stay a day or two, I could stay on here Monday and Tuesday and go back with her?" Gertie suggested.

"Of course," Lady Standhope clapped her hands in approval of the suggestion, adding, "and now that you are engaged, my dear, even unofficially, this would be the perfect time for you to move in and live with the Dorsets. This is no slight on your parents, my dear, but at the Dorsets you could continue your training unabated and from there be slowly introduced to the people we need to have on our side and already fascinated by your charm and sweet, open nature before the official engagement is announced."

Lady Standhope called across to Maisie who stood alert by the door, "Mary, would you mind--"

"Maisie, Mama," Gertie interposed, "apparently we have too many Marys here."

"Indeed we do, or once we did," Lady Standhope nodded, "Maisie, with Miss Gertie's leave, I wondered if you might summon my secretary to the Library? No immediate hurry, say just after luncheon if it is convenient?"

"Of course, my Lady," Maisie curtsied, "I will only be a few moments, Miss Gertie."

"Thank you, Maisie."

The maid scampered off out the door, she was quick but she glided along as if moving effortlessly and without undue haste.

"She's a good girl, Gertie. I knew you'd both get on well together. Treat her with respect, listen to her advice, especially where you find yourself uncertain about anything, but without allowing her to think that she is running you rather than serving you, and you will be fine. It is quite sweet that you will be learning your new roles together. Now, you must come over and meet Papa. Although we have told everyone that he retired from the bank due to heart problems, the poor dear has had a stroke, so he is somewhat disabled all down his left side. He has had to learn how to walk again and he cannot walk very far without a stick and the stroke has noticeably affected his speech and hearing, but his mind is just as sharp and incisive as it has ever been. He has rather overdone it with the morning walk to the far end of the rose garden, so he is resting his legs for now."

"I understand, Mama."

"Of course you do, good girl."

After luncheon, Lady Standhope asked Gertie to join her to share a pot of tea in the Library, for about half an hour, before she went off with Johnnie to explore the nearby village of Standhope.

When they arrived at the Library they found an earnest young man already awaiting them there. He rose from the comfortable chair that he sat in, holding a notebook and pen in one hand, and addressed Lady Standhope with a slight bow.

"Ma'am, I understand that you sent for me."

"Indeed, Collins, thank you for your patience in waiting for me."

He answered merely by the slightest nod of his head.

"I would like you to meet my future daughter, Miss Gertie Thornton, her engagement to Mr John is for the immediate future unofficial and unlikely to be announced outside of the family circle until around Christmastime, but we do need to set a few things that we spoke about a few weeks ago in motion."

"Of course, Ma'am," he replied with another slight bow.

Collins turned to Gertie with a smile and another nod of his head, "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Thornton, may I offer you my congratulations for your engagement?"

"Thank you, Mr Collins, you are too kind," Gertie smiled back at him.

Collins turned back to face Lady Standhope, "Ma'am, shall we sit at the table, it will be easier for me to make notes?"

Lady Standhope nodded her acceptance of the suggestion and they all sat at what Gertie would once have thought was just a fancy old table, but under Evie's comprehensive tutoring she guessed it was made of walnut with ebony inlays, very finely but with quite severe lines, either late French Directoire or perhaps early English Regency but felt she would have to examine it in more closely in private to be sure.

Collins turned to a page in his notebook marked by a thick rectangle of card. Gertie noticed that there were several pages separated by cards for easy reference. Collins looked up and saw that both ladies were smiling at him. He spoke directly to Gertie.

"Miss Thornton, I knew that you were coming here this weekend and Lady Standhope and I have already discussed some of the things we would need to do as soon as you and Mr John became engaged and therefore you became an important part of the family. I have marked the pages I need to refer to in readiness and have reminded myself of the tasks which need to be set in train. Ma'am," he turned to Lady Standhope, "I took the liberty to ring Mr Barrington yesterday and informed him that he should put himself on notice to be ready when called upon to visit here either over this weekend or possibly on Monday morning, or if that was inconvenient to the parties here, that alternatively that we would wish to see him at his offices in Cheapside during the week."

"Cheapside?" Gertie asked, "I saw Cheapside earlier this year and it was a total wreck from the bombing."

"A rebuilding programme is presently in place, my dear," Lady Standhope explained, "but Barrington & Co set up offices in Cheapside in the 1860s I believe and they became rather attached to their property. When the Kaiser started bombing London from Zeppelin airships during The Great War in 1915, Barrington secretly excavated downwards to create seven floors below their offices and completely 'tanked' every single floor individually, rather like submarines, to protect them from below, basically the high water table which is maintained by the ebb and flow of the tidal Thames, and also protect them from above by raising the original three floors to seven floors in case of bombing in any future war. There is some beautiful symmetry to the design of the building, and it worked very well, although some damage was caused to the upper floors during the Blitz, the basements were perfectly safe as well as preserving all the records and deeds that they hold on our behalf."

"Who is Barrington?" Gertie asked, "you mentioned him before lunch and I meant to ask but then we got into more interesting conversations with... Papa, and the thought went completely out of my mind."

"I have a quire of tiny lined notebooks with a gross of short pencils, perfect for keeping handy in even the smallest purse to make notes in," Lady Standhope said, "and pencils mean no risk of leaky ink. Jotting little notes is a great way to keep track of things and take no criticism, just point out that what people are telling you is important enough to remember and the short note helps keep everything in mind. I will get Maisie to collect some from my office at her convenience. As for Barrington, his firm is Barrington & Company, they are lawyers, barristers primarily, specialising in company law, English, Scottish and International company laws, financial practices, trading laws, taxation liabilities and mitigation measures and all that, but they also have chartered accountants as partners within the firm, they do a lot of auditing, investigating for internal irregularities and discrete evaluations of other companies for advising on investments, fraud, and any kind of chicanery. Horace Barrington is the senior partner and he was my legal and financial advisor and had been since he took over my accounts when his grandfather retired about twelve years ago. Barrington did take six years off, because of the damn war and his desire of 'wanting to be useful and do his bit', so his grandfather came out of retirement to help out during the rest of the war until Barrington was demobbed. As of lunchtime today, however Gertie my dear, Barrington is now exclusively your legal and financial advisor."

"But I don't need a legal or a financial advisor, I don't do anything that I need worry about breaking any laws or financial practices, nor do I have anything other than a Post Office Savings account with less than five pounds in it, and I've only actually had a bank account for about four weeks with roughly ten pounds in it, my wages for the past month, as Evie never gives me a chance to spend any of my own money that the bank pays me weekly."

Lady Standhope and Collins glanced at each other and shared knowing smiles. Gertie noticed.

"What is being cooked up for me here?" Gertie demanded suspiciously.

"I assume, Collins," Lady Standhope looked to Collins for confirmation, "that you took comprehensive notes of my recent briefing with Barrington?"

"I did indeed, Ma'am," he smiled back at her, "and I marked the pages with those notes earlier with another card so I could find it immediately by feel without even looking for it. Ah, here we are. Would you like me to give Miss Thornton a brief precise of the whole meeting, or to simply go to the rabbit, or rather the final er, valuation figure?"

"Oh, I think it's time to pull the rabbit out of the hat, Collins, also, although the engagement is presently only at a stage where one's family and the staff that need to know, Miss Gertie is now not only a member of this family but for about the last hour and a half, she has become your employer, so by our family convention...."

"Indeed, Ma'am," Collins confirmed with a nod.

Collins shifted his position slightly so he could give Gertie his full attention.

"Miss Gertie, by way of introduction, before we get to 'the valuation figures', my name is Alan Collins. I am aged 22, am married to my childhood sweetheart and we have our second baby on the way hoping to arrive around Christmastide. I am actually distantly related to the family you are joining, a second cousin once removed by marriage to Lady Standhope. Her ladyship very generously paid for my education and I believe she wanted me to go to university after my two years of Army service ended two years ago, but I trained both for Chartered Governance and Company Law up to barrister level without actually taking the bar. As well as being a Personal Secretary I am the Company Secretary of twelve companies started and run by the Winter family. Currently, my wife and I live in a cottage on the estate here but we can move to London if you wish or somewhere conveniently close to wherever you and Mr Johnnie decide to settle."

"Mr Collins, this is all far too bewildering for me," Gertie said, "I really have no idea why I would need a secretary. As for where I live, I just assumed that I would live wherever my husband lived, be that at his London flat or wherever else in the country that he lived."

"That would be here, my dear," Lady Standhope said, "This is your main home now and, once married your quarters will be slightly realigned so they will be better suited for a married couple and, hopefully in time, for a larger family."

"Yes, I suppose so...."

"Then, Miss Gertie, let me just tell you that your bank account with just ten pounds in it at the moment will quickly undergo a significant change. Barrington reported to Lady Standhope on the thirteenth instance of October 1948 that your portfolio was worth just over two million guineas, that is two million one hundred thousand pounds, which is made up of a large number of ordinary and debenture shares spread across dozens of different companies, including government securities like War Bonds, Treasury Notes, company debentures as well as more lucrative investments like shares in your banks and other similar vested interests. Now, the principal holdings of these various securities are held in trust, and these are--"

"Wait, did I hear you say that this portfolio is worth... two... million... guineas?"

"Indeed, Gertie, my dear," Lady Standhope said, reaching out and patting her hand, "it has been a tradition in this family, oh, for ever I think, that the wives of Weinsteins were by necessity encouraged to be financially independent of their husbands. At first it was probably just fifty pounds in a tin box, or maybe a couple of diamonds in a linen bag. In some societies and during large tracts of our own history, married women were unable to even open bank accounts independently of their husbands. However it was only when Charles' grandmother married Charles' grandfather, that a much more substantial portfolio of shares and funds were set up in trust for the wife of the man in the family with the leading role of the Earl of Standhope. You see, such wealth gives you complete independence, if your marriage doesn't work out, you will never have to stay with an abusive husband or an alcoholic or even an unfaithful one, you have your own wealth which he cannot touch and that gives you the power of choice."

"And has that power ever been needed?" Gertie asked.

"Never, not to my knowledge anyway," Lady Standhope answered, "and now I hand it all over to you with pleasure. To be frank, I never really needed it as something to fall back on. I was a professional singer on the stage when I received this trust fund immediately upon my engagement to Charles. I have always loved the stage, and before meeting Charles I needed to work hard and build up my career; I was already building up a degree of independence and at the time I had reservations about giving my independence up to become a married woman knowing that if it didn't work out I would have to start at the bottom of my profession again. This trust fund meant reconsidering how I lived my life, I could have a family, I could still sing and dance every day with them, with my children and husband, he was a great ballroom dancer until recently you know. Anyway, with the income from the Trust Fund, I could support a dance company of my choosing, be the patron of a dancing school, I could sponsor a rep company tour, and eventually I even own a theatre, the very one you worked in, my dear. The trust fund gave me choices, gave me other interests outside of being a wife and mother, things of my own that I could be enthusiastic about, and I didn't have to go cap in hand to Charles to ask him to put his hand in his pocket every single time I wanted to do something amazing. What a sense of freedom to be given at the same time as tying down my future with a husband and family! I had the freedom to do just what I wanted to do without damaging my family life. The trust is managed by a diverse group of independent advisors, some work at one of the banks we own, and some are distant cousins. Johnnie as your husband cannot be a Trustee of your Trust, nor can Collins here, but Barrington has a leading role in your trust fund. You can't touch the principle, as I said, but you can meet with the Trustees by arrangement and change some of the things they invest in, like if you were a teetotaller you could ask that they do not invest in breweries or distilleries, or if a friend of yours owned a company and wanted you to invest in it, you could request that the Trustees consider that investment and they will check it out and consider it. Around sixty percentile of the total dividends and profits from the trust are paid to you biannually, around every six months and those sums of money that go into your bank account you can do anything you want with, save, spend, or reinvest and build up a pension for when your future son or daughter want to marry. I would suggest putting it in a different bank account to keep it separate from the every day money. By all means allow the same Trustees to advise or invest that separate account for you, but it remains yours to use. Now that I have surrendered this trust fund to you, I will fall back on the funds that I have accumulated over the last forty years, part of which I set up as a pension fund."

"What happens to the forty percent that you can't keep?" Gertie asked.

Mr Collins spoke up, "That is ploughed back into the trust fund to ensure the trust fund continues to grow so that it keeps pace with inflation and more than cover the present and future holders' expectations. Every five years, the Trustees tell me, they re-examine the complete composition of the fund, the spread and balance, the overall value of the investments, the average outturn of results, compare it with the growth trends or otherwise and ensure the core fund is still adequate and, if the Trustees are satisfied, may release more funds to your independent direct control."

"In 1936, after the recovery since 1929 crash," Lady Standhope said, "about a quarter of a million pounds from the trust fund was considered surplus and they released that sum to me. I didn't know what to do with it at the time but wanted to keep it as a lump sum. The Trustees actually used it meantime to loan out as short-term high-interest loans, thus my personal fund grew from that income. That remained in place until the war and this building was offered on loan to the War Office and subsequently taken over as a hospital, I used most of the money to kit the place out with new beds, desks, examination rooms, operating theatres and supplies. It helped me cope with the loss of my home, knowing that I was doing something for the war effort in providing somewhere where those affected by the bombing and open conflicts by air, land and sea could be made well and whole again or at least made comfortable in a safe place."

"And more funds are being released by this fund and others to do the work needed to restore the Manor after nearly seven years of occupation by the military hospital," Collins added. "The only problem is finding the skilled firms and workmen to do the renovations, there is so much rebuilding around the country and homes for those that lost theirs is still the priority."

"So I could use the income from the fund to repay Evie's kindness in buying all my clothes?" Gertie asked.

"No, my dear, Evie might regard that as an insult," Lady Standhope said soothingly. "She is a very wealthy woman in her own right, not quite as fabulously wealthy as you are now, of course, but any amounts of money be they large or small, mean nothing, absolutely nothing to a woman who has more than enough wealth to spare and especially... if she can call upon an equally wealthy mother who is more than willing to help her out in that regard."

"Ah, so part or more than a part of the money spent on my clothes and my shoes and my hairdressing, and... mmm, a series of once-a-week ballroom dancing lessons thrown in for good measure, may in fact have their source in a trust fund that is now... mine?"

"Ma'am," Collins said to Lady Standhope, as he removed a ten-shilling note that must have been held in readiness from the top pocket of his jacket, unfolded and double tugged it with both hands to create a cracking noise from the crisp, linen-based paper, before handing it over to his former employer, presumably, Gertie thought, in settlement of a bet between then. "I believe we had a small wager with regard to how smart you thought Miss Gertie might be and, for just the once in my life, I expressed doubt in your judgement that such a young girl would be as smart as you had ascertained from merely occasional observation. I was wrong, very wrong, Miss Gertie is indeed everything that you said she was, Ma'am."

"Thank you Collins," Lady Standhope nodded as she took the note, folded it twice along the long edge and tucked it up the sleeve of her dress, "but it was more a steal than a wager that I knew I couldn't lose."

"And for me, the loss of ten bob was worth losing just to see the look just now on Miss Gertie's face as I handed the note over." Collins laughed. "You see, Miss Gertie, look at this room around you. It takes money, an awful lot of money to build up this wonderful collection of books, make and put in those sturdy hardwood book shelves, furnish the room with comfortable furniture and maintain it. The businesses that your fiancé works particularly hard at, day in and day out, is all about money, and the income from the profits of that work supports all of this. So you'd think as everything material stems from money that everyone in this family would be obsessed with money, wouldn't you? However, if you think that, then you are wrong. Miss Evelyn has her own trust fund, as does Mr John and Miss Mildred, so shortage of money is not a problem, so money itself is never really of concern. I am a cousin of Lady Standhope, quite a distant one though and only related by marriage; my grandmother is her aunt by marriage to her natural uncle. Being this remote from the Standhope-Winter family, Miss Gertie, I do not have a family trust fund. However, my excellent education was paid for, without request, my situation was simply and quietly enquired about and was paid for. After I left school I was offered a job, a fantastic job that I enjoy so much that I would do it for nothing if I was allowed to. In reality I could almost manage to do this private Secretary part of it for nothing as my tiny stipends as company secretaries for a number of companies within the group adds up to enough to maintain my own little family quite comfortably. And, being a part of this family, I know that if anything unexpected happened to me, my wife and child will be looked after, because they are also part of the family. Even though they are unrelated, as are the staff here in this house and those that work at the bank, they are all considered by this family to be 'family'; they serve but in return they are also served. 'Family' means everything to this family and that means that, to the individuals in this family, money becomes absolutely meaningless. Money is needed, of course it is, but when there is certainty that financial needs will always be met, then money means nothing, instead, family loyalty means everything. And I have had the good common sense to note how well having the women in this family financially independent of the menfolk, it removes so much inner tension, that I have ensured that my dear wife Ellie has her own bank account and that a part of my Company Secretary payments go directly into her accounts, so if she ever wished to be, she could be financially independent, free. We have already set up a savings fund for my first son Andrew, just two ten-shilling notes because the minimum fund we set up for him required a pound, but that fund will build. One day that will give him choices, to go to university, to find employment or to travel the world. So you see, it is not money that counts, it is being part of a supportive family that is everything."

***

"I seem to have acquired two staff and an attorney," Gertie said to Johnnie as they walked hand in hand through the village in the sunshine of an autumn afternoon.

"I knew about Maisie before this morning," smiled Johnnie, "Barrington must therefore now be your attorney, and I presume the third is your new Private Secretary Collins?" He couldn't contain the chuckle at the slightly cross expression on Gertie's face.

"Yes, spot on. Don't laugh, Johnnie, this may be all old hat to you, but to me it is, well, disturbing quite frankly. I was free as a bird a few weeks ago, and now I'm engaged to be married, not that I have any objection to be married to you, but I do seem to be taking on responsibilities that I'm not sure I need. I mean, what do I to do with a Private Secretary? I don't have any engagements or letters to write," Gertie mused, "oh, and your mother did tell me I have shares in your bank, so in a way I'm one of your bosses."

"Yes, you do, somewhere between 10 to 12 percent, I believe, and yes, you are or could be my boss, if you wanted to stand for election to the board of directors."

"So, if I wanted to use my biannual dividends to buy even more shares, could I buy more shares?"

"Well, your Private Secretary should be able to answer that," Johnnie laughed, "that's one useful thing that you could start using a Private Secretary for!"

"Damn, I didn't think of the question at the time we had our meeting, but Mama has given me a stock of little notebooks and pencils, so I can note down the questions that arise and ask him when I next see him."

"You should set up a weekly meeting with Collins and build a good rapport with him, I know Mama has a high opinion of him despite his young age, he's a cousin of hers. You could use a room at the bank for meetings, or meet at Barrington's offices and thereby kill two birds with one stone. Speak to Collins tomorrow and check what day would be convenient to him; he may answer any day, but insist that as the timing matters very little to you but you would not wish the meeting to be of any inconvenience him. Or, in between scheduled meetings, you could of course simply summon him to a meeting, but I think I can actually answer your question in this instance."

"You can?" Gertie asked shaking her head, "then please do."

"If the Standhope Winter Merchant Bank was a public limited company, one that is quoted on The Stock Exchange in London, you could simply contact a Broker, like George, who will open an account for you and buy the shares on your behalf at the price they are worth at the time of buying, and thereafter you pay him plus his small commission, which might be one or two percent of the sale, by the Settlement Day, usually within twenty-eight days of the purchase." Johnnie advised, "However, while Standhope Winter is a limited liability company, it is a Private limited company, one of many thousands of companies which are not quoted on The Stock Exchange, therefore the shares are not available for the general public to buy or sell. You can only buy them from the Company Secretary, which is Collins again, and all sales have to be approved by a majority of the other shareholders. If they do approve the sale, the Company Secretary will quote you a price per share and you or your advisors, like Barrington, will have to make a judgement whether that is a fair price or not. At least with a public company you pay what the public are prepared to pay from them, which is usually pretty close to the mark, but with a private company with, shall we say, less rigid disclosures of profit and turnover, it can be quite difficult to work out the fair price."

"Ah, I'm sure you must do these evaluations all the time, even for countries like the State of Hungary?"

"Indeed, those assessments are a large part of what we do at Standhope Winter when deciding the figures in the proposals we consider."

"Does the bank just make loans or do they also buy shares in private companies?"

"Yes to both, rarely buying ordinary shares, but sometimes as a private bank it is something we do. Buying debenture stock in a company is a safer way of investing, possibly getting lower returns but having priority over division of assets if a company fails. Buying ordinary shares can be one of the ways for financing a project, by bringing capital to expand the business or ensuring a project is successfully financed and, as shareholders, we might have an influencing presence on the board, the bank could share in the company's success and also demonstrating to other investors that we think this investment is a worthwhile risk for a valuable return."

"Could I come to work with you for a while and find out how the bank works?"

"Of course, you can, Gertie, it would give me enormous pleasure to show you around and let you see and take part in some of what goes on, like the negotiations. Understanding what I do may help you cope with my rather selfish occupation on work during those intense periods where a deal can be all-consuming."

"Like the Hungarian financing?"

"Indeed."

"Oh, something else I forgot to tell you," Gertie said, "arising from my meeting with Mama and Collins."

Johnnie smiled at Gertie's reference to his mother, "Yes?"

"Mama wants me to move in with Evie and George for the time being until just before the wedding," Gertie said, "she believes it will be easier to introduce me to people from the Dorsets' Kensington residence than from my humble home in Limehouse. What do you think?"

"Yes, it is a good move. Are you aware that when my Weinstein forefather first moved to London, he had lost virtually everything in Mainz and again had found difficulty establishing his business and home in Amsterdam, so he came here in the 1790s and set up home and offices in the London Docks, not far from where your parents live, the bank was then concentrating on financing movements of mostly agricultural produce. So be proud of your humble beginnings because that is where we all spring from."

"I hadn't realised, Mama did say some of that but I didn't really take in all that she said other than he rolled up in London with a bag of diamonds."

"I think he used most of the diamonds that he started out with in Amsterdam. We still have a branch there that does some very nice business, it even carried on, completely independently of the head office, throughout the war, under the Weinstein name. We encourage our branch managers to be resilient and resourceful."

"I have a lot to learn, Johnnie, I know. Mama and Evie both said they worked in the bank during the war alongside your father."

"They did help keep the home fires burning, helping us absent menfolk of fighting age to concentrate on dodging bullets rather than worry about our mothers and sisters at home."

"Mmm, I will have to speak to my Mum about the proposed move. Anyway, you would have no objections?"

"Of course not, for me the move would be easy, I could walk across to see you most nights from my own apartment rather than use the car. A move would have some merits, but how would your mother feel about it?" Johnnie asked, "I mean that she must be expecting you to leave home at some point, especially now that you will tell her that you are engaged to be married, but a mother's time with her only daughter in the months before marriage is a precious time, not just for you, Gertie, but for your mother, who would want to take full part in the organisation of the wedding as well as get used to letting you go."

"I hadn't thought of that. Just telling Mum that I was moving from Limehouse to Kensington, simply for convenience, wouldn't cut much ice with her, she'd know that I, we, were ashamed of where they live, even if we don't. And it is not their fault, they've done the best for me that they could and I should have no complaints about what they have done for me."

"And so you shouldn't, Gertie, they have done a wonderful job of raising you into the very special person that you are."

***

"Er, Royal five-five-one, er, H-ello." The voice answering the telephone, that Gertie counted rang the bell eight times before the receiver was picked up and hesitated in answering. She knew before any words were spoken that it would be her mother answering; her Dad flatly refused to answer "the blessed fing", as her mother had previously related to her. Although in reality "blessed" was probably not the actual word used but was the one that her Mum used in paraphrasing her husband's response to the presence of the telephone. Gertie smiled at her mother's over-emphasis on the 'H' of 'hello' because if she was answering the front door in Dot Thornton's home it would've been 'ello.

"Hello, Mum, it's me," Gertie spoke into the microphone, shaking her head at the very thought of using a telephone from her own bedroom at Standhope Manor. It had been installed in the short time it took while her fiancé had shown her round the small village of Standhope, where the simple introduction to the post office that doubled up as the village stores was virtually an introduction to the whole population. Then to return to see the telephone set on her bedside table, as if it had appeared by magic. Such things that this family could get done by people and companies around them amazed Gertie every single time such seemingly effortless influence was demonstrated.

"Oh, 'ello sweet'eart, 'ow's yer weekend goin'?"

"It's lovely here, Mum, the house is absolutely beautiful, the gardens, even in winter, look like the best park you could ever imagine, the local village is like it was lifted off the lid of a box of fancy chocs. You'd love it here, in fact you'n' Dad are invited up here to stay next weekend."

"What, the 'ole weekend?"

"Yes, Johnnie says he will send a motor car to pick you both up on Friday early evening."

"Why?"

"Why? Because you've been invited, that's why," Gertie answered, "Lord and Lady Standhope themselves want to meet you both, er..."

"Ah, so 'e's asked ya to marry him this weekend then, eh Ducks?" Dot chuckled at the end of the line.

"Yes, he did, Mum, but it's unofficial, so we can't announce it until around Christmas, I think, so don't say anything to anyone, especially Auntie Vi, you know she's got a mouth on her. So, you guessed he would ask me when I went with Johnnie to visit his folks?"

"Yeah, but also cos 'e visited us durin' the week, on an ev'nin' after Dan finished work an' you wos at some function wiv Evie."

"Why would he visit you and Dad without me being there?"

"You silly girl. Johnnie's a right gen'leman ain't 'e? 'e came 'ere to ask yer Dad fer 'is permission fer yahr 'and, to ask ya to marry 'im."

"Oh my Lord! He did that?"

"'e did an'all. 'e also explained wot the society norm nowadays was fer couples to become engaged after some monffs o' gettin' to know one anovver, ravver than weeks, an' that's why the engagement would 'ave to be unofficial, like, at first until it could be announced to the public. 'e said that 'e fought the palava of usin' Evie to get ya used to the idea of bein' the wife of a prominent banker would'a bin like a bit bewilderin' to anyone, however special you is, an' that 'e wanted to take away any feelin's of insecurity, like, by givin' ya 'is great-grandmovver's ring. 'e's precious that bloke, Gert, an' yer don' wanna lose 'im, my girl."

"No, Mum, I don't want to lose him at all, I love him."

"That's good dear, because, well, we're all rootin' fer ya, but it's going to be a long, hard road ahead. It's not Johnnie ya need to worry about, it's 'is mates wot'll whisper in 'is shell-like an' continually undermine ya, them's the ones wot ya needs ta get past."

"That's all right, Mum, I knew from the first words he spoke to me that if I had half a chance I would never let him get away from me. I've got my hiking boots on that long, hard road and I'll follow him to the horizon and back again if I have to."

"Yeah, that's more like my girl! Go get 'im Gertie!"

to be continued