Chapter 13. Inscription
Aida was no fool - at first she blinked. "Is this what I think it is?"
Gideon had spent weeks thinking of what would be the best way
to tell her about the return of the ring.
She turned it over and looked closely at the inside of the band.
There were two barely legible initials: L and M.
Gideon felt suddenly ashamed that he''d worn the ring for nearly
two years and hadn''t known they were there.
''''Lillian Marchant." he said softly.
"Mother." Aida said ''''How Gideon? How after all these years."
Before he had a chance to answer, Aida burst into tears
and hugged him.
*
Alone in the house Gideon sipped his tea and enjoyed the peace
and quiet. He knew it wouldn''t last.
What he hadn''t foreseen, was Aida with ring in hand, immediately
catching a train to Bath.
Home to their sprawling family estates and the house they grew
up in. With both their parents now passed, it would be home to
the arms of their gossip starved Aunts and Uncles, and the
extended family.
The ring and it''s loss was part of family folklore.
*
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The visitors started to arrive soon after Aida returned to
London, but they were a different social set to what Gideon
had expected.
Aida told him that Bath had changed. It was now full of feminist
radicals she said, who were still passionate as ever about their
cause, but were now frustrated that the War had put a stop to
their political campaigning.
Gideon was getting ready for his day at the enlistment board.
"Why don''t they do something useful then, like join the land army
or work in a factory and support the War effort. That would
be something."
Aida ignored him and continued arranging the flowers on the
table she was setting. She went into the kitchen to get
more cutlery.
"The flowers look beautiful Aida." Gideon said as he walked
out the door.
"Don''t forget we have guests tonight." Aida said.
*
Gideon arrived home late and found the house already full
of the happy chatter of guests. After changing and freshening
up, he found a seat at the table where a place name had
been set for him.
Looking around the room there appeared to be far more dinner
guests than seats, not that anyone seemed to care.
The guests were mostly young women and nearly all of them
had a drink in hand.
Next to him sat a woman closer in age to himself who had
fashionably short blonde hair.
"May I introduce myself." he said.
"I was rather hoping you would Gideon." the woman said.
"Have we met before?" he asked.
"We have not. My name is Edith, Aida has told me a great
deal about you."
Gideon contemplated the sherry in his glass.
"Let me apologise for my sister''s shameless attempt at
match making."
Edith smiled. "Pre-dinner drinks started quite early this
afternoon and no one noticed when I switched name
cards to make sure that I sat next to you."
Edith''s eyes were clear and bright.
His face warmed as he blushed. "May I ask why?"
"I''ll tell you that when we have lunch together. I''m in London
till the end of the week." Edith sipped the gin in her glass.
"As for tonight, let''s get to know each other better and let the
young ones have their fun."
*
Gideon left the enlistment offices at midday and walked
to the lake in Regents park where Edith''s note said she would
be waiting. As he walked past the boarded up entrance to
the London zoo, it occurred to him that he knew next to
nothing about her. The dinner party had been a wonderful
night and he''d enjoyed her company, but he couldn''t remember
a single thing Edith had said about herself.
Edith had asked him all sorts of questions about his life.
Surely at some point in the night he must have asked about hers.
There was a time he thought himself when he was far more
certain of the people around him.
The morning after the dinner party Aida was nursing a terrible
hangover. She handed him the note from Edith.
"Did someone make a friend last night." she said with a grin.
"You''ve been invited to a picnic."
*
Edith had laid out the picnic blanket on the sunny sloping bank of
the lake. They sat each side of a wicker basket from which
Edith took a small wheel of cheese and sliced it on a timber plate.
"Aida''s visit to Bath and the return of her ring was the talk of the town
for weeks." she said.
''''I''m sure it was." Gideon replied.
She dipped a flat knife into a jar of paste and passed a biscuit
to him. "But what I found most interesting of all, was when Aida
told me that you''d seen my nephew Finn at the enlistment board."
Gideon almost choked. ''''Your nephew?"
''''Miriam Page is my sister. The story of Aida''s ring and your chance
meeting with Finn - it makes me think that perhaps we have a
a mutual friend."
Gideon watched two swans circling each other on the lake.
"Perhaps we do." he said.
*