Master of His Fate: The gripping new Victorian epic from the author of A Woman of Substance

She had gone upstairs to change and had put on what she called ‘my best dress’, which she had made herself. The colour was unusual, a deep lilac that was almost mauve. Tailored and stylish, it fell to her ankles and had long sleeves. A cream lace shawl-style collar and cuffs gave the silk dress a certain elegance.

Maude had swept her dark glossy hair up in a twist, and on the crown a pile of curls was held in place by tortoiseshell combs. Her wedding ring was her only piece of jewellery. She was thinner these days, still prone to winter colds, like the nasty one she had suffered some years back, which had scared them all, but healthy.

Esther nodded in approval, and exclaimed, ‘Maude, here you are at last, and it was well worth the wait. You do look lovely, my dear.’

‘Thank you,’ Maude said, moving gracefully into the large kitchen. She headed for a chest of drawers, took out a box of Swan Vesta matches and went to the gas lamps on the walls. These she lit, one after the other.

‘That’s better. I can now see you all,’ she announced. The kitchen had instantly taken on a rosy glow as the lamps flickered brightly.

‘It was growing dim in here,’ Harry told her. ‘Come and see my leg of lamb. Gorgeous, ain’t it?’

Maude joined him, looked into the oven, and agreed with him that she had never seen one better.

For once Esther ignored Harry’s use of slang; she had been correcting his speech for years, often to no avail, and had now given up. She was more concerned about his life in general. He was already thirty-one, and there was no sign of a woman in his life. She wished he would meet someone, start courting and eventually marry. She wanted her two other sons to be settled, and the sooner the better. As for George, who was thirty-three, he seemed to be married to his newspaper.

There’s nothing I can do about any of it, Esther thought, a sigh escaping. She stuck the needle into the fine cotton shirt carefully, folded it neatly, and then put it in a linen bag at her feet. Standing, she took the bag into the parlour across the hall. Observing her grandmother, Rossi did the same, and followed her.

‘We had better light the gas lamps,’ Rossi said, as she entered the small sitting room. ‘It’s gloomy in here.’

‘Yes, I’ll do that,’ Esther answered, and found the matches. Instantly the parlour looked more welcoming with the gaslights burning, and the two of them returned to the kitchen.

Rossi made for a cupboard, took out two white tablecloths, and her mother helped her to spread them on the long oak table. Once they were in place, Rossi, Maude and Esther went to the china cupboard and began to take out plates and dishes. Within a short time, they had set ten places at the table, added glasses and cutlery. They put candlesticks down the middle of the table, and added the white candles.

‘Ten of us again?’ Esther murmured, turning to Rossi.

‘Yes. Denny Holden will be arriving shortly. You see, he just loves our suppers. He says he has never seen anything like them, or tasted such delicious food. He’s from a small family, Grandma, and I know he loves to be amongst boisterous us. Anyway, he and James have been close friends for years, working together on the stalls.’

Maude said, ‘There’s not a boy I know in these parts who’s nicer than Denny. It cheers him up to join us. His mother’s a bit poorly at the moment.’

Esther nodded. ‘I like Denny. He’s very polite and … well … rather reserved. In any case, it’s always rewarding to do someone a good turn. I like his father. Jack’s a decent man.’

Almost on cue, there was a knock on the door. Rossi ran to open it, to find Denny standing on the doorstep. She gave him a quick once-over and smiled inwardly. He had undoubtedly made a huge effort to dress appropriately, and was wearing a dark suit, a white shirt and a tie. The suit looked stylish, of the moment.

‘You look very smart,’ she whispered as she drew him into the house.

‘It’s a new suit,’ he whispered back. ‘Pa bought it for me at one of those shops which sells suits put together like this. I think they’re called ready-made.’

When they walked into the kitchen together, James waved, then hurried over to Denny, greeted him warmly. For his part, Denny said hello to everyone, and James announced, ‘It’s getting a bit crowded in here, and Uncle Harry does need to concentrate on the food. Let’s go into the parlour.’ They all agreed, and James led the way.

As they were settling down in the chairs and on the sofa, Eddie came running in, a happy smile on his face. He was followed by Philip, who was also smiling.

Rushing over to Maude, Eddie said, ‘Grandpapa mended my easel, Mum. It works again. I can paint tomorrow!’

‘I knew he could fix it for you, Eddie.’

Eddie, who was now twelve, leaned against the arm of the chair, and looked up at his mother, his happiness reflected on his young face. He was never far from her side.

Philip took a seat on the sofa next to his wife, and said, ‘I only needed a screwdriver. A few of the screws had come loose.’

Esther nodded. ‘I’m happy it was easy. Eddie is quite talented, you know, good at drawing. He’s given me several of his paintings.’

Rossi, as always, jumped up first when she heard the knocking on the front door. ‘Uncle George has arrived!’ she exclaimed, and she was correct. George stood there holding bunches of flowers in his arms, and grinning at her.

‘Oh my goodness!’ Rossi cried, staring at the profusion of flowers as she took him into the parlour. George handed a posy to Rossi, Maude and his mother. The three of them thanked him profusely, and after greeting them all, he said, ‘I’ll just go and see my brother the chef.’ James went with him.

Whilst George was talking to Harry, James went back to his small duties as his uncle’s helper. He had finished the mint sauce, had remembered to add the sugar to it. The base for the gravy was almost ready to go into the meat pan, once the leg of lamb came out.

James was slicing the loaf of bread when the sound of a key in the door told him that his father had arrived home from the Malvern. Now the entire family was here, and soon the supper would commence.

When Esther and Maude led the others into the kitchen to start supper, they both glanced at each other and smiled. Now they knew why Rossi had suddenly disappeared, after taking George’s flowers from them. These were now arranged in small vases down the table. Salt, pepper and sauces had been put here and there, white napkins were at each place, and two bottles of red wine had been uncorked and stood on the chest in order to breathe.

‘You did a lovely job,’ Maude said, smiling at her fifteen-year-old daughter.

‘Thank you, Mum, but it was James who helped me and then he opened the red wine, as per Grandpapa’s instructions earlier.’

‘Certainly the table looks perfect and the smells emanating from the range are mouthwatering,’ Esther remarked as she sat down, thinking that Harry had probably outdone himself tonight.

Within a few seconds, a stack of soup dishes stood next to Maude’s place where she sat at one end of the table; suddenly Harry was there carrying a huge tureen, followed by James with a ladle. Harry placed the tureen on the other side of Maude.

‘Please serve the soup, Maude,’ Harry said, and took an empty soup dish from the pile, put it in front of her. He picked it up when the soup was in the dish and took it away. Then it was James’s turn to serve a bowl of soup, then Matt, and so on, until everyone had a bowl and was dipping into their mulligatawny soup, declaring it delicious.

Empty dishes were whisked away, and the next course was ready to be served: thinly sliced leg of lamb, individual Yorkshire puddings, roasted potatoes and cauliflower. It was Harry who put four gravy boats on the table, two at each end, and also glass dishes of mint sauce. Matt carved the huge roast lamb, which had been put in front of him. James and George helped by carrying covered tureens of vegetables to the table, along with a huge platter holding ten individual Yorkshire puddings. And Denny, who had wanted to help, had been assigned the task of walking around the table offering the sliced bread to the diners.

Matt served the meat on plates in the same way Maude had ladled out the soup, and everyone helped themselves to the vegetables on the table, once the lids had been swiftly removed by James, Harry and George.

Once a full plate sat in front of every person, James and his grandfather went around the table pouring the wine, but Rossi and Eddie were only allowed a thimbleful in a glass of water.

Everyone enjoyed the food and being together, and there was much laughter and jokes and serious talk between George, Matt and their father about current politics. And George’s Fleet Street gossip about former prime ministers such as Disraeli and Gladstone was entertaining. But it was Rossi who surprised them all when she announced, ‘I like Salisbury best,’ referring to the present prime minister.

This comment led to more discussion, but soon amusing stories about the latest actresses on the London stage and other celebrities took over, as a more colourful subject than politics.

After chatting for a while and then clearing the dishes, Harry, George and James brought out clean plates. Harry presented the family with their favourite dessert. His very special plum pudding with Mr Bird’s ‘magic custard’, as he called it.