The Ruby Necklace (2) 'What's wrong?', the young mistress said. 'Nothing, nothing, Ma'am ', she said and then Frederika added quickly, 'but I don't know what to say'. Mrs Denby looked directly at her and then turned away and put the necklace on the table. 'What is it, Frederika, tell me, what's wrong, what's wrong? ', she seemed to want to wring something out of Frederika. 'Oh she was a witch', Frederika felt as she closed her eyes. 'This surprises me', Frederique muttered. 'What surprises you, Frederika.? ' Mrs Denby asked. Then Mrs Denby began to speak: 'Oh this is what you dream about, is that it?', the young mistress suddenly became serious and puckered her brow. 'This is what girls like you dream of, is that it..is it this what you yearn for this and you crave it!' The young mistress looked away and then spoke again quickly, ' Have you seen it before, is that it, is that it and you plan to steal it, you plan to steal it. You're a thief, is that it…?' Frederique bowed her head and remained silent. 'Say something, what is it?', the young mistress said. Then Mrs Denby sat in her chair beside the dressing table and looked at Frederika who had her head bowed. Mrs Denby continued: 'Raise your head. You're not my friend, Frederika, you're not my friend because you treat me as your mistress’. Frederika listened but she didn’t know what Mrs Denby was saying. Then Mrs Denby continued, ‘I'm not your mistress. I'm your friend. I'm your friend and I know you. Yes you've never seen anything like it. That's it. This will pay for your new life, wherever that is. That's it, isn't it?', the young mistress said. 'Yes Ma'am, it is'. Suddenly Frederika glanced at Mrs Denby and was surprised. For amidst the screaming, she saw then a real working class girl. To Frederika, the young mistress began to look like a girl from the streets. Frederika watched her closely and was conscious also of the cold night outside. 'This necklace is mine, it is mine', Mrs Denby repeated and then she asked, 'Have you seen it?' 'I have heard of it, Ma'am', Frederika answered directly. Then Mrs Denby was quiet. She looked at Frederika who was almost staring at the carpet. 'You look frail, my dear, pale, what is it?' Then Frederika spoke: 'I have heard of it, Ma'am. I have heard of it'. Mrs Denby watched her then she decided to address Frederika in a soft way: 'Who told you about it?', she asked. 'Ma'am, I heard about it in talk; that is all', the girl answered. The young mistress looked at and smiled. Then she said: I suppose then my name is still mentioned in some parts. That's where you're from. That's where you heard isn't it', she said quickly. She didn't wait for a reply as she turned around to the dresser and then turned back again. 'But Frederika, this necklace is mine. Yes you are a friend. We have talked together. You have talked with me. You have helped me through these nights but the necklace, well it is mine. It belongs to me. Not to my husband and my husband, well he will never have it! I seduced him for this, for this. It's all there is now! But you know, he will try and keep this', she said, as she looked at the necklace and signalling vaguely for Frederika to follow where she was looking. She continued: 'I worked hard for this' she said dreamily, ‘I worked hard. This is mine’. And then she said, 'Maybe all I have'. They were silent. After a while, the young mistress spoke again. 'Well I seduced him’. She seemed to be emphasizing the seduction and Frederika asked automatically. ‘Why?’. The young mistress looked at her. She saw then that she could trust Frederika. She continued, ‘Because I was told to by a man...he was a man who helped girls like me’. Frederika looked directly at her and then away. Mrs Denby continued, ‘And he told me to seduce Henry because he knew he had this necklace and I did' ,she stopped suddenly, ‘but I fell in love.. you see.. and I saw this new life.. it was real and I didn't take this necklace from him.. it was my chance to be free and so I didn't… well.. that's it... ‘ Mrs Denby looked ahead of out and spoke in a final kind of way: ‘You know Frederika, I am not so far above you. Like you, I don't really have anything. If he divorces me, I have nothing. I have nothing', she said and then she sat in the chair 'But I know what to do, yes this necklace, this jewel is mine'. Then it was quiet again and Frederika was conscious of the cold windy night outside. 'Now', the young mistress said, as she went over to Frederika, 'We are friends, you call me Teresa, come on, we were born in the same area, we have the same roots, maybe the same lovers, we are friends, now.. alright.. we have spent the day together...come on. Teresa it is'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The following morning, Teresa and Frederika stood together in the drawing room. 'Would you seduce my husband? ', Teresa asked in an offhand and innocent way, 'Frederika, I need the divorce'. 'Why? ', Frederika asked automatically although Teresa had just given the reason. 'Freddie', Teresa suddenly said, 'because I want to divorce him, I want a reason’. 'But he has a lover, does he not', Frederika said. 'Oh yes he has but I don't know her name' , Teresa said as she walked to the armchair and sat down. Frederika looked at Teresa and wondered if she could talk about the necklace. They were friends now, Frederika felt, and she wanted to talk about the necklace. Then Frederika said suddenly: 'It's my debt, Teresa, I just want to pay my debt. I just want to be legitimate, law-abiding, you know', she said but Teresa misunderstood what she was saying. Teresa looked at her and said: Of course, Frederika, no-one is asking you to do anything criminal. I just want you to seduce him, give me grounds for divorce. I thought you were my friend'. 'Teresa, I am your friend', Frederika said. 'Well if you seduced my husband, it's not a crime', Teresa said directly as she looked at the girl, 'I have confided in you but I see you are weak. I still want to help you! You are from the same background as me. You walked the same streets as me. I want to help you, really.’ 'Teresa', Frederika said, 'You're the first person to say that.' 'Well then', Teresa added and she turned and looked out of the window. Frederika stood at the fireplace and said suddenly, 'Why don't you stay with your husband? Look at the comfort here, everything'. Teresa turned around again and moved to the edge of the armchair and seemed to ponder this: 'You're right perhaps. But I'm not in love with him. I don't love him’. Teresa stopped and then added: 'have I said too much?' Frederika was quiet. She saw that Teresa didn’t expect an answer as she looked outside the window again. Frederika looked at her. After all Teresa had told her, she must tell Teresa about herself: 'I have a confession, Teresa, ' and she stopped. Teresa turned and looked at her. Frederika continued: 'I'm going to say it openly. I was told to work here by someone to steal your necklace.' 'Wait,,,you tell me this in the morning, when the sun is shining, when I think of love and a new life. I'm tired. I want to be in love and now you tell me this', then Teresa stopped and seemed to smile. She continued: ‘You were told to steal the necklace.. that is it?' ‘Yes’, Frederika said and Teresa sat quiet ‘But Teresa, I'm scared..I'm really scared’. They were quiet as Teresa looked away. 'Please say something, Teresa’, Frederika said as she looked down at Teresa. Teresa was quiet for a few seconds but then her response surprised Frederika. 'I'd ask you to leave you know but.. you have my secrets,’ she said suddenly. ‘Teresa, don't talk like that. Don't speak like that. You're like Jackson now but you're more than that, worth more than him’, Frederika seemed to plead. ‘Who, do you say?’ ‘Jackson’, Frederika said softly. Teresa stopped but then she continued, ‘But this is absurd’. Teresa stopped again. Then she seemed to shout: ‘But you betrayed me, you betrayed me’. Then the other maid came in. ‘Is something wrong?’, the woman asked. ‘No, this girl has betrayed me…Mrs Nelson and I want her to leave’, Teresa said quickly. Mrs Nelson looked at Frederika and then at Teresa and something seemed to click in her. She seemed to put the episode down to Teresa’s tempestuous and impetuous nature. For she didn't say anything. Well, Mrs Nelson, well, well, you do not obey me’, Teresa began to say. ‘I am still your mistress. I am still the lady of the house. Oh this damned, damned house! Alright, go the both of you, leave me alone’. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just half an hour later, Teresa came to the kitchen, I'd like to speak to Frederika, if you please’, she said affectedly to Mrs Nelson. Come with me, Frederika’, she said when Frederika appeared. Then they walked to the garden. You could see the two women understood each other and their talk now continued on from their earlier conversation. Teresa said: ‘I don't know you really but know this! I am like you and I know you're in a predicament. I don't know why you have done this. Why have you taken up this man’s offer? You’re in debt I suppose’, Teresa asked, looking directly ahead of her. Frederika said quietly: ‘Yes, I owe money to him’. Then Teresa continued: Yes, but you see Frederika, I worked also for Jackson and I made friends and connections through him, Henry for example. Yes my husband! But Jackson, he asked me to steal that same damned jewel from Henry. The theft of the jewel, oh yes! and I seduced Henry but I befriended him and I fell in love. What can I say, we married.’ ‘I don't understand you, Teresa’, Frederika said automatically. ‘I mean, Frederika, that I seduced my husband. It was because I actually began to love him. Really but Jackson thinks it’s because of money or something but I actually liked him then…we fell in love and then we saw I think that we weren‘t really suited for each other….but the necklace…. I didn't give the necklace to Jackson. I kept it but I stole other things. I mean how could I steal from a man I fell in love with. But I‘m telling you all this…I am so lonely..I was so lonely…you‘re the first person I really talked to, Freddie.’ She stopped. Then she said again: ‘It was all just a grand seduction that shouldn’t have ended in marriage. However now I find that I have the necklace and it is the only thing still of value and it is my life, my escape. Oh Frederika, that is why I become so excited. It is all I have. I am a street girl, an actress, that is all and all I have is the jewel and some money and I know you are the same’. Then Teresa said: ‘And I know you are afraid, Freddie.’ ‘I'm not afraid, Teresa' , Frederika said. ‘Well, pay off your debt and start again. I will help you', Teresa said. They continued to walk in the garden. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the winter sun of the morning, you seemed to speak into the air. Yes, words really had no meaning. They weren't spoken to the other person. They were spoken into the air and maybe that was good for Frederika because in her heart and soul, a mixture of fear and confusion was beginning to grip her. She didn't want to speak to Hopper who she used to live with. She was meeting Jackson again but as she walked into N lane, there was Hopper! 'But it's not like that', she tried to shout. Then Hopper said: 'We can get back together, can't we?' Frederika thought quickly: 'I don't know, maybe', she said as she looked away. 'Why can't we?’, he said quickly. 'Well, I've moved on. I work as a maid. I have debts to pay, thanks to you'. For when he ejected her from their flat, she had to rely essentially on Jackson. Then she added, 'You left me, did you not? '. However she said these latter words so strongly that Hopper misunderstood their intent. 'Wait, don't talk to me like that..in the morning. I'm tired. I've worked all night' 'I don't want to talk, alright', but he grabbed her. She looked down at her arm that he held and then he looked at her and let her go. Then she walked further and there was Jackson waiting. She walked up to him. She had planned what she had to say to him. She would say that she didn't understand the true meaning of what she was doing i.e. stealing the necklace. There was no way she would steal the necklace now but still she would not tell Jackson about her friendship with Teresa. She wanted too to get out of the theft. She was afraid of Jackson and felt that despite her friendship with Teresa, she might still have to replace the necklace with a fake. 'Jackson, you never explained to me about all this. I might go to prison', she said. 'Freddie, you look frightened..my dear.. don't be frightened..' he said, looking at her face. Then she answered quickly, 'I am because you're making me a thief. You're making me a thief', she repeated again. 'But it's an honest theft, Freddie, if you know.. the necklace is mine. The mistress owes it to me and I've told you to get it back and that's that', he said directly. He said these words so strongly that Frederika didn't know what to say but the thought of 'theft' raced through her mind. She imagined herself being arrested for a theft. For she would probably be the likely culprit if a crime was reported. 'But sir, she must know the real from a fake’, she said suddenly. Then Jackson put his hand in his pocket and put a necklace into her hand. She looked at it. To her, it was the same as the one she had seen in the Denbys. Then she began to feel week and in some way like a child as she listened to him. 'Oh you surprise me, sir’, she said, as she looked at it. He looked back at her and saw how childish she was. He had known her since she was a child, about fourteen. She had worked in the streets around here and above all the girl was a friend. He would never hurt her but he knew that Freddie was afraid of him. 'Freddie, you're a girl. I'm a friend. I help you. You need help. God knows where you'd be without me‘. Then he moved his hat in his hand and looked at her again and then away. Then he continued: 'I trust you, Freddie. I trust your instincts but whatever happens, don't come back to me. I gave you a chance to repay your debt. You took it and if anything goes wrong, don't come to me..This is the way the world is, Freddie. You think I've no responsibilities. I know the way you think. You think I've money and all but I earned this.. Freddie, you're a young girl' Frederique listened to him and then looked closely at him as he looked away. She was aware that he in no way suspected her friendship with Teresa and that Teresa and her were now confidantes. She listened to him still because he was still like an older brother to her but she realized then that she would never steal the necklace. It was not possible! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That night, Frederika came downstairs to the drawing room. She couldn't sleep. She sat in an armchair. She thought vaguely that she did owe Jackson something! Jackson knew her mother and had told her mother about the opportunity with the Denbys. He had also never mentioned to her mother the debt that she owed to him. This was because her mother wasn't interested anyway but maybe it was because he really wanted to help her. But her mother! She felt that her mother wanted her to be a success in some way. Maybe being a maid, her mother would be proud of her! 'And that's it', she thought, as she sat in the armchair and then suddenly before her was the ruby necklace, the image of the necklace. The necklace seemed to be 'everything', the answer to all her problems but was it really everything? She sat in the chair, 'I just want to pay off the debt and work earnestly and honestly, be legitimate, not go to prison'. She looked around her in the dark. She knew that she would not be disturbed. It was quiet but suddenly she was afraid. Girls like her could disappear off the streets. She knew Jackson would never hurt her anyway but it was this fear. She still had a fear that she couldn’t escape. She was still surprised by her friendship with Teresa and she didn’t know what to do. Maybe she should replace it the necklace with the fake. But if she was arrested…the law would not protect her. Yes it wouldn't protect her if she was arrested! She wouldn't be able to explain her situation to the court, she tried to think, but she could stay with Teresa as a maid and gradually pay off the debt.. stay here but the ruby necklace....Jackson would demand that she replace it.. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederika was looking out of the window of her bedroom. She saw the butcher woman pass the house. ‘This woman had probably forgotten about her or at least didn't really care about her now. But maybe ,if she knew about the necklace, she would take an interest, a real interest. Frederika continued to look outside. She had heard that Jackson was going to prison for a few months for living off immoral earnings. She looked down at the garden and then the trees. Her mind was numb. She had known that she must make a decision about her life but now the imprisonment of Jackson seemed to change things. But this was her life! She let her mind wander. She thought first of Teresa and she suddenly realized how solitary and quiet the life of Teresa was. Maybe it was normal for Teresa to want to leave! Still maybe all lives were solitary! She continued to look out of the window. What if the ruby necklace wasn't real anyway? Yes it was real, in some way; it had real value ; And what was it? Why didn't Teresa give the jewel to Jackson? She said she fell in love but was this the reason? But Frederika didn't really care now. She was tired and numbed, numbed mainly by the news about Jackson. She looked back into her room.
Copyright © 2008 Joel Ficelle |