The Calloway Sisters Read online

  Also by the author

  non-fiction

  Unto the Skies: A Biography of Amy Johnson

  (Book Guild, 2017)

  fiction

  The Rules of Engagement

  (Book Guild, 2019)

  First published in Great Britain in 2022 by

  The Book Guild Ltd

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  Harrison Road, Market Harborough,

  Leicestershire. LE16 7UL

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  Copyright © 2022 K.A. Lalani

  The right of K.A. Lalani to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  This work is entirely fictitious and bears no resemblance to any persons living or dead.

  ISBN 978 1915352 071

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  I dedicate this novel to all the Allied troops who fought in the Gallipoli campaign, but especially those from Australia and New Zealand and to the plucky nurses, “the Anzac Girls”, who followed their men to the Front and served them so loyally.

  Contents

  Prelude

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  Epilogue

  Select Bibliography

  Acknowledgements

  Prelude

  Melbourne, Australia – December 1913

  Agnes Maria Calloway sat in her bedroom suite at the family home in Toorak, an affluent suburb of Melbourne, trying to temper her anticipation for the coming party. Charlotte, the family maid, who was currently running a comb through her hair, smiled at her mistress, sharing in the sense of excitement, although Agnes wished the butterflies which had been fluttering in her stomach would go away.

  Agnes smiled back, but only slightly, having chastised the girl, firstly for eavesdropping and then for gossiping to her about what she had overheard. She felt a little guilt believing that she was going to benefit from the news, but she always tried to discourage Charlotte from her habit of listening to private conversations as she knew her mother wouldn’t tolerate it if she were to catch her in the act. Agnes still wanted to know what she had overheard two nights ago.

  ‘So what exactly did you hear my father, Mr Calloway, say?’

  Charlotte frowned as she formulated the words in her mind. ‘That he found the terms of betroth…’

  ‘Betrothal,’ supplied Agnes eagerly.

  ‘Yes, that, most satisfactory.’

  ‘So what did Mr Landseer say in response?’ asked Agnes.

  ‘Can’t recall, Miss, as I thought I heard something and left.’

  ‘You did the wise thing, Charlotte, and I have told you before that eavesdropping is disrespectful and Mrs Calloway would take a dim view if she caught you.’

  ‘Yes, Miss Agnes, but do you think an announcement will be made tonight?’

  ‘It would seem a fair assumption to make, and it would be an opportune time.’

  ‘Do you really like him, Miss Agnes?’ Charlotte asked, blushing a deep crimson in fear that she had overstepped the mark. Of them all Agnes was the most generous and patient with her, but Charlotte knew that even Agnes’s tolerance had its limit.

  Agnes smiled reassuringly. ‘It’s a reasonable question to ask in the circumstances, and yes, I do. Mr Landseer can be a difficult study to some and he has a tendency to appear arrogant sometimes, but I believe we are well matched. I have known him many years, so I feel there is an understanding between us. A mutual respect for one another’s views, which for me is vitally important. I couldn’t commit to a man who didn’t respect what I think and merely wanted a pretty girl to hang on his arm. A trophy! No, I couldn’t accept that. Besides, Mr Landseer is very well regarded within the business community in this city. His father helped to establish the bank he works for, and the Landseer name is very well established in Melbourne.’

  Agnes looked at the effort Charlotte had put into styling her hair, and she smiled, giving the girl an encouraging nod; her amber eyes, which people said were one of her most attractive features, shone brightly as she held a piece of jewellery against her chest.

  ‘You had better finish, Charlotte, as Miss Sarah will need your help.’

  Charlotte smiled as she ran the brush through Agnes’s hair once more before inserting the tortoiseshell comb. She felt a tinge of anticipation on her mistress’s behalf, about how the night’s events might unfold and thus, she could understand her excitement.

  The Calloway Mansion – Two Nights Earlier

  Michael Landseer blew heavily on the cigar, which had been lit for him by his host, smiling broadly as he lifted the snifter in salute.

  ‘You have fine taste in cigars, Jensen, and an exceptionally good cognac. I trust these indulgences to which you have become accustomed will remain within your means. I have to say, the terms I’ve laid out, to which you have agreed, are acceptable.’

  Jensen Calloway perched on the edge of his rosewood desk, smiled slightly, feeling more relaxed than he had in a long while, although far from as satisfied as Michael Landseer believed he should be. He had never anticipated having to take out a loan, and although the terms being offered were heavily in the bank’s favour – as he would expect them to be – he had been assured of Landseer’s discretion on another private matter, which for him was vital.

  ‘Yes, and I’m sure that Agnes will also be overjoyed – I daresay ecstatic – at the news.’

  ‘Agnes, why so?’

  ‘The betrothal? The one I will be delighted to formally announce at the Christmas party.’

  ‘I am aware of the plan regarding the announcement, Jensen, but I fear you are harbouring under an illusion, as I have no wish to marry Agnes.’

  Jensen stiffened. His complexion darkened as his eyebrows pleated in a deep frown. ‘I don’t understand. Have you gone back on your word?’

  Michael took a long gulp of cognac. ‘No. I simply mean to clarify that I have no wish to marry Agnes. My interest lies with Sarah and that is the only betrothal I shall agree to.’

  ‘What? I naturally assumed that it was Agnes you were referring to when you mentioned marriage. There has been an understanding over the years, as it’s always been Agnes who has expressed an interest in you. Besides, Sarah is still very young!’

  Jensen felt the panic in his voice as he spoke, to which Michael shrugged nonchalantly as he
took another long sip of cognac, his gaze fixed on his host’s face.

  ‘That is Agnes’s dilemma, or perhaps it will also become yours, given the predicament you are currently in, which has been the purpose of our recent discussions. Please forgive me, however, when I say that whatever interest Agnes may have had in becoming my wife hasn’t been shared by me. I never considered Agnes, attractive though she is. My interest lies solely with Sarah.’

  He lifted the brandy snifter to his nose, taking in the aroma, while Jensen, visibly paler, absorbed the enormity of his words and what they might mean for their arrangement.

  ‘Is the bank’s sanction of my loan application dependent upon her agreement?’ Jensen asked tentatively, after a short silence.

  Michael blew heavily on his cigar, smiling like a man who knew he held a winning hand. He shook his head slowly. ‘The loan will have to be agreed by the other directors, but my opinion will be sought and, of course, should my engagement to Sarah be formally announced, that will influence any bias on your behalf.’

  He reached for the decanter, helping himself to more cognac as once again Jensen absorbed the ramifications of the terms he had laid out.

  He wasn’t convinced that Agnes was so interested in him to be left heartbroken by the news that his preference lay with her sister, but he accepted that it would feel like a humiliation to be usurped by her younger sibling. Agnes Calloway was never going to make for him a suitable wife. Her combative views on political issues would be wholly detrimental to him career-wise, and he knew she held them too fervently to hold them back. Why that obsession with Women’s Suffrage thousands of miles away in England? No, he could never countenance that nonsense under his roof – or, more accurately, his mother’s roof, and Honoria was key in this. He was doing this for her. A good, respectful marriage was beneficial to him in terms of career advancement and he knew his mother was keen to see him climb the ranks in the bank that his deceased father had helped to establish and which still bore his name. He smiled, conscious that Jensen had suddenly become very quiet – almost morose.

  To Michael’s thinking this arrangement gave him the best of both worlds. An engaging wife and every opportunity to continue to indulge his lustful appetites where they currently lay – albeit after a respectful period of abstinence to convince his new bride of his devotion – and unlike Jensen, he would be sure to keep any vices he had under his own roof; had his host been like-minded, he wouldn’t have appeared as vulnerable as he now was. The letter that was sent to Jensen, of course by a reliable source of his, had been the trump card, as it had pushed Jensen Calloway into requesting a loan. A situation that he had so subtly encouraged. He looked at his host, blowing heavily on his cigar, to create a blue-grey cloud of smoke between them.

  ‘How do I persuade Sarah of your interest in her, when she has always believed it was her sister who wished to become your fiancée? Especially as she has no particular interest in you.’

  ‘Again, Jensen, that is not my problem. I am offering you a solution to your current problem – by way of a loan – the sanction of which would be heavily influenced by my input, and in return for that I have expressed a wish, a desire to marry your youngest daughter. I have no doubt you wish to continue to live in this fine mansion and to present a confident, affluent lifestyle to your clientele which they have become accustomed to you displaying. Alas, that comes at a price, which, I am sure – once it has been explained to her by either yourself or Marguerite – Sarah will be prepared to pay. Please convince her that it is for the best, Jensen, for all your sakes.’

  Michael stubbed out his cigar in the ash tray provided and, standing, took the last two mouthfuls of cognac in a single gulp, sighing as he set the glass down, offering Jensen his hand. For almost a nanosecond Jensen hesitated about accepting the gesture, but antagonising Michael Landseer at this delicate juncture in their dealings would do him no favours. So he shook Michael’s hand.

  ‘The funds you seek by way of a loan will guarantee that you retain the status that your hard-won reputation within the business community of this city demands. My father had a great respect for you, Jensen. He admired your acumen and your judgement.’

  ‘Strange that you should mention Ernest at this time, because I always believed you to be an honourable man, just as he was. I trust I wasn’t mistaken in that assessment.’

  The words felt like a jibe to Michael, and he was certain Jensen had intended them as such – perhaps as a last brazen act of defiance – but he was prepared to let it go. Let the man, who, if all went to plan, would become his father-in-law in a matter of months, have his moment.

  A man who had made himself vulnerable due to his vices and his lack of discretion in controlling them.

  ‘I shall endeavour to convince the bank when my opinion is sought that you are a risk worth taking and all I ask in return is that your beautiful daughter Sarah acquiesces to become my wife. To what extent she knows that the fortunes of the Calloway family are resting upon her shoulders is entirely up to you.’

  Jensen half-turned, unable to stomach the smug look in Michael Landseer’s eyes, for a moment longer as he took his leave. Were it not for the fact that he needed Michael on his side to secure the loan, he would have struck him. He had been ready to accept him as a husband to Agnes and would have suffered him thus, but now he had to convince Sarah to take the hand in marriage of a man that he simply couldn’t afford to have as an enemy.

  The Landseer Home – Melbourne – Same Evening

  Honoria Landseer was considered by many who knew her to be older in her demeanour than her fifty-three years, and the last five years which she had endured as a widow had contributed to that perception. Nobody, however, doubted her steely resolve or the determination to protect her husband’s good name and his legacy in the business community in Melbourne, which to her mind was at risk of being compromised by what she saw as her son’s worst excesses, the nature of which she knew her husband would not have tolerated. Michael revelled in trying her patience to its limit and to rejoice in his unequivocal right to her disapproval.

  He arrived home from the Calloway mansion in Toorak via his club, where he had indulged in several more cognacs, and flopped into the chair opposite her, lighting his cigar – despite her disapproval of the habit being indulged in her drawing room.

  ‘Evening, Mother. You will be delighted to hear that I have sealed the deal with Jensen. He has formally signed the loan application that I had drawn up. So the next phase in our plan of revenge – I’m sorry, retribution – upon the house of Calloway is in motion!’

  Honoria scowled, treating her son to a withering stare. ‘Look at you! Your father would be ashamed!’

  ‘I daresay that he would, Mother, given he had expressed no interest in bearing your long-held grudge against the Calloways. He was certainly against dragging the bank into your murky plans, especially after you had become aware of Jensen’s weakness for the flesh of Melbourne’s finest whorehouses.’

  Honoria closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to compose herself. Pursing her lips, she sighed wearily. ‘Michael, it is late and I wish to retire, so if you could manage to spare me the vulgarity and come to the point. What exactly has been agreed?’

  Michael stumbled to his feet and made his way to a drinks cabinet. ‘As you wish. I have indicated to Jensen that the bank will be inclined upon my recommendation to agree to the terms of a loan and that in return, I shall have the hand in marriage of his daughter. Of course the crucial factor – that you insisted upon – is that the deeds to the Calloway mansion be secured by the bank as collateral in the event that he defaults on the repayments.’

  Honoria shook her head slightly, as she hadn’t insisted upon that clause, but she agreed it was likely the bank directors would have inserted it into the contract themselves. She nodded slightly. ‘It is perhaps harsh to involve the girl in our plan but no more than what my poor mother suffered at
Cyrus Calloway’s hands, and I am sure Agnes will endure. She is made of stern stuff, and who knows? She may yet become a good influence upon you. Dare I say it, she may succeed where I have evidently failed in curbing your excesses.’

  Michael turned to her again with decanter in hand. He smiled mischievously. ‘Ouch, Mother! I am wounded by your censure. You are, however, mistaken as I have no wish to become betrothed to Agnes. I have expressed an interest in taking the hand of her sister Sarah.’

  ‘What? That is not what we agreed. You were to become engaged to Agnes.’

  ‘I am aware of what you thought I was agreeing to, but on further consideration, I decided the prospect of marrying Agnes didn’t suit me, so I amended the plan and have set my hand at winning Sarah.’

  ‘He’ll never agree to it!’ snapped Honoria, fuming.

  ‘He has no choice. Jensen also remarked how delighted Agnes would be and sadly I felt compelled to inform him that I had no interest in marrying Agnes.’

  ‘Why?’

  Michael resumed his seat and took a long slow gulp of cognac. ‘It’s the fixation she has with that Women’s Suffrage issue, that factor alone put me off. Sarah is younger – I’ll admit only slightly more attractive – but biddable. Agnes, by contrast, is combative by nature. I have no wish to see that quality in a wife.’

  Honoria was struggling to retain her even temper. She felt the plan they had been forming for weeks was in jeopardy and all to indulge her son’s ego. ‘Sarah is too timid. She looks like a delicate flower. That’s why you have switched your allegiance. All that you want is an obedient, pretty wife that you can have on your arm to parade around this city like a filly on Melbourne Cup Day.’

  Michael nodded, as if that prospect, exactly as his mother described it, was his ideal.

  ‘Well, I hope that she flatters to deceive! I hope she proves more than a match for you from the moment you place the band of gold on her finger.’