The Lost Jewels - Kirsty Manning Page 0,29
coffins in the back of a horse and cart bobbing and swaying over cobblestones, headed to a pauper’s graveyard somewhere on the outskirts of London.
Bella caught her eye and winced. ‘But they did have some happier times. Gertrude and Essie met in Hawaii for a holiday together once a year after they both turned fifty. I guess they were too busy with work and family before that. Gertrude’s notebook and her letters to Essie are now part of a permanent collection at the Serpentine, along with her paintings. We can go together when you’re back in London, if you like?’
‘There are paintings too?’
‘In her later life she became an artist. Her work is very Modigliani meets Yves Klein. Mum can’t stand them, but I quite like her paintings. I have a couple in my study at home. They feel happy … kind of buoyant, if that makes any sense?’
‘Looks like the talent ran in the family. I think these were drawn by Essie.’ Kate pulled the protective envelopes from her notebook and showed her cousin the sketch of the two laughing girls.
Bella frowned. ‘That’s Flora and Maggie, I’m sure of it. The notebook gifted to the Serpentine was lined, just like this page, and there are pictures of the girls that look very similar. They could even be the same hand. The notebook definitely belonged to Gertrude, though; her name is written on the front.’
‘You think Gertrude drew these, not Essie?’ asked Kate, feeling the familiar rush of adrenaline that coursed through her when she made a historical connection between artwork or jewellery, no matter how tenuous. ‘Would it be possible to compare them with the drawings in the notebook?’
‘Of course! I’ll call my contact at the gallery and request access.’ Kate reached for her drink and took a sip, enjoying her gin. The sun was low, softening to twilight, and as she sat across from Bella, something metallic caught her eye.
Kate leaned forwards, shading her eyes with her hand. ‘Your necklace—may I have a look, please?’
‘This?’ Bella pulled a gold chain from underneath her silk shirt. ‘It’s a pendant my mother gave me as a graduation present when I finished law school. Her mother gave it to her. It belonged to Gertrude, apparently.’ Bella looked down as she continued, ‘Bit big for me—too flashy for court. But I like it close to my skin for some reason, so I just tuck it under my shirt. Here …’ She lifted the gold chain over her head and passed it to Kate.
Kate ran her thumb over the gold chain and held the pendant in her palm, her heart fluttering. The pendant was gold, with layers of petals resembling a rose. There were a couple of flecks of white and blue enamel, but otherwise the pendant was bare.
‘See these tiny squares?’ Kate pointed to a grid pattern in the petals with square shapes. ‘These indentations in the gold suggest that it was studded with table-cut stones, but they must have been removed at some stage. And this isn’t actually a pendant—it was originally a button.’ Kate flipped the pendant over and pointed to the tell-tale soldering marks at the base of gold hoops that enabled it to be stitched onto cloth. ‘See?’
Bella’s eyes were wide. ‘I had no idea. I’m not sure what happened to the original stones; I didn’t know there were any—I just assumed those marks were a pattern. Gertrude was one of the first women at Oxford to read law, so perhaps she flogged them to play for her education? Although it seems unlikely.’ She tapped the family tree. ‘There’s nothing here to suggest the Murphys had two pennies to rub together, let alone a fancy button filled with gemstones. Gertrude’s mother Clementine died of liver failure in the workhouse, so they weren’t exactly well off. I’d always assumed this was a present from Granny Gertie’s husband—my great-grandfather Hubert.’
‘Perhaps there were no stones in this button,’ said Kate, ‘but she might have seen one with the gemstones in place.’ She slipped the other envelope from her notebook and handed it to Bella. ‘This sketch was also among Essie’s papers.’
Bella studied the image. ‘It’s identical. Except for these stones.’ She tapped the drawing. ‘What does it mean? Where did this pendant come from?’
‘I don’t know. But apart from the missing gemstones, it’s identical to a collection of buttons I saw at the Museum of London today.’ ‘The same? That could mean …’
They sat in silence, both looking from the drawing