Lives: Tawny House, Manor Road.

Age: Late seventies

Appearance:  5’8” tall, slim with an upright and regal bearing, she has immaculately groomed silver hair, a soft powdery complexion and sparkling green eyes.

With advancing years Harriet has lost some of the fiery determination of her youth but still displays the fortitude that has seen her through many difficult situations. Her zest and enthusiasm for life has not diminished although now she tends to live it through other people. In private she is deeply affectionate to those she loves and cares about but otherwise she can appear haughty, especially with those she dislikes or is unsure of.

Family: Son: Christopher

            Daughter-in-law: Ruth

            Grandchildren: Kester, Imogen and Ellis

Background: Harriet was born into a life of privilege and social standing. She was pampered as a child but as she grew older, her avant-garde parents encouraged her to think beyond the making of a good marriage, the sole ambition of her peers, and to follow her dreams. An accomplished pianist, she came to the attention of Hugo, Lord Wick, a patron of the arts, and at his proposal gained a place at the Paris Conservatoire to study music and later became a concert pianist. She travelled extensively giving recitals to great acclaim. She was the darling of the newspapers of the day and when she became romantically involved with handsome conductor Roberto De Luca, headlines trumpeted every detail to the eagerly awaiting public. Their marriage took place in a blaze of publicity more usually reserved for Hollywood stars. Harriet was blissfully happy and felt she had everything a life could offer. Her career had gone from strength to strength and she had found a husband who adored her.

Tragedy struck when Roberto was shot and killed trying to defend his wife during a burglary at the Manhattan apartment they had rented for the season. Harriet was inconsolable and suffered a complete breakdown. Her recovery was slow and Lord Wick, concerned for his protégé, offered the use of his country home where he felt she would have the peace and privacy that would aid her recuperation.

Harriet stayed at The Manor House in Milliwick for several months. Now out of the public eye, the world’s press moved on and Harriet was ensured the peace Hugo had promised but she was still unable to come to terms with the fact that Roberto had gone and adamant that without him at her side she would not play again. Throughout her illness she had been cosseted and protected by those around her. Lord Hugo’s driver was left at her disposal for the duration of her stay but she rarely ventured outside the gates, preferring the solitude of long walks in the grounds to anything on offer beyond them.

Edward James was nursing his own heartbreak following the death of his wife and young child in an outbreak of polio three years earlier. He was a gentle man but he resented not being kept busy and although he understood only too well the way Harriet must be feeling, he knew from personal experience that she would have to face life eventually and to him the sooner that happened the better. Rashly he decided that in the absence of the same advice from her friends and family, he should be the one to give it, regardless of how it might be received or how it might affect his employment.

He found her standing next to the lake and without preamble told her that her mourning had got to stop unless she wanted to lose her mind. That the woman he saw in front of him was not the one he had paid good money to listen to and he expected more of someone so famous. Harriet was startled by his audacity but was not outraged. She began to weep silently and instinctively he put his arms around her. The involuntary gesture brought forth sobs of uncontrollable grief and he held her in self-conscious silence until the crying that wracked her body finally eased. He led her to a nearby seat intending to race back to the house to summon help but she clung to him, insisting he had been more help to her than all the ‘quacks’ that she had seen. He smiled inwardly as her chin came up and her eyes flickered with the determination that had eluded her in the months before. It was the start of her recuperation and the first of many long talks between them. He was relieved when he heard her playing the piano again and talking of making a return to the concert hall and knowing that his part in her recovery was over, he slowly and gently withdrew from her life.

They both returned to London, Harriet to her parent’s home and Edward to Sir Hugo’s employ. A few weeks later, on the afternoon of her first recital since the tragedy, Edward was summoned from his quarters to be greeted by a nervous Harriet on the edge of hysteria and insisting that she could not perform without him there for moral support. He baulked at the idea, knowing that any public familiarity between them would be talked about but in that moment when her eyes pleaded with him, he knew that he loved her and could refuse her nothing. Hugo waved away his objections and Edward attended the concert, standing in the wings in her line of sight all through her performance. In taking her applause, she called for him to come on stage and announced that without his help she would not have made her return. Edward was embarrassed and hesitant but joined her as the audience stood to applaud them both.

Once again the focus of media attention, Harriet’s relationship with Edward was put under the spotlight. Although very proper it was the subject of intense speculation as he accompanied her at every appearance. He kept his feelings for her to himself but Harriet was not only a determined lady, she was also a perceptive one and teased him by asking when he thought he would he get around to proposing as she had another concert tour to plan for. Edward started to stutter a denial but Harriet put her finger to his lips and wondered aloud why he had not realised that she wanted him to. She felt comfortable with Edward, it may not have been the deeply passionate romance that she had enjoyed with Roberto but she loved him dearly.

They were to have twenty-seven years together before he succumbed to cancer. Harriet retired from her professional life to care for him, moving to the peace and tranquillity of Milliwick and their country home where she nursed him with the same care and compassion that he had always shown her. He made her promise not grieve for him but whenever she felt lonely to play the piece they had composed together on their honeymoon and he would be with her.

Harriet did not re-marry, despite Edward’s insistence that she was too young not to consider it. Edward had been her greatest love and there would be none to match him.

Her son, Christopher, implored her to return to town where she would not ‘stagnate’ but she assured him that she would neither stagnate nor be lonely. She had friends in the village and her life would be full. She sold the London home and leased out her apartment in New York. She welcomed visits from family and friends and looked forward to seeing her grandchildren. Although she tried not to favour Kester, she saw so much of Edward in him that she found it difficult not to do so. She felt very protective of him and the way he was being treated by her publicity hungry daughter-in-law and although she had vowed not to interfere could not help criticising her behaviour towards him. Kester came to live with her when in his early teens and she watched proudly as he grew from diffident child to confident adult.

Currently: Harriet and Kester still enjoy the easy relationship they have always had. She enjoys his company and is secretly delighted that he has thumbed his nose at his mother’s pretensions and carved his own way in life. She would dearly like to see him settle down before she joins Edward and occasionally nags him for his casual approach to romance. The house still throngs with friends old and new but she is never happier than when sitting at her piano although her hands are not so supple as they were. She enjoys the relative anonymity of village life and the people who treat her as the person she is rather than the person she once was. She likes to read and took up oil painting some years ago but her greatest pleasure is still in music.

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HARRIET JAMES nee Bellamy. Formerly De Luca

Previously a concert pianist

Kester's grandmother.