Chapter 9 #2
Jane reached for their hands. “Sisters, I am sorry that you have been taken advantage of as well. I too was sending Lydia a ridiculous amount of funds which I am ashamed to even name. We must cease to enable Lydia’s bad behavior.
Elizabeth and I discussed it and believe that the only way for her to grow up is if she is forced to rely upon her own auspices and funds.
She made the decision to marry an impecunious man and they were both offered a comfortable life despite their lack of consideration for the rest of us. ”
“It would be good to have my allowance once more,” Kitty worried her lip. “Mama has threatened to take it if I did not send it willingly.”
“She has been withholding mine the last two quarters,” Mary admitted.
“I think she knew that I would not be willing to forfeit it for long. Does Mama know about the provisions? She has always favored Lydia, but I cannot believe that she would be so adamant about providing funds to her unless she truly believed that Lydia was on the verge of starving in the hedgerows.”
“Lydia always did know how to frazzle Mama’s nerves,” Kitty agreed.
“That is quite badly done of her if it is true. I shall promise not to send her anymore funds, but I think we ought to inform Papa of the confusion and insist that he explain all to Mama. She will just assume that we are bitter about Lydia’s needs if we attempt to explain. ”
“That is a good plan. I shall return with you to Longbourne this evening, and then we shall approach him.” Jane declared resolutely.
∞∞∞
After returning from an only semi-productive discussion with Mr. Bennet, whom they had been unable to secure more than a vague assurance that he would inform Mrs. Bennet sometime or other; though he did promise his daughters that they would receive their pin money directly from him in the future; Jane hurried upstairs to tidy up for dinner.
The one truly wonderful thing which she had accomplished was convincing her father to allow her to hire Mr. Thomas Hulls away from his employ.
He was the son of the Longbourne coachman and had been training to replace his father sometime in the future.
She began to hum as she prepared. As it was only herself, she did not dress for dinner, but the dusty-dry roads had left her covered with a fine layer of grit which she was desperate to wash away.
Her maid had provided warm water for her, before descending to her own meal, and Jane washed quickly before donning a comfortable day dress, leaving her soiled work dress to be brushed and hung over the back of a chair.
As she returned downstairs to await the summons of the butler, her stomach grumbled in complaint.
She had never been a glutton, but since finding out she was pregnant, she had allowed herself to eat her fill and she was starving.
She sat on the sofa and took up her knitting while she waited patiently.
“Dinner is served, madam,” the stone-faced butler, Mr. Timms, announced gravely.
Jane rose and followed him to the breakfast room, not wishing to dine in state with only herself and accepted the assistance of a footman, a local lad, as she sat at the foot of the table. Soup was brought and she thanked him quietly and tucked into the first course.
She had been finished for nearly ten minutes before the footman reappeared to take her bowl and seemed surprised to find her there.
“Is there a problem in the kitchens, Freddy?” Jane smiled kindly at the poor boy who she had known most of her life as he was the son of one of Longbourne’s tenants.
“Er, no, Miss. But Mr. Timms said that you were not feeling well and only wished for soup tonight and so I was just returning for the dishes,” he grimaced in reply.
Jane contemplated her response for a moment.
Her previous self would have assumed that there had been some sort of miscommunication and excused everyone and likely have apologized for making them uncomfortable.
But she was determined to no longer be that person, and as Mr. Timms was one of Caroline’s lackeys from town, she was almost certain that they were acting according to that woman’s wishes.
“I see. I believe I shall visit the servant’s dining room and clear up this misunderstanding then,” she rose and steeled herself as Freddy escorted her below stairs with an anticipatory gleam in his eye.
As they entered the room it was easy to tell who were locals and who were from London, as the separate camps were segregated at each end of the long oak table, the locals near Mrs. Nichols at the foot of the table and the Londoners, near Mr. Timms, at the head.
It was made even more obvious by the lackadaisical manner in which the London contingent rose to greet her.
“I was informed that you were under the impression that I did not wish to dine this evening,” Jane began, softly at first but her voice gaining strength at the look of approval on Mrs. Nichols’ face. “I am at a loss how that could have happened as I have spoken of it with no one.”
Mr. Timms was unable to completely keep the sneer from his face but did not even blink as he threw Jardine under the carriage, “Your French maid informed me of it.”
Jane looked to her maid, who had gone white and her eyes had widened in surprise, though no excuse escaped her lips.
“That’s not true, Miss!” a squeaky voiced scullery maid declared. “I heard them lot talkin’ and they said that Miss Bingley had written that you was eatin’ too much, pretendin’ to be in the family way, and that they should not allow it to continue.”
The look Mr. Timms gave the young girl had her shaking in her boots and she shrunk back into her friend.
“I see,” Jane replied. “As you are all so insistent on following the directives of others, I believe you shall be happier returning to London and your mistress. If you wish to receive recommendations for future employment, you shall have to request them from Miss Bingley as I certainly will not lie about your execrable service.”
“Mrs. Bingley, I suggest that I send for my nephews, they are home from the continent recuperating from some small wounds they received fighting the Corsican Tyrant,” Mrs. Nichols declared with a militant look.
“They will ensure that they leave peaceably and that nothing goes missing as they pack their belongings.”
“Thank you, I would appreciate that,” Jane agreed. “If you could also hire some temporary replacements from the tenantry to finish the packing, I would be most grateful. Now, Freddy, if you could fetch me a plate from the kitchen, I shall return to the breakfast room and finish my meal.”
“Yes, Miss,” he replied with a worshipful look as she sailed from the room, head held high.
The shaking began as soon as the door swung shut.
Jane could not believe that she had been able to stand up to such a large group of people.
It helped, she supposed, that at least half of them were supportive of her.
The more she thought of Caroline’s actions the more upset she became and she was nearly blinded by tears as she stumbled into the breakfast room and collapsed back into her chair.
When she heard the quiet footsteps of the footman approaching, she hurriedly dashed away her tears and attempted to smile at the man as he entered. She could tell from his blush that she had failed and only made him uncomfortable.
He set the plate of food before her and then, instead of hurrying away as she assumed he would, he shifted awkwardly from foot to foot beside her.
“Yes, Freddy?” she asked, acknowledging his silent request for her time.
“I just wanted to say, Ma’am, that we are ever so grateful that you did what you did. My sweetheart, Molly, was opportuned by Mr. Timms and if I hadn’t warned him to leave off, would have forced his attentions on her. There are rumors that he had before, you see.”
Jane was appalled. “What? Why did no one say anything to me?”
“This was just before your wedding, Ma’am, and Mr. Bingley said not to bother you with such unsavory things.
He promised to have his sister address the issue, but not a day later she nearly screamed the house down about how Mr. Timms had formerly worked for the Duke of Sherborne and that she was lucky he had agreed to come work for her as he had many other offers of employment.
The lowborn trollops, as she called the maids, had likely enjoyed the attention of the man or had been teasing him.
Mrs. Nichols did what she could after that by not allowing the maids to work separately, no matter how Timms attempted to bully her. She’s a rare-one, she is.”
“Those poor girls,” Jane stuttered, horrified that such a predator had been allowed to prey upon her household unchecked.
That such evil could exist, and she be completely insensible to it…
she was a blind fool! “I am so sorry that no one felt that they could inform me of this. I shall ensure that no such things happen in my household again, I can promise you that, little comfort that it might be now, after the fact.”
“If I may be so bold, Ma’am, if you do not do something about that Miss Bingley interfering, it may not be your choice.”
Jane could only agree and apologized once again before he left her to her meal. She ate heartily, despite her lack of appetite, as she would allow nothing and no one to harm her child, even her own missishness, and returned to her room to think.
Her mind whirled around in circles until she had given herself a headache and after ringing for a powder, she lay back on her bed with a cool cloth over her eyes to wait.
“Mrs. Bingley, I have your powders,” Amelie whispered as she entered with a tray of tea to mix them in.
“Thank you,” she replied, sitting up in bed so that she could put another pillow behind her back.
“I just wanted to tell you, Madam, that I shall be returning to London with the others in the morning.”