Chapter 39
The Bull Pen
Georgiana laughed. “Are you afraid of the bull’s horns?”
“I mostly do not care for their short temper, disagreeable nature, and general unpredictability.”
Both ladies chuckled.
Elizabeth sighed louder than usual. “Georgie… I hope you do not mind my calling you that.”
“Of course not. It is as if we were sisters.”
Georgiana blushed at the declaration, but to her credit, neither lowered her eyes nor cowered.
“Perhaps it is. Is it true that you have no female friends or relatives your own age?”
“Yes, and while I will not press you, I hope you understand that having a real sister would surpass having a friend who is almost like one.”
The young girl’s plain declaration, instead of her previous insinuations, should have startled Elizabeth, but it did not.
The young lady would either be her sister, or she would not.
Georgiana’s desires would play little part in the matter.
The present question was whether either lady could benefit the other.
“Sometimes sisters can be quite disagreeable, so be careful what you wish for. Do you know about my arrangement with Anne?”
“She is to stay at Longbourn and act like a long-lost and definitely not wealthy friend of a distant relative. As I understand it, she is to live the life of a Bennet sister for a few months. I confess to being jealous.”
Elizabeth fell silent; Georgiana seemed to understand her need for reflection.
“I would consider offering you the same, as there is little difference to my parents between one extra girl and two… but… but… I think—”
Georgiana leaned forward eagerly. “My brother told me you were quite the problem solver. I could not bear to ask for your help, but if you happened to have a good suggestion, I would not find it amiss.”
The entire visit had worked inexorably to that moment since she entered the house; or perhaps since she left the Yellow Parlour; or perhaps it had been brewing since Ramsgate.
“I have no idea if I can help you, so let us return to basics. My sister Mary is recently wed, and my elder sister Jane soon will be. That means I could bring both you and Anne to stay at Longbourn without overly stressing our resources… but—”
Georgiana looked curious, but not distressed. “But? But what, Lizzy?”
“But I am not at all certain it is the best option for you. It is probably not the best for me either, but I would make a sacrifice on my part if I believed I did my best to help you. I am not convinced it is the ideal solution.”
“Would you mind explaining why?”
Elizabeth considered it for some time, because she did not know why. She had an instinct it would be the wrong move, and must work it out.
“Let us take a few minutes to refresh ourselves, then have tea and some of those excellent biscuits. I wish to speak clearly. That means I must think clearly, which means I need a few minutes of quiet reflection. Pray do not take it amiss.”
“Since you will give me your undivided attention, I cannot imagine a possible complaint.”
~~~
Elizabeth returned to find Georgiana and Mrs Annesley waiting. They took tea and settled into ordinary drawing-room conversation, which was restful.
“Mrs Annesley, would you be willing to tell me your background, if it is not prying? How did you become a companion?”
The question sat slightly beyond the usual boundaries of politeness, but the companion seemed sensible and easy-going. She smiled to show she was not offended. “It would be my pleasure.”
Mrs Annesley put down her cup, settled herself in her chair, and began her tale.
“I was a clergyman’s wife for many years.
I married at 18, and never regretted it for a single moment, even when matters were difficult.
My Harold died a few years ago, but with a bit of luck and timing, my second son was fully prepared to take over the living straightaway.
He wished me to live with him, as any good son would, but he was also recently married. ”
Elizabeth and Georgiana paid rapt attention.
“There is an old saying: ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth.’ A house should have one mistress. Had my son taken a different living, I could have lived with him unobtrusively, always deferring to his wife with nary a peep. With 20 years as a leader of the parish, there was too much history, too many memories, too many who would seek my opinion, and too many chances to prevent my daughter-in-law from deciding her own path. Aside from that, I had been useful all my life, and I was not quite ready to do nothing. I deferred my retirement by taking employment. When I become feeble, or tire of my life of service, I may return, but not yet. I have too much I wish to do.”
“I see how that might put your daughter-in-law in a difficult position, but not an impossible one,” Elizabeth observed.
“Not impossible, but the early days of a marriage are difficult enough without adding more trouble. Two people marry, and they think they know all there is to know about each other; but they often find that they only know a tenth part of what they thought they knew, and half of that is wrong.”
Elizabeth laughed.
“You speak sense. I have a friend, Charlotte Lucas, who believes, ‘Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life.’”
Georgiana stared. "Do you believe that, Mrs Annesley?"
“It has the ring of partial truth. What you know is not all you will know, but it does not necessarily mean you know nothing. For a simple example, suppose you met a very handsome and agreeable man, well dressed, with proper manners. You would be inclined towards him, no?”
Both ladies nodded rather uncomfortably.
Mrs Annesley continued, “Now suppose you found that same man beating a dog, spurring his horse until it bled, backhanding a child for no reason, or racing a horse through a village. What then?”
“I should run from the cretin as fast as I could,” both young ladies said together.
“Suppose you found him drinking, gambling, or stealing from a merchant. These are extreme examples, but they establish the principle that you can know something about someone by how they act in unguarded moments.”
Elizabeth said boldly, “I assume you know we are both acquainted with just such a man.”
Mrs Annesley sighed. “You are young. Before you reach my age, you will become acquainted with many of them, I fear—they are common as rats. As to your Miss Lucas, I think she is optimistic. Still, subtler indicators might guide you. Miss Bennet, has your opinion of Lady Catherine changed?”
“Yes.”
“For the better, or the worse?”
“Dramatically better.”
“Very well. I believe you are more analytical than the typical lady, if I have been informed correctly.”
“Yes.”
“Can you name one thing that changed your mind?”
Several small things had nudged her opinion of the lady, even before the last meeting in the yellow parlour and the reading of Anne’s diary, which had completely overset it.
At length, she said, “Kitchen stoves.”
“How so?”
“A tenant’s cottage with a beautiful new roof, visible a hundred yards away, can be interpreted several ways.
It might show a landlord treating a tenant well, or merely wanting the estate to look well from the outside, or even a calculation that it is less expensive to stay ahead of leaks.
A good kitchen stove that nobody but the goodwife or a maid will ever see tells quite a different story. ”
“There you have it. Not everything is obvious, but not everything is unknowable. You must look beneath the surface if you want to approximate the truth. The more you know, the less you expose yourself to ignorance and folly.”
“That makes sense,” Elizabeth said.
“Miss Lucas depends on chance. In my experience, most men are about middling, neither excessively good nor bad. That is the nature of averages. If most men were better than average, the average would be higher. Perhaps that might happen in our grandchildren’s or great-grandchildren’s time.”
Elizabeth frowned. “Or they could just as well get worse.”
“True. They could also go in waves, improving for a few generations then declining. But all that is neither here nor there. My experience here and now suggests most men we are likely to meet lean towards the better side of average. Keep in mind that there is almost no chance either of you will be exposed to the worst of men, or even the lowest quarter, again. Miss Lucas has a better than even chance of success, but the slightest investigation could improve her odds considerably by weeding out the worst options.”
Elizabeth laughed gaily. “Yes, well, she will have an entirely new environment to deal with now. I made Lady Catherine responsible for throwing Miss Lucas into a bigger pond. Let us see if the attitude she carried when she lived in a 5-gallon bucket survives in a 10-acre pond guarded by sharks.”