Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Why does throwing some clothes into a satchel require more than a few minutes?” Lady Josephine infused her question with just a touch of impatience.
Mrs. Dumfries took her position as headmistress seriously, which was all well and good, but a headmistress owed a patroness more deference than Mrs. Dumfries usually exhibited toward Lady Josephine.
Today was not the day to make that point.
Mrs. Dumfries was a substantial creature, tall and mannish, though one could not in fairness call her stout.
She ran the organization efficiently and with a minimum of apparent sentiment.
Lady Josephine had nonetheless concluded that Mrs. Dumfries was that most vexatious of entities, an honest woman.
She did not slack. She maintained order while eschewing harsh punishments for the children.
She wasn’t prone to tippling, kept accurate books, and had no sons incarcerated for debt.
Mrs. Dumfries held her post because she regarded caring for orphans as a moral obligation, and Lady Josephine had yet to find the threat or innuendo that might encourage the headmistress to reevaluate her loyalties.
Her loyalty, blast the woman, was to the children.
“A quarter hour to collect one’s worldly goods and say farewell to friends is far from excessive,” Mrs. Dumfries said.
“And your ladyship must admit that for Gabriella to leave us with no notice is an extraordinary, nigh miraculous, turn of events. You know we are pleased for her—these girls all dream of having a family of their own—but we are also fond of Gabriella and will miss her. Our Gabby has a quick mind and a pleasant temperament, and she doesn’t balk at hard work. ”
The quick mind would be of no use to her in service, but of hard work, she’d know an abundance.
“Then you must admonish your charges regarding the sin of envy, Mrs. Dumfries. True, Gabriella will be going to a loving home, but we all must be prepared to make sacrifices for the sake of those we care about. If the girls intend to pout and sulk, then I will cease my efforts to locate families for the rest of them.”
Not, of course, that Lady Josephine had made any such efforts, but one might speak prospectively without actually dissembling.
With Gabriella gone, the orphanage would have one less mouth to feed. The resulting economy should surely redound to the credit of the patroness who’d achieved it. The actual handling of the coin would take some delicacy, but Lady Josephine excelled at finessing sensitive matters.
“Your ladyship is doubtless correct,” Mrs. Dumfries said. “Jeanine, you may speak.”
Jeanine, a little sly boots who was destined for no good end, hovered in the doorway to Mrs. Dumfries’s sitting room. The child was all big eyes and trembling smiles around her betters, but she was lazy at heart—never a perfect verse from her—and expected that charm would see her through life.
“Beg pardon, Lady Josephine, Mrs. Dumfries, but Gabriella cannot find her locket. We’re searching for it everywhere, even Mary is helping us, but Gabriella must have her locket.”
Oh, for pity’s sake. “We can send the locket to her later, assuming it hasn’t been stolen.”
Mrs. Dumfries sat very tall. “My lady, I do apologize. That locket is Gabriella’s only connection to her mother. We will turn the orphanage upside down to find it for her. Coaches come and go every day, but Gabriella has only that locket as her birthright.”
The girl’s birthright was a locket, a load of scandal, and hideous red hair. “The children may have a quarter hour,” Lady Josephine said. “The stage is delayed, but the fare has already been purchased, and I do not intend to see that precious coin go to waste over a cheap trinket.”
“Jeanine,” Mrs. Dumfries said, “tell the girls to keep looking and to search the classroom and the library if they must but to be quick about it.”
Jeanine stood with her head bowed and her hands behind her back. A proper little actress already and precociously sporting the dearth of morals common to any thespian. Ireland might be just the place for her too.
“You indulge them,” Lady Josephine said when Jeanine had curtseyed and backed out the door.
“I applaud your generous spirit, but given their circumstances, you must resist the temptation to coddle them. The kinder course would be plenty of discipline, the occasional deprivation, and a good deal of prayer.”
Mrs. Dumfries rose from her wing chair and opened the drapes.
At midday, the manor’s yard was flooded with sunshine, though who would want to gaze out over a lot of perpetually grazing sheep?
“Your ladyship is absolutely right. Fortunately, the girls have a surfeit of discipline here, in the schedules we keep, the chores they must complete, the curriculum and skills they must master. They have been deprived of families and, in many cases, respectability through no fault of their own. And believe me, your ladyship, this is a prayerful house. Tell me again where Gabriella will bide?”
“With a wonderful family near Liverpool.” Not a lie, though Liverpool was merely a stopping point on the way to Ireland or somewhere equally obscure.
“The lady of the house wrote to me because she knows through church connections of my devotion to this fine establishment. She and her husband—he’s a vicar—have not been blessed with children.
A girl who is past infancy and still in the schoolroom would suit them wonderfully.
If Gabriella does well with them, they might even take a second child. ”
A bit of embellishment for the sake of credibility never hurt.
“What a fortunate turn of events for Gabriella, and all thanks to your ladyship. But where is this vicar’s pulpit? I will, of course, write to Gabriella from time to time, to ask after her studies, to let her know how her friends go on. This will be quite a change for her, and—”
Lady Josephine held up a hand and shook her head. “A clean break, Mrs. Dumfries, is always best. You must trust me on this. No letters. Look at all the fuss we’re enduring over one silly locket not worth tuppence. A clean break, I must insist.”
Mrs. Dumfries remained by the window, arms crossed, expression polite.
“Your ladyship, would a discussion of this matter with the baron be in order? Surely he should know of the extraordinary measures you’ve taken to improve the prospects of one small child, but that you had to go as far afield as Liverpool to place her…
Mightn’t that reflect poorly on the peer purporting to sponsor this institution? ”
Of all the times to sprout a sensitivity to appearances.
“That will not be necessary. I am his lordship’s supernumerary in all matters relating to this house.
Two previous barons were content to operate in that fashion, and this one is too.
I know my nephew, Mrs. Dumfries. He will not look with favor on a dithering headmistress.
Because I am devoted to this institution and the good work you do here, I grasp that you are concerned for Gabriella. ”
Lady Josephine aimed a telling look at the mantel clock and rose. “Lord Lorne, however, will regard your attitude as disrespect for my judgment. He is a notably proud man and will not tolerate you questioning my decisions.”
“My lady, you are all that is patient,” Mrs. Dumfries said. “I mean no disrespect to anybody, but Liverpool is so far away, and in my position, one hears heinous tales of children, girls especially, being sold.”
“Mrs. Dumfries! How on earth…? Of all the…? Madam, the question is intolerable.” Sold.
Of all the filthy, unimaginable… The child would be earning a wage, for the love of winged cherubs.
The very opposite of sold. She’d have a post and belong to a household and enjoy the comfort of good, honest work.
“I confide my fears to you in Gabriella’s best interests,” Mrs. Dumfries rejoined.
“Too much of society dwells in unfortunate darkness, as your ladyship has often remarked. Questions will haunt me: How well do you know these people who simply wrote to ask that you send them a sweet little girl? Did they offer references? Did a bishop vouch for this vicar? Gabriella is a dear, precious, blameless child, and she will think we’ve flung her onto a coach without a second thought.
Surely the new baron doesn’t expect that of us? ”
Much more of this moralizing, and Gabriella would not be on the coach. The situation wanted both subtlety and a quick resolution.
“Mrs. Dumfries, as insulted as I might be by the questions you raise, I must commend your caution instead. Gabriella has been entrusted to your care, and you are protective of her in a world that can be uncaring. I forgive you for your outburst and, in strictest confidence, will explain to you the urgency of the situation.”
Seven of the children’s allotted fifteen minutes remained.
“I love my nephew,” Lady Josephine went on, “but I must admit, again, in strictest personal confidence, ma’am, that his is a mercantile nature.
He deals in pounds and pence. This is unbecoming in a man of his station, and in time his focus might shift, but for now, he is a highly pragmatic, financially motivated man.
His support for this orphanage… Well…” Her ladyship hoped the baron remained ignorant of his own generosity. “One mustn’t rely on it.”
“He’d abandon us?”
“I did not say that, but there he is, a newly fledged peer, and he’s ridden his acres, attended services, entertained the neighbors…
Doing the pretty in every direction despite his brother’s recent demise, though his lordship has yet to look in on these poor children.
That speaks volumes, Mrs. Dumfries. Sad, sad volumes. ”
“He’s a busy man.”