Chapter 31 #3
Knatchbull shook his head. ‘I mean to know how to subdue them. You can’t go in there being nice.
One sniff of weakness and they’ll take advantage.
The best men shoot a couple who are insolent, just to establish authority.
Create some fear. Probably where you went wrong.
I’ve got a nice new flintlock they’re using in India if you’re interested. Quick to load. Lovely action.’
‘In India?’ asked Harriet. ‘I didn’t think there were slaves in India?’
Knatchbull waved his fingers in dismissal. ‘Same concept. Big uprising in the north recently, soon put down though. Another big order for me and The duke’s tea is safe. Long live the British Empire!’ there were some murmurings of agreement around the table.
‘You could learn a lesson, Speckle,’ muttered Herbert, his thin face remaining impassive as always. ‘Still time as you own the land.’
Kit nodded generously to him. ‘Thank you, but my mind is quite made up. The slaves are free, and I will publish a pamphlet encouraging others to do the same. It should be clear to us both, as physicians who study the fundamentals of humans, that all are created equal. The only difference is power and influence, and we must choose to use that correctly.’
Thea swallowed. The opinion would not be a popular one at this table.
‘Your father would be ashamed,’ said Herbert simply.
‘Perhaps,’ said Kit, the atmosphere around the table tense and quiet.
‘But generations change as we learn. ‘I do not have to be the same as him, but I will honour his legacy.’ He was so assured, thought Thea. How she wished she could be so calm in the face of criticism. And then she realised that she was, on the face of it. Who knew what turmoil sat behind Kit’s serene exterior?
‘You are very right, Doctor Speckle,’ said Harriet, breaking the silence. ‘Your principles will be an example to others, and I do hope they take heed.’
Both Knatchbull and Herbert gave derisive laughs. ‘What say you, Mrs Fairclough?’ asked Knatchbull, turning his attention to Emma. ‘We can always rely on you to defend what is proper in British society.’
All eyes turned to Emma. Thea saw her place her cutlery on the side of her plate, clearly buying herself time. She wiped the corners of her mouth with her napkin and looked at Knatchbull.
‘For some time now, I have considered both Doctor Speckle and Mrs Henry to be two of the bravest and most principled people I know,’ she said, and then her gaze turned to Harriet. ‘Society is not static. It must progress, and sometimes it takes the bravest amongst us to pursue that change.’
Harriet looked as if she were ready to leap across the table into Emma’s arms, but she only nodded. ‘Pursuing it is easier for some than for others,’ she said gently. Thea saw the gentle smile on Emma’s lips, and the brief incline of her head in acknowledgement.
‘That must be it,’ said Herbert, breaking the moment. ‘You have been spending too much time with the ladies, Speckle.’
‘Turned him soft,’ laughed Knatchbull.
‘And what would they do, the ladies, without the riches men provide?’ drawled George from his end of the table. ‘If we all went the way of Speckle we would be having this party in the gutter.’
‘The duke is right,’ said Grimston, pointing his fork at Speckle. ‘Listen to Herbert, boy, all this talk about female principles is madness. They’ll be the death knell for our livelihoods. Real men act.’
‘Perhaps later Mr Grimston could give us an insight into his work on barnacle geese?’ said Martha dryly.
‘Or unicorns?’ Thea looked daggers at Martha, who looked almost apologetic, but the ladies of the party chuckled.
They had all heard about Grimston’s failed scientific endeavours.
Grimston looked grave and George leapt to his defence.
‘I am delighted to hear that Lady Foxmore has plans to spend more time at her own home at Denbury in the coming months,’ he said. Thea’s heart dropped. ‘Especially with our current staffing concerns. The burden on those remaining is considerable.’
‘You’re right to get a handle on it, Your Grace,’ said Grimston, jabbing his fork towards George and sending a square of venison onto the tablecloth.
‘Didn’t I hear your household has a female gardener and a male governess now?
All the wrong way round. The kind of thing that happens when you give women free rein.
They will have men cleaning and women running the farms before you know it. ’
Herbert smirked. ‘I always knew there was something wrong with that Fenwick. You want to watch that boy of yours with him, Your Grace.’
Across the table Crumpacker upset a salver of plum sauce as he rose to his feet. ‘Mr Fenwick is a stand-up member of society.’
Mr Herbert looked Crumpacker up and down as he smirked. ‘I am sure you are enjoying him standing up, Crumpy.’ Grimston and Knatchbull sniggered. Crumpacker looked fit to burst, but Speckle’s hand around his wrist encouraged him back into his seat.
‘All sorts happening in this house, isn’t there,’ said Grimston.
George placed down his fork on his plate a little too hard.
Thea dared a glance up and noticed the vein in his temple and the sweat beading on his brow.
‘I will be taking the employment of another governess into my own hands in the coming week,’ he said, clearly attempting to regain a little respect. ‘My wife struggles to retain staff.’
A red haze swan in front of Thea’s eyes.
How dare he. She was used to him allowing others to abuse her, but laying the blame at her door, especially after what happened with Annie.
She knew he was drunk, he was slurring, but she had had enough.
She would not allow herself to be denigrated any more.
She opened her mouth to respond, but a voice came first from her left.
‘From what I hear the women in this house are the only ones holding it together. If you would keep the necessary article in your breeches, you wouldn’t be in this mess.’
For a second Thea had feared it was Martha and that she would be banished immediately, but then she realised it was the Dowager Duchess of Hartford.
George’s mother. The scene seemed to pause as nobody moved.
Glasses stopped halfway to mouths, cutlery paused mid-cut.
Only the Dowager Duchess took a morsel of artichoke and calmly chewed as she eyeballed her son.
‘I will do as I please on my estate,’ he said quietly. Thea recognised the undertone of menace, designed to subdue, but his mother was unperturbed.
‘The one your father built,’ she said calmly, ‘and that your wife, who I terribly underestimated,’ she raised her glass toward Thea who could only nod at her in astonishment, ‘now ably runs with the assistance of a formidable range of ladies while you idle your time away with guns and women. To have to sit through this absolute spectacle of masculine bluster when you are all very aware that you could not exist without the women in your lives.’ She pointed a fork at each one of the men in turn, before stopping to her left.
‘Apart from you, Doctor Speckle,’ she said. ‘I think you might be fine.’
George stared at his mother, then turned directly to Thea. ‘And what of your view, Your Grace?’ He licked his lips. ‘Would I be nothing without you as my mother suggests? I would certainly have more money and an attic without junk.’
She considered it for a second, the tension between them palpable.
Inside, her feelings warred with one another – the simmering but repressed determination, the fear of a husband intent on domination.
It had taken her so long to learn how to live as a wife, but at a price.
It felt like she would be wrong not to use this opportunity, and that to do so would diminish the person she knew she was.
‘I suppose you would have less tea for Miss Bellegarde,’ she said gently. ‘I think you have been quite aware of my abilities and tendencies from the start. I would request that you neither abuse nor betray that.’
‘Too modest!’ The Dowager Duchess slapped her hand on the table. ‘The estate would fall apart without her, my son, and you know it.’
George nodded and placed his hands on the table.
Thea could see them shaking with rage as he addressed the table.
‘I shall assume you will all be satisfied to be entertained by my able wife for the remainder of the evening,’ he said, his voice strained.
‘Given that I am quite superfluous.’ His chair toppled backwards as he stood, and he stalked out of the room.