Court No Evil （Third Person） #2
Mr Read looked at Lizzy, and listened very carefully to what she had to say.
One of the best things about the man was that he listened to anything anybody talking to him said, whether that person was the lady he was courting, another person in his business, a servant, or a street urchin.
All got the courtesy of his attention. Lizzy thought that one day she might put him to the ultimate test with Mrs Bennet or Lady Catherine, and dared to think the man might even survive that experience.
Lizzy’s description of what she found uncomfortable about the man was brief but sustained; like many revelations, it seemed obvious in hindsight, if not beforehand.
Neither Mr Read nor Anne believed they could have detected the falseness before the man had done definite harm, for he had the look and sound of honesty.
Mr Read took his leave a little later, deciding to investigate Mr Gillingham and inform the ladies of what he learned. Mr Hopkinson, not especially busy that week, volunteered to ask around among the trade and servant classes. It seemed unlikely the man could escape their scrutiny.
The exchange confirmed to Elizabeth and Anne that Mr Read was a consummate gentleman; he did not treat ladies as imbeciles or fragile creatures who should be ignored, but treated both with respect, giving their opinions due consideration.
It must be noted that both ladies found these traits appealing, and one found them most appealing indeed.
~~~
The month after what the ladies euphemistically called the courtship-forte incident brought several revelations.
The first was that Mr Gillingham was a snake of the worst sort.
He was much subtler, but also more damaging, than Mr Wickham could ever be.
The man was absolutely mercenary, wholly lacking in morality or proper feelings, and had managed to exhaust the fortunes of several prominent families.
Like Mr Wickham, he could never keep the profits, most squandered in local gaming halls and brothels, so he always looked for more.
He had perfected his act and could fool nearly anybody.
His perfidy discovered, Mr Read was both mortified to have brought such a snake into Miss de Bourgh’s home, and frightfully angry at men who tried to take advantage of those he held dear.
The man disappeared without a trace a few weeks later.
No amount of cajoling could get anything out of Mr Read about his fate, aside from the observation that men who had been taken advantage of were generally quite eager for the opportunity to find the perpetrator.
Whether Mr Read had any connection to the disappearance, neither lady was particularly concerned about, as long as Mr Gillingham never returned.
Elizabeth’s second revelation was that she gradually concluded it was better to play the pianoforte with her fingers than her head.
The sound on her best days was still nearly as bad as Mary on her worst, but it was improving.
She could now play some of Beethoven’s simpler pieces, and some of Herr Bach’s began to sound good enough to bring a little pleasure.
It would still be some months before she was willing to let anybody else listen, but she could at least foresee a time when she would be prepared.
She had also begun singing again, even more to her chagrin, since she had always possessed a good voice and there was less excuse for giving that up than the pianoforte.
Her third revelation was that she was quite possibly the worst chaperone in the civilised world; though not for the reason the uninitiated might assume.
She was blind as a bat, so having her sit as chaperone for a couple might seem unreasonably silly, since they could get away with nearly anything.
The problem was that she could perfectly well hear an ant crawling up a wall on the other side of the room.
There was nothing a couple could do that did not make enough noise to sound like a herd of horses running through the parlour.
It took only one or two sessions of this duty to decide she had had quite enough, and Elizabeth discovered pressing business at her school anytime Mr Read and Anne engaged in serious courting.
The end of the second month finally arrived, and as October turned to November, it became increasingly imperative for Mr Read to attend other matters.
He had obtained reasonable success in his political endeavours, but his business in Ohio required immediate attention.
Naturally, Mr Read had not the slightest intention of leaving without either lady, so Elizabeth arrived from her school one day to find Anne practically jumping with joy.
Mr Read had come to the point, neither too soon nor too late, and according to Miss de Bourgh, the proposal was everything wonderful and proper.
After another fortnight of preparation, on the first day of November 1812, Miss Anne de Bourgh surrendered her birth name in favour of Mrs Read and the entire household packed to decamp for Ohio.
It was clearly not the best time of year to travel overland, so they planned a relatively long journey, with ample options to stop and see things along the way with delays expected.
If they became snowbound in some town between one place and another, it would not be the end of the world.
Around half of the house’s servants chose to come to Ohio to take employment with Mr Read or continue serving Mrs Read, while unbeknownst to everyone in the house except Miss Bennet, about half of the remaining servants had established relationships and their own wedding plans.
Mr Hopkinson was quite enamoured with the idea of seeing Ohio, as were Mr and Mrs McKean.
Elizabeth had been quite happy to stand with Hannah as she became Mrs McKean, and given her history, having a man handy with the needle and gin bottle seemed useful.