Page 12

12. Breakfast of Students

Breakfast found the Bennet ladies stuck somewhere between excitement, trepidation, and anticipation.

Mary alone thought they could actually use the education and regretted it had not happened sooner. She could care less about a new gown or attending yet another ball where she would be ignored; but it had become clear over the previous weeks that there was a great deal Elizabeth did not tell the family about what happened in London. She was excited to try to peel off a layer of the onion, having never gone anywhere or done anything of note in her life.

Jane was thoroughly convinced she had done nothing the least bit wrong, but she would go along as she always did. After all, she had been the one in the firing line all her life: Jane the eldest… Jane the serene… Jane the polite… Jane the pleasant… Jane whose beauty would save them from the hedgerows… Jane the only one who could calm their mother’s or younger sisters’ animal spirits.

Jane thought it was all well and good for Elizabeth to condemn the family, but since she hied off to London at the first opportunity after she came out and returned less than half the time, she had little right to criticise that which she had not endured.

Jane was unaware of Elizabeth’s arguments with her father over the years so she saw her sister’s interference as officious, but she would do her part and be done. With the abandonment of the Netherfield party, it was not as if she had anything better to do.

Lydia and Kitty were thoroughly disappointed they would miss a fortnight of the officers’ company, but with a new ballgown and six months’ pin money, they thought they could well afford to humour Lizzy. It was not as if their sister was going to succeed in reforming them when the condemnation of every other stick in the mud busybody in Meryton had failed. They just wanted to get the silly chore over with, as both of them had spent the evening making extensive lists of the ribbons, lace, and embellishments they planned to purchase with the proceeds, not to mention they might attract a handsome beau in one of the London excursions.

Elizabeth was the last to the table, and her sisters were somewhat startled when she placed a paper in front of each, an ink pot and pen in the centre, and a bible beside it.

“You will each read this pledge aloud with your hand on the Bible, then sign it. This is your agreement to give this course your absolute best effort. For a fortnight, you will do exactly as instructed without question or complaint. You will not be placed in any danger if you follow instructions , but you will be placed in some uncomfortable but necessary situations.”

They all looked around in confusion, and when Lydia spoke up to object, Elizabeth said, “No arguments, Lydia. You made an agreement yesterday. If you cannot keep your solemn word for a fortnight, how can you possibly imagine you are ready to pledge your life to a man ‘til death us do part? You have often said you want to be the first married, but you baulk at a fortnight’s hard work. Make up your mind!”

The rest grumbled, but each eventually made the oath and signed the paper, mostly because nobody was willing to be the only one to miss the reward. None saw it as a bribe, though it could hardly be considered anything else.

Jane asked, “What is this about anonymity, Lizzy?”

“You will not be the only ones taking the course. As you all know, ladies’ reputations are somewhat brittle. You will do things that you would not like to be known in general society,” she replied, then looked around and held a hand up to Mary who was about to interrupt. “These things will not be dishonourable or dangerous, but some will be embarrassing or might make you uncomfortable. You keep your names secret to prevent gossip. That is all.”

They still looked confused, but Elizabeth let it go for the moment.

An hour later, they all gathered in the drive, where they found not only the Bennet coach but a second rather smart looking carriage as well. Each had a middle-aged matron present.

Elizabeth said, “This is Mrs Stockwell. She will chaperone you to London. Mrs Whitcomb will escort me in the other coach. We have three more students to pick up in Hertfordshire. Remember… for the next fortnight, no names.”

With that, she walked over to the other carriage while Mrs Stockwell herded the Bennets into their own and left for London.

~~~~~

The Bennet sisters arrived at a house somewhere in London a few hours later to find that Elizabeth had already arrived. They had no idea how that worked. They had to bait the horses while perhaps Elizabeth got fresh, or possibly their horses were old and tired while the Gardiner’s were young and healthy.

They entered and were allowed to refresh themselves briefly, then they were shown to a small dining room where they were slightly surprised to find Elizabeth with Maria Lucas, the Weatherby sisters, Alicia and Jasmine, and an unknown young lady about Kitty’s age.

“Your first class starts very early tomorrow. You will not be changing for dinner. Eat now—there is just one course, then off to bed. You will be provided with clothing in the morning, and your instruction will begin.”

“Will you take the course?” Kitty asked.

“Can you imagine I have not done so already? Or that I would subject you to something I would not do myself?”

“Well… I suppose not.”

“Be easy. If you give the course your full attention and best effort, you will emerge the other side a better person with a more prosperous future than you can presently imagine. If you hang onto your present attitudes and only pretend to do the work, you will suffer for your indolence. It is not complicated.”

They all startled slightly when a large pot of what looked like stew was placed on the table with a stack of bowls and spoons by a maid who left without a word.

Elizabeth looked at Jane. “You are the eldest, so you should serve. This house does not have a plethora of servants.”

That statement confused all the ladies, as it seemed quite a decent house from what they had seen so far, but all questions were ignored.

Once they were done, Elizabeth and a maid led the ladies up to the second floor and down a long corridor.

When they arrived at their sleeping quarters, they observed them with a look of horror and confusion. The windowless rooms were eight feet on a side at best, with beds stacked one on top of another. A room smaller than their mothers’ closets was to hold at least four people. There was one chair in the middle of the room, which was apparently to be shared, but no dressing stand, no mirror, no… anything.

“This is your bedchamber for the time being. Do not ask why that is so. It is part of the course, and the reasoning will become clear over time. Change into your nightclothes and get into bed. Lights out in a half-hour.”

She enforced the point by leaving them one candle per room with only a half-hour’s wax left.

“Where are our trunks?” Jane asked.

“Clothing will be provided in the morning.”

After that, she assigned beds to the ladies, taking particular care to separate Lydia from Kitty, and Jane from Mary. That left the other ladies mixed with Longbourn ladies, but the entire class was stuffed into two rooms.

None were thrilled, but each room had an elder sister who told them to quit complaining and get to bed.

~~~~~

None of the ladies were thrilled to be awoken at the crack of dawn by a servant beating a pot with a wooden spoon, but it certainly was effective. The woman never introduced herself, but one look was enough to convince each lady that she was not someone to be messed about.

There was one chamber pot in each room, and a plain, dowdy dress hung on each bed, along with a plain cotton shift, short stays, and some sturdy looking boots. It looked like lower servant’s clothing at best. It was clearly not livery or anything that would be worn in the house of a gentleman. It was the kind of practical dress you might see on a milkmaid or laundress. None of the ladies liked it in the least, but since the servant who woke them looked like she would enjoy dragging them out by their ears, they dressed expeditiously.

As they shuffled out of the room, the servant pointed to each girl in turn and assigned them the duty of taking out the chamber pots, one lady for each day. Lydia was the first in her room, and the servant gave her a look indicating she would be quite happy to turn the child over her knee if she complained. She acquiesced with poor grace and found herself with Maria Lucas performing the disagreeable chore for the first time in their lives.

They entered a room with a rather rough table that looked worse than the servant’s tables at any of their homes. They found a pot of thin looking gruel and two loaves of bread. Two girls were tasked with distributing the food fairly, and everyone was cautioned that there was no hogging, no sharing, no talking, no arguing, no making faces, no noise, and most importantly, no complaining.

They ate quickly, were offered one more chance to refresh, and entered another parlour.

The room was stark beyond belief, and they wondered if instruction was always supposed to occur in dingy, dank, quarters. Most thought the affectation silly. They had briefly met all their classmates at the previous evening’s meal, so they all turned to meet the woman who appeared to be their instructor.

Their governess, or tutor, or gaoler was dressed for the outdoors, all in severe black, right down to a deep black, severe looking bonnet that covered most of her hair, leaving only raven black bangs covering her forehead and falling partway down her back.

Her face was slightly dark, as if she either spent a lot of time in the sun, or perhaps she was Spanish or Italian. The foreign effect was enhanced by a pair of large, gorgeous, blood red coral earrings with gold filigree. Those would have stood out in their own, but when contrasted with the severity of her attire, you could hardly look away. The contrast was further enhanced by subtle rouge on her cheeks. Her brows were dark and striking, as were her lashes.

By contrast, her expression was foreboding. She stomped into the room with an almost mannish gait, wearing what appeared to be walking or working boots. If not for the earrings, and the faint touch of rouge, one might have taken her for a rogue rather than any sort of governess. She wore leather gloves that looked thin and supple on the one hand, but rugged on the other. They were slightly discoloured as if she had stolen a gentleman’s riding gloves a decade earlier and never took them off.

She topped Lydia by half an inch, and since Lydia was the tallest of the sisters, the lady (if she even was a lady) was the tallest and fiercest woman any of them had ever seen. She topped it off by being noticeably wider in girth than any of them, even Alicia Weatherby, who had never seen a dessert she was unwilling to sample.

Aside from the obvious quality of her earrings, the subtle rouge, and the hint that her eyes were too dark to be entirely natural, the woman looked like she spent her life as a washerwoman or milkmaid but decided young ladies were easier to abuse then cows.

The governess spoke in a low, throaty, threatening, almost masculine voice, with a noticeable accent that went along with her Mediterranean appearance, though none of the students could tell a Spanish accent from Italian, and half of them would not even recognise French.

“I am your tutor, Mrs Black. For the next fortnight, my word is law! Your guardians have paid handsomely for your attendance, and all of you have signed a pledge to do your best. I expect nothing less—in fact, I expect your utmost,” she stated emphatically, then stared the, down threateningly.

“If, at any time, you refuse to cooperate, or even not to do your best in my opinion, you can quit. However, be aware that you are committed for the full fortnight. If you leave the course, you will be placed in a room half the size of the one you slept in and remain there on bread and water until the course is over. At that time, you will be quietly returned to your guardian, bound and gagged if necessary, and you will deal with whatever consequences your guardian chooses to impose. Is that understood?”

Everyone nodded in shocked half-agreement. Mary thought the only consequence for the Bennet ladies for failure would be to miss out on the bribes, but suspected some of the other ladies might have been threatened with the lash in addition to being enticed by the lure. It even seemed possible some of them might be motivated entirely by fear, as not everyone bribed their children (or sisters) into complaisance. She supposed she would never know.

She, of course, agreed wholeheartedly with the strictures, but she could not help but wonder how long it would take her dunderheaded sisters to realise how thin was the ice they were skating on. Mrs Black seemed like the sort of woman who had lots of punishments available at need, and little compunction about dishing them out.

The woman continued relentlessly. “Remember you are anonymous for exceptionally good reasons, even among yourselves. For the next fortnight, you are Miss Green,” she said, pointing to Lydia. Then she continued around the group, “Miss Yellow, Miss Red, Miss Blue, Miss White Miss Violet—” and continued around the circle. A servant pinned a small ribbon on each collar, just enough to help them keep track of their aliases, but not noticeable enough to raise eyebrows.

Mrs Black had been giving more and more instructions, while reiterating the fact that they pledged to give it their all—probably for the Lydias of the world, where no amount of repetition was sufficient.