Scandal At Greystone Manor

Chapter Three

‘Mr Ashton is a fascinating man, don’t you think?’ Isabel asked Jane. ‘He has been everywhere and done everything and is so interesting to talk to.’

It was the day after the supper party and the girls and their mother were sitting in the small parlour. Jane was sewing tiny beads on to the skirt of the wedding gown, while Lady Cavenhurst and Isabel sat at the table, writing the invitations on cards.

‘So he may be,’ Jane said, ‘but I think it ill of you to monopolise him in conversation and ignore poor Mark.’

‘Oh, Mark did not mind it. He knows how much I want to travel.’ She picked up one of the invitations. ‘There, I have made a blot on that one. Pass me another, Mama, please.’

‘How many have you crossed off the list?’ Jane queried.

‘About a quarter. We could not take any more off without giving offence and we don’t want Papa to look a pinchcommons, do we?’

‘I do not think catering for fifty is mean, Issie. Papa is worried about the cost. You know what he said this morning.’

Earlier that day Sir Edward had come in from going round the estate with his steward and found his wife and daughters in the morning room, talking about the wedding. Seizing the opportunity of finding them all together, he had delivered a homily on the need to economise. It was a word unknown to Lady Cavenhurst and Isabel. Jane had produced the list she had made, beginning with the notion that they could all spend less on clothes, bonnets and shoes, which had raised a cry of protest from Isabel and Sophie. A second suggestion was that they often wasted food and that Cook should be instructed not to buy exotic produce like lemons and pineapples and only to use fruit and vegetables grown in their own kitchen gardens and to cook no more than was needed for the numbers sitting down to eat. Her ladyship had said that Cook would not like that at all and the provisions for the wedding feast had already been ordered.

‘Unfortunately, even that will not be enough,’ Sir Edward had said. ‘I am afraid there will have to be serious retrenchment.’

Jane had consulted her list again. ‘Then we could cut down on the number of servants. We do not really need three chambermaids and three parlourmaids, and if we helped in the garden ourselves we would not need so many gardeners. I, for one, would not mind doing that. And we could do without the carriage if we had to.’

‘Do without the carriage!’ her mother protested. ‘How are we to go about without one? Tell me that.’

‘We could keep the pony and trap,’ Jane said. ‘One pony is cheaper to keep than four horses and then we would not need more than one groom; Daniel can manage on his own. If we needed to travel further afield, we could go by stage.’

‘Go by stage!’ Her mother was affronted. ‘Impossible.’

‘Perhaps I could take paid employment to help,’ Jane went on, ignoring her mother’s exclamation. She wondered if her mother really understood the gravity of the situation or was simply shutting her eyes to it.

‘Heaven forbid!’ her ladyship exclaimed. ‘You have not been brought up to work, Jane. And what can you do in any case?’

‘I can sew.’

‘Like Miss Smith, I suppose.’

‘No, not like Miss Smith, though there is nothing wrong with what she does. I meant designing and making high-class gowns. Or I could teach. I think I should find that rewarding.’

‘Bless you, Jane,’ Sir Edward said. ‘I hope it will not come to that.’

‘Well, I will not hear of it,’ his wife said. ‘You will make paupers of us.’

‘There is no question of that,’ he said, trying to smile. ‘But we do have to find ways of making substantial savings and the longer we put off doing so, the harder it will be.’

‘What about my wedding?’ Isabel had wailed.

‘I am not proposing to curtail your wedding, Isabel,’ her father told her. ‘But please limit the guests to fifty and try not to be extravagant over the banquet.’

‘We will postpone any decision about savings until after the wedding,’ her ladyship said firmly. ‘Once Isabel is married, no doubt Sophie will follow shortly afterwards and our expenses will not be so great. We may come about without all these measures.’

Sir Edward gave up and left them. No one had mentioned Teddy’s problems, but he was going to have to mend his ways whether he liked it or not. There was no question in Jane’s mind that her inheritance would have to go.

She set the gown aside on a nearby chair. ‘Let me look at the list.’

‘No,’ Isabel said. ‘You will cross everyone off and Mama has approved it. You shall not spoil my wedding, Jane.’

‘Will it spoil it if you have only fifty guests?’

‘Of course it will. I want everyone to see me in my wedding gown, marrying the most eligible bachelor for miles around.’

‘The wedding is not the be-all and end-all of a marriage, Issie. It is only the beginning.’

‘I know that. Do you take me for a fool? And what do you know of it?’

‘Girls, do stop brangling,’ her ladyship put in. ‘It is not becoming and I cannot see how a handful of guests can make you so up in the boughs, Jane dear. It is so unlike you.’

The arrival of a maid to tell them that Mr Wyndham and Mr Ashton had arrived and were asking if the ladies were at home put an end to the conversation and set Isabel in a panic. ‘Mark mustn’t see the dress, Jane. It is unlucky before the day. Put it away quickly.’ She jumped up from her seat and knocked over the ink bottle. Its contents ran across the table and over the chair on which Jane had put the dress. Isabel’s terrible shriek brought the two gentlemen running into the room.

‘What has happened?’ Mark demanded. ‘Are you hurt, Isabel?’

‘Go away. Go away,’ she shouted in a paroxysm of angry tears.

‘But, my dear, you are distressed.’

‘We have had a little accident with the wedding dress,’ Jane told him. She was trying to be calm, but the sight of that black stain on the skirt of the dress had made her heart sink. The beautiful fabric and all those hours of work were ruined. She could have cried herself, but one sobbing woman was enough. ‘I will calm my sister, if you will excuse us for a few minutes.’

‘Of course, we will go away and come back later.’

‘That would be best,’ Lady Cavenhurst said, as she put her arm about her younger daughter to comfort her.

As they bowed their way out Jane rang the bell for a maid to come and clean the table, then she spread the gown out to inspect the damage. ‘It might wash out if we are quick,’ she said.

‘No, it is ruined,’ Isabel cried. ‘How can I go to my wedding in a gown that has been washed? It is a bad omen, a very bad omen.’

‘Do not be so melodramatic, Issie,’ Jane scolded. ‘I will see if there is enough material left over to replace that panel.’ She doubted if there was, but she had to console Isabel somehow.

‘There,’ her ladyship said. ‘Jane does not think it is irretrievable. Do dry your eyes and go up to your room to wash your face, while Jane sees what can be done.’

‘It was her fault,’ Isabel said with an angry pout. ‘She should not have been sitting so close to the table where I was writing.’

Jane was taken aback and opened her mouth to protest, then shut it again. Isabel was in no mood to be reasonable.

‘I do not know what is the matter with you girls today,’ their mother said. ‘I have not heard you quarrel so much since you were tiny children. This wedding is setting everyone at odds with each other.’

A servant arrived to clean up the table and the carpet where some of the ink had spilled and her ladyship helped Isabel from the room, leaving Jane to gather up the gown, being careful not to smear the ink on any other part of it. She carried it up to Miss Smith’s workroom, to find the leftover material.

There were several small pieces but not one large enough for a whole panel. She would need some ingenuity to refashion the skirt to make use of them. A join could perhaps be disguised with a band of ribbon, but she would have to put it on all the panels to make it look as if it were meant it to be like that. She would have to unpick some of the embroidery and redesign it around the ribbon. It could be done, but what worried her more and had been doing so for some time now, was her sister’s attitude to the wedding. She did not seem to be able to look beyond it to what married life would really be like. ‘But what do I know about it?’ she murmured to herself, as she sat down and began unpicking. ‘An old maid with no prospects of ever enjoying the role of wife.’

* * *

She had been working there perhaps half an hour when her mother joined her. ‘I have given Isabel a tisane and she has gone to sleep,’ she said. ‘She was a little calmer and is relying on you to rescue the gown.’

‘I think I can, but I will need to have a join halfway down the skirt. I thought of disguising it with ribbon. I am unpicking the skirt now.’

‘It was very naughty of her to blame you. I am sure she will apologise when she wakes up.’

‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘Jane, are you very unhappy?’

‘Unhappy, Mama, what makes you think that?’

‘I thought perhaps the arrival of Mr Ashton might have cast you in the suds.’

Jane managed to laugh. ‘After ten years, Mama? Certainly not.’

‘I am glad. I know he is now wealthy and sure of himself, but his wealth has come from trade; he is still not a gentleman, nor ever can be.’

‘Not in the sense you mean it, Mama, but gentlemanly behaviour and good manners can be learned and I doubt Mr Ashton’s antecedents, or lack of them, will make him any less popular in the ton.’

‘So, you do still have feelings for him?’

‘No, Mama, I do not. I was simply trying to be fair to him.’ She realised suddenly that what she had said was true. It was not Andrew Ashton who disturbed her heart, but someone much closer to home.

‘It is so like you to see the good in everyone, Jane. But if it is not Mr Ashton, what is troubling you?’

‘It is Isabel. She seems not to be able to look beyond the wedding day itself and I am afraid she is in for a rude awakening.’

‘I cannot think why. Mark is the best of men, he can be relied upon to do his best to make her happy. You must not begrudge her her day, just because...’ Her ladyship stopped in mid-sentence.

‘Because I will never have one of my own, is that what you were going to say, Mama? Do not think it. I do not. I am content with my life as it is.’

‘But every young lady dreams of being married.’

‘Not every young lady, Mama.’ She was firm on that score, as much to convince herself as her mother.

‘You are a good daughter and a good sister, Jane. I would not change you for the world. Teddy tells me you are going to help him out of the coil he is in, since his papa will not, in spite of my pleading.’

‘I didn’t exactly say I would, I said I would think about it. It will take all of Aunt Matilda’s bequest and I so wanted to use it for my orphanage.’

‘Papa will make it up to you, when he has calmed down, I am sure.’ She watched as Jane detached the stained skirt panel and set it aside. ‘Now, put that away and come downstairs for nuncheon. I have no doubt the gentlemen will be back later this afternoon and we must offer our excuses for Isabel and make little of this morning’s episode.’

* * *

Jane had done as she was bid and was back at her sewing in the parlour while her mother finished off the invitations when Mark and Drew returned.

‘Forgive me for returning so soon,’ Mark said, bowing to her ladyship. ‘But I was concerned for Isabel. She was so distraught, I feared she was going to make herself ill.’

‘It was the shock of seeing the ink on her lovely wedding gown,’ her ladyship told him, beckoning the young men to be seated and instructing the maid to bring refreshments. ‘She is calm again now that she knows Jane can put it right.’

‘I am working on it now,’ Jane said. ‘I am hopeful that no one will ever know it has been altered.’

‘Dear Jane,’ Mark said. ‘So dependable, so calm in a crisis. We are indebted to you.’

Jane felt the colour flood her face. ‘You are a flatterer, sir. I beg you to desist. I only do what any sister would do.’

‘That is for others to judge.’ To have calmly said she would rescue the gown after Isabel herself had spoiled it and blamed her for it was unselfish to a degree. Isabel had not bothered to lower her voice and it had carried clearly as they were leaving. Delightful Isabel might be, delightful and beautiful, but she also had a fiery temperament, which took no account of other people’s feelings. Yet Jane was always thinking of other people before herself. Why was he comparing them? He had been doing too much of that lately and it did not bode well.

‘I had better put this away.’ She folded the gown in its tissue and laid it to one side. ‘Now we can have tea without fear of another spillage.’

‘How did it happen?’ Drew spoke for the first time.

‘Isabel is convinced that it is unlucky for the bridegroom to see the wedding dress before the bride joins him at the altar. She was in haste to have it out of sight before you were shown in and so managed to overturn the ink bottle.’

‘I thought it might be that,’ he said. ‘I am glad the gown is not ruined, but I brought this for your sister in the hope it might make up a little for her loss.’ He picked up the brown paper parcel he had been holding on his knee and handed it to Lady Cavenhurst. ‘If you would be so kind as to allow her to accept it?’

‘What is it?’ her ladyship asked, a little doubtfully.

‘It is nothing very much, my lady. A length of silk for a sari. Miss Isabel expressed an interest last evening. If she does not wish to use it as a sari, I believe there is enough material to make a gown. Call it a wedding present.’

‘How very kind of you.’ Her ladyship unwrapped the parcel to find a length of silk in a deep pink that was very similar to that of the wedding gown. There was yards and yards of it but, because it was so fine, it could be folded into a very small parcel.

‘It is beautiful,’ Jane said, reaching forward to touch it. ‘Isabel will be thrilled with it. Mark, what do you say?’

‘Oh, undoubtedly,’ he answered.

‘I brought it from India,’ Drew said. ‘Not only that one, but several others. When I knew I was coming here, I put them in my baggage as gifts for the ladies.’ He grinned suddenly. ‘It is good business, you know. The ladies wear gowns made of the silk and when they are asked where they came by them, they refer to me. I chose that one for Miss Isabel because I noticed the colour of the one that had been spoiled.’

‘How thoughtful of you,’ murmured Lady Cavenhurst. ‘And if Mark has no objection, I will make sure she has it.’

‘I have no objection, why should I?’ Mark said. ‘Drew has already presented my mother with one.’

‘Would you care for one, Lady Cavenhurst?’ Drew asked.

‘That is very kind of you, sir, but I think not. I do not have the figure for such a thing.’

‘As you wish.’ He turned to Jane. ‘What about you, Miss Cavenhurst? Would you like one?’

‘As Mama said, it is very kind of you, but I could not possibly accept such a gift. It is enough that you have promised to donate to my orphan charity.’ It was the answer expected of an unmarried lady, but she could not help feeling a pang of disappointment. She had never seen or touched so fine a fabric.

Isabel, who had heard and seen the gentlemen arrive from her bedchamber window, had hurriedly renewed her toilette and came to join them. Both men stood up and Mark hurried to take both her hands in his. ‘Are you feeling better, my dear?’

‘Yes, don’t fuss, Mark. I was upset because I thought my gown was ruined, but Mama told me Jane can fix it, so all is not lost, after all.’ She turned to Drew. ‘Good afternoon, Mr Ashton. I am sorry I did not greet you properly earlier. Please forgive me.’ This was said with a dazzling smile.

He bowed to her. ‘It is understandable, Miss Isabel. Gentlemen sometimes do not understand the importance of a lady’s dress.’

She gave a tinkling laugh. ‘But you do, is that so?’

Jane was shocked at her sister’s offhand treatment of Mark and her obvious attempt to flirt with Drew. ‘Sit down, Issie,’ she said. ‘The gentlemen cannot be seated again until you do.’

Jane was sitting beside her mother on one sofa, so Isabel sat on the other. Mark seated himself beside her and Drew found a chair. It was then Isabel noticed the silk in her mother’s lap. ‘What have you there, Mama?’

‘It is a sari, my love. A wedding present to you from Mr Ashton.’

‘A sari! Oh, Mama, may I accept it?’

‘Mark has said you may, so I have no objection.’

Isabel was on her feet again and letting the material cascade over her arm in shining ripples. ‘It’s lovely,’ she said, bright-eyed. ‘Oh, thank you, Mr Ashton. You are so thoughtful, I am overwhelmed.’

‘I thought it could be used for a new wedding gown if the other was ruined.’

‘But it is not ruined and I want to keep this as a sari. There are yards and yards of it. How is it worn?’

‘I think you will need the help of your maid. There is a knack to it.’

‘Bessie would not have any idea. Can you show me?’

‘Isabel, I am sure Bessie will manage it when you are in your own room,’ her mother said. ‘The parlour is hardly the place to dress, especially with gentlemen present.’

‘Mr Ashton can show me on himself.’

‘Isabel!’ Her mother was shocked.

‘I am too big and too clumsy,’ Drew said, laughing. ‘I have printed instructions with illustrations for the benefit of European ladies. I will have a copy sent over for your maid to study.’

‘That will serve admirably,’ her ladyship said. ‘Isabel, I suggest you fold it up and take it to your room before you knock your tea all over it.’

‘Anyone would think I was clumsy,’ she said.

‘No, but you are somewhat excitable,’ her mother said. ‘I beg you to calm yourself.’

Isabel disappeared with the sari and the others drank their tea in silence for a minute or two. Jane was shocked by her sister’s behaviour. She would not blame Mark if he gave her a put down when he managed to find her on her own. What motive did Mr Ashton have for making the gift? Was it simply as he had said, a wish to help over the accident with the gown, or was there more to it? He was evidently attracted to her sister. Was Isabel aware of it? Was Mark? He would never believe ill of Isabel. Or was she herself seeing more than was really there?

‘The weather is set fair for the next few days,’ Mark said. ‘I promised to show Drew more of our county and we plan an excursion to Cromer tomorrow. I wondered if Miss Cavenhurst and Isabel might like to join us, if you and they agree, my lady?’

‘I can see no harm in it,’ her ladyship said. ‘What do you say, Jane? Do you think Isabel would like it?’

‘I am sure she would,’ Jane answered. She was not so sure about wanting to go herself, but if her sister went then she would have to go, too, or their mother would never allow it.

‘That’s settled then,’ Mark said, rising to leave. ‘We will come at ten o’clock tomorrow morning with the carriage.’

The men bowed to the ladies and left.

* * *

‘When did you think of an outing to Cromer?’ Drew asked, as they walked back to Broadacres. ‘You did not mention it before we came.’

‘I thought the ladies might like it. It might serve to put Isabel in a calmer frame of mind and give Jane a little reward for the hard work she does. You have no objection, have you?’

‘None at all.’

* * *

Wyndham’s carriage was as comfortable as any well-sprung travelling coach could be; there was plenty of room inside for four. Hadlea to Cromer was not above twenty miles and they arrived in a little under two hours, having spent the time in idle chatter, most of it led by Isabel quizzing Drew about India and his travels.

They pulled up at an inn in the lower part of the village near the church, where Jeremy, the coachman, and the horses would be looked after while they strolled along the beach. It had been warm in the coach, but as soon as they were out of it, they felt the cool breeze blowing off the sea. ‘I am glad we decided to bring warm shawls,’ Jane said, wrapping hers closer about her. Like her sister, she was wearing a muslin gown and a sarsenet pelisse. Hers was striped in two shades of green, Isabel’s was white. They both wore straw bonnets firmly tied on with ribbon.

‘Would you prefer to stay in the carriage?’ Mark asked her. ‘Or go to a hotel?’

‘Certainly not,’ she answered. ‘I came for the bracing sea air and that is what I mean to have. What about you, Issie?’

‘Me, too. I am sure the gentlemen do not want to be cooped up indoors and I am not a bit cold. I want to go down on the sand.’

‘Then you shall,’ Mark said, offering her his arm.

She took it, leaving Jane to walk beside Drew, though she did not take his arm. They strolled down a narrow cobbled road at the end of which they had their first view of the beach and the sea. ‘It looks cold,’ Jane said.

‘It nearly always is,’ Mark said, turning to her with a chuckle. ‘There is nothing between Cromer and the Arctic, except sea. But at least that is calm today. Would you like to go bathing? It is supposed to be beneficial and there are machines down there if you would like it.’ It was early in the summer, though a few brave souls were taking a dip.

‘No, I do not think so,’ she said. ‘I shall be content to watch.’

‘It must seem even colder to you, Mr Ashton, after the heat of India,’ Isabel said.

‘Oh, I am a hardy soul, Miss Isabel. I might take a dip myself. What do you say, Mark?’ There were men in the sea a little further along the beach, but the girls would not go near them, for they nearly always took to the water naked, unlike the women who were hampered by voluminous clothing and did not stir far from the bathing machines where they changed.

‘I think I should stay with the ladies,’ Mark said. ‘But do you go if you have a mind to.’

Drew would not go alone and all four made their way down a cliff path on to the sand. The beach was not crowded and they walked towards the water’s edge. Jane was more inclined to stride out when they reached the firmer wet sand and Mark kept up with her. Drew, behind them, stooped to pick up a flat round stone and threw it into the sea in such a way it bounced along the waves two or three times before it disappeared.

Isabel clapped her hands. ‘Oh, how clever of you, Mr Ashton! Do show me how to do it.’

He picked up another stone and put it into her hand. ‘You need to throw it quite hard and keep the trajectory low,’ he said. ‘Set it spinning flat as it leaves your hand.’