Adele Varens 12

 

Chapter 12

 

“Adele?” said Tony.

“I bought Thornfield Hall, and I have been having it rebuilt,” I told him. “As much in the manner of how it was as I can manage. My dear father was very glad to sell the land to an anonymous party; money is tight. And now I understand why money is tight,” I sneered. “We moved, as I told you, to Ferndean Manor, an overgrown farmhouse, or small feudal hall, I’m not sure which. A grander house than some, but a hovel compared to Thornfield. It’s on one of the farms belonging to Thornfield, and it was empty and the farm not farmed, and I doubt it is even now. Rochester has let all his holdings go to rack and ruin. He wasted his time, first in the Caribbean with his mad wife, and then in dissipated ruinous fecklessness across Europe, trying to forget the mistake he had made, but with nary a thought for his dependents, and on the maintenance of his lands and mistakes. My little half-brother will inherit nothing but debts when his fool of a father dies. He failed as a son, inheriting land, as a husband in not making sure his wife would have security, and as a father, in providing for his son.”

“And do you plan to buy them from him and put them back in good heart?”

“It crossed my mind,” I said. “Tony, if I did so, would you stand by me and help me? I doubt that as the woman I must become again I would have the respect of other men who will need browbeating.”

“I’ll manage it,” said Tony.

Oh, reader, he had grown in the three years of our degree. He had been a naïve, boyish youth, well-meaning, thoughtful, sweet-natured. And he had not lost his sweet nature, only his puppy-fat, and had grown into a serious and studious man, with a taste for occasional mischief, and the ability to take decisions.

“I must arrange a chaperone for myself,” I said. “And then, I will write to you, and you shall call upon me, with a ring; and I will hold a house-party as a disguise for your sudden particular attentions.”

“And will that fellow Rochester be there? I want to knock him down, though if he is blind, even partly, I should not do so.”

“I will not invite him,” I said. “I learned that when it became known that I had run away, he turned on Jane, and she fled with her children. But he has apparently regained his sight.” I hesitated. “Tony! You do not even know what Adele looks like; can you be sure that you find me attractive?”

“I see your sweet face every day; I may not be as clever a fellow as some, but I can imagine it in a woman’s gown. Point of fact, I’ve seen you in a woman’s gown, though with extra oranges bouncing in the bodice, disguised as a char woman to creep around and let us in to do things to that horse.”

“You don’t know the size of my, uh, natural bodice….”

“Hush! Whatever it is, it’s not scarily outsize, and so will fit snugly in my hands, which is what a man looks for. Because it’s you, it will be just the right size.”

“Oh, Tony, you are a very special man.”

“I love you. I will still love you when we are both wrinkled like prunes, and have no figure at all,” said Tony. “I just marvel that you can have any feelings for such a very ordinary fellow like me, who is as blind as a bat without his gig-lamps.”

“Tony, you are not the most handsome man I know, but you are the one with the nicest face. And when we get your gig-lamps off, you have the most beautiful eyes,” I said. “And I will love your face, and the smile in your eyes, when you have crumpled into well-worn wrinkles, which will form around the shape of a smile.”

“I want to kiss you, but I’m afraid of being interrupted, and the can of worms that will cause.”

“It would be too heady and we might get carried away.”

We parted with a handshake, and reader! My hand was on fire.

 

 

I had not been idle during my holiday periods. As well as making sure to continue my earnings at White’s, I had gone north to overlook Thornfield. I had been heartbroken to see it burned to the ground like that; it had been a home to me in a time when I believed I should have been a loved and happy child. I had learned to make my own happiness, but I could not but see it as something stolen from me. I had asked questions, and made notes, all as an agent to ‘Somebody.’  I had the air of a lawyer, and played it to the full.

I had arranged to have the hall rebuilt as far as was possible along the lines of is original appearance, purchasing old stones where possible from old ruins which others were planning to clear for modern houses. I wanted my house modern,  but with the feel of the gracious ancient building it had been. This was before John Ruskin published ‘The Seven Lamps of Architecture,’ you understand, and founded the Gothic Revival; so my nostalgia was ahead of my time, as others tore down their own Gothic inheritances to make room for soulless buildings of cold classical perfection. I was able to benefit, and as a consequence made great savings on my materials.  And it paid off, with a building not identical, but still with a flavour of Thornfield. I called it ‘Phoenix Place,’ and commissioned a phoenix carving to go above the front porch.

Reader, I sank a lot of money into it; but I also planned to see a tenant in the home farm, and make it work again. It was an investment, as well as a home, and as well as a statement. The recent invention of coal oil meant that I might have good lamps in the house powered by kerosene, which would help a great deal to make sure that the dark corners which are the inconvenient side of the Gothic were well lit, and cheerful. There might not be the piped gas of town buildings, but at least the lamps would burn almost as brightly. I made a brief visit to ensure that the work was largely completed, and advertised for servants, before going back to London.

 

In town, I made use of my contacts in White’s.

“I’ve connections with a young lady who needs a chaperone,” I said. “She has a betrothal practically arranged, but she wants to meet some people in the house in which she will be living. It’s in the wilds of Yorkshire, though of course, she might come to London. She needs a sensible older woman, not too strait-laced, but of impeccable credentials.”

I hired an office to see those who were sent by my contacts.

I had three in mind; none ideal but all possibilities.

Then she came in.

I knew her at once; Miss Thwaite, from Mrs. Fielding’s school. I had not seen her for seven years, or more, but I knew her; hesitant, fluttery, learned, Miss Thwaite, whose classes of history I had skived in so assiduously, who knew so much and could not convey it to a class of restless little girls.

She was still fluttering.

I read the letters she thrust at me; one was her own history of employment, the other a letter from Mrs. Fielding, forthright, direct, explaining that Miss Thwaite was too old to handle a school class any more – I confess, it crossed my mind, she had never handled  a school class in her life, but relied on our natural good manners to heed her, more or less.

Mrs. Fielding went on that Miss Thwaite might suit a single quiet girl in the capacity of a governess, or a quiet, studious girl who liked reading as a companion.

“I see you have taught at Mrs. Fielding’s school – the one south of York?” I asked.

“Oh! Yes, indeed; I taught history, but girls these days are so boisterous and I get such megrims, well, I always have, that leave me flat on my back in the dark, with rose water on my forehead to ease it, you know… but I am hoping that life as a companion might be less trying.”

“I believe you may know my client,” I said. “She attended Mrs. Fielding’s school for a few years; Adele Varens.”

“Oh! That poor child! She does still live, does she? I am so glad. I did wonder if that dreadful man, her father, had done away with her, for he denied being her father, though her features were quite plainly similar to his; indeed, sir, you have the look….” She tailed off.

“I chose to use part of my father’s name; I am Edward Fairfax,” I told her. “Indeed, it is true, it is my half-sister for whom I act. I have been able to take care of her.”

“Oh! Thank God! Thank God!” she cried, her hands clasped in fervent prayer. “Poor Adele, she went out of her way to try to be unlikeable, but oh! I could not dislike her, knowing what her father was like, and that stepmother of hers pandering always to his will… it may be nature that God has placed woman to be the helpmate of man, to cleave to him, and obey him, but you must admit that there are limits beyond which even the sweetest-natured woman should put her foot down and refuse to be browbeaten. Poor Adele, if she had had any interest in history, I might have tried to draw her out; she was never as well dressed as the others, and her allowance was quite mean, while she was still rebelling, I confess to paying some of her fines, so she would have some left. Then she ran away, and when I saw the letter her stepmother was supposed to have written, I knew right away that Adele, who is a very clever girl, had altered it. I did not tell Mrs. Fielding, and I hope I did right, but there was such a fuss at the end of that term. And she found you?”

“Yes, and my dear grandmother, may she rest in peace,” I said, having decided to let Sara Deleven die. I even held a funeral for her; I found a street beggar who had died to put in the coffin, and Sara Deleven’s will was all in order. Trust a lawyer to forge a will properly. I used a solicitor who had recently died as her executor, and myself, as Ned Fairfax, and Mr. Budge of Leeds, leaving all to her granddaughter-by-adoption, Adele Varens.

This was by no means all I had earned; I had my own bank account, which I had opened with the five thousand from Earl Halliwell, and into which went most of my winnings.

I might need to access a bank account as a man.

Naturally, Edward Fairfax and Adele Varens had left wills leaving what they owned mutually to each other.

Even so, and even after spending so much on Phoenix Hall, both of us were very well off indeed.

Whist at the best clubs, since once introduced to one I was soon introduced to others, was very profitable.

“Well, I would love to see Adele again, and do what I might… if she would have me,” said Miss Thwaite, wistfully.

“Why, I am sure she would be delighted,” I said. “She learned a love and appreciation of history as she grew older, in the school wherein my grandmother placed her.”

“Oh, I am so pleased!” Miss Thwaite positively glowed.

It would make life easier if my companion was to be someone who knew my history and, moreover, entered into my feelings about my father; I have seen plenty who thought Jane’s devotion to be romantic, rather than, as I saw it, merely cringeworthy and disturbing. Miss Thwaite was plainly more astute than I had realised.

I wrote suitable ‘Thank you but the position is filled’ letters to the other candidates, and sent Mis Thwaite north, with first class railway tickets, enough for a first class hotel and to hire a carriage out to Phoenix Hall, and leaving her quite giddy with the anticipation of a salary of one hundred and fifty pounds a year, plus her keep, which would ensure her ability to save for her old age, and the assurance that she would be considered a pensioner of the family even when Adele was wed. 

I had asked Mr. Budge to interview and hire suitable servants who replied to my advertisement, so she would not be troubled with that task, and would only have to settle in whilst waiting to be joined by Adele.

Her salary had not been large, despite Mrs. Fielding’s exorbitant fees for schooling, and I appreciated her paying my fines. Which may have stopped me from feeling the wrath of my father, wanting to know where six pounds seven shillings went, and blowing open my rebellion in keeping most of what I had been given.

Then I wrote, in Adele’s handwriting, to Mary, Frances-Ann, Celia, and Nelly, asking if they would care to be my guests now that I was settled, and able to have them to stay.

I wrote to Mrs. Bridges as well, asking her to permit Frances-Ann to come, and to bring her little sister, whose name I fondly hoped I recalled to be Esther-Ruth.

Mrs. Bridges wrote back, correcting me that the girl’s name was Ellen-Ruth, who was leaving school and would doubtless be grateful of a haven; and that she would be delighted for Frances-Ann to spend some time with an old friend in a social situation, and would receive her back when or if she wished to return to teaching. Then she warned me against being too heavy handed in matchmaking, if I was considering it.

Well, naturally, I hoped for them to establish themselves with someone convivial, but I was not going to force the issue.

It remained only for me to hire a maid, and travel north myself.