Jane and the Genius of the Place Page 20

  very late in the evening

  WE ARE ONLY JUST RETURNED FROM OUR VISIT TO EASTwell Park, and tho’ it is nearly midnight now, my head is so filled with all that I have seen and heard, that I cannot sleep without setting down a few words in my little book. A roving owl calls spectrally through the darkness while the rest of the great house falls silent; monstrous shapes, born of my candle-flame, dance against the yellow walls. The maid, stifling a gape, has undone my best dinner gown and brushed out my hair. She is gone thankfully now to her bed under the airless rafters, while I sit at the dressing table in only my shift, desperate for a breeze that never comes. Another midnight I should be overwhelmed with loneliness, and dwell upon the follies of my past. But a circle of faces presently whirls before my eyes, caught in a shaft of memory; best to capture something of their outline, before it is dulled with sleep.

  It was a large and stimulating party—for in addition to Mr. Finch-Hatton, Lady Elizabeth, and their five children (two of them very engaging little boys), we were treated to all the Finch-Hatton relations. This included the Miss Finches, Anne and Mary, both unmarried and as voluble as Lady Elizabeth is silent; Mr. Emilious Finch-Hatton, the younger brother; and Harriet, Lady Gordon, the one Finch sister so fortunate as to achieve the wedded state.1 Her husband, Sir Janison, I liked too little to cultivate; his manner was haughty, as befits a baronet, and he gave way to the temptation to sneer at the foolishness of the Miss Finches more than once. I cannot love a man who despises a spinster.

  Of Mr. Emilious Finch-Hatton, however, I formed a better opinion. I was so fortunate as to be seated next to him at dinner, and found him a stimulating companion—but more on that point later.2

  In addition to our two families, there remained a pair of bachelors: Mr. Thomas Brett, an attorney with expectations of a prettyish estate near Wye, called Spring Grove, whom I believe to be sadly in the thrall of Miss Louisa Finch-Hatton; and the remarkable Mr. Julian Sothey.

  Tho’ we had journeyed the four miles towards Ashford in expectation of a meeting with the Gendeman Improver, it was in fact several hours before he was introduced to the ladies’ attention. Upon our arrival at Eastwell just after two o’clock, Lizzy and I were immediately conveyed to a pleasantly airy saloon, with French windows surmounted by an Egyptian frieze, done in quite an extraordinary plasterwork—as tho’ Robert Adam had witnessed the excesses of Napoleon’s campaign, and thought to reproduce all of Alexandria in a single room. The saloon’s prospect gave out onto the garden, which my brothers were rapidly traversing in company with the male Finch-Hattons. They were bound for the stables and a pony-trap, in which they intended to tour the park.

  Lady Elizabeth and her eldest daughter were reclining indolently on a pair of sofas, apparently overcome by the oppressive weather and the vexation of dressing for dinner; it was not in their power to rise at our entrance. The Miss Finches, in their neat, spare fashion, were industriously at work upon an extensive fringe, appar-endy divided between them; little George and Daniel were engaged in playing at spillikins, while Lady Gordon read aloud from a novel. (It was, alas, The Sorrows of Young Werther; and perhaps my countenance fell upon perceiving it, for the excellent woman set aside the volume direcdy we were announced.)

  “Mrs. Austen!” Mary Finch cried.

  “And Miss Jane Austen!” her sister Anne echoed.

  The two ladies abandoned their work and bustled forward, ail anxiety for our comfort, as though we had arrived in the midst of a terrible storm, or were fainting from three days’ hunger. In the fuss that generally ensued, the quieter salutations of the others were entirely overwhelmed.

  “To think,” Miss Mary began, “—such excellent friends—travelling all this distance, and in such heat and dust! Entirely too amiable! You find us quite at home—reduced to utter stupidity by the oppressive weather—although Harriet has been so good as to amuse us with Werther—tho’ perhaps amusing is not the properest word, for it is a trifle tedious in passages— Louisa was quite reduced to tears of boredom for entire chapters together, although I am sure it is very instructive. It is all the rage in Town.”

  “Had we only possessed Mrs. Edgeworth’s works, or even Mrs. Palmerston’s,” Miss Anne added, “when Mary and I were girls—but, then, we were very fortunate to be taught so much as a syllable of French, or anything of geography, for it was hardly considered suitable to send girls to fashionable boarding establishments, such as our little Louisa has been treated to—and quite the fine miss she has returned, with such elegant taste, and her fingers so harmonious—they quite fly about the keyboard, as I am sure you will agree when she consents to play for us, after dinner. I am certain that Mr. Brett intends to teaze her on the subject of performance, blush how she might—”

  “Pray allow the ladies to sit down, Mary,” Lady Elizabeth commanded in a quelling tone, “and ring for Hopkins with some punch. I trust your journey was uneventful, Mrs. Austen?”

  “Entirely, Lady Elizabeth, I thank you.”

  “You did not bring your eldest daughter. I had hoped she might be a companion for George.”

  “How unfortunate, then, that she remained at home! She was excessively disappointed, I assure you. But Fanny’s governess thought the journey too unhealthful in such heat, to permit of the treat.”

  Lady Elizabeth inclined her head, and returned to fanning herself with a rush paddle; from Louisa we received not a word. She appeared engaged in studying the prospect of the garden—or perhaps she was hoping for a glimpse of its improver.

  “Pray tell me, Miss Austen, how your lovely sister Cassandra does?” Miss Mary Finch cried. “We had hoped to have the pleasure of seeing her at Eastwell. It has been some months since we were so fortunate. Like yourself, I suppose, she yet retains the single state?”

  “She does, ma’am,” I managed without loss of countenance. “Her recent period of mourning for my father rendered any change in domestic situation abhorrent.”

  Miss Mary’s expression turned so anxious at this, that I feared she might suffer a fit. “But of course—your excellent father—any change would be entirely out of the question for either of you girls—nothing so ideally suited to the comfort of a widow, as to have her children about her—I had entirely forgotten—that is, not forgotten, exactly, for who could ignore the loss of so admirable a soul, as the Reverend George? But, then, you are yourself no longer in mourning, Miss Austen, and I confess that your blooming looks put all thought of the dear departed quite out of my head. A charming man—and your brothers so very much like him—we shall have the pleasure of seeing Mr. Henry Austen, I hope, tho’ my brother has quite stolen him away for the nonce. You will not take my little enquiry regarding your sister in an unamiable light, I hope?”

  “Miss Austen is from Godmersham at present, I believe?” Miss Anne interjected, with a conscious look for her sister.

  And so I related how Cassandra had gone to Harriot Bridges, with a view to assisting in the care of the invalid Bridges sister, Marianne; how she was expected at Godmersham on Monday, and appeared to be suffering herself from a return of the headache complaint that had troubled her ever since her unfortunate carriage accident in Lyme.3

  “So Miss Cassandra Austen went to Goodnestone Farm!” Miss Anne exclaimed. “That is very good of her, to be sure, when she must deny herself all the superior pleasures that your brother’s estate may offer. But I shall hope that she has not found her time there entirely devoid of interest.”

  “I believe my brother Edward intended to make her visit as stimulating as possible,” Lizzy remarked, without even the hint of a smile. “He is quite a slave to Cassandra’s enjoyment, and shall presently turn his devotion to Jane. Jane is to make her own visit, you know, upon Cassandra’s departure.”

  In such asides, punctuated by strenuous Finch monologues and virtual silence from the other ladies in the room, nearly an hour and a half were suffered to pass away, before a nuncheon of cheese and fruit materialised upon a tray. After this was consumed, I gave way
to the entreaties of the litde boys, and joined them in the establishment of cribbage. Daniel and I had just succeeded in winning several hands from Miss Mary and his elder brother, when an exclamation from the languorous Louisa alerted all our attention.

  “Mamma! They are coming across the odious ha-ha! I see Mr. Sothey to the fore.”

  She rose and crossed to the pier-glass, surveying her reflection critically; then with a complete absence of consciousness, plucked at her golden curls and bit some colour into her full lips. Lady Gordon nearly choked on what might have been a giggle, and I observed the Miss Finches to exchange a significant look—but forbore from betraying my amusement. Lizzy, as ever, was a study in cultivated indifference; and so the Austens acquitted themselves more nobly than Miss Louisa’s dearest relations.

  A turmoil in the entry announced the gendemen arrived; a hubbub of voices, and the tramp of feet—and the door was thrown open by one who was a stranger to me, and yet not entirely a stranger at all. I felt in an instant that this must be Julian Sothey, a gentleman of whom I had known nothing but a week before; and yet his face was hauntingly familiar. I studied his figure in vain for a hint as to the scene, the moment of our meeting, and found memory elusive.

  Slight, narrow-shouldered, and lithe in all his movements, he conveyed an immediate impression of grace, like a superlative dancing master; but his coat of superfine wool, in a respectable shade of blue, was too well-made to permit of such an impertinence. His reddish hair fell unbound to his shoulders; his wide grey eyes were keen, and heavily-lashed; and a droll expression, as of inward laughter at some private joke, played about his lips. He seemed entirely easy at Eastwell Park—so very easy with his position and circumstance, as to precede his host into the saloon. This must argue a degree of self-importance that could not but be repugnant; but I am prone to form a hasty view on very little knowledge, and urged myself to reserve judgement in the case. Mr. Sothey, after all, was the son of Lady Elizabeth’s oldest friend—and must be claimed almost as one of the family.

  He was followed immediately by Mr. Brett, an acquaintance of Neddie’s of many years standing, and then by my two brothers. The Finch-Hatton gentlemen brought up the rear.

  “Julian!” Louisa Finch-Hatton cried breathlessly. ‘You have been an age in the garden, I declare! And I longed to finish my portrait today!”

  She appeared an ill-bred and disappointed child, with her lower lip protruding dangerously, but Mr. Sothey chose to disregard Miss Louisa’s manner, and approached her directly.

  “You know, my dear Miss Finch-Hatton,” he said with a bow, “that I move at your father’s whim. I exist at Eastwell only to serve him, and true pleasure must await the disposition of his needs. But you have been amply engaged in amusement, I am sure—with such interesting friends about you! Might I beg an introduction?”

  This last was directed at Lizzy and myself; and recovering her pretty ways, Miss Louisa performed the office of making Mr. Julian Sothey known to the Austens. The unfortunate Mr. Brett—a tall, gawkish gendeman with sparse fair hair and dull blue eyes—hovered like a shade at Sothey’s rear, unable to yield the hope of Louisa Finch-Hatton’s favour. I saw in an instant that it was heavy work, and pitied him.

  “I had the very great pleasure of engaging Mr. Henry and Mr. Edward Austen in conversation, ma’am,” Sothey told my sister easily, “while we toured the grounds of the park; and I must rejoice at the chance to further my acquaintance with the rest of the family.”

  Lizzy inclined her head coolly. “I am to learn in a moment, I suppose, that Mr. Austen has contracted the fever for improvement—and that all of Godmersham is to be thrown in an uproar.”

  “I cannot conceive that a place which has served as your home for so many years, could require any further embellishment of taste or beauty,” Mr. Sothey replied. “And certainly none that was within my power to achieve.”

  My sister looked at him archly.

  “I am only sorry that we are denied the pleasure of meeting your children,” Mr. Sothey added. “Lady Elizabeth was quite determined upon that point—that at least the eldest should accompany you, along with a lady whom I believe is her governess. The child is not indisposed, I trust?”

  “How very kind in you to enquire. Fanny is entirely well, I thank you. She enjoys the most robust constitution. I am afraid Miss Sharpe is hardly equal to her.”

  “Miss Sharpe?”

  “The governess. A charming young woman. It was at her suggestion that we denied Fanny the expedition; she feared the state of the roads, and the present uncertainty in the weather, might prove too much for her; and I could not disagree.”

  “I see. You accord a governess’s opinion so much weight, Mrs. Austen?”

  “In the matter of my child’s well-being? Naturally, Mr. Sothey. It is expressly to attend to such things, that I engage Miss Sharpe. And now if you will excuse me—” Lizzy turned towards her husband, who stood to one side of the open French windows in earnest conversation with Mr. Emilious Finch-Hatton. A slight breeze stirred the white muslin of Lizzy’s dress as she moved to join them, and fluttered the ribbons of her rose-coloured sash; the fall of her dark curls about the nape of her neck was as exquisite as the slight pulse beating at the base of her throat. She embodied the sort of elegance that only years of study may attain; but for all her art, Lizzy invariably appeared artless. It was impossible to imagine her a girl of five, with blackcurrant jam trailing down her apron; impossible to envision her quarrelling to the point of tears with a despicable younger brother. Impossible, even, to form an idea of her in the throes of childbirth—tho’ she had accomplished it some nine times. She is the sort of woman who seems cut from whole cloth—a perfection from infancy—intended for nothing lower than the graceful passage of a well-proportioned room. I saw in my sister the unconscious fulfillment of an ideal, and knew it forever beyond my grasp.

  But it was Mr. Sothey who put in words what I had only thought in silence.” ‘There is something in a face/” he said,” ‘An air, and a peculiar grace/Which boldest painters cannot trace.’ ”

  I caught my breath. “I am unfamiliar with the author of those lines, sir.”

  “William Somerville,” he replied briskly. “A much-neglected poet. Dr. Johnson was pleased to dismiss him as writing very well—‘for a gentleman.’ Being the son of an Earl, Miss Austen, I am often placed in a similar category—accorded merit only in as much as I transcend the general mediocrity of my class. Artists, you know, should never possess the distinction of birth; it ruins them for genius/‘4

  The Gentleman Improver undoubtedly possessed what Mr. Valentine Grey had called address—that curious mixture of charm and air, without which a man may never be termed brilliant. It is elusive in definition, but unmistakable in consequence; and I may confess myself particularly susceptible to its effect.

  “I am glad to make your acquaintance, Mr. Sothey— for I should dearly like to comprehend a little of the genius that has so totally overthrown Mr. Finch-Hatton’s taste.”

  ‘You make it sound a revolution!” he cried, in mock horror, “and a treacherous one at that!”

  “Lady Elizabeth assures us that you are intent upon nothing less than the wholesale destruction of formal pieties—the inversion of the traditional order—and if this is not revolution, then what may we call it, sir?”

  “I daresay the Whigs have found any number of proxies for such a word,” Mr. Sothey rejoined, with a sharp look of interest in his clear grey eyes, “but do not allow me to be talking politics to a lady. Say rather that at Eastwell I hope to correct what has gone astray, Miss Austen, and to support what might only have been dreamt of before—that I aspire to a higher order of Beauty than yet exists—and perhaps we shall find agreement. ”

  “I am sure that even Robespierre once proclaimed a similar faith,” I rejoined, “and yet as many heads fell at the guillotine, as noble old avenues under the axe of the improver.”

  “Good Lord! All forms of governance may decline, I
assure you, from neglect as well as revolution; and never so particularly as at Eastwell Park.”

  “It is well, I suppose, that we have seen the place before your hand has accomplished this transformation,” I observed, “for we may then judge more acutely whether anarchy or order has been imposed.”

  Mr. Sothey threw back his head and laughed. “I perceive that you bear no love for the Picturesque, Miss Austen.”

  “Julian—” Louisa Finch-Hatton broke in irritably, “pray come and sit by me. I intend to play, and you know that I can do nothing without you to turn the pages.”

  “Pray allow me to serve you, Miss Louisa,” Mr. Brett said hurriedly, “for Mr. Sothey is presently engaged.”

  He attempted to steer her towards the instrument, but Louisa’s countenance assumed a mulish look, and she remained rooted to the floor for the space of several heartbeats. At Mr. Sothey’s apparent disinclination to honour the request, however, and his fixed interest in myself, the young lady eventually gave way. From the sound of her strenuous playing, I judged her to be serving out punishment to her excellent pianoforte, that might better have been visited upon her Beloved. The little interval provided an opportunity, however, to seize a chair in one corner of the saloon; and to my delight, Mr. Sothey followed.

  “If by Picturesque,” I continued, “you would refer to the work of Mr. Humphrey Rep ton, be assured that I am not wholly ignorant of the style. A cousin of my mother’s engaged Mr. Repton to improve his rectory in Adlestrop, and the result, we are assured, is delightful.”5

  “Then I may suppose,” Mr. Sothey remarked with a glint of humour, “that a perfectly respectable stream has been forced from its hallowed bed, and constrained to run over graduated terraces; that hills have been formed where there were none before, and surmounted with rustic cottages in which no one—particularly hermits or gnomes, to whom such cottages are invariably ascribed—has ever lived. There is a grotto, no doubt, or a ruin in the Gothic style, ideally positioned for viewing in the moonlight. May we hope for so much as an abyss, wherein the Fate of Mortal Man might be contemplated in peace, particularly on days of mist and lowering cloud?”