Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave - Stephanie Barron [21]
“Isobel,” I said gently, “I fear you have not told me all where that gentleman is concerned.”
Silence and an averted look were my reward, but a flush had begun to overtake the paleness of my friend's complexion.
“If you fall in with my plan of apprising Sir William of the nature of this letter, he will undoubtedly enquire as to the maid's meaning,” I observed.
Isobel reached for my hand, her face stricken. “Jane, Jane—you must protect me! It is too much. The pain of Frederick's death—this horrible letter—and now, to expose Fitzroy so dreadfully—I cannot bear it!”
“If I am to help you, my dear,” I said, kneeling at her feet, “I must know where I am. You must tell me what you can, Isobel, for everything may be of the greatest importance.”
“You fear for me, Jane?”
“I fear for us all.”
1. For twentieth-century readers, some explanation may prove useful. Apoplexy was the common nineteenth-century term for stroke, while dyspepsia signified indigestion.—Editor's note.
2. At the death of Frederick, Earl of Scargrave, Fitzroy Payne became the eighth Earl in his stead. As such, Austen now addresses him as Lord Scargrave, rather than Lord Payne, as he was when merely a viscount.—Editor's note.
3. It was customary for ladies to adopt dark mourning clothes for varying periods of time at the death of family members—at least a year upon the death of a husband or child, and as little as six weeks for more distant relations.—Editor's note.
4. Le Beau Monde was simply one of the fashionable journals avidly read by members of select Georgian society; its fashion plates presented the latest in ladies’ and gentlemen's clothing.—Editor's note.
5. Mantua-maker is a Georgian term for dressmaker, after the mantua, a type of gown worn in the eighteenth century. It gradually fell out of use, to be replaced by the French modiste, and eventually by dressmaker.—Editor's note.
6. The Countess's use of the term magistrate may confuse some readers, who are aware that magistrates were generally salaried individuals appointed to keep order in large cities. The correct term for Sir William Reynolds's office is justice of the peace—an unsalaried position usually accorded a member of the country gentry. In rural areas, however, the two titles were often used interchangeably, since the unpaid justice of the peace performed the essential duties of a magistrate. —Editor's note.
7. The Lord Lieutenant of the County was an office usually accorded a high-ranking peer; his chief duties were to commission the various local justices of the peace, or magistrates, and to call out the militia in time of invasion.—Editor's note.
14 December 1802, cont.
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“YOU WILL HAVE OBSERVED HIS REGARD FOR ME.”
Isobel had abandoned her chaise and was standing before the grate, her hand on the mantel and her lovely eyes fixed upon my face. In the fine dressing gown of Valenciennes lace, her dark red hair burnished by the light of the fire, she was magnificent. How could Fitzroy Payne help but adore her?
“There is a measure of warmth in Fitzroy Payne's manner beyond what a man might accord his aunt by marriage,” I replied carefully.
“Even an aunt four years his junior?” Her laugh was bitter. “Can ever a family have been so discordantly arranged!”
“You understood the Earl's age when you married him, Isobel. A man twenty-six years your senior must be allowed to have acquired a nephew or two along the way.”
“But such a nephew as Fitzroy? The paragon of men?” She began to turn back and forth before the fire, her arms wrapped protectively across her breast, her aspect tortured. “The man I might have encountered sooner, Jane—and having met, married as I should have married, for love and not simply the security of means?”
“I had not known you accepted the Earl from mercenary motives, Isobel.” I confess I was shocked; but our conversation regarding the married state, in the little alcove the night of the ball, returned forcibly to my mind.
“But then you cannot have understood the state of my