Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave - Stephanie Barron [83]
“I have one sister;” I replied, “who is dearer to me than any in the world. How may I help you, Mrs. Barlow, that your husband cannot?”
“Ted won't have the knowing of Rosie,” she said in a low voice, “on account o* her trouble.”
“Her trouble? She is—to have a child, then?”
Jenny Barlow looked at me swiftly, then dropped her eyes to her own condition, which was increasingly apparent. “She's only seventeen, miss. Same as me when I had my first. But Ted stood by me, while Rosie … ‘tis a terrible misfortune for the girl.”
“She is not lodged here?”
Jenny shook her head. “She's gone off to London, as the Earl would have it. I've not heard word of her these many months; she never learned to read nor write, and the postage is that dear I couldn't send by her anyways. But you go to London today, I hear; and might have the seeing of her, did you take the trouble.”
“I should be glad to, Mrs. Barlow,” I assured her warmly, “and I will send word to you as to your sister's condition at the nearest opportunity. I take it,” I said uncertainly, “that you did learn your letters?”
She nodded. “Pa would have me do so. But Ma died of the having of Rosie, and he placed the pore mite with a woman here at Scargrave when he went into service elsewhere. She was that neglected in her schooling.”
“Let me know then where she is lodged,” I said, “and I shall do my best to seek her out.”
The young woman gave me the address—a not unrespectable street in South London—and consented to take my hand in farewell.
I know little more about Jenny Barlow's fate than I did at our last meeting by her own hearth, but judged it unwise to press her as to its particulars; she has the natural reticence of a born lady, and in the face of such dignity further enquiry would be in very poor taste. That I might hope to learn more of her history from her sister, is a possibility that did not escape me; and if I harbour such a stratagem, I hope it may not flavour too strongly of deceit towards such an unfortunate girl.
I saw Jenny to the housekeeper's rooms, where she was received with an air of doubt by Mrs. Hodges; and returned swiftly to the resolution of my packing. We were to leave just after the noon hour; and I intended yet to walk into Scargrave Close in search of Lizzy Scratch.
THE DAY WAS FINE AND CRISP WITH A LIGHT LAYER OF NEW-fallen snow whitening the road as I made my way into the village. I should spend the greater part of the afternoon in a carriage bound for London, but my legs at least should not feel cramped; and my heart rose with the exercise. The sound of an approaching horse and gig made me turn, and I espied Sir William Reynolds's equipage bent upon my way. That he had noticed me as readily, I discerned by the gig's slowing to a halt by my side.
“Miss Austen!” he cried. “I should have thought you engaged in packing!”
“I make such a sad muddle of it, that I determined to leave it to the kindness of a housemaid,” I replied. “Are you already under way for the Assizes, then?”
“I mean only to stop at the Cock and Bull, and then shall be turned towards the post road,” Sir William answered. He eyed my pelisse, which I must confess is very much worn. “I take it you have a similar object. Would you care to ride?”
“Indeed, sir,” I said, intent that he should not divine my errand, “I relish the prospect of a walk; and so late in the season, one must seize fine weather when it offers.”
“It brings the roses to your cheeks,” he said fondly, though with misplaced gallantry; I have ever been possessed of a redness in the face, to my horror as a young girl and my grudging resignation as a woman. But I took the compliment in the spirit it was meant; returned his nod, and watched him on his way.
In exchange for a copper, a village lad directed me to the home of Lizzy Scratch. It was scarcely more than a hovel, with a great iron pot set to boil in back; here, I supposed, she did her washing. A tide of young humanity milled about the lintel, separated in age by a very few months, and united in their squint-eyed resemblance