Chapter 21

To Mrs Macclesfield's great surprise, Lucy was not at all taken with James' idea.

“A literary circle? But why?“ she asked her friend. “What does he want to achieve?“

“He may want to spend the occasional pleasant evening in the company of intelligent people who, like Mr Greville, enjoy reading,” Mrs Macclesfield suggested. “There is nothing to be said against that; it is quite unexceptionable.”

“Yes, but ...” Lucy stopped. There was no use in telling Mrs Macclesfield that, in all the years that James could have set up a Literary Society in Tetford he had not chosen to do so – until now. Why this sudden interest in literature? No; this was unjust, James had always been fond of reading, she knew. But why was he suddenly so keen on discussing literature with all and sundry?

“Now do not say you will not join us,” Mrs Macclesfield said, looking disappointed. “I was counting on you! I thought it would be such fun!”

“I will certainly join if I am invited to,” Lucy said, resigning herself to the inevitable. “Who else is going to come?”

While Mrs Macclesfield enumerated the members of their yet to be established club, Lucy kept thinking. There was no one among them whom she did not wish to meet, she was glad to hear. It was almost as if the club members had been chosen in order to please her, although she knew that this was probably not so. Even though she was still suspicious of James' motives for making the suggestion, she felt she would enjoy the club meetings. Miss Atterbury, too, would enjoy them, she was certain, and knowing how little opportunity her governess had to enjoy herself she would have felt positively heartless if any refusal on her part had prevented those club meetings. Her father, too, would like them. Even if she were not inclined to take part in the discussions, Lucy reflected, she would have joined the club.

Thus prepared, she sent a polite reply to Mrs Greville when her formal invitation to the first club meeting at Ingham Priory reached her, and also accepted the invitation on her father and Miss Atterbury's behalf. In spite of herself she was looking forward to going to the Priory – it was not just that she would spend a convivial evening with people she liked as opposed to those she had to associate with at more public gatherings. She also caught herself hoping that she'd have an opportunity to spend a minute or two alone with James.

The prospect of spending an evening at the Priory reading books with a select group of friends was more appealing than attending the dinner and dance at Mrs Eccleston's, especially since Lucy knew that Mr Broughton would be there. She did not know the man very well, but did not doubt for a moment that he would take full advantage of the opportunities that such an invitation offered him. Lucy was almost certain that he would ask her to dance with him, and there was nothing she could do to prevent him; nothing short of pleading a headache and staying at home that was. She had already missed out on the last assembly, and was in no mood to stay at home again. Nor did she want to sit down all evening and watch the others dance just because she had refused Mr Broughton the honour of a dance with her. So she resolved to dance with him if he asked her, but to make sure that he did not particularly enjoy the experience. If only she knew how to put him off!

With a wry smile, Lucy decided that she was wasting too much thought on the man, and that he would be flattered, and even highly amused, if he knew. To dispel these thoughts, she opened her writing desk and took out the manuscript she was working on. Héloise’s dangerous flight from her husband's fortress had to be written. This morning's post had brought her a letter from Mr Lane, with a very polite inquiry until when he could expect Madame de Léon's latest novel. With all her new social obligations, Lucy reflected, it would take her more time to finish writing it that she'd initially calculated, and wondered when writing had last been fun rather than a chore she wanted to be done with. Reminding herself of the money the Sorcerer’s Captive would bring her, and the things she could buy for herself and her siblings once she had it, she set to work.

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Luck would have it that Jane Langley came across her former maid, Anne, upon leaving Taylor's haberdashery one morning. Stepping out of the shop, she saw Anne make her way to the bakery on the other side of the street and immediately accosted her.

Flattered, Anne stopped in her tracks, curtseyed, and politely greeted her one-time employer.

“How do you do, Miss?”

“How do you do,” Jane replied. “It seems an age since I last saw you! I dare say they keep you very busy at the Manor!”

“They do keep me busy, Miss, but it is a good place. I am well satisfied.”

“I am glad to hear it; I was quite worried at first. It is common knowledge that Sir Thomas is none too generous with his money, and as for Miss Clarke – she is quite exacting, isn't she?”

“No more exacting than she has every right to be, Miss,” Anne said, keeping her eyes lowered. “I get most of my orders from Mrs Talbot anyway. I do not see much of the family.”

“Oh! Is Miss Clarke too much of a fine lady to take in interest in household matters? I had no idea!” While this piece of information would be enough to make a less wealthy gentleman reconsider any intentions he might have regarding Miss Clarke, Jane was almost certain that it did not matter to someone who could easily afford dozens of servants, like Mr Greville. It was better than nothing, however. Jane was willing to accept whatever information she could use against Lucy Clarke. The more there was, the better.

“Oh no, Miss!” Anne cried. “I did not mean to say that! Miss Clarke works very hard! She is at her desk for most of the day, doing household accounts, Mrs Talbot tells me. And she also does all kinds of chores herself! Miss Clarke is not idle!”

“But of course not,” Jane said soothingly. “I never thought she was. As I said, it would have surprised me if she was!” She would have to tread warily, Jane thought. It seemed as if the Clarkes had already won their new parlour-maid's loyalty. She would not betray any family secrets – at least not knowingly.”I am glad to find that you are satisfied with your new situation,” she therefore said. “Let us hope that it remains so.” She nodded dismissal, and Anne, after another curtsey, disappeared in the bakery.

Going home, Jane pondered what Anne had told her. Miss Clarke was not idle, she had said. She habitually spent a great deal of time at her desk. Jane wondered what could possibly take so much time. Anne had assumed that Miss Clarke was doing the household accounts. It was of course possible that Sir Thomas, whose reputation for miserliness was well known to Jane, insisted on his daughter's keeping an exact account of her spendings. It was also possible that Miss Clarke was not good at doing sums, and that it therefore took her considerable time to work on them, but somehow Miss Langley did not think that was the reason for her spending so much time at her writing desk. Even considering that there were letters and inventories, shopping lists and recipes to be written, what did Miss Clarke write all day? It might be worth making inquiries, Jane Langley thought, and decided that she would call on Miss Clarke one of these days, if only for some further conversation with Anne if she could contrive it somehow. It would not do to depend on Mr Broughton too much; he was entertaining to be sure, but wholly undependable. He might cast out lures to Miss Clarke to entertain himself, and if he succeeded good luck to him, Jane was certainly not going to stand in his way. Unfortunately, however, Miss Clarke was too intelligent by far to fall for that kind of man, so it was highly unlikely that she would permit him to ruin her chances. If one wanted things done properly, one had to do them oneself.

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Lucy's new evening dress was ready in time for Mrs Eccleston's dinner party, and she was well pleased with how it had turned out. It was too bad, she reflected, that Miss Langley would not be there to see her new gown, but on the other hand maybe it was better if she did not. It was the dress she had made using one of her mother's old gowns, and knowing Miss Langley the way she did Lucy suspected that she would know, and lose no time in pointing it out to everyone. Not that Lucy cared if anyone found out she had been using up old fabric to create her new dress. The dress itself had turned out well, and it became her. That was all she needed to know to be happy. Now if only James liked it too – though why should he, Lucy thought. He never noticed what she was wearing; at least he had never given her that impression, and why it should matter to her what he thought of her new dress she did not know.

Anne, their new maidservant, helped Lucy with her hair. She had often done so for Miss Langley, she had told Lucy, and had volunteered to make sure Miss Clarke would outshine everyone at Mrs Eccleston's. Lucy, who had never liked wasting too much effort on a hairstyle that never turned out to be quite what she had intended, had given her leave to do her best. The outcome exceeded her expectations by far. Of course, Miss Langley's hair had always been done in a modish and elaborate style, but for some reason Lucy had always assumed that it had been Miss Langley herself who had done her hair, and to be honest she had envied her that particular talent. As it turned out, she had been wrong.

“I wonder at Miss Langley for having let you go,” she said, half jokingly, half seriously as she admired Anne's handiwork in her mirror. “Losing such an accomplished lady's maid cannot have pleased her!”

“Miss Langley was sorry to see me go, Miss,” Anne said. “She has always been very good to me. But naturally there was not much she could do to make me stay once I'd made up my mind to leave.”

Lucy doubted that Jane Langley could be good to anyone, although she was quite willing to believe what Anne had said – a useful servant, she guessed, would be treated well as long as she remained useful.

“And I met her only the other day and she was very kind to me then, asking how I liked my new situation,” Anne continued.
“That was very kind of her,” Lucy agreed, and reluctantly admitted that even Jane Langley was capable of showing kindness to people if it suited her. Why it should suit her to show kindness to a servant who was no longer in her employ Lucy did not know, but since it was none of her business she did not waste a thought on it. It was a good thing if Anne was still on good terms with her former employers, she reflected – there would be no awkwardness caused.

Lucy took her pearl necklace from her jewellery box and allowed Anne to fasten it round her neck. Then she handed the maid a few coins – a token of gratitude for the excellent work she had done with her hair, she said – and went downstairs to meet her father, who was waiting for her in the library.