by C. J. Hill
Julia quietly escorted her charge home through the Park and, once they arrived home, helped her into a hot bath as Georgiana claimed she was chilled - although it was a warm day - and wished to be left alone. Julia surmised correctly that Georgiana simply wished to cry undisturbed for a very long time and blame the redness of her eyes upon the heat of the water.
Chapter 10
After Julia had helped Georgiana out of her bath, all the while studiously ignoring the swollen state of her eyes, nothing more was heard from her that evening, even though there were at least two parties to which she had been invited. Julia sent her mistress' regrets, pleading a Summer cold, and quietly waited for the storm to pass.
The following morning, a letter was quietly dispatched to Pemberley, and an answer received by return of post; all the while Georgiana remained within, glad that Julia had fabricated an excuse which allowed her no visitors and enabled her to remain at home alone for several days. The letter from Pemberley appeared to cheer Georgiana a good deal as she read its contents at the breakfast table. Julia smiled at her and hoped it was good news.
"Oh, yes, thank you Mrs. Younge. My brother has agreed with my proposal to remove to Ramsgate for several weeks just as soon as suitable accommodation can be arranged. Oh, how glad I shall be to leave London - the sooner, the better - do not you agree, Mrs. Younge?"
"I am sure it will be very agreeable and that the change of air and scenery will work wonders on your health, Miss Darcy. Of course, it will mean some difficulties on my part being further away from my business here in London, but I have managed such matters from afar until now and will continue to do so. It will be delightful to see the sea and perhaps you will be able to take a sea-bath, Miss Darcy?"
Georgiana giggled a little - her first in some days. "Only if you will accompany me, Mrs. Younge! I should be too afraid of the water going over my head to attempt it alone. But it will be pleasant to be where no one knows me, and cannot discuss my affairs behind my back." She held back threatening tears with difficulty.
"Oh, my dear Miss Darcy! Do not concern yourself with what others may think. It does you no good and they do not know the power they hold over you. I am sure that very few people have even considered Mr. Bingley's sudden absence from London as anything more than his being called away on business. It is all your imaginings that there is any other reason for it and no one else's."
"But did not you think Mr. Bingley was particularly attracted to me, even if only a little, not just as a sister as Miss Bingley claimed but as something more?" Georgiana appealed plaintively.
"He certainly paid you great attention - it is true - but I also believe that his attention was as Miss Bingley intimated; quite innocent and not of a romantic nature at all. She kindly wished you to understand that before you developed any more attachment to him than she feared already had developed. She has relieved you of your misconceptions, in as private and painless a manner as possible. The whole matter will fade away soon enough and you will be the belle of the ball again in Ramsgate, I have no doubt."
Georgiana nodded sadly. "It is true that I have nothing to reproach him for; he treated me in a most gentlemanlike and kind manner. It is I who misunderstood because I wished to believe his attentions to be something more than they were. I shall not reproach him but myself for being a foolish and immature young girl, unused to such attention, for what could a man like that ever want with a girl like me?"
Julia rushed to console her charge. "There already have been and certainly will be many eligible young men who will want a young lady like you, of that you can be certain. You are a charming and elegant young woman and you should not berate yourself for falling for the charms of an older and very attentive gentleman. Learn from this and be more aware in the future - there will be many more, as I have said, and they will all wish to impress you. Why! Look at Mr. Jardine. He would have proposed to you upon your second meeting, if you had encouraged him more."
Georgiana smiled despite herself. "Thank you, Mrs. Younge, for your kind words: of course all is not lost. I have everything in the world to anticipate, a mere girl of nearly fifteen in a very fortunate situation, and the first thing will be our immediate removal from London. We must organise, Mrs. Younge! My brother does not take long about his business when he has a mind to make haste. We do not want to be caught unprepared, do we? You must tell me what you know about Ramsgate so that I shall know what pleasures to look forward to."
Julia's knowledge of that town was so slight that their conversation was concluded within minutes and so Georgiana declared herself ready to explore and discover new things on her own. Her changeable behaviour worried Julia a little but she attributed it to Georgiana trying to convince herself to be happy along with an anxious desire to put her foolishness over Bingley behind her.
One significant problem remained, however, for Julia. Who was to oversee her business while she was gone in Ramsgate? Not to mention her other businesses further afield in Cambridge, if she was so removed? These problems remained uppermost in her thoughts while encouraging Georgiana to anticipate their holiday and overseeing the packing of their effects. She had refrained from presenting Georgiana with her resignation, such were the difficulties presented by this change of plans, knowing just how unhappy it would make her charge. But what she would do was still a question that troubled her every waking moment.
On her Monday afternoon off, Julia sat in her small office going over the accounts for the last month with her manager. There had been rather a decline in business in the time she had been away and while this was understandable, it was also rather worrying. People had always engaged her services because of her reputation, personal knowledge and skills, and the understanding required for placing people in others' homes. Mrs. Granley, although assuring Julia otherwise, was not Julia's equal in any of those areas
Julia tutted as she turned the page in the ledger; it was all sixes and sevens; all blots and crossings out, and barely decipherable.
"Really, Mrs. Granley! This is most distressing. How can I tell what has been going on when your penmanship leaves so much to be desired? What is this name, pray? And this address? And this number here - what is it, for goodness' sake? You must rewrite every entry before you forget the particulars, and while you are doing that, I will try to balance the finances. Where is the cash box?"
Mrs. Granley looked stubborn as she picked up the pen and jabbed it into the ink pot. "Where it always is every week, Mrs. Younge. It never goes nowhere, as you very well know."
Julia ignored her mutinous tone and moved a large plant stand which had once held a flourishing glossy-leaved aspidistra but which now more resembled the state of her business ledger due to its equal lack of care. With the plant stand removed, she rolled back the rug, revealing a trapdoor Julia had had cut into the floorboards containing a small locked metal box.
"How much would you say you have deposited in here this week, Mrs. Granley? It is so hard to tell from the ledger."
Mrs. Granley grunted but forbore to answer, seemingly engrossed in improving her entries.
"Mrs. Granley! There is nothing more in here than there was last week - do you mean to tell me that there has been no business at all this week?"
"No, not really," Mrs. Granley acknowledged reluctantly. "Only a couple of maids needed on piece work and you know they do not bring much. I used the fee paid for them to pay my wages for this week. So, no; no business this week."
Julia sat down in shock. Suddenly, fear struck her that this gamble of hers of increasing her wealth over the short term, had all gone terribly wrong; that the same decline was probably happening in Cambridge without her constant attention, and very soon she would have nothing to her name again. She tried to tame her churning stomach and convince herself that all would be well, just as she had planned, but anxiety gnawed at her making her irritation with her employee more acute.
"Then I cannot possibly afford to employ you any longer, Mrs. Granley; I must close the business
. The arrangement that we agreed upon was that you would continue to build the clientele under the directions given and methods that I taught you. But now I find that you have done nothing, perhaps for weeks, hiding your deceit behind badly-written notes and excuses. You have been taking payment for work you have not done and have certainly not alerted me to the appalling falling off of business, about which you must have been perfectly aware.
"It is nothing less than deceitful, Mrs. Granley, indeed it is, to steal from an employer who has entrusted the running of her business to you. Clearly I have been sorely mistaken about your character and will now live to rue the day I made that mistake.
"You will leave these premises immediately and not return. Kindly hand over your keys and take anything that belongs to you. I am severely disappointed, Mrs. Granley - please do not attempt an explanation - there is nothing which could possibly explain your inaction and deliberate deception. Good day to you."
Mrs. Granley stood, glowering for a moment at her former employer, and then threw the pen onto the floor where it dribbled a trail of ink over the rug. She grabbed her cloak and bonnet and stormed out of the office.
Julia remained, trembling out of fear and anger. Fear for her businesses and anger at her own stupidity in imagining she could trust any other person with those businesses. Every fibre in her body urged her to return immediately to Cambridge, now utterly convinced that her houses were in disrepair and her gambling establishment over-run by felons and ladies of the night. She looked into the abyss of destitution and felt utter despair: How stupid! How reckless! How arrogant she had been! Even the impressive sum that she would receive at the conclusion of Mr. Darcy's employ would never replace her losses due to her inattention to her own security.
All seemed very desperate indeed, and Julia did not know which way to turn. She was leaving for Ramsgate in a week - there was much to be done on that front - but how could she be a thoughtful companion and enjoy a holiday with her own security in such peril?
It was not until she realised that she could no longer distinguish objects across the room that Julia roused herself; the evening was drawing in and she had to return to Miss Darcy - no more could be done here. She hastily wrote a note explaining to any prospective customers that the office was temporarily closed but would re-open shortly, affixed it to the door glass where everybody would see it, pulled the shade and locked the office, taking the cash box and ledgers with her. With these she sat for the rest of the evening trying to evaluate just how much damage had been done to her business by Mrs. Granley.
To calm her nerves, Julia re-entered every scratched entry in her own neat script and as she did so, began to realise to what extent she had been cheated. Entries for staff had been made but none for their payments; entries had been made several times, it appeared, to give the impression of a booming trade where, actually, nothing of the sort had occurred. Mrs. Granley had put just enough into the cash box to convince Julia that business was slow but still ticking over. And who could tell just how much had been taken and not reported?
Julia's head swam and her eyes began to fill with tears of self-pity. She had been swindled; cheated; taken advantage of; she was alone without friends - no one with whom to share her despondency and receive advice. It was her darkest hour - even more so than when George had gambled her house from under her - because it was due to her own inattention.
Gradually, as the clocked ticked its round and approached midnight, Julia rubbed her eyes wearily and gave herself a shake. No more indulgent self-pity. What was to be done? What had her husband taught her? List the problems requiring attention and work out a solution; worrying about them is not useful.
Julia took her pen and ink and, wrapping herself in a shawl, began making notes about her current situation and what possibilities existed for its improvement. The list grew long, her entries slowly petered out, and eventually the pen slipped from her fingers as she fell into a doze brought on by excess stress and worry.
And there she stayed, falling into a deeper and more restorative slumber until the first light crept through the windows and aroused her from her uncomfortable position. She yawned and stretched and bent her neck this way and that to ease the pain, trying to remember just why she had awoken in such a position in the first place. And then it all came flooding back: the business; Mrs. Granley; the ledgers still open, now on the floor alongside the pen she had dropped. It had not been a bad dream - it had happened - and now she was rested, it was time to start taking charge. She had several hours before Georgiana would require her company and Julia resolved to make good use of the time.
First, she penned a letter to Mr. Brown requesting his assistance once again, but in this instance for him to conduct an immediate inspection of her Cambridge businesses and forward his report to her within the week. With that letter written and waiting for the mails, she returned her thoughts to the current and most pressing problem of yesterday: what to do about her London business?
Should she allow it to founder and disappear, or should she attempt to recover her reputation in some way? Julia thought long and hard about the practicalities of the matter; how much longer she could expect to be in the employ of Miss Darcy; if there were any other person to whom she could entrust her business in the interim, although she feared the damage may already be irreversible. What she needed was a person, an interested party who would act on her behalf and commit to keeping the business afloat in her absence. But, as much as she racked her brains for any acquaintance, or friend, or previous staff she had placed who would do, there was none who came to mind. They were all too busy with their own affairs to bother with hers.
Once Miss Darcy was up and eating her breakfast, Julia calmly broached the subject that was uppermost on her mind.
"For, you see, Miss Darcy, much as I wish to remain as your companion and would truly delight in an extended holiday in Ramsgate, I must also consider my own future in all of this. If I do not remain in London and attend to my business, soon there will be no business left, of that I am certain. When I leave your employ, I shall perhaps have very little upon which to rely if I do not take care now. I am sure you must understand my predicament, Miss Darcy, and rest assured, I shall find you a suitable replacement companion for your remaining months in Ramsgate and London."
Georgiana looked with shocked surprise at her companion; this was not the kind of conversation she expected to encounter so early in the morning, and the idea that she should be accompanied by a stranger while on holiday was repellent in the extreme. Really, what possible concern was it of hers that Mrs. Younge's business was in jeopardy?
"I am afraid that I do not understand your meaning, Mrs. Younge. You say that you cannot accompany me to Ramsgate because of a more pressing problem concerning your own business here in London which you must attend to immediately and forego our holiday, after I have asked for and been granted it by my brother? What am I to do, pray, while you are here attending to accounts and whatever else you must do? Who will accompany me - a stranger, you say? A person whom I have never met and whom I may not like or find agreeable?
“It seems most unreasonable and ungrateful, Mrs. Younge. Why cannot you find another manager, as you had before, and then we can go on as we have? It is only one person who has lost your trust - surely there are others who can regain it - and so prove that not everyone is sly and lazy and unworthy of your approval. No, I think you must arrange something else. I cannot go away with any other than you, used as I am to your ways as you are with mine.”
Georgiana paused and then in a lighter tone continued.
"We are to walk in the Park again today with the Stantons, are not we? Fortunately, it promises to be a pleasant morning for a walk although I cannot but be anxious to leave for Ramsgate when they keep insisting upon our acquaintance; I wonder if anybody else will be there with whom we can divert our attention."
"I cannot promise to do what you ask, Miss Darcy,” Julia responded quietly, “but I promise that I will
try to devise something. I will meet you in your chamber in half an hour to help with your finishing touches before our walk."
Julia left the breakfast room sad at heart. She had hoped that Georgiana would show more thought and consideration towards her problem, but apparently her charge's ability to sympathise with others had not been developed as much as her other talents.
She watched later in the park as Georgiana laughed and chatted happily with Mrs. Stanton and any others chanced upon, of which there were many, and to whom Georgiana relayed her delightful news about Ramsgate, causing much envy and advice: the concerns of her companion clearly forgotten.
Mr. Jardine, who met with them on the far side of the walk near the lake, was delighted to offer all he knew on the subject of Ramsgate and insisted upon escorting them back to the house while enumerating its benefits. Mr. Jardine claimed to know Ramsgate very well. He had friends who had stayed there; he knew that the military was there for the Summer; and that although it was not so fashionable as Brighton in the Summer it was, he understood, a most elegant and genteel sort of place, of that he was quite certain. And of entertainments: Oh! He was sure there would be ample amusing gatherings and assemblies; he had heard that it was so. Yes, indeed, Miss Darcy could rely upon the fact that she would have a most enjoyable stay in Ramsgate.
His light-hearted assurances brought them back to their front door, and good manners insisted that he be invited in for some refreshment, which he accepted with alacrity; he had been waiting for such an opportunity to renew his attentions towards Miss Darcy now that Mr. Bingley had been called away on business, and he thought it his duty to ensure the young lady was not left entirely to her own devices.