CHADWELL PARK, HERTFORDSHIRE; THE FIRST DECADE OF THE 19TH CENTURY<\/p>\n
OCTOBER<\/p>\n
Sir Owen Plummer had commanded his entire family to assemble in the library at Chadwell Park. Not that he would ever be so ill-mannered as to express himself so. He would be greatly obliged if they would attend him, or some such, but to James, the clipped, brisk tones of the former military man always sounded like commands. No more than ten years in the army and thirty out of it, but Sir Owen was still a soldier at heart.<\/p>\n
They were all there, at any rate. Mother was weeping, of course. She wept constantly these days, trickles of tears flowing gently down her face to fall unheeded onto her bosom, perpetually replaced with more of the same. Where did all that water come from? It was a mystery to him. Michael looked ill, but then he always looked ill nowadays, a thin, pale shoot of a man. Letitia looked angry and her husband worried, but since those were their habitual expressions, James took no notice. To complete the array of his predictable relations, Patricia\u2019s face was as blank as a slate, and Uncle Morgan was topping up his brandy glass already and it was only eleven o\u2019clock. Lord, what a boring lot they were!<\/p>\n
James wondered briefly what they thought of him. Nothing, probably. He doubted any of them thought about him at all, and certainly not now. He, after all, was the only one unaffected by their impending doom, with his snug rectory and his ample tithes and no one but himself to support or to please.<\/p>\n
Precisely as the clock struck eleven, Sir Owen entered the room, his eye raking over the assembled Plummers, lingering only momentarily on his wife. He took his position in front of the fireplace, the fire still unlit at this season. Not until the first day of October would the merry sight of flames gladden the eye of the shivering Plummers. It was the rule now.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll here, I see,\u201d Sir Owen said. \u201cGood. I have news from Simons. He has found a buyer for the Park.\u201d Mother gave a convulsive gulp, but Father continued without so much as blinking. He was used to it by now. \u201cIt is a Mr Fletcher, from a place called Sagborough. Near York, seemingly. Simons went up there to talk to the fellow, but I chose not to mention it to you in case nothing came of it. Simons has now talked to Fletcher and they have agreed terms. Firstly, he is prepared to pay the full price for the Park, no quibbling or caveats. He has the money, too. Simons has talked to the bank. The other consideration is that he will take the Park exactly as it is, with the furniture and art work, and will retain all the servants, apart from the few we will take with us. That is a huge relief to all of us, I am sure. He will take over the village cottages, leaving us with all our tenant farmers, and he will very generously allow us to shoot and hunt and fish on Hall land for our own table. That will please you, James. All things considered, it is an excellent agreement for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat sort of a man is this Fletcher person?\u201d Letitia said. \u201cPlease tell us that he is a gentleman.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sir Owen hesitated long enough for Mother to utter a low moan.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is \u2014 or was \u2014 a mercer, a highly respected man in his home town, who has now relinquished all his business ventures. He has recently remarried and his wife is a gentlewoman, so he wishes to keep her in a suitable manner. Simons tells me that Fletcher himself is tolerably well educated, considering his position in society, but his children have all been properly educated. His sons attended Harrow and Cambridge, and his daughters had governesses and masters of art, music, dancing and so forth. The usual things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHmpf! Not a Whig, is he?\u201d Lord Charles said. \u201cNever do to have a Whig in the house, sir. M\u2019brother would be mortified.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour brother has nothing whatsoever to do with this, Charles,\u201d Sir Owen said tersely. \u201cMr Fletcher has no political allegiance, seemingly, and it would hardly matter to me if he were a screaming zealot. He has the money to buy the Park and get this family afloat again, so buy it he shall.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut a mercer<\/em>, Papa,\u201d Letitia said. \u201cThe shame of it! You will not expect us to receive them, I trust.\u201d<\/p>\n Mother uttered another moan of distress.<\/p>\n \u201cI not only expect it, I shall insist upon it,\u201d Sir Owen said. \u201cWe cannot take the man\u2019s money and then snub him socially, and if you and your husband dislike it, Letitia, you are quite at liberty to find someone else to support you. Go and ask Charles\u2019s brother to provide you with a house and put food on your table and educate your children. It is hardly unreasonable to expect a marquess to take care of his own brother\u2019s family.\u201d<\/p>\n Letitia bristled. \u201cYou know perfectly well why we cannot, Papa.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoping to forestall a repetition of a very tired family argument, James said quickly, \u201cWhen does Mr Fletcher want to take possession, Father?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot before January, and the weather may delay him further, but we must be out of here by Christmas, I feel.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do not know how we are all to squeeze into the Manor,\u201d Letitia said fretfully. \u201cIt will be far too crowded. It was by no means over-large just for Charles and me, but with so many extra, and the disruption\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Sir Owen\u2019s tone became even more clipped. \u201cPatricia has already contrived the disposition of the rooms to minimise the inconvenience to you, and to repeat, if you dislike the new circumstances, then you are perfectly free to make alternative arrangements at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre there young children, Papa?\u201d Patricia\u2019s soft voice was a striking contrast to Letitia\u2019s shrillness and Sir Owen\u2019s brusque tones.<\/p>\n \u201cHmm, let me see.\u201d He leafed through the several pages of the attorney\u2019s letter. \u201cThe eldest daughter is married\u2026 there are two sons, grown\u2026 ah, here we are. Four younger daughters\u2026 the youngest is fourteen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlmost grown up,\u201d Patricia said disappointedly.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the older girls are not without interest. Listen to this. \u2018All the daughters will have very good dowries of twenty thousand pounds apiece from their father, and the eldest, who is a rare beauty with the most charming manners, has an additional thirty from an aunt. I cannot understand why she has not been snatched up already, but dare I suggest that this presents a wonderful opportunity for Mr Michael Plummer? I do not scruple to say that the young lady will be a sensation in town, and since it is Fletcher\u2019s intention to participate in the season next spring, it is highly recommended that your son move swiftly to secure the lady\u2019s affections to himself.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Michael snorted in disgust. \u201cA mercer\u2019s daughter! I should hope I am not so desperate as all that!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI tell you now, Michael, and this applies to all of you who may be thinking upon similar lines,\u201d Sir Owen said, his voice growing harsh, \u201cI will not have this supercilious attitude from any of you. We are not so high in the instep as to refuse Fletcher\u2019s cash, so we will treat him with every courtesy. Such men are the very backbone of England, sterling men of worth, honest and loyal and hard-working, helping to keep the country prosperous and thriving. They provide both goods and employment, and they frequently go on to be become mayors and aldermen and justices of the peace and members of Parliament and even knights of the realm in time. So we will deal kindly with the Fletcher family, even if we do not choose to make intimate friends of them, and Michael, if you disdain a pretty and well-behaved young woman with fifty thousand pounds merely because her father was once in trade, then you are more foolish than I gave you credit for.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFather, I beg your pardon,\u201d Michael said, his pale cheeks flaming up at this reproof. \u201cI spoke intemperately. I will get to know Miss Fletcher, and if she should be all that she is described, then I will consider the prospect of matrimony seriously, you have my word on that. Beyond that, I cannot undertake to venture as yet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI ask no more than that,\u201d his father responded in genial tones. \u201cYou may find that she will do very well, and since James shows no inclination to secure the succession in your stead, and Morgan must be regarded as a confirmed bachelor at this point, I should be glad to see you settled. It would be a weight off my mind, to be sure.\u201d He chuckled. \u201cOne of you had better make a push for the baronetcy that your great-grandfather worked so assiduously to obtain. No one wants Cousin Philip to have it, after all this. Well now, that is all settled, and I shall write today to instruct Simons to draw up the papers. Michael, James, you may stay but the rest of you may go. Letitia, Charles, you will dine with us tonight?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, Papa,\u201d Letitia said colourlessly.<\/p>\n One by one they ambled out of the room, too well-bred to whisper to each other until the door was closed behind them, but James knew that Mother and Letitia would have their heads together before they reached the morning room. Uncle Morgan refilled his brandy glass before he left.<\/p>\n Sir Owen poured three small glasses of port, of identical amounts, and handed them around.<\/p>\n \u201cI suppose it is useless to ask whether you might reconsider before taking such an irrevocable step,\u201d Michael said.<\/p>\n \u201cQuite useless,\u201d Sir Owen said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Park could be let instead of sold, if only for Mother\u2019s sake\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy mind is quite made up, Michael. We still have the Manor, after all, which is the Plummers\u2019 ancestral seat. The Park means nothing to us \u2014 an extravagant monstrosity built on vanity, which I shall be glad to be rid of.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is our family home,\u201d Michael said. \u201cWe grew up here, and Patricia was born here. Mother adores the place.\u201d<\/p>\n Sir Owen said nothing, for the arguments had been gone over a hundred times already.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is my fault,\u201d Michael said glumly, and that, too, had been said a hundred\u2026 a thousand times.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not<\/em> your fault, brother,\u201d James said, before their father could speak. \u201cNo one blames you, not in the slightest. It was not to be, that was all.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut if I had done what was expected of me\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou would have been desperately unhappy,\u201d James said. \u201cLet it go, Michael. What is done is done. You will all move back to the Manor, the Fletcher family will fill this house, by the sound of it, and we will all grow accustomed to the change.\u201d<\/p>\n James and Michael walked to the rectory together, as was their wont after any family gathering, so that Michael could relieve his mind of its accumulated grievances and James could soothe his brother\u2019s restless spirit. So it had been since they were barely out of leading strings, and so it would no doubt be as they descended into old age. There being only two years between them, and having suffered the indignities of tutors, school and university more or less in tandem, they were as close as any two brothers could be.<\/p>\n \u201cWill they be dreadfully vulgar?\u201d Michael said. \u201cThey are bound to be, I suppose. It cannot be otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe father, possibly,\u201d James said, \u201cbut the rest of them will be perfectly genteel.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow can you say so? You cannot possibly know that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUnless matters are very much amiss at Harrow and Cambridge, the sons will be gentlemanlike, and the daughters have no doubt had the best governesses the north of England can provide. The stepmother is a gentlewoman, according to Simons. So that leaves only Mr Fletcher himself.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe mercer,\u201d Michael said in sepulchral tones. \u201cChadwell Park occupied by a man in trade. It is beyond belief.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFormerly<\/em> in trade,\u201d James said. \u201cHe is retired now, and wants to see his family rise in society. Such men are everywhere, Michael. Naval men return to shore with fortunes in their pockets, the East India Company is turning out nabobs by the score and men of industry turn their mills and manufactories into cold, hard gold. Meanwhile, the sons of the aristocracy lavish their inherited fortunes on mistresses, horses and games of chance, or in our case on a grandiose country house in the Palladian style. Are we to spurn those who have risen to fortune by the sweat of their own brow? Our own ancestors were no better, they just got their foot in the door a few centuries earlier, that is all. The Fletchers may not talk quite as we do, or know how to bow to a duke, but they are not to be despised on that account.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAh, there speaks the man of the cloth,\u201d Michael said.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope I would say as much if I were not ordained,\u201d James said. \u201cI shall not despise the Fletchers, at all events. I shall judge them by their actions, and at least they will bring fresh faces to our stale society. They will liven us up, I am sure, and if the eldest daughter is all Simons describes her to be, with fifty thousand pounds to her name, well, I have a very pretty little rectory that she may be mistress of, if she wishes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou would not marry one of the mercer\u2019s daughters,\u201d Michael said, although he said it half as a question.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy should I not?\u201d<\/p>\n Michael spun round to face him, grabbing his arm in a painful grip. \u201cBecause if you had been minded to marry an heiress, you could have done so any time this past two years and spared us the grief\u2026 the humiliation<\/em> of giving up our home. But then you have never cared about the Park, have you? You<\/em> do not lie awake at night wondering how we will survive the shame. You<\/em> do not dread seeing strangers in our home. You<\/em> do not have to struggle every minute to appear not to mind. Damnation, James, you have not the least sensibility.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, no, not much, I admit it. But if I do not care greatly about the Park, I do care about my family, brother, and I know that Father will be relieved of that dreadful desperation now. He hides it well, but financial worries have ground him down remorselessly since Grandfather\u2019s death, and now he will be free of all that. For the first time, his income will exceed his expenditure, and there will be a little money to set aside for Patricia, perhaps. And we still have the Manor, which is our real<\/em> home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI shall hate it,\u201d Michael said morosely, shoulders hunched, as they began to walk again. \u201cWe shall all be cooped up together, all six of us, and Letitia\u2019s horrid infants. What a life!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is plenty of room at the Rectory,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n Michael\u2019s eyebrows lifted. \u201cTruly? Are you in all earnest offering me a home?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course. Why not? I did wonder about Patricia, for Letitia will treat her just like a servant, you may be sure, but the horrid infants are a great attraction to her, for some peculiar reason. But you are always welcome, you know that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou have never mentioned such a scheme before,\u201d Michael said, eyes narrowing in suspicion.<\/p>\n \u201cI never thought you would be interested.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course I would be interested! Although\u2026 it would be cruel, do you not think, to leave Father to the tender mercies of Morgan and Charles? I should never be able to enjoy an evening at the Rectory, knowing they would have to call upon one of the women to make up a four for whist.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou could walk over there every evening after dinner,\u201d James said. \u201cIn fact, there would be little walking to be done, since I dine there more often than not.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I could not abandon Father. It is important in the hour of his great loss to support him in every way that I can, do you not agree?\u201d<\/p>\n James sighed. \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I am the eldest son \u2014 the heir. It is my duty to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am sure you are right,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, there is the Rectory now, so I will leave you, little brother. Au revoir.<\/em>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n And with a quick wave, he was gone, leaving James to shake his head in affection. His brother would never change.<\/p>\n Whistling, he continued on to the Rectory.<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n SAGBOROUGH, WEST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE<\/p>\n JANUARY<\/p>\n Julia had endured fourteen farewell dinners, each more tedious than the last. As if it were not enough that every day must be spent kneeling before a trunk or box or portmanteau, folding and tucking and wrapping, but every evening they were all to don their finery, or what remained unpacked, and venture out to be congratulated or condoled, according to the opinion of the person offering the sentiment. There were those who thought they were entirely mad to leave the blessed country of Yorkshire to venture into the decadent south. There were those who envied them their opportunity to climb the ladder of society a little. And there were those who were no doubt glad of their going, or foretold catastrophe, or wished them gone long since. They all offered good wishes, but Julia took leave to doubt the sincerity of many of them.<\/p>\n Their final evening at Sagborough was spent in their own home, but if they had expected a quiet time, a respite before the rigours of the journey, they were mistaken. Everyone who regarded himself as a particular friend came to wish them a final farewell, and it seemed they had a great many particular friends, for the drawing room was full, and the parlour next door almost so.<\/p>\n Allie was cross, of course. The house should have been solely hers, as she whispered to anyone who would listen. As the eldest daughter of the family, the abandoned family home should rightfully have come to her, and not to Ted, who wasn\u2019t even a legitimate son, for all he\u2019d taken the Fletcher name. Now they were all to live together, Allie and Jack, and their three bairns, and Ted and Cathy with their four, all crammed in together, and Cathy ruling the domestic sphere. But Pa had been unmoved.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re a Ewbank now, Allie,\u201d he\u2019d said, smiling ruefully at her. \u201cYou made your choice, and you must live with the consequences. Ted\u2019s my son and my blood, just as much as you are, and he bears the family name, too. I want a Fletcher to have this house that\u2019s been ours for so long. Four generations of Fletchers have lived here, and it\u2019s right and proper that it should pass to a fifth. Will won\u2019t need it, for he\u2019ll inherit this grand estate of ours down south, and Johnny\u2019s well set at Cambridge and needs nothing from me, so Ted\u2019s the best person to have it. He\u2019s got the warehouses to manage and the business to tend, and he can do that better from here. He\u2019s the only Mr Fletcher of Fletcher\u2019s Import and Export Company now, and he needs to live according to his position in this town.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut it will be so crowded, with two families living in a house intended for one.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s generous of Ted and Cathy to offer to share,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019ll save you all a bit of money, and you must approve that, the good little housewife that you are. In time, Jack will have enough saved to buy you a house of your own, but it\u2019s a good arrangement for now, and I shall be glad to think of you all living in this house, where we\u2019ve all been so happy. Be content, Allie.\u201d<\/p>\n Ted and Cathy seemed rather stunned by their good fortune, but the papers had been drawn up that day, with the whole family watching.<\/p>\n \u201cBridges are burned now and no mistake,\u201d Will had whispered in Julia\u2019s ear as Pa signed his name with a flourish.<\/p>\n \u201cYou ought to be cross about it,\u201d Julia whispered back. \u201cYou\u2019re the eldest legitimate son, the family house should be yours.\u201d<\/p>\n Will had shrugged. \u201cI\u2019ll get a better one. Chadwell Park\u2026 I shall be master of Chadwell Park, in the far distant future, and I shall like that very well, I assure you.\u201d<\/p>\n That evening, the two stood a little aside from the crowds thronging the drawing room.<\/p>\n \u201cAren\u2019t you the least bit sorry to be leaving?\u201d Julia said to him. \u201cYou have friends here, and favourite rides, and\u2026 and female friends.\u201d<\/p>\n Will laughed. \u201cI have other friends, friends I made at Harrow and Cambridge, and I shall make more. And there are females in Hertfordshire, I am certain. What about you? What will you miss?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy walks, I suppose, but there will be hundreds of acres of walks in Hertfordshire. I can\u2019t wait!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo friends?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy real friends are going with me \u2014 Rosie, Angie, Bella, you, Johnny. Pa and the new Mama, too. I shan\u2019t be leaving anyone behind that I regard as an intimate friend. Unlike Rosie. How will she manage without Belinda Jupp? Look at them, weeping together over there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey will write each other huge letters, every page double crossed,\u201d Will said with a shrug.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not quite the same,\u201d Julia said thoughtfully. \u201cAnd poor Ricky!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRicky Jupp? Ricky the apothecary?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been in love with Rosie for years,\u201d Julia said. \u201cYou must have noticed it.\u201d<\/p>\n That brought another shrug of Will\u2019s elegantly clad shoulders. \u201cHalf the young men of Sagborough have been in love with Rosie for years. The Star of the North, they called her in York, remember? She is by far too beautiful to be constrained by Yorkshire, and especially she should not throw herself away on an apothecary. She will be a huge success in London, and have the eligible men of the Beau Monde at her feet, you may be sure. Rosie will marry very well indeed, or I am a Chinaman.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat about you, Will?\u201d Julia said slyly. \u201cAre you going to marry very well indeed, too?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly I am\u2026 but not yet. I am only six and twenty, Jules, and I want to enjoy myself before getting leg-shackled. I shall not even consider matrimony until I am thirty. At least!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I don\u2019t plan to marry at all,\u201d she said robustly. \u201cAfter all, who would have me? I have no accomplishments, I trip over things and always have a tear in my gown. Oh, and I speak my mind. What man of sense would want a wife like that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPlenty of men want a wife with some spirit in her, little sister,\u201d Will said, affectionately flicking one cheek. \u201cYou may be surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps, but not these high-born southern men. They won\u2019t want a mouthy Yorkshire lass.\u201d<\/p>\n She laughed, and Will laughed too, although he shook his head at her. \u201cWe shall see. Marriage comes to all of us in the end, it seems to me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CHADWELL PARK, HERTFORDSHIRE; THE FIRST DECADE OF THE 19TH CENTURY OCTOBER Sir Owen Plummer had commanded his entire family to assemble in the library at Chadwell Park. Not that he would ever be so ill-mannered as to express himself so. He would be greatly obliged if they would attend him, or some such, but to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4245","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4245"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4269,"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4245\/revisions\/4269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}