She pushed through for another week, trying to find satisfaction in her work, but it was not enough. Mary spent many hours in introspection, trying to understand herself. She did notfeel like she was the kind of woman who needed to be constantly busy or entertained, so she had not expected to miss London so much. Yet, something was missing.
Eventually, Mary realized that what was missing was the opportunity to learn. By this time, she had been married for nine months, and all of it had been filled with learning and growing. Every day had been exciting, because every day there was something new to learn. Now, however, she was thrown back into her usual waters, where she was comfortable but where there wasn’t much left to learn.
That night at dinner, she said, “I was thinking about picking up a new hobby, perhaps learning something new, but I don’t know what it should be. Do you have any suggestions?”
“A new hobby?” asked Mr. Allen. “Have you grown bored so soon after leaving London?”
“I don’t think that is quite accurate,” said Mary. “I don’t miss London in particular, nor do I miss the constant socializing. What I do miss is the opportunities I have had to learn and grow. I thought that I could satisfy that by picking up a new hobby.”
“I will think about it,” he said. “In the meantime, tell me about your day. I believe you had a visit from your family. How are they doing?”
Mary told him about her family and all the news they had brought of the neighborhood. They chatted amicably as they always did throughout dinner. When the last course was served, Mr. Allen said, “I think I have an idea for a new hobby for you, but I am unsure if you will be interested. It is rather unorthodox, you see.”
Mary’s curiosity was naturally piqued. “What is it?”
“How would you like to learn about managing the estate and my other business concerns?” he asked. For the first time, Mary could detect a hint of hesitancy in her husband’s voice.
“I would love that!” said Mary. “I have always been curious where our money comes from and where it goes, but I thought you wished to keep that to yourself, so I never asked.”
“It is not so much that I wished to keep it from you,” he explained, “but that I was under the impression that women didn’t much care about the subject. The few times I tried to explain to my first wife why her budget had to be limited to what it was, she quickly threw up her hands, declaring she could not understand me and had no need for details.”
“I am sorry you had that experience,” said Mary. “I assure you I would very much like to know more about the subject.”
Mr. Allen’s expression softened a bit, and he covered her hand with his own. He said, “Then we shall begin tomorrow. Come to my study when you are done with your daily meeting with Mrs. Hampton.”
Mary smiled widely. “Thank you. I shall.”
That summer was just as full of learning and interest as the preceding months in London had been. Mary’s understanding continued to grow as her husband explained all the many details associated with managing a large estate like his. Mary combined his information with what she already knew of the lives of their tenants to gradually gain a more complete picture of what an estate truly was.
When she had learned as much as she could about the estate, they moved on to the subject of his investments and business concerns. These were a bit harder for Mary tounderstand, for she had no prior knowledge upon which to build.
Gradually, she came to understand how investments worked. His real estate investments in London were the easiest to understand, because it was not so different from an estate. Mr. Allen owned several large townhomes in Mayfair which he leased out in one year leases to those who only wished to visit the city once in a while. He also owned quite a few boarding houses in less affluent parts of the city.
His other investments were so varied that Mary had trouble wrapping her mind around it all. What she eventually came to understand, however, was that her husband had over one hundred thousand pounds wrapped up in his investments, and they earned a great deal more each year than his estate did.
In short, Mr. Allen’s income was more than twice what she thought it was.
In late August Mary asked a question that had been burning in her mind for many weeks. “Mr. Allen, if you have such a large income why is my household budget and pin money so small relative to your income?”
“Are you discontent?” he asked.
Mary shook her head decisively. “Of course not. I have no need for more than you give me. In fact, I sometimes have trouble spending all of my pin money, because I forget that I can buy new dresses occasionally. It is only that most people live in a way that shows their wealth plainly and openly. I was wondering why you do not.”
“To be honest, Mary, I don’t know exactly why,” he said, surprising Mary greatly. She had come to believe that her husband was the fount of all knowledge. He continued, “I began saving in my younger years simply to ensure that I could providefor any children I had. I expected to have more than just one son, you see.
“After a while, through discussions with my friends, I learned about various ways of investing, and I found the process intrinsically interesting. I don’t really enjoy society as a whole, so I don’t see a need to spend a great deal of money just so I can entertain others, and I see no need to spend money on clothes, carriages, and expensive horses just to show off. I suppose there is also the motivation that the more money I save, the more I have available to invest, but when I say it out loud to you it sounds…wrong, somehow, the idea of gaining wealth simply for the sake of having wealth. It no longer sounds like the noble and grand thing that it once did.”
Mr. Allen then did something he had never done before. He reached over to where Mary was sitting and took her hand, pulling it towards himself and by extension pulling her out of her seat and towards him. He then settled her in his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“I guess you have been a good influence on me, Mary. Perhaps it was all just greed for greed’s sake,” he said, and he rested his forehead on her shoulder.
Mary didn’t know what to do or think. Her initial reaction was simply to comfort him, but that didn’t feel quite right.
Before she could respond, he said, “You know, before I married you, I had been on the verge of dropping all my charitable contributions and closing the village school. Not only did you save them by taking over their management, but in discussing them with me, you helped me realize their importance. It wasn’t just important to the recipients of such charity, but it was important to society as a whole.”
Mary couldn’t understand what was happening. It sounded like her husband was telling her that she had taught him something important, that he was realizing that he had believed or done something that wasn’t the best, but that was impossible. Mr. Allen was the one who taught her, not the other way around.
Mr. Allen lifted his head from her shoulder and looked her in the face. “Since you have taught me so much, I will ask you. What do you think should be done with my investments? Should I continue to let them grow, gaining wealth simply for its own sake? Should we live to a higher standard of living, spending it so that it at least serves some function? Perhaps we should increase our charitable contributions. What do you think?”
