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Harry was a little surprised by this question, after all, he had been taking orders from his mother for his entire life...

“That shouldn’t be a problem, sir.”

“Good, because my niece will be training you. She’s a bright lass—so pay attention. You’ll only have a year before she needs to move on—that’s only one crack at each season before you’re on your own. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Good, I’ll be returning to Hertfordshire early on Saturday morning. If you’re able to have things finalised by then, I can give you a lift in my carriage.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll get onto it straight away, sir!” said Harry jumping up.

“Very well. Tell Bill I need to see him again, at his leisure.”

“Yes, sir! And thank you, sir!” said Harry, bowing and scraping.

Pulling a sheet of paper towards him, Mr Gardiner began a letter to Mr Collins.

In Ludgate Hill, Nurse returned to the schoolroom at five to take care of her charges. Having already met Miss Nettlecombe at luncheon, Jane bid her a grateful farewell and prepared to depart, having noticed Meg waiting in the background to escort her to her room.

Jane had survived her first day in the schoolroom remarkably well, but her nerves were rather frayed by the effort. She could see that staying ahead of her charges was going to keep her on her toes. Felix was her biggest worry. Jane felt she had really overextended herself by claiming that her Latin was tolerable to Mrs Garth. In fact, her knowledge of Latin consisted only of a few choice quotes that Lizzy was fond of employing. Jane had discovered that Miss Fairfax had been setting the list of verbs for Felix to study each week from a primer on her desk. At his current rate, Felix would decline the remaining verbs in the primer by the end of the next fortnight. Then what? Aside from setting a little revision, Jane was in a quandary. How she wished Elizabeth had accompanied her to London! Jane could only think to write immediately to her sister for advice. Her one consolation was that Miss Fairfax seemed to have been very well organised. Having already ascertained that the Garths’ governess took notes on her past and future lessons, Jane left the schoolroom clasping Miss Fairfax’s diary in her arms, hoping to find time to read her notes in detail before tomorrow’s session.

Arriving at the second-floor landing, Jane almost bumped into Meg when she stopped abruptly. She had been expecting the maid to continue down the second flight of stairs as they had done to reach the children’s parlour for lunch.

“Well, the children’s bedchambers and your own are on this floor, ma’am,” said Meg, starting down a corridor on the left. “Nurse’s chamber is the first door here on the left—guarding the stairs, so to speak. The doors on the right are service rooms except the one at the end, which I’ll show you in a moment. The next door on the left is Felix’s room...”

Here, Meg stopped and opened the door to reveal a panelled room cluttered with books and other objects, among which Jane managed to recognise a kite in the failing light. After apologising that Felix did not like the hired help touching anything, the maid closed the door and proceeded to the next door along.

“This is Miss Garth and Amabel’s room,” she said, opening the door to reveal a larger room decorated in chintz with a window seat and two beds.

Closing the door to the girls’ room, Meg moved to the end of the corridor, crossing the runner to open the door on the right. “This is the children’s bathing room. They use this on Saturday nights before church on Sunday. Mrs Garth said you’re welcome to use it once a week too. The bath is a bit complicated. Sometimes I have to get Frederick to help me, although Felix claims he understands it now. Anyway, just you let me know which day you want to bathe proper, ma’am, and I’ll get it working for you. Miss Fairfax liked Fridays, but any day bar Saturday works for me.”

The maid then recrossed the carpet to open the last door on the left to reveal a neat bedroom decorated in a modest empire style.

“Your uncle’s servants brought your trunk this afternoon,” said Meg, walking past the trunk, which had been set on the bare boards. “I wiped it down and I’ve removed some of Miss Fairfax’s dresses to make room in the closet. Dinner is served promptly at seven. Perhaps you should choose a dress now, just in case it needs ironing.”

“Ironing?” asked Jane in surprise.

“Oh, yes!” said Meg. “Did the mistress not tell you that you are to have dinner with the family?”

Jane did have a vague notion that something of that nature had been mentioned.

“I presumed merely that the children and I would join Mr and Mrs Garth in the dining parlour,” replied Jane. “I thought I would tidy my hair and pull a nice shawl from my trunk.”

“Well... Felix and Amabel eat with Nurse.” Meg bit her bottom lip before continuing: “Do you not have a silk, Miss Bennet? The mistress dresses very fine...”

“Did Miss Fairfax wear silk to dinner?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Oh, dear,” said Jane, thinking of the single silk gown in her trunk. “Then I suppose we should check if it needs ironing.”

The golden silk was unrolled and found to have survived the trip unspoiled thanks to Jane’s careful packing. After placing it on a hanger and retrieving the matching slippers and shawl, Meg was satisfied that the new governess would be turned out proper. She promised to return at quarter past six to help Jane dress.

Finding herself alone at last, Jane glanced round the room. It was really quite cosy—as comfortable as her bedchamber at Longbourn and much better than the cell in the garrets she had imagined. Yet she still felt filled with the deepest gloom. With no Lizzy, she knew she could never be happy here.

The room had two windows set in adjacent walls in what she imagined must be one corner of the house. Walking first to the far wall in which the children’s bedchambers also had windows, Jane looked down into the dirty lane outside the gate. After crossing to the other window, Jane saw the roof of the carriage house some four feet below. Putting her nose to the glass, she was unable to see the fountain in the courtyard, but she could hear the water splashing.

When she stepped back towards the centre of the room, she felt her dress snag on something and, looking down, was alarmed to see a scrap of material impaled on a nail on the window ledge. Her heart stopped for a moment before she realised that the fragment of sprigged muslin had not come from her own gown. Pulling it from the nail, she unfolded it and wondered why Miss Fairfax had not retrieved it, for surely it must be hers.