A New War

by John G. Cragg

  Lord David attempted to refuse using the excuse that his brother had entrusted him to try to keep some control over his half- sister. That met with a rather unsympathetic comment from Captain Bush, “I’m afraid, my lord, that your chances of reining in your sister are negligible. You saw how she evaded Captain Giles’s financial strictures and I doubt that you can stand up to her. I also doubt that I could. Mr. Edwards, however, partly because he is rarely here, is made of sterner stuff. Steves, I am sure, has orders to follow Mr. Edwards’s commands and not Lady Marianne’s if they clash. From what I’ve seen of your sister, you can do no good there, and you will be a lot happier here.”

  Lord David required no more persuading. He very much wanted to have as little to do with his half-sister as he could. For the first time in a very long while, he felt some sympathy for his father, who had earlier been confronted with this harridan. He was very glad that a house of his own came with his living. He could see himself being very content with friends like Mr. Moorhouse and Captain Bush in the district, especially if he could avoid having much contact with his half-sister. That that would have to mean not seeing his brother very often did not bother Lord David. He was in fact rather intimidated by his confident brother.

  News of these developments had not reached Mrs. Butler when she called on Lady Marianne at 10:30 the following morning. The agreed-on one week hiatus in paying visits did not, of course, apply to her! She was greeted not warmly but regally by Lady Marianne. Her ladyship had spent too many years known primarily as the wife of a captain in a minor regiment, an officer whose main abilities were drinking and gambling, both to excess. She thought she had to immediately establish her status as the daughter of an Earl in her new location, rather than as a nuisance dependent of her younger brother. Unfortunately, she did not realize that to assume this role of a grand lady, she would need to show interest in and sympathy for her visitors, rather than contempt at being again forced to associate with her inferiors.

  Lady Marianne spend the whole visit lecturing Mrs. Butler on how evil the Earl had been to cut her off and abandon her and how unfair was his son in keeping her penniless in this house. Lady Marianne furthermore did nothing to praise her own daughters’ accomplishments or to make the visitor warm to them. Mrs. Butler was nonplussed to find that her intended words of welcome and warm invitation to take tea with her in the near future could not even be uttered as the stream of complaint was unleashed. As to singing the praises of Dipton and its residents, Lady Marianne trumped Mrs. Butler’s attempts by complaining bitterly about how her brother was forcing her to live in an area with no refinement or worthwhile society. Mrs. Butler rather felt, as she took her leave, that she had been blown from the house by a full gale from the north.

  Mrs. Butler noticed that the next carriage to be visiting, also rather jumping the gun, was that of Mrs. Sandforth of Deepling Hill who was accompanied by her daughter. Mrs. Butler wondered if Mrs. Sandforth would receive the same welcome as she had. She resolved to call on Mrs. Sandforth that afternoon to find out. The two ladies agreed that they had received the same welcome and joined in expressing shock that Lady Marianne had heaped such invective on her benefactor, Captain Giles, and such contempt for the community in which she would now be living. Their daughters agreed that the Misses Crockett seemed to be without refinement or graces, and were both ugly and uncouth, even speaking with a pronounced Northumbrian accent, like some navies. All were agreed that in future they would have no dealings with Lady Marianne or her daughters, and concurred on the proposition that noble birth did not always produce noble character.

  Much the same results were obtained by the string of ladies who visited Dipton Hall in the next few days. By the end of the week, all visits ceased and the consensus among the gentry of Dipton was that the situation at the Hall was now much worse than it had been even in Mr. Gramley’s time.

  The reception which they had received at Dipton Hall also put a spoke into the plans that the mothers and daughters of Dipton had been formulating to deal with the militia problem. The balls were all held in locations in Ameschester or in locations which were not on the road to Dipton. Even if the young ladies of Dipton met gentlemen or officers at the balls, the lack of familiarity with the roads were believed to cause the gentlemen not to pursue any young ladies from Dipton whom they had found attractive. It was reported that one or two ladies from the other side of Ameschester had successfully caught the eye of eminently suitable young men, while Dipton’s only success had been Miss Susan Butler. It was believed that if Dipton could mount their own ball then their own young ladies would have the advantage that in the past had gone to others.

  The problem with implementing this scheme was that Dipton had only one place to hold a proper ball. The Dipton Arms only had small public rooms, not well connected, that could not be used to mount the lavish festivities that were being envisaged. Dipton Manor, though having enough space in total, had no room that could remotely be considered to be a ballroom. Only Dipton Hall had the facilities, and, with the recently completed improvements, must surely offer space that was more elegant than anything in the whole area. A ball held there would undoubtedly astound all who attended and its magical aura could be expected to rub off on the young ladies who were associated with the village where this wonder was to be found. It had been hoped that when Lady Marianne took up her residence in the Hall, she could be persuaded to host a ball. It was expected that Captain Bush, who clearly liked to dance, could be relied upon to smooth any objections that Mr. Edwards might have. Those hopes seemed to be totally dashed by the reception that Dipton’s ladies had received when they visited Dipton Hall.

  The usual peace-maker in Dipton, Daphne Moorhouse, was not available to try to smooth over matters so that a ball might be arranged. Daphne had already had one encounter with Lady Marianne, but it was nothing compared to their subsequent meeting. Daphne had been going about her business as the planner of the gardens at Dipton Hall, a task she was most comfortable in performing when she was actually on the grounds and could direct the workman in exactly where various plants should be located, and even in which direction they should face. She was engaged in this endeavor when Lady Marianne noticed what she was doing through the parlor windows. Lady Marianne was still smarting from her previous encounter with Miss Moorhouse, and the sight of her calmly making decisions, in her garden, without a parasol, in a skirt with dirt on its edges and with her own hands begrimed in soil, clearly indicated that Miss Moorhouse was no better than a tenant’s wife and had no business even being in Dipton Hall let alone lecturing its occupant on what was appropriate. How she could possibly be arranging the garden was beyond all understanding. Lady Marianne stormed out of the French doors to confront this presumptuous commoner who had even presumed to instruct Lady Marianne in garden arrangement.

  Daphne Moorhouse was usually a friendly, helpful mild-mannered person, always prepared to give others the benefit of the doubt. She was, however, well known for speaking her mind without cloaking unwelcome comments in a froth of apologies and circumlocutions designed to avoid offence. And when her patience had been overly tried, she was capable of the most intimidating of angers and the most devastating of insults. It happened rarely, but when Miss Moorhouse lost her temper, what happened was the stuff of legend repeated endlessly in the drawing rooms and alehouses of Dipton.

  Lady Marianne came storming out of the Hall demanding at the top of her voice to know what Daphne was doing, why she was installing plants without consulting Lady Marianne herself, and who did she think she was. Lady Marianne got so carried away that she ordered Daphne to depart at once, and stated that she would make sure that Daphne would be dismissed without a reference.

  Daphne tried to explain that she was doing only and exactly what Mr. Edwards had requested that she do, implying a bit ingenuously that the commission had come from Captain Giles, that the plant being installed at the moment would hide some rather ugly storm damage evident farther away, and that it was
a plant that would in fact improve the beauty of the garden all by itself. This reply further enraged Lady Marianne and it was at that point that Daphne Moorhouse lost her temper. She pointed out that Lady Marianne was only a guest in Captain Giles’s house, that Lady Marianne had no right or permission to make any decisions about the garden and furthermore was demonstrating total incompetence on the subject. Having dealt with Lady Marianne’s interfering in the gardening, Miss Moorhouse went on to declare that she knew that Lady Marianne had been rescued from a rather squalid existence as the widow of an undistinguished captain of a regiment of no account by Captain Giles. That Lady Marianne’s own father had abandoned her, and that it was only through the pleading of the Countess with Captain Giles that Lady Marianne and her daughters had been invited to reside at Dipton Hall – and that this was the same Countess whom Lady Marianne had reviled and denigrated in conversation with the ladies of Dipton who had been good enough to try to welcome Lady Marianne and her daughters. That if Lady Marianne continued to act this way, Captain Giles would throw her out of Dipton Hall to fend on her own—and Miss Moorhouse would rejoice in his action. Daphne went on about these matters at more length and detail until Lady Marianne fled the scene to retreat into the house and to lick her wounds in a room that did not overlook that part of the garden. All this was gleefully reported and spread abroad by a parlor maid who had witnessed it all and who, like other servants in the Hall, had put up with so much abuse and condescension from Lady Marianne that she felt no compunction about gossiping about what happened at the Hall.

  This tale was retold with keen satisfaction by the ladies who had been driven away on their visits to Lady Marianne with their tails between their legs. The incident, so gleefully reported, did have the implication that Miss Moorhouse could hardly be expected to approach Lady Marianne to hold a ball in the very house where Lady Marianne resided. Daphne was not convinced that the ball could not be held at Dipton Hall unless Lady Marianne gave permission, though it would be awkward if Lady Marianne were not engaged in the preparations for the event. Better than most in Dipton, Daphne knew how restricted was Lady Marianne’s authority over what happened at Dipton Hall, and that if push came to shove, Mr. Edwards and Captain Bush could authorize the holding of the ball. But the rage of Lady Marianne if the ball were held over her adamant objections would likely doom the event itself to failure,

  Daphne, having vented her anger to her own great satisfaction, realized that the state of antagonism that now existed between the ladies of Dipton, including herself, and Lady Marianne might have dire consequences for the extent to which Captain Giles would join the community and continue to show interest in his own estate. He might just wash his hands of Dipton and spend his time ashore elsewhere, among his many friends in the Navy and in the fashionable society of London. After all, it would be difficult for Captain Giles to entertain if his hostess was reviled by his guests. It would also be difficult for others to invite Captain Giles to social events in which they would have to include Lady Marianne and presumably put up with her tongue.

  Daphne was eager to have Captain Giles present in Dipton as much as possible just so that, Daphne told herself, they could jointly improve the conditions of their properties. When Daphne raised these concerns with her father, Mr. Moorhouse was amused by the reason she gave for wanting Captain Giles to enjoy residing in Dipton. Mr. Moorhouse thought that Daphne was deluding herself in claiming that she wanted the Captain only for his agricultural interests. Daphne wanted Captain Giles’s presence for himself quite apart from his ability to further her own schemes.

  Daphne was fully aware of her own inability to serve as the peace-maker after her outburst at Dipton Hall. She also was not at all surprised when Mr. Moorhouse refused decisively to serve in that role. She was surprised when her father suggested that the only person who was likely to succeed was Captain Bush. Daphne pictured Bush as a pleasant young man, given to doing his duty, but far from being the sort of forceful but diplomatic individual needed for the task. Until her father pointed it out to her, she had not realized that men without influence did not rise to being post captains in the His Majesty’s Navy, especially not at a young age, without the ability to take decisive action in tricky situations. Nor had she recognized that Bush’s determination to overcome his handicaps indicated a character that would not shy away from difficult tasks if he thought them necessary. If Daphne could persuade Captain Bush that he must try to change Lady Marianne’s behavior, he would be determined to effect that change and would pursue that outcome relentlessly.

  Somewhat to Daphne’s surprise, Bush agreed to undertake the task after only a little pleading on her part. Bush, too, had his reasons to want Giles to spend as much time in Dipton as he could, and he, too, recognized that having a harridan in residence in Dipton Hall would make it likely that Giles would decide to spend most of his time elsewhere. He also was in the best position to persuade Lady Marianne that she should remember her own tenuous situation at Dipton Hall, and that she should do as much as she could to seem an agreeable hostess who could enliven Captain Giles’s life at Dipton with well-chosen dinner parties and other entertainments. He would also remind Lady Marianne that her daughters’ situation was even more precarious than her own, and that they would benefit from having their mother a welcome and welcoming part of the community.

  Lady Marianne for her part had begun to reflect on her position after she had recovered from her consternation and anger at the blunt way in which Miss Moorhouse had confronted her with her situation. She was stuck in Dipton Hall, like it or not, and she would undoubtedly find it less unpleasant if she were on good terms with the local gentry, inferior to her though they might be. What she couldn’t see was how to undo the harm that she realized that she must have already done. Miss Moorhouse could have been a conduit into the society of Dipton. Lady Marianne’s dispute with her – no matter how justified her position was in Lady Marianne’s own eyes – must have made that impossible. As a result of Lady Marianne’s reflection, Captain Bush’s visit went a great deal more smoothly than he had anticipated.

  Bush’s approach to Lady Marianne lacked subtlety.

  “My lady, I am sure that you are aware that Captain Giles only agreed to provide you with a place to live at his mother’s urging and that, if you didn’t have a home here, you would not have one anywhere. Also, you must know that you are going to be here for the foreseeable future, and for that to be tolerable either to you or to your brother, you need to be on good terms with your neighbors. Furthermore, your daughters need to find husbands and they will not do so if you anger everyone by disparaging them and their neighborhood. Right now the gentry of Dipton are ready to leave you to your own devices, neither invited elsewhere nor called upon.”

  Lady Marianne was startled to be talked to in this manner. However, she did not fly into a rage as she was inclined to do for two reasons. First, Captain Bush was only saying what she had already concluded, and secondly she presumed that Captain Bush must be from an elevated strata of society, for he was the close friend of her brother who was both the son of an earl and had a knighthood in his own right. Surely her brother would only associate with men of his own rank. When she had suppressed her immediate reaction to Captain Bush’s remarks, which was to dismiss him without further hearing his opinions, she decided that seeming to agree with him, rather than flying into another satisfying rage, might be beneficial to her interests.

  “I realize Captain Bush that I did not greet the ladies who were kind enough to call on me when I arrived in a proper manner. I was tired and out of sorts as a result of the long journey, and I believe I said some things about Dipton that I now regret. How do you suggest that I rectify the situation?”

  “Let’s see. You might invite those you think you insulted to visit again, saying that you were unwell when they first came. You might yourself visit various houses, just to return the call they made on you. I don’t believe that you would be refused entry, even if that might be
the first inclination of some of them. You might invite some of your neighbors to dinner.”

  ‘Do you think that Captain Giles would allow the expense of entertaining? He doesn’t allow me free rein to spend as I think fit. Do any of these families have young men to make up the numbers?”

  “I’m sure Captain Giles would approve. As to young men, I don’t know. I suggest that you consult Miss Moorhouse.”

  “You cannot expect me to have anything to do with that…that … that wanton! She has treated me abominably. I have never been talked to in the way that she has.”

  “I don’t know about the treatment,” said Bush in an amused tone, “but I can well believe that no one has ever been so direct with you. However, right now, I think she is the only one who might be considered your friend. I know she wishes you well, even though you seem to have insulted her more deeply than any of the others. If you don’t make friends with her, you will find it very difficult to make friends with others. If I were you, I would invite her to visit you here. Calling at Dipton Manor unannounced would not do, since she is frequently away from home, and you might find Mr. Moorhouse most unwelcoming. And if you called on Miss Moorhouse, you would also be calling on my mother and sisters and it would be more difficult to have a useful discussion with her.”

  “I’ll consider doing so, though I do not relish groveling to Miss Moorhouse. Do you have any other suggestions?”

  “There is a widespread desire to host a ball in Dipton where Dipton Hall has the only ballroom in the village, and it would be a splendid way to show off the improvements Captain Giles has made. We have no idea when he may return, so it might be all right to have a ball here even in his absence. I would talk to Mr. Edwards about it, and to Miss Moorhouse about how it might be arranged.”