by Joan Aiken
Yours etc.
A. Norris
Letter to Lady Ursula Ward from Sydney Ward
Dear Madam:
I write to remind you that four months have now elapsed since the unfortunate demise of my uncle, your late husband Mr Henry Ward & the period of grace allow’d you to find another domicile has long since passed by. I must ask if you will be so good as to vacate the premises as soon as possible, since I propose to take up residence there myself & am much inconvenienc’d by this delay.
Yr Obdnt Srvt
Sydney Ward
Letter from Lady Ursula Ward to Mrs Norris
My dear Agnes:
You will, of course, have heard of the unfortunate Situation I am plac’d in, due to the very regrettable Entail on this property and the disgraceful and heartless behaviour of Mr Philip Ward’s family. I am oblig’d to remove from this house at the end of the month and since your father, Mr Ward, left me sadly ill provided for (I was grossly misled as to the size of his Estate and, I may say, had I known more of his tendency to squander his resources on horseflesh would never have been persuaded into such an injudicious Matrimonial venture) – but enough of that – unless kind friends offer to receive me, I have no recourse but to return home to Underwood Priors. You know, I feel sure, my dear Agnes, how repugnant such a step would be for me and what dismal recollections it would unfailingly evoke. You – after your dear Mother – have always been one of my most cherish’d friends, especially since my other friend Miss Kittridge has sailed the Atlantic on this foolish venture to Pennsylvania – I have therefore not the least hesitation in applying to you first as the one likeliest to offer me a Refuge in my present predicament. I should be so happy to reside with you in Mansfield Parsonage and to enjoy the company of yourself, your esteem’d Husband and of course your dear sister Lady Bertram, not to mention her greatly admir’d Lord, Sir Thos. And, I venture to suggest, I should be able to add my own touch of Distinction and Harmony to your small but select Neighbourhood. How do Lady Bertram’s charming infants go on? They must, by now, be reaching a most Interesting Age. I look forward, dear Agnes, therefore with the liveliest expectations of mutual satisfaction to your sisterly (and step-daughterly) response to my suggestion. Pray give my very kindest regards to Mr Norris and to your dear sister Maria.
Your affectionate friend (and step-Mama),
Ursula Ward
P.S. I can of course bring my own bed-linen.
Letter from Mrs Norris to Lady Ursula Ward
My dear Lady Ursula:
I was of course highly gratified that you should have turned to myself and Mr Norris as a first possible refuge in your most unfortunate situation. Had we been able to come to your Assistance we would naturally have done so without the least hesitation, as you may well imagine, but, alas, it is quite out of the question. My dear Mr Norris is, as you know, of a delicate and gouty constitution, and requires, at all times, the most complete quiet in his household. The presence of another, a third person under the same roof, even such a dear and valu’d friend as yourself, would be more than his frail constitution could tolerate. I feel sure that you will understand this, and will find many, many other good friends who will be only too happy to offer you a home. But if you, in the end, decide to return to Underwood Priors, may that not be all for the best? Then you will have the satisfaction of being with your dear Mama and your charming sisters Barbara and Drusilla. I recall your telling me that your cousin Lord Camber had in past times recommended the girls especially to your care and attention and I daresay you will find happiness in the knowledge that you are acting in accordance with his wishes. The mention of Lord Camber reminds me that, through your kind recommendation, my young sister Harriet is still, so far as I know, attending, or so at least I hope, to the educational needs of your sisters. It may be an excellent thing for all concerned if you return to oversee her activities in this sphere. Hatty, as we all know, is of an obstinate, headstrong, perverse nature; she has about her a spirit of wilfulness and waywardness, of nonsense and whimsicality; she likes to go her own way and will not brook interference; your dear and greatly admir’d Mama may find her hard to govern. But I am positive that you, dear Lady Ursula, will soon, if you return, have matters going along as they should. We shall, of course, always rejoice to see you at Mansfield Parsonage – Mr Norris as you know has the most hospitable nature in the world when his health permits him to be sociable. And if, in a few months’ time, the weather is more open, and if Sir Thos permits the use of his landau, we may, perhaps, be permitted to come, likewise and wait on you at the Priors some afternoon. I always enjoy an opportunity to revisit that grand old mansion and benefit from the conversation of your esteem’d Mother the Countess.
Your affectionate friend
A. Norris
Letter from Lord Camber to Miss Harriet Ward:
My dear little Miss Hatty:
You will note that I give as my direction the address of Amity Valley & not some factory in Philadelphia or farm in Pennsylvania.
The history of this is as follows: when I parted from you last January the coach took me straight to Bristol. The Customs House there keeps a register of outgoing passengers who wish to enter into what are known as Redemptionist agreements. They were not a little surprised that I, apparently a person of some standing in the world, should wish to hire myself out in this manner, but such cases are not unknown when men have lost all their fortune at Play, so I allowed them to assume that I had suffered some such Reversal and did not submit myself under the principal family name Wisbech but chose the minor one of Harry Liss. I had to go before a magistrate and sign a form binding me for two years to an unknown master. Such other applicants as had no clothes of their own were issued canvas suits, woollen drawers, shoes, a boat cape, and blankets; about £5 worth of stuff, which would later on be subtracted from their wages. We were inspected for the French disease. Then we were despatched to a respectable boarding-house, where we were to wait our turn until the next vessel was ready to set sail for Baltimore. By good luck, one was due to sail in five days’ time. During that period I was able to fit myself out with a set of carpenters’ tools. Other trades of men in my ship: weavers, fullers, button makers, tile makers, and farmers.
We accordingly set sail on the sloop Sea Flower. The accommodation for the Redemptionist passengers was a ‘Bed place’ some six feet square for each four adults. We were therefore oblig’d to sleep in turn, two at a time. Then, for eating, we were divided into ‘messes’ and so much flour, meat &c allotted to each mess, to be cooked by whoever was capable. There was great over-crowding – our sloop had 106 passengers, not counting the seamen. We were at sea for 16 weeks, many of which were stormy. During a storm, hatches were battened down and passengers must remain below. There was terrible misery, stench, vomiting and many kinds of sickness, dysentery, pox, and lice. Many died. I counted at least thirty who did so. It is shocking that such conditions still prevail. I shall write a report to Parliament about it. Most of the provisions were spoiled by the end of the journey, the meat went mouldy, the butter rancid.
You may well imagine with what cheers of jubilation the first sight of land was acknowledged.
As we sailed up the Delaware River in late April the servant-passengers all spruc’d themselves, hair was cut by those who possessed scissors, faces washed, wigs donned, lists made of names & accomplishments of those who had survived. On the dock side the masters and hirers stood eagerly waiting and scanning the emigrants for the strongest and likeliest looking servants. I can tell you, dear Miss Hatty, we were not a promising looking group. Many thin, pale, scarred or spotted by disease. I counted myself fortunate that, since the ship’s carpenter had early succumb’d to the smallpox, I had been able to take his place & so escaped the worst conditions under hatches. I was also lucky to be chosen almost at once by a very decent ‘master’, a Mr Claiborne, who, when he discovered my various abilities,
insisted on using me in a most distinguishing manner. He had a large estate to the north of Baltimore, named Piccadilly, so there was no great distance to travel on land. The method and style of building houses here was of great interest to me as you may imagine, dear Miss Hatty. There are many half-timbered houses with thatched roofs, as in England, so my skills will not be wasted. There is little lime for mortar in the countryside, so few brick houses. A ploughman here may earn £5 a year. It is no wonder that many still emigrate. My master, James Claiborne is a liberal-minded and intelligent man and we have many friendly discussions and arguments as I go about my duties. He has promis’d that, if another skilled carpenter should come this way, he will release me from my Indentures before my 2-year term is completed. Meanwhile I have been in communication with my friends at Amity Valley and hope to join them as soon as fortune permits. If you should be so good as to write a letter to me, it may safely be sent there. I wonder so much, dear Miss Hatty, how you go on, and where you are? Did you receive my scribbled note, sent from the cross-roads, and are you installed at the Thatched Grotto, I ask myself? Or have you chosen some other domicile? Are you writing poetry? Indeed I hope so! I have a little time in the evenings after the completion of my duties in which to make notes for my work on language, clothes, and climate, and my narrative of the sea-voyage. I have been reflecting a great deal on the importance of light and how it affects men’s dispositions. There are many brilliant, sunny days here, more than in our own country. I think the people are proportionately more cheerful and conversible. England is a land of fogs and rain and inturn’d, gloomy dispositions. When I think of my cousins at Underwood I can see how natures may be permanently affected by an unfortunate geographical location. But some natures can triumph over adverse conditions better than others. – Pray, Miss Hatty, do let me hear from you and, if you are able, send me a new poem.
Your affectionate Friend,
Harry Camber. (Do not forget that my name here is plain Harry Liss.)
Letter from Miss Harriet Ward to Mrs Pauline Ward
Dearest Aunt Polly:
It is now seven months since I have been living at Underwood Priors and still I have no word from you in answer to my several previous letters & do not know how you are going on. I am so very anxious about you, dear Aunt Polly & wonder so very often how you are, if you are well, if you have left your bed, and what is happening in the family? I am so very fond of you all, it seems so queer & strange & sad not to know about you. Is my uncle well? And did Tom go to boarding school or does he still live at home? Does Burnaby still take care of you? Did Sydney go to reside at Bythorn Lodge? What became of Lady Ursula, where did she decide to settle? I wrote to my sister Agnes at Mansfield asking these questions, but receiv’d no Answer. Doubtless she is very busy looking after her husband’s parishioners. I had a letter from Ned & am so happy to know that he enjoys the life at sea & no doubt has quite forgot Nancy Price! – As I wrote to you in my last, I am living here at Underwood & endeavouring to instil a little education into Lady Barbara & Lady Drusilla. I have been paid nothing yet, but perhaps that is only fair, for I do not progress very fast. I am sorry for the girls, they lead lonely lives & I do not think the little one, Drusilla, will ever be able to learn reading, writing or arithmetic. She will always require some person to look after her. Barbara, the elder, hated me at first and set her face against receiving instruction from me at all & for some weeks the situation seem’d hopeless. But she is so bored here that, in the end, I suppose she felt that any diversion was better than none, so now we read French, Latin & Italian together & I am in hopes of Greek. A lucky circumstance proved to be my ability to ride horseback & I was thankful for that more genial period in my father’s fortunes when he kept a pair of ponies for me and Fanny, so that I am now able to accompany Lady Barbara, who likes to ride out into the woods every fine day. Now that the weather is benign and there are leaves on the trees, the woodland paths are become very pleasant. And it is always a Joy to get away from the house which is, as I told you, cold, dark, and unbelievably damp. A fine bloom of mould is to be seen on the dancing shoes you bought me, which are never worn . . . However there is to be one alteration in our mode of living: the Earl is to return home for a short period in August, in order to look into some affair relating the Estate; not before time, I imagine, for all about here appears ruinously neglected. The Earl, I learn, is a great friend of Mr George Fox & H.M. the Prince of Wales, so I assume he must be very grand and will pay less than no attention to his daughters’ governess. We see little of the Countess; suffering greatly as she does from her rheumatic Disorder she keeps her room all day and takes Opiates to relieve the pain. She dislikes conversation for, being so deaf, she can hear only shouted remarks so any simple conversation or exchange of views is almost out of the question. The girls, I am sorry to say, have fallen into the habit of exchanging highly disrespectful comments about their mother even in her presence, secure in the knowledge that she cannot hear. I have endeavoured in vain to check this habit. Barbara is a strange girl; she has considerable Parts and, when she takes a fancy to use her mind, can be excellent company & do good work, but this is sadly rare. The greater part of the time she spends in a lethargy or kind of angry Sulk. The two married sisters, Anne and Mary, do not ever come back here; both of them reside so far away in the north as to make visiting out of the question. I wonder where Lady Ursula has set up her establishment after she was oblig’d to leave Bythorn Lodge? I feel most cut off here, for no news travels to this house, ‘tis like dwelling in the Sleeping Beauty’s castle . . .
Your loving Niece
P.S. Do, do, pray Aunt P write to me if you are able –
Letter from Miss Harriet Ward to Lord Camber
Dear Lord Camber:
I address you, as requir’d on the outer cover as Mr Liss but cannot think of you in any other way than as Lord Camber so hope you will excuse this. I was so very glad to receive your letter & to know that you had safely survived the Perils of the sea-voyage. Indeed I could hardly believe it was true & must carry your letter about with me for many hours & keep re-reading it, to assure myself of its truth & reality. I wonder if, by now, you have left your ‘master’ Mr Claiborne & been able to join your friends in Amity Valley? As you see, I write to you from Underwood Priors where I am establish’d as a governess to your two cousins Barbara and Drusilla. Lady Ursula arranged this as soon as I returned home to Bythorn Lodge. This return coincided with the sad death of my Father from a hunting accident, so Lady Ursula herself will soon be oblig’d to leave the house, which becomes the property of my cousin Sydney Ward. Indeed she may have done so already. I am not sure where she may be residing; perhaps with my sister Agnes (now Mrs Norris) at Mansfield Vicarage. I did receive your kind little note offering me the hospitality of the Thatched Grotto. The thought of that offer infinitely warms my heart but I do not like to retreat there until I am able to earn enough money from my poetry to keep myself – I would not wish to be a charge on you. Instead I took the very great liberty of installing there your cousins’ former governess, a poor lady who was thrown on the world and had nowhere to go. I felt certain that your Benevolence would approve this action. – I have sent various pieces of work to the Gentleman’s Magazine, Bentley’s Miscellany & The Analytical Review (by good fortune I was able to find some Numbers of these journals in the Library here) and have had encouraging letters from the Editors but so far no poems have been sold. Naturally I am eager to earn some money as soon as may be to recompense your kind Hospitality. I have been writing a Threnody on the death of the twins but it is not ready to be shown yet.
There is a colony of Rooks not far from my window:
Rooks flaunt high nests in open view
And mock their foes in raucous sound
But oh! the risks their fledglings rue
So high above the heartless ground . . .
Dear Lord Camber, I am so grateful to you for that happy, happy vis
it to the Thatched Grotto. I think I shall remember snatches of those lively and easy talks that we had, walking about Wanmaulden Woods, until the very conclusion of my life. The things we said to one another continually recur to me: your saying how important it is that the things we do should be done to the very best of our ability, no matter how trifling they seem, since we have a duty to future generations. How very true that is. I bear it constantly in mind. I am sure that in your Sophocracy all the common tasks of every day are performed very carefully and beautifully. I love to think of the life that is carried on there. When I first came to Underwood Priors I thought it an unutterably dismal dwelling for that time was in the Depth of winter & the surrounding woodlands appeared shaggy & decay’d & sodden with snow; but now they are green with summer verdure & amazingly more cheerful. The house, however, is still in a very wretched condition with plaster falling from ceilings & damp running down the walls; it is sad to see a fine old place so neglected, but I understand from Lady Barbara, who sometimes now has fits of communicativeness, that the Earl has lost huge sums at Play & thinks it a waste to spend money on the upkeep of his property as there is no Male heir to inherit. This seems to me a shocking pity. A female would surely be likely to take better care of the estate. Females are natural housekeepers. Perhaps it is this thought that makes Lady Ursula so indignant with the world. I should tell you that I gain great pleasure from musical exercises with little Drusilla. At first I thought her unteachable; & in many ways she is so, but I have had the Harp re-strung & she will play that whilst I accompany her on the piano so that what seems to us both very beautiful music is produced. These ‘duets’ leave Drusilla wonderfully calm and smiling, but alas they do not please Barbara who has no interest in music & often goes off into the woods for a Sulk when we play. Try as one will, one cannot satisfy everybody. I find this letter grows too long, you will never find time to read it.
