Extract from chapter 17
1785: Reading
On a crisp winter’s day, Edward Cooper and Neddy were sent to check on their sisters who were studying at the Reading Ladies’ Boarding School. They trotted up the driveway of Steventon Rectory on their return, with a brisk wind in their faces and their fingers numb from the cold.
Mrs Austen had been waiting anxiously for over an hour before they arrived, repeatedly popping out the back kitchen and round to the side of the house by the stables to check for any sign of them. She was desperate to know how her girls did and be reassured they were healthy.
Photo: Dyrham Park, South Gloucestershire.
Photo: Dyrham Park, South Gloucestershire.
A mutton stew simmered noisily on the stove in anticipation of the young men’s welcome, filling the warm room with the thick scent of boiled meat and onions, carrots, potatoes and rosemary. A rich, golden-crusted apple tart was baking in the oven, and Mrs Austen was impatient that it should not burn.
A little after one o’clock the welcome crunch of gravel alerted her, and she placed her sewing down in the basket beside her chair to give the boys her full attention.
As soon as their horses were attended to and their coats hung up, the fire was stoked some more and dinner was served. The two young men had taken their sisters out for a meal the night before at an establishment in Reading. They had been required to seek special permission first from the Head Mistress, as her pupils were not normally allowed out.
“Little Jane was quite the young lady with her napkin and her wineglass,” Edward Cooper relayed jovially, devouring his second plate of mutton stew with gusto.
“She is old beyond her years, that is true,” agreed Mrs Austen. “It must have been such a treat for them all to dine out at an inn. How did they seem to you? Are they happy?”
Photo: The George Hotel, Reading, Berkshire.
“My sister has much improved with her cousins alongside her,” confirmed Edward Cooper, still chewing heartily. “She has more colour to her complexion since the last time I saw her and appears much happier.”
Neddy nodded in silent agreement. His table manners were impeccable and he ate slowly and precisely next to his companion.
“Cassy is delightful company,” continued Edward in praise of his cousin. “It does my sister good to be around her.”
Mrs Austen felt her breath catch and a pang of sadness pull at her heart; she was reminded how much she missed her eldest daughter with her sweet face and happy chatter.
Author's own photo.
Tredegar House, Newport, Wales.
Photo: No.1 Royal Crescent Museum, Bath.
“Tell me about the food. What did you all eat?”
“There was so much choice!” beamed Edward. “We tried a bit of everything between us did we not, Neddy? Salmon, trout, eggs, chops, bacon. There were three cheeses and cucumbers with the salad. But I must say the apple tart was not anywhere near as tasty as yours, Aunt.”
Mrs Austen was only too happy to indulge him and she cut both boys a large piece of pie when the stew was finished. She took a piece for herself, licking her lips at the buttery pastry crust and tangy apple slices.
“So, tell me,” continued Mrs Austen, brightly. “What are the girls enjoying best about school?”
“Hmmm…I would say they are extremely good mimics.”
Neddy burst into laughter at his cousin’s frank response and his mother looked confused.
Neddy explained. “You should have seen them, Mama. You would think Mrs Latournelle herself had entered the room. They had all her actions down to the last detail.”
Photo: Tredegar House, Newport, Wales.
The boys laughed compulsively, unable to disguise their amusement, but this was far from the news Mrs Austen had been hoping for. Mr Cooper had promised her that standards were high and she was alarmed to hear the Head Mistress being spoken of so disrespectfully. She was mortified to imagine her polite little girls mocking the woman in public.
“Surely,” she persisted. “Surely by now, they must seem more accomplished to you?”
“Worldly wise, perhaps,” suggested Neddy, honestly. “They did talk of their needlework and their spellings. They have been learning new dances and spoke a good deal about art. We had some very intellectual discussions,” he concluded, deciding that was what his mother wanted to hear.
Photo: Jane Austen's House, Chawton, Hampshire.
But Mrs Austen was not convinced. She could read her children well and knew that Neddy was trying to placate her.
“What about their manners?” she persisted. “Would you regard them as having the air of a lady?”
Edward Cooper thought about how the manners of all three girls had shocked him: how they had joked and flirted with the waiting staff.
“I fear the rules on etiquette seem rather relaxed in Reading, Aunt,” he stated sympathetically. He could not lie.
Author's own photo.
Neddy tried to turn the conversation into a positive. “They enjoy acting,” he continued gleefully. “They will have picked up their skill for that, no doubt, from the plays we have put on here in the barn.”
Mrs Austen’s perplexed brow creased some more. She had not sent them to school to become better actors.
“And music? French? What did they say of those?” She was desperate now for any hint of progress.
Neddy played back in his mind his sisters’ mimics of the French mistress, which had made his eyes stream with laughter. And with regards to music, the girls had boasted proudly how they often ‘forgot’ their appointments with the music master, because he was simply too tiresome. They had confessed that if they hid behind a big tree at the side of the grounds, then nobody came to look for them.
Photo: Jane Austen's House, Chawton, Hampshire
“No. I don’t recall that we talked about those,” replied Neddy, in fake contemplation. “Do you remember Edward?”
Edward Cooper looked back at Neddy, exaggerating the puzzled look on his face too, pretending to search out some distant memory in his brain.
“No, no …” He shook his head in over-compensation for the lie. “We were so busy with eating and talking of home that we never spoke of music at all.”
Photo: Berrington Hall, Leominster, Herefordshire.
Mrs Austen’s sharp eyes missed nothing, but now was not the time to discuss it. Neither was it the fault of these two young men. She would save herself until later when Mr Austen was home; he would be told about what she thought in no uncertain terms!
A welcome interruption brought the arrival of tea and a plate of Edward Cooper’s favourite seed cake. The topic of the girls’ education was dropped for now and the rest of the cosy afternoon was taken up with talk of Eton, Mr Cooper’s new parish and Neddy’s plans for his forthcoming Grand Tour of the Continent.
Copyright Diane Jane Ball 2023