Jane Austen Stole My Boyfriend (29 page)

By now half the room was staring at Augusta. Mrs Leigh-Perrot looked puzzled and then decided to distract everyone. She moved to the centre of the room, called her husband to join her, and made
a brief and quite moving speech thanking everyone for believing in her innocence and ‘fortifying her’ (that’s what she said) with their constant messages, letters, cards and gifts
of food. Then she spoke of how her husband had stood by her and of how she could never have lived through the experience without his steadfast support and belief in her. She smiled across at him
then, and he smiled back, his eyes brimming with tears.

As for the horrors she had endured in prison – ‘Well,’ she said, ‘one of these days, I shall write a book about my experiences and I shall expect all of you to put your
names down for a copy. I shall ask for two guineas from each of you.’ There was a great laugh at that. Someone began to clap, others joined in, and the Leigh-Perrots beamed at everyone.

Edward-John had now joined Augusta. Eliza moved away the moment he approached and gave me the suspicion of a quick wink as she approached Mr Austen and gaily greeted him.

‘Whom will you dance with next?’ he said with the indulgent smile that he keeps for his daughters and nieces.

‘With you, if you will ask me,
mon oncle
,’ she said in her most flirtatious way, and peeped at him over her fan.

I left Mr Austen in Eliza’s capable hands – she would manage him much better than I could ever do. It was obvious that Augusta had still said nothing to him, but after Jane’s
performance she could be in no doubt that her reputation would be ruined unless she placated her husband’s young cousin. Eliza would persuade Mr Austen to open the matter of my marriage once
again.

I went across the room to greet the admiral and Elinor. Although Mrs Leigh-Perrot had politely invited them both with ‘& partner’ after each name, the baronet, Sir Walter
Montmorency, was not there. I tried to make conversation with Elinor, but although she gave me a very sweet smile she said very little, and once more she looked at the admiral before answering the
simplest question and then mostly echoed what he had said. He seemed irritable with her and criticized her hair.

On the other hand, he was very friendly to me, chatting as if Thomas and I were properly engaged. I wondered whether Elinor had said something nice to him about me, but came to the conclusion
that the rich surroundings and the motherly pat on the arm that Mrs Leigh-Perrot gave me a moment ago had impressed him. He asked me whether I had heard from Thomas yet, and told me that if I cared
to write, a fellow officer was going to Southampton in two days’ time and would be able to carry a letter to the ship that was scheduled to make contact with Thomas’s at Madeira
Island.

I thanked him fervently – thinking that by tomorrow morning, thanks to Jane and Eliza, my troubles with Augusta should be over. He smiled down at me, asked permission to admire my
beautiful blue eyes and proposed himself as my partner for the next dance. I could see him looking around at all the evidence of wealth and splendour in the Leigh-Perrot household and I think it
made a difference to him. After all, I might be a suitable bride for his nephew if my childless aunt and uncle were as affluent as this. I half smiled to myself, thinking of James and Edward-John
eyeing each other like rival stags. Money was a terrible thing, I thought. It seemed almost as if it was the most important thing in the world for some people.

Suddenly I resolved not to worry any more. There were times when it felt as if everything was knotted up in my mind like a ball of wool, but now, bit by bit, the problems were unravelling. Eliza
had given us a weapon against Augusta; Admiral Williams was cordial and welcoming and seemed to have accepted that I am engaged to marry his nephew; Thomas’s sister Elinor was now quite
friendly.

‘Would you like to see my room?’ I asked Elinor. ‘I shall have to tidy myself before I can dance with a distinguished gentleman like your uncle.’ I made him a curtsy and
managed not to laugh at the surprised expression on his face. It was easy enough to do this sort of thing, I thought, if I imagined myself to be Eliza.

Elinor followed me upstairs without a word and I sat her in front of our looking glass and tried to tie up her rather limp blonde hair in the same style as my own. If I had seriously wanted to
improve her appearance I would have asked Eliza to come with me, but I wanted the chance to talk to her. So I dampened some strands of hair and coiled them around my finger and then wound a warmed
handkerchief over the hair and held it for a moment, chatting about Thomas until she relaxed.

‘He’s very love in with you,’ she said after a minute. ‘Do you think you will be able to get married when he returns?’

I told her that I thought we might, and she frowned slightly, and then heaved a sigh. ‘You’re lucky,’ was all that she said.

And then I asked whether Sir Walter Montmorency had left Bath, and her very pale cheeks flushed red and then became white again. I pretended not to see and turned away to find a ribbon from my
box.

‘No, I don’t think he has,’ she said after a minute. And then there was another silence. I was hoping that the supper would last a good long time, as otherwise the admiral
would be wondering what kept us.

‘It’s a pity that he couldn’t come here this evening,’ I said.

‘My uncle has forbidden me to see him again. Apparently he has huge gambling debts.’ Her voice was dry and hard when she said these words. I nodded. So the admiral had finally found
out what half of Bath knew already.

‘Are you sorry?’ I asked her. ‘Were you . . . ?’ I hesitated a little, but then asked, ‘were you fond of him?’

She did not reply. I found the ribbon and then came over towards her, but before I could thread it through her hair she jumped up and ran for the door.

‘No, I hate him,’ she said, but I could tell that she was crying. She slammed the door behind her, and when I went out, there was no sign of her.

The music had not yet begun again when I went downstairs. Most of the guests, the friends of the Leigh-Perrots, were middle-aged people who found gossiping, laughing and eating the delicious
food more fun than dancing, so the supper break was much longer than usual. The admiral was chatting to Mr Leigh-Perrot so I went over to join my cousin, who was whispering to Harry Digweed and
still staring at Augusta.

‘Jane, how could you!’ I murmured with an eye on Mrs Austen, who was looking suspiciously at her youngest daughter.

Jane neatly swallowed a tiny ham pie from the plate that she and Harry were sharing and looked at me with innocent eyes.

‘Methinks she hath a guilty conscience,’ she said sadly, slightly narrowing her eyes to make sure that Augusta knew she was still being looked at. ‘But the woman is so hardened
in sin that she needs more persuasion.’

I giggled. I couldn’t help it, but I felt slightly sorry for Augusta when I saw her tuck her hand into Edward-John’s arm, almost as though she were in need of protection.

When the music began she even joined the line, facing her husband, her thin lips compressed and her eyes aloof.

I had two dances with the admiral. Funnily enough I enjoyed them very much. I think that the last time I danced with him, at the Assembly Rooms, I was so worried that he might feel I was
unworthy of his nephew that I felt on edge and too anxious. Now I just asked him questions about Thomas when he was a boy and he told me lots of stories of how Thomas used to help him sail his
yacht. I began to think that perhaps Thomas had misjudged his uncle, until he told me how he had whipped Thomas one day for taking the yacht out without permission in a howling gale.

‘Mind you, he handled it well,’ said the admiral with a chuckle, ‘but discipline is discipline.’ He frowned a little and looked around the room. ‘Where’s
Elinor?’ he asked.

‘She’s probably with my cousin Jane and Mr Harry Digweed,’ I said hastily. I did not want Elinor to get into trouble with him. I didn’t like the idea of his whipping
Thomas – was Elinor still scared of her uncle? I wondered. Was that why she was so quiet and timid?

But the odd thing is that I did not see Elinor for most of the rest of the evening.

Not until the very end of it.

Towards midnight Jane and I went into the kitchen to have a quick chat with Franklin about how the party was going. Suddenly Jane exclaimed, ‘A ghost!’

There was a shadow on the whitewashed wall of the steps outside the kitchen. A minute later the kitchen door opened and then hastily closed again. Franklin immediately dashed to the door and
flung it open. We followed him. The shadow on the wall had been that of a young girl just like this sketch here.

‘Elinor!’ gasped Jane.

Elinor’s face was first deadly white and then she flushed a dark red.

‘I was hot,’ she said quickly. ‘I just slipped out for some fresh air and the door closed behind me.’

‘You should have rung the bell, ma’am,’ said Franklin gravely. ‘I would have let you back in immediately. It’s not fitting for a young lady to be out in the night
by herself.’

He insisted on escorting her back upstairs again, leaving Jane and myself in the kitchen, eating up some of the leftover pastries. When he came back he had a worried look on his face and just
shook his head when Jane wondered aloud how long Elinor had been outside.

Jane and I have just spent a long time talking about Elinor. What was she doing? Why did she leave the party?

Had she slipped out to meet Sir Walter?

Friday, 13 May 1791

I woke late this morning and told Jane to go down to breakfast without me. The house seemed very quiet, and I guessed that my aunt and uncle would sleep in after the excitement
of the party.

When I came out of our bedroom my brother was sitting on the window seat at the bottom of the flight of stairs, staring out at the rain. He looked miserable.

I asked him whether he had had breakfast, but he just shook his head without speaking. I felt sorry for him and slipped my hand into his. The thought crossed my mind that he is my nearest
relation in the world and yet we never seemed to talk. Jane chatters continually to all of her brothers; it would never even occur to her to stop and consider her words as I was doing now. What
would Jane say, I wondered, if she were me?

‘Edward-John, I want you to give permission for my marriage to Thomas.’ The words popped out of my mouth almost as if it were Jane speaking.

He looked at me then with some surprise. It wasn’t what I had said, I think, but the way that I said it, which had brought that look of astonishment to his face. I had not pleaded; my
voice had not trembled; I didn’t feel like crying; I said the words as if I were asking him to pass the salt.

‘Are you sure?’ He asked the question very slowly. His voice was leaden.

I nodded very firmly. ‘Yes, I am quite sure,’ I said.

And then their bedroom door opened and Augusta came out. She gave me a stately nod and a muttered answer to my polite ‘Good morning, Augusta’ and then took Edward-John’s arm.
Neither husband nor wife looked at the other on their way down the stairs to the breakfast parlour.

However, once in the room, Augusta exerted herself to be very charming, spilling out compliments about the wonderful party and so on, and under the cover of her enthusiasm I slipped into my
place beside Jane.

Mr Austen, I noticed, was looking uncomfortable, but Mrs Austen wore her determined air, the one that she assumes when she has decided that something unpleasant has to be done and that it will
be done that very morning. I had seen her look like that when the dairy needed to be scrubbed and lime-washed, when the creaking weathervane had to be mended, and when she wanted Mr Austen to speak
to his bailiff about flirting with a village girl.

Mrs Leigh-Perrot seemed to be in on the secret also. She exchanged several glances with Mrs Austen and there was a faint air of a conspiracy between them. Both were being coldly polite to
Augusta and warmly motherly towards me. Mr Leigh-Perrot was the only one who did not appear to be in the secret; he was wrapped in a cloud of happiness, making silly jokes to Franklin and laughing
uproariously at his replies.

Augusta ate little and rose to her feet at the first opportunity. Edward-John got up obediently, but Mrs Leigh-Perrot intervened.

‘Just a minute, Edward-John. Jenny and Jane, perhaps you would like to go for a little walk? We just want a talk with Mr and Mrs Cooper.’

‘If it’s about Jenny, shouldn’t she stay?’ I had already obediently got to my feet but Jane’s words made me sit down again.

‘Jane!’ exclaimed Mrs Austen, but Mrs Leigh-Perrot nodded. ‘The child is right,’ she said. ‘Jenny should stay.’

No one suggested that Jane should be present, but she tiptoed very gently after me as Mrs Leigh-Perrot led the way to the front parlour.

Although it was May, the fire had already been lit, and Mr Austen went straight to it and pretended to rub his hands in front of the flames, keeping his back turned to the rest of the room. Mr
Leigh-Perrot immediately joined him; they both seemed to want to keep out of the discussion and allow their wives to speak for them.