CHAPTER VIII.
THE NEW GOVERNESS.
Mrs. Dainty was asleep in her easy-chair, and the children, with no governess to interest or instruct them, were ranging through the house at will, and finding their own amusements, when the educated English lady arrived, and sent up her card.
“Mrs. Jeckyl—Jeckyl: who is she? I have no acquaintance by that name,” said Mrs. Dainty, as she looked at the card through her half-awake eyes. “What kind of a person is she?”
“She’s dressed in black,” replied the waiter.
“Have you ever seen her before?” inquired Mrs. Dainty.
“No, ma’am.”
“Is she genteel-looking? Has she the appearance of a lady?”
“She walks like a lady,” replied the discriminating waiter; “but her black is a little rusty.”
“Somebody that wants charity, I suppose,” said Mrs. Dainty, with a look of disgust and an impatient toss of the head. “Go down and say that I am engaged, but that she can send me word as to her business.”
The waiter retired. On coming back he said,—
“The woman wouldn’t tell me her business. She says she was desired to call by Mrs. Ashton, but that, if you are not prepared to see her, it is of no consequence.”
“Mrs. Ashton! Oh, yes; now I understand! Has she gone?”
The manner of Mrs. Dainty changed suddenly; and she made the inquiry with manifest eagerness.
“She acted as if she were going,” replied the waiter.
“Go back quickly, and say that I will be down in a moment.”
A gleam of satisfaction shot across the face of Mrs. Dainty.
“My new English governess!” she ejaculated, in a low tone, as the waiter left the room. “I’ll soon have a new order of things with the children!”
After slightly adjusting her dress, which had become disarranged during her sleep in the easy-chair, Mrs. Dainty put on as grave an air of dignity as she could assume, and went down to the parlor. As she entered, a tall woman dressed in black arose, and stood, awaiting her approach, with a half proud, half deferential air, fixing upon her at the same time two small, gray, piercing eyes, that seemed to go right through Mrs. Dainty. Her widow’s weeds, as the waiter had informed his mistress, were a little rusty; and the same might be said of her complexion. Her nose was rather a marked feature for prominence and size; her lips were delicate in comparison with the rest of her face, and had a certain flexibility which showed them to be quick indicators of feeling. The whole aspect of the face made upon Mrs. Dainty, at the first glance, rather an unfavorable impression; and she seemed to be pushed from rather than drawn toward the woman.
“Mrs. Jeckyl?” she said, assuming a frank, smiling courtesy, as she came forward and offered her hand.
“My name.” And the visitor bowed with a reserved dignity, giving only the tips of her fingers to Mrs. Dainty.
“Mrs. Ashton desired you to call?”
“Yes, ma’am. She said you were about changing your governess, and would like to see me on the subject.”
The woman’s manner a little embarrassed Mrs. Dainty: there was in it an air of conscious superiority that rather overawed her.
“I have dismissed an upstart American girl, who took on airs with both me and my children,” replied Mrs. Dainty, with considerable warmth.
“American girls, I have observed,” said the visitor, “are apt to forget themselves in the respect you mention. It grows naturally out of your system of government, I presume. This equality of the people must often show itself as an offensive element in society. I have been many times annoyed by it since I came to America.”
“Oh, it’s dreadful!” replied Mrs. Dainty. “Dreadful!”
“Like other evils,” was replied, “it will, I suppose, cure itself in time. People who can afford to be independent will throw off the rude familiars who thrust themselves too far in advance of their right positions.”
“Exactly so, as I have done in the case of Miss Harper, whom I sent off without a moment’s warning, for the offence of presumption. She very foolishly imagined that her judgment and her will touching the children were superior to mine, and ventured to set me at naught in their eyes. It was a bold experiment on her part, and proved, of course, a failure.”
“If all American ladies would act with a like decision of character,” said Mrs. Jeckyl, “a needed reform would take place much sooner than it is likely to occur while things go on as at present. But to the purpose of my visit. You desire, as I understand, to secure the services of a competent governess for your children.”
“I do,” replied Mrs. Dainty.
“So I have been informed; and I have called to see you at the particular request of Mrs. Ashton. I do not know that I am prepared to make a positive engagement at present, however. The position will be new to me; and I feel averse to assuming it. Having moved all my life in the best English society, I find it hard to repress a natural repugnance to becoming a mere employee—a kind of half servant—in an American family.”
“I am not surprised at the feeling,” said Mrs. Dainty, whose respect for the lady had mounted at least thirty degrees on the scale of estimation. “It would be strange if you felt differently. But I think we can make your position in our family wholly agreeable. At least, it shall not be my fault if there is any failure.”
“If the lady herself is on my side——” Mrs. Jeckyl paused.
“You need not be troubled for the rest,” said Mrs. Dainty, finishing the sentence.
“Very truly said,” was remarked, in a compliant, insinuating manner.
The two ladies then came down to a regular business interview, in which the questions of service and compensation were fully discussed. The terms of the applicant were high, and her stipulations varied. She was to have no care of the children beyond their education. Mrs. Dainty must have a nurse to give all attention to their bodily wants, while she administered solely to their mental needs. The hours of study must be fixed, and the nurse produce the children at the study-room doors precisely at the time specified. With the termination of the study-hours, all demands upon the governess for service in the family must end. After that her time must be her own. As to her meals, they must be sent to her room, and she must have the privilege of ordering as she desired from the day’s bill of fare. All this was imperative, and all this Mrs. Dainty yielded, so earnest was she in her desire to secure the services of this accomplished English lady.
“There is one thing of which I must advise you,” said Mrs. Dainty, during the interview. “We have residing with us a bachelor uncle of mine, who, being in no business, amuses himself by petty interferences in our family concerns. He is a terrible annoyance sometimes. I mention this in the beginning, that you may be prepared for him. One of the reasons why I sent off that American girl was, because he took her side in every thing, and encouraged her in all her airs and assumptions.”
“He must keep out of my way.” There was a peculiar lifting of Mrs. Jeckyl’s upper lip as she said this,—as we sometimes see it in an angry beast,—just showing her teeth enough to make it evident that she had the power to bite, and the will, too under sufficient provocation. The effect on Mrs. Dainty was not pleasant; but she waved aside the warning impression as something in which there was no meaning.
“Hold him entirely aloof,” she said. “Do not permit his interference in the smallest matter.”
“What right has he to interfere?” Mrs. Jeckyl showed a measure of womanly indignation.
“None!” was answered, with warmth. “None! I consider myself competent to decide in all questions touching the management of my own children, and his meddlesome interference puts me out of all patience. We must lay our heads together to circumvent him entirely.”
“Why circumvent?” said Mrs. Jeckyl. “Why take all that trouble? Isn’t there an easier and plainer way?”
“I do not wish seriously to offend my uncle,” replied Mrs. Dainty, slightly depressing her tone. “He is an excellent, well-meaning, kind-hearted man. I would therefore circumvent rather than harshly oppose him. He is rather quick-tempered, and an open rupture might ensue. The best way for you will be to keep him entirely at a distance. Stand wholly on your dignity. Do not respond to any suggestion or advice that he may offer in regard to the children, but keep your own counsel and carry out your own views.”
“Trust me for that,” said Mrs. Jeckyl. “He will always find me rock or India-rubber.”
“When will you come?” asked Mrs. Dainty, as this preliminary interview was about closing.
“As early as you desire,” replied the educated English lady. “To-morrow, if it is agreeable.”
“I wish you would say this afternoon.”
“This afternoon!” Mrs. Jeckyl opened her small gray eyes wider than usual.
“I have a particular reason,” said Mrs. Dainty.
“If it is very particular.” There was a yielding air about Mrs. Jeckyl.
“It is,—very particular. I will explain. Uncle John knows nothing at all yet about my break with Miss Harper, and still thinks her in the house. Her services were obtained through him, and he seems to regard her as a kind of protégé. Now, in order to let him understand that I am entirely in earnest, and that her return is impossible, I wish him to learn two facts in the case at the same time,—that the old governess has left the house, and that a new one has entered. This will prevent a brief but unpleasant struggle for the mastery. You understand me?”
“Certainly.”
“And will remain?”
Mrs. Jeckyl reflected for some time.
“I see exactly what you wish to accomplish,” she said, “and sympathize with you entirely. To-morrow would suit me better; yet troublesome difficulties may pile themselves up between this and to-morrow.”
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” remarked Mrs. Dainty.
“It is, as every one has proved a hundred times in life,” said the new governess.
“It will be wise for us, then, to use the ounce of prevention.”
“It will,” replied Mrs. Jeckyl.
“Then you will at once assume your new duties in my family?”
“Yes.”
“I am delighted at your compliance!” said Mrs. Dainty, pleased as an impulsive child in gaining some desired object. “We shall soon have a new order of things that will defy Uncle John’s petty interference. Come with me, and I will take you to your room and then introduce you to my children.”