“She has decided you are the best man in the world, so she must be.”
“What has brought on that change of heart?”
“Probably my endless letters telling her so. And now I have another letter to write, toyouraunt, if you will excuse me.”
She began to walk away, and Darcy came to a decision. “Elizabeth. Let me know when you have finished. I shall send a letter with yours.”
It took him a moment to recognise the emotion that suffused her countenance, softening her eyes and bringing her lips together in a tender, contented smile. When he comprehended that it was pride, it pleased him so well that he did not even cavil when there came a panicked shrieking and a loud crash from beyond the nearest door.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-NINE
INFLUENCE & AUTHORITY
Lady Catherine’s need to prove herself an authority on all matters did, in the end, outweigh her disdain for her new niece. In little more than a week, Mrs Lovell, formerly of Chisholm Park in Buxton, was installed as housekeeper at Pemberley. Chisholm Park was one of the houses from which Mrs Wallis had warned Elizabeth to disregard applications. Yet, it was also the place where Jennifer Lovell had been employed for three unhappy years, wasting what appeared from her testimony to be a wealth of potential.
Lady Catherine had proved invaluable in securing her services. Elizabeth knew not what Darcy’s aunt had written in her letter, but on receipt of it, the mistress of Chisholm Park had sent Mrs Lovell to Pemberley with expressions of delight that her protégé had gone forth into the world to better it. It was yet to be confirmed whether this intervention from her ladyship signalled a thawing of her resentment—no direct communication had been received from Rosings Park—but to Elizabeth’s mind, it could only be a good sign that her plea for assistance had not been entirely ignored.
Mrs Lovell was in her mid-forties and a delightful mix of youthful energy and seasoned competence. Rather than command that people do her bidding, she steamed through the house with great enthusiasm, acting as though everybody already was, and with a few exceptions, all the servants fell into line in her wake. Most of the maids appeared to be relieved by the return of some direction to their work. Some were less content.
The previous head housemaid, Hannah, had done her best to manage things over the last few weeks, with extremely limited success. The mishap with the coal had been the final straw before she left to find easier work. Martha had been promoted to head housemaid. Edna remained the stillroom maid—something by which she apparently felt vastly aggrieved.
“She thinks she was better suited to head housemaid,” Mrs Lovell reported. “More than once, she has remarked about knowing better than Martha the way Mrs Reynolds used to do things. I hope she will settle down with time, but I wanted to make you aware, so it does not come as a surprise should a problem occur.”
“Thank you, and please continue to keep me informed. Is this matter with the house books one of the things troubling her?”
The management of the household accounts was the reason Elizabeth had met with Mrs Lovell this morning. Darcy had warned her before she arrived at Pemberley that they were in disarray. He blamed this solely on Mrs Reynolds’s precipitous departure, but after some meticulous investigation, Mrs Lovell had determined that her predecessor left matters in a far better state than was first thought.
It seemed Mrs Reynolds had, in fact, annotated the house books in minute detail before she went, giving clear indications of what was owed, and by whom. The true problem, in Mrs Lovell’s opinion, was that Mrs Reynolds’s system of payment was one that had been a quarter of a century in the making. She had different agreements with almost every supplier, some recorded as being paid upon delivery, others as infrequently as once a year. In her absence, the other servants had been obliged to guess what arrangements were in place to ensure the smooth running of the household did not falter. The consequence was endless confusion, with some bills and labourers not being paid at all, several being paid twice, and the cash in the house safe being over one hundred pounds short.
“And your preferred solution is to pay everything and everyone quarterly?”
“Yes, ma’am. It will make it much easier to oversee. And keeping in mind what you have said about finding economies to offset the cost of the building work, I know I can find savings if I can only get a better understanding of what money is going where.”
“That is well, but some of these immediate payments will have been made this quickly because the recipients could not afford to wait. Will you draw up a list of everyone who has received prompt disbursement and continue to pay them in the same manner until you can confirm from your own observations that it is not necessary?”
The housekeeper agreed, and thus they continued, Elizabeth making all manner of suggestions, from how to mollify those suppliers most affected by the mismanaged payments, to the best method of assuaging the pride of Pemberley’s senior male servants, who had been put out by the alteration to the status quo.
“I suggest you ask Matthis, Ferguson, and Chef to name their most trusted suppliers. Tell them you will see what you can do to make special arrangements with those people. I see no reason why everybody else should not be paid according to your new method.”
“Thank you, Mrs Darcy, I shall do as you say—and happily, for if I may say so without sounding impertinent, this is wise counsel indeed.”
Elizabeth agreed; it all sounded exceedingly wise. Regrettably, not a word of it was her wisdom to claim. Every suggestion that passed her lips had come from her aunt Wallis. Having found herself writing almost daily to one or other of her friends or relations with reports of her latest travails, it was Elizabeth’s godmother whose replies had consistently proved the most insightful, every letter bringing shrewd suggestions of what she might try, always couched in affectionate assurances of her ability to implement them.
She was not inclined to admit any of this to Mrs Lovell, perfectly content to let the woman continue under the impression that she had been employed by the most intelligent twenty-year-old in the country until such time as Mrs Wallis ran out of advice, and the mistress of Pemberley was exposed as a fraud.
“I had better return to the main house. Mr Darcy will be wondering what has become of me.”
Mrs Lovell held the door open for her. “Might I ask how you are finding Miss Garrett?”
“I like her very well. Thank you for recommending her,” Elizabeth replied, leading them along the passageway. “My hair certainly approves. I am lucky I have any left after having it yanked about by Sarah these past weeks. I hope she is happier than Edna to be returned to her usual duties. A lady’s maid is not her calling, poor girl—” She stopped talking and let out a little grunt when she rounded the corner and collided with an immovable object that turned out to be her husband.
“My apologies,” Darcy said, looking quite alarmed until she assured him that she was unhurt, whereupon his expression changed from concerned to distinctly irritated. “I had not realised you were in this part of the house. What brings you here this time?”
“I needed to speak to Mrs Lovell.”
“Again?”
“Yes.” Elizabeth might have been vexed by Darcy’s surliness had not she then noticed the architect and steward behind him, both looking equally grim-faced; she decided he had enough on his mind to justify a little ill humour. “On business less irksome than yours, I imagine.” She stepped out of his way and with a serious nod, he went on.
