Chapter 5

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Miss Laura Pendleton (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Miss Pendleton’s eyes wavered.

“I know that what I have given you has its limits. I know that the mistakes your parents left behind weigh heavily upon you. But, despite all that, you could have met any number of good men who would have loved you. Yet for more than a decade, you have diligently avoided every such connection. Why is that? Has love dried up in your heart?”

Miss Pendleton took her grandmother’s hand and gently removed it from her face. Then she turned her head to gaze at the fire in the hearth. It was to hide her expression from her grandmother. It was always like this. Whenever a similar topic arose, Miss Pendleton concealed everything about herself—her expression, her thoughts, her feelings.

Miss Pendleton remained still for a moment before speaking in a clear, emotionless voice.

“I have never once thought that what you’ve given me was insufficient. On the contrary, I have received more than enough. None of it was ever truly mine to begin with. I have always been grateful. Always.”

“You mean you’ve never once resented me?”

Miss Pendleton turned her head toward Lady Abigail.

“What on earth would I have to resent you for?”

“For giving you the Pendleton name.”

“And you, Grandmother, have you never regretted it? Giving me the Pendleton surname.”

Lady Abigail gazed silently at Miss Pendleton for a moment, then closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Not even once.”

“The same is true for me. I have never once resented you. I have always been content with everything you’ve given me, and I have been very happy. I am happy now. So, Grandmother, let us stop discussing this topic. You need to rest.”

Before the lady could say another word, Miss Pendleton rose from her stool and called for the servants downstairs, instructing them to prepare the bed.

The servants soon arrived and, with Miss Pendleton’s help, assisted Lady Abigail to her bed. After tidying up the fireside, they withdrew. Miss Pendleton remained by her grandmother’s side to give her medicine.

Lady Abigail quietly accepted the medicine, her eyes on Miss Pendleton’s face. It was a somber face, etched with sorrow.

Lady Abigail was certain she knew what memories were drifting through her granddaughter’s mind. She could no longer hold back the question she had swallowed for so long, not tonight.

“Is it because of him? The man who abandoned you?”

Miss Pendleton froze and looked at her grandmother. Lady Abigail was watching her with a tranquil expression.

“I will not ask again after today. So please, answer my question. Is what people whispered true? Did you give up on love because of that man who deceived and abandoned you?”

Miss Pendleton quietly tidied away the paper the medicine had been wrapped in and the water glass. Her expression was now detached, unlike before. An inscrutable face. Instead of answering, she leaned down, kissed Lady Abigail’s forehead, and whispered.

“Good night, Grandmother.”

With a rustle of her dress, Miss Pendleton left the room.

That night, after changing into her nightgown and tending to her hair, Miss Pendleton knelt beside her bed as she always did. And she prayed with all her heart.

For the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Morton to live a long, harmonious, and happy life together; for the best possible future to open up for both Miss Hyde and Mr. Fairfax, who were likely lying awake this very night; for her grandmother to be granted health and be relieved of her worries.

And finally, for peace to be granted to the man who had forsaken her twelve years ago.

***

It was a week after the Mortons’ wedding that she learned Miss Hyde had refused the proposal. The news came in a letter from Miss Hyde’s older sister and Miss Pendleton’s boarding school classmate, the former Rosemary Hyde, now Mrs. Alexander MacLean, who wrote of the turmoil that had befallen her family home.

Upon the visit of the young gentleman who might have become her future son-in-law, Mrs. Hyde had immediately dolled up Miss Hyde and dragged her to the drawing room.

The two were soon left alone in the drawing room, and a mere five minutes later, Mr. Fairfax departed from the Hyde residence. In that brief time, they had managed the entire process of proposal, refusal, persuasion, and a second refusal of that persuasion.

The aftermath, however, was quite long and dreadful. Upon learning that her daughter had rejected Mr. Fairfax’s proposal, Mrs. Hyde had promptly fainted. John had summoned a physician, and whenever Mrs. Hyde was not unconscious, she was said to be screaming at Miss Hyde at the top of her lungs.

The letter concluded with a brief note that her younger sister Jane, the cause of this incident, had shut herself in her room and refused to come out. Rosemary herself was too busy caring for their mother to pay Jane any mind, and so she pleaded with Laura to visit the Hydes when she had a moment to console her sister.

Miss Pendleton immediately baked a basket of raspberry cookies, a favorite of Miss Hyde’s, and set out for the Hyde residence. As she entered the main gate, a gloomy atmosphere washed over her. It was the distinct, unsettling air that pervaded a house when its mistress was displeased.

Miss Pendleton handed the cookie basket to a servant and was escorted to the drawing room. Soon, Mrs. MacLean entered, her face weary. But upon seeing Miss Pendleton, she erased her somber expression, broke into a wide smile, and embraced her friend tightly.

“It’s been too long, Laura! How have you been?”

“Well. We haven’t seen each other since Mary Jane’s christening. Is your husband well?”

“Oh, he’s always well. Too well, in fact; it’s a problem.”

The two sat down for tea. Mrs. MacLean, who had married Judge MacLean six years prior through an introduction by Miss Pendleton, had filled out a little and carried an air of dignity, the very picture of a confident mistress of a household.

But whenever she was with Miss Pendleton, she reverted to the girl she had been in her teens—the one who would get banned from dinner for doodling in her French grammar book, only to sneak cookies in bed.

Mrs. MacLean sighed, munching on the raspberry cookies from the plate with the same crunching sound she’d made as a teenager.

“Mother is going to be the death of me, truly. If the girl really doesn’t want to, what can be done? But she’s acting as if she wants to eat Jane alive.”

“Mrs. Hyde must be upset. To be honest, Mr. Fairfax is a catch you wouldn’t want to let get away.”

“Yes, I know. But she’s not the one getting married. Mother interferes too much in Jane’s life. It’s especially bad with Jane. The girl is twenty-five, but Mother still reads all her diaries and letters. She even meddles with her hairstyle and the ornaments on her dresses.”

Mrs. MacLean protested, her voice rising with indignation.

“Jane may be a bit of a scatterbrain, but has she ever once acted vulgarly or caused trouble? She’s intelligent and full of life—that’s why a man like Mr. Fairfax proposed to her. Mother is the only one who sees her as worthless.”

Miss Pendleton smiled slightly at her friend. She was, as always, shamelessly doting on her younger sister. Of course, it was true that Miss Hyde was an exceptional young lady in her own right.

“That’s right, Miss Hyde is a very clever young lady.”

“I used to worry about how she’d ever get married, being the way she is. But you know, lately, I’ve started to think Jane could make it on her own. The world is changing, after all. It’s difficult, but it’s an era where women can earn their own money. My Jane can do it too. She just hasn’t had the proper support to flourish.”

Mrs. MacLean took a sip of tea and continued.

“If we hadn’t lost our estate in Haworth, Jane wouldn’t have had to leave school so abruptly. She would have studied much more, and perhaps she could have become a teacher. Her grades were excellent, and her writing skills were astonishing. She could have been a literature teacher.”

She let out a deep sigh.

“If I could get even a little money from my husband, I’d have her taught something and send her out into the world. But do you know how much money John borrowed from him for his business? He still can’t even pay the interest. I blush every time I see my husband.”

Miss Pendleton skipped over the awkward topic of money and replied in a way that showed agreement with Mrs. MacLean’s views on her sister.

“I agree, it seems Miss Hyde would struggle to be happy in a marriage. The stability and comfort that marriage offers would feel stifling to her. Even with the kindest, most wonderful man in the world.”

“That’s exactly what I mean. Marriage is for those suited to it. Married life is no easy thing. It’s heartbreaking every time the children fall ill, and when you fight with your husband… truly… I love him dearly, but sometimes I wonder why I was so desperate to marry when I was a maiden. I don’t want Jane to go through this. She surely wouldn’t be able to bear it.”

For a while, Mrs. MacLean poured out her laments about Jane’s pitiful situation, their mother’s unfair treatment, and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding her sister.

Listening to the story, Miss Pendleton couldn’t help but think it would have been better if her friend Rosemary hadn’t married so quickly. As far as she knew, Mrs. MacLean was the only family member who cared for Miss Jane Hyde so deeply.

But once her mother’s health improved, Mrs. MacLean would have to leave her family home immediately. Her own home was not here, but by Judge MacLean’s side.

After talking for some time, their conversation was interrupted by a summons from Mrs. Hyde for Mrs. MacLean.

The two women went out and ascended the mansion’s staircase. Mrs. MacLean was to return to her mother in the second-floor bedroom, while Miss Pendleton planned to pay her respects to the ailing Mrs. Hyde before heading up to Miss Hyde’s room on the fifth floor.

They arrived at the mistress’s bedroom at the back of the second floor. Mrs. MacLean knocked gently on the door before entering. Miss Pendleton stood outside the door, waiting and tidying her hair to look presentable before the lady of the house.

From inside, she could hear Mrs. MacLean announcing her arrival. But soon, Mrs. Hyde’s hoarse voice followed.

“Tell her to leave. I’m sick to death of seeing old maids’ faces.”

“What are you talking about, Mother?”

“That precious friend of yours has completely ruined Jane’s marriage. Trying to make her an old maid just like herself!”

“What did Laura do? Why is it Laura’s fault that Jane doesn’t want to get married?”

“I saw the two of them whispering together at the Mortons’ wedding. They were attached at the hip for a while, so I thought she might be helping Jane with her marriage prospects, but instead, she ruins them?”

“Laura did nothing wrong. It was simply Jane’s own choice. And why must Jane get married? Laura isn’t married, and she lives a perfectly respectable life.”

“She can hold her head high even if she’s never ‘sold’ because her grandmother is the great Lady Pendleton. When I’m dead and Jane has no home and no money, is that young lady going to feed and clothe her? I never should have let her associate with Jane in the first place.”

“Just the other day, you were so pleased that she set me up with a good man. Mother, do you realize how much of a snob you are?”

“You’re the type who would have married well even without Miss Pendleton’s help. But Jane? You could drop her on the street, and no one would pick her up. What are we to do now that she’s ruined a marriage prospect for a girl like that? Is Miss Pendleton going to bring another rich man to our door? Ugh, we never should have associated with a maiden of such questionable origins in the first place!”