Brunswick Square February 22nd 1851

My latest tea party was an absolute triumph. Everybody was happy and the conversation was not, this time, confined to kittens and the like. Mrs Doughty was telling us about the Great Exhibition which sounds like nothing I have ever seen. It is to be held inside an enormous hall and will show us all how advanced and cultured we have become. Mrs Doughty is on some committee or other to raise money for the presentation of it and she has met Prince Albert. She is a woman of the world and I feel privileged to call her a friend. I have told Josiah I should like to visit this Exhibition and he said he would be delighted to accompany me there – I think he may have a business connection in mind but no matter, as long as he takes me.

He was much taken with Boo’s little boy. My heart beat twice as fast to see him soften and bill at such a tiny baby. If I didn’t know him better I would say that he shed a tear as he gave him back to Boo. She was a little quiet, I thought, but I suppose she must be tired a lot these days.

When I told my guests we were leaving for Blindingham soon they were shocked, so much so that I felt quite proud and sad together. I have made good friends here and shall be sad not to have them close by. I have resolved to invite them all to the Hall just as soon as I am back in charge of it. I’m not sure whether Boo will come, but I shall invite her all the same.

Boo!

I am to have another tea on Wednesday. The Coopers will be there, and Mrs Doughty and Miss Guiser. May you come? I would love to see you and now that you are out and about again you could make it a project for you and that darling boy of yours. Oh, do say you’ll come!

I cannot believe we have been here nearly six months and will be back off to Blindingham soon. I have had such an exciting time here. I shall insist to Mr Hatherwick that we come back to Brunswick Square in September.

Send word as soon as you can and I’ll have the old Girl set up a nursing chair for you. Mr Hatherwick will send the carriage if that’s best. I know he would love to see you just as much as I. He has yet to see Little Bradstone, don’t forget. I shall not take no for an answer, Boo!

Yrs

E x

Brunswick Square February 10th 1851

I have heard from home that the Girl and her poor mite are getting along famously. I had hoped she would want to return to live with her own mother but Villiers says there is no room for them there. At present no-one in the village knows we are housing the bastard child of one of the staff but we cannot keep them hidden for long. I shall be forced to decide soon whether to keep her in employment. I have been too kind already and would dispense with her tomorrow, but Josiah is adamant that we should be charitable. I admire his sense of duty towards one who has served us well, but I do not share his view that we should allow the child to grow up at Blindingham. I should be the talk of the County for my softness and that does not sit well when trying to manage the household. Villiers says that all the serving girls behave as if the child is jointly mothered – thus allowing the Girl to undertake some light duties in return for her keep. It is a rum situation, though, and I cannot let it continue once I am Lady of the house again. The servants would be too busy laughing behind their hands to get much work done. I shall speak to Josiah. He is more approachable now his gout is a little dispersed.

Dearest Boo

You were right, Josiah will not countenance my running a school. Oh, I am so cross with him! I told him all my dreamings and plannings and he listened with such a sour face I thought he was ill. After I had finished explaining my notion he waved his handkerchief at me as if I was one of the staff, said ‘What nonsense you talk, woman!’ and went back to reading his newspaper.

I was left feeling like a silly fool and I confess I swept past his gouty foot as I got up to leave the room. How he roared! I shall pretend to be sorry later but I am not.

I am not going to give up my idea yet, not after all my efforts to think it up. But I shall not ask Josiah for help until his gout has left him. Heavens, we may even have to go to Cheltenham or Bath for a treatment. I shall do whatever I need to turn his mood in my favour!

Until next time, Boo. Give Little Bradstone a big wobble and a kiss

From

His Aunt Effie x

Brunswick Square January 27th 1851

Josiah has the Gout. The Doctors say it is due to living too well but Josiah will not have it and thinks he is not long for the world. I am having to tend to his feet with the foulest poultices and each evening I sit with him to ensure he only has sugared water and oatcakes, not the livers and clarets he is used to. Cook may have served us royally over the festive season but I fear she has brought misery upon the household…

Josiah is short with me too often and he speaks to the Old Girl with less good temper than he would to a dog. She seems not to notice, though. The other Girl would have wept a sea of tears had he spoken to her that way. I must send word home to see how she and her infant are keeping. We are not planning a return to Blindingham until the Spring and I do want to know what sort of welcome awaits us then.

I told Boo of my decision to open a school in the village when we return. I have long been feeling too silly in the company of her friends and I am tired of discussing bonnets whenever we meet. Boo said she thought it a fine plan but that Josiah will be hard to persuade. She says he will think it unwomanly for me to oversee a business. How well she knows him.

My Dear Darling Boo

We have had the most cosy time at home, Mr Hatherwick and I. He was not required to see to any business for a good four days and he decided to concentrate all his attentions on me – his grateful, lucky and very spoiled wife!

Cook surpassed herself with the meals she provided and the Old Girl proved very helpful when dressing me and bringing me hot water when I wanted to wash. She is much more attentive than the Girl was and I find that she is able to be with me for almost the whole day, such that I have clean forgotten where the servants’ bell is.

The Girl used to spend a good part of her time seeing to Mr Hatherwick’s needs, but this one doesn’t spend half so much time with him. Bless him, he says he can well do without her and that if I want her I should feel welcome to her. God love him.

May I call next Tuesday? I have something secret to tell you that I dare not commit to paper. I have made a decision! A proper, grown up decision!

Yrs

E x

December 22nd 1850 Brunswick Square

We have a new Girl. Well, she is to undertake the duties of a Girl but I should think it is along time since the word girl has been used to describe her. She is personable enough and comes with exemplary references and I am greatly relieved to have someone to dress me again at last, but somehow I do not see me exchanging confidences with her. There is something dingy about her, as if she washes infrequently. I have counted fewer teeth in her head than in Boo’s baby. She sports hairs in places she should not and her voice reminds me of the man who tends the cattle at home. Still I think she will do well here. Josiah was not impressed with her, but he did give me sole responsibility for finding someone. He has said he probably will not need her services much. I should feel I have failed him in appointing her, but I do not.

December 19th Brunswick Square

This new fashion for having trees and whatnot in your house is a tremendous fag but it does make the rooms look very cosy. Today I had my first proper tea party and Cook went to great lengths to make festive tidbits for us to eat. She served a sort of warm wine with fruit in it and an array of small sandwiches, pastries and cured meats. I could tell that everyone was most impressed. I must remember to give Cook a little something as a special reward – she has been very helpful in recent weeks.

Sitting in my parlour were Mrs Cooper, Miss Cooper, Mrs Doughty and Miss Rowena Guiser. She is very pretty and amusing, I think we shall make firm friends. I do need someone else to talk to now that Boo is so occupied with the baby – Mrs Doughty appears to be a bottomless source of new company.

Word from the butler at Blindingham – the Girl has calved. So she also now has a baby boy to call her own – heaven knows who else’s it may be. And that horrible small man from Clacton cannot find my brooch. No doubt he has pawned it or given it to a sweetheart, the crook.

Remind Cook to ask around and discover what the best households will be serving over Christmas.

Mrs Euphemia Hatherwick
34 Brunswick Square
London

December 12th 1850

Madam

I am afraid I am writing with news which will not please you. Having conducted a thorough and rigorous investigation of my staff and public quarters, I can state without a doubt that your brooch is not anywhere under my roof.

I quizzed the chamber maids, the night porter and any staff who may have had access to your room during your stay. Despite hearing some very clear and verifiable accounts of Mr Hatherwick’s movements and your own, I can find nothing which relates to the mislaying or otherwise of any brooch.

I hope this letter is redundant and that the brooch has appeared amongst your belongings as you unpacked. I hope also to be able to welcome you again to this establishment in the future. To that end, may I take this opportunity of offering you and Mr Hatherwick one evening’s accommodation without charge, in recognition of your distress. This in no way points to any liability on our part for the loss of your brooch, of course.

Yours faithfully

Ogden Browne