CHAPTER VI
FROM MISS EVELYN VANE, IN PARIS, TO THE LADY AUGUSTA FLEMING, AT
BRIGHTON.
Paris, September 30th.
Dear Lady Augusta--I am afraid I shall not be able to come to you on
January 7th, as you kindly proposed at Homburg. I am so very, very
sorry; it is a great disappointment to me. But I have just heard
that it has been settled that mamma and the children are coming
abroad for a part of the winter, and mamma wishes me to go with them
to Hyeres, where Georgina has been ordered for her lungs. She has
not been at all well these three months, and now that the damp
weather has begun she is very poorly indeed; so that last week papa
decided to have a consultation, and he and mamma went with her up to
town and saw some three or four doctors. They all of them ordered
the south of France, but they didn't agree about the place; so that
mamma herself decided for Hyeres, because it is the most economical.
I believe it is very dull, but I hope it will do Georgina good. I am
afraid, however, that nothing will do her good until she consents to
take more care of herself; I am afraid she is very wild and wilful,
and mamma tells me that all this month it has taken papa's positive
orders to make her stop in-doors. She is very cross (mamma writes
me) about coming abroad, and doesn't seem at all to mind the expense
that papa has been put to--talks very ill-naturedly about losing the
hunting, etc. She expected to begin to hunt in December, and wants
to know whether anybody keeps hounds at Hyeres. Fancy a girl wanting
to follow the hounds when her lungs are so bad! But I daresay that
when she gets there she will he glad enough to keep quiet, as they
say that the heat is intense. It may cure Georgina, but I am sure it
will make the rest of us very ill.
Mamma, however, is only going to bring Mary and Gus and Fred and
Adelaide abroad with her; the others will remain at Kingscote until
February (about the 3d), when they will go to Eastbourne for a month
with Miss Turnover, the new governess, who has turned out such a very
nice person. She is going to take Miss Travers, who has been with us
so long, but who is only qualified for the younger children, to
Hyeres, and I believe some of the Kingscote servants. She has
perfect confidence in Miss T.; it is only a pity she has such an odd
name. Mamma thought of asking her if she would mind taking another
when she came; but papa thought she might object. Lady Battledown
makes all her governesses take the same name; she gives œ5 more a
year for the purpose. I forget what it is she calls them; I think
it's Johnson (which to me always suggests a lady's maid).
Governesses shouldn't have too pretty a name; they shouldn't have a
nicer name than the family.
I suppose you heard from the Desmonds that I did not go back to
England with them. When it began to be talked about that Georgina
should be taken abroad, mamma wrote to me that I had better stop in
Paris for a month with Harold, so that she could pick me up on their
way to Hyeres. It saves the expense of my journey to Kingscote and
back, and gives me the opportunity to "finish" a little in French.
You know Harold came here six weeks ago, to get up his French for
those dreadful examinations that he has to pass so soon. He came to
live with some French people that take in young men (and others) for
this purpose; it's a kind of coaching place, only kept by women.
Mamma had heard it was very nice; so she wrote to me that I was to
come and stop here with Harold. The Desmonds brought me and made the
arrangement, or the bargain, or whatever you call it. Poor Harold
was naturally not at all pleased; but he has been very kind, and has
treated me like an angel. He is getting on beautifully with his
French; for though I don't think the place is so good as papa
supposed, yet Harold is so immensely clever that he can scarcely help
learning. I am afraid I learn much less, but, fortunately, I have
not to pass an examination--except if mamma takes it into her head to
examine me. But she will have so much to think of with Georgina that
I hope this won't occur to her. If it does, I shall be, as Harold
says, in a dreadful funk.
This is not such a nice place for a girl as for a young man, and the
Desmonds thought it EXCEEDINGLY ODD that mamma should wish me to come
here. As Mrs. Desmond said, it is because she is so very
unconventional. But you know Paris is so very amusing, and if only
Harold remains good-natured about it, I shall be content to wait for
the caravan (that's what he calls mamma and the children). The
person who keeps the establishment, or whatever they call it, is
rather odd, and EXCEEDINGLY FOREIGN; but she is wonderfully civil,
and is perpetually sending to my door to see if I want anything. The
servants are not at all like English servants, and come bursting in,
the footman (they have only one) and the maids alike, at all sorts of
hours, in the MOST SUDDEN WAY. Then when one rings, it is half an
hour before they come. All this is very uncomfortable, and I daresay
it will be worse at Hyeres. There, however, fortunately, we shall
have our own people.
There are some very odd Americans here, who keep throwing Harold into
fits of laughter. One is a dreadful little man who is always sitting
over the fire, and talking about the colour of the sky. I don't
believe he ever saw the sky except through the window--pane. The
other day he took hold of my frock (that green one you thought so
nice at Homburg) and told me that it reminded him of the texture of
the Devonshire turf. And then he talked for half an hour about the
Devonshire turf; which I thought such a very extraordinary subject.
Harold says he is mad. It is very strange to be living in this way
with people one doesn't know. I mean that one doesn't know as one
knows them in England.
The other Americans (beside the madman) are two girls, about my own
age, one of whom is rather nice. She has a mother; but the mother is
always sitting in her bedroom, which seems so very odd. I should
like mamma to ask them to Kingscote, but I am afraid mamma wouldn't
like the mother, who is rather vulgar. The other girl is rather
vulgar too, and is travelling about quite alone. I think she is a
kind of schoolmistress; but the other girl (I mean the nicer one,
with the mother) tells me she is more respectable than she seems.
She has, however, the most extraordinary opinions--wishes to do away
with the aristocracy, thinks it wrong that Arthur should have
Kingscote when papa dies, etc. I don't see what it signifies to her
that poor Arthur should come into the property, which will be so
delightful--except for papa dying. But Harold says she is mad. He
chaffs her tremendously about her radicalism, and he is so immensely
clever that she can't answer him, though she is rather clever too.
There is also a Frenchman, a nephew, or cousin, or something, of the
person of the house, who is extremely nasty; and a German professor,
or doctor, who eats with his knife and is a great bore. I am so very
sorry about giving up my visit. I am afraid you will never ask me
again.
