Twelfth Night at Eyre Hall by Luccia Gray

countryside. Jane hardly spoke, and excused herself to rest in her room
as soon as the meal was over.
    We left two days later, after an early
breakfast. She had spent most of the time at Thorpe Hall in her room,
complaining of a headache. She did not speak in the carriage on the way back.
There was nothing I could do. It was her way of coping. She closed up and built
a fortress around herself, as I had so often seen her do. 
     
    ***
     

Chapter V – Mr. Mason Returns
    “Beth, I don’t want you going into
Hood’s room no more,” Simon warned me.
    It was always hell downstairs when Mr. Mason
was staying at Eyre Hall, but even more so now that Mrs. Mason was away, so we
were alone with the hoodlum, Hood, as we called him, ’cos he was always holding
a candle to the devil and causing havoc.
    I didn’t mind because I had done it
before. I had put up with my brothers, sometimes two at a time, and I’d seen my
mum get beaten by my dad and his friends. Hood wasn’t that bad, and he was over
real quick. Sometimes he called me and Jenny together, and I didn’t mind
either, except Simon was upset, said it weren’t right now that we was going out.
    Hood arrived yesterday, furious ’cos
there was no one at home. He was bored and drunk as a lord before lunch. We
heard him trip down the steps, swearing and frightening us out of our wits, and
then he barged into Mrs. Leah’s drawing room demanding entertainment for the evening.
We listened behind her door, poor Christy and me.
    “Where the hell is everybody in this
damned house? It’s as quiet as a graveyard!” He sounded real angry.
    “Who were you wishing to speak to, Mr.
Mason?” replied Leah ever so calmly, the way she spoke when she was furious,
but didn’t want anyone to notice.
    “Where is Jane?”
    “She is visiting her cousin, Mrs. Fitzjames,
with Miss Annette.”
    “What about Adele and her fiancé?”
    “They are in London. They are expected to
arrive within a day or two.”
    “And John?”
    “Master John is visiting the Jacksons, I
believe.”
    “Jenny and Thomas?”
    “Thomas has taken the carriage to ride
his mother to Millcote. She needed threads and buttons for her sewing.”
    “And the valets?”
    “Simon and Fred have gone to fetch more
coal and wood for the fires. We have run out. It has been an unusually cold autumn,
and all the hearths have been in full swing all month.”
    “And the little urchin?”
    “Nell is at school.”
    “When will she be back?”
    “Jenny and Thomas will collect her on
their way back from Millcote.”
    “Of course. Well, perhaps it is too soon
for her. She can wait until my next visit. And the chits?”
    “Christy, Daisy and Beth are washing in
the scullery and scrubbing the pots in the kitchen.”
    “Daisy does not please me. She has revolting
pockmarks. She is too tall, thin as a rake, and looks like a boy. Where did
Jane find such a hideous creature?” 
    “She is a hard–working lass.” 
    “The other one, Christy, is she a
virgin?”
    “I cannot tell, Mr. Mason.”
    “Has she got a suitor?”
    “I believe not.”
    “Ever had one?”
    “I wouldn’t know.”
    “Send her up to my room this evening,
with Beth, so she knows what it’s about.”
    “What about Jenny, sir?”
    “I may require Jenny tomorrow. She is
more experienced, but she is getting too fat around the waist, too ample around
the buttocks, and too amenable. Tonight I would like a tighter fit, firmer breasts,
and some resistance. I would like to play with Beth and Christy.”
    “That may be a problem.”
    “Will they be out of the house, too?”
    “Beth has a suitor.”
    “Who?”
    “Simon.”
    “That idiot! He is thick as a brick. He
won’t even notice, my dear.”
    “I’m afraid Christy isn’t that sort of
girl.”
    “She’s got a muff, hasn’t she? They’re
all that sort of girl, Mrs. Leah.”
    “I mean she doesn’t like boys, I
believe.”
    “Nonsense. I put my hand up her skirt
and pinched her yesterday, and