Consequences - Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 – Mary’s Journal

March 6th

I wrote straight back to Charles, telling him how I had laughed at his chart of possibilities and then I told him of the offer made by his aunt, and how it could solve all our problems if we went along with it. I said I did not want to get married early. If we could disguise the pregnancy as she had suggested (I had already cut out my wedding dress with larger than necessary seams, so it appears a likely case) then we at least would avoid the scandal of having to tell all our friends and family that we were bringing the wedding forward. What would the rector say? What would my friends who had hoped to be the bridesmaids say? What would all of Charles’ proper aunts say – and think? So if he agreed, I said I thought we should pretend the baby doesn’t exist at all, and carry on as normal, and then when the time comes, we can make our decision about whether to take his Aunt up on her offer or not. There still is the possibility that I might lose the baby between now and May. If we had brought the wedding forward and I lost the baby, then we would have made the whole problem much worse than it need be.

March 8th

I received a letter back from Charles, agreeing to my proposals. I will go and talk to my parents tonight, and get them to understand that I want the wedding to go ahead as planned, as much for their sakes as for my own – and that we will let the future consequences sort themselves out with time.

March 9th

My parents have reluctantly agreed to our plans. They feel we are foolhardy to expect fate to take a hand in solving our problems, but they were relieved that we didn’t have to alter the date of the wedding, or make our dilemma public knowledge just yet. When and if the baby does come, we will not be living in York, and it will be our problem, not theirs. Mother has softened considerably towards me now, and has suggested that I move back home. She had to use the excuse that I was learning about keeping house from Mrs. Mayfield to keep the other family members’ curiosity at bay, but it seems better for me to be back at home if we are going to succeed with the plan of everything being as normal.

March 15th

Things have more or less settled down to our usual routine now. My parents have stopped scowling at me, and our busy lives continue. I have settled the dresses with Mary Ann, Sophia and Elizabeth. They will each be making their own, but I will lend them my paper pattern, so they can all have a similar look about them. My dress will be pale blue with white lace over. Mary Ann’s dress will be in lavender, Sophia’s in pale pink and Elizabeth’s in yellow. We will look like a garden of spring flowers. I hope they can all get straw bonnets similar to mine and use ribbons to match their dresses.

Mother and I have decided the breakfast meal for after the wedding. As Charles is a vegetarian, it is important that I support him in this. So we will have no bacon or sausage at the meal. I would like to make some marchpane fruit which will also be an attractive decoration on the tables along with preserved cherries and quinces. Then we can have Cheese Cakes, Pippen Twists, Eggs in Snow in pastry cases, and muffins. Small tartlets - some marmalade and some with apple jelly would go well and can be made in advance. Everyone likes Macaroons. All these things can all be eaten without needing forks.

I have the receipts from The English Bread Book by Elizabeth Acton.

We will have ale for the men and wine for the women but also champagne for the toasts. It is good to have Father in the trade he can easily provide us with the necessary.

Of course there will be cake. We will have a traditional rich fruit cake, with marchpane and icing. We will put tiny pieces into boxes for the guests to take home. The bride’s cake is to be white and will be a Victoria sponge. The groom’s cake is to be dark and will be a ginger cake (Charles loves ginger.). Inside the smaller cakes we will put a ring, a thimble, a penny, and a button. Then each of the bridesmaids, Charles’ attendant and the ushers will each be offered a piece. If their piece contains one of the items mentioned this will be their fate.

The ring for marriage within a year

The penny for real money, my dear

The thimble for an old maid or bachelor born

The button for sweethearts all forlorn

I have stopped feeling ill in the morning and also am far less tired now. In fact if I didn’t have the knowledge of my slightly larger girth, I would suspect that our problem was all of my imagining. I have followed Mrs. Mayfield’s advice and tried to lose weight from my own body by eating less, and it seems to be working. I don’t feel as if I have actually become any bigger over all – but just that my body is changing shape slightly. Eating less food is much less of a problem than I had imagined it would be.

March 22nd

We read in the paper that the National Scottish Gallery has just opened in Edinburgh. That is a city that I would love to visit one day. And another first was the Opera Faust by Charles Gounod which opened last week in Paris. Charles loves the Opera but I prefer more traditional plays.

March 25th Easter

Charles has managed to come up for the long weekend. It seems so long since I have seen him in the flesh, and when we parted last time it was not on the most amicable of terms. He looked so surprised and pleased to see me the same shape as before. I told him how well I was feeling, and how I could see no reason for our subterfuge not to work out as planned.

He has found a house for us to rent, and as I hoped it would be, it is on Rainbow Hill. It is only a small cottage, but adequate for us. He has described it for me, but I long to see it myself and change it around to make it my own. It will be let furnished, so we need not have that expense to start off. The accommodation consists of the parlour which opens directly off the road and must be used for dining as well. Charles says it is reasonably large and has a big fireplace. In it there is a round table which has leaves to make it bigger with four chairs, a davenport for writing letters, a few padded chairs with a matching settee and a sideboard where we can store our china. In the corner there is a winding staircase up to the bedrooms. One bedroom is large with a canopied bed, a chest of drawers, and a dresser which contains a wash basin and it will suit us admirably. The other is smaller and will do as a nursery if and when we should be needing one. There is another room behind this second bedroom which could be converted into sleeping space for a servant if we get one. There is very little furniture in the smaller room, as it has been used for storage by the previous occupants. The small kitchen is behind the parlour, with a sink, an adequate stove and cupboards. There is a copper for dealing with the wash and a wringer. We are very lucky that we will be living in the better part of Worcester. Our house has a piped water supply. There is a small water closet with a soil bucket which will be emptied by men who come around each night. There are few houses as yet on Rainbow Hill – but there is a terrace of larger houses not far away – and Charles says that when we are better established we might be able to move into one of those. The storage tank for the town’s water supply was newly built on Rainbow Hill just last year, so that is partly why we are amongst the first to benefit.