Chapter 29 (Reverse V) "Dear Fan..."
“Dear Fanny, I hope you don’t mind. Tom and Charles are always so noisy. You’ll get used to them once you get to know them.” Mary comforted Fanny, seeing that she was a little uncomfortable with the noise in the house.
She then went out of the living room and told her two younger brothers to be quiet, as she and Susan would be checking on them to see if they had finished their homework. Hearing this, no child could remain still, and Tom and Charles sighed and went back to their room, ceasing their noisy fighting up and down the stairs.
While Mary and Fanny were talking, Susan kept looking at her two sisters. Seeing that Fanny was puzzled by the atmosphere at home, she was about to say something when William, Sam, and Mrs. Price came in again.
William looked incredibly dashing in his lieutenant's uniform, walking with an air of effortless grace. His handsome, angular face appeared even more dignified and charming in the uniform.
A confident and joyful smile spread across his face as he walked straight toward his three sisters. Mary and Susan had already seen him in uniform, so they reserved the best viewing spot for Fanny. Fanny stood in the middle, full of admiration and joy. She looked him over again and again, and finally hugged her brother excitedly.
Once Fanny had calmed down, they sat down again, and William enthusiastically joined the girls' conversation. He hoped to take time to go home every day before setting sail, and even bring his three sisters to Speedhead to see the Thrush.
Before they could chat with William any longer, Mr. Campbell arrived. He greeted everyone, and because the living room was small and cramped, he had to stand until everyone adjusted their chairs. Fortunately, a seat was soon made, and the maid Lily quickly served the new guest tea.
Mr. Campbell sat opposite the ladies. He glanced at the radiant Miss Mary, then offered a few compliments to Miss Price, who had just returned, before getting down to business: "William, my dear friend, you're finally back. If you can't get back before six o'clock, I'll have to go. We need to leave for Spithead immediately; Captain Walsh is waiting for us."
What were they waiting for? After the maids had taken William's luggage down, they set off. Sam insisted on accompanying them to the entrance of the warship and then returning.
William is gone! The focus of the house has gone with him! Mary instructed Kate to remove the teacups and saucers from in front of her, and now Mrs. Price finally had time to care about her eldest daughter and her relatives.
“My dear Fanny, I’m so glad you’ve grown up so well in Mansfield, just as I thought when I sent you away, all thanks to Sir Thomas.” Mrs. Price expressed her gratitude to her relative with just this one sentence, and then she saw Kate packing her things. “I wonder if my sister Mrs. Bertram’s servant is any good. I’m glad we have a decent servant in the house. It’s not easy to find a suitable servant in Portsmouth. Fortunately, Kate hasn’t left. She’s been with us for almost eight or nine years now.”
“It’s been almost ten years, Mom.” Mary remembered it very clearly.
Kate had indeed been working for the Price family for a long time as a maid. Miss Mary gave her a raise every year, so she stayed at the house without worry. Two years ago, her father asked her to come home and get married, but she refused, which shows that she was a girl with her own ideas.
“We treat her just as well as we treat her. What maid in Portsmouth can earn twenty pounds a year! We have someone to do her bidding, and we have to do some of the work ourselves. I dare say that servants in Mansfield rarely earn that much,” Mrs. Price muttered.
This was an awkward topic. Mary and Susan were used to this side of their mother, but Fanny clearly couldn't get used to it. Seeing that Fanny didn't know how to respond to her mother, Mary turned to her two cousins and asked if Mrs. Rushworth and Miss Bertram were in London. She had never met them and was very curious about what they were like.
Since London was mentioned, it was inevitable to talk about William's benefactor and Mary's godfather—General Maxwell. This was the safest topic at the moment, and the women praised him in unison. Mrs. Price hoped that he would one day become a vice admiral or admiral.
The group chatted for a while longer, until Mary noticed that Fanny was tired and told Mrs. Price that they were going to bed. Mr. Price sat to the side the whole time, reading his newspaper, without offering a single greeting to his brother-in-law, Sir Thomas, except for a few words when the women mentioned the general.
Ignoring Mr. Price, the evening's reunion was almost perfect for Fanny. When she returned to her room, even though it was smaller than the attic she lived in in Mansfield, a wave of tenderness washed over her as she thought of the room William had once lived in, a room that Mary had fought for for her.
The next morning, when the three sisters woke up, they looked at each other and laughed. The estrangement that had existed for eight years had completely disappeared.
Fanny offered to help Mary fix her hair, while Susan called for a maid to bring water to wash their faces and brush their teeth. The only difference was that Fanny brought out the soap she had brought from Mansfield Park, while Mary and Susan only used water.
"Mary, Susan, use my soap!" The older sister was happy to share the items she brought with her younger sisters.
“No need, Fanny. We already have soap at home, but Mary thinks that our skin produces natural oils to moisturize at night, so washing our face with water in the morning is better for protecting our skin,” Susan explained to her sister. She wasn’t not using soap to save money.
Ordinary soaps at that time not only had a pungent smell but were also too strong, making them almost only suitable for washing clothes. The ladies of Mansfield commonly used Marseille soap from France, a cold-process soap made with olive oil that was expensive and beyond the reach of the Price family.
Mary and Susan usually used Pear Brand soap, which they bought from a boutique in Portsmouth that sold fashionable goods. It was made in London, was a transparent soap with a rose scent, and was cheaper than the three-shilling Marseille soap, costing only one shilling.
After washing their faces, none of the three applied any skincare products, let alone makeup. The youth of these young girls was more important than any makeup; they were not yet at the age where they needed to worry about their appearance.
We live in an age where women's makeup is looked down upon. Makeup is considered the behavior of courtesans, and moralists believe that women wearing makeup is a cunning deception of men. Only socialites, actresses, and prostitutes apply red rouge or lipstick to their faces. However, this does not stop upper-class women from pursuing beauty; they instead pursue a subtle, barely-there makeup.
Fortunately, none of the Price sisters were the kind of fashionable women who trusted skincare products at the time. Mary had absolutely no faith in skincare products; after all, this was an era where mercury could be used to remove blemishes, lead powder for whitening, and arsenic for bathing. Susan simply followed her sister's lead, while Fanny strictly adhered to ethical standards. The fact that her sisters wouldn't be harmed by those terrible skincare and cosmetic products put Mary at ease.
After they went downstairs for breakfast, before they even had dinner, Fanny finally discovered the truth that Susan had almost told her the day before: her suspicions were absolutely correct; the Price family was indeed waiting for Mary to arrange everything.
Especially after another two days (during which William only went ashore twice for business), William went to sea for good, and none of the things she had planned when she came to Portsmouth came to fruition. Fanny had more time to slowly observe the family she was born into.
Mr. Price was more irresponsible than she could imagine; he had no interest in anything except drinking, swearing, reading the newspaper and the roster of naval officers. He would wander around outside every day, come home drunk, and start swearing and making vulgar jokes about his daughter. There was nothing respectable about his manners, except when he was sober and somewhat polite to his second daughter, who managed the household affairs.
Mrs. Price, however, was far from being a proper lady of the house, and she had to admit that her own imagination of her mother had blinded her. Her mother had never valued any of her daughters other than Mary; her heart was completely filled with her sons. As Fanny's absences increased, her attitude returned to normal.
The Price family’s orderliness was almost entirely due to Mary and Susan, and now, after William and Sam left, only her two younger sisters brought her comfort.
“We’ve gotten used to it, Fanny. Ever since Charles was born, Mother has gradually handed over the housework to me.” Mary paused for a moment, then gave a wry smile. “Perhaps you’ve been away from home for too long and have no memory of it anymore. When we were little, the Price family wasn’t like this. Perhaps Aunt Norris’s personality was more suited to being a mother of nine children, while our mother was more suited to being an idle noblewoman, waiting for her husband, the housekeeper, and the servants to arrange everything.”
Mary didn't want to suffer, but she was indeed tired of bearing the responsibilities that should have been hers to shoulder for her mother. She was only fourteen, and should have been enjoying her carefree teenage years, but now she had to earn money and manage the household. What else could she do? If Mary didn't handle things and let Mrs. Price drag her feet, everything would only become a mess.
Who is to blame for this? Girls of this era have almost never received a proper education. Society is dedicated to raising them like caged canaries, without considering whether these birds can fly in the face of harsh environments.
Fanny's return also benefited Mary and her sisters. She took the initiative to join her younger sisters, helping them with housework and counseling her two still somewhat immature brothers. Mary seemed to see the older sister she used to rely on when she was little again, but the older sister was soon surprised to find that her younger sisters' personalities and appearances were completely different.
Mary was born with a beautiful face, like a nymph from pagan mythology. People would always mistakenly think that such a fairy was gentle, weak, and otherworldly. But Tom and Charles were more afraid of her than of Susan.
"What else could it be? It's because Mary is terrifying when she gets angry. Once she's determined to punish us, even Mom can't persuade her." Tom glanced helplessly at Fanny. "Susan has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. A proper apology is enough. This trick won't work on Mary."
“Who told her to be our dearest sister? We’re men, we have to give way to the girls, Mary says that’s what makes us gentlemen,” Charles added.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
