What happened before...

I was always intrigued by the story of Jane's parents. A rich girl who runs off with the poor curate could be a whole Bronte story in itself.

"Well, Jane?"

"If you please, sir, I want leave of absence for a week or two."

"What to do?--where to go?"

"To see a sick lady who has sent for me."

"What sick lady?--where does she live?"

"At Gateshead; in -shire."

"-shire? That is a hundred miles off! Who may she be that sends for people to see her that distance?"

"Her name is Reed, sir--Mrs. Reed."

"Reed of Gateshead? There was a Reed of Gateshead, a magistrate."

"It is his widow, sir."

"And what have you to do with her? How do you know her?"

"Mr. Reed was my uncle--my mother's brother."

"The deuce he was! You never told me that before: you always said you had no relations."

"None that would own me, sir. Mr. Reed is dead, and his wife cast me off."

"Why?"

"Because I was poor, and burdensome, and she disliked me."

"But Reed left children?--you must have cousins? Sir George Lynn was talking of a Reed of Gateshead yesterday, who, he said, was one of the veriest rascals on town; and Ingram was mentioning a Georgiana Reed of the same place, who was much admired for her beauty a season or two ago in London."

"John Reed is dead, too, sir: he ruined himself and half-ruined his family, and is supposed to have committed suicide. The news so shocked his mother that it brought on an apoplectic attack."

Edward Rochester returned to the billiard room. There was more mystery to this governess than ever. So, she was related to the Reed family, but he would be confounded to make any connection between his bright, tiny Jane and the Rubenesque but vapid Georgianna Reed he saw at a party in London two years previously. Neither could Edward associate the pureness of Jane with the dissipated and debauched John Reed. He noticed that men fell silent, coughed and changed the subject when John Reed was mentioned.

What on earth happened twenty years ago? How was Jane so cut off from the society and family of her mother? Pondering the falseness of social niceties and how his class turned on their own, Edward sat in one of the side chairs, pretending to study the carpet.

His musings were interrupted by Blanche Ingram. In an attempt to make small talk, she curled her lip and alluded to Jane's earlier appearance in the billiard room---how annoying it must be to have the responsibility of a child, how the help always manages to ruin a perfectly lovely morning. "What brought that person to this part of the house today, Edward? She is always creeping about, watching us. Was her little charge naughty today? She needed the spelling of a word for a lesson? " Edward looked blank and a little annoyed at Blanche's attempts at wit. She would have benefited from at least learning manners from HER governesses instead of tormenting them. Edward sighed, a sardonic reply appearing and leaving the tip of his tongue. Edward gathered forbearance and said it was a small matter and dismissed the subject. The house guests were soon to be gone. When Jane returned from her journey, he would have claim to his little charge all to himself--for life.

Edward turned to Sir George Lynn. "I was wondering if you could enlighten me again with your story about John Reed. I seem to remember a celebrated beauty, Georgiana Reed being presented some seasons ago. Was that his sister?" There was the usual silence that met with the mention of John Reed. Mr. Eshton broke the inevitable silence. "Yes, Georgiana Reed is John Reed's sister."

Rochester recalled the ballroom. The event took place while King William IV, "Silly Billy" was still alive. As the king became a prude as a reformation of his earlier wild youth, he also attempted to set some standards by example and by edicts. The dissolute character of the social life during the Regency and reign of William's brother George IV were erased from public memory. At the coming out parties in the reign of William IV there was to be no alcohol, all conversation was polite, refined and insipid. Any and all that would breathe "Scandal" was excised from all polite conversation.

Edward realized that if his Jane had not been cheated from her birthright as a part of the Reed family, such a dull setting for a coming out party would have been her fate. He smiled, trying to imagine Jane in the setting of a London ball room, forced to make dull small talk, dressed in a white debutante gown, smiling on cue, summoning the expected bland coy remarks that were to pass as accepted wit, spending her days selecting the correct morning dress to write correspondence, the correct walking dress for being seen on Rotten Row on the arm of some fop, bored to death...

"What are you finding so amusing?" Blanche's face was sour as it always was when his attention strayed from her. Thank God he had no real intention of marrying this fortune hunter. He could not't bear to be in her presence for another day, never mind the the next decades. If married to Blanche, he would be forced to die after ten years of matrimony in self-defense.

"I recall that the party that included the Reed girls was interrupted by a group of drunken revelry makers." "Ah yes, the young John Reed." said Mr. Eshton. "Did he go through the family fortune?" Edward asked, again tried to draw out his guests on the topic of the Reeds of Gateshead. If Jane had been truly part of the Reed family, she would she not also have been entitled to a part of their their fortune along with the right to a London presentation?

"The whole fortune from the late John Reed, the late magistrate of Gateshead Hall, was it entirely handed over to Master John Reed?" asked Edward, "Was the late John Reed the only offspring?" This time, Lady Lynn entered the conversation. "Well, the younger John Reed may have a reputation that was unsuitable for a good family, but I can tell you that scandal is not new to that family." She looked at Lady Ingram. The two dowagers passed a silent knowing look and nodded their heads. For one ridiculous moment Edward thought the rouged and turbaned ladies did indeed resemble grotesque puppets or waxwork dummies he remembered from a London Gallery.

"Oh do tell us, mama!" said Blanche. "There is no harm, the people in question must be dead and gone or married and buried in the country with ten children by now." Lady Lynn looked at Lady Ingram. " Sarah Gibson married John Reed of Gateshead. I cannot think how that fine woman must suffer to have scandal again associated with her family."

Rochester leaned forward. Anything that was connected to his Jane was fascinating. There was more to this quiet little soul than even she knew. Or, did she choose poverty and obscurity to any association with the Reed family. Perhaps the elder Reed had a reputation of sowing wild oats before he stood before the bar and became a lawyer and magistrate. Many a young man of twenty years back or more, when first on their own in London society, were swept up by the wild society as the leader was none other than the late King George IV and his circle. Rochester smiled outwardly, but shuddered inwardly as he smothered his own personal recollections of the time.

"Was the elder John Reed such a rake and dissolute before he married and became a sober magistrate in the service of the crown?" "Oh good heavens, no!" Exclaimed Colonel Dent, laughing. "Reed of Gateshead was a milquetoast. I was at Cambridge with him—he was happiest when he buried himself in some ancient books of medieval law or Chaucer. We tried to get him to go around with us, he just could not." Colonel Dent shook his head, remembering the retiring man from Gateshead. "John Reed never went to Town, he returned home to Gateshead to supervise the upbringing of his young sister Jane. He eventually married an heiress, a very formidable woman if I ever saw one. Sarah Gibson was not very handsome, somewhat older than Reed, but wealthy—her family was anxious to marry her off and John Reed was feeling the pressure to continue the family name----well, we all knew who was the true head of that household. Reed ruled in the -shire magistrate court and sat in Parliament, but Sarah Reed ruled at home."

"Was Sarah Reed the source of the scandal you alluded to?" Edward was getting impatient with the guests. Somehow, they were avoiding the heart of the topic. He sensed that it concerned his Jane's mother.

Lady Lynn glanced around with her habitual imperious expression. She was obviously wanted to add a juicy tidbit of gossip, but was reluctant to appear too eager. She turned to Lady Ingram. "My dear, do you must remember the young sister of Reed of Gateshead?" Lady Ingram pulled a face of mock scandal—in reality she was only too eager to add information to the conversation. "How could we forget? The little thing was presented with my sister." Edward tried to associate "a little thing" with his modest quiet Jane, and could not.

Mrs. Dent gently entered the conversation. "I found her to be a lovely girl—I was presented at the same time. I believe that Jane Reed even caught the attention of Lord Byron." "Was the Reed girl such a beauty?" Lady Ingram coughed and laughed derisively. Clearly, she disliked Jane Reed and was eager to add any venom; her reticence to gossip was feigned. "Very puny, not a fine figure at all." Mrs. Dent gently put in again. "Miss Jane was very clever and learned. She was also lovely----very fair. Very fine features. Many of the French painters who ran from the revolution wanted to paint her. Every young man wanted to dance with her. She had pale hair, large sea green eyes, very pale transparent skin. Unlike Georgiana Reed Miss Jane Reed was of tiny stature. I recall that she looked like a child. "

Mr. Eshton looked thoughtful. "I remember Miss Jane Reed calling on my sister Augusta. The dress of the time made her look like a child. I thought that she was someone brought to be my playmate. I did not't realize that she was a few years older" He did not add that dear Augusta was scandalized when she heard that Miss Jane had run off with a poor curate.

Lady Lynn snorted. "Well, she lost her standing in society with a Classics tutor". Rochester looked sharply at Lady Lynn. Blanche looked up and said "What was an heiress, a debutante doing with a Latin tutor? Were they going to send her to Oxford to take up holy orders?" There was a rippling of laughter in the room. How ludicrous, the thought of sending a woman from a good family to Oxford or any learning beyond a few accomplishments and the efficient management of a large house.

"I believe that John Reed was several years older than his sister. Their parents died when the sister was an infant. He raised her more as his spoiled daughter than a sister." Lady Ingram snorted "She never learned to run a household. He indulged her foolish ways and look at the result."

Rochester looked at Lady Ingram. "What happened to Miss Jane Reed?" Asked Rochester, again. Lady Ingram again put on a face of mock scandal. "Sarah Reed arranged for Jane to be married to a son of a local landowner. He was a rising star in the Royal Navy. The share of the Reed fortune would have aided the career of a fine young servant of the crown. But, Jane Reed eloped with the Gateshead curate, someone who attended Cambridge with her brother and was allowed into Gateshead to be a classics tutor. It was rumored that Miss Jane was already with child."

A gasp went around the room. The Eshton girls fanned themselves. Blanche and Mary Ingram made themselves to look faint. When she thought no one was looking, Blanche slyly opened one eye ever-so-slightly so that she would not miss any further narrative.

Lord Ingram said "Mother, please---consider the delicacy of the ears of our innocent young ladies." Lady Lynn continued the story. "Poor Sarah Reed, she worked so hard to get the young woman presented, to find a good marriage. She needed to get her off her hands and out of Gateshead. All that time, the ungrateful girl was writing to the curate on the sly. The scandal nearly finished the Reed family. Sarah Reed removed herself from all society. Then, when she was a widow, she had the responsibility of raising her children and the maintaining of Gateshead until Miss Eliza and Georgiana had their coming out."

Edward again turned to the ladies Ingram and Lynn. "You have a 'Tale Half Told', mesdames." He said. "Please at least satisfy my curiosity about Miss Jane. What happened to the headstrong girl and her curate?"

Lady Lynn said "They were cut off from all society and the family. Sarah Reed had to think of the reputation and future of her own children. The foolish pair ended their days do-gooding in a large but poor parish in ---. Of course, after eloping with a magistrate's sister and causing such a scandal, the silly man could not possibly hope for a comfortable church appointment. They died, but left a child. I heard from my sister that Sarah Reed was forced to take in the orphan daughter from that low marriage. The child must be dead for I heard no more of it. Good riddance. Tainted blood."

The conversation turned to other things, the relief that the new Queen, Victoria, was setting an example of moral decency for the country. Their talk faded into the background as Edward was lost in a reverie, about a fair young innocent, reading Latin and Greek, a very Agrippina for a sister-in-law, being presented during the regency---when the thoroughly debauched prince Regent (later George IV) and his court led the way of the smart set.