Jane Bennet always thought the old homily about idle hands was a bit silly. It was just the sort of thing said by people who were actually idle; to cast aspersions on those who were not, or to make excuses for why someone else should not enjoy the leisure that they took for granted. Of course, it was not as if Jane Bennet had thought over much about it. Deep thinking wasn't really her forte… that was more Lizzy's province. The expression made no sense, until now. Now idleness, her lifelong companion was just a distant memory, and she found that at least for the moment, she did not miss it as much as she thought she might. Idle hands lead to brooding. Idle time lead to recriminations. Idle thoughts sometimes lead to despair, idle time at Longbourn around her family lead to frustration and carefully hidden seething anger. All of this she saw and felt, but showing such feelings to the world was not for Jane Bennet. No, at least for the moment Jane felt that the constant bustle at the bottom of her personal cliff might be her salvation.
Lizzy had somehow, within just a few weeks managed to procure positions for both of them. Jane still didn't know how she had accomplished it, but wasn't one to fret about such things. Two positions were open for two sisters, so all was right with the world. Lizzy had felt bad that one appeared to be a lot more work for less money then the other and wanted to take the supposedly disadvantageous position for herself, but Jane would brook no opposition. They were to pool their resources at the end of the six months anyway, so what did it matter which sister did which job, but more importantly, Jane did not want idle time to brood. She also did not really want to take the responsibility for figuring out how the sisters were to execute Lizzy's mad plan. Thinking, studying and brooding were to be Elizabeth's lot, and Jane just had to work. Lizzy had six months to find Selena establish,ent for them, while Jane had only to be prepared and make some blunt.
She found that the work was actually extensive, much more so than she had ever thought possible. With three charges under her control it seemed like she was busy from morning to night every day. There was always something to be done; some lesson to be taught; some meal to be prepared for; some event to be dressed for; some dispute to be settled. For the first time in her adult life she had some grudging respect for her mother. Certainly her mother was silly and ridiculous, but she had raised five daughters without a governess, and it must have been very difficult at times. Jane thought that she might improve with practice, but for the moment, her three charges seemed to consume all of her time.
At seven years of age, her youngest charge Amelia was her most difficult, and yet her most enjoyable… or at least she was when Jane didn't feel like screaming at her. Vivacious and personable, the little girl was a veritable force of nature who would get her way no matter what was required to achieve it. One day this would serve her her well, if she could survive her childhood. Whether the weapon of choice was sweetness and light; a screaming fit;flattery; relentlessly working on her chosen opponent; or just plain implacable stubbornness, the little girl got her way much more often than was appropriate or prudent, but Jane did not have the heart to be more disciplined with her. There would be ample time for the little girl to become dissatisfied with the world later, and so long as she didn't grow up too wild like Jane's younger sisters, all would be well. Jane just could not believe that the danger was there, and hoped that her lack of discipline wouldn't play out badly for her charge. She remembered the lesson of Lydia all too well so knew that she must be gently bent to the right path, but thought it would also be so easy to break the youngster so she thought she must weave a careful path. She only hoped the next governess would be as diligent.
At nine years, Mathew was a poet at heart, or at least he fancied that he was. Give him a book or parchment and quill and he was quite content for hours at a time… at least as long as the book was a story and not a mathematics text, and the parchment was to be used for his own amusements and not for exercises. Getting him to do his language, or mathematics work, or any lessons other than reading and writing was nigh on impossible. He loved all stories, so history, philosophy, classics and novels were all to his liking and the only difficulty was tearing him away from them for his dinner. Getting him to do his other work took all of Janes efforts though. She tried everything she could think of, including the few tricks that had worked on Lydia and Kitty in their youth before they became completely wild, with little effect. Jane was mostly unsuccessful in her endeavors to keep him on task, until she came up with the obvious strategy. She simply engaged Amelia in the battle, and it soon became apparent who had the heart and the discipline to prevail. Mathew really never stood a chance against Amalia alone, let alone both of them.
At twelve years, Martin was nearly done with the schoolroom and would be sent to Eaton or another boarding school nearly as soon as Jane's tenure was complete. He was more studious and serious than Mathew, and worked diligently at his subjects, but he didn't quite know what to do with the governess. Caught in that awkward age between a boy and a young man, he didn't quite fit into either. Jane thought he would have been better off with a male tutor, but such was not her decision, or even something of which she was entitled to an opinion.
From breakfast to bedtime every day, Jane was engaged in one activity or another with the children. Aside from seeing what went on in the house around her as they moved from the schoolroom to the yard, or into the local village for exercise or visiting with neighbors; she did not pay so very strict attention to what else happened in the house, but she did notice.
What she saw was that her employer, Mrs. Dunn lived the life that Jane Bennet had been born to live. She entertained her friends at precise times deemed appropriate by the rules of propriety. They stayed no longer than the prescribed time for a polite visit, and on occasion where Jane heard their conversations, they seemed to stay well within the bounds of polite society and polite conversation. If they shared gossip about the neighborhood, they did so with twittering fans and the words whispered behind their hands. They went to visit each other, one coming to one house or the other going out with a calculated frequency, designed to precisely fit into their place in society. They drank precise amounts of tea from carefully presented trays. They all remembered how the others took their tea so it was always prepared perfectly and delivered with a smile.
Jane observed all of this for the first several months of her employment, and came to a startling conclusion… that life might drive her mad. It was the only life she ever had ever know, the only life she ever aspired to, the only life she could even imagine… and the dullest existence she could fathom. To the best of her observation, Mrs. Dunn didn't do anything. Of course, there was nothing surprising about this, except that Jane noticed and disapproved.
Jane was not naïve enough to believe that life was a bed of roses for the lower classes. In fact, she knew for a fact it could be and frequently was brutal for the servants classes, and even for the other working classes. In the end, she wasn't at all certain she was making the right choice. In her old life, she had an annual allowance of 50 pounds, for which she was expected to do… precisely nothing. She was to call and be called upon. She was expected to take care of household accounts, which meant taking money from her husband and distributing it to servants, all according to a schedule she didn't really control. She was expected to set a good table, which was mostly just picking the right things to serve, and seating the guests in the way least likely to have one of them stab one of the others with a fish knife. Admittedly, the last of those might be more complicated than it sounds, but it was hardly managing an empire. In this life, her children would be raised by governesses, such as she was now raising Mrs. Dunn's children.. Her husband would spend much time, maybe most of his time, in his own pursuits, and she would be left to the mercy of the neighborhood women.
She knew that she was looking at her new experience in the working class with a kinder eye than most would. As a governess, she was receiving 35 pounds per annum, and that was above average for this type of work. Lizzy had done well. The maids of all work only made 15-20 pounds per annum, and they worked hard from dawn to dusk every day. A shopkeeper's assistant might only make 25 pounds, and would have to pay for food, clothing and a place to live out of it.
Jane Bennet was certain the new life she had chosen for herself, or at least she had let Lizzy choose for her would be much harder than her old life. It would be more fraught with danger. It would be harder. It would consume much more of her waking hours than she could ever have imagined… but curiously, she was not afraid of it. For the first time in her life, Jane Bennet felt like she was in control of something. Nobody was telling her how to dress, how to try to attract a man, how she was supposed to trade on her youth and beauty to support her indolent mother, how she was supposed to be serene and unaffected, how she was to… well, the rest of it really did not matter.
Right or wrong, the disasters of the Bennet family had tumbled her down a cliff that very nearly destroyed her, and may yet do so. She was in every way in a more precarious position than she had been even during the worst of her worries about being on the shelf, which always seemed to be looming. No, in the end, Jane Bennet quite preferred the bottom of the cliff, and she began to worry that she may have enjoyed the ride down just a bit too much. It wouldn't really matter until August when she was to meet with Lizzy to take on the next part of the Great Bennet Sister's Mad Plan, but she hoped when the time came, she could settle down and be happy. Perhaps there was a husband in her future that wasn't a spineless quitter, but even if not, she would have her sister, they would have the two otherwise unwanted babes and perhaps someday husbands and babes of their own, and they would be content.
Jane Bennet only knew one thing for certain. To the best of her ability, except for the one visit that was due, she would strive to never step foot in Longbourn again.