Mrs Elton in Amercia Read online

  MRS ELTON

  in

  AMERICA

  and other stories inspired

  by characters created by

  Jane Austen

  and herewith comprising

  The Compleat Mrs Elton

  from the pen of

  DIANA BIRCHALL

  EGERTON HOUSE PUBLISHING

  Published 2004 by Egerton House Publishing

  Egerton House

  3 Egerton Road

  Bexhill on Sea

  East Sussex TN39 3HH

  United Kingdom

  MRS ELTON IN AMERICA

  and other stories

  inspired by characters created by Jane Austen

  and herewith comprising

  The Compleat Mrs Elton

  This edition first published 2004

  ISBN NUMBER: 978-1-4022-1477-6

  Copyright ©Diana Birchall 2004

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any method, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Diana Birchall

  Dedication

  To all my online friends in the Jane Austen and Piffle cyber worlds, especially Ellen Moody, Mary Ann Dimand, and Bevis Benneworth.

  Publisher's note

  Diana Birchall, who successfully took Mrs. Elton's side in her In Defense of Mrs. Elton, here reprinted, tells more of her story: The Courtship of Mrs. Elton and the adventurous Mrs. Elton in America finish The Compleat Mrs. Elton trilogy.

  Author's note

  The History of Mrs. Elton

  The first of these stories about Mrs. Elton, the outrageously ill mannered and vulgar character from Jane Austen's Emma, was conceived in a new and unusual fashion: In Defense of Mrs. Elton first appeared as an online serial for the two Jane Austen literary lists, Austen-l and Janeites. List members were discussing the lady's character, and I volunteered to defend her, doing so in episodes of a story that ran for many successive weeks. In trying to dredge up anything positive to say about Mrs. Elton, I discovered to my surprise that there was actually a good deal. It had always seemed to me that when she first arrived in Highbury, as a newcomer, a bride, unsure of her social position, she wanted to be friendly and to be accepted, and so she did things like propose to Emma that they unite to form a musical society. Yet the better-mannered characters always reacted as if she were odious and her suggestions appalling. While relating the events in Emma as seen from Mrs. Elton's viewpoint, I noticed that if you cut away Jane Austen's editorial perspective, Mrs. Elton's behaviour was open to a more sympathetic interpretation: Austen cunningly presented her in an unsympathetic way, while treating Emma herself quite tenderly, though Emma's own behaviour was not, in reality, any better than Mrs. Elton's.

  Such discoveries made In Defense of Mrs. Elton an effective argument, and the story became something of a popular success, in its own peculiar genre. It was published by the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) as its conference gift for 1999, and also had English and Australian editions. So I pursued my heroine in two more Mrs. Elton stories, The Courtship of Mrs. Elton, which tells of her life before she married Mr. Elton and came to Highbury, and the longer Mrs. Elton in America, which might be described as an historical comedy.

  I had always considered that Mrs. Elton had some sort of mystical relation to America. As I mentioned in the preface to In Defense of Mrs. Elton, it may have been the fact of my growing up in New York that made me personally identify with the lady: her brassy, aggressive behaviour was the way New Yorkers are taught to behave so they won't get trampled. Mrs. Elton was a crassly behaved outsider, the Other if you like, as self-conscious visiting Americans sometimes feel they are in certain segments of English society. That's why I felt inspired to come to Mrs. Elton's defense, after she had been laughed at and abused for nearly two hundred years by the reading public, all because her creator, Jane Austen, was "partial and prejudiced" in her portrayal of the character.

  It was only a step from these partisan thoughts and feelings to take Mrs. Elton, in actuality, to America itself, and see how she fared. She had a real life model: in 1827, Frances Trollope, mother of the not yet famous novelist Anthony Trollope, journeyed to the United States and wrote acerbic observations that were published as The Domestic Manners of the Americans. This book was a sensation in England, and did much, along with writings by Dickens and others, to form British social attitudes about Americans. I have always loved "fish out of water" stories that contrast the cultures of England and the United States; another of my favorite authors, Frances Hodgson Burnett, often treated such themes, in children's books (Little Lord Fauntleroy) and adult novels, such as A Fair Barbarian, which might be described as Lily Bart goes to Cranford. So I set out to construct an English/American story of contrasts, with these models.

  The events of Emma are supposed to take place in 1815; Mrs. Elton, setting out with her family on a missionary journey some ten years after her marriage, would have been contemporaneous with Frances Trollope, and her experiences in some ways parallel hers. Mrs. Elton observes, contends with, and has something to say about society in Boston and New York, slavery in the South, wild Indians in the West, as well as Canadian society. How her wide-ranging tour affected her character, the reader is about to discover.

  So that the entire Mrs. Elton oeuvre can be entirely consumed in one gulp, the decision was made to publish all three Mrs. Elton stories in a Compleat Mrs. Elton volume. I trust this does not seem like too much of the lady, for I believe she will live in my heart forever. And speaking of hearts, I will only beg that purist readers who complain that the sending of Valentine Cards had not yet been invented in 1815, should please accept this anachronism, which was devised only for the sake of enabling me to have the pleasure of writing an acrostic on the immortal name of AUGUSTA HAWKINS.

  Diana Birchall

  The Compleat Mrs Elton

  contents

  The Courtship of Mrs Elton

  In Defense of Mrs Elton

  Mrs Elton in America

  The Courtship of Mrs Elton

  Augusta arrives in Bath

  Frank Churchill first saw Miss Woodhouse in February; and February was also the month which witnessed the meeting of Mr. Elton and Y Augusta Hawkins in Bath. There was little hope of finding much society in Bath at such a season, but even in the short and gloomy days of February, Augusta figured to herself that she would be more in company, and seen by more persons of elegance, than could happen at her uncle's lodgings in Birmingham, or in the retirement of Maple Grove. If a young woman does not find a husband at home, she must venture farther afield; and fortunate it was for Augusta, that in her eight or nine years of young ladyhood, she had contrived a network of friends and acquaintances who were all alive with eagerness to welcome her as the most desirable guest there could possibly be. Any fee for such service as they provided was trifling, hardly worth mentioning; and Augusta would have paid much more than the sum she gave to Mrs. Partridge, for the privilege of making her home in Bath during the tedious winter weeks that must intervene until she might have hopes of the spring campaign.

  Mrs. Partridge was upon the watch, and as soon as Augusta was fairly seated in her front parlour, and the manservant had conveyed her trunk upstairs to the best bedroom, her hostess was ready to recite her catalogue of personages in Bath who might be worth the attentions of a Miss Hawkins. Mrs. Partridge was a plump, bustling body, whose widowed state did not prevent her from being fond of gossip. If she was reduced to making shift to live by the expedient of taking in a boarder or so, they were never given that name, and were always of the very best sort; and now that she had married off her daughter, M
iss Clara, to a fine gentleman who served in an attorney's office, and was known to Miss Hawkins' uncle, she had no more pressing business than to find a husband for Miss Hawkins herself.

  This triumphant daughter, Mrs. Jeffereys, was also arrived to welcome Miss Hawkins, together with her two bosom friends, the Miss Milmans, the younger of whom was in that happy and superior state of being engaged before her elder sister. The whole party greeted their visitor with cries of delight, and urged that she would refresh herself by drinking a dish of tea; but it was hardly brought, before the important subject of matrimonial affairs had already been fairly thoroughly canvassed.

  Miss Hawkins began with proper congratulations to Mrs. Jeffereys upon her marriage.

  "Oh! my dear Augusta, you cannot conceive the happiness of being a married woman, at least, of being married to such a fine man as my Mr. J. Do you know, he never takes spirituous liquor - and he has the dearest little feet in the world, perfect marvels for elegance - and he absolutely adores me, I cannot tell you how much."

  "That is all as it should be, my dear Mrs. Jeffereys; I am extremely glad. And Miss Susan - I hear that my congratulations are to be called for again, as you, too, are to enter Hymen's lists."

  Miss Susan, a pretty but excessively silly girl, made her best simper. "You are too kind, Miss Hawkins. Yes, only think, I am to be married before Philly here - I never expected such a thing, upon my word, as I am only seventeen, and she is four and twenty; but Mr. Cooper would not have it otherwise, however much I positively made a nuisance of myself, with pleadings and urgings. Mr. Cooper, I said, you do me too much honour; are you absolutely sure you do not prefer my sister Philly? She is seven years older than me, so has much better sense, you know, even though the gentlemen do think me prettier. I should never dream of being insulted if it should turn out that he really loved her instead of me, but he would not hear a word of it. So Belle is to be an old maid after all. After five and twenty, there can be no hope of being married; but I tell her she will always have a home with me and my dearest Mr. Cooper, who is all benevolence."

  Augusta, who was five and twenty herself, was not so cheered by this speech as to offer Miss Susan the satisfaction of any farther rejoicings, but Mrs. Partridge reassured both young ladies.

  "Five and twenty! For shame, Miss Susan, that is not in the grave yet. There have been ever so many cases of ladies being married older than that. And I am determined, Miss Hawkins and Miss Milman, howsoever old you be, that you shall be off my hands before you are a month older - that I am; and you know yourself, my dear Clara, that even though it is dead of winter, Bath is filled with single young gentlemen of rank and fortune, more than ever was seen before."

  "You are right, mama," said Mrs. Jeffereys complacently, "I know my dear Mr. J. has such hosts of friends, and I shall be very glad to introduce Miss Hawkins and Miss Milman to them all. That is - I do not know if I dare venture to make them known to Sir Cecil Crowthers, that might be looking a little too high, a baronet, after all, wants only to know baronet's blood, though he makes an exception in his friendship with Mr. Jeffereys - but there are some very fine men amongst his friends, all here playing cards and having ever such a nice time."

  "I know who you are thinking of, Clara," said Miss Susan, winking hard, "I do indeed; and it will never do. Mr. Bird is a very fine fellow, and wears the very handsomest light-coloured breeches and figured waistcoat in all of Bath, but he is too young. He is not two and twenty. He will not suit my sister or Miss Hawkins. There are some older men widowers and the like - military men retired on half-pay - that will be much more the thing for them."

  "Dear me, how you talk, Miss Susan," cried Mrs. Partridge with energy. "Mr. Bird is only two or three - or four or five - years younger than the young ladies, and he has a good fortune. That is, I do not suppose he has any money of his own, but his older brother is a very well-off gentleman, with a fine house in Kent, and makes Mr. Bird a very handsome allowance. Sure, he is quite worth your attention, Miss Augusta; and you will see him, too, this very evening at the Rooms, for I know he told Miss Milman he would be there tonight, as will all the town, to be sure."

  "Oh! I don't know what he told me," said Miss Milman, tossing her head, "he is such a puppy, I declare I could not listen to one word in three that he said."

  "Well, well, you are nice in your taste, but I will tell you what, Miss Milman, you will not get a husband if you go on at that rate, being so severe upon the men. I daresay Mr. Bird is no Solomon - but he is single, and has no wife hid away anywhere about him, so you should make up your mind to take him if he asks you."

  "I saw a most handsome clergyman walking about the town, this noon," contributed Mrs. Jeffereys, good-naturedly. "Excessively handsome. They do say he is just come, and has a good house and fortune, and is looking for a wife. I will tell you what, Miss Hawkins, if you are not too tired from your journey, we can step out this minute and look at the shops, and I will see if I can catch sight of this gentleman for you. I am sure to be able to contrive a meeting. I must go to the shops in any case, as I cannot endure the trimming upon my hat a moment longer, and have vowed that I shall never tire my dearest Mr. J. by appearing in the same hat trimming twice. Will you walk out with me, my dear Miss Hawkins? I am sure we will see something of this handsome clergyman. Mr. Elton is his name."

  The First Hour of Introduction

  Mrs. Jeffereys, the two Milmans, and Miss Hawkins went walking; and their search was rewarded almost before it began, for ` standing in plain sight, before the most important draper's shop in the Town, were two gentlemen whom Mrs. Jeffereys' eyes, sharpened as they were with a true matchmaker's penetration, descried at once as Mr. Bird and the very selfsame clergyman she had hoped to discover. The two gentlemen bowed, the ladies curtseyed, and introductions were swiftly made.

  Mr. Bird, a friend of Mrs. Jeffereys' husband, was a tall young man with a very youthful face, and an expression of contented silliness; but his companion, equally tall, was both handsome and genial, and of very prepossessing manners. What the gentlemen were, must wait to be discovered, but Augusta's business at the moment was to make herself pleasing to both of them. The conversation, as it must be in the first moments, was mere formalities; but Mr. Bird rapidly unbent, and after some polite inquiries after the health of Mr. Jeffereys, he embarked upon an explanation of how he had met Mr. Elton.

  "I have been at the draper's to order a new cravat; a very fine cravat, something quite new, for the Rooms: blue, I thought, a robin's egg blue, would be quite the 'ton'; and what was my surprise, Mrs. Jeffereys, but to meet an old friend, quite an old friend, in Philip Elton?"

  "It is delightful when old friends meet again," said Miss Susan, with something between a laugh and a gurgle.

  "You had known one another previously?" asked Augusta pleasantly, her eyes fixed upon Mr. Elton's face.

  "Exactly so, Miss Hawkins. In fact, we were at school together, and poor Bird was my fag. I fear I was not very merciful to him."

  "Come now, Mr. Elton, you cannot dissemble with me. I am perfectly sure you would show mercy to anyone in an inferior position," said Augusta.

  "Why, I should hope so, now that I am in orders; but as a boy you know, boys are not very noted for that sort of thing."

  "La! how shocking, Mr. Elton. Do tell us, Mr. Bird, what sort of a boy your friend was, I am longing to know," Miss Susan begged.

  "Oh, Philip was always good-natured - certainly," said Mr. Bird. "The only thing wrong with him was that he did not care enough for his costume: but if he was a bit of a sloven, he is very much improved now."

  The ladies laughed deprecatingly. "That is not much of a compliment, Bird. But I should expect no better of you you who were always a fop, and to this day care a good deal more for your fine linen and your cravats than for riding or hunting."

  "That is an accusation, indeed," said Augusta. "Do you hunt, Mr. Elton?"

  He brightened. "To be sure I do, but I seldom get the opportunity, in these days. My
parish duties you know..." The conversation continued, no one saying anything more than ordinarily witty or clever; but in the minds of Mrs. Jeffereys and the Milman sisters, the impression was forming that Mr. Elton was very much attracted by Miss Hawkins, and that their intercourse might very nearly deserve to be given the name of flirting.

  Mr. Bird was of this opinion too, and was not best pleased by it, as he thought Miss Hawkins handsome, and she had been represented to him as an heiress of useful, if not large, fortune. He was also so vain, as not to like any young lady being attracted to any gentleman but himself, and he was not inclined to allow all the attentions to Miss Hawkins to be on Mr. Elton's side. Accordingly, as the ladies began to think of suggesting that they take leave - since they really could not spent the whole afternoon standing talking in the street - Mr. Bird said, as if newly struck by the idea: "I say, Mrs. Jeffereys, have you been bid to the dinner at the Greens'? I know you are acquainted with them, and seldom miss."

  "Why, yes, Mr. Bird, Mr. Jeffereys and I will be there, and my mother - all of our party, in fact."

  "That is exactly what I hoped to hear. Green is such an hospitable host - every thing in the best style. No pitiful doings. I was sure you would be there."

  "Shall I have the pleasure of seeing you at Mr. Green's dinner, Miss Hawkins?" Mr. Elton asked, with a particularity that was lost by no one present except possibly Miss Susan, who was ogling a woman in a really handsome hat who happened to be passing.

  "Why yes - I believe - that is, I do not care much for going into company where there are many people I do not know - I am very retiring, in my way, if you can believe such a thing of poor me; but Mrs. Partridge was most urgent that I be of the party, and it does seem that I may find friends there."

  "Friends! Exactly so," exclaimed Mr. Elton, gazing down at Miss Hawkins complacently, while Mrs. Jeffereys and Miss Milman exchanged significant looks.