Elizabeth 03: The Art Student

Mrs. Marlston was chatting with an older woman Elizabeth did not recognize just by the fruit, but she paused to greet them. "Elizabeth. Jonathan! Lovely to have you join us this morning." She shook Elizabeth's hand and pecked Jonathan on the cheek. Elizabeth took no offense at not receiving a kiss; she knew exactly why Mrs. Marlston was so delighted that Elizabeth had a man of her own now that she fawned on him every time he came to breakfast.

"Good morning, Mrs. Marlston," Jonathan said with his usual polite flair. "It is nice to be here as well. We haven't made it for breakfast in a while now."

"Yes, well, I know you are both quite busy these days. Some evenings Elizabeth in locked away in Mister's office so long I think she may be falling asleep in there."

"Fat chance of that, my dear, I keep her much too busy correcting my mistakes!" came the booming voice of the man of the house. "Jonathan!" Mr. Marlston shook his hand, gripping it like a vice. "How are things at Thompson's? Bob is keeping you busy, I trust?"

"As always!" Jonathan acknowledged. "I'm off to the office after breakfast, actually, to catch up on some briefs."

"Working Saturdays, are we!" Mr. Marlston said. "Pity it's got to be done, but good on you." Turning to Elizabeth, he added, "You'd better not let this one slip away, my dear. Every loving couple has one bond that'll never let them down, and his work ethic could be yours."

"Oh, he never lets me down all right," Elizabeth said, grinning through her mild annoyance as she wondered if the Marlstons had any inkling of the far more intimate bond that really had drawn them together in the first place and kept them together since. Most of their acquaintances in town knew, and word could get around in Westfordshire City (as Elizabeth suspected it just had to the young artist and Mr. Marlston's niece); but neither of the older couple had ever let on that they knew. Of course, Mrs. Marlston would never address such a topic aloud in any case.

"Well, I'm glad to hear I never let her down, then!" Jonathan announced with a chuckle. "Every now and then I wonder!"

Elizabeth felt a stab in her chest, and was grateful to be so good at keeping her annoyances private in public. (The bullying she had endured at school had seen to that.) How could Jonathan say a thing like that after the heart to heart resolution they had just been through upstairs? Hadn't she reassured him that her love did not depend on his fondness for sex?! There would be words with him when she next had him alone!

"A word, Elizabeth?" Mr. Marlston gestured toward the hallway. Elizabeth was relieved at the diversion, though she suspected his reason for desiring privacy was not a happy one.

She was correct. As soon as they were beyond the dining room door, Mr. Marlston gave her a stern look, as if addressing a wayward daughter rather than a trusted employee, tenant and friend. "Elizabeth, I know well that you have my children's best interest at heart, but I should appreciate it if you would not encourage Joy's flights of fancy so."

"Mr. Marlston, it was only a drawing!" Elizabeth protested.

"A drawing of a girl becoming a mountain climber!" Mr. Marlston shot back. "And last week, a sailor! What sort of world do you think we live in, that a girl can aspire to such things! Imagine the disappointment she will feel one day when she learns what a woman's true place is in this world!"

"And just what place is that, sir?" Now Elizabeth was nearly as angry at him as she was at Jonathan. "The world is changing, and it shall no longer be a man's world forever!"

"Be that as it may, Elizabeth, I want my daughter to be well grounded in what the future holds for her. Do I make myself clear?"

"Very," Elizabeth said. "But I shall not have any part in destroying a child's dreams, and there is no reason why Joy can never be the first woman to follow any pursuit she likes! I see myself as a role model for all she wants to do and be when she grows up, and that does not include telling her anything she may love is only for boys! Do I make myself clear as well, sir?"

Mr. Marlston scowled silently for a moment. "Elizabeth," he finally said in a more conciliatory voice. "I admire your spirit and your resolve. Who am I fooling, Elizabeth, I admire everything about you. That is why I have not complained before about the radical ideas you have been instilling in my children. I should be very, very proud if Joy and Alex grow up to be as independent and confident as you are, and if Thomas is as respectful to all women as he is to you. Very proud indeed. But you must understand the very real limits that are still set against women in this world – heavens, Elizabeth, surely you understand them better than I do! Mrs. Marlston and I simply do not want Joy's heart to be broken when she comes of age and learns what things she can and cannot do with her life."

"Then perhaps you should let her push against those limits, sir. Someone must surely break them down one day; there is no reason why it could not be your daughter."

Mr. Marlston stood silently by the door and considered. "Very well. I should only hope Mrs. Marlston can be satisfied with that suggestion the next time Joy irritates her with her prattle."

"I should advise you not to tell her you heard it from me, then," Elizabeth said with a conciliatory smile. "I'm sure you are aware that your wife is less than fond of me."

"Of course she isn't, Elizabeth. You are everything she wanted to be in her own repressed youth."

"I had never thought of that," Elizabeth admitted.

"Well, what did you think it was?" Mr. Marlston asked, opening the door and holding it for her to pass through. "Let's get back to breakfast, my friend."

Elizabeth thought she detected a twinkle in his eye as he asked his final question – what, indeed, did she think it was? Did Mr. Marlston know that his demure tenant/nanny/proof-reader was also the hairy and horny belle of the baths in town? Had his wife learned of Elizabeth's shameless pride in her body? To her surprise, Elizabeth found herself enjoying the possibility that they knew. It was certainly possible, as many of his business associates had been intimately involved with women who had shared the public baths with Elizabeth, and there had been more than one of those knowing glances at her from men she scarcely knew during the meetings in Mr. Marlston's office. Elizabeth had always been too professional to pay the looks any mind; but as always, she had been very much aware of their presence and significance.

Mr. Marlston would, of course, always be too gentlemanly to ever say anything on the subject, one reason why Elizabeth tolerated his occasional chauvinism. So it was to remain an amusing mystery.

Such things were, for once, not foremost in Elizabeth's mind on that morning. Quite naturally, they never were when it was time for her to mind the Marlston children. Certain boundaries were never to be crossed, after all. Rather, Elizabeth dropped by the kitchen to request her usual pot of tea to last the morning, plus a few biscuits as good-behaviour incentives for the children; and then she made her way to the nursery on the second floor overlooking the huge front yard. The nursery was quite large as well, with bay windows affording plenty of sunlight, and a wonderfully open feeling that kept the children largely unaware that they were being kept shut off from the rest of the house.

It also kept Elizabeth from feeling tied down on days when such reassurances were necessary. Today was not among those days, however, for her annoyance at Jonathan's comment at breakfast had not yet dissipated and she was in no mood to be out and about. It was a good morning for focusing her attention and energy on something positive instead, and as usual she found that with the children. Joy once again threw herself at Elizabeth as soon as she had arrived in the room. "Hello again, darling!" Elizabeth said, returning the hug.

"Auntie Elizabeth, are you going to play around-the-world-again with us again today?" Joy demanded eagerly.

"Oh, not that!" piped up Alexandria, the eldest, from her perch on the window-seat. "It's bad enough we have to be indoors to begin with. Can't we just read instead?"

"You certainly may, Alexandria, if that is what you wish," Elizabeth said.

"But no around-the-world-again for any of us until we write our homework, Joy, you know that," Thomas reminded his sister. "Isn't that right, Auntie Elizabeth?"

"It's not your job to say that, Thomas!" Alexandria snapped.

"You are both correct," Elizabeth said, her patience with the children now wearing thin as well. "Thomas, it is not your place to tell Joy what she can and cannot do. But you are correct that we must complete your lessons before we play anything."

"Oh, gee, Auntie Elizabeth," Joy whined. "Just one game?"

"We can play all the games you want after your lessons are done, Joy," Elizabeth repeated. "Trust me, you shall be very glad you did your work first once you have completed it." Privately she was relieved at the reprieve, for she would need the time to recall the rules to around-the-world-again, a geography game she had concocted on the spot one boring afternoon that had gone over remarkably well with the children.

"I'm sorry, Auntie Elizabeth," Thomas said as soon as Joy had gone sulking off to the table where the children sat to write their lessons. He glanced over at his older sister to make sure she was not looking. She was, but she turned away with a knowing smirk so that Thomas could hug Elizabeth in relative privacy.

"That is quite all right, Thomas, and thank you." Elizabeth returned his gentle embrace, appreciating how hard-won his tenderness was at that age. One benefit of Thomas being so obviously smitten with her: he had left behind his chauvinistic childishness and taken to appropriating Jonathan's refined manners and respect for women. Elizabeth could only hope that lesson would remain with him when his puppy love inevitably passed.

After Thomas had enjoyed his longed-for moment with Elizabeth, he dutifully marched off to the homework table and joined Joy. His fondness for her also served as an inspiration to work harder at his studies, as his father had noted gratefully on more occasions than one. When he was settled and the inevitable could no longer be postponed, Alexandria reluctantly got up from the window-seat to join them, though she left the book she had been reading there rather than putting it back on the shelf where it belonged. Elizabeth made a mental note of the transgression, but chose to ignore it for the moment. She recalled being Alexandria's age and the angst that came with the impending departure for school all too well. Recalling that her own angst had been well-warranted, for she had been teased and taunted horribly during her first couple of years away at school, Elizabeth's heart ached for what Alexandria might well be in for. She was therefore willing to allow the girl some leeway, for the moment. Alexandria might well want an older-sister figure to confide in one day, after all. Elizabeth certainly wished she had had such an option in her own school days.

A kitchen maid delivered Elizabeth's tea shortly thereafter, and she spent the morning sipping it and helping the children with their lessons as necessary. The hours passed agreeably, with even Alexandria's nasty mood passing as she focused on completing her work as quickly as possible; and as lunchtime approached, Elizabeth's own disposition had improved markedly. Jonathan's ill-advised comments were nothing they could not resolve with a private discussion when the time arrived, and they may well have meant nothing at all.

At last, the kitchen maid returned with her ritual lunch announcement: "Elizabeth, you're free!" The children laughed, as they did every time they heard it, and they got up to walk downstairs to the dining room. Elizabeth smiled appreciatively at the kitchen maid, as she always did, both of them knowing the children probably did not know the true meaning of the remark. After drinking tea all morning, Elizabeth was always pleased indeed to be free to visit the water closet. "I shall never know how you can sit still all morning after this," the kitchen maid remarked as she collected the empty teapot and cup.

"Practice," Elizabeth said with an embarrassed smile, as she stood up somewhat gingerly to avoid further agitating her bursting bladder. She was accustomed to being teased on that subject, for she did love her tea and wine.

As the nursery was in a fairly public wing of the floor where guests were very common, it was equipped with separate public water closets for women and men. These were somewhat controversial among the guests for their relative lack of privacy; but Elizabeth was not shy about such things. She was therefore her normal pleasant self when she heard the women's room door open while she was washing her hands after relieving herself. That sense of normalcy was shaken a bit when she turned her head to see the young woman who had been regarding her so intently at breakfast now standing in the doorway.

But if Elizabeth was slightly nonplussed, the younger woman appeared far more bewildered. "Oh!" she exclaimed as the door swung shut behind her. "Pardon me, madam!" She looked as though she wished to retreat into the hallway.

"Pardon you for what?" Elizabeth asked. "This is a public ladies' room, and I was nearly finished in any case." She dried her hands on the towel that hung beside the basin and extended her hand. "My name is Elizabeth. You are the children's cousin, I believe?"

"Quite right," said the younger woman, relaxing a bit and shaking Elizabeth's hand. "Agnes is my name. Pardon my nervousness, but I have been hoping to be introduced to you for some time and I had not planned for it to happen in the water closet of all places." Her tense expression melting into a shy smile similar to the one Elizabeth had witnessed that morning, Agnes continued, "I'm afraid your reputation precedes you."

Elizabeth laughed and looked around the small room. "I see you have met my dear friend Irene, then."

"Irene?" Agnes asked.

"My true love's cousin, and my dearest friend," Elizabeth explained. "She loves to tease us, Jonathan and me, about all the tea and wine we drink and how frequently we visit the water closet. And it is true, we do both need to make water quite frequently, but it is nothing I am ashamed of, I assure you."

"Oh, I was not aware of that," Agnes said. "And I should never be so crass as to comment on such things, with apologies to your friend. I am too fond of tea myself to be throwing that stone, for one thing. Forgive me, Elizabeth, when I said your reputation preceded you..."

Elizabeth knew all too well what Agnes was too embarrassed to say. "'The hairy ones are the horny ones,' no doubt," she said.

Agnes sighed audibly in her relief. "So you are aware these things are said about you in town," she said.

"Very much so, and not in the least ashamed of it," Elizabeth said with the pride that came with having won that very painful emotional battle. "I do not know where you came here from or how familiar you are with Westfordshire City, Agnes, but our community is a progressive one. Here, women our age are free to be open with our intimate hunger as we so desire."

"So I have heard," Agnes said, "And that is one reason why I encouraged Edward to join me here for my visit to Aunt and Uncle."

"Edward is your friend the painter?" Elizabeth asked.

Agnes nodded. "He's my fiancé, actually, and he refers to himself only as an art student rather than a painter because he has yet to sell any paintings. But yes, he is a painter, or shall be soon I hope. We are from a village up north that I am quite sure you have never heard of, not unless you are interested in sheep farming in any case, and I have longed to move to Westfordshire ever since I heard of the place while I was at university. I hope I might prevail upon Edward to move here permanently once we are married." Her bright face now turning a shy shade, she added just above a whisper, "I have heard a great deal of your public baths."

Elizabeth had suspected as much. "That, then, is how you came to hear of me," she said.

"Yes," Agnes acknowledged. "Edward and I were out for dinner a few nights ago, and while mingling at the bar afterward, I asked a couple of girls I had met if they could tell me about the baths. Word had already got out that I was staying here, and so they told me all about you." She broke into a nervous laugh.

Elizabeth had no desire to make Agnes uncomfortable on the matter. "I do not need to know just what they told you about me," she said. "But it is all most likely true. There is no need for you to be embarrassed, Agnes. I am sure you have seen by now that I am not at all shy about such things." Heading off a larger embarrassment that she knew was looming, she added, "It is even quite all right that either you or the ladies at the bar have told Edward about my body. Many men in town are aware of all that."

Agnes gasped. "I'm...How did you know?"

Elizabeth laughed and touched her new friend's hand to set her at ease. "Why don't you go ahead with all you came in here to do, and I shall await you in the hallway? I will explain all, and we can discuss the baths as well if you like."

Agnes thanked her, and she stepped out to the hallway to wait. While there, Elizabeth heard noises from the sitting room where Edward had his makeshift studio, and wondered if she ought to introduce herself to Edward while waiting for Agnes. But she concluded that would likely make poor Agnes even more nervous than she already was. And so it was that when Agnes emerged from the ladies' shortly thereafter, the two women shared a leisurely stroll to the stairwell. After a look behind to ensure their privacy, Elizabeth explained that she had seen how Edward and Agnes had both regarded her at breakfast, and why she recognized the look they had given her. "There is no great mystery about it, Agnes," Elizabeth said. "It is simply how I am known among a certain group of people, and you and Edward fit that group well enough."

"I still feel an ass for betraying our fascination," Agnes said. "Pardon my language!" she added quickly.

"When you join me at the baths, you will learn quickly to stop apologizing for such language and such fascination," Elizabeth reassured her with a grin.

"When?" Agnes did not hide her delight. "I had hoped to ask you if I might join you at some point."

"All are welcome," Elizabeth said. "Would Edward be interested in attending the men's baths, do you think?"

"I should hope so," Agnes said. "He is quite uptight about all these things, Elizabeth. Indeed that is one reason why I had hoped to join you at the baths. There is so much I ought to learn before our wedding, and he as well. Not only have we not..." her voice dropped to a whisper – "consummated our relationship, you know, he won't even talk to me of it." Returning to her normal voice, she concluded, "It is all well and good to wait, but in this day and age a couple ought to be able to communicate frankly about such things, don't you agree?"

"Completely," Elizabeth said. "You're going to love the ladies at the baths, dear, I can tell."

"Elizabeth," Agnes said. "There is one other thing I have yet to tell you about Edward. I am not sure if I should tell you myself or have him ask –"

But Elizabeth was not to learn immediately what the request was, for they had arrived at the dining room door and Mrs. Marlston swung it open before them. "Welcome to lunch, ladies," she said in her usual prim tone. "I trust we can keep the conversation appropriate for the children?"

Lunch at the mansion was agreeable for Elizabeth, as she learned a great deal more about Agnes. Twenty three years old and several months out of university, she had known Edward since childhood and had been betrothed to him for one year. The only woman in her class to read law, she had every hope of being among the first to practice it; Elizabeth eagerly told her of Jonathan's occupation and the connections he could provide. As for Edward, Agnes spoke of him more like a brother than a lover; but she expressed fervent hope that the spark of romance would ignite soon enough. "He treats me like a favoured colleague," she explained to Elizabeth. "All respect and a bit too much formality. Always has, actually, even when we were younger and only friends. But I am quite sure that will change in time." After a furtive look to ensure that Mrs. Marlston was out of earshot, she added, "And I am depending on you and your friends at the baths to tutor me on bringing him out of that shell of his!" At this, the two women shared a girlish giggle that did catch the older lady's attention; but she only rolled her eyes at the pair and turned back to her tea and brandy.