The Gilded Cage - Finding My Place

Back to Charlesfield

Mrs Sheila Blackstone greeted me warmly when I arrived in her office, with Annie, around lunchtime on the Friday. We had delivered the children to school as normal, and then dashed to the station, in our uniforms, as the idea of a holiday had rather gone out of the window, and we joined the acting head of Charlesfield for sandwiches and coffee. During my short spell as a housemistress, in what Mrs Blackstone was calling the eye of the storm, she had dressed very modestly by my standards, but she greeted me, warmly, in full Meadvale regalia, looking much as her friend Mrs Deacon had looked back home. And as she updated me on her progress with the transformation of Charlesfield, I began to get more of a handle on the ongoing purge of the modernists, who were carrying the can for dear Nicola's little escapade.

"The wider Reformist community was always quite conservative...especially the people who have always remained in Meadvale." She explained, whilst offering dear Annie another salmon paste triangle. "However, inevitably, as people...mostly all the younger people...have moved away from Meadvale, for work and to study, the practical imposition of the doctrine has been altered to fit the local circumstances, if you like. Mr and Mrs Montague are a perfect example of that...their three girls were well kept...an exclusive prep school, a good routine...but they were not really nurslings...because it did not fit in with the lifestyle the family led in London and would have seemed awkward in those surroundings. They were always expected to put on a show when they visited their grandparents or people in the village no doubt, and I expect that amongst their London friends, they were a little more restricted than most, but they were not nurslings. And there are a lot of Reformists who do not really have the money to do things that well...it is rather vulgar to mention money, but it does matter, of course. So...corners were cut as good people assimilated into their new lives, away from the church and the holy doctrine...or more pertinently, away from the village environment and the first congregation. Second and third congregations evolved in a similar way...as you are only too aware, some of our traditions and customs can look just a little extreme to the uneducated heathen eye, so many young people decided to be subtle in public, to fit in. But there is nothing subtle about faith, ladies...and after this silly shock to the system, those strong conservative tendencies are coming to the fore. We are having something of a renaissance, if you like?"

"Which is why Bella's parents want her home? Or rather her grandmother?"

"Yes, Hermione...I did try to keep her, but Edwina just could not bear her to be living such a modern life, away from the security of the village and the bosom of her family...she was absolutely terrified that Bella would do something stupid...and so, she has made her a match Arabella's parents simply could not afford to refuse. Arabella always knew that she had to marry sooner or later...probably by the time she was twenty-five, at the very latest, although traditionalists say twenty-one...but she so wanted to work for a few years first...rather like I did, back in my younger days." Mrs Blackstone smiled, a little ruefully I thought. "But it is not to be...there are rules in our community...rules that are there for a reason...and Bella must obey her dear parents and embrace the future they have arranged for her...it is our way...she pledged her obedience to them and the community when she left school, and her vows cannot be broken."

"She is an adult...surely?" Annie pointed out, asking the question that was on my mind, but I was too polite to ask. "She could just refuse to go home?"

"Well, I think you are here to deal with any reluctance to do as she is told...but you are right my dear, of course. Arabella could refuse to go home...and if we made her do so, we would all technically be guilty of kidnapping her. But I have already made Arabella aware that her work here is done...I cannot employ any maiden who does not have the permission of her parents to work here. Even if I wanted to, the church and my governors would not let me...that has been made very clear. So, she has no means to support herself...and if she refuses to go home, I am afraid that her family will disown her. They already have control of her bank account, so she would have no job, no savings to fall back on and then nowhere to live. So, I think she will be sensible...after a fashion at least...if we handle her correctly...but you will need to be very firm with her, certainly at first...she may need reminding of her place?"