Mr. Jasper.

Mr Jasper's Undertakings.

Mr Jasper's Undertakings.

His business completed, a sanguine Theobald Jasper took to the road, certain his new wife would be forgiving of his prolonged, and somewhat ill timed, absence. The weather was good; but this was not the boon that might be supposed. Dry roads begat dust, choking both rider and mount. Unyielding ground, hit by iron-shod hooves, cast up chips of stone, stinging and tearing the skin of man and beast.

Theo had considered driving his curricle. Damn it, he'd even considered taking the mail coach, but he rather wanted to return within the week, and if at all possible, in one piece.

A commission, though quite within the capabilities of one of his trusted captains, had fallen to him, at the personal request of the Prime Minister himself. Try as he might, there was no getting out of it. Some soldiering great nephew, of some greater ass of a politician, had gotten himself in a stew with brigands in Corsica. What the devil the idiot was doing there was anyone's guess. Theo suspected some inept double dealing. Nonetheless, he had honourably discharged the contract, bringing the ungrateful lout home, sound as a pound.

Three weeks it had taken to find and extricate the young fool, three weeks and one day...

Now, if the post horse he'd hired could hold out just a little longer, he'd be home, dry, and back to schoolin' his delightful Rosie.

Ah, the benefits of such a wife!

###

Mr. Jasper's insistence that he would be absent only a day at most, had, Rose discovered, proven overly optimistic. After the first week, she had come to the conclusion that his absence might be considerably longer and subsequently she could not rely on his presence to establish her command of the household. The general disorder required resolute action and Rose was determined to take what was available to her, which was indeed very little, to put her new home to order.

The discovery of Grineby's many faults dismayed her. Of the confusion and general mismanagement, it was likely her husband knew as little as she.

Fortunately, Barnstable, Mr. Jasper's 'man' who had come with him from London, was a person of discrimination and diligence. Barnstable could be relied upon.

Agnes, Harriet's newly employed nursemaid, was also proving to be a stalwart of the 'new' Jasper household. There seemed little she could not turn her hand to and all with good grace and vigour.

It was unfortunate that the staff, formerly employed by her late brother-in-law Augustus, were few and far between.

If they could be found at all, that is.

The elderly butler, Mr. Sumpter, as a consequence of a taste for his wife's sloe gin, could not be depended upon for anything useful, being gently inebriated most of the day. Mrs. Sumpter, the said wife and supposed housekeeper, was a woman of equally advanced years. Her habit was to lose herself within the bowels of the great house at even a hint that anything be required of her. The maids were two in number and very young, Minnie and Bertha. Minnie, it seemed, was also the cook; a fact that caused Rose some serious concern, and may have accounted for the unpredictable cuisine that made its way to table.

One thing was to become very clear to Rose over the following two weeks. Houses such as the Jasper family pile were ill designed.

Her uncle's house was large, comparatively modern, being but fifty years old. The plumbing was good, accommodations airy and domestic convenience well catered for.

But Grineby Hall was another matter. It had been built to impress the onlooker; not house a family in even a modicum of comfort. Extensive and sweeping grandeur was all very well, but it was not at all practical. It was cold and damp, and nothing was where it was needed. The kitchen was miles from the dour and chilly dining room. Bathing was a logistical nightmare which required the heating of the water in the wash house and then all the servants carrying numerous buckets of hot water up three flights of stairs. The whole affair taking up to an hour and all one actually accomplished was a perfunctory lukewarm dip.