Chapter 12

Part 10: Exciting News

In which Amelia discovers that some at least of her efforts are blessed with a positive result.

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The Dower House
Brinswark Estate
Nr. Eyam
Derbyshire
28/10/02
Dear Zinawe,
How exciting to hear from you!

So, you are going to be starring in another Mutoscope presentation. I am sure it will be a great success. I mentioned the subject to James and he said he was sure that you would make an imposing Clytemnestra and that he hoped we might both get the opportunity to view it at some point. He is quite knowledgeable about Greek mythology (he often uses themes from those tales as inspiration for his paintings) and it was interesting to have him relate the story as he knew it. I can see, though, that having Clytemnestra take Cassandra to her bed makes a better tale for today’s society than the original. So many of those old myths make it all about the men, even when the woman is taking charge.

I hope you are being suitably rewarded for your part since I am sure that your presence in the production will greatly increase its commercial potential. I cannot understand those that claim the Mutoscope is artistically inferior to other forms of entertainment. For me, your performances are the equal of anything seen on the stages of the London theatres.

Although things are well here, life here is still presenting its challenges! Lady Jefferson is most keen for me to get pregnant (specifically with a daughter, of course) and keeps offering suggestions as to how I might best achieve this. I have been assured that drinking fresh ewe’s milk is the best idea, or that making love under a waxing moon will be equally efficacious and that burning a sulphurous incense in the bedroom is also just the thing.

I must confess to taking little notice of what seem to me suggestions without the least scientific basis but I do affect to listen closely for I would not wish to give offence and it is only to be expected that she is anxious about the continuation of her line. The whole thing makes James quite nervous too. First of all, even though he has been schooled that the opinions and ideas of women are to be respected I think he senses the absurdity of some of the suggestions. Then, of course, his romantic nature is greatly inspired by the thought that the future of the Jefferson’s is on his shoulders (well, another part of his anatomy, really). James’s nervousness sometimes makes things difficult in the bedroom, but luckily I know now enough of the things that distract his attention to overcome problems like that!

Have you heard anything from Monique? I went to one of her meetings some time back but have not heard from her for a while. She was a great help in arranging things for Lucy in Paris. That has been a great success, for Lucy is certain that she has made the best possible decision for her future. I am planning to visit her next week, which will be a great treat. James and I have a passage booked on the paddle-steamer from Tower Pier. He is concerned that he will be afflicted with motion sickness for he has only rarely travelled by sea. I have tried to reassure him but he is such a baby sometimes. I have told him though, very firmly, that there is no question of his being left behind after what happened during my last trip.

Really, I still do not fully trust him, even with his manhood firmly under lock and key. You might imagine that several hundred years of being subservient to women, men here would have developed a way of keeping their sexual desires in check but while I am sure that James would not intend to be unfaithful his natural tendency to compliance combined with male desire would make it hard for him to resist any opportunity placed in front of him. I have taken to wearing the key to his cage on a chain around my neck. That has the benefit of my always knowing where it is and of it being on show to remind James of how important I think it is for him to keep himself only for me.

In any case I am sure he will love Paris.

Your friend, Amelia.

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The Dower House
Brinswark Estate
Nr. Eyam
Derbyshire
15/11/02
Dear Lucy,
It was good to meet again and so pleasing to me that I could bring James so that you could meet him too. (Although, I must confess that I was sure I did not trust him to be left behind after the last episode. Even though Beckworth’s replacement shows no sign of having her flirtatious nature, it is still obvious to me that the British have yet to breed the basic feral tendencies out of their men, in spite of their very real progress in so many areas).

What did you think of James? Is he not the most delightful of companions? I know he seemed a little nervous at various points but we need to make allowances for the fact that he is not used to being in foreign parts where the social practices are so different to what he has grown up with.

I did not get the chance to explain why he seemed to distracted at our first meeting. All was well on the boat (James had none of the problems he feared he would suffer from) and we caught the Paris train without incident but as we got off the train there was a problem. I was fastening on his lead as usual and checking the hood that he wears when we are out in England when a gendarme came up to us. I should have realised that, while such things are the norm in England, they are quite frowned upon in France and the gendarme asked that I should take them off James, which of course I did.

Unfortunately, I had not considered the extent to which he has become completely used to being hooded and leashed. Removing the hood and leash, I fear, left him quite confused. To be out in public, unrestrained, unmasked and unleashed was a new experience for him. He was quite disorientated and startled by the least sudden noise such as the cry of a street vendor or the horn of an omnibus. I could only calm him by reaching inside his jacket and grasping his belt from behind him, so that he felt the constant tension of my grip against him. I am sure that we looked quite the loving couple with my arm around him. I doubt if any observer would have recognised the real purpose of my closeness to the poor boy!

I can forgive all these curiosities of character, though, for he is nothing but sweetness to me and when, we are in bed, the most attentive and enthusiastic lover (which I put down to the regime of enforced chastity that he endures stoically to improve the chances of his fathering a daughter at the earliest opportunity).

Paris certainly worked its charm on both of us. James was overwhelmed by the thought of treading the same pavements as his artistic heroes. Thank you so much for finding that hotel for us in Montmartre; staying there in the heart of the artists’ quarter quite fulfilled some of James’s fantasies (the artistic ones, at least). And, thank you too for the trips to the various museums. I know James was holding forth rather about some of the paintings but he is quite knowledgeable and it is one area in which I am prepared to listen to his opinions. I must admit I found the museum at the Gare d’Orsay rather intriguing. It is a wonderful building but I am not sure it can be good for those wonderful pictures to be sharing the same air that is so filled with smoke and steam from the railway locomotives. Nevertheless, the combination of art and engineering had a romantic appeal for me.

Your friend, Amelia...

The Dower House
Brinswark Estate
Nr. Eyam
Derbyshire
3/12/02
Dear Mama,
What on earth is Papa up to now?

Yesterday I had a caller at the Dower House. It was a very serious looking woman who informed me that she had been retained to enquire as to my well-being, because, apparently the person retaining her (she would not divulge their identity), claimed that my marriage had taken place under duress and that I was in the thrall of either Lady Jefferson, my husband or both.

Naturally I assured her that there was no such situation. I must admit to at first being quite angry at whoever was putting about such lies but then realised of course that it was not her fault. I decided that the best way to counter such accusations was complete openness so, in spite of my annoyance, I invited her in to share tea with myself and James, sympathising at her long and fruitless journey from London and answering her questions as fully as I could.

I could tell that after a short while she was convinced that her errand was quite pointless and we had an interesting conversation about her work. Apparently she is what is called a “private investigator” who is retained to enquire into all sorts of things from faithless husbands to fraud, theft and even unexplained deaths. She recounted tales of some of her exciting cases with such enthusiasm that I suggested she might even write them down as I am sure there would be a ready market for a book of such experiences. (In reality, I suspect that she was hoping to put me off my guard so as to reveal something inadvertently to assist her task but, since I had nothing to hide, I fear her ploy was fruitless.) She went away quite happy, telling me that she would reassure her client that there need be no concerns.

I can only assume that this is some more mischief by papa.

I will not write to him about it for I do not intend to give him the satisfaction of feeling that he has in any way disturbed things here. When you are next in contact with him, please let him know that these efforts to upset things between James and myself are doomed to failure. We have never been happier and James continues to show me every kindness.

Your contented daughter, Amelia.

...

The Dower House
Brinswark Estate
Nr. Eyam
Derbyshire
25/12/02
Dear Lucy,
Firstly, Happy Christmas!

What a year it has been! At least we are both mistresses of our own fates and no doubt the coming year will bring more excitements.

I suppose I should not be surprised that there are different conventions for celebrating the festive season here. For a start they do not really celebrate the Feast of St Nicholas as we did in Brabant but they combine present giving and Eerste Kerstdag into one celebration. I have tried to enter into the spirit of things here and was greatly pleased by gifts from James and his mother. In return she thanked me for my gift to her saying that I should not have bought her anything as she was sure that I would give her the best possible gift in the New Year. As ever she is focussed on my producing an heir for the title. While I sympathise with her, I must confess that the constraints it places on my love life with James are sometimes tiresome.

Nevertheless, at least I have the compensation of Anna. She came to the Dower House yesterday evening bringing me a fine wrought iron boot-jack as a present. She had made it herself in the forge where they make spare parts for the estate’s machinery. Certainly it will be most useful. I find the country life often requires footwear that is practical rather than elegant – the garden of the Dower House is rather prone to becoming muddy with the winter rain and snow and I have to wear sturdy boots if I am to venture out. I suppose I should not be surprised but James seems to delight in these as much as he does in Miss Mifton’s more glamorous creations. He is always keen to help me off with them no matter how mucky they are. Now at least he will have some help.

James brought me the most practical present. He said that he had been feeling so guilty about only being able to engage in sexual congress on those occasions that it is conceptionally propitious. Heaven knows where he got the money but he found the most ingenious device. At first I did not realise what it was but James inisted on showing me. It turns out to be a clockwork mechanism that can be used to stimulate a woman’s sexual parts as an alternative to the attentions of her man. The device is shaped rather like a man’s sexual organ but comes with a number of different tops that can be attached for different varieties of pleasure (How useful it would be if men could be so altered!!). Two dials on the side, positioned so that they can be adjusted while the device is in use, allow for setting the speed of operation and the frequency of different pulsing movements. The clockwork mechanism seems very robust and will run for quite long enough to provide an amusing time (certainly longer than James can usually sustain his efforts!). The whole thing comes in an ivory inlaid wooden box that sits beautifully on my bedside table so that it is ready for use whenever the desire takes me. It has been a great success. I fear that I have been waking poor James too often in the night with its whirring (and my own moans of delight) but at least he has the satisfaction of knowing that his present is well appreciated. Anna was intrigued by the device (as she is by all things mechanical) and we have been playing together with it. Still, no automata could compete with the thrill that her touch gives me and the comforting feel of her strong arms around me.

James told me that it is a Christmas tradition here for the wife to beat her husband with a bough from a fir tree to remind him to be dutiful in the coming year. I did not really think he needs it for he is the most caring of husbands. Still, I am not one to break with tradition, so I had him bend over and bare his buttocks in front of our Christmas tree. His poor backside looked quite raw when I had finished but James thanked me for helping to continue the old ways and curled up affectionately in front of the fire with me in our living room. Really, when he is sitting at my feet and staring up at me with such devotion, I cannot imagine why anyone keeps a dog.