Read Online The Bronte Sisters by Catherine Reef - Free Book Online
Authors: Catherine Reef
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traveled to a foreign country alone; but to be a woman teaching adolescent boys was too radical a step even for Charlotte Brontë to take. She labored on at her post through December, when Monsieur gave her a diploma as proof of her ability to teach. On January 1, Madame Heger went with Charlotte as far as the port of Ostend and made sure the lonesome, lovesick teacher boarded the boat for home.
five
“A Peculiar Music”
“I SUFFERED muchbefore I left Brussels,” Charlotte Brontë confided to Ellen Nussey, her closest friend. “I think, however long I live, I shall not forget what parting with M. Heger cost me.” Charlotte kept up with her studies by memorizing a passage in French every day. Once every two weeks, she allowed herself the delicious treat of writing a letter to Monsieur. She then waited anxiously for his reply.
Charlotte Brontë drew these trees growing toward each other to represent herself and Constantin Heger. Charlotte mailed the drawing to Monsieur.
The correspondence went on in this way until Madame Heger found three of Charlotte’s letters that Monsieur had torn up and tossed into a wastebasket. She treated these scraps like puzzle pieces, painstakingly matching their edges to discover what Charlotte had written. “Oh it is certainthat I shall see you again one day,” she read; “it must be so—for as soon as I have earned enough money to go to Brussels I will go there—and I will see you again even if it is only for a moment.” Before confronting her husband, Madame stitched two of the letters back together, and she repaired the third with strips of paper and glue. Presenting the evidence, she told Monsieur that if he and Charlotte were determined to stay in touch, they must each write no more than one letter every six months.
As soon as I have earned enough money . . .
The only way to make money that stood open to Charlotte Brontë was teaching, but she lacked the heart to leave home and work in some school, or to hire herself out as a governess again. So she returned to the idea of opening a girls’ boarding school, this time in the Haworth parsonage. It would be a small school, with five or six pupils sleeping in the rooms that Branwell and Anne had vacated. Charlotte would do most of the teaching, and Emily would keep house. Charlotte had cards printed, advertising “The Misses Brontë’s Establishment” and listing the fees. She sent them to friends and acquaintances, including Ellen, who was to distribute them in Dewsbury.
Charlotte and Emily advertised “The Misses Brontë’s Establishment” and offered lessons in French, German, Latin, music, and drawing. No students applied.
Despite everyone’s best efforts, not a single family inquired about sending a daughter to the Brontës’ school. Haworth was simply too remote and hard to reach. Its isolation outweighed Charlotte’s outstanding qualifications in every parent’s opinion, so the planned school failed before it could open.
It was just as well, because in June 1845, Anne unexpectedly came home, and Branwell followed not long after. Anne quit her job with the Robinsons after she “had some very unpleasantand undreamt-of experience of human nature,” she wrote. Anne left no further explanation for her departure. Branwell, according to Charlotte, had been fired for proceedings that were “bad beyond expression,”and he was forbidden to have further contact with any member of the Robinson family.
The facts came out in Branwell’s letters to his friends: he had carried on a love affair with Lydia Robinson, his employer’s spirited wife. While still at Thorp Green, he had informed John Brown, “My mistress is DAMNABLY TOO FONDOF ME.” From Haworth, he wrote to Francis Grundy that Mrs. Robinson’s kindness had “ripened into declarationsof more than ordinary feeling.” His admiration for her “mental and personal attractions” had grown into “an attachment on my part, and led to
five
“A Peculiar Music”
“I SUFFERED muchbefore I left Brussels,” Charlotte Brontë confided to Ellen Nussey, her closest friend. “I think, however long I live, I shall not forget what parting with M. Heger cost me.” Charlotte kept up with her studies by memorizing a passage in French every day. Once every two weeks, she allowed herself the delicious treat of writing a letter to Monsieur. She then waited anxiously for his reply.
Charlotte Brontë drew these trees growing toward each other to represent herself and Constantin Heger. Charlotte mailed the drawing to Monsieur.
The correspondence went on in this way until Madame Heger found three of Charlotte’s letters that Monsieur had torn up and tossed into a wastebasket. She treated these scraps like puzzle pieces, painstakingly matching their edges to discover what Charlotte had written. “Oh it is certainthat I shall see you again one day,” she read; “it must be so—for as soon as I have earned enough money to go to Brussels I will go there—and I will see you again even if it is only for a moment.” Before confronting her husband, Madame stitched two of the letters back together, and she repaired the third with strips of paper and glue. Presenting the evidence, she told Monsieur that if he and Charlotte were determined to stay in touch, they must each write no more than one letter every six months.
As soon as I have earned enough money . . .
The only way to make money that stood open to Charlotte Brontë was teaching, but she lacked the heart to leave home and work in some school, or to hire herself out as a governess again. So she returned to the idea of opening a girls’ boarding school, this time in the Haworth parsonage. It would be a small school, with five or six pupils sleeping in the rooms that Branwell and Anne had vacated. Charlotte would do most of the teaching, and Emily would keep house. Charlotte had cards printed, advertising “The Misses Brontë’s Establishment” and listing the fees. She sent them to friends and acquaintances, including Ellen, who was to distribute them in Dewsbury.
Charlotte and Emily advertised “The Misses Brontë’s Establishment” and offered lessons in French, German, Latin, music, and drawing. No students applied.
Despite everyone’s best efforts, not a single family inquired about sending a daughter to the Brontës’ school. Haworth was simply too remote and hard to reach. Its isolation outweighed Charlotte’s outstanding qualifications in every parent’s opinion, so the planned school failed before it could open.
It was just as well, because in June 1845, Anne unexpectedly came home, and Branwell followed not long after. Anne quit her job with the Robinsons after she “had some very unpleasantand undreamt-of experience of human nature,” she wrote. Anne left no further explanation for her departure. Branwell, according to Charlotte, had been fired for proceedings that were “bad beyond expression,”and he was forbidden to have further contact with any member of the Robinson family.
The facts came out in Branwell’s letters to his friends: he had carried on a love affair with Lydia Robinson, his employer’s spirited wife. While still at Thorp Green, he had informed John Brown, “My mistress is DAMNABLY TOO FONDOF ME.” From Haworth, he wrote to Francis Grundy that Mrs. Robinson’s kindness had “ripened into declarationsof more than ordinary feeling.” His admiration for her “mental and personal attractions” had grown into “an attachment on my part, and led to
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