After dinner Bennet felt he had been a little uptight with his new wife, so he sent for all the servants he had failed to introduce her to the previous day, and meticulously introduced them to Clara. Aina, whom she had already met, Flora, the cleaner, and Mrs. Eunice.
He sincerely apologized for not summoning them during yesterday's introduction. Mrs. Eunice was very concerned at the moment of introduction that she had been summoned without prior notice and as such, have been caught unprepared and had not had time to change into something more presentable.
"I would have been here to welcome you earlier, madam," she said, "but we were caught up with preparing your meal and making sure that everything came out perfect. I hope you did not ask for me before now, because to the best of my knowledge, you have not." Mrs. Eunice said.
"Oh no, I did not ask for you. Meanwhile, i would have come to see you this morning, Mrs. Eunice," Clara said, "but Beatrice thought you would be busy."
"Miss Beatrice should have sent for me," the older woman replied. "She knows very well that I do not expect to see you in the kitchen. You can always send for me when you need me. I wish you a happy married life, and you, too, sir." Mrs. Eunice said.
"Thank you," Clara said, then added more firmly, "Will you come and see me tomorrow morning after breakfast, please, Mrs. Eunice? Just to discuss the meals and any other little thing, you know."
"The meals, madam?" Mrs. Eunice's flat face was outraged. "When my lady was alive, I beg your pardon, sir. The meals and everything else related to the kitchen was left to me. Never a day did she complain about anything, and the house has been run the same way ever since, isn't that right, sir?" She turned to Bennet.
"If Mrs. Lewin wishes to order the meals herself, you will, I hope, give her every assistance, Mrs. Eunice," Bennet said pleasantly. "That will be all for now, thank you. Good night."
"Very well, sir. Good night, sir, and you too madam." Mrs. Eunice's voice was expressionless and she did not look at Clara again.
"Thank you, Bennet, for coming to my rescue," Clara laughed when the door had closed on them all. "She is quite touchy, did you notice?"
"Yes, she is. And supporting you was the very least I could do," he replied a little curtly. "But I don't advise interfering with Mrs. Eunice's meal plans and schedule. She's very jealous of her rights."
"But I thought you would want me to take interest in the running of your house?"
"If it will make you happy to run the house yourself, then don't let me, Mrs. Eunice or anybody else discourage you," he told her gently. "I only meant that I don't expect you to bother yourself with such silly and boring things such as housekeeping when there is enough staff for that, and they all know their job description and carry them out well enough."
"Then what do you expect of me?" she asked, trying to find a way to be useful in the house, while still being in the good grace of her dear husband.
"I expect very little from you honestly," he answered gravely. "Just the common tolerance required when two people have to share the same roof as friends if you wish it. Is that enough for you Clara, or do you think that I am driving too hard a bargain?"
"No," she said a shade forlornly. "You're actually the one getting so little from your bargain."
"I'm getting all that I asked for so far, even though I'm beginning to feel I've asked for too much."
"Or too little." Clara interjected.
He shifted uneasily. "Well, let's agree, shall we, that neither of us is demanding too much from the other." He said with a little warmness reflecting in his voice. "Clara, your job for the moment is to make friends with my daughter, and I believe that should keep you occupied for a while, because achieving that won't be an easy feat."
He tried to speak lightly, but he was aware all the time that she was giving him the polite attention of a child who was receiving direct instructions from a parent. He suddenly held out both hands to her.
"Forgive me, Clara, for my clumsy manner of approaching issues," he said with unexpected charm. "I haven't gotten to know you yet and how best to relate to you. We should get to know each other."
Her face turned tender with swift response as she put her hands in his.
"Yes, Bennet," she said. "We should, and I don't think you are clumsy. It is just that you cannot decide if you married me to really be the mistress of the house or just a doll that does absolutely nothing but eat, sleep and wake."
He looked down at the table and seemed to be in deep thoughts for a while, and his eyes twinkled. "I did marry you because I thought you were a doll," he told her with gentle mockery.
She turned abruptly from him, withdrawing her hands from his friendly grasp, and would not let him see that his words had hurt her.
As she got ready for bed that night she could hear him moving about in his room next door, and she envied him. He works and the work takes him away from the boredom of the Mansion all day, and as he had told her, all night at times.
She began to wonder what she was to find to do with the empty hours she will have to spend mostly alone in this big house.
The following day started with a heavy downpour. disrupting the couple's plan to pay Priscilla Noman a visit. The rain was so bad that towards evening Bennet called the house to say he would stay the night in the city. Clara dined alone in the cold and depressingly quiet dining room, too annoyed to ask Beatrice to keep her company, and when she finished, she went upstairs to see if Isabella was asleep yet. She met the little girl faking her sleep, eyes shut too tightly to suggest a peaceful sleep. Even though she knew Isabella wasn't sleeping, she chose to let the girl be. Returning to her room, she retired for the night, hoping to visit her mother at the health facility the next day and praying fervently that Bennet would forget about the visit, since they were unable to make it today.