Miss Jacobson's Journey

MISS JACOBSON’S JOURNEY

or

Wellington’s Gold

Carola Dunn

Chapter 1

London 1802

“But I don’t want to get married!” Miriam scowled mutinously at the gilt-framed mirror, where dark red ringlets were taking shape under the skilful hands of her abigail. “At least, not yet. It’s less than two months since I finished school. I want to see the world. I want to dance and have fun.”

“God willing, there’ll be dancing aplenty at your wedding, Miss Miriam.”

“Oh Hannah, I want to go to balls and assemblies. I told you, several of my school friends have promised to invite me when the Little Season begins.”

“Hold still now, child. It’s fated that all men should be fools but a girl needs a husband and how are you to find one at your balls and assemblies, tell me?  You’ll meet none but
goyim,
for sure.”

“Perhaps I shall marry a Gentile.” Miriam remembered her best friend’s brother, who once came to visit the Seminary for Young Ladies where she had been educated. Tall, blond, with twinkling blue eyes, he had driven up to the door in a dashing curricle and taken the two girls out to tea. She had dreamed for weeks of those broad shoulders, fashionably clad in wrinkle-less blue superfine. Even now the memory of his teasing grin made her feel weak at the knees.

Hannah’s horrified exclamation banished the vision. “Marry a Gentile! God forbid. You’d never be able to bring up your children in the faith of their forefathers.”

“I haven’t precisely been brought up as a good Jew.”

“More shame to them I won’t name, sending you off to that goy school where they don’t observe the Sabbath, let alone the Holy Days.”

“They didn’t make me go to church on Sunday.”

“Nor to the synagogue on Saturday, more’s the pity. It’s my belief the master’s repented of such ungodliness, and that’s why he’s so pleased with the young fellow the matchmaker’s found for you. A real scholar he is, I’ve heard, studying to be a rabbi. Speaks Hebrew and knows the Torah by heart. And rich as King Solomon besides, for he’s the only son of a moneylender in the City.”

“So Mama told me.” Sighing, Miriam wondered whether any of her schoolfellows, after their chatter of marquises and earls, would have to settle for a parson. Yet perhaps being a rabbi’s wife wouldn’t be too dreadfully dull, if the man her father had chosen turned out to be handsome and amusing and not too bound by tradition.

“You should be thanking God that he’s a young man, not a greybeard. There now.” With a last twirl of the hairbrush, Hannah stepped back to admire her handiwork.

“Thank you, Hannah dear.” Miriam stood up and smoothed the skirts of her pale green mull-muslin morning gown. The finest Mechlin lace trimmed the demure high neckline and the cuffs of the long sleeves; bodice and hem were embroidered with darker green vine leaves, while a matching satin ribbon encircled the high waist and tied in a bow behind. Her stylish elegance gave her confidence.

“Pretty as the Queen of Sheba,” the abigail observed with satisfaction. “To think the baby I rocked in her cradle is ready for a husband! Your bridegroom will fall in love with you at first sight, Miss Miriam, God willing. Just the jade earrings, now, and you’d best be off to show the mistress.”

The delicately carved jade fastened at her ears, Miriam crossed the hall to her mother’s dressing room, knocked, and entered.

“I am ready, Mama.”

Mrs. Jacobson, seated at her dressing table in a lilac silk wrap, turned to inspect her daughter. The wife of a wealthy importer of furs, she was generally much occupied in entertaining her husband’s associates and in charity work, to the detriment of her relationship with her only child. Miriam felt she hardly knew her, and was relieved when she nodded approval.

“Excellent. Only you are a trifle pale, my dear. Perhaps the tiniest dab of rouge--no, we must not forget that your suitor is a Talmudic scholar. Pinch your cheeks a little.”

Miriam complied, but pointed out, “My complexion is naturally pale, Mama. I doubt it will leave any lasting effect.”

“Then you must do it again just before the matchmaker arrives,” said her mother sharply. “You have been instructed how to behave, Miriam, and I trust you will not use this occasion for a display of wilful temperament.”

Bowing her head with apparent meekness, she listened in rebellious silence as the instructions were repeated, with a stress on the necessity for a modest, compliant demeanour.

“You are most fortunate,” Mrs. Jacobson concluded, “that your father has gone to the trouble of finding you so excellent a match. You must strive to deserve his kindness, and to earn a like benevolence from your husband. Pray go down now and remind your uncle that he is to sit in the drawing room today. The rest of the family will arrive shortly. I must dress.”

Miriam curtsied and withdrew. A lecture from her mother on female submissiveness was less than convincing, she decided as she made her way downstairs. The absence of the slightest speck of dust on the elaborate tracery of the wrought iron balusters bore witness to Mrs. Jacobson’s absolute rule over her household. And though she verbally upheld her husband’s authority and did not meddle in his business, he almost always deferred to her judgement in other matters. She even aspired to control her brother, though his gentle disregard of her suggestions frequently defeated her.

Thinking of Uncle Amos, Miriam smiled. She had grown fond of the kind, if absentminded, Doctor Bloom since her return from school had coincided with his unexpected arrival from the Continent. He had left England when she was a small child, to study medicine in Germany. Since then, occasional letters made their way through the turmoil of revolution and war in Europe to announce his receipt of his diploma, his marriage, his extensive travels. The sketchy accounts of his journeys in pursuit of medical research fascinated his young niece.

The Peace of Amiens and the death of the beloved wife who had sheltered him from the practical side of life had combined to bring him back to England. Since his homecoming, his more detailed accounts of his sojourns in far-off lands had whetted Miriam’s appetite for adventure.

She grimaced as she opened the library door. No doubt marriage was going to put a stop to all hope of adventure.

As she expected, Uncle Amos was seated at the long table surrounded by sheaves of paper and open books. His patriarchal grey beard and gold-rimmed spectacles made him look older than his forty-odd years. Absorbed in his work, he seemed not to notice her entrance.

“Uncle, I beg your pardon for interrupting, but Mama asked me to remind you that she requests your presence in the drawing room.”

Taking off his spectacles, he smiled at her vaguely. “I have not enough data to draw credible conclusions. I must go back to Russia, but how can I manage without my Shirah? If I have to make arrangements for transportation and food and lodging, as well as treating the sick, I shall have little time for collecting and collating information.”

“Perhaps you ought to seek another wife, uncle.”

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, a deep sorrow crossing his face. “No, I shall never remarry. Perhaps you are too young to understand, my dear, but it would be disloyal to her memory. Now, what were you saying about the drawing room?”

“The matchmaker is bringing my suitor today.”

“Ah yes, I remember.
Mazal tov
, Miriam. May you share as much happiness as I did with Shirah.”

“Thank you, Uncle. It seems tradition dictates that all the family should gather to approve him--and to add to my embarrassment.”

“If you prefer it, I shall stay here.”

“Oh no, please come. It is my other uncles and aunts and cousins I could well do without, but you will be a support to me.”

Smiling at her, he pushed back his chair, came round the table and kissed her cheek. “I wish you happiness,” he said again, “and I shall do my best to support you.”

They went through to the drawing room, a long, high-ceilinged room with tall windows overlooking the garden. Not for the first time, Miriam wished her mother had not chosen to decorate it in crimson and ivory. She was sure the rich reds of the curtains, the Turkey carpet, and the brocade-covered chairs made her hair look insipid brown, or worse, clashed with it. Her cheeks seemed the paler in contrast, too. Surreptitiously she pinched them. How dreadful if, instead of falling in love with her, her suitor took a dislike to her on sight!

Annoyed with herself, she recognized an unaccustomed nervousness. Where was the calm common sense her teachers had so often praised, even as they castigated her stubborn determination to go her own way? Her palms were damp and her mouth was dry.

She turned resolutely to Uncle Amos, catching him in the act of opening the book he had brought with him. “What information is it you need in Poland?” she asked.

“I told you, I believe, that I am investigating the incidence of diabetes in Jews? I have much data for Germany and Poland, and it seems clear that in those countries Jews are more prone than Gentiles to develop the disease. But when I was in Russia I failed to obtain the relevant numbers for Gentiles.” He sighed. “I should have liked, also, to compare the Ashkenazim with the Sephardic Jews of Spain and the Mediterranean area.”

“There are both Ashkenazim and Sephardim in England, are there not? Can you not work right here at home?”

“The lines are too intermingled here. You see, the various comparisons are necessary to determine whether the high incidence is due to diet or to inherited factors. And there are other illnesses to be studied, such as the one that cripples and kills the children of Jews but rarely strikes Gentiles.” He sighed. “So much work to be done!”

Miriam’s father came in just then. A heavyset, good-humoured man with a bald patch and shaved chin balanced by luxuriant side whiskers, he kissed his curtsying daughter then took both her hands and looked her up and down.

“A beauty, just as your mother was. I hope this young man she has found is worthy of you, my love.”

“I thought he was your choice, Papa.” She should have guessed that her mother was responsible.

“No, no, it was all settled between your mother and the matchmaker, except for the financial side, of course. I’ve not even met your bridegroom, only his father. The settlements are most satisfactory, and you cannot do better than to wed a man with a true understanding and respect for the Torah and the Talmud. I have been remiss in my duties, I fear.”

The tip of Miriam’s tongue quivered with a tart and most unfilial question as to whether the sudden discovery of religion was his idea or her mother’s. She managed to bite it back. Her parents’ generation, she realized, busy with the worldly opportunities newly opening as society grew more tolerant, had let the religious observances of their forefathers lapse without much consideration. Perhaps her own generation would succeed in reconciling the demands of the modern world with the claims of the faith of Abraham and Moses.

Once again, she wondered whether her chosen husband was a strict follower or a liberal interpreter of all the endless rules and rituals. Perhaps he would utterly disapprove of her. The nervous agitation she had succeeded in banishing began to reappear.

It turned to irritation when, a few minutes after her mother’s arrival, the butler ushered in a dozen relatives. Her unmarried female cousins flocked about her, giggling and offering envious congratulations. Their sparrowlike twittering almost drowned the butler’s next announcement.

“Mrs. Weiss and Mr. Cohen.”

Miriam scarcely noticed the matchmaker’s vivid purple pelisse and the fruit bowl of matching grapes on her extraordinary bonnet. Of her words she heard only the excited, self-congratulatory tone. She was staring in horror at the black-clad apparition that sidled into the room after the woman.

In only one respect did he match her dreams: he was tall, or would have been if not for his stooped shoulders. He was also thin as a rake, pallidly sallow, with weak, lacklustre, slightly red-rimmed eyes and dangling sidecurls. A wispy attempt at a beard adorned his chin, bearing out the impression that he was no more than two or three years older than Miriam--a mere youth, not a man.

Her father took her hand and began to lead her forward. She jerked away. “No! I will not.” Looking round wildly, she saw Uncle Amos and rushed to his side in a swirl of skirts. She turned to face with defiance her aghast family, the flabbergasted matchmaker, and the gawky boy they wanted her to wed. “You cannot expect me to... I’m going to go to Europe with Uncle Amos, to look after him. His work is far more important than marriage.”

As her furious mother bore down upon her, she saw the boy’s face flush a painful red. For a moment her heart misgave her-- how thoughtlessly cruel she had been to humiliate him so!--but then the expostulating crowd surrounded her, hiding him from her sight. Her attention turned to defending herself.