Chapter 99 – The Meeting After The Charity Bazaar
Monday was supposed to be a school day. But everyone was too exhausted from the bazaar – not physically, but mentally – so the school remained closed for the Monday following the event.
Josh was assigned the task of spreading the good news among the students who worked when they did not have lessons, while the others gathered in Jade’s classroom for a meeting after breakfast.
Apart from all the teachers, every clergy member who had contributed to the sales for charity bazaar attended the meeting. Lord Ashborne was present as well, accompanied by his loyal secretary.
“Miss Jade,” Lord Ashborne said with an apologetic tone, “I intended to meet you yesterday during the auction. However, I likely missed you, as I was accompanying the Dowager Countess of Canareith at the front.”
“It’s alright, I wasn’t in the hall anyway,” Jade waved her hand dismissively. “I was in the waiting room, quite bothered by something… I’ll let you know later.”
“You were in the waiting room?” Lord Ashborne seemed confused, and slightly irritated. “Why would you…”
“Talk later, Milord,” Jade waved the pile of sheets in her hands. She had just returned from her room to retrieve these papers, which she dared not leave unsecured. They had been locked inside a box buried deep in her wardrobe, taking her some time just to dig it back up. The wooden box that carried the earnings was being kept in Brother James’s room, as he was the only one who possessed a safe apart from Father Rochester.
“Right now, my brain has no extra cells to think about anything else.” She gave Ashborne a broad smile. “It was a huge success!”
Ashborne paused, dropped his question, and replied with a smile as well. “I shall listen to the announcement with delight.”
Everyone seated accordingly after a brief moment of pleasantries when Lord Ashborne entered the room. Just as Jade was about to stand up and report about the earnings from the bazaar, Miss Arrowot raised her hand and interrupted the sequence of the meeting.
Father Rochester raised a brow; Miss Arrowot’s action was rather rude given the moment, but Jade met the White Robe’s gaze and shrugged, motioning for the new teacher to proceed. Jade did not think Miss Arrowot meant to offend her, so she was rather curious about what Miss Arrowot wanted to say.
“The previous evening, before we departed for the domus,” Miss Arrowot stood up and raised her voice so everyone could hear clearly, “Miss Fairborne – the Dowager Countess’s ward, and the lady truly responsible for the entire bazaar – voiced her concerns regarding how we would spend our earnings.”
Everyone straightened up with solemn expressions. Jade did not quite understand why they looked so serious, but she listened closely nonetheless.
Miss Arrowot continued, “Perhaps Miss Jade’s suggestion of establishing a workshop drew her attention. She explicitly requested that letters of our progress be written to them, and she intends to visit us afterward.”
“She did?” Jade muttered, her confusion evident. She recalled what she could remember from yesterday’s meeting in the morning room, and the hinting gaze Miss Fairborne had cast at her resurfaced in her mind. “Oh! So that’s what she really meant? That she would pay very close attention to how we spent it?”
The narrowing of her eyes when she asked “Any time”? That was what she really meant? Jade blinked, and replayed every scene in her head.
Clara, though she had been present for the entire meeting in the morning room, was still baffled by what Miss Arrowot had disclosed and what Jade had just realised. “Huh? But I do not remember Miss Fairborne saying anything of the sort…”
“I told her that she may visit us any time,” Miss Arrowot said calmly. “And I declared that we have nothing to hide.”
Father Rochester smoothened his moustache and said, “I could hardly blame Miss Fairborne for being overly cautious regarding our domus. More than a hundred pounds earned within a single night through a season of preparation. If she truly cares for charity, she would, of course, pay close attention to ensure the fortune is spent wisely, instead of being wasted on vanity or hidden away in someone’s pocket.”
Jade had finally digested the heavy information: the earnings were a fortune, the amount was too large, and Miss Fairborne from the organising committee suspected someone would take advantage of it. So she had warned them – right to their faces – that she would come check the ledgers and accounts to verify if the money was rightfully spent… and Jade had not been aware of her true intention at all!
“How intriguing.” Lord Ashborne narrowed his eyes, his smile appearing rather faint. “A ward of the Canareiths paying close attention to the domus handling the parish within the land of the Wexleighs. A bold attempt, and rather contradictory to Lady Canareith’s usual approach in handling such matters.”
Okay, now Mr. Rich Sponsor is fed up too. Jade, who had caught the hinting tone again, rolled her eyes internally. I hate how these fancy people talk…
She rubbed her forehead. Seeing that Miss Arrowot had nothing more to announce and had taken her seat, Jade rose and strolled toward the blackboard. “It’s okay… I mean, it’s alright, nothing to be worried about.”
She turned to the attendees and waved the sheets in her hand. “Just like Miss Arrowot said, we’ve got nothing to hide, and all we gotta do is make sure everything is clearly written so she can never say anything when she comes and checks our account.”
As everyone put on solemn faces, determined to ensure no flaws would be found when Miss Fairborne came to inspect the books, Jade began reporting: the very start of the preparation in late autumn and early winter, the stock they had accumulated, what goods had sold and what remained, how much they had spent on the setup, and the total earnings from the three days of booth sales and the auction evening.
“So, putting the deposit aside – I don’t consider those as our sales, actually, since we haven’t really sold them anything yet – we have earned £122 in total!” Jade grinned brightly, giving herself a short clap as a compliment before continuing. “Now, let’s talk about how we should spend the money. First, cover the cost of all the materials. We ordered glass and wooden frames, those are quite costly. Then we bought cotton skeins and ink. The rest was mostly fabric scraps. That’s roughly £15. So now we have £107 to spend.”
Everyone nodded at the deduction.
“I’ve done a rough calculation on the caps,” Jade proceeded to the next expense. “If we ordered them from the factory, it would cost around £10. But honestly, I don’t like their quality. For the same price, I could get better fabric and hire someone else to make for us. Father, can I pay the ladies at the Sister’s House to make our caps? I’ll source the fabric and thread; they just need to charge according to their workload.”
Father Rochester nodded approvingly. “I would need to ask Mother Annie, but I trust she would agree with your decision.”
Clara immediately asked, “Could we source the seconds from the textile mills? Wouldn’t that cut the cost of making the caps even lower?”
Clara’s suggestion earned several nods among the attendees. Jade, however, frowned slightly. “Yes, we could do that, but… I don’t know. Which option do you think is better? Get new fabric so the students can have a brand-new item? Or do we get the defective fabrics and save on cost?”
Noticing the confusion in the others’ eyes, Jade explained, “I think most of them have never once in their lives owned something that is brand new, firsthand, and not passed down to them. This is… um, sentimental. It’s like I’m providing a kind of heartwarming experience, a memory worth keeping, rather than just simply providing them with a cap… I know they will probably still be very happy with a cap made from defective fabric, but… I just think they deserve something brand new with the money they earned.”
The gazes cast upon her changed as she spoke. Clara, especially, had tears welling up in her eyes, her hands gesturing something Jade didn’t quite understand, but it was likely a sign of agreement with Jade’s thoughts.
The ragged schoolmistress was not aware of how softly Ashborne looked at her, as her attention was entirely on Miss Arrowot’s question.
“That is indeed a considerate suggestion. However,” Miss Arrowot said, “Miss Jade, I trust that we will need as much as we can secure to establish a workshop. Perhaps we should save instead of spending on new fabric?”
“Yeah, you’ve got a point there,” Jade nodded, and scribbled on the blackboard. “Let’s put it down here, and we’ll see if we need to cut costs… Next, the meals. We must get them eggs and milk! Seriously, those are important for their muscles and bones. More bone broth and oatmeal, proper meat once a week… I allocate £30 just for this purpose, is that alright?”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Sister Geenia and Sister Miriam were especially delighted with the decision.
“So, we now have £67 for setting up the workshop,” Jade concluded. “This workshop shall include the needle project, the trinket project, and the lily project. Production will focus on women’s accessories and chamber decorations. The curtain project shall be dismissed, students and whoever knows how to make these kinds of curtains may sell them freely, but I think we need to fix a price standard so the market remains stable. As for the greeting card project…”
She tightened her lips. “I don’t think they are suitable to be included in the workshop. Paper crafts don’t really seem to tally with the other projects…”
“A simple matter,” Ashborne voiced. “Establish two separate workshops. One, as Miss Jade suggested, shall focus upon ladies’ accessories and chamber decorations. The other, however, shall cater to tabletop ornaments. Bookbinding and the colouring of specimen volumes would undoubtedly find a ready market among gentlemen.”
Jade blinked, repeated the term, “Colouring of specimen volumes?”
After an explanation from the others, Jade finally realised that before the era of colour printing, every coloured page was meticulously hand-painted by hired plate colourers. A book with delicate colours was naturally expensive, and only wealthy people could afford it. Jade had initially imagined these books to be rare or hard to come by, but it turned out that due to the invention of steamships, many rich people had developed a niche hobby of collecting books containing detailed drawings of foreign plants and animals.
Basically, it was this era’s version of a picture dictionary, and people from comfortable households tended to buy at least one for themselves or for their children.
“Oh! That's good news for them!” Jade’s eyes brightened, but they soon dimmed slightly. “But they’ll need time to practice the brush strokes, so they definitely can’t operate or earn anything for at least the first or even the second month… I’m not sure if they have the determination to endure the learning process–”
“They have,” Mr. Anderson said without a doubt. “Do not worry, Miss Jade. I can assure you that they would value this position simply for the chance to work with colours.”
“Really?” Jade glanced at the old teacher.
The old man nodded. "Undoubtedly.”
“Great!” Jade grinned and turned back to the scribbled blackboard. “So, with £67, how do we set up two workshops…”
“Ladies and gentlemen, Brothers and Sisters,” Lord Ashborne announced, gesturing toward his secretary. Mr. Trent rose from his seat and stepped forward to the blackboard, “I have a proposal to put before this meeting regarding the future of our workshop – one which I trust will find favour with you all.”
Jade stepped aside to clear the space for Mr. Trent, casting the nobleman a fierce glance as she did. It was not that she didn’t trust him, but up until now, he had not provided many practical solutions; most of the time, he just extracted solutions from her.
Meeting Jade’s gaze, Ashborne puffed his chest and smiled confidently. He had prepared thoroughly for today’s presentation, and he was certain she would agree with him this time.