Jim G.M Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As you so rightly say, Jane Austen leaves some
> things unclarified. The truth after Ramsgate must
> remain clouded, but it was the section above, and
> the knowledge that Mrs Younge ran a boarding house
> in London later that makes me think that possibly
> Georgiana was installed in her house as a tenant
> by Darcy rather than renting somewhere of her own.
> There is no mention of Mrs Younge being a tutor,
> just a governess, although it seems feasible that
> one may well follow the other. . Darcy managed to
> find Mrs Younge easily enough whilst seeking
> Wickham and Lydia ( although it was some time
> before he was able to get the required information
> from her) because Mrs Younge had taken "a large
> house in Edward Street" from which she let rooms,
> following her previous trade, it would seem. Once
> bitten, twice shy might be the maxim? We'll never
> really know.
Mrs. Younge would have been well paid by Darcy to devote her time to Georgiana. It was only after Darcy fired Mrs. Younge for grossly betraying his trust that the former companion would have gone to London and sought other means of support. She could not obtain a position with another wealthy family because Darcy would not have given her a good character. So, she opened a boarding house.
Darcy as described by Austen would have been among one of the wealthiest people in England. His sister's fortune of 30,000 pounds would have earned an annual return of 1,500 pounds--compare that to the Bennet family's 2,000 pounds a year from Longbourn. Miss Darcy would not have been a boarder but would easily afford her own home in a good London neighborhood, assuming the "establishment formed for her" was not physically within her brother's townhouse.
As I speculated before, I think it probably was not, given that as a young man he might have wished to have his privacy. In a less wealthy family, a brother and sister might have lived together but Darcy and Georgiana had no reason to crowd in together. Also, Debra Mc offered an expert opinion gleaned from a reputable source indicating that Georgiana's establishment was not merely an apartment in her brother's townhouse.
