“I will not tell.” Jane turned to reach out a hand for Amey, who held Isabella. “May I introduce our friend, Mrs. Avril, and her children Isabella, Solomon, and Eleanor.”
Mrs. Ellsworth was too absorbed in her new grandson to pay any mind, but Melody smiled and stepped into the role of hostess without hesitation. “I am so pleased to make your acquaintance. La! But you must be fatigued from your trip, and we are making you stand in the cold.”
Amey laughed. “It’s all right. I’m still all amazed at the snow.”
“Oh! But of course, I should imagine it is a rare occurrence in Antigua.”
Mr. Ellsworth broke away from Alastar and Vincent. “Bless me. I was about to forget a promise to Solomon and Eleanor. I have been telling them these past two hours that we should play in the snow when we arrived.”
“Shall I go with you?” Vincent asked.
Alastar clapped him on the shoulder. “Go inside with your wife, and I will keep Mr. Ellsworth company.”
“And I shall make certain you have hot cocoa when you come inside.” Melody clapped her hands. “Oh, but it is so lovely to have you home again.”
By mutual agreement the party divided, some going to Long Parkmead’s shrubbery, while the rest entered the house and were soon settled in the front parlour with strong tea and good Stilton cheese. Thomas and Isabella crawled across the carpet, managing to find every small thing that they could stick into their mouths. Amey and Melody sat on the floor with them, retrieving objects from little hands and laughing as they compared notes.
Mr. Ellsworth, Alastar, and the children did not stay long out of doors, as neither child had a proper winter coat. Both men were rosy-cheeked and laughing at the children’s delight with the new miracle of snow.
With her family thus around her, Jane settled on the sofa next to Vincent and had the satisfaction of watching her husband and mother coo over her son. She had long wished that he could be easy in the company of her family, and the introduction of young Charles seemed to provide exactly the topic of conversation best suited to them both.
Epilogue
In London, Jane and Vincent took possession of a house with an enclosed garden for the children to play in. Their plans to work on new commissions came to nothing as they discovered that Queen Charlotte had passed away in November, putting the nation into mourning again.
This made them deeply grateful to accept the invitation to work at the school for glamourists. They were delighted to discover that they both knew the proprietress, though it had been over four years since they had last seen Miss Dunkirk. It took very little effort to persuade their patron to offer a post to Amey as well. Herr Scholes came from Vienna to consult in setting the curriculum, although he was often distracted by Charles and Isabella. Still, the school opened in the autumn of 1819 with much fanfare.
In short order, it became quite the thing for young ladies of quality to be trained at Miss Dunkirk’s School for Girls. Vincent advocated for opening an adjoining wing of the school for the education of boys in the art of glamour. Though there were fewer applicants by far, those that did attend were deeply enthusiastic.
Their reputation was further increased with the publication of A Comparative Study of the Glamour Taught in Europe and Africa, with a Particular Concentration on the Traditions of the Igbo and Asante Peoples, by Jane, Lady Vincent, and Mrs. Nkiruka Chinwe.
At times, Jane felt that she ought to be doing more when she saw the efforts of their niece Louisa and Vincent’s half brother Zachary. With introductions from the Earl of Verbury, the two were soon mixing with company of the first order. Jane and Vincent, in turn, introduced them to the coldmongers, who helped them make connections among the coloured population of London. With steady influence, Louisa and Zachary carefully made the right friends, and in 1824, their combined efforts were instrumental in seeing slavery overturned throughout the United Kingdom.
Jane and Vincent maintained a regular correspondence with Frank, who kept them informed on events back in Antigua. His mother lived to see slavery abolished and her children free. Picknee Town was finally unshrouded from its glamour and all the families who had been separated were reunited. The Hamilton estate survived the abolishment of slavery with little ado, as the steward had already been in the practise of treating the slaves as freedmen.
*
Though the Vincents’ later life took some surprising turns, we shall leave them with this final scene from not long after the school opened, to reassure you that they received a well-deserved rest. Jane woke in the middle of the night to find Vincent’s finger on the tip of her nose. She wrinkled it, eyes crossing to see what he was doing. “Vincent?”