A game for Wednesday

[Picks-at-Flies]

"Passion and kindness? You clearly have not had enough experience of men's clubs if you think they are full of passion and kindness. It certainly sounds like you aim to keep up the crumpets and scones side of the women's scene. I am sure that after a hard days pampering their employer and catering to his personal needs, what a secretary needs is a cup of tea and a biscuit and she'll be right as rain. And that housewife will be fine knowing she's not really wanted."

He leans in and looks Eglantine in the eye.
"Don't you think you should offering them more?"

[Eglantine des Rosier]

"Perhaps you underestimate the restorative value of a cup of tea, particularly when shared with friends with whom one can air ones woes, discuss solutions and find solace. As for the housewife being unwanted, no woman will be unwanted, they may not be our intended primary audience, but that is quite beside the point of their being welcome, that is merely a matter of targeting who is most likely to wish to attend. As for the passion and kindness I was referring to the women of the middle classes you accused of lacking in refinement. But it strikes me you are perhaps merely trying to bait me, and poke at holes that are there through lack of explanation not lack of intention. What precisely do you think I should be offering these women, as you are so sure you know their needs? And how sure are you that I do not already intend to offer them more and merely focus first on those aspects most readily acceptable to discuss?"

He of course saw the tea and sandwiches as trivial, so many people would, but for Eglantine they were merely the physical provisions allowing a much more important emotional and mental sustenance, friendship. When women were only allowed to interact with chaperones and at times approved by men, fathers and husbands, where could a woman meet another woman for simple conversation? It did not matter if it was over a cup of tea and scones, the value was in the women themselves and the support they could offer one another.

It was quite frustrating his insistence on belittling her plans, as if he knew even half of them as yet, and implication that he knew what they were experiencing and needed better than her. But then he probably thought her raised in the upper classes and as unwed as the Miss she was most often called by might suggest, perhaps assuming she knew nothing of what the middle classes or even lower classes endured.

[Picks-at-Flies]

Haniel leans back again. "So, we agree there is a lack of explanation. Would you like to set me in order? I love talking nonsense as much as the next man, but it wasn't the purpose of my visit."

[Eglantine des Rosier]

Eglantine bit back a sigh. He continued to prod at her, rather than explain his own intentions in the slightest despite her direct asking of his opinions and expectations.

"To explain every detail of my intentions would take hours, and some of them are somewhat sensitive." Or in the case of contraceptive information actually illegal, she would have to be most careful how she handled that particular detail to hide it behind sufficient respectability.

"When discussing a lake it is natural to first mention the size, the waterlilies on its surface, perhaps the ducks or even the fish, but unlikely that one would go into detail of the mud in which the waterlilies sink their roots, the insects on which the fish feed, the stone beneath the silt which holds the water and so many other details that are less likely to be of interest to the casual observer, however important they may be for the lake itself. Perhaps if you tell me your purpose, your area of interest, I can provide more explanation tailored to that? And then we could take a brief tour of the rooms I intend to use, although I ask your indulgence over their as yet unfinished state."

[Picks-at-Flies]

He pauses briefly before continuing in a slow voice.

"I am not a casual observer. I am very much interested in the mud, and the insects and this other stuff, and I have time to hear about it all. But perhaps not all tonight.

"I have no care to pry into the personal business of women, and I appreciate there are some elements of your plan you would not wish to discuss without more trust. And while you are charming, witty and possibly ambitious for yourself, I can set aside my personal feelings to focus on something greater."

Another pause, to give time for the listeners to follow.

"But I am enquiring how ambitious you are prepared to be with," he gestures to the building "this project. How much are you prepared to kick the system that chains mortal women? *That* - that would interest me greatly."

She is getting frustrated at the game already. Is she more green than I realised? Or... or what? Hmm...
Well, time to draw back, soon.

[Eglantine des Rosier]

"Sometimes chains are best removed with force, hammers and chisels and anger, and other times it is best to move carefully and quietly with lockpicks. We have the benefit of time, and with time the softest of things can wear away obstacles, as water dripping cuts its way through rock." She looked Haniel over thoughtfully, weighing his words carefully. Caution in who to trust and how far was vital, but taking chances and sharing the passion was the only way to make real progress, it was a fine line to walk.

"My ambitions for this project are great enough that even I do not know their depths, but I have to begin with what I can achieve in the here and now. Small changes add up and are more likely to be lasting than sudden ones that cause backlash. Perhaps you would like to see the library? I will be keeping a few volumes back for myself in my personal rooms but the library itself, the writing room beside it, the lecture rooms, they are all going to be there for women to enlighten themselves and one another. Although if you are as you say so very interested in the minutiae I could of course discuss the menu we are considering, the varieties of tea, the specific art to put on each and every wall..." Eglantine gave Haniel a wry smile, her frustration slipping away as he stopped mocking her intentions, the middle classes and those women who had become wives.

"So the questions I must now ask are, what is it that you feel would best emancipate women? And how do you feel you can contribute to that, here or anywhere else?"

[Picks-at-Flies]

"Good questions and I don't have all the answers. I think you are right to start with something modest. But I disagree slightly on the timing. I know full well how the patriarchy replenishes itself. Anything you do has to move faster than that.

"You chose to come to Bath, a haven of relaxation and pleasure for the popular and wealthy. Men of influence come here, along with their wives and, um, other ladies. I am sure you aware that a skillful woman can manipulate their menfolk into doing many things. Imagine what would happen if they had the resources of all the other skillful women at their disposal? Ultimately, if you wish to change the system this is where you should be looking." He shrugs, laughs lightly, and relaxes further. "Or so I would believe. However I doubt one mind alone has all the answers. If you are so inclined, I would enjoy discussing the subject at length and help turn words into action."

"You also ask how I see myself helping. In truth, I have given that little thought. Nevertheless I did consider that your project would be risky with only one of you looking out for it. Merely a second watchman would be quite useful, I feel. However what I feel I truly bring is that I have spent many hours exploring every nuance of mens clubs. I feel it is very unlikely that you have had the same experience, and you are in most ways lucky."

He opens his palms out. "Are you willing to keep talking?"

[Eglantine des Rosier]

"You are right in saying that a lady of good breeding would have no idea of what occurs in gentlemen's clubs." The slight raising of an eyebrow and wry tilt to her smile might suggest that she knew at least a little, though likely less than her guest. "By all means I welcome your insight on the matter. And indeed any protection you choose to provide to my haven and the business I am building within its walls would be welcome also." She gestured palms out to the room at large, although this particular room would be her private parlour she intended to keep little of the building to herself.

"As for skillful women manipulating menfolk, that is one of many avenues to explore, certainly, but it would be by no means true to suggest that the only route to power is through men. A novel may touch minds far and wide, a newspaper article preaches at the breakfast table and one woman's example of a life of independent means may inspire another and another. As one who has benefited from the resources and example of two skillful women, I can assure you a woman's impact on other women is quite as important as their manipulation of men." Not that she intended to let their influence over their husbands go to waste... but a many headed hydra such as the inequalities in an entire world was not something you could face with only one blade.

"I am almost always happy to talk, unless duties demand my presence elsewhere or I would gain more by silence." Eglantine shrugged, there were times it was best merely to observe, as Kira was likely doing, unless she had become entranced by her studies. "Currently neither of those obstacles to conversation seem to be in effect."

[Picks-at-Flies]

"Hm, your approach has merits. Alas, I have always lacked the prolonged company of skillful women" MALOTA! "but that doesn't mean I do not recognise or value it." He considers for a few moments, then looks around him, (almost) like taking it - and the space around - in for the first time. He has completely dropped the intensity of the initial challenge, replaced instead with his usual mask of humour. "But then of course, your experience of this is what propelled you in this worthy direction."

"Since, as you say, you are currently free to offer me your company, would you care to give me this tour you were offering? Maybe you can show me which wildlife you were planning to plant in each room? Clearly you will be using Bath stone for gravel, anything else would be far beneath your" our "noble enterprise."

[Eglantine des Rosier]

With a small smile and a nod, Eglantine rises, leading the way out of the parlour and back towards the stairs.

"This floor is predominantly for my personal use, along with some guest quarters and of course Kira, above us are the servants' quarters and storage." She gestured upwards before leading the way down. "The lower two floors of the building are what will become the Professional Sisterhood of Ishtar, although I am open to suggestions on the name, as you say it may be worth taking efforts to encourage those women without profession to also attend." She stopped at the first floor, the hallway was bare still, the faint scent of paint in the air and the boards as yet uncarpeted. "I intend there to inspirational quotes framed along this hallway and deep blue floor covering."

Two doors lay on each side of the corridor, with one at its end. "To the rear of the building are the lecture rooms." She opened a door to the right, showing a reasonably large room, if a little dull as yet, with rows of benching and a small stage complete with large chalkboard. "Here we shall have such thrilling topics as 'How to manage money: Bookkeeping for home and business' and 'Conversational Politics' among others, with encouragement for ladies to put forward any suggestions they might have. We shall add an informational board for future lectures, events of interest and the like." She left off the plans for a suffrage meeting following on from the conversational politics lecture and instead turned to the first door on the left.

"An artistic space, allowing for painting, sewing, dressmaking, drawing, any number of hobbies that may require a little additional room or the assistance of friends and be difficult to find the space for in a boarding house." Currently the room was bare aside from an easel set up in one corner next to a table of inks and brushes. "I intend to see to it that there is a sufficiently large table for cutting out of patterns, seating for sewing, both plain and embroidery, access to easels, with paints and charcoal available." With over a month until opening there was much work still to do, and she moved swiftly on to the next door.

After all the half-finished rooms she had thus far shown him, this room was fully furnished, almost entirely ready for the public. Desks sat in groups of four, with a small lamp at the centre of each cluster to light them, dark green carpeting echoed the paler green of the walls and seating, the wood in oak and prints of roses, violets and ivy adorning the walls. Eglantine entered and opened the drawer on one of the desks. "The writing room, with paper, ink, blotting paper and small dictionary at each desk for convenience. It will also provide a quiet space for more in depth study of reading material where a person has the intention of note-taking or wishing to be undisturbed. The door will have a sign requesting quiet in this room.

"Finally on this floor the Library." She opened the door to the end of the hall and the size of the room beyond was hard to immediately tell, like the reading room it was dark green with oak shelves covering the walls and standing freely in the space between to form walls of their own, small reading nooks had been carved from the forest of shelves creating cosy glades, dark green leather seats lightened by floral print cushions and white doilies on the small tables. The only sign that the room was not expected to open momentarily was the occasional vases in the room standing empty. Facing the entrance were novels and fiction, behind those the shelves hosted the sciences, astrology to zoology, languages, history, all the variety she could acquire squeezed between the covers of these books. It was her favourite room in the house and she couldn't help a small smile as she looked to see what Haniel thought of the midway point on her tour.