13. The Colt House 3: Jane Abbey
In my last year in the Colt House, Mrs. Abbey was brought in as an additional help. At first sight, she seemed an unlikely person to cope with Caldecott in its decline. Refined in manner and accent, she was a brilliant conversationalist with a wide general knowledge and a particular love of literature. After Miss Elizabeth left, Mrs. Abbey was the natural person to take over the Library. Her forte was that she could connect with people, not only those who sought intellectual dialogue but people on all levels. Though some people made fun of her genteel manners, I think they connected with her all the same. For my part, since conversation with Betty Rayment tended to concentrate on musical matters, I benefited enormously from the possibility to chat about literature, politics and life generally. Her background remained a mystery – presumably she was a widow but she never said anything about her husband. I believe she had lived in India for a while. She had a daughter of about our age who sometimes visited her*.
This takes me up to the time I left. A word is in order about the parallel staff looking after the girls’ departments.
* Jane Abbey left Caldecott in 1979 and died in 1989 (Information from Gerald Moran).