“Should we take a ride while Anne is resting?” Elizabeth suggested. “We can see if Mary, Kitty, and Lydia want to join us. I think we should ride across the fields and stop at Lucas Lodge on our return to see Charlotte and Maria.”
Jane and Giana agreed, as did the three younger Bennet sisters who had completed their lessons for the day. They all retired to their chambers to change into their riding habits.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
As was her wont, when Elizabeth entered the stables, she went to visit Hector as these days he was only ridden on occasions when the younger Gardiner cousins were visiting.
As Lydia was to be thirteen in December of that year, and she was physically larger than any of her sisters had been at the same age, she had been introduced to her mare. She had named her Titania for the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lydia’s favourite work by the Bard.
Hector nickered when he detected his former mistress’s scent and was rewarded with an apple. Once she had rubbed Hector’s neck, Elizabeth made her way to where Penny was being saddled by a groom. As she had been by Hector, Penny welcomed Elizabeth and was especially happy when she too was rewarded with an apple.
Soon all six horses were ready and with a footman and groom attending them the Bennet sisters set off in the direction of Lucas Lodge. On the way there, the three eldest sisters rode abreast while Kitty, Georgiana, and Lydia followed a little behind them.
As much as Elizabeth wanted to give Penny her head, she did not, knowing a leisurely ride on side saddle was not the time to go galloping across the fields.
Jane was in the middle with Elizabeth to her right and Mary to her left. “When will Andrew return from London?” Mary enquired.
Jane’s fiancé had departed for Town the previous day to see to some business interests. “On the morrow,” Jane responded dreamily, as she always did whenever she contemplated her Andrew. “What he had to accomplish will be completed today.”
“And you Mary, it is less than three months until your local come out, are you in anticipation of dancing at the September assembly?” Elizabeth asked.
“Methinks Mary will enjoy her first assembly much better if my future brother will be present,” Jane, who had recovered from her dreaming of Andrew, stated slyly. “Is that not so, Mary?”
Mary blushed scarlet from the roots of her hair to to the lace edge of the neckline of her riding habit.
“Jane, do not tease our poor Mary so…even if it is nothing but the truth,” Elizabeth added as she allowed one of her tinkling laughs to escape.
“Humph,” was Mary’s only comment as she spurred her mare forward so she would be riding ahead of her two older sisters and their accurate comments regarding the state of her feelings about Richard Fitzwilliam.
“We should not tease poor Mary so,” Jane opined.
“Probably not,” Elizabeth agreed. “Are you looking forward to being married to Andrew?”
“You know I would never have accepted him had that not been the case,” Jane responded. “I will miss all of you, especially you Lizzy, and Longbourn, but I would bedissembling if I told you anything other than I cannot wait until we are married and never have to part again.”
“Mayhap after you are married you will be able to introduce Charlotte to some men who would appreciate her for the gem she is,” Elizabeth changed the subject.
At four and twenty their friend was considered all but on the shelf. She and Maria had dowries of one thousand pounds each which, as far as was known, was like the Bennets sisters, the largest dowry in the neighbourhood. Per their parents’ instructions, none of the sisters had ever breathed a word about the true extent of their wealth and dowries.
There were some in the area who called Charlotte plain; the truth was she did not have a classical look like Jane, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia. She was however pretty and like Elizabeth her looks were not those considered traditionally beautiful.
“Andrew and I plan to invite her to spend the little season with us this year. If she chooses, she will be welcome for the full season as well,” Jane revealed.
“I am happy for her. With the greater variety of men in London I am sure she will catch someone’s eye,” Elizabeth replied happily.
Since she had come out in London, and her rejection of the Marquess, Elizabeth had not been back to partake of a season in Town. She decided she would do so when Charlotte visited Jane and Andrew, as long as things were well, as well as they could be, with Anne.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Thanks to Lizzy’s ball turning into their engagement ball as well, Jane and Andrew eschewed having another ball before their wedding. Netherfield Park had been rented for the months straddling the wedding. As it had been leased by the Bennets, if they had desired one, there could have been a ball held there, or failing that, at the assembly hall in Meryton.
Having access to Netherfield Park’s manor house meantthere was no shortage of chambers for the wedding guests who were not locals.
The fact was the neighbouring estate had not been leased out again, other than the one month the Bennets had it, since the family with the son who had written the atrocious poetry, and then been warned away from Jane by Bennet, had left the place.
“You know Fanny, as much as I would not like to take advantage of another’s misfortune, I think we should ask Gardiner if he will join us in purchasing Netherfield Park,” Bennet told his wife as they sat in the study at Longbourn.
“Is Sir Morris willing to sell? I thought he only wanted to lease it to people?” Fanny asked.
