Any thoughts of sleeping on duty had been erased when Wickham had been informed of the ten lashes which would be the punishment foreachsuch infraction.
At least none of the shopkeepers to whom he owed money in the area had approached the Colonel regarding Wickham’s debts. The fools had believed he and his men were remaining another fortnight after the rest of the regiment departed and he would have the money in but a few days.
He was sure the merchants in the town of Meryton where they would move to on the morrow were as gullible as those in Oxford.
A more difficult task was keeping the demands from his fellow officers from whom he had borrowed money, or to whom he owed debts of honour, or in some cases, both, at bay. He had played on their sympathies to borrow money from a few fellow officers.
Knowing none of them would ever meet any of the Fitzwilliams or Darcys, he told a story of how he had been cheated out of his rightful inheritance due to jealousy. Wickham claimed a solicitor was working on his behalf torecover hisstolenmoney and was confident of success. He had pledged to make repayment as soon as the expected funds were received.
When the questions began, Wickham would simply tell them it was taking longer than expected.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Good morning, Philips,” Bennet welcomed his brother into his study at Longbourn. “Does your call to see me portend good news?”
“It does indeed,” Philips averred. “You may recall I told you that Sir Norman Randolph was the barrister I retained to represent you in the Court of Chancery, do you not?” Bennet nodded his head. “I received a report this morning. The current heir presumptive appearedpro se, in other words, on his own behalf. He is far more ignorant and a worse simpleton than we had imagined. He mistook bluster for facts and the judges ordered him to hold his peace if he had no salient facts with which to rebut our case.”
“Based on his letters I would assume not speaking is not something this Collins is capable of doing,” Bennet observed.
“In that you would be correct. His Lordship had your cousin bound and gagged so he would not disturb the proceedings again. Without Collins’s performance, the deliberation may have lasted for some days, even weeks. Fed up with the idiot’s antics, an immediate judgement in your favour was entered. The entail is no more. Longbourn is your property. You are no longer a lifetime tenant.”
“Under normal circumstances, I would not imbibe at this time of the day, but this is anything but a regular day!” Bennet rung for Hill and waited for his butler to enter the study. “Hill, please summon Mrs. Bennet.”
The butler bowed and left to carry out his orders.
“Thomas? Good morning, Frank,” Fanny greeted both gentlemen as soon as she entered the study. “By the look onThomas’s face I assume you delivered good news Frank, did you not?”
As soon as the wonderful tidings were shared with Fanny, she joined the men in toasting the future. She had a small amount of sherry while the two men indulged with less than a finger of brandy each.
With many thanks for his assistance, Philips took his leave.
“We own three estates now,” Fanny shook her head in wonder.
“It is not a problem I ever imagined would be ours,” Bennet stated stoically. “Jane, Lizzy, and Mary have no need for one of the estates. Who knows whether Kitty’s or Lydia’s future husbands will own their own estates.”
“Only time will tell,” Fanny stated.
She had noted the attention Mr. Bingley had paid to Kitty before he had left to situate his youngest sister. Since his return to Netherfield Park during the final week of October, he had been in company with the Bennets once or twice. He had sought Kitty out each time, but so far, he had been restrained enough during their mourning for Anne that there had been no need to speak to him regarding Kitty and the fact she would only come out in London in May of the following year. Fanny shook her head. It was barely more than six months before Kitty’s presentation. Thereafter, it would only be Lydia who would still not be out.
After kissing her husband and agreeing they would share the news with the girls together, Fanny returned to her daughters who were in the drawing room. Lizzy, Mary, and Kitty were sitting on a settee working on samplers. Mrs. Annesley and Mrs. Jenkinson were seated off to the side also working on some embroidery. From the sounds coming from the music room Lydia was with the pianoforte master.
Jane, Andrew, and Tommy had returned to Hilldalefor the harvest, and the Fitzwilliam parents had made for Snowhaven for the same reason. Richard had reluctantly departed to Cloverdell, but would return in a few days. Before the leave-taking between the engaged couple, they had selected the date of Friday, the eleventh day of January 1811, for the wedding. The day selected was beyond the three month mourning period for Anne and Sir Lewis, therefore all mourning periods would be completed for everyone in the family. It also gave Fanny two more months with her middle daughter still residing at Longbourn.
As she sat down, Fanny looked at Lizzy. It was easy to see how much she missed Anne, but she was holding to her promise of not allowing the sadness to stop her from living her life. Like the rest of the Bennets, Elizabeth was dressed in the muted colours of half mourning.
She smiled to herself as she remembered Lizzy’s reaction when anyone mentioned William Darcy’s impending return. Lizzy would light up with pleasure and blush deeply whenever her opinion of his coming back was canvassed.
Just then, as if she knew her mother was thinking about her, Elizabeth looked up and smiled at Fanny.
Before either could speak, Bennet entered the room and his wife joined him. Lydia was summoned from the music room and Jenki, Mrs. Annesley, and Miss Jones asked to leave them, and close the door on the way out.
Bennet and Fanny broke the news regarding Longbourn. The four sisters were happy the estate they loved would never fall into the hands of the man who had written the letter their parents had shared with them. They cared nothing for the financial implication, rather the fact the dependants on Longbourn would be well protected. Elizabeth especially did not think of the added wealth given she owned her own property in abundance.
“Thank you for warning that man off before he came toimportune us in our home,” Elizabeth addressed her parents.
“There was no scenario your mother and I could imagine where we would have allowed such a man to pay his addresses to any of you, never mind sanction such a match,” Bennet responded.
“What if he arrives uninvited, especially now he has lost his future inheritance?” Mary wondered.
