“Yes, she did.” Gardiner grinned. “Lord Matlock made it abundantly clear Lady Catherine had no authority to demand anything from the estate. She was not very happy, but the Earl did convince her to desist.”
A short time later, their children were heard before they were seen. All four, even Lilly who tried to mute her greeting, were well pleased their papa was home. At dinner the two eldest children joined their parents and cousin, while Peter and May ate in the nursery.
As promised, Elizabeth told two stories once the three in the nursery were in their night attire and in their beds. No one commented that Lilly, in her warm dressing gown sat on her old bed so she too would hear Lizzy’s stories. It was no surprise the younger three Gardiner children tried to negotiate for a third story.
She loved her young cousins very well, but Elizabeth knew if she gave in it would be to defer the conversation she was about to have with her aunt and uncle. Also, the children had to learn once a bargain was made, they could not go back on the agreement. She kissed the youngest three goodnight on their foreheads, and then Elizabeth made the short walk with Lilly to her bedchamber. After she wished her oldest cousin a good night, she was replaced by her aunt and uncle who had just come from the nursery.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Gardiner pulled the door closed to the private sitting room which was attached to the bedchamber he shared with his wife. “Maddie told me of your conversation, brief as it was, from when you arrived. Tell us of what we are not aware.” Gardiner took a seat next to his wife, while Elizabeth seated herself in a wingback chair which faced her aunt and uncle on the settee.
“It all began with the Michaelmas assembly…” she related all, including the fact she was now aware Mr Darcy had desired to apologise to her the same night, and she had refused to allow him. Elizabeth did not spare details of how, more and more, Jane was trying to temper her behaviour towards their mother, and how she ignored, what she now admitted, was her sister’s wise counsel. The stay at Netherfield Park was covered as was her impolite behaviour towards Mr Darcy, encouraged by her father. She did not gloss over the fact she was wilfully blind to Mr Darcy’s good traits, of which there were many to see.
Her aunt rang for some tea, to give her niece a break from speaking and have her voice recover at the same time, before cook and the servants working in the kitchen retired for the night.
Next, Elizabeth spoke of Miss Bingley and her insanity, their return to Longbourn, and when her father gave her mother one hour notice of their cousin’s arrival, a scurrilous act which began to open her eyes to the fact it was not sport but cruelty her father was practising. Much to her shame, she told of the militia’s coming, what she had observed between Mr Darcy and the then Lieutenant Wickham, and how she had twisted it to suit her own prejudices. She related a synopsis of the man’s lies told to her at Aunt Hattie’s house, and her refusal to see the obvious or recognise the impropriety of a new acquaintance sharing the personal information he had shared with her.
The warnings Jane and Charlotte issued about drawingconclusions from one side of the tale was recounted by Elizabeth, and her shame at ignoring any counsel other than her own.
“Before I tell you the next part, you must swear never to repeat the information to anyone, as it would hurt Miss Darcy, a young lady who has become dear to me,” Elizabeth requested.
“Come now Lizzy, you know your uncle and I would never retellanyof this without your expressed permission,” Madeline assured her niece.
As much as it mortified her to have her bad judgment brought into stark relief, Elizabeth told of the walk with Jane and Charlotte to the summit of Oakham Mount, and what they saw and heard. She told of the actions afterward, up to and including the arrest of the two Lieutenants. Elizabeth also related how her relationship with her mother was improving while the opposite was occurring with her father. Her shame at her realisation that her mother had always been aware of her treatment by her husband and second daughter, was admitted too.
“And my brother Bennet would not lift a finger to protect Lydia, and by extension the rest of you, including you, his so-called favourite?” Gardiner barked. Elizabeth shook her head sadly. “Thanks to on High you had the good sense to have your father sign that page.”
“What hurts the most is, as of today, my father still tells himself there was no danger to Lyddie or the rest of us. It is his way of justifying not taking action, just as he did nothing when I told him of the way I was slighted at the assembly.” Elizabeth paused to gather her thoughts. “I think that was the first time I began to doubt my father’s love for me. I see now his encouragement for me to avoid speaking to Mr Darcy, was only to further his amusement, and had nothing to do with what was best for me.”
“Like your aunt told you earlier, there was much wewanted to say to you, but until you were ready to hear the words, there was no reason to attempt to do so,” Gardiner told his niece who only nodded in agreement. “Not only is your father indolent, but he is the epitome of selfishness. If he had taken the trouble and invested my sister’s dowry with me, and even added a few hundred pounds per annum, your sisters and you would have very respectable dowries. It would have taken him away from his books and port, so he ignored my repeated requests. Eventually I gave up. Thankfully one in the house heard what I was saying.” Gardiner grinned at his niece indulgently.
“To hear him tell it, there was nothing which could have been done,” Elizabeth stated bitterly. “I should have known better! For myself, I did know better, as evidenced by my investing with you, but I never looked at my father’s failures with a critical eye. Why, oh why, did I not listen to Janey?”
“Remember what I told you earlier,” Madeline told Elizabeth. “Did you make bad decisions? Yes, you did. That being said, it was all you knew. Look at what you did when your sisters needed protecting. You rose above the years of manipulation and indoctrination by your father and did what needed to be done. Do you still have many questions to answer? Yes. Will you need to confront your father with all of this at some point? Also yes, but not before you are ready to do so. You must know we will be squarely behind you when you are prepared to take that step.”
“Your Aunt Hattie is as she is, but your mother is quite intelligent, and you have the right of it when you surmised her so-called nerves were a way to protect herself,” Gardiner revealed. “Should Fanny have taken her frustrations out on her daughters, most especially yourself, and to a lesser extent, Mary? No. She knows that and I am sure she feels vastly guilty for doing so. Can you imagine living in a house where you are humiliated on an almost daily basis?”
“I would not do very well,” Elizabeth owned.
“That is an understatement,” Gardiner reposted. “Her vitriol should have never been aimed at you, or to a lesser extent Mary, but what was, cannot be changed, can it?” Elizabeth shook her head. “Now that your eyes are open, as are my sisters’, you can move forward together while repairing, and then strengthening, the relationship between you.”
“There is much on which I need to think, is there not?” Elizabeth asked but did not need a reply as she knew what needed to be done. “I hope before Janey arrives to shop for her trousseau that I will have answered many of the questions I need to.”
With that segue, the Gardiners asked about Mr Bingley, a subject upon which Elizabeth was happy to expound. A little rest from thinking of the path she needed to travel was very welcome.
“A production ofThe Tempestwill begin at the Drury Lane on Monday next, when you are ready for it, would you like me to acquire seats for us one evening?” Gardiner enquired.
“Could we wait until Janey is here and ask her? It is one of her favourites of the Bard’s plays,” Elizabeth averred.
It was agreed. Soon thereafter, Elizabeth made her way to her chamber.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The next day an express in a hand he did not recognise from a Lord Reginald Fitzwilliam arrived for Bennet. He was tempted to throw it into the pile of incoming correspondence when his inquisitiveness got the better of him. He broke the seal and began to read.
18 November 1812
Rosings Park
