Mr Bennet,
Please excuse the freedom of my writing to you when we know not one another and have no connection. I am Lord ReginaldFitzwilliam, the Earl of Matlock, and Miss Anne de Bourgh is my niece and owner of the above mentioned estate.
It is my sad duty to inform you that your cousin, William Collins, passed away earlier today. Please notify us if you want the body conveyed to your estate, or if there are any instructions you wish to pass on. My courier will wait at your estate and bring any reply you need to send back to me.
You have our sympathies,
Lord Matlock
The note was succinct. Bennet cared not what had happened to his cousin, he only wanted to know how it affected him. He wrote two notes, a short one telling the Earl to bury the body as he saw fit as the relationship to himself was very distant. The second was to Phillips asking what it meant to the entail.
The first Hill handed to the waiting courier, the second was conveyed to Mr Phillips by Longbourn’s groom.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Phillips arrived about an hour later. He was shown into his indolent brother’s study—any respect he had had for Bennet had been lost due to his refusal to protect his family—and sat down in front of the desk.
“Well, do I own Longbourn now, or is there another simpleton like Collins who stands to inherit?” Bennet enquired.
“There is no other after the late Mr Collins.” Phillips did not miss the look of glee on Bennet’s countenance. “However, you are not the owner, you are still a lifetime tenant.” He raised his hand to stop the protest Bennet was about to make. “The way this entail was written, the eldest of your future grandsons willing to take the name Bennet, will be the owner of the estate when he reaches his majority. After your passing, his parents would administer Longbourn for him.”
Bennet scowled. This left the financial restrictions in place and stopped him selling all or any of Longbourn. He did not intend to tell his wife and daughters; they could discover the news once he passed away. Let his wife live with the thought of being tossed out of the house into the hedgerows.
Phillips took his leave, but as Bennet had not told him not to, he informed his sister-in-law of the changes. “If my husband passes and there is no grandson yet?” She asked as soon as she digested the news.
“Nothing will change for you. The estate will be held in trust until one of your daughters’ sons reaches his majority,” Phillips explained.
To say Bennet was missish when at dinner he discovered his wife and daughters knew about the future disposition of the estate already, was an understatement. He left the table and told Hill to bring him a tray in his study.
Chapter 28
Other than when her young cousins implored her to join them in walking to the park or telling them stories, Elizabeth’s time was her own. The first thing she examined was her relationship with her father.
Two days after her arrival, Elizabeth was seated in the small parlour thinking about the bond between her father and herself when she remembered a conversation from more than seven years past.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Bennet’s study March 1805
Elizabeth was in her papa’s study looking at an atlas he had gifted her for her thirteenth birthday, but also as a teaching aide for her lessons about the countries of the world.
Elizabeth looked up at the man she adored, the one who educated her, and seemed to have time for her, when he never spent time with any of her sisters. “Papa, is what Mama says true?” Elizabeth asked.
“What is it mysillywife says? You know nothing of note comes from her, do you not?” Bennet responded. He had looked up from the pages of his latest book and shifted his spectacles so he could see Lizzy better. “It is good you check with me so I can tell you the correct thing.”
“Mama says you are raising me as a son and it will make it so I am unmarriageable. Is that so Papa?” Elizabeth enquired.
Bennet had to think about his response.Elizabeth would pick up on an absolute untruth told to her. Besides, he was sure she wanted the same thing as him, so he would be able to redirect her attention. “Why would you want to marry some man who will not be as intelligent as you? I thought you enjoy spending time with me? There is no reason to worry about your mother’s ridiculous pronouncements?”
“I revel in the time we are together, but is it not what girls do? They grow up, marry, and have their own families?” Elizabeth pushed.
“You have many years before we need to think about finding a husband,” Bennet averred dismissively. “Besides, not all girls marry, and those who do not are no less felicitous than those who do, in fact, in many cases, those who do not tie their lives to some simpleton of a man arefarmore contented.”
As it always did, what Papa said made sense to Elizabeth. Had not Papa told her many times already not to pay attention to what Mama, who was of mean understanding, told her? She went back to studying her atlas.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The present
