“Lizzy, you know that it is God who determines the sex of the babe. Your Papa, Grandmama Beth, and I will be overjoyed no matter the sex, as long as he or she is healthy,” Becca told her precocious daughter.
“That and to be certain your Mama is well as well,” Bennet added.
It was close to the end of January 1795, and although Becca was swollen with child, her belly was not nearly as large as it had been when she had carried the twins. Her parents, Aunt and Uncle Fitzwilliam, and Connie and Harry would arrive on the morrow. Since the manor house had been almost tripled in size in the past few years, when family was visiting, they were hosted at Longbourn. As Netherfield Park was not used like it used to be, it was leased out using Frank Phillips as the agent. Connie was with child with her and Harry’s first, but she hadonly felt the quickening a few days ago. Since Rosemarie’s birth, Marie had not been in the family way again.
Knowing it would distract her second daughter, Becca said, “Do not forget that Grandpapa William, Grandmama Anna, Uncle Reggie, Aunt Elaine, Uncle Harry, and Aunt Connie all arrive on the morrow.”
It had the desired effect. Lizzy forgot all about the sex of her soon-to-be sibling. “Why are Aunt Marie and Uncle Will not going to come as well?” Lizzy pouted.
“Because Aunt Marie is helping her mother as they get ready for Uncle Sed’s wedding, which is in less than three weeks,” Becca explained—not for the first time.
“And why are Andy and Rich not going to be at Longbourn?” Lizzy demanded.
“Because my dear heart, the final term at Eton began, and they are both at school,” Becca related patiently. Lizzy could ask questions all day if one indulged her.
“Will we ever meet their cousin, the one from Pemberley?” Lizzy enquired.
“Lady Anne Darcy has not been well, so they keep to themselves. Young Fitzwilliam will join Rich at Eton in the next year or two,” Becca related.
“Do Henry and I have to wait until we are seven to get a pony like Janey will in a year from May?” Lizzy questioned. Hearing his sister mention a pony, Henry looked up hopefully from his game of soldiers.
“Surely I do not have to wait as long as my sisters to get a pony, do I, Papa?” Henry appealed to his sire.
“That would not be fair!” Lizzy insisted as she stood glaring at her twin with arms akimbo. “I am bigger than you,Henry, so if anyone should get a pony sooner, it should be me, not you!”
Neither parent wanted to inform Lizzy that although she was about an inch taller than Henry at that moment, in just a few short years, he would be much taller than she would be.
Bennet decided to put the argument to bed. “Neither of you will receive a pony before you are seven, and as you are twins, that means it will be the same day, so it will not be one before the other,” he told his twins firmly.
“Yes, Papa,” they chorused churlishly.
His firm reply had the effect of ending Lizzy’s stream of questions. She went and sat with Jane while Henry went back to his game. Sometimes he forgot they were not quite four yet. Bennet had employed a governess for Jane when she turned five. A few months ago, the twins had demanded they be allowed to join the lessons. Because they both displayed a keen intelligence, he had agreed that they could begin lessons with the governess. Although they could not read more than very rudimentary words, Bennet was confident they would be reading at the level of much older children in the next year or so.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
On the eleventh day of February, after less than three hours of labouring, Thomas Cavendish Bennet, the heir to Netherfield Park, was born. He had tufts of hair as dark as his sister Lizzy’s and was the longest of all of his siblings at the time of their birth. He was also almost a pound heavier than any of them had been when they were born—if the midwife’s scales were to be believed.
Rather than complain she had a second brother, Lizzy was happy that Mama and Tommy were both hale and healthy. It did not hurt that Aunt Connie was present to distract her. Allof the Bennet children loved their Mama’s sister, but for some reason, the bond between her and Lizzy was especially strong.
A letter with thegood newswas posted to the Collins residence in Petersford, Worcestershire. This time the letter was written by Collins’s almost ten-year-old son—who it seemed had learnt to write, unlike his sire—and none of the invectiveness or bitterness was edited out. Bennet threw it into the grate after reading the first sentence.
Bennet was in his early thirties and had begun to get grey streaks in his hair. Becca told him she liked it that way.
About two months after Tommy was born, Bennet received a letter from Edward Gardiner. Like he did with everything, as they had no secrets between them, he had Becca join him on the settee in the study, the one in front of the two windows. He held the missive so they would both be able to read it together.
16 April 1795
23 Gracechurch Street
London
Bennet:
The above address is the house I just purchased where I, and hopefully the woman to whom I intend to propose, will live for many years to come.
I have met a wonderful lady, Madeline Lambert, who used to hail from Lambton in Derbyshire. Her father was a clergyman in the town, but when she was in London visiting her aunt and uncle, there was a smallpox outbreak in the neighbourhood, and her family all perished. Sheis twenty, and I have been courting her for some months. I plan to propose soon.
That is not all I have acquired of late. In the past, you and I have discussed my situation here, where I worked for Mr Arthur Bingley. I had mentioned how I believed Bingley was short-sighted, and his business could be so much more than he had envisaged.
