“Your Ladyship, you may know my name as Francine from Cilla’s letters. For her own reasons, she always used my formal name when writing about me to her friends,” Fanny shared.
“You are the one she had a sisterly bond with?” Fanny nodded. “Please tell me all,” Lady Elaine asked as her husband replaced his sister sitting next to his wife and held her hands in his to ease her obvious distress. He needed to understand if there were actions which should be taken on behalf of his wife for their friend, as this was had makings of a scandal if there ever was one.
“Bad business, that whole forced divorce and the way the De Melvilles cut her to try and protect their place in society, very badly done,” Lord Matlock opined, watching the Bennets carefully, and confused as to why neither of the Darcys seemed angry; he intended to follow their lead until given cause to act otherwise.
“It pained Cilla no end that her parents cut her and kept her sister and brother from having a relationship with her, your Lordship. Through it all she loved her parents until she drew her final breath,” Fanny informed the Fitzwilliams.
“Please, Mrs. Bennet, share what you are able,” Lady Elaine beseeched. She quietly cried, accepting her husband’s handkerchief to dry her eyes.
“As you know, Cilla and I became the closest of friends…” Then Fanny told all, right up to and including the devastated Prince attending his beloved’s and son’s funerals. She explained how, as anafterthought, the clause had been added to the will in case Priscilla passed with no heir. When she was done, silence encompassed the room for a few moments.
“So, you are telling me that when she reaches her majority at one and twenty, your second daughter will be the wealthiest person in the land outside of the Royals?” Lord Matlock asked in wonder.
“Yes, Matlock,” Lord Holder confirmed, “which is why Lady Priscilla exacted the promise of secrecy regarding Lizzy’s wealth. Could you imagine the line of fortune hunters if they had any inkling of it?” Lord Holder looked to his friend and his friend’s brother. “Bennet and Phillips, you have things structured to protect Lizzy from any such horror, have you not?”
“Very much so, Carrington. Not only that, but when Lizzy chooses a husband, the marriage settlement will be ironclad, leaving control of her fortune in her own hands,” Bennet confirmed.
“At least I know she did not want to cut our friendship,” Lady Elaine stated softly.
“As sorry as I was when Fanny told me about her death, I was relieved to know Priscilla was surrounded by love when she left this world. It helped when Fanny told me Priscilla fully intended to establish communication with those of us who had remained true to her after her child was born,” Lady Anne added.
“You two do not yet know what happened at Pemberley last week,” Darcy told his brother and sister-in-law.
“What happened; is everything well?” Lord Matlock frowned, certain that whatever it was, this was not the time to discuss it during such a conversation as they were having.
“The Bennets were, by chance, touring the house the day Anne and I were with you at Snowhaven. William heard the pianoforte and assumed it was his mother…” Darcy told the story fully.
“He called them riffraff?” Lord Matlock asked in surprise and was met with multiple amused nods.
“Wait, your five-year-old daughter plays so well that William thought my sister was home and playing the instrument?” Lady Elaine enquired in disbelief.
“The Bennets’ music master is none other thanSignoreAlberto da Funti,” Lady Anne informed her sister.
“Gracious me, when will we hear this prodigy play?” Lady Elaine wanted to know.
“Prodigies, Elaine,” Lady Edith interjected. “The older sister Jane, who is a whole seven years of age, or is it eight now Fanny?”
“She will be eight in September, Edith,” Fanny confirmed.
“Jane is as good, if not better than Lizzy on the pianoforte, and well on her way to becoming a virtuoso on the harp. The youngest daughter here with the Bennets, Mary, who is three, has just begun to take lessons from theSignore. Am I still correct, Fanny?” Lady Edith informed her friends.
“Yes, Edith, that is still all true. Mary has started catching on so fast that theSignorefeels she may exceed her two older sisters in musical talent,” Fanny offered calmly, used to the astonishment such words brought, so she allowed them some time to grasp it.
“Will I meet these wonders who are your daughters, Mrs. Bennet?” Lady Elaine asked hopefully.
“I was about to go see how they are doing in the nursery playing with Cassie. You are welcome to join me, your Ladyship,” Fanny offered.
“It is Elaine if you please, Mrs. Bennet,” the Countess allowed.
“Then please call me Fanny,” she replied, seeing easily why her Cilla had so loved these ladies and missed their company.
“May I join you two?” Lady Anne asked, knowing she needed to be present when Elaine saw Elizabeth for the first time.
“Of course, Anne. Edith, gentlemen, please excuse us,” Fanny intoned as the three ladies stood and started up to the nursery.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
When the three ladies entered the nursery, the girls were having a tea party with their respective dolls. Mary and Jane were facing the doorway; Elizabeth and Cassie had their backs facing that direction. Kitty and Lydia were being entertained by their nursemaid.
