~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
When her father’s final will and testament was read, Miss Bingley was most displeased. Her dowry was unchanged, and she had inherited nothing beyond it. Everything had been left to her brother, the one who was happy to be in trade. What was even worse was that their Uncle Paul was executor and had become her guardian. Another tradesman!
If she did not marry, her dowry would be released to her when she was five and twenty. How was she ever going to find a husband from the first circles living in the house of a tradesman in Scarborough?
She did not notice—or care to see—the looks directed at her from her brother, uncle, aunt, and her married sister. Louisa had a difficult time believing they were born of the same parents. She did not want to think ill of the dead, but she held her mother responsible for planting the social climbing desire in her younger sister.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Louisa would return to her husband soon. She suspected she was at long last with child but did not want to get the hopes of Harold and her in-laws up until she felt the quickening. She prayed her uncle would not ask her to take her sister; she would have to refuse him. Her husband and his parents would not have Caroline in their houses again. There was only so much one could bear of the youngest Bingley.
At one and twenty, Charles Bingley graduated from Cambridge. When he reached the age of five and twenty, all of his father’s fortune of more than one hundred thousand pounds would be his. After a disappointed Caroline stomped off, Paul Bingley asked his nephew to join him in his office.
“Uncle Paul, what are we to do about Caroline?” Charles asked, disgusted with his sister’s attitude. “It seems she does not care about our parents’ deaths; all she was concerned with was if she gained from the tragedy.”
“My brother knew his daughter, which is why he refused to increase her dowry. He was worried it would make her even more insufferable than she is now,” Paul Bingley told his nephew. “Your father recognised Caroline for exactly who she is and used to tell me often that she was far too high in the instep.”
“Father often told me the same,” Charles agreed. “With her attitude, who would want her as a wife? She thinks she will be wife to a member of theTon, but if she truly believes that then she is more delusional than even I believe her to be.” Charles paused. “Did Father tell you I turned down some offers of friendship as I would not subject potential highborn friends to Mother, may she rest in peace, or Caroline?”
“My brother told me,” Paul Bingley nodded, frowning at the consideration. “I remember he told me about the Darcy fellow who helped you and young Jamison at Cambridge.”
“All I could see was Caroline attaching herself to him and declaring herself the next mistress of Pemberley—that is his father’s estate—as soon as she found out about his connections and wealth. If we had been friends, I am sure she would have resorted to engineering a compromise if she felt she had to in order to gain the position she craves.”
“The reason I asked you to come see me in the office and not where Caroline could hear is because your father was seriously considering the purchase of an estate where he wished to retire. He wanted to relax and partake of the fruits of his labours—it had nothing to do with his wanting to rise in society. Unfortunately, that will never be,” Paul Bingley stated sadly. He missed his big brother. “As you heard in the will, he and I owned the carriage works jointly. Now you own an equal share. Your share of the profits should be more than two thousand five hundred pounds per annum. If you add that amount to the interest from the money your father saved, you should have around six thousand pounds per annum.
“Arthur planned to lease an estate in 1808, in Hertfordshire. He prepaid for two years on an estate named Longbourn. The landlord lives three miles away on a second estate. My brother heard about the estate from his friend Edward Gardiner in London; his sister is mistress of both estates. The current lessee is leaving in early 1808. You will be able to take up the lease as soon as the agent, Mr. Phillips, notifies you.”
“I thought Father was not interested in owning an estate, that he was happy in the business you two built,” a confused Charles stated.
“His reasons were not the same as those of your late mother,” Paul Bingley averred. “As I mentioned previously, it had nothing to do with social pretension. He told me that if anything were to happen to him before he took up the lease, he wanted you to do so. He is not dictating what you do in the future, hence there was no mention of it in the will. If you enjoy life as a landed gentleman, then you have the means to purchase an estate. If not, the business will be here. You will need to attend quarterly meetings with the investors, and the rest we will cover by post.”
“I will honour my father’s wishes,” Charles informed his uncle. “Now, what about Caroline?”
“She is my ward, and therefore my problem. We will discuss her later.” Paul Bingley stood and slapped his nephew on the back as the two made to re-join the family in the sitting room—except for Miss Bingley who was having a snit in her bedchamber.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Sarah, could it be that my decision to break with Priscilla may not have been for the best?” Lord Jersey asked his wife.
Rather than be lauded for his decision as he had thought they would have been, the opposite had happened. Invitations had all but dried up, especially since their former son-in-law had turned his life around suddenly in 1795.
There had been no royal invitations, and now there was a coming out ball at Holder Heights from which they had been excluded. “We could not have expected to be invited to this particular event, Cyril. Lady Holder is a friend of Priscilla’s, as is Lady Matlock. On your instruction we cut them when Priscilla was cut, so why would her friends want us present? The Bennet girl who is sharing the ball is daughter to Priscilla’s friend in Hertfordshire. It is not surprising we were not invited,” Lady Jersey stated bitterly. She had done her duty and obeyed her husband’s edict but it never sat well with her. Her husband had forced her to cut her firstborn.
She had tried to write to Priscilla once or twice, but each time her husband intercepted the post and had been vociferous in his condemnation of her disobedience, so the Countess had given up, much to her sorrow.
“I suppose you are correct, Sarah. Even though we and Wes were not invited, at least there will be one representative of the family present, even if she is only included because she is a Rhys-Davies now,” Lord Jersey opined.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The ball at Holder Heights was well attended. There had been not a single refusal as the invited members of theToninvited simply delayed their return to London. The three ladies organising the ball had made sure they scrutinized invitations carefully to make sure no intimates of the De Melvilles would be included.
The Bennet parents stood in the receiving line with the Carringtons and the Fitzwilliams. One of the couples to enter were the Marquess and Marchioness of Birchington, Lord and Lady Rhys-Davies. He was the heir to the dukedom of Bedford.
Lord Sedgwick Rhys-Davies, Junior, known as Sed by all, had married the lady he chose to be a future Duchess, Lady Marie De Melville as was. Lady Marie was not close to her late sister in looks, but there were definite similarities.
Lady Marie had never felt reconciled to her father’s decision to break with her older sister over the divorce the King forced on Priscilla and her husband. She was still remonstrating with herself for not being willing to go against her father even now and write a letter to her sister.
Lady Marie was well aware her parents were not held in high regard by many at the ball, especially the joint hostesses. She saw Lady Matlock, another of Priscilla’s close friends, in the receiving line as she made her way down the line. She prayed her sister was present, for if she was, there was nothing she would like more than to hug her elder sister.
