“Lord and Lady Jersey,” the Prince drawled. “What an unpleasant surprise to see you here at Netherfield Park. After the way you have treated your daughter, what possible excuse could you have made which caused you to believe you could gain admittance here?” The Prince did not notice the look of sorrow on the Countess’s face as he was looking at the Earl.
“We did what we did in support of the Crown,” Lord Jersey insisted.
“What stuff and nonsense,” the Prince bit back, and both De Melvilles were taken back at the vehemence in his response. “You did what youthoughtwould gain you notice from my family, without asking what we desired.” There was no mistaking his disdain.
“How could we not support you when his Royal Majesty found Priscilla too low to be your wife,” Lord Jersey tried.
“Are you senseless, Jersey?” the Prince shot back. “My father found my ex-wife wholly appropriate to be my wife. Theonlyreason he did what he did was for an alliance with Prussia, and now that we are at war that alliance has become invaluable. The King wasneverhappy with what he had to do. All of Priscilla’s true friends have asked the same question: How could a parent who loved their child in the smallest measure cut ties with said child so wholly and without remorse?” The Prince was looking directly at the Earl and missed the look of great sorrow on the Countess’s face. She shrunk back into the corner of the coach and released the tears which had been threatening to fall since they arrived at Netherfield Park.
“We are here now to reconcile with Priscilla,” Lord Jersey understated the truth. Neither the Earl nor the Prince saw Lady Jersey pressed into the corner of the coach, crying quietly. She would not see her daughter and the Prince was too incensed to listen to her.
“If I were you, I would be wary of lying to the person second in line to the throne. You are here because you are reaping the rewards of what you have sown. You would not have come had you not been rejected by society.” The Earl blanched at the Prince’s accurate portrayal of his reason for coming. The Countess hung her head in sadness. “This I can guarantee you; Priscilla willneverbe in your company again. Now turn your carriage around and be gone. If you ever attempt to come here without explicit invitation, I will strenuously recommend to the King that he strip you of your title and return any land awarded to the earldom back to the Crown.” Frederick excoriated the Earl and Countess happily, as he had wanted to do since he had heard of them cutting all connection with his beloved. The Earl had no doubt the King would act on the Prince’s recommendation.
“I would write to my daughter again, but the last letter was returned unopened,” Lady Jersey stated softly. The Prince did not look at her right away so he missed the look of pure anguish on the lady’s face.
“You mean the first letter you have posted her in sixteen years? If you had reached out to your daughter before it was for selfish reasons, your reception here would have been vastly different,” the Prince informed the couple.
‘On more than one occasion I tried, but my husband consigned my letters to the fire. He has me watched so I am not able to contact my daughter,’ Lady Sarah told herself. How she wished the Prince were in a mood to listen to her.
Knowing that any further attempts to contact his daughter would cost them their titles—and by extension their children’s—the Earl departed with his tail between his legs. His wife sat in silence, refusing to look at her husband and her heart breaking all over again. She had been so close to her beloved daughter, and yet so far.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The Prince returned to the drawing room an hour later, and when Bennet and Fanny looked at him in question, he gave a curt nod of his head and informed them the unwanted guests had been sent on their way.
“While you were away, Jane and Andrew informed us they will marry on the fifteenth day of December.” Fanny related.
“Please say you will attend, Uncle Freddy,” Jane beseeched.
“If I have any conflicts, I will move them, so yes, Janie, I will not miss your wedding unless my father issues a royal decree in opposition to my intent,” the Prince teased his adopted niece.
“Will we ever see any of the palaces?” Tommy asked enthusiastically.
“I have a feeling that will happen in the next year or two,” Frederick responded to his godson.
“Would it not be grand to see a palace and meet the royal family?” Elizabeth enthused.
“I suppose it would,” Jane said as her parents, Uncle Freddy, and Andrew looked anywhere except at Elizabeth.
“Aunt Catherine will be with us for Christmastide,” Andrew reported to change the subject. He informed them of the meeting in Kent and the pleasure his aunt took from the simple things in life now.
“It will be good to see how she has changed, as I only remember the imperious lady we met soon after Aunt Anne passed away,” Elizabeth stated.
“As she is your aunt, she will be more than welcome here,” Fanny stated generously.
When there was a lull in the conversation, Elizabeth approached Jane. “Jane, may I talk you in private?” Elizabeth asked.
Worried Lizzy suspected something of her true parentage, Jane looked to her betrothed. “Will you join us?” Then Jane turned back to Elizabeth, “Do you object to Andrew being with me?
“No, I suppose not,” Elizabeth averred.
The three returned to the same parlour they had been in earlier. “Lizzy, if I judge I must speak to Mama and, or Papa, regarding what we speak about here, you know I must, do you not?” Jane asked forthrightly. Elizabeth nodded, because she knew it was only true concern which would cause Jane to break the request of a confidence.
Elizabeth sat for a minute trying to marshal her thoughts. “How do you know if your affections are returned?” Elizabeth opened.
“Who do you hold in high regard, Lizzy?” Jane asked, though she suspected who it was.
Elizabeth blushed as she looked at Andrew. He was William’s cousin and she wanted to make sure he would not relate anything she said to William. Andrew made a move to leave the ladies alone, but Elizabeth shook her head. “Will you both swear, unless I say something which you feel Mama and Papa need to know, that you will not mention a word of this to anyone else?”
