She was taken aback. Fanny had not wanted to think about the fact she would be supplanted as mistress as soon asThomas was taken home to God.
“Fanny, I am two and seventy,” Henry added before his niece could respond to Debby. “Your husband is in his forties. In what world would he pass before me? There can, of course, be accidents, but your husband does not leave his study enough to be in danger,” he asserted sarcastically.
“But it could be so,” Fanny insisted.
“Anything is possible; we do not know God’s plan. However, what you are so worried over is highly improbable. Before you say my nephew Henry will outlive your husband, it is possible, but there is no guarantee in life. Why would you assume that whoever follows your husband would evict you from this house without somewhere to live?”
“Because I am sure I know how it will be,” Fanny responded unreasonably. “Not being mistress here will be the same thing.”
Bennet was feeling much better about how things were proceeding; there was finally entertainment to amuse him. He could always count on Fanny for a good performance.
“If you think that my eldest would be interested in a girl, especially one as has been described to us as your youngest has been, then to borrow a word my children like to use, you, Mrs Bennet, are barmy,” Debby stated forthrightly.
“What is wrong with me?” Lydia screeched. She stood and stamped her foot. “If I want to marry your boring son, I will.” She batted her eyes as Mama taught.
“Do you have a splinter in your eye that is causing you to do that in such an unattractive fashion?” Roger asked. “I would rather remain a bachelor for all of my days than marry a child like you.”
Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, and Kitty were burning with embarrassment at the way their mother and youngest sister were exposing all of the Bennets to ridicule. Their father was no better. Rather than put an end to the mortification, he wasadding wood to the fire.
A scandalised Lydia let out a scream of frustration, stamped her foot, and stormed out of the drawing room. She had done what Mama said! Why was her cousin not attracted to her?
With the show so very amusing, Bennet tried to stifle a chuckle, but he failed.
“You, Thomas, are worse than Henry described. How can you revel in the suffering of others? I am ashamed to call you nephew. Rather than check and educate your wife and youngest, you sit there and laugh,” Felicity said once she had turned towards her nephew. She turned back to her niece. “You do know that you would never be without a home, even should your smirking husband pass away this instant, do you not?”
There was a scowl on Bennet’s face. How dare his aunt come into his house and set him down in this fashion! The fact that her words were accurate was beside the point. If anything, that made it harder for him to swallow her rebuke. Worse, it seemed that Fanny was about to be enlightened about facts which would rob him of much future entertainment.
“You mean that peasant’s hovel, the dower house. Why would I want to live in squalor? The hedgerows would be better,” Fanny bit back.
“Has your husband ever taken you to see theso-calledhovel?” Taylor asked. “I have actually been there, as my mother is living at that house with Uncle Henry. It is a large, relatively new structure with all the comforts, which include hot and cold water delivered throughout the house by pipes. How many hovels do you know of with two suites and seven additional bedchambers? I believe that is not too much less than this house, is it not?”
Fanny was taken aback. First, Lizzy, and recently, Jane, had urged her to go see the house before she passed judgement on the state of it. She had been so sure, especially since she hadbeen egged on by some of the things Thomas had said. Had her husband been less than honest with her so he could amuse himself? She looked at Thomas. “You told me the house was nothing but a glorified tenant’s cottage.”
“That is how I remembered it before Uncle Henry repaired it,” Bennet defended.
“Which is why you did not come to the house yourself,” Henry said derisively. “You knew that if the house was in good order and better than you told yourself, you would have been forced to tell Fanny or lie to her instead. I have said it before, and I will say it again; my late brother would be ashamed of what you have become.”
Suddenly things were no longer so amusing. Bennet looked away, not willing to look anyone in the eye.
“You have a jointure, do you not?” Felicity asked her niece.
Fanny allowed it was so.
“Then pray tell, how would you have lived in the hedgerows? If your marriage settlement was decent, which knowing your late father was a solicitor, I am sure it was, then like me, your dowry remains yours until you too leave the mortal world. Whatever the amount is, you would have an income; hence, you would never be destitute,” Felicity asserted.
“If her husband had not been so indolent and invested his wife’s dowry with Gardiner, her income would have been more than double what it would be from the four per cents,” Henry pointed out.
No, this was definitely not amusing any longer. Bennet wanted nothing more than to return to his study where his book and a good bottle of port awaited him.
“Cousin, as I am the heir presumptive, will you not ride out with me and show me the estate?” Taylor asked. Uncle Henry had warned him that his cousin would attempt to slinkaway, especially if his desire to make sport had been curtailed.
“I suppose we can ride out,” Bennet sighed. His study would have to wait.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
While their fathers rode out to see the estate, the four eldest Bennet sisters led the Taylor siblings walking towards Lucas Lodge.
They had not ridden to another estate because the three Taylor sisters rode astride; all three had refused to attempt to use, as they termed it, the deadly side-saddle. The dressmaker in Meryton was fashioning split-skirt riding habits for them. On the farm where they had formerly lived, they had ridden wearing breeches, something they had been convinced would have been too much for most in England.
