After the documents were signed and the three Bennets joined him in the sitting room, Bingley told the lone footman to summon all of the servants and to bring them into the sitting room.
The current staff and servants were all asked if they would like to work for the new master and mistress of Longfield Meadows. All of them agreed with pleasure they had not imagined they would feel that morning, and Barrow was overjoyed at being restored to full time employment as the head gardener once more.
The servants were dismissed and thereafter the senior staff members were asked to come in one by one to discuss the needs for each of their respective areas of responsibility. Jane sat with Mrs. Pattinson, a widow of five and forty years, and took an instant liking to the woman. The housekeeper told Jane what she believed the number of upper and lower maids and kitchen staff they would need.
“May I have your thoughts on those we could employ for a cook and a baker?” Jane asked the most important question for the whole house’s ability to thrive.
“I am so glad you asked,” Mrs. Pattinson smiled brightly. “The former cook, who is very good at her craft and very pleasant, a Mrs. Loretta McKean, and her daughter Fran who in my opinion is the best baker in the county outside the ones at Pemberley and Snowhaven, are now employed at an inn not five miles away. They would be most grateful to be considered for their former positions at the Meadows and both will be most pleased to return here and also to be away from there.”
“Then let us bring them home. Today, if it can be arranged. We will have funds released so we can have all the stores replenished and you all deserve a feast of your own for taking as good a care of my future home as you have. There will be a lot of work in the days to come, so consider it a bribe.” Jane smiled as Mrs. Pattinson laughed delightedly. Fanny watched with pride as her sweetest daughter won over her entire house in under five minutes even before she officially was its mistress.
Jane gave the housekeeper leave to employ four more maids and three more for the kitchens than had been requested. Jane had her own lady’s maid, so the housekeeper did not need to worry about filling that position.
Bingley had a similar meeting with the butler, Mr. Haverson, a man of one and fifty years whose wife, Bingley was told, was a very good seamstress. He informed Bingley how many footmen he thought he needed in addition to the one existing man.
He was authorised to employ the nine he had asked for, plus five more. They discussed the empty wine cellar and library. Bingley informed his butler that both would be stocked before he took residence. Before Haverson was dismissed, he was told to have his wife contact the housekeeper, as the new master knew that his fiancée would be very happy with a seamstress on staff. Next Bingley met with Barrow, the head gardener.
“Mother Bennet? Would you mind verifying I am on the right path?” Bingley asked Fanny to join him. Bingley told Barrow to work with the steward to hire as many under gardeners as he needed to restore the gardens to their former glory.
The herculean task would be to affect as much repair as possible to the gardens before the Bingleys took up residence. Fanny’s opinion was canvassed regarding her thoughts on how to restore the gardens.
Lastly, Bingley met with the steward, Mr. Anthony Timmons. He had been the steward at the Meadows for over ten years and was three and forty years old. He, his wife and three children lived in the steward’s house a little under a half mile from the manor house.
Bingley authorised the steward to start repairs on the existing tenant houses and the six empty ones as soon as the sale was final, and the deed was in his hands. At the same time, he told Timmons to give Barrow whatever he needed in men and resources to fix the gardens.
Bingley laid out his plan to attract tenants to fill the empty tenant farms, and the improvements he intended to make on the estate. The steward agreed the scope of all equalled the aim to raise the income by two to three thousand pounds per annum and was very realistic.
Once everything Jane and Bingley needed to impart to their new household staff was completed, they left a very happy group of servants and senior staff behind who saw the new master and mistress of the Meadows were very good people who cared about their estate, and with the relief of now knowing it would be very pleasant to work for the Bingleys.
The fortnight flew by with lots of activities; soon they were all on the way to Hertfordshire to prepare for Lizzy and Darcy’s wedding.
Chapter 20
There had been a flurry of activity of wedding preparation since they had arrived back at Longbourn and Netherfield Park. Mrs. Hill and the very competent Longbourn servants had everything well in hand, and Hill had followed the instructions from her mistress and Miss Lizzy to the letter.
For this stay, the Fitzwilliams joined Darcy, Bingley, the Hursts, and Anne de Bourgh at Netherfield Park to take some pressure off the servants and the Hills as the final preparations for the wedding were made. Only Georgiana Darcy stayed at Longbourn to be with her Bennet sisters. Three days before the wedding, the Gardiners arrived at Longbourn.
Six-year-old May Gardiner was to be the flower girl. Jane would stand up with Lizzy and the now former Colonel, the Honourable Mr. Richard Fitzwilliam, would stand up with his cousin and soon to be brother. Bingley did not begrudge Richard the position as he knew the two cousins had been as close as brothers for the whole of their lives.
With Meryton only a four-hour journey from London, friends would be coming on the day of the wedding. They were to be married by Darcy’s cousin, Archibald Darcy, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who would arrive on the morrow, two days before the ceremony.
Richard Fitzwilliam had returned from town the day before. The Bennets and the Gardiners had joined the Netherfield Park party for dinner to celebrate the selling of Richard’s commission and his official honourable discharge from His Majesties Own Royal Dragoons.
As sad as General Atherton had been to lose an officer of Richard Fitzwilliam’s calibre, the Countess and her soon-to-be daughter Mary were ecstatic Richard would never have to go to war again. The man himself felt relief after trading the uncertainty of the army for the peace and love that would be his life from now on.
Darcy spent almost every waking hour of every day at Longbourn with his beloved Lizzy. Luckily with a mother as understanding as Lizzy’s, they were only disturbed if no one else knew their preferences.
At times, when they walked in the park, up to Oakham Mount, or rode their horses, they were chaperoned by Kitty, Georgie, Tom, and James, either all four or some combination thereof.
The day before the wedding they sat with Darcy’s cousin, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in a formal meeting any clergyman marrying a couple would normally have. It turned out to be rather less formal than what the couples expected.
“William, I can see you and my soon to be cousin have made a love match, just as I did with my wonderful Eugenia and your late father did with his Anne.” The Archbishop smiled warmly at Lizzy before again meeting his cousin’s eyes.
“We most certainly have made a love match, Cousin Archibald. I do not know what I have done to be lucky enough to have secured the love of this wonderful, caring, and compassionate woman,” Darcy agreed with a dreamy look as he locked eyes with his beloved.
“I am the lucky one William. You are the best man I know, and I am blessed to become your wife on the morrow,” Lizzy replied sweetly.
She marvelled at how relaxed she felt because this was the natural next step in their journey, and she looked forward to each one. The archbishop was amused and knew without his presence the two lovers would be lost in their own world.
