“Aunt Maddie, Uncle Edward! This is such a big house, and what a view!” Jane, who never did so, gushed.
“My goodness, I never imagined seeing so much of nature’s beauty in one place,” Elizabeth added. “How can we ever thank you for bringing us here? It is so much better than the picture I had sketched in my mind’s eye.”
As excited as they were to begin to explore, Jane and Elizabeth chose chambers and began to assist the maid with their unpacking.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Mr Hillman had rented a smaller house than Lakeshore House, which was his house’s neighbour. He had been sitting on his veranda sipping a glass of madeira when he had heard the sounds of horses and conveyances from the neighbouring house.
While he had been watching, after not too long, two younger ladies, in their late teen years or early twenties, he guessed, stepped out onto theirmuch larger veranda. They were both beauties, one golden blonde with deep blue eyes, the other with raven locks and the most intriguing emerald-green eyes. They had obviously not seen him as they spoke freely, and from what they were saying, he determined they were sisters.
As he listened—he could hear them clearly—there was no talk of money or social position, only pure, unadulterated joy at the wonders of nature before them. Could it be they were genuine ladies who would look at the person and not wealth and connections?
He was somewhat sceptical after being so disillusioned by fortune hunters; however, only time would tell. Even if that were true, it could be that he would not be compatible with either of them, or that neither would be interested in a gentleman of no consequence.
Chapter 19
Charlotte Lucas found that she was now an independent woman—while not someone of extreme wealth—she had more than enough to live on comfortably for the rest of her days. As such, she would never become a burden to her father and then, once he inherited, her oldest brother, Franklin.
It was that fear more than anything else which had driven her to accept her late husband’s proposal. It was not as if she did not know that he was not an intelligent man, and he worshipped his former patroness as much as, if not more so, than God. She had not known of his vindictive nature. As soon as she realised that he had offered for her as a means to make Eliza jealous and how spiteful he became when that endeavour failed, she knew what a huge error she had made. At that point, there had been nothing she could do.
But then ‘Lady Luck’ had interceded. As a woman of faith, Charlotte did not believe that God had punished Mr Collins by causing his death, so it had just been chance. In death, he was a far better provider for her than he had been in life. Charlotte had known that her late husband was a miser but not the extent of his skinflint ways. However, she was thankful for his tightfisted manner, which had provided for her future.
Now that she was free, she wondered if she would ever again meet the man to whom she had felt attracted, something she had hidden from everyone while she had been married.
It had crept up on her slowly. As a married woman,the last thing she expected or wanted was to develop tender feelings for a man who was not her husband. He was not wealthy or handsome, but the times she had been in his company, Charlotte had felt more alive than at any point before or since. Regardless of her own feelings, she knew not how the man felt about her or if she would ever see him again.
She did know that even in the infinitesimal chance he had felt something for her, he was far too honourable to give any sign of his feelings. And now with her return to Lucas Lodge for three months of mourning—six weeks of deep followed by half mourning for an additional six weeks—the chances of her seeing him again were almost nought.
As it was a warm June day, Charlotte, wearing her wide-brimmed straw hat, was seated in the small park on one side of Lucas Lodge. Her father had placed some wooden armchairs below an old hornbeam tree in the centre of the small area of grass. The gardener had cut the lower branches so one could walk and sit beneath it comfortably. She was sitting with her eyes closed, enjoying the light breeze and the fresh air, when she heard footsteps approaching her.
“Charlotte, Mama told me to bring you this missive,” Maria stated as she proffered the sealed epistle to her older sister. “It is from Rosings Park, so Mama thought it might be urgent.”
“Thank you, Maria,” Charlotte responded as she took the letter from the youngest Lucas.
“It is my pleasure,” Maria sang as she skipped back towards the house.
Charlotte was intrigued as to why Anne would write to her again so soon after her last letter. She broke the seal, smoothed the paper, and began to read.
19 June 1812
Rosings Park, Kent
My dear friend,
Yes, I am writing to you before I have read your reply to my previous letter, which was delivered while I was scribing this one. No, I am well, and there is nothing about which to be concerned.
I am writing to ask a kindness of you.
Jenki (Mrs Jenkinson) needs to go to her sister, who is ailing. It could be weeks or months that she will be away.
Hence, I am requesting that, as a favour to me andNOTas a paid companion, you would agree to be my guest until Jenki returns. After that, you are welcome to remain.
Thanks to our discussions before you and your parents departed the estate for Meryton, you are aware that my health is not good. The quacks my mother inflicted upon me over the years, men who would give me useless tinctures to imbibe, and bleed me for no good reason, have not helped the situation. I do not believe that she ever purposefully tried to make me sicker. The problem was her ignorance, which she refused to acknowledge. She would tell the so-called doctors what I needed when my mother had not an inkling of the truth of my condition, and the sycophants blindly followed her orders.
The reason I am making this request is because I am aware of my physical limitations. It is for more than companionship that I would like you to join me, if I may impose upon you.
In the weeks since you have been gone, there are already changes to my home. Mr Rasmusen, one of Mr Gardiner’s clerks,and his men have removed all the items with which Lady Catherine decorated the manor house. I already have some comfortable furniture in place, which my mother had relegated to the attics. If you agree to come, my friend, I will have de Bourgh House on Berkeley Square opened, and you and I will go select new, comfortable, serviceable furniture. I plan to decorate my houses in the same fashion the Fitzwilliams and Darcys have done, with understated elegance.
