“They were with three friends today, Mama,” John pointed out. “Two Ladies who are daughters of Earls and Miss Darcy; that Mr Darcy who was in the area last year; his sister. We were introduced to all.”
“I-it must have been impossible to avoid you, and I am sure that they were all haughty towards you!” she professed though she was suddenly not as sure of her assertions.
“As much as I hate to contradict you Mama, please remember I told you that the Bennets were nothing like you have claimed they would be when I was their guest in London,” Charlotte said as some exasperation threaded into her voice. She had long been tired of this pointless, one-sided competition. As much as she hated to critique her mother, the time had come when it could no longer be avoided. “Maria and John will attest to the fact that the two Bennets were riding with a large group and it was them that came to us, not the other way around.
“There was no hesitation as we were introduced to their companions, and all three we were acquainted with were friendly and gracious; two of whom I had met briefly in Town. As if we needed further proof of the lies of that blackguard Wickham, Miss Darcy is not at all proud as he claimed. If anything, she is shy. You may be bound and determined to degrade the Bennets out of envy, but I am not. After Jane’s wedding, I will be leaving Lucas Lodge and going with Eliza to Dovedale, Sir Edward’s estate near Lambton in Derbyshire. I have accepted her invitation to stay with her until my year of mourning is behind me.” Charlotte saw her mother was about to retort so she quickly continued.
“You bemoan the fact that I will never be mistress of Longbourn. It is not because you wanted itfor me, but because you wanted tolord it overLady Longbourn, who is supposed to be yourfriend, Mama. It pains me to enumerate all of these things, but do you not see that the only person you are hurting is yourself? Do you want to destroy the lifelong friendships that your children enjoy with the Bennet sisters? Do you know that I am wealthy now because of the one smart thing that my husband ever did in his lifethanksto the Bennets?”
“W-w-w-what do you mean Charlotte?” Lady Lucas stammered, now very disquieted.
“The extra money of which Papa could not tell you the source, comes fromme! The Bennets paid my husband twenty thousand pounds to break the entail and to my great financial advantage, God took the insensible man home before he could turn the money over to his ‘all knowing’ patroness who never cared about his actual wellbeing and is now ensconced in an institution where she can cause no harm to anyone any longer. She would have wasted the money in no time at all, and if he had lived, I would have nothing. The money is invested with Gardiner and Associates and will grow by two to three thousand pounds a year.
“Yes, Mama, your plain penniless Charlotte has such an income. I elected to leave most of it to compound and only take five hundred a year, of which at this point four hundred a year will go to Papa to use as needed for the comfort of my family. Where do you think the two new maids and manservant came from Mama?” Charlotte noticed that her father had entered the room, though this was not yet noticed by his wife for most of her speech She turned to him and said, “Papa, I love you very much, but unless you convince Mama to cease this one-sided competition, it will bedéjà vu. You know about the friends we have lost because of some perceived slight to Mama and you also know what happened to the Bingleys who failed to check their sister. It does not mean that the same would happen to us, but would you rather find out the hard way? I do not feel that I am exaggerating Papa. I beg you for the friendship you have had with Lord Longbourn since you were young lads not to allow this to get out of hand.”
Sir William, his normal joviality gone for the moment, rose up to his full height, and with all of the gravitas as the master of Lucas Lodge he could muster, looked directly at his wife alone. “Sarah, please follow me to my study, now.”
It is not reported here what was said between husband and wife, or more accurately what the husband said and the wife listened to, but a much-chastised Lady Lucas emerged, one who started to think that perhaps the way she comported herself was not best for her family.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Once the girls had changed and washed from their ride, they joined the rest of the Bennets in the largest drawing room. All five girls were effusive about what they had seen at Longbourn. The balance of the family that had not seen Longbourn earlier that day would go there by carriage on the morrow.
When Kitty mentioned that they had seen Charlotte, Maria, and John in Meryton, Fanny recalled that she had intended to invite the Lucases and the Phillipses to dinner also on the morrow, as she missed her friend and her sister. Rather than forget again, she rose and walked to the escritoire, the same one where Darcy had tried to write to Georgie as Miss Bingley had refused to leave him alone.
Once completed, she rang for Mr Hill and asked him to have the notes sent to both families and to wait for an answer at each home. When the messenger delivered the missive to Lucas Lodge, Sir William read the short note and then looked at his wife questioningly.
She read the note and realised that this offer was the chance her husband said she would receive to repair her friendship and move forward. She looked expectantly at her husband who gave a nod, so she wrote an appreciative note accepting her friend’s invitation.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
A forlorn group of men sat in Darcy’s study nursing snifters of brandy. There was no sound other than the odd sigh and the occasional sip of the libation.
“Look at us, we would be disdainful of this moping about if we saw it in others!” Richard scoffed at them and himself.
“Did you not know Richard? I am a practiced hypocrite,” groused Darcy.
“You were cousin.Were, notare. We all know that Lizzy would not have granted you a courtship if you had not amended your behaviour. Unlike dear Auntie Cat in Falconwood, you have the capacity to change,” Richard replied drolly as he sat missing his betrothed. “Tell me again why did we not accompany them back to Hertfordshire?”
“When does your steward, Mr…I forget his name, arrive so that I can help you complete your business? Have you received the final copies of the marriage settlement back from your solicitor yet, Richard?” Darcy challenged, knowing exactly what was between his cousin and his Jane, though it could all have been done in Hertfordshire, if at more expense and inconvenience to those they needed to meet.
“You two sound like an old married couple!” Hugh slurred, slightly in his cups as he too was counting the days until he saw his Mary again.
“Thank you for your assessment, Birchington,” Richard replied sarcastically. “As I have told you more than once, Murray Lefroy, my steward at Brookfield, arrives on the morrow. And I received a note from Mr Abernathy that the final copies of the settlement will be ready in the morning, two days hence. Do you think that we will need more than one day with Lefroy, William? Or can we hie to Hertfordshire as soon as the settlement papers are delivered?”
“I cannot foresee a reason why not, Richard,” Darcy opined. “Based on what you told me I do not anticipate any complications, as long as there are not more issues that he has yet to enumerate,” Darcy explained, hopeful that in two days he would see his beloved again. It was a testament to his unbridled love for Lizzy that he had not hesitated when Georgie had uncharacteristically requested to be allowed to accompany the Bennets. There were few people to whom he would entrust his precious sister, and the Bennets were now among them.
How he loved and missed the woman! As infuriating as she could be at times, he had an unquenchable need to be in her company, to bask in the warmth that he felt when she was near.
“When will your parents and brother and his family go into Hertfordshire, Fitzwilliam?” Hugh tensed up, hating the distance of those infernal four and twenty miles he was certain were too long a distance between here and there. “Mine will arrive three days before the wedding in time for the pre-wedding ball.”
“Given that I am the groom, my family will join us two days after we arrive. I wanted to thank you, William, for asking your cousin Archibald Darcy, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to perform the wedding ceremony. It is not every day one can say that they were married beforetheArchbishop.” Richard felt quite smug about this fact, although he would have been happy with a curate officiating as long as he was to marry his Jane.
When they had discussed a venue for the wedding and his mother suggested St George’s Church in Town, Jane had disabused his mother of the entire notion and had brooked no opposition. She would marry from her home or not at all. After that there was no resistance to the location of the wedding from any quarter.
Yes, his Jane, no matter how serene she appeared, had a backbone of steel when it was needed. His beloved was not, nor would she ever be, anyone’s pushover. Especially not his, and he openly admitted to himself that he found his Jane entrancing and tantalizing. He would indulge anything that she ever asked of him and he would dedicate his life to her and make sure that she would never repine accepting him.
The three decided to head to White’s for dinner rather than sit around and be maudlin thinking about their ladies. At the club, they joined a table where Andrew Fitzwilliam was sitting with a friend of his, LordHarold Smythe, the Earl of Granville, a very eligible and single man most of the mamas of theTonwould be focusing on now that these three were off the market. Though it was true, the matchmaking mamas had been after him for years, he was not about to be caught in the parson’s mousetrap until he was good and ready. It was known that he would not offer for anyone who attempted to compromise him, which was not doubted, as he always meant what he said.
