“A choker today, I believe,” Mary smiled sweetly.
“I agree, and if you could restrict him to these specific two inches or a little lower so it is hidden by the dress, I will need to use less concealing powder,” Reid informed her mistress.
“Do I have any?” Mary frowned.
“Oh yes, my Lady, I have all you will ever need for any occasion,” she hugged her mistress’s shoulders then she dabbed a light concealer and put on the choker. Happy for her Marchioness, she helped ready her to take the world by storm. Reid believed that her mistress deserved all the marital felicity in the world.
Not many moments later Lady Mary joined her husband in their sitting room. They descended the stairs to have a quick light repast while their trunks were loaded onto the carriage while it was still dark outside.
Waiting for them on a salver on their table there was a note from the Duke that simply read: ‘Look at the royal announcements today.’Thanking goodness that the paper arrived so early, Hugh located the relevant page then looked at Mary.
“It seems there was some excitement after we left your parent’s house yesterday, my love,” he reported with a smirk.
“Nothing bad, I hope,” his pretty wife retorted.
“That depends on whether or not you call our brother and sister Darcy being elevated to peers of the realm trouble. If not, then no, my dear Mary, it is not trouble.” He handed his wife the paper opened to the announcement.
“Dear me,” Mary let out a gasp of surprise, “William and Lizzy are an Earl and Countess!” she smiled as she looked at her husband.
“It seems so and we will see them at the pier very soon so we may congratulate them then. Are you ready to depart, Mary?” Birchington asked, ready to jump and help her out of her chair but also wanting to make sure she had eaten enough.
They were soon in one of their conveyances on their way to the quay on the Thames. By the time they arrived, there was just enough light to make out the name of the ship, ‘The Elizabeth’. They alighted from the coach to meet their brother and sister already standing and talking to a gentleman while watching their trunks being loaded on board. The Rhys-Davies joined the gathered group and were introduced to the vessel’s captain, Jonathan Cox. Captain Cox had commanded one of the ships of the line that had carried Nelson’s flag during Trafalgar. Two years after, and having given the Navy more than twenty years’ service, he had resigned his commission but had not desired to become a landlubber, even though he had earned more than enough prize money to retire. Life on land had no appeal to him. His wife, Amanda, normally sailed with him, his only daughter was married and nearing her first confinement, which explained the absence of Mrs Cox. In addition, they had three sons, all officers in the Royal Navy, the eldest recently promoted to Captain and in command of a frigate. The next two were a Commander and a Lieutenant.
“Captain, would you mind telling me if Princess Elizabeth has seen the ship honouring her name, or if I should make close observations for when next I am summoned for tea?” Lizzy drawled, making the group laugh as Mary stepped to her side and Lizzy looped her arm in her sister’s.
“If you are Lord Longbourn’s second daughter, then this ship is your namesake, my Lady. This particular ship was built to be a personal vessel for the Bennets and the Gardiners; there is a ship named for each of the Bennet and Gardiner daughters already sailing in the Dennington fleet. I believe ‘the Helen’ will be coming into port soon so we can update her name appropriately, in fact. I came to know your uncle, Sir Edward, when my one hundred and two gun ‘Britannica’ was being built four years before Trafalgar. After I decided that I did not enjoy being landlocked on an estate, I contacted him and here we are.” He winked at the two ladies. “You four get the treat of her maiden voyage. We may have a few kinks, but all on board is only new this first trip,” he teased his passengers.
“Wait, we all have a ship named after us?” Mary asked in astonishment.
“You do, Lady Mary. If you follow the same path as the one named after you, you will go far and beyond your expectations. The one that was picked for you has been one of the best additions to the fleet as it is narrower and can slip into ports while the main group may still be slower. It has been to all of the seven seas bringing trade to and from certain locations worldwide.” He bowed his head in her direction.
After watching the frenetic activity, occasionally barking out an order, for about another half hour, the Captain invited them to board. As the ship had been designed and built for the family’s use, it had every luxury one could expect and many they could not have foreseen.
There were two enormous master cabins in the stern section on the family deck as it was so named. Between the two cabins was a dining room that could seat forty with ease and a sitting room with a pianoforte designed for a ship. Forward of the living room were twelve luxury cabins. Between the two master cabins there were two smaller cabins that could each house up to four servants and allowed for the separation of the genders. Past the twelve cabins were two large cabins also designed as servants’ quarters, one for each gender. The Captain’s day cabin, his night cabin, and the wardroom were below the master cabins with the rest of the crew quarters and galley, on the lower two decks, with the hold below them.
As they were standing on the deck while the crew made ready to sail, the two brothers noticed a frigate tied up behind their ship also making ready to leave port. The strange thing was that she was not flying the standard of the Royal Navy, but rather a Dennington line flag and was named ‘The Jane.’ The second officer explained that as the company owned the shipyards that built the bulk of the ships for the Navy that the owners had commissioned a number of six and forty gun frigates for themselves to act as escorts for high value cargo, and the one that they currently saw off the stern was assigned as permanent escort for ‘The Elizabeth.’ All four passengers agreed that the frigate was very aptly named, as its namesake was as protective as they come.
“With the escorts, no French privateer ever bothers with our ships and Lord Longbourn had told us that no ships had ever carried so precious a cargo as this one is, so we have two more escorts that will join us for our trip. They are waiting for us at Southend where we enter the channel.” Captain Cox chuckled when he looked at the men and back down at the ladies, surreptitiously pointing at Hugh and Darcy. “I believe the Earl is quite relieved to have sons,” he stage-whispered to them. He signalled his second in command to give the order to let slip the ropes. Once the new sons had settled and started thinking on all they had just learned they realised that Gardiner and Associates effectively had its own navy.
At seven in the morning the two ships slipped the quay and proceeded toward Southend to meet the other two escorts and then head to open sea and make turns to the northeast heading toward Scotland.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The day after the wedding Sir Richard Fitzwilliam, a new Baronet so dubbed by the Regent, headed back with his wife to Brookfield. They arrived on the third day of travel. The final signed leases for the new tenants had arrived by courier the day before they started their journey homeward.
While in town, they had decided that though they knew they were welcome to stay with any of their family, and admittedly they could come to town above five times a year and stay with each only once, that they would buy a town home of their own. A good-sized home was for sale on Portnoy Square, and after a tour and evaluating price versus value, they purchased the property. Until they had their own children, they would continue to stay at either Darcy, Matlock, or Bennet House and they could lease out the renamed Fitzwilliam House. Andrew, Marie, and the children had been invited to join them at Brookfield as they had not yet visited the estate.
“I had no idea that your house is larger than the one at Bennet Park,” Andrew said as he looked around, impressed with all he could see coming to life in the gardens as they stood in front of the house. “It seems that the estate was well looked after during the years that it was unoccupied. I believe Hilldale is even a little smaller than this estate, is it not Marie?” He winked at his wife.
“Unless my eyes deceive me husband, you are correct. Jane, you and Richard have a nearly perfect estate. Tell me did you pick the colour scheme for the roses, or was it that way when you came.”
“The roses closest to the house were as you see them, but I asked that they be expanded. I like the colours greatly and now it looks exactly as I always imagined my rose garden would.” She smiled at her husband, who like he always did, melted at the innate sweetness and devotion that naturally radiated from Jane.
“Is this not better than dodging French bullets and blades Richard?” Marie teased her brother.
“I for one, am very happy that he no longer has people trying to kill him in a faraway country,” Jane said with conviction as she agreed with her sister-in-law. She turned to her recently acquired brother and sister, happy to have them as the first guests to be hosted at the estate. “Marie, Andrew, and our niece and nephew are most welcome.”
Fitzwilliam said nothing to disagree with his wife regarding his not being in the army any longer. He agreed with her, and he knew better than to gainsay her.
