As soon as the mare caught Elizabeth’s scent, she put her head over the half-door and nickered.
“Good morning, darling girl,” Elizabeth said as she rubbed the white blaze on her horse’s nose and forehead. “Yes, you know me too well; I would not come see you without a treat.” Elizabeth smiled when Venus also whinnied and tried to reach the hand she had been holding behind her back.
She placed the carrot on her left hand’s palm. The mare sniffed it and flapped her lips as she took it from Elizabeth’s hand. Her teeth never touched the hand. The only thing Elizabeth felt was a tickling sensation from the way the lips rubbed her hand. She watched as Venus munched her carrot happily. With Venus looking on expectantly, Elizabeth offered her mount her right hand, which held the apple. It did not take long before the fruit was consumed. Elizabeth rubbed her horse’s forehead again.
“Sorry girl, but I will not be riding you today,” Elizabeth explained. “I am walking to Oakham Mount this morning, and with the assembly this evening, I will not have time to give you a good gallop. I will have Peter give you a good run later.” Peter was one of the grooms.
Although it was against the mores of society, Bennet allowed his daughters to ride astride. He would rather his daughters be safe than fashionable. To protect their modesty, Bennet had the local dressmaker create split-skirt riding habits for all of his daughters. All of them were good horsewomen because he had taken the time to teach each one himself. When each daughter had reached a certain age, she had been taught to ride a small pony; then at ten, a cob. When one of Bennet’s daughters turned fourteen, she was taken to Haye Park to chuse one of the horses the Gouldings had for sale. That family had the best breeding programme in Hertfordshire and the surrounding counties.
As Elizabeth expected, Brian was waiting for her next to the stables. “To Oakham Mount,” she told the gentle giant. It was on Longbourn’s land, but her father allowed any of hisneighbours access to it.
Johns, like Biggs and the rest of the men employed to protect the Bennet sisters, was very calm unless someone threatened one of the Misses Bennet. Thankfully, from the time when Mr Bennet employed them until now, they had not had to employ their skills against anyone.
“Aye, Miss Lizzy,” Johns responded. He, like the rest of the footmen-guards, was aware that Miss Lizzy enjoyed the illusion of solitude. To that end, he kept about five or six yards behind her as she walked.
When she walked, Elizabeth enjoyed a blistering pace. Thankfully, the men who escorted her were all fit and on the large side. Even though none came close to Biggs and Johns in size, their strides were far longer than Elizabeth’s; hence, none of them had a problem keeping pace with her, no matter how fast she walked. She supposed she may have preferred to walk without an escort, but as it had been this way for as long as she could remember, Elizabeth never complained to her father about not walking or riding alone.
When they reached the mount—the highest hill in the area—Johns walked up ahead of his charge to make sure there were no threats lying in wait for her on the summit. There were none, as it was deserted. He stood aside for Miss Lizzy.
Elizabeth loved spending time here, especially if she managed to arrive prior to sunrise, something she had not succeeded in this morning. Before she proceeded to the flat boulder at the eastern edge of the hill where she liked to sit, she looked around at the familiar view.
The three oaks were almost without leaves; each tree only sporting a few lonely brown leaves ready to join the rest on the ground around the trunks of the trees. She smiled when she saw the four benches and the two wooden tables Papa had placed under the oak trees. In the spring and summerElizabeth and her sisters, sometimes with Papa, would ride here and enjoy a picnic below the oaks.
She headed towards the flattened boulder. Today, Elizabeth did not sit. As she stood looking over the patchwork of fields—bare now after the harvest—laid out before her, she noticed a man galloping across Netherfield Park’s fields on a big black horse.
From where Elizabeth was, she could not make out the rider’s features, but it did look like he had a good seat. From the size of his horse, Elizabeth guessed it was a stallion, and if she had to guess any further, he was between sixteen and seventeen hands high. Venus was barely fourteen hands. The horse she was watching would dwarf hers, but given how fleet of foot Venus was, Elizabeth was certain that her mare could keep up with, and possibly beat, the black horse.
After watching horse and rider turn back towards Netherfield Park’s manor house, Elizabeth speculated that the man had either been Mr Bingley or the friend who had been supposed to arrive the previous day.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Caroline, like I already told you, wewilldepart the estate at ten minutes before seven this evening. This is your final warning. Be it on your own head if you are not ready on time. I will not remind you again,” Bingley stated.
“Charles, you make too much of a fuss,” Miss Caroline replied.
By morning, she had managed to convince herself that Mr Darcy had not said what he had. She knew that no one at the level of society she would join ever arrived at an event at the stated time. It was a mark of their class and rank that they arrived fashionably late, which meant at least a half hour later.
As Mr Darcy was a member of the first circles, she waspositive that he would not allow Charles to depart at the time he claimed he would. No, she had nothing over which she should be concerned.
Her ensemble and jewels were ready. This very night, she would begin her campaign to become Mrs Darcy in earnest.
“If you are late, do not come whinging to me,” Bingley stated before leaving his sister’s chamber. That morning’s tray was hardly touched. She knew better than to complain.
As Caroline refused to attend the morning meal at what she called, the ungodly hour—the rest kept to unfashionable country hours, something she would never do—she had a tray in her chamber each day. As Aunt Hildebrand refused to have Cook and her helpers wait on Caroline’s whims, the tray was sent up at the same time the rest of the residents of the house sat down to break their fasts. That meant that by the time the ‘queen’ deigned to rise, her food was cold.
The first morning this had happened, she had thrown the plate against the wall and demanded warm comestibles. Instead of more food to break her fast, Aunt Hildebrand had arrived. By the time their aunt left the suite, Caroline knew it was either cold food or rise at the same time as the rest of her family.
To reinforce the lesson, Aunt Hildebrand had not allowed any maid to clean up the mess Caroline made. She had to clean it herself. Hence, no further word of complaint about the morning meal had been uttered by Caroline.
Bingley could only shake his head. He was close to banishing Caroline, and he was sure that he would soon have no choice. He would do what needed to be done, but he still held out a sliver of hope that his younger sister would be able to be saved from herself. He left his chambers and began to descend the stairs.
When he reached the first floor, Bingley saw Darcyclimbing the stairs. He must have completed his ride. “I am sorry I was not able to join you in riding this morning,” Bingley stated ebulliently.
“I understand better than most that there are times when you cannot do what you desire,” Darcy responded. “By the by, is that eminence part of Netherfield Park, The one to the northeast? It looks like a good place to view the area, much like the hill right behind Pemberley’s manor house is.”
“No, it is not part of this estate. It is named Oakham Mount. The hill behind Pemberley is about twice the height of the local one,” Bingley related. “In fact, that eminence is part of Longbourn. However, I am told that as long as they make no mischief, Mr Bennet allows his neighbours to climb the hill.”
“Then one of these mornings, I may ride to this Oakham Mount and see the view from the summit,” Darcy stated.
