It was a minute or two after his mother left that the door opened and Mrs Gardiner nodded to the new father. “Louisa is ready to see you,” she stated.
Harold did not need to be told twice. He practically ran into the room. No matter what his mother had told him, he still had some residual fear for his beloved wife, which dissipated assoon as he received a tired but welcoming smile from his Louisa, who sat, propped up by several pillows, in the bed.
“I have been ready to see you since you left the birthing chamber,” Louisa said in welcome. “Have you seen Arthur?”
“Yes. I met Mother just outside a few minutes ago. You did very well, my darling wife. A son, although as you know I would have been just as pleased with a daughter,” Harold replied.
“If He blesses us again, perhaps we will have a daughter. It is just as well we had names chosen for both sexes,” Louisa responded.
“Are you sure you do not want to use your mother’s name for a daughter?”
“I am. My mother, may she rest in peace, was not a kind woman and never had time for me because I did not follow her philosophy about rising in society like Caroline has. As such, I am pleased that if we are blessed with a daughter, she will be named Leticia Mary.”
“By that time, perhaps I will convince you that your middle name should be first, but I will not argue that now.” Harold paused as he thought of something. “You mentioned Caroline. How much longer do you think it will take her until she accepts she will never be able to sway Aunt Hildebrand and Uncle John?”
“Somehow my delusional younger sister believed that once she turned sixteen, regardless of our late Papa’s letter and our aunt’s and uncle’s refusal to bend to her will, it would be different after her birthday.” Louisa shook her head. “She has five more years as their ward, I hope and pray she will change her ways, but I am not too optimistic that will be the case.”
Just then the sounds of a squalling babe reached the new parents. The sound was followed by the new grandmamma entering the chamber.
“I think Arthur is hungry,” Leticia stated as she handed the indignant newborn to his mother. “He had just met his grandpappa when he decided to demand sustenance.”
It was a wondrous sight for Harold to see his wife give nourishment to their son. They would not follow thefashionableway of employing a wetnurse. They would only consider that if Louisa was unable to feed Arthur herself, and based on the hungrily suckling babe, it seemed that was not an issue.
Soon enough, Arthur Hurst was sated, and after laying a cloth across his shoulder, Harold placed his son there and patted his back gently until the boy expelled a loud belch. Next, a maid changed his napkin and swaddled him.
Soon after, the new parents and their sleeping son—he was in his mother’s arms—were alone in the room.
“For godparents, I was thinking of asking the Gardiners and Lord Hilldale to do the honours. What think you, Harold?” Louisa enquired as she watched her son, with his puckered lips which looked like he was sucking, as he slept in her arms.
“I could not agree more. Our son will be a fortunate boy if they all agree.” Harold kissed his wife’s forehead.
Seeing that Louisa was close to falling asleep, Harold took Arthur from her arms as gently as possible and placed him in the bassinet right next to the bed. He drew a blanket over his son’s torso, and after a longing look at the tableau before him, he exited the chamber and sent the nursemaid in to sit with his wife and son.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
By the first Monday in September, the day Arthur Hurst reached one month in age, he began his first carriage journey of any length.
Thanks to the oppressive heat and attendant malodorous air in London, the Hursts could not countenance remaining longer than they had to. Arthur had been christened the previous Friday, and rather than wait a full six weeks, Louisa had been churched. The Gardiners and Hilldale had happily taken on the roles of godparents. Holcomb, Biggs, and Johns were the unofficial godparents of the youngest Hurst. They would protect him with their own lives if needed. Knowing that Arthur had so many willing protectors warmed his parents’ hearts.
With the distance to Winsdale being more than two hundred miles, the decision was made to travel to Netherfield Park, which was only twenty miles away, and, thankfully, not leased out at the moment. Those who did not know the Hursts owned the estate would be under the impression that they were temporary tenants.
The older Hursts were part of the party travelling into Hertfordshire. Unlike the distance to Winsdale, Hurst was close enough that a rider could reach him in less than two hours if horses were swapped along the way. It was the first time that Leticia and Ignatius Hurst were seeing the estate, as at the time of purchase, the latter had trusted his son’s judgment without question.
When the convoy of coaches was drawn to a halt in the drive at Netherfield Park, Mr and Mrs Nichols and Mr Harper were all waiting to welcome the Hursts to the estate. Thanksto communication Leticia sent to Mrs Nichols, the three senior staff members—the only ones employed at the estate who were aware who the owner was—knew to treat the Hursts as tenants.
Harold remembered what Bennet had told him regarding his wife and her search for single men as well as what gossips Mrs Bennet and her sister, Mrs Hattie Phillips were, so he had suggested, and his father had agreed, that they have Phillips let slip in his wife’s and sister-in-law’s hearing that a family, consisting of two married couples, was leasing the estate for a few months until a babe was old enough for the long and gruelling journey into Yorkshire. That way any matchmakers in the area—namely one Fanny Bennet—would know there was no one worth pursuing at the estate.
The older Hursts decided to defer to the younger and allow them to take the master suite because the family nursery, with rooms for nursemaids and others, could be accessed from the mistress’s chambers.
While Louisa and Nurse made for the attached nursery—the former needed to feed her son—the rest of the Hursts made for their chambers.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“How dare Mr Phillips accept married couples to lease Netherfield Park?” Fanny Bennet screeched. “He cares nothing for my nerves! If there was a wealthy single man in residence, my Jane would capture him with her beauty.”
“But Mamma, I was only fifteen in January past, and Papa will not allow me to come out until I am seventeen or eighteen,” Jane protested calmly.
“He will allow you to come out…” Fanny began to respond.
