In his inebriated condition, Collins did not bother to ask what the sex of his newest child was. After all, had his wife not all but guaranteed him a son?
By the morning when Collins managed to drag himself from his bed, with his head pounding, he had no thoughts of his wife and babe in his head. He had two helpings of powders and went to break his fast. Seeing Mrs Winters enter the dining parlour with his meal in hand, he remembered he had seen the midwife arrive the previous night.
“How is my son?” Collins growled.
Mrs Winters did not like her mistress, but she disliked the master and his abuse of her far more. “The mistress has not regained consciousness, and the babe is with the one tenant wife able to feed… the babe.” She was sure the master would explode with anger when he was told he had another daughter, which was why she did not mention the sex of his huge daughter. It was a temporary reprieve; at some juncture the master would discover the mistress had birthed another female.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
On the fourth day after she gave birth, a greatly weakened Fanny woke for the first time since the event. The maid sitting with her informed her that herdaughterwas at a tenant’s home due to Mrs Collins being unconscious for four days.
“Does my husband know what the sex is?” Fanny almost whispered in case he was close by and heard her.
“No, Missus, ‘e don’t. Mrs Winters not tell the sex,” the young maid related.
Fanny knew it was only a matter of time until Clem discovered the truth. All she could hope was that she recovered enough of her strength before the inevitable sessions ofpunishment.
Now that she had delivered her husband a second daughter, she had to admit, if only to herself, that she could no longer lay the blame for only girls being born while married to him at her late husband’s door. Not for the first time, she owned that while Mr Bennet lived, she was far better off, and her precipitate contacting of Clem Collins and everything subsequent had all been mistake after mistake.
Admitting such to herself still did not mean that she could tell her brother what she had done with her first three daughters. The fear of imprisonment was too strong.
She could not fathom that being in gaol would be an improvement over her life now.
It was in mid-September that her husband deigned to go meet hisson, who Fanny had named Lydia, if only to herself. In the interceding months she had spent as much time with Kitty, who was already three, as possible in case the worst occurred when her husband met his daughter.
Once Collins discovered that the babe he thought was a son was another daughter, he stormed back to the manor house andpunishedhis wife for failing to do her duty to him.
It was months before Fanny recovered, but by then, she was able to have relations again. She knew she could not bear another child, but she could never tell that to the devil she had married. She believed with all that she was that her life would be forfeit if he knew.
In the meanwhile, she spent time with Kitty and walked to see Lydia daily. The youngest Collins remained with tenants for ten months until she was weaned.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
April 1797
“Why, Mamma, why must Jamey go to Eton with Wills, just like first Andy did, and then Rich did as well? It is not fair that I will not see them as much as I want,” Elizabeth, who was now six, stamped her slippered foot.
“Lizzy, do not forget we will still see Anna whenever we see Aunt Anne and Uncle Robert. And remember, Papa told us that all boys go to school and then uni-ver-sity,” Jane sounded out the last word. She would be eight in August, but at times she still had difficulty with big words.
“I will miss my brother as well, Lizzy,” Mary, who had turned five in January, chirped.
Paul had conveyed Jamey to Eton, where he and William would commence their studies at the venerable institution of learning. They would join Richard, who was about to start his second year at the school, but the two would be without Andrew, who at almost seventeen was about to begin his studies at Cambridge.
Edith looked at her three daughters; they were, as she predicted, all very beautiful. Jane was on her way to being the kind of beauty that members of theToncalled ideal, with her golden-blonde hair, light, almost milky-white complexion, deep cerulean-blue eyes, and the classic shape of her face. In addition, Jane could be very serene. Lizzy was no less pretty, but her complexion was darker, she was petite, had fascinating emerald-green eyes, a rounder face, and was very active. Mary’s blonde hair was still a lighter shade of blonde than Jane’s. However, it had turned somewhat darker than it had been as a babe. A little before she had turned six months of age, her eyes had changed from dark blue to hazel, with flecks of green and gold in them. Even though she was almost a year younger than Lizzy, Mary was the same height, or a tiny bit taller. Like her two older sisters, she was a beauty as well.
The Carringtons were at their house in London waiting for their husband and father to return after conveying Jamey to his school. For the last few years, the family had come to London for a month or two. Holder had needed to be present the whole season to serve in the Lords, but Edith and the children would travel back to Holder Heights without him. How she loved how protective of them her Paul was.
To make sure his family was safe when travelling, with or without him, Paul had employed a cadre of footmen-guards. Recently he had taken on two young men who were mountains with legs. They were the sons—who had been determined to join the army as soldiers in the Royal Dragoons—of two tenants at Holder Heights.
Paul had offered John Biggs and Brian Johns far more money than they would earn in the army. From the age of thirteen, the two had learnt to shoot, use knives, and fence with sabres. As Lord Holder’s employment had the promise of action without having to go over the seas, the two had accepted, much to the pleasure of their respective parents.
Edith thought of the man Paul invested with and with whom he had placed the girls’ dowries. Following Reggie’s and Robert’s recommendation, Paul had met with one Edward Gardiner during the season of 1793 when he had come to Town without her and their children. He was as impressed as his friends were with Mr Gardiner and had made a sizable investment which included the five and seventy thousand pounds which represented the combined amount with which their daughters had been dowered. There had been no reason to mention the names of the girls or the fact that they were foundlings. The Carringtons had never seen their girls as foundlings.
Now, thanks to Mr Gardiner, Paul was in talks with a Mr Phillips in the town of Meryton about purchasing an estate in Hertfordshire. It was only about four hours from London, and it would allow her and the girls, and Jamey when he was home from school, to enjoy country air and not be far away from her beloved husband.
“Mamma,” Lizzy called.
Hearing her middle daughter snapped Edith out of her thoughts. “Yes, Lizzy dear,” she responded.
