“Of course, Mrs Phillips,” Miss Jones responded cheerfully. “Kitty dear, go with your mamma. We will take up where we left off when you return.”
“Yes, Miss Jones,” Kitty said diffidently as she stood and walked to her new mamma. She felt much safer in this house than she had, but she was still sad that her first mamma was in heaven.
Agatha took Kitty’s hand and led her to the nursery where Lyddie and Lawrence were with their nursemaids. “Paulette, please take Master Lawrence to play on the swing in the park. No more than a quarter hour is needed,” she instructed. Her son was only sixteen months old, but he loved to be pushed on the swing suspended from a thick bough of the huge oak tree. It was cold, but when he was bundled up and on his way to play, her son cared not about the temperature.
“Lyddie, come sit with us on the sofa,” Agatha invited. “The reason Papa and I wanted to see you was to tell you that soon you will be meeting some girls who are related to you. In fact, they are your sisters.” There was no need to speak of half-sisters; Kitty and Lyddie would not understand that.
“We have sisters?” Kitty asked in awe.
As was her wont, Lydia sat still, not fidgeting, as she still remembered how her mamma who had gone away, used to tell her to behave so there would not be trouble. Like Kitty, she felt safer, but she was still quite withdrawn.
“Yes, indeed you do,” Phillips confirmed. “Your Mamma Fanny was once married to a Mr Bennet. They had three daughters: Jane, who is ten, Lizzy, who is eight, but she will be nine in a month, and there is Mary. She turned eight a few days past.”
“Will they like us?” Kitty worried as Lydia nodded her little head.
“They will love you as sisters. They also have a brother, but he is sixteen and from another mamma, so you will not meet him yet,” Agatha revealed. “Your Uncle Edward wrote in his letter that Jane looks very much like your late mamma when she was younger. Do not be surprised when you see someone who looks even more like her than Lyddie does.”
Both girls relaxed a little at their new mamma’s assurances. In the few short months they had lived with their new papa and mamma, they had learnt that when either of them told them something, it was always the truth.
They both kissed Lyddie’s cheeks and sent her back to Nurse. Then Agatha and Phillips escorted Kitty to the schoolroom, and after the kisses on her cheeks, she was released back to the governess.
On the way down the stairs they passed Lawrence and the other nursemaid. His little cheeks and nose were a tad red from the cold, but he was glowing with pleasure at having some time to play on the swing he loved. Like his sisters, Lawrence received kisses from his parents; unlike his sisters’ kisses, when he kissed in return, they were rather moist, but neither parent complained.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The Fitzwilliams and Darcys, sans their sons, arrived in London around midday on Saturday the eleventh day of the new year.
The three Darcys rode with the Matlocks from the last rest stop. Rather than going to their own houses first along with the carts carrying their trunks or the carriages carrying their servants, the Matlock coachman had been ordered to proceed directly to Holder House.
As assured as they had been by Edith’s letter, Ladies Elaine and Anne would only rest easy once they saw with their own eyes that their friend was truly well and their nieces were in fact with them. Their husbands saw no reason to gainsay them, and as they neared their destination, Anna was bouncing on the seat with anticipation of seeing her cousins soon, especially Lizzy.
Soon enough Fenster and two footmen were assisting the callers—people he knew were welcome anytime the family was in residence—to remove their outerwear. He told them the family and some callers were in the main drawing room on the first floor.
If Lady Anne had not been holding her daughter’s hand, she was sure that Anna would have run up the stairs to reach their destination faster.
As soon as her papa opened the drawing room door, Anna pulled her hand from her mamma’s and ran into the room but stopped and became shy as she saw a lady she had never met and a little girl Mary was playing with.
Greetings were exchanged with Edith, and it took her friends moments to see the unadulterated joy radiating from her. They were able to relax; all was truly well.
“It is good to see you, Mrs Gardiner,” Lady Anne stated when she saw who was present with the family. “Is that sweet little girl your daughter? This,” she indicated Anna, who was still rather tentative, “is my daughter, Georgiana, but we all call her Anna, and she will be four in March.”
“It is good to see you, Lady Anne, and I am pleased to meet you, Miss Darcy. Yes, this little one is Lilly, and she will be two in July.” Maddie turned to the other couple. “Lord and Lady Matlock, it is a pleasure to see you again.”
“As you share nieces, would not a more informal address be in order?” Edith suggested.
“Edith has the right of it; I am Elaine, and this is Anne,” Lady Elaine agreed.
“Please call me Madeline or Maddie.”
“Edith, where is your husband?” Matlock enquired. “Not hiding from all of the ladies, is he?”
“You will locate him in the study, and I am sure he will not object to some male company. With Jamey back at Eton, it is only he with four ladies in the house,” Edith responded with a smile.
The two men made a tactical withdrawal.
Anna’s desire to be with Lizzy overrode her shyness with new people. She approached where the two eldest Carringtons were seated and hopped up onto the settee. She had heard the lady spoken of as an aunt to her cousins and the little girl as a cousin. “Is Lilly,” Anna pointed, “also my cousin? Please say she is, and then I will not be the youngest girl anymore.”
Lady Anne smiled when she heard Anna’s question. “She is part of the family, Anna dear, so no, you are not the youngest girl in the family any longer. Ask Jane and Lizzy about their younger sisters.”
