Although they did not enjoy being separated from them, the Carrington parents never worried about their daughters’ safety when both parents were in London without them. That was thanks to Biggs, Johns, and the large contingent of men employed to guard their daughters. Of course, Mrs Healy was with the girls as well. In addition, when Edith had to be in London to fulfil her role as political wife, the Phillipses were with the girls, now young ladies, some or much of the time. Additionally, at times the Gardiners, their brother and two of their male cousins—when the three were on a break from their university—and Anna, who was very much thought of as a sixth sister, were with them as well. Andrew was on his grand tour.
When her parents were in London and the Carrington-Bennet sisters were at Netherfield Park, Anna and her governess would be with those at the aforementioned estate. It was widely acknowledged by Agatha that the friendship which had grown between Lydia and Anna had been a great help as the former fought to throw off the fears which had remained with her after living with a monster in the house.
During the time since meeting them, Jane, Lizzy, and Mary became much closer to their Aunt Maddie, Uncle Edward, and their Gardiner cousins—Eddy had been born in May of 1800—and their two younger sisters. The bond between the five sisters was as strong as that between sisters should be.
For Kitty and Lydia it had taken more than a year living in the loving household with the Phillipses before they had finally relaxed and begun to trust that their former life of fear was well and truly gone. Neither girl was exuberant, but they were much more like girls of their ages, and no longer afraid of every sound or new person they met. It had taken more than six months before the two had ceased being tentative in the house and accepted they would not be punished for making a noise while playing like young children were supposed to. Before the end of 1800, when they had been living with their adoptive parents for a little more than a year, Kitty and Lydia began to call Agatha, ‘Mamma’, and Phillips, ‘Papa’. Kitty still remembered her Mamma Fanny and the way she had fought to protect her and Lyddie, but Lydia slowly forgot all about her birth mother.
1800 had been the first year since coming to live with the Carringtons that their birthdays had been celebrated on the correct day. Jane, Lizzy, and Mary understood why Mamma and Papa had not known their correct birthdates, which meant there were no complaints about the changes. Due to her actual birthday being a month earlier, when Lizzy’s ninth birthday was celebrated on the fifth day of February, it had been a little less than eleven months since the previous celebration of her birth.
Edith and Holder had been present—along with the Fitzwilliam and Darcy parents—to celebrate the first of the actual dates of birth of their daughters. After Gardiner had informed them that the day he and his wife had been reunited with their nieces was the day of Mary’s birthday, it had been celebrated a few days later, closer to the tenth of the month it used to be marked. The Hills and the nursemaids, the same two who had been drugged, had all been present to celebrate Miss Lizzy’s anniversary of her birth. In addition, the Lucases, Longs, Gouldings, and Purvises had been included in the celebrations. The three sets of parents who had come from London had returned thither after a few days.
Even though she was five years older than Jane and almost seven years Lizzy’s senior, Charlotte Lucas had become a friend to the two older Carrington-Bennet girls. Her younger sister, Maria, who at the time of the birthday party had been almost five, had become very close to Kitty, Anna, and Lydia.
The Lucas girls were not the only friends the Carrington-Bennet sisters made in the neighbourhood. Cara and Mandy Long—nieces who had come to live with the Longs after their parents had been called home—were close to Mary; Julia Goulding and Jane had struck up a friendship, while Penelope Purvis and Lizzy enjoyed one another’s company.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
On the tenth day of October 1801, Richard commenced his final year at Cambridge while William and Jamey began their second year. All three had volunteered to mentor first years who were only beginning their studies; however, Hadlock had been invited to the dean’s home at the same time. So it was on Sunday after church, Fitzwilliam and Darcy attended the event without Hadlock. It was where those who had agreed to assist with the mentoring programme met first-year students seeking assistance.
For the most part, the dons allowed the young men in their second and final years to select the first years they wanted to mentor.
Richard watched as one was being ignored as if he had the plague. “William, I wager that one with the strawberry blond hair has a father in trade. Do you see how everyone is walking away from him soon after meeting him? Come, you and I will introduce ourselves.”
“Can you hear what Lizzy would say to those rejecting him because of what his father does? That is, if it is what is occurring,” William said with a smile.
“Yes, that sprite of a cousin of ours would not be pleased, and that would have been before she knew that Gardiner is her uncle,” Fitzwilliam agreed. “You know if they ever allowed her to attend a university, she would put us all to shame, do you not?”
“You will wait a long time before I disagree with you about how intelligent Lizzy is, and that is before you factor in that perfect memory of hers,” William agreed.
“Enough talk, follow me,” Fitzwilliam instructed.
As they walked towards the young man who was being shunned, the cousins were warned, more than once, they were approaching a tradesman’s son.
Charles Bingley was feeling rather dejected. He had known that some would be prejudiced against him because of the way Father made his money, but not everyone!
Thankfully his parents had agreed to send him to a preparatory school in Yorkshire, only two hours west of Scarborough, rather than sending him to Eton to swim among sons of theTon. But now, he could not avoid those kinds of men. Father had sent him to Cambridge to acquire a gentleman’s education. And here he stood, among upperclassmen who had volunteered to assist and mentor new entrants at Cambridge, that is, excepting for himself. As one highborn man had nastily informed him: because the stench of trade could easily be detected on his person.
He watched as two men approached him. One was a few inches taller than himself with dark, wavy hair, and the other one a little shorter, still taller than he was, with blond hair and a powerful build. Charles could not fathom why they would approach after his antecedents had been spoken of throughout the room. ‘Perhaps they are also sons of a tradesman, which is why they condescend to come speak to me,’ he thought.
“I am theHonourableRichard Fitzwilliam of Snowhaven, and this great, big, tall fellow is my cousin, William Darcy, the heir to Pemberley in Derbyshire,” Fitzwilliam said in greeting. “And, you are?”
Both Fitzwilliam and William could see the gawking by the so-called high-born men that they agreed to speak to the son of a tradesman. The men were ignored.
“Charles Bingley of Scarborough, my father owns a successful carriage works,” he responded. As soon as he mentioned his father’s occupation, he expected these two, related to a peer of some sort, to walk away like all of the others. They did not, something that surprised not only him, but also, all of the other upperclassmen who were staring at them.
“You came to this meeting because you were looking to discover a man who would be your mentor, did you not?” Fitzwilliam verified.
“Y-yes, that is what I was seeking,” Charles confirmed.
“In that case, you have two,” Fitzwilliam stated as he looked around the room, daring any of the arrogant men to try to gainsay him.
The men wisely looked away. It was well known that one did not challenge Fitzwilliam to any physical contest and expect to win. It was also common knowledge that the Carringtons, Fitzwilliams, and Darcys were much more liberal than most. However, even those with titles had no taste to challenge the representatives of those very powerful families.
As he had been able to slip away an hour after the meal, Jamey made his way over to where Richard and William were. He entered and discovered them speaking with a first-year.
Those who had cut the tradesman’s son with glee looked on in horror as Viscount Hadlock approached his cousins affably. Surely a man with a noble title would not agree to speak to one whose father was still active in trade? They watched as the viscount reached the other three and Fitzwilliam made the introductions. They waited for Hadlock to shrink back in disgust. Instead, he reached his hand out to the tradesman’s son to shake and accept the introduction.
“I think we have scandalised many of those stuck-up prigs,” Jamey inclined his head towards the group watching them. He turned back towards the Bingley fellow. “You said you are from Scarborough, and your father owns the Bingley Carriage Works, did you not?”
