She would have to find another way to augment her pitiful quarterly allowance.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
In the years since Richard Fitzwilliam had inherited his estate, he had become greatly respected as the master of Rosings Park.
He was well pleased that Uncle Robert had placed Rivington in Surrey in William’s hands in July 1804, a year after his cousin and Jamey had graduated from Cambridge. It was Uncle Robert’s largest satellite estate with an income over seven thousand pounds per annum. The reasoning had been that Uncle Robert wanted William to put the theories he had learnt into practice.
For Fitzwilliam, it meant that the cousin he was closest to resided less than ten miles away. Rosings Park was three miles east of the Kent-Surrey border, and Rivington was about six miles west of the border. It enabled the cousins, who were more brothers than anything else, to be in each other’s company on a regular basis and not just at holiday times or during the summer.
One of said holidays, Easter, was alternated between Netherfield Park and Rosings Park on an annual basis, and when it was held at Rosings Park, other than a brief call at the dower house by Lady Anne and Matlock, no one repined not seeing Lady Catherine.
As the years had passed and Jane approached her eighteenth birthday, Fitzwilliam began to have feelings for her which were decidedly not cousinly. As much as he would like to declare himself before she came out into society, he would not do that.
Fitzwilliam was certain that Jane felt more for him than merely a cousin, but he wanted her to have a season and experience a measure of society before he made any sort of declaration. He thought her a very beautiful woman, but that was not the reason he felt attracted to her. She was intelligent, compassionate, generous, and genuinely cared for the welfare of those less fortunate than herself and her family. That was on top of her abilities in maths, which made the ledgers he battled to understand, clear. He did not just like her; Fitzwilliam respected Jane and her abilities greatly.
He was aware that Aunt Edith had begun teaching her daughters the role of a mistress of an estate when they had each turned thirteen. Aunt Anne intended to begin the same with Anna when she reached that age as well.
Edith and Holder could not have been happier with their four children. Jamey was everything they could have hoped he would be. He was honourable, respectful, and treated those below him with grace and kindness. The same could be said for all three of their daughters. The day He had led Jamey to find her daughters had changed their lives forever.
For some years after Jamey’s birth, Edith had lamented the fact that God had not blessed them with another child, and then, just when she had been resigned to the fact it would never happen, their son had led them to the three most wonderful girls in the world. It had been more than fifteen years since her daughters had joined the family, and Edith could not even imagine their life without Jane, Lizzy, and Mary. And now in two days Jane would be eighteen. As hard as it was to grasp that so many years had flown by, Lizzy was already sixteen, and she would be seventeen in February 1808. Even scarier to think about was Mary; she was fifteen and would be sixteen in January upcoming.
Thinking about Lizzy and the discussion she had with Anne made Edith smile.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
July 1807
The Carringtons were at Pemberley, but two days from departing for Holder House, where they would begin to prepare for Jane’s birthday. After the celebration, they would then remine in London, where their eldest daughter would join society.
They were sitting on the wide stone veranda overlooking the lake across the grassy area watching Lizzy and William walking on the path which circumnavigated the lake. The two were approaching the bridge at the western end of the lake. The bridge crossed the feeder stream, also created by the hand of man. Brian Johns and one other man were following behind giving the cousins more than enough space so they could speak without being overheard.
“If Jane and Richard do not make us family indeed, then it will be those two,” Lady Anne commented. She inclined her head in the direction of their children.
“As much as I do not want to think about the time when my daughters will begin to leave our house, both of them could do far worse than Richard and William. That is, of course, if anything ever comes to pass between them,” Edith responded. “Paul and I will never push the girls at any man. If they come together on their own, we will not object, but do not forget it is more than one and one half years before Lizzy comes out.”
“I am sure that William will be as circumspect as Richard has been with Jane. At least with him owning Rosings Park, no one can accuse Elaine’s younger son of being a fortune hunter if he and Jane make a match of it.”
“No one who knows your nephew would ever think that of him, even had he not a good fortune and estate of his own. He is, and always has been, a man of honour.”
What the two mothers had not known was that another was also watching Lizzy and William, one who had no good thoughts about what he was seeing.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Her thoughts returned to what still needed to be done to prepare for a large celebration on Wednesday evening to celebrate Jane’s birthday. As far as Edith could tell, everything was organised. Mrs Fenster had everything in hand and would be flexible enough to accommodate any last-minute changes if Edith needed to make any. Knowing this enabled Edith to relax.
The four Carrington children, Richard, William, Anna, and Charlotte, were taking a walk in Hyde Park, well before the fashionable hour, as was their wont.
Said group was returning from their walk along the Serpentine, with Biggs, Johns, and two other guards escorting them when Fitzwilliam, Jamey, and William spied one they liked and one they avoided like the plague. Unfortunately, the latter was walking with the former.
“Bingley, well met,” Jamey said when the two groups were close to one another.”
“And you, Hadlock, Fitzwilliam, Darcy,” Bingley replied.
It was a little more than a year since his father had been called home to God; the doctors said it was a heart problem. Caroline had been demanding they come to Town, and no matter how much she harangued him, he had not been moved. He had accepted an invitation to visit Louisa and Hurst at Hurst House in Curzon Street, and due to the fact he was Caroline’s guardian until she reached her majority, he had been obligated to bring her with him.
Thanks to their late father’s edicts, Caroline had never met his friends before.
“Charles, will you not introduce your friends?” Miss Bingley cooed. She could smell status and wealth, and it was pouring off those before her.
