Just because she had moved herself into the manor house when her disrespectful nephew, thesupposedmaster of the estate, had been away was no reason to have the dower house guarded and she, daughter of an earl, kept within like a prisoner in gaol!
She had been banished from the mansion she used to rule, and worse, her nephew had decreed that any repeated infraction, no matter how simple it was, would see her packed off to a peasant’s cottage on an island in the Outer Hebrides.
It was insupportable that one of her rank and intelligence had been reduced to such circumstances in a hovel fit for peasants. As far as she was concerned, she was living only slightly better than the way the peasants who rented the farms on her estate did. It was her estate, and so far those who had conspired to steal it from under her were succeeding. There was no justice in the world.
If only Fitzwilliam Darcy had married Anne and carried her away to that estate, Rivington, where he was reported to be living. Lady Catherine’s daughter had failed her, which displeased her greatly. The girl had dared to die before she wrote a will leaving all to her mother.
In her mania Lady Catherine forgot, or ignored, the fact that Rivington and Rosings Park were almost neighbouring estates on either side of the Kent–Surrey border. She would not think about how if her daughter and nephew had married, she would be in the same spot she was in now. Also, it was inconvenient to consider that Anne had no power to change her father’s orders regarding who was to inherit, especially as the estate had never been Anne’s property before she passed away.
What Lady Catherine ungenerously called apeasant’s hovelwas larger than four or five tenant homes combined. Although it was smaller than Rosings Park’s mansion, it was very comfortable, and she had enough servants to never have to lift a finger herself.
The great lady’s thoughts were interrupted as she saw something in the newspaper which turned her stomach. It was by far the biggest insult of all. The Queen must be losing her mental faculties, seeing that, according to what Lady Catherine was reading inThe Times of London,those lowborn foundlings the Carringtons had so unwisely taken into their family had been awarded the title of ‘Lady’, just like her own!
It was insupportable that the girls, whom she was sure were someone’s by-blows, were now, because of this insane decree, equal to her. It was not to be borne. She could not allow this indignity to stand. The proof of her assertion was they had been discarded in Hyde Park like the rubbish they were.
In her mind she still had the power she always believed she wielded. Hence, Lady Catherine resolved to write to the queen and issue orders on how things should be set to rights.
She sat at the writing desk in her sitting room and began to write at a furious pace.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“No! This cannot be true!” Miss Bingley screeched on the morning of the coming-out ball at Holder House; she was not allowed to attend because of her cruel brother.
“What vexes you now, Caroline?” Bingley enquired over the pages of his newspaper. He was sure he knew what it was since he had just read the royal notice himself. Why, in her twisted mind, this should mean anything to his sister, Bingley could not fathom.
“How can the Queen elevate those Carrington foundlings to be Ladies?” Miss Bingley demanded shrilly.
“Because Her Majesty has the power to do so, just like she has the ability to squash the uppity daughter of a tradesman who thinks she is far higher in society than she is. Have I not warned you that these machinations of yours will end with nothing but your ruin?” Bingley shot back.
“But if these nobodies are more than likely illegitimate…” Miss Bingley closed her mouth with a clack when her brother angrily put up his hand.
“This is the last time I will tell you this. The Ladies Carrington-Bennet were born to a gentleman and arenotfoundlings. He and their mother were married. Even were they not the daughters of an earl, as daughters of a gentleman, they would still be above you in society.” Bingley stood and glowered at his sister. “Enough of this obsession you have with the three sisters. Even were Viscount Hadlock to look at you twice, how do you think he would react to a woman who disparages his most beloved sisters?”
Miss Bingley watched her brother march out of the room. Perhaps Charles was right; rather than denigrate the so-calledLadies, she should befriend them. If their brother saw how good she was to his sisters, then Viscount Hadlock would not fail to realise that she was the perfect woman to be his wife.
With that resolved, Miss Bingley sat and planned how she was to meet the Carrington-Bennet sisters. She was certain it would be easy to beguile these naïve women. Then, as soon as she was Viscountess Hadlock, she would, of course, demand that her husband break all contact with the natural children of some peasant.
Caroline had the desire to go and order herself a new wardrobe which would be appropriate to impress the unsophisticated nobodies and, more importantly, the viscount. As much as it irked her, she could not, because unless she had her own funds from her allowance, Charles refused to pay her bills.
She needed to get an invite to the ball that evening so that she could begin her campaign of befriending the girl who was coming out.
Although she would not admit it to herself, Miss Bingley felt a great deal of jealousy for all that the foundlings had that she did not. Chief among the things she wanted for herself was a ball to mark her entry into society. When she reached the age of eighteen and entered society, she had demanded Charles give her a coming out ball in London. However, he had cruelly, flatly refused and had told her he would reduce her quarterly allowance by twenty pounds each subsequent time she harped on the subject.
It had taken one instance of her brother notating the deduction from her next allowance for Miss Bingley to accept that Charles meant what he had said. She never revisited the subject in her brother’s hearing again.
She had a foolproof plan to gain entry to the ball, but she had to be sure Charles was not aware of her plans.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
George Wickham had been an orphan for almost two years. His father had passed away in September 1805. At the time of his father’s death, he had been twenty.
Mr Darcy had been sympathetic and had allowed Wickham to remain in his father’s cottage at Pemberley for a month before having to vacate in favour of the new steward. He could have done more, but Mr Darcy had presented Wickham with an amount equivalent to six months of his late father’s wages. It was far less than Wickham would have had if that interfering foundling had not spoilt everything, but it was more than he had had before.
Unfortunately, his late father only had one thousand pounds to leave him, so that meant that when he left Pemberley Wickham had one thousand four hundred pounds to his name.
At the age of eighteen his late father had forced Wickham to take an apprenticeship. He had eschewed anything with physical labour and settled on working to become a clerk for the solicitor in Lambton. The first thing he did once he had the money from Mr Darcy and his late father in hand was to tell the solicitor he would never be back.
Seeing that he was effectively banished from Pemberley, and no longer had employment in Lambton, Wickham made his way to London.
