Kitty and Lydia were allowed to come down for tea with their governess Mrs. Greaves. Catherine was very friendly and bubbly, while Lydia was reserved and surprisingly cynical.
“What are you learning from Mrs. Greaves, cousins? Are either of you musicians or artists? Neither of you have written me as much as your older sisters, so I have much to learn of you.”
Lydia just squinted her pale blue eyes and let her sister speak for both of them. “I love to draw, and Lydia is very good at chess! She can also make any bonnet look more fashionable. She has a real talent for that! Lydie, you should run up a get your latest creation and show Cousin Beth!”
“I will do that later.”
“Oh! Very well! Mrs. Greaves has also taught us music. We both have tried playing instruments but are not very good. We both sing though! You play the pianoforte, do you not?”
“I do! And all three of us play chess. We could have a tournament!”
Lizzy piped up, “That would make papa very happy! Lydia and I are the only two who will play him. He was a master at Cambridge and gives no quarter. Are you up to some fierce competition?”
“Mamie and I are fairly good, but John is the one who will give your father a run for his money.”
Lydia turned her eyes to the big man who was sitting quietly in a corner. “Shall we play Mr. Smith? There is a board in the attached parlor.”
John nodded and followed Lydia into the next room. Mrs. Greaves followed them and pushed both pocket doors wide so she could hear the conversation in the next room while chaperoning the players.
The ladies had lively conversation getting to know each other better, while Mr. Bennet sat to the side with Mrs. Russell and conversed softly. Lydia and John were perfectly silent as they played the first game.
“You let me win.”
“I thought it would be the polite thing to do for the first game.”
“Just the first?”
John just nodded and reset the board. The second game was hard fought, but John won easily.
“You play very well, Mr. Smith. Why did you let me win the first game?”
“As I said, I thought it would be polite. I rarely meet anyone who can beat me.”
Mr. Bennet had come in to watch the last game. “Is that so? Would you like to try me after dinner? I am rather hard to beat also.”
“I would be honored, sir.”
The rest of the day was spent in good company. Dinner was delicious, and the two gentlemen went straight to Mr. Bennet’s study to have after dinner drinks and play a round or two of chess. Bennet was truly impressed by Smith’s broad knowledge of many subjects, and skill at his favorite game. By the time they rejoined the ladies nearly two hours later, he had decided he liked the gentle giant very much. He was also impressed by Mrs. Russell who was intelligent and genteel. Beth was very much like his sister had been, and how his Lizzy was now. They appeared to be two peas in a pod.
He wondered if his niece would be able to draw Lydia out. She had collapsed into herself after her mother died. Fanny had spoiled the girl quite outrageously. When she was no longer the center of her mother’s attention, she became angry and hostile to her sisters. At eleven years old, Bennet had wondered if his youngest was beyond redemption, but then they found Mrs. Greaves. Jane, at nearly nineteen, had taken over as mistress of the house, andinsisted the younger girls must have a governess. She was struggling taking over the house, since her mother had taught her little of running Longbourn, and told her father she simply could not be responsible for raising her sisters also. Jane had always been such an easy, pliable girl, but when she marched into her father’s study two months after her mother passed, she showed she had a backbone of steel. She did notaskher father to hire a governess; shedemandedthat he do so. She explained that they could easily afford one now that her mother’s spendthrift habits was no longer an issue… ‘and by the way, we will be economizing from now on and putting money aside for all your daughters. I already spoke to Uncle Edward, and he will be investing mother’s dowry so we each have more than just one thousand pounds to go into our futures.’ To say Bennet was shocked would be an understatement. His Fanny would wail and cry to get her way. Jane simply put her foot down and said, in the most genteel of ways, exactly what would be done. By the look in her eyes, he dared not countermand her edicts. From that day forward, Jane was the queen of their home, and everyone did as they were told.
Chapter Thirteen
Beth was getting to know all her cousins intimately, and even her uncle and she had become close. Every few days she received a letter from Gigi, and sometimes a note was included from William. Gigi and her companion were to go to Ramsgate at the first of June, and once again asked Beth to go along with her, or maybe she and her cousins could all go? Georgiana really wanted to meet all the cousins. They sounded like so much fun!
“Uncle Thomas, what think you of a seaside holiday? My cousin, Georgiana Darcy, will leave for Ramsgate at the beginning of June and would like us all to go.”
“I am not much for traveling, niece, and you would have to ask Jane if there are funds for such a scheme.”
Mrs. Russell spoke up, “Mr. Bennet, when was the last time you took your girls on a holiday?”
In the past month, Bennet had learned to like and respect Mrs. Russell very much. He looked chagrined when he answered, “I have never taken the youngest three on holiday. Jane and Lizzy were quite young when we traveled to Derbyshire. That was for Edward’s wedding, so I guess it was not so much a holiday.”
Jane was listening to the conversation and answered, “There is enough in the household account to pay for a month complete at the seashore. I am sure my sisters would enjoy the change of scenery.”
Kitty started bouncing in her chair, and even Mary and Lydia looked excited.
Lizzy struck the final blow, “Please papa. All the planting is done, and winter damage has been repaired. There is very little for us to do during the summer. A month, or even two, away would not inconvenience Longbourn. The Hills and our steward are more than capable.” Elizabeth Bennet did a great deal for Longbourn by working with her father and the steward they had hired two years back. Mr. Bennet checked her work, but Lizzy took care of the estate books. The income had risen by half again what it used to be.
