Page 23 of Her Favourite Daughter

… with the death of His Grace, Lord Francis Osborne, if his stolen daughter, Lady Bethany Anne Elaine Osborne, is not discovered alive in the next 14 years, then the dukedom will be in abeyance.

As the patents allow the title to flow through the female line, if Lady Bethany is in fact alive, then she is Her Grace, the suo jure Duchess of Leeds…

“No!” Bennet exclaimed aloud. “They cannot be speaking of our Lizzy?”

As he said the last, Bennet was questioning whether he should contact someone to investigate and see if Lizzy was in fact this Lady Bethany. Could it be that the note he and Fanny read, which was locked in the safe in his study, had been from someone other than her parents?

As quickly as he had the thought, he pushed it aside. It may be selfish, but Lizzy was as much a part of the family as any of their other children. Not only was she an integral part of the Bennets, but she was also the heart of the family. How could he risk his family’s misery if Lizzy were taken from them? Although neither of them showed it, she was a favourite to both Fanny and him.

Bennet’s conscience screamed that he needed to at least investigate the possibility that Lizzy was this ‘Lady Bethany’, but he ignored the voice of reason. He placated his conscience by telling himself that there were fourteen years to find the heir to the dukedom. If none were discovered before the time elapsed, then perhaps he would make some enquiries. Until then, he was not willing to cause such a great upheaval in his family’s life. It was not only to Fanny and their other children that Lizzy, who had turned eight on the third day of the current month, was so important. Bennet was sure that Lizzy had given both his mother and sister-in-law the will to live. There was only one choice, and that was to do nothing for the nonce. Unless and until Fanny saw the article in the papers and spoke to him about it, he would not mention it to her.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

“How can this Lady Bethany be a duchess?” Miss Caroline Bingley demanded. “I thought a lady had to be married to a duke to be one.”

Caroline Bingley was one of three children born to Arthur and Mavis Bingley of Scarborough. Arthur Bingley was a rather successful tradesman who owned five facilities which housed his carriage works. Two were in his native Yorkshire, and three were in surrounding counties. The eldest child was Louisa, called Lulu by her family, and she was sixteen. Next was the only son in the family, Charles, who would be fourteen in May. Caroline was the youngest at eleven.

Even though her father was a tradesman, Caroline desired to rise above her roots, a dream she had gained from her mother. Her father, Lulu, and Charles had no such ambitions.

“That, Miss Caroline, is entirely possible depending on how the patents of the dukedom are written,” Miss Humbolt, their governess, replied. “Did you notice in the article it mentions that Lady Bethany, if she is found, is a ‘suo jure duchess’? What that means is that in the absence of a male heir, she is the sole holder of the Leeds title until she has a son, or if she bears a daughter, that daughter would be the next title holder after her mother and her son would become the duke.”

“If only I could find Lady Bethany, I would be a great friend to the duchess. I am sure the king would elevate me in that case,” Miss Caroline said dreamily.

“In the case that you found her; I am sure Their Majesties would be very grateful. The Osbornes are very close to the Crown,” Miss Humbolt responded. “But, Miss Caroline, you must realise the chances of you discovering Lady Bethany are infinitesimal, as she has been missing for some years already. I suppose anything is possible, but do not be disappointed if it does not come to pass.”

“I will remember that, Miss Humbolt.” Caroline knew the governess was correct; however, that did not mean she could not dream about how she would be raised above her roots if she did find Lady Bethany Osborne.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

After the death of her husband, Lady Amelia Osborne, the Dowager Duchess of Leeds, closeted herself at Hornby Castle. In her grief, at first for Bethie being taken from her almost eight years ago and then for Francis at the end of January past, the very last thing Amelia wanted was to be in any sort of society. Thankfully she had two excellent friends who would not allow her to drown herself in self-pity and give up on her life.

Ladies Elaine and Anne allowed their friend one month to wallow, and then, they descended on Hornby Castle like avenging angels. Regardless of Her Grace’s orders, the butler and housekeeper did nothing to turn the two countesses away.

They found Amelia in her bedchamber, curtains drawn; the only light from the low-burning fire. Before their friend could protest, they had thrown the curtains open, thereby flooding the room with the weak March sunlight. They ignored Amelia’s outraged look when they forced her from her bed and made her stand.

“No one was to be admitted,” Lady Amelia whinged.

“Anne and I are not ‘no one’; we are your best friends, and we will not sit idly by while you wait to join Francis,” Lady Elaine insisted.

“And Bethie…” Amelia stopped speaking when Anne slapped her cheek.

Lady Anne knew she had to do something to make Amelia wake up. The slap had not been hard, but it had the effect of shocking her. “My goddaughter’s body has never been found; so as far as we know, she is alive!” Lady Anne said, ignoring the look of shock on Amelia’s countenance. “Is this what Francis would have wanted for you? Is this the way you honour his life? Do you think he will welcome you into God’s kingdom if you give up on your life and the possibility of finding his daughter?”

“But…” Amelia tried again. This time the soft slap on her other cheek was delivered by Elaine.

“No buts!” Lady Elaine exclaimed. “If Bethie is found one day, how will she feel when we tell her that her mother had so little faith in her daughter being discovered that she gave up on life and wasted the life God gave her?”

Her first impulse was to rail at Anne and Elaine about how they could never understand her pain when between them they had daughters and sons when she had none. Her mind told her that was not true. She had Bethie. It was then Amelia truly heard her friends’ words. She burst into tears, something she had not been able to do since Francis was taken from her. “What… am I… doing?” Amelia asked herself between sobs as she sat on the nearest armchair.

Ladies Elaine and Anne knelt on either side of their friend and surrounded her with their arms and love. They said not a word while they held her with Lady Anne rubbing Amelia’s back.

It took some time—none of the ladies would be able to tell how long—before the tears finally subsided.

“You are both correct,” Lady Amelia admitted after drying her very moist eyes. “Francis would be disgusted at the way I have behaved since he went to his final reward. He would not forgive me for giving up hope of ever seeing Bethie again. I must, I will, do better,” she vowed more to herself than her friends. “Will one of you ring for my maid, please? I need to dress and begin to live again.”

The sisters-in-law had been sure that their decision not to travel to London with their husbands to be at the opening session of the Lords had been a good one. Who knew whether Amelia would have been alive had they waited to visit her after the season? Their next task was to convince Amelia to accompany them and their daughters to London.

Anne Fitzwilliam would be twelve in June upcoming, and Giana, as Georgiana was called among family, would be four in two days. Richard and William were at Eton. The former was fifteen and soon to be sixteen, and the latter would be fifteen in April. Andrew, who was nineteen, was in his final year at Cambridge.