Page 25 of Her Favourite Daughter

“Lizzy is to go walking with me in an hour; I will inform her of the additional lessons she will have,” Fanny volunteered.

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

“Is it wicked of me that I am not sorry none of my siblings wanted to come to walk with us today? I love them fiercely, but none of them can walk at the pace you and I do,” Elizabeth said after she and Mamma left the kitchen garden and struck out in the direction of Oakham Mount at speed, with John Biggs trailing behind them.

“That you like to walk fast like I do is not wicked, Lizzy,” Fanny responded. “I did tell Jane, James, Mary, and Kitty that they were welcome to join us but that today I needed to walk at a speedy pace.”

As they walked, before she mentioned the additional lessons Lizzy would have with Thomas, Fanny was having an internal debate about whether she and Thomas should tell Lizzy the truth of how she joined the family after she turned twelve rather than when she turned fifteen as they had planned to do. With her great intelligence, Fanny did not doubt her favourite daughter would be able to understand that even if she was not born of Fanny’s body, she was no less loved than her brother or sisters. It was a conversation that she would need to have with Thomas. They were partners, and Fanny would never make that decision without her canvassing her husband’s feelings and opinions first.

“Mamma, where did you go?” Elizabeth asked as the path passed through a wooded area. The trees were still stark without leaves, but as spring approached that would all change.

“Please pardon me, my dearest daughter; I was lost in thought.” Fanny knew she needed to distract Lizzy before her daughter asked why she was so deep in thought. “Your father and I met with Mrs Taylor before our walk…” Fanny told her second daughter what had been discussed and the proposed solution. It had the intended effect and commanded Lizzy’s attention completely.

“I have heard how Papa was a tutor before we came to Longbourn. I would like nothing more than for Papa to give me lessons, and I am certain that James will feel the same way,” Elizabeth enthused.

“You know that the way you and James tease one another is not acceptable behaviour when you two are being taught by your father or any other tutor, do you not?” Fanny pointed out. “Do not look at me with those big, beautiful eyes. You two are very competitive and like to prank one another too much.”

Elizabeth looked away. She knew what Mamma said was nothing but the truth. As she and James were so close in age, they had always played together, and as soon as they were old enough to understand what winning was, they began to compete in anything they did. That included seeing who could prank the other better. In all things academic, thanks to her memory, Elizabeth was unbeatable. However, in physical feats, James won more often than not. The activity they were neck and neck in was riding. They both rode geldings of equivalent strength and ability. At times, her smaller and lighter body was an advantage in races across fields. At least, that is what James claimed whenever she beat him in a race.

It took Elizabeth a minute to understand Mamma had stopped and was watching her with an arched eyebrow, waiting for a response.

“Mamma, now it was my turn to get lost in reverie. Of course, I will behave in any lessons I have. That encompasses the ones where James is included.” Elizabeth paused and smiled. “I suggest you give my brother the same charge.”

Fanny shook her head at Lizzy’s impertinence—something she did not object to—and commenced walking again. When she stopped, John Biggs had as well, and as soon as she and Lizzy began to walk again, so did he, ever vigilant. In another ten minutes they reached the base of Oakham Mount. It was the tallest hill in the area. However, as hills went, its height was on the low end of the scale. To those in Meryton who had never seen a taller hill, to them, it was the tallest one.

With John walking just ahead of them, Fanny and Elizabeth made their way up the path from the base of the hill to the flattened summit. As soon as their guard found the top deserted, he stood aside near the head of the path.

Mother and daughter walked to the eastern edge where a flattened boulder lay, where they would sit to watch the sunrise. In the centre of the summit was a stand of six oak trees, the ones for which the hill had been named. They were all leafless now as they waited for the spring when their greenery would return.

As they often did, they made a circuit of the top while admiring the views below. Meryton was clearly visible. They could make out some of their friends and neighbours going about their business in the market town. The manor house of Jane’s future property to the west of the town, Netherfield Park, was visible but too far distant to see any details. There were tenants leasing the estate who kept to themselves, and of course they knew not that the estate would be Jane’s one day. There were mainly fields to the north and south. They were colourless at this time of year, but in the next month, they would be tilled and prepared for the spring planting.

With regard to the upcoming planting season, not all tenants were as fortunate as those renting farms at Longbourn.

When Thomas Bennet arrived at Longbourn in 1791, he had discovered notes of his late father’s that he was investigating the purchase of a Tullian drill. After consulting Mr Mason, the new master of Longbourn had purchased two of the seed drills. They had been so effective in saving on wasted seed and increased yields that two more had been acquired. The Gouldings’ estate, Haye Park, had one, but other than that, none of the other local estates had made the investment.

When Fanny and Elizabeth returned to look towards the east, they looked down with affection on Longbourn’s manor. Then the two turned and looked a little to the west of Longbourn between it and Meryton at the newly named Lucas Lodge.

Towards the end of the previous summer, when Mr William Lucas had been the mayor of Meryton, the King and Queen of England, along with their travelling retinue, had made an unscheduled stop in the market town. As the mayor, Mr Lucas had felt it his duty to deliver a speech welcoming Their Majesties to Meryton. It had been light on substance but heavy on flattery to the monarchs, leading to George III knighting Mr Lucas on the spot. Once he and his wife were Sir William and Lady Lucas, the former decided that a knight should not be in trade. Hence, he sold his three businesses and purchased the small estate next to Longbourn, which he promptly renamed Lucas Lodge. Becoming titled had caused the Lucas parents to demand that all of their friends address them with their titles.

Although the four adult Bennets had opined that selling his businesses and trading a higher income for a lower one was somewhat impulsive, none of them said anything to either Sir William or Lady Lucas, as it was not their business.

“Mamma, will our Collins cousins come visit us this summer?” Elizabeth asked as they began the walk down the hill. John was ahead of them again.

“I think so. I am a letter in arrears with our Cousin Ophelia. When I write back, I will issue a formal invitation,” Fanny responded. “Do you realise that Cousin William is in his second year at Oxford already? He is doing well from what I hear.”

“When they visited last summer after William’s first year, he told us that he intends to go into the church like his father. I think he will make a good clergyman.” Elizabeth paused as she went through her memories of conversations with the Collinses. “Cousin Clem mentioned during his visit in 1795, the year the scarlet fever ravaged the area where they live, that his former patron and his wife no longer own the estate to which his living is attached. Did he ever tell you or Papa why the estate does not belong to them?”

“No indeed, all Cousins Clem and Ophilia told us was that they were not at liberty to discuss the change in ownership with us. Your father and I respected their wishes,” Fanny replied.

“I will not ask them, but you know how I love to solve puzzles,” Elizabeth returned.

“Yes, Lizzy, I am very much aware of your desire to rise to any challenge that something unknown represents. As this involves something we have been told is confidential, it would not do for you to breach our cousins’ wishes,” Fanny pointed out as they reached the base of the hill.

Biggs stood aside and allowed the mistress and Miss Lizzy to walk past him before taking up his station behind them.

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

Lord William Darcy, Viscount Conyers, and his cousin, Richard Fitzwilliam, who was as close as a brother, were in the last month of their final year of studies at Cambridge.