Page 58 of Her Favourite Daughter

“George, if it will help you, we will give you a room here until you have regained your stolen legacy. That way you will not have to slave away in that small shop,” Karen Younge offered.

“If it is not an imposition to you, I will accept,” Wickham replied with put-on diffidence.

“In fact, it will be our pleasure to host you,” Karen Younge assured.

The next morning, Wickham told his employer he had found a position which valued his talents more highly and would pay him considerably more for them. After receiving his outstanding wages, Wickham left his job and the room above it that same day.

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

The residents of Leeds House were often in company of those from Matlock and Darcy Houses. With the fact that Kitty was being hosted with the Darcys, and more specifically, Giana, the Bennet parents—usually with Grandmamma Beth and Mary—were sure to call at Darcy House on the days the Darcys did not come to Leeds House.

When Amelia, Fanny, and Elizabeth decided to walk in one of the parks—more often than not they would walk to Hyde Park—it was generally just the three of them. However, most days there would be a large riding party in the morning, well before the fashionable hour. Biggs and Johns would always ride close to Elizabeth, but there would be at least four more guards as well as two grooms. Even though she was forced to ride on the detested side-saddle, which meant she could not gallop, Elizabeth was always happy to ride Jupiter.

Of late, Elizabeth had not missed that more often than not, Andrew was near Jane and was very attentive to her. The same could be said of Charlotte and Richard. It was far too early to tell if anything would develop between either couple. That being said, Elizabeth hoped something would occur between them, as both Jane and Charlotte deserved to find good, honourable men. Jane had time, as she was only nineteen, but Charlotte was already three and twenty.

Quite often, purely by chance, Elizabeth ended up riding next to William Darcy. He was well educated, and she loved debating with him, especially as he never gave into her or seemed to be condescending to her. She liked that he treated her like an intellectual equal and not just some silly girl.

As the days passed, bringing the day of the investiture closer, Elizabeth began to feel nervous about meeting the monarchs. She tried her best to hide her apprehension from everyone.

Chapter 22

Now that he was no longer employed and having read that the new duchess often rode in Hyde Park early in the morning, Wickham made his way to the park on consecutive mornings.

The first time, he was not gratified by seeing a riding party; at the time she was supposed to enjoy the exercise. What he was unaware of was that on that day, Lady Bethany had walked out with her two mothers and her attendant guards, but rather than walk in Hyde Park, they had done so in Green Park and St James Park.

The next morning, Wickham saw a riding party consisting of not a few riders enter via the Grosvenor Gate. He was about to get closer for a better look at the duchess when he saw William Darcy, now Viscount Conyers and the Fitzwilliam brothers. They were complications on which he had not banked. Wickham backed himself further into the stand of trees he had been about to exit. There were other ladies as well, and he suspected one was Lady Georgiana. He still lamented that he had never been allowed to approach her as a young girl to accustom her to his presence and prepare the groundwork for when she was older. He could not regret that too much, as now he was aiming for one whose wealth made whatever Lady Georgiana’s dowry was, look like a pittance.

It was then that his musings were interrupted as he noted two of the biggest footmen he had ever seen. They were watching one female rider specifically. He had never previously seen Lady Bethany, but he did remember the articles in the society pages that wrote about how Lady Bethany and her mother, Lady Amelia, looked very similar—other than the fact that one was older and the other younger. He noticed the one who was being guarded and the older one truly looked like they could have been twins had they been the same age. As he looked to the rear and sides of the riders, he identified at least six footmen as well as two grooms.

If all that was not bad enough, Wickham noticed that in addition to their sons, the Earls and Countesses of Matlock and Holderness were also present. It seemed that Lady Bethany was always surrounded by so many who could identify him and inform her of the truth about anything he tried to tell her. To him, she was just a silly girl of sixteen, and he had thought to use her immaturity and the romantic sensibilities all females have at that age to get her to agree to an elopement. However, what he was seeing now told him that his plan to charm her would not succeed.

Wickham waited until all the riders were well past the spot where he was hidden before he made his way out of the other side of the stand and walked in the opposite direction. It seemed he would need to use the Younge siblings to have success. As of yet, he had no plan as to how he could utilise them. He would need to think, and it was time to coax Karen Younge into his bed. That would make her more malleable. He was confident that with his innate intelligence, it would not take him long to form an infallible plan.

As he thought the last, he forgot, or ignored, the inconvenient truth that he had thought his original plan to charm Lady Bethany and have her agree to an elopement was a plan without fault.

On his way back to Edward Street a new plan formed in his mind. The more he considered it, the more certain he was that it would be a success.

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

The morning of Monday, the twentieth day of July, arrived all too soon. Elizabeth would have agreed to more days of intense shopping to defer her appearance at St James’s Palace.

As the previous day had been the Sabbath, everyone had worshipped at St George’s Church in Hanover Square. Even being surrounded by so many, there were those in the church who had their eyes on her rather than the vicar as he delivered his sermon for the day. With so many members of the extended family around her, Elizabeth had not been approached by anyone she had not already met.

As she sat up in her bed, Elizabeth’s thoughts returned to the upcoming meeting at the palace and how once His Majesty touched her on her shoulder with his ceremonial sword, a threshold would be crossed. It was one from which there was no return. From that moment on she would be Lady Bethany Osborne, the suo jure Duchess of Leeds. She was not certain that after today the Bennets, Gardiners, Phillipses, and others with whom she was friends from her years of growing up at Longbourn would still address her as Elizabeth.

Until today, everything had been in the future. Before this day, she had still been carefree Lizzy Bennet. With that one tap on her shoulder, everything would change. It was then Elizabeth realised that the change had been who she was as Elizabeth Rose Bennet and not the other way around. Although she had not been aware of the fact, since the day of her birth she had been Lady Bethany Anne Elaine Osborne.

Rather than think of what she was losing in the persona of Lizzy Bennet, Lady Bethany needed to think of the power she had to improve the lives of the hundreds, possibly thousands, of dependents on her estates and other properties. She could use some of her wealth to support charities, thereby helping many more.

It was time to put childish desires aside and accept the reality of her situation. When she had spoken to others about the changes to her life, she claimed she was ready, but she now knew it had been easy to say because it was not real yet. The moment Bethany accepted who she was, and always had been, was the first time she was truly ready for what was to come. She reminded herself that no matter what name she used, she allowed no one to intimidate her.

She was pleased that her name contained the name by which Grandmamma Beth was addressed. In her mind, that made Elizabeth part of her name.

Rather than ring for her maid, Bethany slipped off the huge, soft bed and donned her dressing gown and sheep-wool lined slippers. She entered the sitting room where both Jane and Charlotte were waiting for her.

“Good morning, Lizzy,” Jane sang. “This is an important day. Charlotte and I rang for hot chocolate, which should arrive any minute.”

Bethany did not ask Jane to use the name with which she had been christened. She would speak to Jane, the rest of her Bennet family, and others after the meeting with the king. She had decided that in private those who knew her as Lizzy or Eliza were free to address her by that name. However, in any public setting it had to be Bethany, or Bethie, as Mother, her godmothers, and their family called her. Unless it was an extremely formal occasion which demanded such, Bethany did not want any member of her family or close friends to address her with ‘Lady’ before her name or, heaven forfend, her full title.