Page 1

Chapter 1

‘Mr. Collins will turn us out before Mr. Bennet is cold in his grave, and if you are not kind to us, brother, I do not know what we shall do.’

Elizabeth Bennet sat with the rest of the family in stunned silence, the dreadful news just imparted by her father still echoing round the family parlour. Every Christmas for as long as she could remember, within hours of the Gardiner family arriving her mother had spouted the same phrase. Every year it was the same sentence, the same worry. Elizabeth wondered if her mother had it written down somewhere so that she could practice in advance for her annual recitation.

Never had it occurred to anyone in either family that it would be Mrs. Gardiner that would die first, and that the same accident would have Mr. Gardiner fighting for his life. The Gardiners were an oasis of calm and stability in Elizabeth’s life. Her aunt might have imparted the same instruction and advice as her mother but it was measured and helpful, not fraught with shrieks and attacks of ‘nerves’. Elizabeth knew that over the last five years she had placed her Aunt Madeline on somewhat of a pedestal. And now she was gone. Elizabeth’s memories of her Uncle Gardiner were split between work and home. When he was working he was in his office or his warehouses. Elizabeth had accompanied him there many times. It was down at the docks and he had counselled her repeatedly about the dangers there with so much cargo being unloaded from ships, and goods being transported to and between warehouses. He took her, and his own, safety very seriously. And yet for all these precautions the accident had happened on a random street in London. Two carts brushed against each other, a frayed rope snapped and a tun of wine had been displaced. Madeline Gardener had been killed instantly and Edward Gardener’s legs had been crushed from above the knees.

She paused her introspection and returned her attention to the dining room, looking around surveying the occupants. Her two youngest sisters were stunned into silence and they were sitting there as if unsure how to act or react. As she watched them the hysterical wailing of their mother gave them their own cues and they too burst into excessive grief. Looking at her mother for once Elizabeth was filled with sympathy for the woman. The whole house was no stranger to her ‘nerves’, and the caterwauling that accompanied their near daily onset. But this was different. This was her younger brother, fighting for his life at only 33 years of age, his wife dead at 31. For once lamentations were to be expected. Jane was attending their mother, the tracks of tears on her cheeks testament to her own grief. But they all knew that Jane was the only person in the house that could calm their mother.

Looking over at her father he was slumped in a chair, the letter from London still held limply in his hand. Elizabeth loved her father, she loved both her parents but her father most of all. She knew this was exactly the kind of circumstance that he was poor at dealing with. Loving him did not make her blind to his faults. A third son, not expecting to inherit, he had been happy in academia until a scarlet fever outbreak in Hertfordshire wiped out his parents, together with both his brothers and their families. So in addition to dealing with the loss of his entire family he had been thrust into the unexpected, and ultimately unwelcome, position of Master of the Longbourn Estate.

It was after her 10th birthday that Jane had quietly explained to Elizabeth the background to how their father inherited Longbourn. Jane’s own questions had been brushed aside by their parents but she had asked her aunt and uncle when visiting them in London. When it was explained to her, and she in turn had explained it to Elizabeth, neither of them understood why it was something that was not discussed at home.

But Elizabeth thought about this background and overlaid it on her own observations of her father. It was clear that Thomas Bennet was a reluctant landowner and that his true love were the Classics. He spoke both Latin and Greek and his library contained many volumes both translated and in the original. Elizabeth herself could read most of the Latin texts but had only a smattering of Greek. Where Elizabeth excelled was in arithmetic. From the age of 10 she had kept the ledgers for the estate and over the last six years she had learned all the intricacies of estate management, or at least as much as she was able to as a young woman who never left her father’s library. Longbourn did not have a steward and her father was frustratingly inconsistent, and on many occasions downright indolent, about managing the estate.

However much her father annoyed her with his attitude Elizabeth knew that she was circumscribed in what she could achieve herself. She knew the tenant farmers, she knew their families, but any attempt to direct them would be met with instant derision and probably outright hostility. Longbourn returned just over £2,100 per annum but Elizabeth was convinced that with proper oversight it should be close to £3,300. Such a sum would allow her father to start to lay aside money for the dowries of his daughters. Sadly it was one more thing that her father had neglected.

Which brought her back to their current situation. Elizabeth’s aptitude with Longbourn’s ledgers and finance generally had come to the attention of her uncle. For the last four years she had spent three weeks every quarter with the Gardiners. Oftentimes it extended to a full month. Elizabeth had been delighted to spend so much time with her aunt and uncle and assist them with their growing family. But what delighted her most of all was spending time with her uncle at his office. She would sit and review all his ledgers, and invariably found small errors. Over the years her uncle got her more involved in the paperwork of his business. She reviewed manifests for him, sat with him while he explained contracts to her and, most memorably, she had discovered a fraud. It had cost her uncle a small amount of money but it had the potential to have ruined him, if left unchecked.

Elizabeth remembered how pleased and relieved both her Uncle Edward and Aunt Madeline had been that day. Suddenly the death of her aunt and her uncle’s life hanging in the balance finally sank in and the tears flowed. Her grief was quiet but no less heartfelt than that of her mother. The kind woman who understood and indulged her favourite niece was gone forever. She closed her eyes and let the feelings of emptiness wash over her. She had no idea how much time passed but eventually she became aware of an arm around her shoulders and a small hand in her own.

“Lizzie, are you okay?”

Her sister Mary held her as she calmed herself, the tears finally drying.

“Thank you, Mary. I just realised that I will never see Aunt Madeline again. I needed that release of grief but I am better now.”

Her small cathartic moment could not have been for long as everyone was still in the same places. But then the terrified lamentations of her mother every Christmas returned to her memories. ‘If you are not kind to us brother, I do not know what we shall do’. The Gardiner family had been torn asunder and someone had to do something. Years later Mary would proclaim that Elizabeth had an epiphany. She took a deep breath and sat up straighter.

“Papa, may I see the letter please?”

Wordlessly he passed the pages over. She scanned them quickly noting that there was a short note from a doctor and a longer letter from the Gardiner’s solicitor. The doctor’s note was hurried and nothing more than a bare recitation of the facts. Aunt Gardiner had died instantly while Uncle Gardiner’s legs had been crushed. The bleeding had been stemmed sufficiently to save his life but immediately upon arrival at the hospital both legs had been amputated above the knee. If there was no infection then he should recover.

The letter from the solicitor was surprisingly heartfelt. The tone at the start tried to remain impersonal but by the end you could tell that the solicitor was also a friend of Mr. Gardiner. He requested urgent assistance to deal with not just the Gardiner children but also the business; Gardiner Import/Export. The final paragraph emphasised the urgent need to bury Mrs. Gardiner due to the heat of the summer. It needed to be said, but it was still stark to read it on the letter. Elizabeth took charge and rang the bell.

“Mrs. Hill, we have received dreadful news from London. Mrs. Bennet’s brother, my Uncle Gardiner, has been dreadfully injured in an accident in town. His wife was killed in the same accident. Please have one of the grooms saddle Daisy for me. I need to go to Meryton immediately. I presume that my Aunt and Uncle Philips have been told but I do not know for sure. This is not something that I wish to assign to a groom.”

“At once Miss Elizabeth. My condolences on the family’s loss.”

Mrs. Hill knew their mother better than anyone and would speak to her later when she was calmer. In the meantime she left to deal with Elizabeth’s instructions.

“Lizzy, you mean to go to Meryton now?”

“Yes Mary. I am almost certain that the Philips will have also received notification but we cannot be sure. I will go and see them immediately and I am positive they will return with me. We need to figure out who needs to get ready to go to London tomorrow.”

“All of us? We are seven plus the Philips’ so there will be nine of us.”

Elizabeth nodded, the logistics of them all going to London intruding on her thoughts.

“I doubt it will be anything like that many. Most probably four, at most five.”

Elizabeth made to leave the room but suddenly stopped.

“Black dye.”

Mary grasped what she meant.

“Come, we will find Mrs. Hill and see if she has any laid away.”