Chapter 7

London

15 th May, 1812

Darcy,

I am sorry that your sister is not well enough to journey to London. I will miss your company, but I understand your need to keep watch over her.

I met your cousin Col onel Fitz william at Boodle’s White’s a few days ago. He seemed full healthy.

Caroline, of course, and to a lesser extent Louisa, wailed and mourned the news that you will not be in London for the Season. I wish Caroline would find a husband, but I know she still hopes that you will offer for her and will not listen to my insistence that you have no intention of doing so.

I know I am not a good marvelous correspondent but will do my best to keep you abreast of my doings. I suppose I will take part in the whirlwind that is the Season, though I am less excited than usual this year. I confess that I still often think of Miss Bennet and compare her to every woman I meet. She was such a beautiful woman, and so kind as well. But I would not wish to wed a lady who is forced to the altar by her family’s need for income. I am determined that when I do purchase an estate, I will make certain it is not entailed away from the female line. It is so very hard on the daughters!

As you may remember, I have a one-year lease on Nteher Netherfield Hall. Given that the lady I loved is settled only three miles from Netherfield, I have decided to give up the estate. Caroline wishes for me to find an estate in Derbyshire, anyway.

I will continue to pray for Miss Darcy.

Yours,

Charles Bingley

/

Cheapside

27 th May, 1812

Dearest Lizzy!

My beloved Isaac asked for my hand in marriage yesterday, and I accepted his offer! Oh, my dear, I am so very happy! He is the perfect man for me; so very kind, and intelligent, and hardworking!

He has important business meetings today and tomorrow and will ride to Longbourn on Friday to ask Father for his blessing.

I will be staying in London for a few days because our wonderful aunt intends to assist me in acquiring a dress for my wedding. Then I will return home to Longbourn, because Isaac’s business requires that he journey to Brighton for some weeks. I will miss him, but I am thankful he asked for my hand in marriage before departing.

I will see you soon.

Happily,

Jane

/

Longbourn

10 th June, 1812

Dear Anne,

My dearest sister is engaged to be married! I told you, of course, of Mr. Isaac Russell, a tradesman in London who is a good friend of my uncle Gardiner’s. After a courtship of a few months, he and Jane are now betrothed.

My mother is ecstatic at having a daughter well engaged and is busy planning the wedding breakfast for the ages. The wedding will have to wait at least a month or two, as Isaac has business concerns to attend to.

He owns a house in Cheapside, and Jane had the pleasure of touring it before she returned to Longbourn last week. It is small but well maintained, and Jane is looking forward very much to being mistress of her own little domain.

With Friendship,

Elizabeth Bennet

/

28 th June, 1812

Bingley,

Thank you for your most recent letter, although, as usual, I confess I had some trouble reading your handwriting. I think you said that you recently met my cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, at White’s? I am aware that he has been traveling a great deal of late, while I have been happily ensconced at Pemberley. Regarding Georgiana, yes, she is doing well, though I still would not wish for her to experience the heat and poor air of London. Moreover, the Season is effectively over now. I will plan to attend the balls and assemblies and outings of London next year.

You mentioned Netherfield and your intention to give up the estate. If you do not intend to oversee the estate, then you should indeed do so. Land and tenants do not thrive with an absentee landlord.

Having said all that, it disturbs me a little that … well, I will be truthful and say that I am startled that you still, apparently, long for Miss Bennet. I have often seen you in love before with ‘an angel’, only to lose any interest in the lady within a few weeks.

I am concerned about Miss Bennet’s family – she has close ties to trade, and the behavior of her parents and younger two sisters is of concern – but if you do not mind such things, perhaps you should pursue her? She is, without a doubt, an elegant and lovely lady.

I would, of course, be pleased if you purchased or leased an estate closer to Pemberley, and if you and your family would like to visit in the next months, we could look around for possible estates nearby.

Sincerely,

Fitzwilliam Darcy

/

22 nd July, 1812

Darcy,

My apologies for not returning your letter sooner. I have been pondering the situation with Netherfield and did not care to reply until I had arrived at a firm definite conclusion.

I will be giving up the lease at Netherfield. I appreciate your … permission, I suppose I could say … to pursue Jane Miss Bennet, but I cannot overcome my own strong desire to wed a woman who genuinely loves me. I do not blame her for being willing to marry a man based on his fortune. As we both know, the situation at Longbourn is dire, with five daughters, little money, and Longbourn entailed away to a distant cousin. But while many gentlemen are pleased enough to marry a lady based on looks and charm, I am not. I need my wife to care for love me as I love her in return.

So yes, I have visited my solicitor to give up the lease.

The Hursts, Caroline, and I will be journeying to Scarborough in the next few weeks, as our aunt Amelia is failing badly, and will, it seems, pass on soon. My dear aunt acted as mother to us when our own mother died young, and we wish to see her before she passed on through heavenly gates.

Depending on what happens with her, I think I will take up your invitation to visit Pemberley afterwards.

With much gratitude,

Charles Bingley

/

1 st October, 1812

Darcy,

Yes, another express! Once again, I assure you that nothing terrible has happened. I am well, my family is well, Lady Catherine is as well as you would expect, and Cousin Anne is well.

I write in haste because I have a favor to ask of you; would you be willing to host Cousin Anne for the winter? I know it is a strange request, as Pemberley is a very long way from Kent, and moreover, you doubtless worry that such proximity will only fuel our mutual aunt’s insistence that you wed our cousin. But you need not worry about that, as I have the honor of informing you that three weeks ago, I wed Anne de Bourgh in London, and now she is Mrs. Anne Fitzwilliam!

We did this in secret while Lady Catherine was away in another part of London for a few days, and we have not yet told her of our marriage. Indeed, my intention, if you permit it, is that I will carry Anne north with me, spend a few days at Pemberley with my wife, and then return to Kent to clean house, so to speak, as the new master of Rosings.

Anne is afraid of Lady Catherine. My mother-in-law has always been autocratic and imperious, as we have both known for many years now. But in the last months, as Anne and I carefully courted through letters concealed in letters between Anne and my sister Rachel and occasional visits – all done, of course, beneath the very nose of our aunt – Anne has shared her mother’s genuine cruelty. Lady Catherine has rarely been kind to her only child and has often been harsh. In Anne’s younger years, her mother did not hesitate to deprive her of treats and even possessions if Anne attempted to resist her mother’s dictates.

All of that means that Anne, who is a far more interesting person that I thought even a few months ago, is genuinely afraid of her mother. I do not want her at Rosings while I battle with Lady Catherine over her removal to the Dower House.

I am in the process of selling my commission, and once my irritating mother-in-law is dealt with, Anne and I will serve as mistress and master of Rosings, and with far more kindness and sense than Lady Catherine.

Let me know if Anne and I are welcome.

Oh, one more thing. Anne’s companion, Mrs. Jenkinson, has been a loyal and faithful friend to my wife for many years. She is the mother of one son whom she has not seen in three years, and we wish to send her off to visit him for a long visit. There is one granddaughter she has not even met! For the near future, I intend to find another companion for her. Do I have your permission to bring someone to stand as a friend to my wife?

Joyfully,

Richard Fitzwilliam.

/

8 th October, 1812

Richard,

Many congratulations to you and Anne! I am indeed happy for not only you and Anne, but myself as well, as I feel a great weight has lifted from me. Your wife is a wonderful woman, and I am confident your marriage will be a successful one – far more than my hypothetical marriage to Anne would have been. She is a quiet person, and so am I. Very quiet people do better with more outgoing spouses.

You are both very welcome here at Pemberley and for as long as you like. I promise that when you leave Anne behind, Georgiana and I, not to mention Mrs. Reynolds, will do our best to cosset her. You are also welcome to bring a companion, or a friend, or one of each, or three of each, if you like. We have plenty of space for guests.

I will have Mrs. Reynolds prepare several rooms, and I look forward to your visit.

Sincerely,

Darcy

/

15 th October, 1812

Scarborough

Darcy,

I know it has been some time since I wrote, and I apologize for that. Our aunt did indeed die pass on within a few weeks of our arrival in Yorkshire. We have been in mourning, and I have also had quite a bit of business to conduct regarding her modest fortune.

In any case, we will be out of mourning by the first week of November and would like to spend a few weeks at Pemberley later that month if that is all right with you?

I do intend to purchase an estate in the next year or two. It is time for me to settle down and become a more serious man.

Kindly let me know if that is convenient for you.

Your friend,

Charles Bingley

/

Pemberley

23 rd October, 1812

Bingley,

I am grieved over the loss of your aunt.

You are, of course, very welcome to spend as long as you like at Pemberley; indeed, Georgiana and I would greatly enjoy your company through the Christmas Season and into the New Year.

We will have other guests as well, namely my cousins Anne and Richard Fitzwilliam, though Richard will not be staying for long. Given the size of Pemberley, there is no chance we will find ourselves overly crowded.

In truth, Georgiana and I have both been feeling a little lonely, and we look forward to the party of friends and relatives arriving in the next weeks.

I must see my steward over an urgent problem, so I will close this in haste.

Sincerely,

Fitzwilliam Darcy

/

28 th October, 1812

Rosings

Dear Elizabeth,

This is a great secret, so I beg you to tell no one. Richard and I are married!

We were wed in secret, by common license, in the middle of September, in Richard’s parish; not Hunsford, certainly, as Mr. Collins is entirely incapable of keeping anything secret from my mother. Lady Catherine was herself in London that day. She was visiting a distant cousin who birthed her third daughter in late August. My mother, of course, could not bear missing a chance to call upon my Cousin Phoebe and scold her for not providing an heir to her husband.

I know it must sound odd to you, who are so bright and clever and courageous, that we have not yet told my mother of our marriage. But I am a meeker person and have long been in the habit of obeying my mother, so we have decided that, for now, I will stay humbly at home while Richard sells out and arranges to take over Rosings.

We will both be traveling north to Pemberley in the next month, where I will reside for some weeks, while Richard will return to Kent and throw my mother into the Dower House.

It is such a delightful thought.

I wish for you to come with me to Pemberley, if your father can spare you. I am very fond of my Darcy cousins, but they are both quiet people, as am I. You would be a most enjoyable companion.

Please let me know if you would be willing to journey with me to Derbyshire.

Affectionately,

Anne Fitzwilliam

/

Longbourn

6 th November, 1812

Anne,

First of all, many, many, many congratulations on your marriage! The colonel is a delightful gentleman, and I am confident of your mutual satisfaction as husband and wife.

Second, I would be overjoyed to accompany you to Pemberley, assuming, that is, that Mr. Darcy truly is at peace with my presence. You are aware that he and I have not always been on the best of terms. Not that I am alarmed at sharing a very large house with him; it is merely that I do not wish for him to be uncomfortable in his own home.

Blessings,

Elizabeth

/

Rosings

9 th November, 1812

Elizabeth,

Do not worry about Darcy. I shared your concerns with my dear husband, and he said that Darcy could use as many cheerful ladies as possible in the great halls of Pemberley, as could my young cousin, Miss Darcy.

I know you do not like Darcy particularly, but he really is a good man. Our situations are radically different in many ways; I, an only child, have been under the thumb of my dictatorial mother for my entire life. Darcy lost his mother during his teen years and his father when he was but three and twenty. He has had to carry the burden of overseeing a truly vast estate, even larger than Rosings, while also acting as father and mother to a much younger sister. Last, but not least, the poor man has been hunted and pursued by the mammas of the ton and their daughters ever since he came out in society.

Having said that, there is no excuse for his behavior the night he met you; yes, Richard told me about his insult of your beauty, and if he had been nearby, I would have been inclined to hit him with a pillow!

An odd threat, I know, but the only time I was at Pemberley was when I was a child of seven, which was one of the healthiest of my life. Darcy was eight or nine, and we enjoyed pillow fights with one another, to the amusement of our respective nursemaids.

In any case, I am glad you are willing to come to Pemberley with me. We intend to leave for Longbourn on Tuesday, the 17 th of November.

My mother, who still does not know of our marriage, is traveling to London on the 16 th at the behest of the Earl of Matlock, her brother and Richard’s father. My uncle is aware of our secret, and both he and the countess are delighted that their second son has wed such a wealthy woman who is also a precious niece.

In any case, Matlock will keep Lady Catherine busy as Richard arrives from his lodgings in London on the 16th, and we will begin our journey north that very day.

I am so excited at seeing you, my friend, and I am thrilled at the thought of being away from Rosings and my mother. I have never said this before, but the house seems more prison than mansion to me, thanks to my mother’s character and obstinacy. I hope one day I will be happy to live here again.

With much affection,

Mrs. Anne Fitzwilliam

/

10 th November, 1812

Darcy,

I write in haste as much must be done in the next days before we begin our journey north.

Miss Elizabeth Bennet has agreed to accompany us to Pemberley. She expressed some concern that you would find her presence unpleasant, but I assured her that, in spite of her unfortunate first impression, you are far too much of a gentleman to do anything but welcome her with pleasure.

She is, as you know, a lively and joyful person, which will be a blessing to both Anne and Georgiana.

I must speak to my man of business.

Sincerely,

Richard Fitzwilliam