Chapter 15

Elizabeth’s recounting of her 14 weeks in Hertfordshire was all over the place. There some aspects she deliberately did not talk about, there were aspects she just forgot to mention and the whole thing was pretty disjointed. And of course it was a summary. At the end she looked over at her uncle. His look was not ‘I told you so’, more of a resigned ‘this is not unexpected’.

“I know that cannot have been easy for you. I am not going to endlessly review each and every event. It does not change the outcome. So, let me be clear with you. You are not my daughter but you are part of my family. You will have a place in this home for as long as you want, as long as you need.”

Elizabeth was blinking away tears as she stood before awkwardly hugging her seated uncle.

“Thank you Uncle Edward.”

She reseated herself and dabbed at her eyes with her lace handkerchief. After a moment she was able to talk.

“I understand not going back over every event, but can you give me your thoughts on the time as a whole?”

“You were not the only person who thought about family when you came to assist me back in ’07. It was not immediate but your actions made me consider our extended family. Paul and Martha, your aunt and uncle Philips, live modestly but comfortably. Without going into any of the details, I know that my sister will be taken care of if something should happen to your uncle. But again, they live a modest life and with no children there will be no issues for Martha as a widow. They are almost too easy.

“All of the generation before them are gone. Each of the Philips, Gardiner and Bennet grandparents are all dead, although there are extended cousins. It is unfortunate that Madeline’s parents are both still alive. That sounds terrible. Not that they are still alive rather that it is impossible for the children to meet their grandparents. They are too old to travel and I cannot travel two miles without discomfort, never mind for three or four days. Now that I mention it, I will see if young Edward will make the trip this summer. It would be good for him and for them.

“Anyway, that just leaves your parents. And as you have talked about, and clearly thought about even more, I too have been conflicted about them. They live a comfortable life, and for 20 years have done little to assist their children preparing to maintain that lifestyle. Salvation for the Bennets will come through the daughters marrying well, or me financially assisting my sister and any unmarried children. I left my family home at 14 years of age and worked practically non-stop for nearly 20 years, before my accident. And in the last five years, with your help for most of it, I have worked even harder. The loss of my legs made me work even harder to prove myself. When I finished my apprenticeship I received my inheritance early, ￡5,000 to start my business. The same ￡5,000 that your mother received as a dowry the previous year, and again the same amount my other sister had received, although a large part of that was the share of my father’s business when Philips was made a partner.

“I will not let my sister ‘starve in the hedgerows’ as she is constantly worrying about. But I struggle with resentment when I know that she expects me to save her. As a woman I know that she has no control over Longbourn and that she cannot overrule her husband. But I do not understand how they can both ignore the issue that a country solicitor saved ￡10,000 of cash and built a small business worth another ￡5,000 and yet the five daughters of the second largest estate in the area have no dowry other than a share of their mother’s portion upon her death. Which could be 30, 40, even 50 years in the future.

“My reason for being so indiscreet is so that you can let go of any residual guilt. You are not alone in having conflicted feelings about family members. The Mr. Collins issue is complicated, not least by the timing of his arrival, so soon after your return. If you had stayed here until Christmas then there is a fair chance that Mary would be engaged to him. For many in society marriage is a business transaction and therefore women have little expectation for love. But there is a difference between not being happy and being extremely unhappy. The only thing I would ask you to consider is letting go of any animosity towards Charlotte Lucas. She acted ‘normally’; for her to have also turned down Mr. Collins could have resulted in her being banished.”

“Like me.”

There was no point in arguing the semantics. Edward Gardiner just nodded.

“I can understand never being close again, but go no further than indifference.”

“I can do that. She will be married in less than three weeks, off to somewhere in Kent and it is unlikely that I will ever see her again. I will hear how she is doing indirectly, from Jane through Mary. Any news to her will be the reverse.”

--

Two days later life for the Gardiners changed just as dramatically as that horrible day in July of 1807. This time however, it was good news, unbelievably great news. Elizabeth was sitting in the front parlour with her new aunt when Mrs. Gardiner was called through to her husband’s study. Two minutes later she heard ‘oh Edward, this is wonderful’. Curiosity burned within her and she only had to wait a further two minutes before her aunt rushed into the parlour.

“Lizzie, come with me, such news.”

The overheard comment and her aunt’s wide smile assuaged any concerns she had about the news. This was clearly good news. As soon as the study door was closed her uncle thrust two pieces of paper into Elizabeth’s hand. As she read them it was fortunate there was a chair behind here as she all but collapsed in surprise. The letter was the explanation and details but the second piece of paper was a copy of the proclamation.

Whitehall, January 8, 1812

The Prince Regent, in the name of the King, has been pleased to grant the Dignity of a Baronet of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland unto the following Gentleman and the Heirs Male of his body, lawfully begotten,

Edward George Gardiner of Bridge in the City of London.

Elizabeth looked at her smiling uncle but turned to her aunt.

“Aunt Agatha, I believe you should be the first person to address Mr. Gardiner correctly.”

Agatha Gardiner took a second to understand her niece but then burst into a huge smile, reaching over and squeezing Elizabeth’s hand for the gesture. She stood and curtsied deeply.

“Congratulations Sir Edward.”

Elizabeth waited until they had finished hugging before repeating her gesture.

“Congratulations Sir Edward. Young Edward is in for a shock when he returns from the office.”

“Let me ring for tea. I will ask Mrs. Brewer to ensure we have chilled champagne with supper tonight. The staff can share several bottles of wine as part of the celebration.”

15 minutes later everyone was settled with fresh tea. Mrs. Brewer knew something had happened but the details had not yet been shared. All of the staff would be gathered once young Edward was home and would be informed then.

“What can you tell us about this award? Are you allowed to discuss it?”

“Now that it is official, yes I can. First of all, I apologise for keeping this a secret from you Agatha. As you will hear in a moment, there was some opposition to the granting of the award. I did not want to jinx the process and so kept it to myself.”

He looked over fondly at his niece.

“The reason I am a Baronet, my son Edward in time, and my family yet to come is because of Lizzie here.”

The exclamations of ‘what!’ overlapped.

“One evening in the late autumn of ’09 one of the guests at dinner was a captain of a ship which had recently been in A Coruna. The British had embarked from there in the January during the retreat of General Moore’s Army. Within six months the French had retreated from Galicia completely, through Spanish resistance to their invasion and the need for their troops elsewhere. The British were now sending shipments of guns and ammunition to the Spanish via A Coruna and Captain Jensen and his ship were in one of those convoys.

“This was all in the newspapers, which Lizzie and I had carefully and thoroughly read. But what was not in the newspaper was information that Captain Jensen mentioned at dinner. He had heard that the Spanish had captured French supply caravans and there had been brandy included in the manifest. The Generals and Marshalls of the French Army wanted their comforts when on campaign. The next day Elizabeth mentions this previously unknown titbit to me. But it was the follow up question that tipped the scales. Do you remember Lizzie?”

She nodded.

“Do you think we would be allowed to trade French brandy but with the Spanish not the French?”

“Exactly. And that one sentence took nearly a year to turn into reality.”

“Your Baronetcy is because of the ‘blood brandy’?”

“Not entirely. All will become clear. So Lizzie gives me this idea and I sat and noodled away at it. Trying to think of ways to turn this idea into a plan and from there to having it actually happen. Lizzie is vital a second time due to her connections.”

“Lizzie’s connections?”

“How long before the dinner was the accident Lizzie, do you remember the timing?”

“The accident was long before, early summer, whereas the dinner was right at the start of advent. More than five months between the events.”

“There was an accident on Piccadilly. Part of a building that was being demolished collapsed suddenly. Fortunately no one was killed but it was scary for a while. Between parts of the fallen building, the dust and most dangerously, the stampeding horses it was not safe at all.”

Edward Gardiner swallowed, the memory of this event stirring up emotions from before.

“A child was separated from her family and was stranded in the middle of the road, terrified and frozen in fear. Lizzie saw that she was in danger of suffering the same fate as Madeline and dashed over and pulled her clear. Moments later the load was shed from the cart, the child was rescued in the nick of time.”

Agatha Gardiner knew what had happened to Madeline Gardiner, she saw the impact on her husband every day. She pulled Elizabeth into a fierce hug.

“That was incredibly brave Lizzie.”

Elizabeth demurred and they settled back down.

“What Elizabeth did not know was that she had rescued one of the daughters of the Duke of Richwood.”

Another gasp from his wife.

“Elizabeth slipped away in all the confusion. But right before Christmas one of the ladies in the Duchess’ party recognised Lizzie. She was one of the Duke’s sisters, so the Duchess’ sister-in-law. You were in Hatchard’s, yes?”

“I was.”

“The lady recognised her, and also that the family was in her debt. Lizzie explained about my being in trade, thinking that would be the end of the connection. Normally repaying a debt with someone like Lizzie would involve introducing her to their society. But there was no point, the gap in rank was too much and I was still in trade. However, Lady Maria maintained a correspondence with Lizzie. Every two weeks, regular as clockwork. And Lady Maria’s youngest sister is married to the President of the Board of Trade. So guess what Lizzie asked as a favour of Lady Maria?”

“No! Really?”

“Yes, I was granted an interview with the Earl of Bathurst where I had the chance to explain my plan. Six months later my ship Hatfield Palace dropped anchor in the Pool of London. There had been excise officers on the ship while docked at A Coruna, and on the journey home. The cargo was unloaded and I paid the duty on the brandy. I then sold it at enormous profit as it was the first legitimate cargo of brandy since the Peace of Amiens.

“What was key at the time, and when discussing my baronetcy, was that it was one of the few things that the Whigs and the Tories could agree on. Apparently, all the gentleman’s clubs running out of brandy was a national disaster so everyone could agree on it. The Spanish were shooting the French to acquire it, the Exchequer received the customs duty, and the clubs of London once again had fine brandy available to their members. It quickly sold out, I have a few cases left for special gifts, as does Lizzie. In fact, you might have more than I do. The largest unsold stock of brandy in Britain.”

“You know that you can sell that stock uncle.”

“Elizabeth, there would be no stock to sell without your two interventions. I put aside 200 cases for my own use, as gifts, special presentations as well as to drink myself. You have one eighth of the business so 25 cases are yours. How many have you gifted?”

“Just one case uncle. The one I took back to Hertfordshire with me, the rest are still in your warehouse.”

“In the last year I have sold or gifted close to 150 cases to various people. We probably have close to the same. Regardless, that is the business part of the honour. If it was straightforward then I could have received this award a year ago. But it is not that simple. Because I am in trade, and tradesmen do not receive honours, or rather they did not. Change is slowly coming to the awarding of honours. It was discussed back and forth but I was granted the baronetcy. My understanding is that there are several other people with ties to trade also being recognised, East India Company men, West India Company men, men with ties to trade who are Members of Parliament. The shipments of grain and cattle to Spain had brought me to the attention of those that matter, but the ‘blood brandy’ was the event that convinced them. It has been approved, and this notice will be in the London Gazette. There will be an investiture ceremony at some point this winter.”

“Can you explain the title please my dear.”

“We reside in the City of London which is not part of any ceremonial county. Let us use Lizzie’s father as an example. He would be Sir Thomas Bennet of Meryton in the County of Hertfordshire. He could also use Longbourn rather than Meryton. But it anchors him in a specific town and county. The City of London is different. It is both a city and a county. And it is part of a larger city. I could hardly be Sir Edward Gardiner of The City of London in The City of London. So the electoral ward within the City was used as the distinguishing identifier. We are in the Bridge ward so that is why it is in my title.”

The couple smiled at each other but noticed that Elizabeth was sitting quietly, a contemplative look on her face.

“Are you okay Lizzie, you are quiet?”

“No uncle, I am very well. I was just thinking back over all these little forks in the path of our lives. Even before the accident or the dinner with Captain Jensen there were so many little things, going all the way back to when I first came to stay in Gracechurch Street.”

It was her aunt who asked the question.

“Can you share some examples?”

“Six months after I came here, so right around four years ago exactly, Uncle Edward asked me to be even more involved in his business. And probably the key way was in gathering information, reading endless newspapers and magazines, looking for snippets of information that could help his business. We followed General Moore’s retreat and so I knew about Galicia. And from a casual glance at a map you can see that A Coruna is a much closer port than Lisbon. Then there is the accident on Piccadilly, the instinctive decision to grab the child. But then the sheer coincidence of one of the party recognising me nearly six months later. The dinner party and Captain Jensen’s comment, the fact that Lady Maria did not sever the connection despite the chasm between us. Then following through on her pledge to help if possible. And these are the few moments I have been involved in the tale. Uncle Edward’s list is probably ten times as long, more even.”

Elizabeth retired to her room, sat in the chair at her desk but gazed out of the window, her mind racing. This new status of her uncle Gardiner. She stopped and giggled. How was she going to fit Sir into that? Laughing at herself she focused again. Sir Edward Gardiner Bt. was now a person of significance, not a member of the peerage but a hereditary knight. Elizabeth could hardly still her mind, so many things flitted through it. Respect and happiness for her uncle; this was not political patronage, it was an achievement through hard work. The impact on his family going forward; the change that would happen. Would he want to move? The reaction back in Hertfordshire; she had no idea how that would play out. It would not change anything, or so she thought. Elizabeth indulged herself for several minutes contemplating Miss Bingley’s reaction to the news. The uncle in trade, living on Gracechurch Street near the River Thames, now a Baronet. Elizabeth guessed that Miss Bingley would still find a reason to sneer. She stopped wasting time on that person and threw her from her mind. Lastly Elizabeth wondered whether there would be an impact on her own life. The niece of a newly appointed Baronet had no significance, it was young Edward that would be most impacted. His eligibility would rise substantially.

The staff were pleased when they heard the news, even more so when told they would be having wine with their evening meal. There were many toasts to Sir Edward and the house was filled with laughter. Young Edward had been shocked but rallied quickly. Elizabeth could see him mentally practicing his title. He was caught by his father but both just laughed. His father did warn him that his social status would change and again, young Edward did not seem unhappy at the prospect.

--

“I would like to continue to maintain your ledgers for you Uncle Sir Edward.”

Her uncle obligingly laughed.

“Right then, you only had the chance to say that once, and it is now done with.”

“Only the third day and already worried about your dignity. Fine, spoil my fun. Going back to my request, what say you?”

“A compromise. I would like young Edward to make an attempt, in pencil, and then I would like you to review them, correcting any mistakes. If you explain them to me, I will sit with Edward and show him the errors.”

Despite a decade of experience and competence, they both knew that young Edward would not be the best of students if Elizabeth taught him herself. He was a kind young man, would always be her cousin, but he was staunch in his beliefs that women had no place in business. She nodded, it was best for all.

“Are you going to maintain Longbourn’s ledgers?”

“I had not thought about it. Do you really think father would have the gall to send Mary with the ledgers after all but banishing me?”

“What do you think?”

Mr. Bennet had not maintained the ledgers for more than 10 years. It was not a complicated task, it took patience and concentration, abilities Mr. Bennet had in abundance, just not with arithmetic.

“Probably not at first, but he may send them next month if he is struggling.”

“Mary could not assist him?”

“She understands when I explain them to her, but she just does not get it. I have sat with her, but it is like me with drawing. Arithmetic is not her strength.”

Elizabeth looked over at her uncle, her teeth gnawing at her bottom lip.

“May I ask you a personal question Uncle?”

“You may ask, although I may choose not to answer.”

“I do not need to know the amounts but did Aunt Madeline have a dowry?”

“What an interesting question. Yes she did, and I do not mind telling you that it was ￡2,500. What prompted this question.”

“Dowries for my sisters.”

Elizabeth watched as a myriad of emotions flashed across her uncle’s face.

“Explain to me please what you are thinking?”

“To be honest uncle, my thoughts are not particularly advanced. This will be more of a discussion rather than me answering questions. I have my stake in your business, held in trust by you. This gives me an income each year and I have been thinking about sharing my good fortune with my sisters.”

“Do you think they deserve such a generous gift?”

“This is why I am talking to you. Regardless of the outcome of this discussion I will set aside some money for Mary. But I have questions and doubts about the other three.”

“Share your doubts please.”

“My two youngest sisters have turned into, I am not sure what they have turned into, but I do not like it. But I am acutely aware that they have received no parenting on behaving appropriately. Jane, Mary and myself all spent time with you and Aunt Madeline when you only had young Edward. The teaching we received has stood us in good stead. And although the lengthy visits stopped as your family expanded, I was still fortunate to spend time every year until she was taken from us. Kitty and Lydia are suffering from lack of teaching and involvement from my parents. Yes, they are ill-mannered young women but it is not all their fault.”

“And Jane?”

Elizabeth sat in silence for several moments.

“For many years she was not just my older sister but my closest friend, my confidante. The time apart has changed that, we are different now. It saddened me that she excused Caroline Bingley but remonstrated with me.”

Another sigh.

“She has not said it but I believe she thinks I should have agreed to marry Mr. Collins. She is more understanding, more forgiving of Charlotte Lucas than I am. But I remember what she was to me, what she still is. I feel I should help.”

“Do you think Mr. Bingley will return?”

“I have no idea. Mary did not mention his return in her letter. They seemed to be well suited but Miss Bingley could not have been clearer in her disdain for the match. I do not know what she wrote in the letter to Jane, but I have no doubt that it is skewed in some way.”

“Let us move on from the motivations and talk about amounts.”

“That was the reason I was asking about Aunt Madeline’s dowry.”

“If you tried to match it, the total would be ￡10,000. My business is going from strength to strength but it would likely take you five or six years to save that amount. No, that is wrong. It would take double that time as I will not allow you to save all your income. Some of it must be set aside for yourself.”

“You will not allow me to contribute to the household expenses.”

“Dresses, other outfits, books, some tuition from Masters, some travel, these will all take up plenty of your funds. You have already taken over the wages of Robert and Claire.”

He stopped and looked at his niece.

“It is not the responsibility of a sister to provide dowries to siblings. That is the rightful role of the father.”

She nodded.

“I have not talked about my money with any of my family. It feels deceitful to have this good fortune and not share it.”

“It is a tough situation to deal with, I know. But it would not exist with any of the others. Mary was just 14 at the time of the accident, she could not have taken over as you did. The youngest two were clearly not able to. Even at 16 it was incredible what you achieved. And that is just with the house. I believe that Jane could have done as well as you in the house, gone about it a different way for sure, but she would have run my house well. But Lizzie, you know better than anyone that only you could survive, indeed thrive, when dealing with the business. Your energy that first six months was vital in stopping the wolves from attacking, letting me recover and then start to grow anew.

“Yes, coming here was an opportunity that the others did not have. At the same time it took you, what, a minute to make up your mind to come to London? But if Jane had come rather than you the business would be substantially smaller, and we would not be having this discussion as there would be nothing to discuss.”

“I cannot refute your statements, but it does not change how I feel.”

“I understand. Will you be satisfied with saving no more than half of your income?”

“I will.”

“Then that is how we shall proceed. Set the money aside and we will discuss how to apportion the money if there is a need. Mr. Bingley was attracted to Jane while knowing she had no dowry. Should he return and make an offer, then I do not see the need for you to offer any funds. Rather than speculate let us save the money and deal with the situation when it arises.”

Elizabeth knew her uncle was right. It was an acceptable compromise.