Chapter 22

Mary Bennet savoured the quiet and calm. It was not silence, there was the low murmur of voices as well as the sounds of the piano. It allowed her time to think and to come to understand everything that had happened.

Mary had been used to Elizabeth’s absence. But she loved the trips to London with the ledgers every quarter as it allowed her to have two precious weeks with her sister. It was as Elizabeth has said, they had become the closest of friends. Elizabeth’s return had been such a tumultuous three months what with Mr. Bingley’s party at Netherfield Park and Mr. Collins, but it had been wonderful to have Elizabeth back at Longbourn. Now she was gone, permanently this time, and Mary missed her terribly. What was the phrase? You do not miss what you do not have? Her teenage years had been without Elizabeth at Longbourn but her three month return made Mary realise how much she enjoyed her sister’s company.

What was noticeable was how the removal of Elizabeth did not change the atmosphere at Longbourn. She had left on the morning of the 6 th , as soon as Twelfth Night had passed. What Mary had not been aware of that morning, she had been fighting her tears and did not notice, was that their Uncle Gardiner had sent papers for the permanent guardianship over Elizabeth. Her father had signed it and severed control over his second daughter. She was gone forever.

This action was supposed to appease or make happy every person at Longbourn, herself excluded. And for four days the chaos of the house gradually started to lessen, there were longer periods of calm, less screeching about ‘nerves’, less bickering from her youngest two sisters. But then the newspaper arrived, an item without fault, yet the messenger was always blamed. There in bold print was the notice.

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.

So much for a reduction in the chaos! Within a day Mary decided to spend longer on her tenant visits just to escape the house. Her absences were added to when returning to Longbourn one day she met the Reverend Ferry as he locked up the vestry. One short conversation later and Mary joined the local ladies who volunteered to assist the poor of the parish. It was another day filled in her week and it was perfect for Mary. In addition to the actual work, one of the volunteers would quietly play songs, often hymns. But the minister and the other ladies were happy for Mary to practice her music there. They accepted that her performance was not perfect at first but they were encouraging to her, commenting on her improvement and happy to hear something new and contemporary. As a result she practiced less at Longbourn, saving herself from snide comments from her mother and Lydia. And the contrast of attitude between the two venues was stark.

By escaping from Longbourn for at least three days a week she mostly missed the two-faced-ness and hypocrisy of her parents. They were inundated with visitors congratulating Mrs. Bennet on her brother’s good fortune. Even Mrs. Bennet was struggling to maintain a happy facade when the family had found out at the same time as everyone else. It had made her uncharacteristically serious.

“Mr. Bennet, we must talk about my brother.”

For once she was not treated with a sardonic retort, just a nod in agreement.

“Has he responded to your letter yet?”

She shook her head.

“No, I have heard nothing from him since his Christmas letter.”

Thomas Bennet pursed his lips.

“Your thoughts as to how we should proceed?”

Fanny Bennet was surprised at the gentle tone. It more than anything else confirmed to her that this was a serious issue. But she could not help being herself.

“I blame his new wife, this Agatha.”

Her husband’s silence encouraged her.

“We were not even invited to their wedding, neither Martha or myself.”

“She has no children from her first marriage.”

“True, I grant you. But I wish I knew more about her, what was her background?”

They only knew the bare facts; the widow of an officer on a merchantman who worshipped at the same church as the Gardiners. Mr. Bennet changed the direction of the discussion.

“I have thought back over every conversation with Lizzie that I can recall and she gave no indication of this honour being considered. It was the same with the Christmas letter. Sir William was only knighted but I asked him after church one day as to how long he knew before it was announced. He told me that he did not receive much notice at all, less than two weeks was what he recalled. The decision to grant a baronetcy is much more significant and was probably considered for several months. Knowing Gardiner, I would not expect him to mention it to anyone until it was announced.”

Fanny Bennet wanted to blame her wayward daughter but she could see the truth of this explanation.

“We should write and let him know that we are going to visit.”

“It will appear mercenary.”

“Mercenary! We are his family and should share in his good fortune.”

Suppressing a sigh, he prevaricated.

“I will consider that. Let us await his response to your letter first. They only have space for one person, the house on Gracechurch Street is much smaller than Longbourn. They do not have the rooms to accommodate all six of us. And there is the issue of Lizzie living there as well.”

Thomas Bennet tuned out his wife’s usual tirades about Elizabeth and shortly thereafter ushered out of his study. But Fanny Bennet had the bit between her teeth and was not going to let go. She addressed the topic at the dining table.

“I am going to write to my brother Gardiner and request that we visit, perhaps after Easter.”

Mary watched the reactions round the table. Her father had a brief look of annoyance before carefully adjusting his face to its usual bland indifference.

“I want to visit all the best modistes while in London. Now that uncle is a Baronet I want to look my best when meeting the officers.”

Mary mentally rolled her eyes, Lydia was nothing if not predictable; greedy, self-centred and still obsessed with Redcoats. She ignored Kitty, it was just a repetition of Lydia’s statement and instead looked over at Jane. The look of confusion and sadness on her face was not hidden. Mary watched as Jane excused herself and retired upstairs. Mary followed a moment later.

“Jane, are you well? You seem upset.”

“Come in Mary and sit down. I am not ill, just very. I do not know the right word to end that sentence. Confused, unsure, worried, pick any or all of them.”

“May I ask why you feel that way?”

“Lizzie, how I treated her in the last month she was here at Longbourn. What the elevation of Uncle Gardiner will mean for the family. The way Mama and Papa act. How our two youngest sisters act. How is that to be getting on with?”

Mary watched her sister, not immediately responding. This was a different Jane to normal.

“You seem to have changed. You would never criticise anyone before, yet you have raised the behaviour of most of the members of the family.”

Mary sat in silence waiting for her sister to respond. The silence stretched close to a minute before Jane spoke in a quiet voice.

“I allowed my jealousy of Lizzie to get the better of me.”

This first sentence was followed by another long pause.

“Both Charlotte and I were jealous of the freedom Lizzie had in London. It makes us both look small and petty but we have acknowledged it to ourselves. It is why she has accepted Mr. Collins, despite his many and obvious flaws. And I allowed myself to dream about Mr. Bingley and had hopes that he would allow me to escape from Longbourn. When he left and did not return I was devastated. Miss Bingley’s letter suggested that he was close to being engaged to someone else, implying that I was nothing more than a momentary dalliance. I took my disappointment out on Lizzie, despite Miss Bingley’s attacks against our family. It was only as she hugged me goodbye that it hit me; she was not coming back. So most of my concerns are nothing to do with Uncle Gardiner’s wonderful news but rather the cold hard reality of my life here in Hertfordshire.

“I am the sister that can keep the peace, the daughter that can calm our mother. But it has done me no favours. I will twist myself into a tangled rope finding excuses for poor behaviour, especially within the family. I am sad that it took until I was unkind to Lizzie for me to see that I was doing myself, and the family, a disservice acting that way. I am now dealing with all of these new thoughts swirling in my head and when Charlotte leaves for Kent as Mrs. Collins I do not know what this year will bring for me.”

Mary pulled her sister to her feet and wrapped her in a hug, not letting go until Jane’s quiet tears had ebbed.

“Thank you, I did not realise I needed that. Can I know your thoughts please?”

“The first two things are really easy. Write a short letter of congratulations to Uncle Gardiner. Now that I think of it, write a short letter to young Edward as well. Be his older cousin, tease him about being more eligible now. Maybe ask if he has matchmaking mamas after him. Just be your usual kind self. The other letter is of course going to be much harder. But you should write to Lizzie, confess all and apologise. You know that she values family and the two of you were close for the first 16 years of her life. Yes, your relationship will be different now, but it does not mean that you cannot remain close sisters.”

It was Mary’s turn to be pulled into a hug. Although it was short her ribs still creaked from the tight squeeze.

“Oof, you do not know your strength.”

They settled back onto the window seat.

“I am at a loss as to how to deal with Mama and Papa. I think they are too set in their ways to change much now. I believe we shall just have to work round them, which is not ideal. As for Kitty and Lydia I have two ideas. The first is to split them apart, at least some of the time. If I was asked to describe what Kitty was like, the best I could come up with would be ‘a slighter older version of Lydia’. I am ashamed to admit I do not really know what Kitty is like. So I would like to try and spend some time with her and find out. Which would leave you having to deal with Lydia. My second thought about the pair of them, and you, is that you chaperone them everywhere.”

“Really?”

Mary nodded, no trace of amusement on her face.

“It is not something that should be talked about but circumstances force us. I am concerned that Lydia will lose her virtue this year, and probably Kitty as well.”

Jane blushed at the topic but did not immediately counter Mary’s comment. She took a deep purging sigh.

“My instinct was to try and wish away such a thing, see the best in Lydia. And Kitty. But you are right. On their present path it is a matter of when not if. Will Mama allow me?”

“That is the first fight. I will support you. In fact, it might be a way to separate them. I will suggest that Kitty and I remain while you accompany Lydia. We have to try.”

Jane nodded.

“I do need to be more assertive. Charlotte has been counselling me about the same thing.”

“Charlotte?”

“Yes. She and Lady Lucas have been having words recently. She will be leaving Lucas Lodge in two weeks and Charlotte has stopped doing most of her duties. As she said to Lady Lucas, the family need to get used to her not being there.”

“Oh my.”

“There were more than a few raised voices. I think Charlotte had been taking secret lessons from Lizzie.”

They both giggled.

“The final straw was Charlotte mocking Lady Lucas asking if she needed to organise her own wedding breakfast. But ever since Christmas the whole family have come to realise how much Charlotte did around the house. Charlotte has also confessed to me that she has caught her father looking at his wife with a quizzical look upon his face. She thinks he is starting to wonder what his wife does with her time, other than accompany our mother on jaunts round the neighbourhood.”

Their giggles deepened into loud laughter. It had been a good, and needed, discussion.

--

The stars aligned and Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy attended the same ball. Lady Maria left nothing to chance and Elizabeth arrived with three of her dances already taken. Mr. Darcy was her partner for the supper set, much to the Colonel’s displeasure. He was in turn her partner for the sixth set, the one immediately after supper, so that he too could sit with Miss Bennet at supper. And as usual when they were both in attendance, Miss Bennet would dance the seventh with the Duke of Desmond.

“Mr. Darcy, Colonel, how good to see you again.”

Elizabeth watched as the two men all but elbowed each other out of the way to talk to her first. Darcy apparently had the sharper elbows.

“Miss Bennet, it is more than good to see you. You look especially handsome this evening.”

Elizabeth blushed but the devil on her shoulder prodded her.

“Why thank you Mr. Darcy. I tried to look tolerable this evening.”

The Colonel’s smirk could be seen clear across the room, as Darcy tried to stifle a groan.

“That was unkind of me. I apologise Mr. Darcy.”

“No Miss Bennet, it should be me apologising. I knew better, I know better, but my poor humour got the better of my manners.”

“It is in the past, and like I said it was unkind of me to bring it up again. My penance is that I will try to appear interested when you talk about horses during supper.”

It was said so artlessly that it caught both gentlemen by surprise for a moment. Then they burst out laughing, and were immediately under the severe scrutiny of the Countess. The Colonel bowed to her.

“Well played Miss Bennet. And with the added bonus of us now cowering under my mother’s gimlet eye. We really might talk about horses during supper.”

They separated to circulate round the room, and Elizabeth’s dance card was quickly filled. She was standing quietly talking to Lady Maria when Mr. Darcy returned to her side.

“Let me guess Mr. Darcy, your card is full all but the first.”

“Unfortunately your sister is not here this evening.”

Elizabeth was pleased at his teasing retort. Mr. Darcy had a sense of humour? Who knew.

“Do you trust Lady Maria and myself to find you a suitable partner, one that will understand there are no expectations?”

Darcy looked at her closely, before nodding. Lady Maria set to work immediately. The first four sets of the ball were perfectly fine but Darcy found himself impatient for the supper set and the chance to have conversation with Miss Bennet, even if at the time he did not realise this impatience. Finally, it was the fifth set and they took their places.

“You appear to have survived dancing the first set Mr. Darcy.”

Darcy smiled, the musicians had not yet started and already Miss Bennet was eschewing convention.

“May I ask why you chose that young lady?”

“I will answer but it is better at the supper table, fewer ears.”

Darcy nodded.

“What shall we talk of this evening?”

“If you will indulge me I would like you to talk of your estate.”

Darcy’s heart sank. Were Miss Bennet’s true colours showing?

“What about the estate?”

“I know this will sound unusual but I wished for you to describe it; how much is wooded, pasture land, arable fields, and how you and your steward manage the whole estate.”

Darcy’s sinking heart rebounding in his chest and instead he stared at Miss Bennet, trying to mask his surprise. She was asking questions that Bingley had needed prompting on.

“I will be happy to discuss all this with you Miss Bennet. May I ask the reason?”

The set started but they had a few moments before it was their turn to dance.

“I have maintained the ledgers for my father’s small estate for a decade. I have had ideas at different times as to how to run the estate. But of course as a woman I was unable to do so. I wanted to listen as you explained how you ran your estate and compare it to my own thoughts. It is the chance to learn from a prominent landholder, although it is more for my intellectual curiosity. I will not get the chance to put any of your teachings into practice.”

It was fortunate the dance separated them for several moments as it allowed Darcy to gather his thoughts. Rather than being a fortune hunter wanting to know details of Pemberley, everything reduced to money, Miss Bennet wanted him to talk about running an estate. The questions that he had asked of his father when he had graduated from Cambridge. A wave of sadness unexpectedly hit him, memories of time spent together, and how it had been cut short.

“Are you well Mr. Darcy? Have you twisted an ankle?”

Miss Bennet’s questions brought him back to reality.

“I am well, I assure you. I will explain at the supper table. Let me start with a description of the estate in total and then we will focus in on each of the different aspects.”

Darcy found, just as the Colonel had two weeks earlier, that the time passed in the blink of an eye. He encouraged Miss Bennet to ask questions, otherwise it would have been a monologue. As he escorted her to the supper tables he was struck that it had been no different than many a conversation he had conducted at his club. Once he had returned with food for them both they continued their discussion. The Colonel was also at the table, although talking to the young lady he had danced with. His mother and Lady Maria were also present, everyone was being closely chaperoned.

“I deferred responding during the dance, but I am without injury. Your request brought a wave of nostalgia over me, which caught me by surprise. Your questions were similar to my own to my father. The memories were sharp for a moment.”

“I am sorry Mr. Darcy. I did not mean for my questions to upset you.”

“They did not Miss Bennet, please do not feel bad. Like I said, it was momentary and caught me rather unawares. But as I spoke to you, and answered your questions, the memories turned positive. As I described the woodlands I was reminded of riding the estate with him. It was the same with the arable land, and the outer extents of it where it is no longer productive. I had the wild landscape in my eye as I talked.”

He smiled a wide smile and Miss Elizabeth Bennet was subjected to his dimples for the first time. Her heart went pitter-patter, he was an exceedingly handsome gentleman.

“Now, you promised to tell me the secret of your selection of my first dance partner.”

Elizabeth controlled herself and returned his smile.

“It was really quite simple, and it is a technique that you can copy at future events. There are many young ladies at these events who are not asked to dance very often, if at all. There are many reasons but the three most common are a small dowry, a shy demeanour or she is thought of as plain. I make no comment on that last one. These so-called wallflowers are often here at the orders of a relative and can be quite miserable. You are tall, elegant and, by your own admission, you have consequence.”

Darcy blushed once again.

“I really am a terrible person. I keep telling you that I will stop teasing you about the Assembly at Meryton yet here I have done it again. I apologise. Again. Returning to my story, your dancing with one of these ladies does not immediately have them setting their sights on you. Rather you have loaned them some of your consequence and made other men view them differently. Every event has several of these wallflowers. Dance the first with them and their evening will be much better.”

Darcy was struck by the matter of fact manner of Miss Bennet. The first dance that evening had been exactly as she had described. The young lady. He stopped and had to think of her name, Miss Johnson, was plain, and based on her frequent blushes, quite shy. But it had not been a horrid half hour and he did recall seeing her on the dance floor during the fourth set. He had a moment of chagrin as he realised familial pride had been close to moving to pomposity. A vision of Lady Catherine momentarily came to mind.

“You are correct Miss Bennet. I need to stop imagining that one dance with me, especially the first, is the pinnacle of a young lady’s social life.”

Once supper was removed and the ladies had an opportunity to perform, the dancing resumed. Elizabeth had only to ask one question to the Colonel about the tournament and the set was over before they knew it. He was excited and engaged and told her of the various elements coming together. The most significant was the demand of the Admiralty to be included in the tournament. A quarter of the 64 slots were now reserved for them and it meant that two of the final eight competitors would be naval men. As far as Elizabeth was concerned, bravery and courage were the same whether on land or at sea.

The seventh set was with the Duke and he was in a teasing mood.

“Miss Bennet I am most wroth with you.”

This was said with a smile so Elizabeth knew he was teasing her.

“Pray forgive me Your Grace. Which of my many secrets has been exposed?”

She watched as the Duke stifled a laugh.

“I cannot even maintain a strict face for two sentences. I was referring to the topic of gossip at the supper table. As an unmarried Duke I expect to be at the centre of the evening’s gossip. The distinction of rank and all that.”

Big smiles from both of them. The Duke did maintain the distinction of rank but was not afraid of gently mocking himself at the same time.

“Imagine my horror to discover that I was not the centre of attention. You were.”

Elizabeth’s smile faltered and she looked at him with worry. The Duke realised he had gone too far.

“Sorry Miss Bennet, this has been poorly done. This is a conversation for the drawing room not the dance floor. I have exaggerated some but there is truth to it. I will call on my cousin in the forenoon and we can discuss it then. Once again I apologise for worrying you.”

The rest of the ball passed and Elizabeth maintained her usual smiling countenance but it was a mask. The thought of being the subject of extensive gossip filled her with dread.