Chapter 5

A week had passed and Lady Maria Leonard had become ever more distracted by her thoughts. It was the arrival of her brother that allowed her the chance to talk it through. She managed to get a couple of hours of his time, free from his family. They were joined by her youngest sister, so three of the four siblings were together. The middle sister was in the West Indies with her husband who was an Admiral stationed there.

“Did dear Charlotte tell you about the accident over the summer?”

“She did explain that there had been a partial building collapse on Piccadilly of all places, and that the family was close to it, young Louisa most of all.”

Her brother was the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and had not been in the country at the time. His wife was only in London as she had recently given birth to their 14 th child and wanted the best of care for herself and the baby.

“Yes, she was rescued by a young lady. A wagon was about to shed its load and this young lady pulled Louisa out of the danger.”

“I had not realised that she had been in such peril. Although knowing my daughter, she does seem to have a habit of not listening. Is there a reason for the recounting of this tale?”

Lady Maria nodded.

“In the confusion of the incident we were separated from the young lady who pulled Louisa to safety. Quite by chance I encountered her in Hatchard’s last week. I was able to thank her on behalf of the family.”

“Excellent. Did you get her direction? I would like to meet and thank her myself, Charlotte will too I am sure.”

Lady Maria pursed her lips and sighed.

“This is why we are chatting about this. I talked with Georgina last week,” she indicated their sister “and revealed my good fortune in running into the young lady. There is a problem, she is living with an uncle who is in trade.”

It was the turn of the Duke of Richwood to purse his lips.

“She is gentle-born?”

“Yes, a small estate in Hertfordshire. The uncle is her mother’s brother. Her aunt was killed in an accident similar to that which almost befell Louisa. She is helping him raise the children.”

The Duke was not a stupid man. He held to maintaining the distinction of rank but he was also astute enough to know that there were always exceptions.

“Georgina, your thoughts?”

“I do not think that we should meet or promote someone with the taint of trade so close to them. If she had been visiting from her home estate and returned there, then I can perhaps overlook the connection. But she is living at the uncle’s house, and according to Maria has done so for the last two years.”

“Bathurst is President of the Board of Trade.”

Her husband.

“Yes, but he is not at a warehouse every day!”

The Duke nodded.

“True.”

There was silence for close to 30 seconds as the Duke thought about the situation. He looked at his older sister with a suspiciously bland expression on her face.

“What are you proposing Maria?”

She inelegantly shrugged.

“I am conflicted brother. The obvious answer is to send a note, thanking her, but then move on. We are not going to meet her in any social setting and so for contact to occur we must seek it out. Well, other than a random meeting such as I had with her. Yet at the same time she saved a member of our family. If she had not acted so instinctively and bravely then Louisa would be dead.”

She saw her brother close his eyes as he grimaced. This was the blunt truth.

“And through my conversation with her I discovered that she has set aside her own upbringing, her own prospects, to assist her uncle. She is helping her family and with a substantial amount of self-sacrifice. I find myself unable to behave as I would normally.”

“You wish to maintain the connection? Introduce her to society?”

“I would like to help her but in a manner in line with her station.”

“What do you mean?”

“She described her upbringing as on a small or minor estate. I have never heard of the Bennet family so that appears to be true. There is no point in taking her as an invited guest to a grand ball or any event where you are to attend. She would be horribly out of depth and it would be a punishment for her, rather than a reward. Instead, I would like to maintain a correspondence with her, get to know her and see if there is a way to genuinely reward her. I will not proclaim that we are in her debt but rather I will acknowledge it to myself.”

The Duke looked at his youngest sister. She reluctantly nodded.

“I can see your perspective Maria. Do you think it is too much Charles?”

“Saving someone in battle, be it on land or sea, results in a reward. I have seen officers promoted for rescues, sometimes skipping an entire rank. At sea a Lieutenant can end up with command of a minor ship in such circumstances. Now it is my daughter rather than a senior officer but I can support what you propose Maria. I will ask Charlotte to pen a note to the young lady thanking her personally but we will stop there. You may continue the connection going forward and I will be interested to hear about any way that she can be rewarded appropriately.”

And so shortly before Christmas 1809 Elizabeth Bennet was the recipient of two letters. They were delivered as she and her uncle broke their fast. Young Edward had returned from school for the holidays but was staying with a friend for a few days. The youngest three children were upstairs in the nursery, not yet allowed to eat in the dining room. Elizabeth took the letters from the footman and was amazed when she realised the senders.

“These do not look like the usual letters from Longbourn Lizzie.”

“No uncle, they are not.”

She carefully opened the note from the Duchess. It was simple and came across as genuine. She thanked Elizabeth on behalf of herself and the Duke for saving their daughter. It was elegant but it was also clear that a line had been drawn under the matter. Wordlessly Elizabeth handed the note to her uncle.

“The Duchess of Richwood?”

Elizabeth nodded and waited while her uncle scanned the note. He peered at her suspiciously.

“Why do I think there was more to the event last summer than you originally recounted?”

Elizabeth closed her eyes for a moment and bowed her head. She had hoped to avoid telling the crucial detail she had omitted.

“The child was in danger of being crushed in the same way as Aunt Madeline. I pulled her out of the way.”

Her uncle in turn closed his eyes, grimacing at the memories.

“There is so much I could say to you, but in the end, you and the child are safe. I can understand that you wished to spare me the pain. But I ask two things of you Elizabeth. Firstly, please be honest with me. You did not lie to me, but you were dishonest. This was a lie of omission rather than of commission.”

Elizabeth looked chagrined at this comment.

“It is done, I understand why I just ask that you do not do it again. The second thing I ask of you is much more important. Please be safe Lizzie. I could not cope, our whole family could not cope, if something happened to you.”

Elizabeth stood up and leaned closer to her uncle, kissing him on the forehead.

“I will uncle.”

“Good. Now who is the second letter from?”

“The lady who recognised me. She was there with the Duchess last summer. She is the Duke’s sister.”

Her uncle indicated that Elizabeth should open the letter and see what it said. The note was longer than the one from the Duchess but did not run on. What stood out from this missive was the request to continue corresponding in the new year. Elizabeth again passed the note to her uncle while she tried to process the news.

“She asks as part of the note that I permit you to correspond with her going forward. That is quite the connection Lizzie.”

“I am all at sea uncle. What are your thoughts?”

Edward Gardiner sat quietly at the end of the table considering the two notes.

“The Duke is the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and lives there most of the year. He is also at a level of society which is close to the pinnacle. The sister lives in London. She introduced herself as Lady Maria Leonard, so she is unmarried?”

Elizabeth nodded in agreement.

“Yes, I checked Debrett’s, she is unmarried. The other two sisters are married.”

“They are grateful so I suggest you do not over-analyse the request. You are 18, she is? When was she born Lizzie?”

“1760, she is 50 next year.”

“Given that you have sacrificed part of your upbringing to support me and my family it seems to me that she will be an ideal guide into how to behave as a young lady. Enjoy the correspondence.”

Little did anyone know.

--

The start of each year brought a visit from Mary with the ledgers for Longbourn. The January visit was when Elizabeth saw how the estate was performing, and how well her father was managing it. Mary did not have Elizabeth’s aptitude for arithmetic but she did have her own perspective from all her tenant visits. The two of them talked at length about their home, and the estate around it. Neither realised how candid they had become when it was just the two of them.

“Do you mind continuing to maintain the ledgers for Longbourn?”

It was a question Mary asked regularly, now almost every visit.

“The easy answer is no. I maintain the ledgers for Uncle Gardiner as well. I am good at arithmetic, why not use my God-given talents. The more difficult part of the exercise is actually seeing what all the numbers mean. I have been maintaining the ledgers for let me see.”

Elizabeth thought for a moment.

“I started to help accidently when I was sitting with Papa at his desk. Just watching him I spotted several mistakes. That was right around my 10 th birthday and I did the year end update for the first time that year. I am now 18 so this is the eighth year I have seen the outcome of running the estate. And it has been a long gradual decline. That is the hard part, seeing the downward slope. Actually updating them is comparatively easy, at least for me. You can see the numbers, what is your perspective.”

It was here that Mary had changed the most, much more than their oldest sister.

“For my part, nothing has changed. I started accompanying Jane on the tenant visits the autumn after you came to London, so I was only 14 years old at the time. You know what Jane is like, she was so patient and guided me as I learned the importance of the visits. But in the last two and a half years it is as if everything is frozen.”

“Frozen?”

“We list the same issues and nothing seems to get done about them. Jane and I deal with the tenants but are not really making their lives better. The three of us keep things from falling apart but beyond that we lack the authority to make improvements. It is frustrating.”

Elizabeth worked to choose her words carefully. It was a reflection of how annoyed Mary was that she did not even get the chance to construct her question.

“I will save you the trouble of trying to carefully phrase your question. Neither of our parents are much of a help. Mama is out and about in the neighbourhood at least three days of every week. And Papa is the exact opposite, barely stirring from his bookroom. These two week trips every quarter are a chance for me to escape that environment.”

“Escape?”

Mary sighed.

“Every time I visit it feels like I list a litany of complaints against our parents. I try not to be so negative, so disloyal, but it is very difficult. I struggle with our family.”

Mary stood and walked to the window, removing the creases from her dress as she did so. Elizabeth saw many of her own mannerisms in the action. It was a chance for Mary to gather her thoughts. She waited until Mary had settled back down and looked at her expectantly.

“I do not want to make you uncomfortable. You will be back in their company in less than a fortnight.”

“I know Lizzie, I know. What I am struggling to reconcile is the chaotic blend of stasis and change. As I have already mentioned Mama and Papa have not changed. You have totally changed, which is hardly surprising given the circumstances of your life here in London. I think I have changed, not as much as you, but probably the most of any of us left at Longbourn.”

“More than Jane?”

“That is probably the part that I am struggling with the most. Jane, and Charlotte Lucas, are trapped. As the oldest women they are at the beck and call of their mothers. Both could easily be spared to visit here for a week. That Charlotte has never been allowed and Jane is no longer able, says more about Lady Lucas and Mrs. Bennet than anything else. Yet at the same time all four ladies want the younger two to be married. I do not understand how Mama and Lady Lucas will not let either of their eldest daughters out of their sight, yet if either of them does get married then they will move away with their new husband. So like I said, the two of them are trapped in a role that nobody can break. And they are easy compared to Mariah Lucas and our two youngest sisters.”

Mary shook her head.

“Listen to me moan, I am sorry Lizzie. I am no longer a slave to the words of the Rev. Fordyce but I will occasionally browse through some of the passages. However much I wish it there is no way that either Kitty or Lydia would ever read even a page of that book. And if ever there were a pair of young women that needed to heed some of his words it is the two of them.”

Elizabeth had been secretly very pleased that Mary no longer had the time to constantly read the, to her, tiresome ‘Sermons for Young Women’. But Mary did not sound like she was proselytising rather she just sounded worried.

“Is it really that bad? Are they really that poorly behaved?”

“In a word, yes. Lydia had her menarche at a younger age than normal, even before Kitty. In addition, she has ‘bloomed’ in both bust and hip. So although she is only 13 and a half she already has more of a figure than either Kitty or myself.”

Mary had flushed during this admission but had maintained eye contact with Elizabeth.

“She has the body of a woman but is still a child. To be honest she tries to act like a woman but has no idea how ridiculous she sounds.”

Another sigh and grimace.

“And guess who is fully encouraging of this behaviour?”

“Mama?”

“Lydia is a flirtatious, poorly behaved, ill-mannered brat. Yet is constantly excused, lauded even, by our mother who calls her ‘lively’. Kitty has modelled her behaviour after her sister and neither of them will listen to a word of restraint from either Jane or myself. So Mama and Papa have not changed at all, if anything they have got worse. Jane is stuck in a rut, not able to escape from our mother. I feel I have changed but I am not sure and I do not know what it means. And our youngest two sisters are much worse since you left, to the extent that I worry they will ruin themselves and because of that, the rest of us.

“I am sorry to unburden on you like this but I need to talk about it with someone. And you are the only person that I could trust to listen, not judge and hopefully give me some advice.”

Elizabeth ordered fresh tea and both of them took the chance to reset. Elizabeth checked on her uncle and made sure that he too had hot fresh tea. Finally the two of them were back in the parlour, a cup of hot tea to hand.

“When I heard the terrible news about Aunt Gardiner, my response was almost instant. I knew that I had to be there for the family. I did not consider the decision, weigh the benefits versus the costs, there was none of that. Our extended family needed immediate help. I did not plan I just reacted. And here I am two and a half years later. What you have talked about is something that is, fortunately, not as tragic as the death of Aunt Gardiner, but it is no less important. Unfortunately for us, your options are severely limited.

“In an ideal world a visit from Uncle Gardiner would have the most weight, his words would at least be considered. But given the agony that coach travel causes him, that will never happen. So you, we, will not be able to change the behaviour of our parents. You and Jane can only model good manners and behaviour and hope that eventually it will get through to our other sisters. Again, I do not know how else, oh hang on.”

Elizabeth stopped and thought for a moment.

“Aunt Philips.”

“I need a little more Lizzie!”

“Yes, yes, very funny. The last thing I was going to suggest was that you visit Aunt and Uncle Philips every week, but for lessons.”

“Lessons?”

“My thought was to get the two of them to provide additional examples.”

“Sorry Lizzie, but you are not making any sense. Why would I want to get lessons from a solicitor?”

“It is only half an idea, I can see that now. I wondered whether we could shame Mr. and Mrs. Bennet into being more responsible. And it would allow you the chance to subtly mention how poorly Kitty and Lydia are behaving.”

“Oh, I see what you are getting at. Use Aunt Philips to help manage Mama, get her to be the person who tries to get Mama to understand that Kitty and Lydia need better parenting.”

“It seems far-fetched when I hear you say it back to me but I do not know what else to do.”

It was to be a recurring refrain over the following 18 months.