Chapter 2

“P a, we love you and would never intentionally hurt you, but Ma made me promise her something before she was taken to heaven, and I would not be a man if I did not fulfil my promise to her,” Henry stated nervously after he and his siblings had been granted entry to their father’s office. James had returned to the homestead that morning and had come to see what he needed to do in his office shortly after washing and changing.

“Come now, Henry, you know you may speak to me of anything. All of you should know that,” James Bennet responded. He could not imagine what it was his sons and daughter needed to say which would account for the skittishness he saw.

“It is on a subject that you have refused to talk about, our family in England,” Henry revealed. He watched the emotions play over his father’s face, but none of what he saw indicated anger. Sadness, longing, pain yes, but not displeasure. His father was the only one in the family who used his anglicised version of his name, and Henry had a feeling it was a tie to the past Pa refused to mention.

“The time has come for me to leave my stubbornness behind me, and tell you how it was I came to be in the United States and met your mother. Before I do, tell me what prompted you to speak to me on this subject now?” James enquired.

“Before she passed, Ma told me about two letters which your family sent you, letters you refused to read and told Ma to destroy,” Henry related with encouragement from Maria and Abe. “On her deathbed, she told me she refused to consign them to the fire. She revealed to me where she kept them and charged me to make sure you read them one day. I enlisted the aid of both Maria and Abe because they too worry about the sadness we see in you, and we know it is not only because Ma has been gone for almost five years.”

“You three are wise beyond your years. Yes, I have come to understand that I regret not reading the letters from my family. Your mother was always much wiser than me, so in this she knew what I needed before I was willing to admit it. I am most pleased she saved the letters from my stubbornness,” James admitted. “Why now?”

“A new letter arrived yesterday,” Maria told her father. “It was what made the final decision for us to speak to you.”

“Hand them to me.” James extended his hand. When Henry placed them in his hand they almost burnt his skin. He dropped them onto the top of his desk as if he had touched scalding water. It was the first contact he had had with his family in England in five and twenty years. “Before I read them, I need to tell you the truth of why I am in this country and not in England. I was very young and headstrong. I clung to my wrong-headed determinations like a dog with his favourite bone.”

James paused, and took a deep breath. These were things he had not even told his Mattie, and he felt greatly embarrassed that this had been the one thing about which he had not been open with her. “In the town near the estate where I grew up was a very beautiful girl…” James told his children all, even those parts which did not paint him in a good light. “… and that is how I came to be in the area and met your mother. I will always regret my anger at my beloved Mattie when she told me I needed to read the letters from my family. As she almost always was, she was in the right, and I was a stubborn fool.” James looked at his three children. “Do any of you have any questions before I read them?” There were three shaken heads.

He took up the oldest missive, the one written in his father’s hand. After a deep calming breath, James very gently broke the seal and opened the pages. He began to read.

16 October 1786

Longbourn

James,

You have left us all heartbroken. How could you forsake all of us because our new daughter chose Thomas and not you? Your mother is devastated that her youngest son left without a word except for a vitriolic letter.

Let me correct one misapprehension right now, which had it not been for the terms of your grandfather’s (James for whom you were named) will, you would have known the truth that Fanny was anything but a fortune hunter. How can you call Fanny mercenary when she knew you were one day to be the master of Netherfield Park, after your mother passes, an estate with double the income of Longbourn? (She overheard her father and Phillips speaking, but she was warned she could not mention it to anyone.) In fact, as soon as you turned five and twenty, my Beth intended to turn the estate over to you, and not have you wait until she passed away. If Fanny had been the type of which you accused her, she would have ignored her love for Thomas and chosen you!

My hope is that you understand why I told you not to pursue the law but learn to manage an estate. It was not to make you subservient to Thomas, but so when I was allowed to reveal it to you, you would be ready to begin to manage your future inheritance. If you had waited seven more months before you left, the day you turned one and twenty, I was allowed to tell you all, and you would have been free to start learning how to manage your estate, which as I mentioned, my Beth would have turned over to you four years later.

Not only that, but if heaven forbid something happens to take me, and then Thomas, or Fanny does not give Thomas a son, you will inherit Longbourn as well, and if you have a son, we can break this infernal entail and remove the spectre of a Collins inheriting Longbourn forever.

James Bennet stopped reading, feeling like he had been kicked in the stomach by an ornery mule. Not only had he been a stubborn horse’s arse, but he had been wrong about everything. Feeling even worse than ever he returned his eyes to the letter.

There is no guarantee this letter will find you, but if it does, please know you are loved as well as we love Thomas. Your mother and I pray that we will live to see you two reconcile.

I am not sure if your mother will get over the pain of one of her dear boys leaving us in the manner you did. Thomas, Fanny, and I will do what we can to make her smile once again.

James did not realise he was crying as he read his father’s words. Each one felt like a hammer blow to the remains of his certitude that he had done the right thing, and he had been the wronged party. At last, he saw he was never injured; it was he who had caused all of the pain. He forced his eyes back to his father’s script.

Do you know that the pain of losing you and what you wrote to Thomas almost caused him not to marry Fanny? If your aim was to injure your brother and come between two who deeply loved one another, then you almost succeeded. James, you were never malicious before, I do not understand what has driven you to act as you did.

I always believed your mother and I gave you and Thomas good morals and principles. Where did we fail you? If I sound angry with you it is because I am. That you would intentionally cause hurt to your family who love you is beyond my understanding.

That being said, we love you James. All of us. Thomas misses his brother and best friend as much as we miss a beloved son.

Please James, I beg you in the name of all that is holy, come home to us. There will be no recriminations, only a loving welcome home of a beloved son.

With all of our parental love, on behalf of your loving mother and myself,

Father

The only saving grace which stopped his instant self-flagellation was the fact that had he not come to the Americas, he would not have ended up in Rhinebeck, not met Mattie, and the wonderful children looking at him expectantly would not be in the world.

“Pa, what made you cry?” Maria asked worriedly.

“Here,” James proffered his children the letter, “you may read it. You remember I told you I did not leave in a good way?” Three heads nodded. “That was an understatement, I aimed to hurt those I incorrectly thought had wronged me. It seems I achieved my wrongheaded aim.”

Henry took the letter and with Maria on one side and Abe on the other he read. James remained silent while his children perused the missive. There were three looks of surprise once they had completed reading. “Pa, you said an estate in England would be called a farm or plantation here, did you not?” Henry asked.

“Yes, that is right,” James confirmed.

“So that means you own one there, and what is this tail thing which can be broken by one of us?” Abraham enquired.

“ En tail, not a tail. It is something in England to guard against an estate, or farm here, being broken up and sold to one not in the family. The one Father refers to is in favour of the male line,” James explained. He gave them a brief history of Longbourn, and what led to the entail being created. “What that means is that when Henry turns one and twenty in April 1812, he and my brother may sign a document which will end the entail on Longbourn.”

“And this farm belongs to Uncle Martin, even if he is not interested in farming,” Maria pointed out.

“That is true,” James acknowledged. “He could sell it anytime he wants. As we are earning him money by keeping the place profitable, he has had no incentive to sell…yet.”

“But we have our own property in England, Nether something,” Henry insisted. “Is it smaller than Van Buren Pacht? I always wondered why we never changed pacht to the English word farm. I suppose our late Grandpa Van Buren wanted to keep the Dutch in the name.”

“Netherfield Park. Yes, it is about twice the size of this farm, a much larger house, and also, you are correct. Your Grandfather tried to use as much Dutch as he could,” Henry replied.

“Then should we not go to England, Pa?” Maria enthused.

“Let me read the other two letters, I may not be very welcome.” There were no objections from the children. James knew the next one, the first one from Thomas, would need all of his willpower to open and read his brother’s probable condemnation of himself. He thought he noticed black edging, but it may have been a trick of the light or the age of the letter. There was nothing for it, he broke the seal and carefully smoothed the pages.

21 February 1788

23 Gracechurch Street

London

Brother,

It is my sad duty to inform you that our parents were taken by influenza and passed away in each other’s arms on Sunday the 17th day of this month.

There were not a few who were taken in the outbreak, Fanny’s father and sister were included in the number who were lost in the neighbourhood. It is by His grace that Fanny and I decided to visit Gardiner in London for a few days, so we were not home when the disease reached Meryton. We received notice of their passing and will remain here with Gardiner until the illness burns itself out in the area.

The loss of Mother and Father is devastating. I knew I would be the master of Longbourn one day, but my prayer was it would yet be many years from now. Unfortunately He had other plans and called Mother and Father home to Him now. There are two holes in my heart right next to the one which was left when you ran away.

James Bennet let out an audible sob. His children looked at him concernedly.

“Pa, what is it?” Henry asked for himself and his siblings.

“My mother and father passed away in 1788, even before I married your mother, but this letter only found us after the wedding. I will never see my parents again, and you will not be able to meet your paternal grandparents,” James said as he wiped his eyes dry. “I will never regret meeting your mother and having you, but I was not able to say goodbye.”

“Is that not all the more reason for us to make for England?” Abraham queried.

“Allow me to read the rest of my brother’s letter and the new one, then we as a family will make some decisions,” James decided. His three children nodded their agreement.

Until the day they died, our parents held out hope your heart would soften, and you would come back to England and claim that which is yours. Now that Mother has been called home, Netherfield Park is your property. Phillips will continue to offer the manor house and home farm for lease, and the steward will manage the rest of the estate. Things will remain like this until you come and claim what is yours.

You may ask why you have never heard from us before, or if you have, it took a long time to find you. When Father wrote his letter, we knew not where you were other than New York. Gardiner has contacts in the former colonies, and he had his man, unobtrusively mind you, make enquiries about your whereabouts. It was through him we learnt you are in, or near, the town of Rhinebeck in Duchess county.

Hence my hope is this letter will take months and not years to reach you.

James, you are my brother, and I will always love you as such. Do not let us perpetuate this rift and rather come together as Mother and Father prayed we would do. That being said, I am angry with you for all of the intentional pain you inflicted on us, especially Mother. She deserved none of it, none of us did, and all because you made a faulty judgement of my Fanny.

Now that I have been able to say that, let me say this: You are missed, little brother. Every night I say a prayer that our former friendship will be rekindled between us. If you were ever to come home, know you will be welcomed with open arms.

So far Fanny has not fallen with child, I hope it will not be too much longer as I long to hear the pitter patter of little Bennet feet at Longbourn. As you know, without you here as the heir presumptive, I need a son to keep the estate away from anyone named Collins.

We will not intrude on your life, so it is up to you to contact me if you so choose.

Your brother,

Thomas.

James felt almost as gut punched as he had on completion of his father’s letter. His family had never stopped caring for him, even having Gardiner use his contacts to find his location. What a fool he had been, and now he could never apologise to his parents in person. Like he had the first, much more frail letter, he handed the next one over to his children.

That left him only the new one from Thomas. Why would his brother write more than twenty years after his previous missive? There was no black edging, so it could not be that someone had died, and it was in his brother’s hand. There was only one way to answer his questions, but he waited for his children to read first.

“There’s your answer, Pa,” Henry pointed at the page in his hand, “Uncle Thomas will welcome you, surely there is no reason not to go?” His sister and brother nodded their agreement.

“Before we make any decisions, I must read the new letter. That way we will have more information with which to work,” James insisted. He broke the seal.

4 July 1811

(Yes I know the irony of writing from England to you in the former colonies on this date)

Longbourn

James,

In the name of everything which is holy and good, I beg you to come home. I swear there will be no recriminations, only an open-armed welcome.

I know from Gardiner’s man you live on the Van Buren’s farm which is not your property. I am also aware you were married and lost your much loved wife more than four years past. Please accept my deepest sympathy to you and your children. Yes, the man reported you have three, two sons who bracket a daughter.

Fanny and I have five, but ALL GIRLS ! No, there will be no son as after the last one, who was born in November 1796, Lydia, Fanny was told she would not be able to bear another child. Besides the youngest, there are Jane who is 22; Elizabeth Rose (called Lizzy not Beth like Mother) 20; Mary 18 (She will be 19 by the time you read this I am sure) and the second to youngest is Catherine who is 16. I know they would love to meet their uncle and cousins even if they are from the former colonies.

In all seriousness, my plea to you is not only that I want more than anything to reconcile with you as our long dead parents desired, but to stop a man, who can only be described as a sycophantic buffoon, from being the next master of Longbourn after I am called home. I speak of Mr William Collins, my heir presumptive without the presence of you and your sons. His father, Clem Collins, an illiterate bully of a man, passed away two years past, but his son is very keen to claim what he calls his ‘ birthright ’ as he does not know the difference between an heir presumptive and an heir apparent.

He has recently been bestowed a living at the behest of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who he reveres like a goddess. After reading three letters from him, I am convinced that he will bankrupt the estate within six months of inheriting. From what he has told me I can only think his esteemed patroness is an interfering termagant, who thinks herself above the Queen and Regent.

I know not if you have put the anger you felt at me aside, but if you have, please, Brother, I implore you, if only to see to your estate and break the entail on Longbourn, please come to England.

Your brother who misses you still,

Thomas

“We must prepare to leave for England. If and when we will ever be back, I know not,” James told his children. Seeing they were lost as to his sudden resolution to leave when he was so hesitant before, James handed them his brother’s letter.

As soon as they read it, Henry spoke for his siblings. “Pa is right, we need to go to England,” he summed up. “We have an uncle, aunt, and five cousins to meet, and an estate to save from a fool.”

“Papa, will we take Jeremiah and his family with us? There is no slavery allowed in England is there?” Maria begged.

“Yes, if they choose to come with us, Jeremiah, Jemima, and their children will be welcome to join us. And no, there is no slavery in England, although they allow it in their colonies.” James paused. “I must write to your Uncle Martin. It will take us close to a month before we will be ready to depart. Hence I will write to my brother now, so he will know we will follow the letter in a few months,” James stated. “Away with you; there is much to do. Please send Jeremiah in to see me.”

The letter to his brother was not long. By the time his manservant entered his office, it was sealed and ready. If it were not a hundred miles to New York City, he would have had one of his men ride it to be mailed from there. After Jeremiah listened to the master and agreed to join the Bennets, James gave him the missive with instructions to have it sent by express to New York and then mailed to England.