Chapter 17 #2
“That will not do. To suffer the losses they have, especially the Havershams, being separated now will only add to their suffering. Put them in the dower house. As it was the old manor house before this one was constructed, there are three floors of bedchambers. Each family can occupy one floor,” Darcy decided.
“Give me an hour, and I will ride with you to inform the families and to see the damage with my own eyes.”
Chalmers knew that Mr Darcy was doing far more than the average landlord would do for his tenants. It was a reason Mr Darcy, like his father before him, was considered the best kind of landlord and master.
To say that the three families were beyond grateful when they were told where their temporary housing would be, not to mention that Mr Darcy would replace all the replaceable furniture, clothing, and other possessions, was a huge understatement.
They were well aware that their master was doing far more than would be expected of him.
He even pledged to pay for old Mrs Haversham’s funeral.
The tenants, not just the three affected by the fire, were all loyal to Mr Darcy, but his response to the fire made that loyalty fierce and undying.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
A few days after Miss Bingley had been excised from society, Maddie Gardiner and the Bennet sisters were somewhat shocked when the butler informed them that Mr Bingley and Mrs Hurst were asking to see the residents of the house.
“I will defer to you,” Maddie stated as she looked at her eldest niece.
“If you agree, Aunt Maddie, I have no objections to hearing why they have called,” Jane responded.
“Jane, are you sure you are ready to see Mr Bingley?” Elizabeth verified.
“My dear Lizzy, you cannot think me so weak as to be in danger now.” Jane confirmed. “You know, I see Mr Bingley for what he is, a rather immature and, in a certain light, a selfish man. Hearing what he has to say will not change the fact I am completely indifferent to him now.”
The speech assured both Maddie and her second eldest niece that Jane’s equanimity would not be disturbed by being in the siblings’ company. “Show them in,” Maddie ordered.
Bingley and Mrs Hurst were nervous about the reception they would receive after the way Caroline, and to a lesser extent, Mrs Hurst, had treated Miss Bennet.
They had gone to Netherfield Park to make their amends only to be informed when they called at Longbourn that the Bennet sisters were in London with their aunt and uncle.
That knowledge had led to brother and sister arriving on this day.
Bingley bowed, and Mrs Hurst curtsied to the five ladies who had stood and curtsied in return.
“Please be seated.” Maddie indicated an open settee.
After first sitting, Bingley sprang up. “My older sister and… I have come hither… today to express our heartfelt… apologies to all of you,” he stated haltingly.
“For what, Mr Bingley?” Jane asked pointedly.
“Surely you are not responsible for Miss Bingley’s lies, rudeness, and viciousness?
If you think that an apology will reverse Miss Bingley’s expulsion from society, you are mistaken.
That was not done by us or at our behest, so we have no power to change the punishment she received. ”
“Miss Bennet, that is most certainly not the aim of our call,” Bingley responded.
Darcy had mentioned something about Miss Bennet no longer wanting to see only the good in the world, but that had not prepared Bingley for the avenging angel before him.
“The repercussions my younger sister is living with were all of her own making, and after everything she did, it is no less than she deserves. She is reaping only what she sowed. My purpose here is to beg your pardon on my own behalf. Louisa is present for the same reason for herself.”
“In that case, please proceed,” Jane allowed as she relaxed a little.
Mrs Hurst stood. “Miss Bennet and Mrs Gardiner, I was very wrong to placate my sister by allowing her blatant prevarications and manipulations. Never should I have confirmed her falsehoods, and the only thing I can do is apologise most profusely.”
Maddie looked at Jane, who nodded. “On mine and Miss Bennet’s behalf, you are forgiven,” she said evenly.
“My amends are also due to you, Miss Bennet. Although I have never thought myself a rake, I now see that the way I behaved with you and other ladies was rake-like. I raised expectations, all based on physical looks without ever being interested in the lady’s character.
Then, as soon as a new, pretty, and shiny object was before me, I moved on without a thought to the lady I had been paying attention to, or for that matter, her reputation.
Often, it was my younger sister who would direct me to a new angel because she deemed the current one insufficient to her social climbing aims.
“Miss Bennet, I thought I loved you more than any other, but I am able to see now it was because you are more beautiful than the ladies I had been interested in before you. At long last, I can differentiate between love and infatuation. I suspect I knew this deep down, which was why I used the excuse Darcy provided to abandon you. This I did knowing that Darcy is not good at discerning a woman’s emotions.
I should never have requested the three significant sets at my ball and, in such a public way, raised expectations.
Hence, I beg your pardon for my capriciousness and immaturity.
I am aware that I need to grow up and know myself before I think of looking for a wife.
That being said, if it is required for your reputation, I would offer for you now. ”
“Rest easy, Mr Bingley, my reputation is intact, and we would not suit. It pleases me for the ladies you would have called angels after me that you will not toy with their affections. For my part, I pardon you and wish you well in becoming the man you would like to be,” Jane granted.
She did not ask what was being done with Miss Bingley because she cared not about that woman in the least.
‘So much for Caroline’s assertion Miss Bennet is a fortune hunter. She disproved that in her refusal to accept Charles’s hand,’ Mrs Hurst thought. She admitted to herself she had known that all along.
Their purpose fulfilled, after a cup of tea, Mrs Hurst and Bingley took their leave.
“Charles, could you believe how much decorum was displayed by Miss Mary and Miss Kitty?” Mrs Hurst asked as the coach was pulled into motion. “It seems like Miss Bennet is not the only Bennet I misjudged.”
“I wonder how Caroline will do in the new world,” Bingley mused.
Miss Caroline Bingley, realising that there was nothing for her in England any longer, had elected to take her remaining dowry and sail to New York City in the former colonies. She was hopeful she would be able to start anew there, where no one knew of her ruin in England.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
As planned, the six Gardiners with their four eldest Bennet nieces departed Gracechurch Street in three conveyances on the tenth day of June just as the sun crested the horizon in the east.
In the lead coach were the Gardiner parents with Jane, Lizzy, and Mary. Mrs Taylor, who had temporarily agreed to act as governess to the Gardiner children, Kitty, and the four young Gardiners were in the second carriage, while personal servants and Nurse rode in the final equipage.
It was a little over forty miles to Meadowbrook, which was why Gardiner planned for three breaks. As such, they arrived at the Jamisons’ estate a little before four that afternoon.
Mr William and Mrs Hester Jamison, as well as their two children, a son and daughter, waited to welcome the arriving travellers.
Their son and daughter could not contain their glee that Peter and May had arrived to be with them.
The Gardiner parents and the two eldest Bennet sisters enjoyed the rest at Meadowbrook for a few days.
They planned to depart towards the north on Monday, the fifteenth day of June.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
By the second Friday in June, both Emma and Hannah had begun their courses. Just like she had warned Lydia, Sister Agnes made sure that the two girls understood there was a chance, a very small one, that they could still be with child.
During morning prayers on that Friday Lydia lifted her eyes to the heavens.
‘I will be forever grateful, Lord God on High, to You for allowing that none of us have to carry that dead criminal’s child.
It is bad enough that there are some of his natural children in the world.
I suppose You decided that You did not want any more of his offspring to have to suffer because of his manipulation and seductions,’ Lydia prayed.
‘I will be able to tell Mary that I have come to know You and Your Son. You are a God of mercy and love, not the disapproving one like Mary thought after reading Fordyce’s Sermons.
I now know it is not what we inhabitants of the mortal world You created for us say, but rather how we act that we are judged on.
‘Now I pray that You allow all of us to have the next month’s courses as well. Even if You decide I am not worthy, please allow Emma and Hannah to be free of being in the family way.
‘After the way I used to behave, if my penance is to bring another life into the world, then by Your will that is what I will do. You know I would prefer for that not to happen, but I will bow to Your decision in this matter.
‘Please watch over Mama, Papa, Jane, Lizzy, Mary, and Kitty. I beseech You to keep them well, and if something should happen to me, please comfort them.’
After morning prayers. Lydia attacked her chores with gusto. Life was good.