Chapter 26 #2
Our journey from Hertfordshire after the wedding went smoothly, and now we are pleasantly installed here in the parsonage. I met Lady Catherine for the first time yesterday, and she welcomed me warmly. I have no doubt she will be a most attentive and kindly neighbor.
The parsonage is larger than I had imagined. Mr. Collins spoke of four bedchambers, but there is actually a fifth bedchamber, though it is rather small. The kitchen is a pleasant size, and the available water is clean and fresh.
Given that it will be Christmas in a few days, Mr. Collins is quite busy. I do not have much time to arrange for Boxing Day gifts for the servants, but I intend to drive to the nearest town with my husband tomorrow to purchase a few items for the servants and for the house.
I am very glad that you and your family were able to attend our wedding, and I am even more thankful for your kind congratulations on the subject.
How are your plans for the Season coming on, my friend?
With love,
Mrs. Charlotte Collins
***
Longbourn
27th December 1811
I am sorry that I did not return your letter sooner, but the last fortnight has been busy with Christmas celebrations.
I spoke at length with my family, and if you truly are willing to host us next spring, I would like to visit Wrayburn again, though only with Elizabeth. The rest of the family will likely be frantic with last-minute decisions concerning the Season.
I do look forward to seeing my childhood home again, and thank you for the warning that the estate’s condition has deteriorated. I know you are a good man, Cousin, and will do all you can to restore Wrayburn to its glory days.
God bless,
Annabelle Bennet
***
Longbourn
28th December 1811
Dear Charlotte,
I am very pleased at your reassuring letter regarding your marriage and home. I know you will be an excellent mistress of the parsonage and a blessing to those in your care.
Jane’s aunt and uncle, along with their four children, arrived here at Longbourn five days ago. We always enjoy their visits, and the house is even livelier than usual.
The first spurt of activity regarding the upcoming Season has died down, though we continue to have nearly daily tasks associated with our move.
Uncle Gardiner has been seeking a house for us to rent, but it is easier to speak in person over our requirements.
My mother, of course, is thinking in terms of visiting people, and how far it will be to the dressmaker and library and the like.
I wish, most of all, for a house close to a park, as I will wish to walk many a day, even if I must have a footman with me.
Jane, bless her heart, does not really care at all what we decide.
We have both been visiting Mrs. Grayson at least once a week regarding fittings and such.
We have decided against being presented to the Queen. Court dress is so dreadfully expensive, and it is not important to either of us.
My little cousins wish to play outside in the two inches of snow, and I want to join them, so I will bid you a fond farewell.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
***
Pemberley
8th January 1812
Dear Elizabeth,
Yesterday, Georgiana and Miss Winston and I went to the dressmaker’s shop in Lambton.
The original plan, of course, was for us to be in London by February, but Fitzwilliam just hired a new steward this week and wishes to spend the next two months teaching him various details of how best to manage Pemberley.
To be honest, I am relieved that we will be staying here until spring!
I am confident that a dressmaker in London would look at my overly tall form and sigh, while Mrs. Stirling took my measurements with complete calm and cheer.
Then she and Miss Winston spoke at great length about all the gowns and shawls and slippers and scarves that I will need in London for the Season.
We will visit Mrs. Merrick, the milliner, tomorrow to discuss hats. I could not bear visiting both Mrs. Stirling and Mrs. Merrick on one day!
Fitzwilliam very gently informed me that I will be presented to the Queen, with my aunt, Lady Matlock, standing as my sponsor. Georgiana kindly pointed out that I will look better in Court Dress than most ladies since I am tall and will not look quite so much like a muffin.
The pond did freeze over, and we have gone skating three times already.
I hope one day that you will be able to visit us at Pemberley, my dear friend. You would relish the library, and the gardens, and the walking paths, and the landscapes.
Your friend,
Serena
***
Marshalsea
8th January 1812
Wickham,
I need your help. The horses have treated me ill indeed, and I have been thrown into Marshalsea again. I know that I promised you that I would not gamble anymore, but you understand what it is like to be poor. If only Midnight Oil had placed!
I have been imprisoned for a mere eighty pounds, and I know you can help me.
Please, you cannot let me rot here. I beg you, old friend!
Sincerely,
Matthew Tipson
***
Meryton
14th January 1812
Tipson,
As you can see, I have included a guinea with this letter, which will allow you to purchase a few luxuries in Marshalsea. I will not pay to have you released, however. I am very sorry, my friend, but I helped you once, and you immediately went back to your gambling.
I am working to change my ways, and I urge you to pray and seek God’s help to do the same.
Sincerely,
George Wickham
***
Boscombe Manor
15th January 1812
Dear Caroline,
I apologize for taking a full month to write back, but the Christmas festivities kept us busy, and I also wanted to learn more about the mysterious Bennet family in Hertfordshire before replying.
I asked my mother about it, who asked her mother, who in turn asked her aunt, and so on and so forth…
Twenty years ago, Annabelle Rutherford, the only child of the fourth Viscount Langdon, was indeed married to a Mr. Gregory Harper, the son of a very wealthy business man.
It was a scandal given the low origins of the bridegroom, but the fourth Viscount was greatly in debt, and Mamma says a substantial sum must have changed hands.
Then Mr. Harper died, and his pregnant bride disappeared. It was the talk of the ton at the time, but that was decades ago.
Mamma was very interested to hear that the daughter of that union will be entering Society next year.
On the one hand, the girl’s paternal family line is distressingly common, but on the other hand, it seems reasonably likely that the girl is a substantial heiress.
Or perhaps she is not. We do not know details about the Harper fortune.
It may be that the girl was left penniless and any fortune went to a relative or was lost on the Exchange.
If she can pay for a Season, she must be reasonably well off, unless she is choosing to go into debt in an attempt to find a good husband.
I do look forward to meeting her, Caroline.
But more than that, I look forward to seeing you again.
Affectionately,
Clarice
***
Meryton
16th January 1812
Darcy,
I hope you do not toss this letter into the fire before reading it, but I can imagine exactly that response given our past history.
My time in the militia continues to go well in the sense that I am still avoiding drinking and gambling.
At Mrs. Bennet’s suggestion, I made the acquaintance of Mr. Allen, the parson here in Meryton, last November.
He is a good man, but more than that, he is intelligent and interesting.
He is also a marvelous horseman. I confess to being surprised by that, but then again, perhaps I ought not to be.
He is the sort of clergyman who leaps on his horse in the middle of the night and rides to the tiniest of shacks to bring comfort and succor to the sick and suffering.
We have been meeting weekly, and Mr. Allen has been giving me godly advice, and over the last few weeks, we have been discussing the sad reality that I left many hundreds of pounds of debt in Lambton, and that you paid them all.
I confess that it is easy for me to think, oh, Darcy has so much money that a few hundred pounds is nothing to him…
But I am now convicted that it is not right. I am the one who ran up those debts, and I ought to pay them. I do have over two thousand pounds in the bank, and I do not think I left more than eight hundred pounds in debt in Lambton.
If you would be so kind as to look up the particulars and would allow me to do so, I wish to send you a draft from Drummond’s to set things right.
Sincerely,
George Wickham
***
Pemberley
17th January 1812
Dear Elizabeth,
I am enclosing a page of my current literary project, a Gothic novel. It is, perhaps, rather silly, but I am thoroughly enjoying writing it. Pray tell me what you think, and do not hesitate to speak honestly.
It is definitely cold outside, and snowy, and incredibly beautiful. Georgiana and I visited one of the tenant families this morning. Mrs. Miller birthed a healthy son two days ago, and we brought a basket of food along with some extra blankets.
We are all well, and I am thankful.
Your Friend,
Serena
***
Longbourn
21st January 1812
Dear Georgiana,
It was lovely receiving your letter yesterday.
I have been steadily working on some of Mozart’s more difficult pieces but not the one you mentioned.
My music master says that the pacing is rather challenging.
I will ask him if I can try it out so that when we meet again in the spring, we can practice it together.
The current plan is that Kitty and Lydia, and I will spend a few weeks in London this spring in the house my parents will rent.
We will not stay long, but Mother agreed that it was rather hard on the younger girls to be prevented from having any sort of treat associated with Jane and Elizabeth’s launch into Society.
I do not particularly care about trips to the Opera, or Vauxhall, but I do look forward to visiting museums and book shops and, best of all, seeing you, dear friend!
I know many young ladies labor over the pianoforte and the harp, but to my way of thinking, few of them really love music the way you do. I so enjoy speaking of music with you!
Kitty and I are going to take the carriage to visit one of the tenant wives, who birthed her first son yesterday, so I had best finish this up.
God bless you and your family.
Sincerely,
Mary Bennet
***
Pemberley
30th January 1812
Wickham,
I confess to being very surprised by your last letter. I thank you for your offer to pay off the Lambton debts, but I beg you to consider them a gift. My greatest hope for you is that you will live a good life, and living on eighty pounds a year is challenging enough.
But thank you for your offer. You may count your change of heart to be sufficient repayment.
Sincerely,
Fitzwilliam Darcy
***
Longbourn
30th January 1812
Dear Serena,
I read the page from your novel with tremendous enjoyment. You write very well! Are you thinking about being published? If you do, I promise to purchase a first edition! You could use a pen name or use the ubiquitous term, “By a Lady”.
Like you, we are spending a great deal of time thinking about gowns, and hats, and so on and so forth. The weather is muddy and dreary, so it is pleasing to have so much to speak about.
I do look forward to seeing you in a few short months in London, dear friend!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
***
Netherfield Park
15th February 1812
Darcy,
The last weeks month has been, I confess, rather dull.
The country is so brown and damp and dreary.
I Caroline and I and the Hursts have made several visits to Town since November, always staying a few days at the Hursts’ house.
Company is thin in London, naturally, but we enjoy visiting dining at the Clarendon, and we even visited the British Museum one time.
I very much look forward to seeing you in Town next month, and I hope you will be willing to give me advice about whether or not I should extend the lease on Netherfield next Michaelmas. I confess to uncertainty. Netherfield Park is fine enough, with pleasant shooting, and good land, and all that.
On the other hand, there is some appeal to finding an estate closer to you, as we would be able to see one another more often.
But then again, that is as much Caroline speaking as me.
I do enjoy your company tremendously, but it is Caroline who hopes to win an offer from you, and she thinks living closer to you would pave the way.
Until spring,
Charles Bingley
P.S. I am aware you have no intention of offering for Caroline.
***
Pemberley
25th February 1812
Bingley,
As you said, I have no intention of offering for your sister, but I realize she likely will not believe that until I marry another.
The winter has been a hard one, but our new steward is an excellent man, and all is in train for our departure to London.
I look forward to seeing you next month.
Sincerely,
Fitzwilliam Darcy