Bennets’ Rented House
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Bennets’ Rented House
Norfolk Street
London
Thursday, 9th April 1812
The Bennets’ rented house was but a few blocks away from the most convenient entrance to Hyde Park.
Both Jane and Mrs. Bennet had initially favored one of the other options that Mr. Gardiner had presented, for amenities or convenience of location or size, but in the end, the decision had been to rent this house.
Both her mother and elder sister were understanding of Elizabeth’s passionate need to be close to nature, which held especially true in this seething mass of humanity and urban landscape.
She would need time to escape from all the balls and routs and crushes and to walk in the free air of the Park.
Elizabeth stepped into her own bedchamber and spent a few moments looking around with keen attention to detail.
The window to the east, which would let in the early morning sunlight, first drew her eye.
She had chosen this, the smallest of the bedrooms, in large part because of that window.
Not only for the morning sun, welcome as that would be, but for the view beyond, which she could just glimpse through the linen curtains.
Two slate roofs stood rather close together, but not so close that she could not see, beyond them, the budding, bright green leaves of early spring.
The house itself was a tidy little edifice, the rooms comfortably sized as opposed to generous, the foundations and floors good, the glass of the windows and the wood of the floor and paneling polished.
The coal fireplaces did not smoke and drew well.
Elizabeth was not particularly fond of coal fires, for while they gave off greater heat with less fuel than did the wood hearths of Longbourn, the odor of coal was considerably less pleasant than the homey smell of wood smoke.
Elizabeth dragged her eyes from the inviting sight of the Park a block away to subject her new room to a rigorous inspection.
Mantel and floor both shone with cleanliness and polish.
The furniture was, if not new, not entirely out of date either, nor was it threadbare or patched, which meant it was in far better condition than her mother’s childhood estate of Wrayburn.
The linen curtains hung at the windows were an attractive light blue that reminded Elizabeth pleasantly of the sky.
The bed was, perhaps, a trifle smaller than her bed back at home at Longbourn, but not so small as to cause her any inconvenience.
Elizabeth sat down and then lay down on the bed, and she looked up at the ceiling, contemplating the multitude of changes in her life.
The last six months had been rather surreal; she had discovered she was an heiress, and then that Jane wished for a Season, and then that she had a host of maternal relations.
Then had come the trip to Wrayburn, and now at last, she was here in London with Mrs. Bennet and Jane, prepared to begin her launch into Society.
It was one thing to spend many months preparing for a Season, as they had done, speaking incessantly of renting houses and ton etiquette and spending what felt like exorbitant quantities of money, even if, proportionally speaking, it had done nothing to impair her wealth.
It was something else altogether to be here, at last, standing in her rented room, looking forward to several months of endless parties and dances and dinners and new friends and perhaps even suitors.
Every day, more families of the ton returned to their ancestral homes or graced the halls of houses rented for the spring, shutters being thrown wide and knockers hung up on doors.
Stylish private carriages rattled down cobbled streets, bearing prospective masters and mistresses to the registry offices, and jarveys rattled back up, delivering prospective maids and footmen and abigails.
Phaetons and curricles and other such sporting vehicles, dashing Corinthians handling the ribbons with careless expertise, shot past the rows of sedate houses at frightening speeds.
Perfumed dandies minced up and down the sidewalks, bowing to the ladies of their acquaintance who were out walking with their maids.
Into the midst of this teeming society, the Bennets had been catapulted, and with the advent of the return of the haut ton, the invitations to various balls and festivities would begin to circulate.
Elizabeth wondered how many would be addressed to the inhabitants of this house on Norfolk Street.
More, perhaps, than could be reckoned at first thought, given that the Bennets were unknown to high Society.
But they had friends and relations who were known. On the one hand, Lord Langdon and his family and on the other, the Darcys, whose friendship was a great boon. Not that Elizabeth thought in those terms. No, she liked the Darcys very much for who they were, not for what doors they would open.
Nonetheless, given their connections and friends, it seemed likely that the Bennets would be invited to Venetian breakfasts, and dinner parties, and balls, and card parties, and theater attendances, and evenings at Vauxhall’s, and every sort of entertainment.
Money must, by necessity, always make one popular, and Elizabeth had a considerable fortune to her name, and while she had no intention of speaking of money to new acquaintances, she knew that gossip would spread such information far and wide.
Many a young man would evince considerable interest in her, if for no other reason than that they desired a rescue from an impecunious lifestyle.
As for Jane, her dowry was respectable as opposed to magnificent, but her natural charms could not fail to go far in making up for this societal deficiency.
Jane’s charm and beauty and kindness would endear her to all that she met.
Good breeding only enhanced this gentleness of spirit, making Jane universally acceptable, and Elizabeth suspected that Jane would end up one of the diamonds of the Season.
Elizabeth could not view their probable success with perfect equanimity.
It was all well and good to be welcome in all but the most noble of homes, but she did not much care for the idea of being befriended solely for her wealth and connections.
Friendships and marriages should be predicated on mutual respect and enjoyment of one another’s company.
She was glad that the Darcys would soon be in Town.
These last few months, letters had flown between Longbourn and Pemberley, with a wealth of discussion between Elizabeth and Serena of the books they were reading, the affairs of and news from their respective estates, and speculation about their upcoming Season.
Elizabeth valued Serena’s friendship and was deeply grateful to know that she would have at least one boon companion.
Georgiana, too, was a charming young woman, but it was the thought of once again meeting the handsome and admirable Mr. Darcy that set her heart to fluttering.
He remained her model of a consummate gentleman; honorable, generous, conscientious, and kind.
Being himself a handsome man of considerable means and earnestly sought-after by the matchmaking mammas and their daughters, Elizabeth could rest easy in the knowledge that his interest in her lay solely in her and not in her hefty dowry. It was a comforting thought.