Chapter 17 #2
“The truth,” Agatha answered simply. “Mr Long, who you remember was the magistrate at the time, will be relieved. You have heard him say how his failure to retrieve the Bennet sisters is his greatest regret from the time he served in that role. We have kept the way Fanny and that man died from everyone. They have all accepted that it was no more than a tragic accident. Thanks to word having spread about the way that monster used to treat Fanny, I know there were many in the area who felt no remorse at his end. There was a level of sympathy for what she suffered, but most still remembered her as the selfish woman who refused to mourn Mr Bennet.”
“In that case, with the truth, we need to inform the neighbourhood that Fanny reformed some months before the accident, and her information helped Gardiner discover his nieces,” Phillips opined.
“Will you accompany me to tell our daughters about their sisters who they will see soon?” Agatha enquired.
“Indeed, lead on, my love,” Phillips replied.
Kitty was in the schoolroom with Miss Anita Jones, who had been employed as the governess for the Phillips children.
Miss Jones was the doctor-apothecary’s older sister who had never married.
She had come to live with him after the lady to whom she was a companion had passed away.
She was very well educated, and when Agatha heard Miss Jones was looking for a position as either a governess or companion, she and Frank had employed her.
In a year or two Lyddie would join the lessons, and when Lawrence reached the age of five in October 1803, he too would be taught by her.
“Miss Jones, may I have Kitty join us for a little while?” Agatha requested.
“Of course, Mrs Phillips,” Miss Jones responded cheerfully. “Kitty dear, go with your mamma. We will take up where we left off when you return.”
“Yes, Miss Jones,” Kitty said diffidently as she stood and walked to her new mamma. She felt much safer in this house than she had, but she was still sad that her first mamma was in heaven.
Agatha took Kitty’s hand and led her to the nursery where Lyddie and Lawrence were with their nursemaids.
“Paulette, please take Master Lawrence to play on the swing in the park. No more than a quarter hour is needed,” she instructed.
Her son was only sixteen months old, but he loved to be pushed on the swing suspended from a thick bough of the huge oak tree.
It was cold, but when he was bundled up and on his way to play, her son cared not about the temperature.
“Lyddie, come sit with us on the sofa,” Agatha invited. “The reason Papa and I wanted to see you was to tell you that soon you will be meeting some girls who are related to you. In fact, they are your sisters.” There was no need to speak of half-sisters; Kitty and Lyddie would not understand that.
“We have sisters?” Kitty asked in awe.
As was her wont, Lydia sat still, not fidgeting, as she still remembered how her mamma who had gone away, used to tell her to behave so there would not be trouble. Like Kitty, she felt safer, but she was still quite withdrawn.
“Yes, indeed you do,” Phillips confirmed. “Your Mamma Fanny was once married to a Mr Bennet. They had three daughters: Jane, who is ten, Lizzy, who is eight, but she will be nine in a month, and there is Mary. She turned eight a few days past.”
“Will they like us?” Kitty worried as Lydia nodded her little head.
“They will love you as sisters. They also have a brother, but he is sixteen and from another mamma, so you will not meet him yet,” Agatha revealed.
“Your Uncle Edward wrote in his letter that Jane looks very much like your late mamma when she was younger. Do not be surprised when you see someone who looks even more like her than Lyddie does.”
Both girls relaxed a little at their new mamma’s assurances. In the few short months they had lived with their new papa and mamma, they had learnt that when either of them told them something, it was always the truth.
They both kissed Lyddie’s cheeks and sent her back to Nurse. Then Agatha and Phillips escorted Kitty to the schoolroom, and after the kisses on her cheeks, she was released back to the governess.
On the way down the stairs they passed Lawrence and the other nursemaid.
His little cheeks and nose were a tad red from the cold, but he was glowing with pleasure at having some time to play on the swing he loved.
Like his sisters, Lawrence received kisses from his parents; unlike his sisters’ kisses, when he kissed in return, they were rather moist, but neither parent complained.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The Fitzwilliams and Darcys, sans their sons, arrived in London around midday on Saturday the eleventh day of the new year.
The three Darcys rode with the Matlocks from the last rest stop. Rather than going to their own houses first along with the carts carrying their trunks or the carriages carrying their servants, the Matlock coachman had been ordered to proceed directly to Holder House.
As assured as they had been by Edith’s letter, Ladies Elaine and Anne would only rest easy once they saw with their own eyes that their friend was truly well and their nieces were in fact with them.
Their husbands saw no reason to gainsay them, and as they neared their destination, Anna was bouncing on the seat with anticipation of seeing her cousins soon, especially Lizzy.
Soon enough Fenster and two footmen were assisting the callers—people he knew were welcome anytime the family was in residence—to remove their outerwear. He told them the family and some callers were in the main drawing room on the first floor.
If Lady Anne had not been holding her daughter’s hand, she was sure that Anna would have run up the stairs to reach their destination faster.
As soon as her papa opened the drawing room door, Anna pulled her hand from her mamma’s and ran into the room but stopped and became shy as she saw a lady she had never met and a little girl Mary was playing with.
Greetings were exchanged with Edith, and it took her friends moments to see the unadulterated joy radiating from her. They were able to relax; all was truly well.
“It is good to see you, Mrs Gardiner,” Lady Anne stated when she saw who was present with the family. “Is that sweet little girl your daughter? This,” she indicated Anna, who was still rather tentative, “is my daughter, Georgiana, but we all call her Anna, and she will be four in March.”
“It is good to see you, Lady Anne, and I am pleased to meet you, Miss Darcy. Yes, this little one is Lilly, and she will be two in July.” Maddie turned to the other couple. “Lord and Lady Matlock, it is a pleasure to see you again.”
“As you share nieces, would not a more informal address be in order?” Edith suggested.
“Edith has the right of it; I am Elaine, and this is Anne,” Lady Elaine agreed.
“Please call me Madeline or Maddie.”
“Edith, where is your husband?” Matlock enquired. “Not hiding from all of the ladies, is he?”
“You will locate him in the study, and I am sure he will not object to some male company. With Jamey back at Eton, it is only he with four ladies in the house,” Edith responded with a smile.
The two men made a tactical withdrawal.
Anna’s desire to be with Lizzy overrode her shyness with new people.
She approached where the two eldest Carringtons were seated and hopped up onto the settee.
She had heard the lady spoken of as an aunt to her cousins and the little girl as a cousin.
“Is Lilly,” Anna pointed, “also my cousin? Please say she is, and then I will not be the youngest girl anymore.”
Lady Anne smiled when she heard Anna’s question. “She is part of the family, Anna dear, so no, you are not the youngest girl in the family any longer. Ask Jane and Lizzy about their younger sisters.”
Elizabeth saw Anna’s big blue eyes looking at her quizzically. She told Anna what she knew of the sisters she was yet to meet.
“Is it all truly settled?” Lady Anne asked in sotto voce.
Lady Elaine leaned in to hear the reply. She was happy Anne asked the question, even though everything she saw told her there was nothing about which to worry.
“Yes, in fact, Edward, Mr Gardiner, signed away his rights as their guardian in favour of Paul. No one can ever take my girls from me. Well, that is until they marry, but I think we have a few years before we need to be concerned about that,” Edith reported.
After that, the three long-time friends included Maddie in their circle.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The gentlemen were seated in two wingback chairs and on the settee in the study, each holding a small measure of port in his glass.
“Damned good of Gardiner to sign his rights as guardian over to you,” Matlock boomed.
“I always liked him since I purchased that consignment of books from him before any of us invested with him. You could not find a more honourable man,” Darcy mused. “His only consideration was what was best for the girls.”
“As it should be for anyone when thinking of a child’s welfare,” Holder agreed.
“So you intend to purchase an estate near where my nieces were born?” Matlock verified.
“Yes, I sent a letter to Mr Phillips, who before his wife was called home was the late birth mother’s brother-in-law, asking for dates which are convenient to him so I may see the estate,” Holder confirmed.
“You would not object if we accompanied you, would you?” Darcy queried.
“Not at all. Edith and I would be more than pleased to have you with us, and I am sure my daughters will not complain about spending time with their aunts, uncles, and cousin,” Holder replied.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Lord Holder asked which days during the coming week are convenient for us to show him Netherfield Park,” Phillips informed his wife. He had arrived home from his law office and was sitting at his desk reviewing correspondence which had arrived.
Agatha looked at the calendar. “What say you that we suggest they come on Wednesday, the fifteenth of January?” she proposed.
“I will write and tell him we will expect him that morning,” Phillips agreed.