Chapter 20 #2
“Catherine, do you truly think that things will be as you want them because you issue imperious commands?” Matlock mocked.
“Your daughter has barely begun her eternal sleep, and you are back to trying to wrest the estate and everything else from its rightful owner. You know as well as I do that Richard is master here now, and you, Sister, are the former mistress!”
“NO! IT IS MINE!” Lady Catherine screamed as loudly as she could.
“Yet, the will states differently. Unless you accept the reality, you will not even be allowed to inhabit the dower house here. In that case, you will be taken to a cottage in the Outer Hebrides, and from there you will never return,” Matlock barked back.
If she were not at Rosings Park, Lady Catherine would not be able to put things to rights. “I will move to the dower house,” she stated bitterly.
“Catherine, if this is one of your harebrained schemes to gain control of Richard’s estate, not only will you fail, but to the Hebrides you will go,” Matlock threatened when he saw his sister’s calculating look.
As was her wont, Lady Catherine blocked her brother’s words from her consciousness, as they did not fit with her desires.
Much to her consternation, Lady Catherine’s trunks and valises were searched before her departure from the mansion.
All the de Bourgh jewels she had secreted within were removed.
She had meant for them to provide her with capital to execute the brilliant plans she intended to make.
She was seriously displeased. All she had now was her measly jointure.
She would have to find another way to augment her pitiful quarterly allowance.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
In the years since Richard Fitzwilliam had inherited his estate, he had become greatly respected as the master of Rosings Park.
He was well pleased that Uncle Robert had placed Rivington in Surrey in William’s hands in July 1804, a year after his cousin and Jamey had graduated from Cambridge.
It was Uncle Robert’s largest satellite estate with an income over seven thousand pounds per annum.
The reasoning had been that Uncle Robert wanted William to put the theories he had learnt into practice.
For Fitzwilliam, it meant that the cousin he was closest to resided less than ten miles away.
Rosings Park was three miles east of the Kent-Surrey border, and Rivington was about six miles west of the border.
It enabled the cousins, who were more brothers than anything else, to be in each other’s company on a regular basis and not just at holiday times or during the summer.
One of said holidays, Easter, was alternated between Netherfield Park and Rosings Park on an annual basis, and when it was held at Rosings Park, other than a brief call at the dower house by Lady Anne and Matlock, no one repined not seeing Lady Catherine.
As the years had passed and Jane approached her eighteenth birthday, Fitzwilliam began to have feelings for her which were decidedly not cousinly. As much as he would like to declare himself before she came out into society, he would not do that.
Fitzwilliam was certain that Jane felt more for him than merely a cousin, but he wanted her to have a season and experience a measure of society before he made any sort of declaration.
He thought her a very beautiful woman, but that was not the reason he felt attracted to her.
She was intelligent, compassionate, generous, and genuinely cared for the welfare of those less fortunate than herself and her family.
That was on top of her abilities in maths, which made the ledgers he battled to understand, clear.
He did not just like her; Fitzwilliam respected Jane and her abilities greatly.
He was aware that Aunt Edith had begun teaching her daughters the role of a mistress of an estate when they had each turned thirteen. Aunt Anne intended to begin the same with Anna when she reached that age as well.
Edith and Holder could not have been happier with their four children.
Jamey was everything they could have hoped he would be.
He was honourable, respectful, and treated those below him with grace and kindness.
The same could be said for all three of their daughters.
The day He had led Jamey to find her daughters had changed their lives forever.
For some years after Jamey’s birth, Edith had lamented the fact that God had not blessed them with another child, and then, just when she had been resigned to the fact it would never happen, their son had led them to the three most wonderful girls in the world.
It had been more than fifteen years since her daughters had joined the family, and Edith could not even imagine their life without Jane, Lizzy, and Mary.
And now in two days Jane would be eighteen.
As hard as it was to grasp that so many years had flown by, Lizzy was already sixteen, and she would be seventeen in February 1808.
Even scarier to think about was Mary; she was fifteen and would be sixteen in January upcoming.
Thinking about Lizzy and the discussion she had with Anne made Edith smile.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
July 1807
The Carringtons were at Pemberley, but two days from departing for Holder House, where they would begin to prepare for Jane’s birthday. After the celebration, they would then remine in London, where their eldest daughter would join society.
They were sitting on the wide stone veranda overlooking the lake across the grassy area watching Lizzy and William walking on the path which circumnavigated the lake.
The two were approaching the bridge at the western end of the lake.
The bridge crossed the feeder stream, also created by the hand of man.
Brian Johns and one other man were following behind giving the cousins more than enough space so they could speak without being overheard.
“If Jane and Richard do not make us family indeed, then it will be those two,” Lady Anne commented. She inclined her head in the direction of their children.
“As much as I do not want to think about the time when my daughters will begin to leave our house, both of them could do far worse than Richard and William. That is, of course, if anything ever comes to pass between them,” Edith responded.
“Paul and I will never push the girls at any man. If they come together on their own, we will not object, but do not forget it is more than one and one half years before Lizzy comes out.”
“I am sure that William will be as circumspect as Richard has been with Jane. At least with him owning Rosings Park, no one can accuse Elaine’s younger son of being a fortune hunter if he and Jane make a match of it.”
“No one who knows your nephew would ever think that of him, even had he not a good fortune and estate of his own. He is, and always has been, a man of honour.”
What the two mothers had not known was that another was also watching Lizzy and William, one who had no good thoughts about what he was seeing.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Her thoughts returned to what still needed to be done to prepare for a large celebration on Wednesday evening to celebrate Jane’s birthday.
As far as Edith could tell, everything was organised.
Mrs Fenster had everything in hand and would be flexible enough to accommodate any last-minute changes if Edith needed to make any. Knowing this enabled Edith to relax.
The four Carrington children, Richard, William, Anna, and Charlotte, were taking a walk in Hyde Park, well before the fashionable hour, as was their wont.
Said group was returning from their walk along the Serpentine, with Biggs, Johns, and two other guards escorting them when Fitzwilliam, Jamey, and William spied one they liked and one they avoided like the plague. Unfortunately, the latter was walking with the former.
“Bingley, well met,” Jamey said when the two groups were close to one another.”
“And you, Hadlock, Fitzwilliam, Darcy,” Bingley replied.
It was a little more than a year since his father had been called home to God; the doctors said it was a heart problem.
Caroline had been demanding they come to Town, and no matter how much she harangued him, he had not been moved.
He had accepted an invitation to visit Louisa and Hurst at Hurst House in Curzon Street, and due to the fact he was Caroline’s guardian until she reached her majority, he had been obligated to bring her with him.
Thanks to their late father’s edicts, Caroline had never met his friends before.
“Charles, will you not introduce your friends?” Miss Bingley cooed. She could smell status and wealth, and it was pouring off those before her.
“Bingley, I assume this is your younger sister?” Jamey verified.
“Yes, Hadlock, this is Miss Bingley, my sister.” Bingley only shook his head. He was at his wit’s end. No matter what, his younger sister saw and heard only that which fit her desires.
“Miss Bingley, pray tell how is it that you, the daughter of a tradesman, request the introduction when every single one of us is far above you in society?” Hadlock demanded.
“If it were not for my friendship with your brother, I would publicly cut you. I understand you went to a small finishing school in Yorkshire, but surely they taught you about societal etiquette?”
“Well, I never!” Miss Bingley huffed after the other party moved off.
“I agree with you, Caroline.” Bingley did not miss the self-satisfied look on his sister’s countenance.
“Your behaviour warrants a ‘well, I never’, and I am pleased to see you realise that!” He paused, ignoring the outraged look from his sister.
“You were reprimanded by a viscount. If he had cut you, the others would have followed suit, and then, you would be persona non grata in society. If you do not want to ruin yourself, I suggest you learn to hold your tongue!”
Bingley was silently fuming that he did not meet the three beauties who, from descriptions, he believed were Hadlock’s sisters. The tall, willowy blonde with the cerulean-blue eyes looked like an angel to him. Hopefully he would meet them without the millstone named Caroline around his neck.
Once the group of cousins and Miss Lucas were almost at the Grosvenor Gate, they stopped.
“Thank you for deferring having to meet that shrewish harpy. I have met Mrs Hurst, who is very much like Bingley. How can they have such a sister?” William shook his head as he spoke.
“Come, we have much more pleasant things to look forward to,” Elizabeth urged. “In two days, we will celebrate an important birthday when Janey becomes an old lady,” she teased.
“That from one who is only a year and one half younger than me. By your own definition, you too are old,” Jane teased back.
Before Elizabeth could retort, they arrived back at Holder House.