Chapter One
Three figures emerged from their hired carriage. As one, they craned their necks to gaze up at the handsome stone manor before them.
Elizabeth Bennet’s heart was thrumming as fast as a hawk-moth’s wings. “It is not possible,” she breathed. “This must be an error.”
Even her mother was silent beside her, and that never happened.
Her father recovered first. “From what we were told, I anticipated a pleasant but modest house on a bit of land somewhere near town.” He removed a letter from his jacket and unfolded it.
“When we entered the park and did not see the house immediately, I began to question what we would find. But I never expected this.”
This was Hollydale, an estate half again as large as Longbourn, the family seat in Hertfordshire where they lived with her four other sisters.
A pleasant, modest house would have been easier.
“This is the place,” her father confirmed, returning the letter to his pocket. He placed a hand on her arm. “Do not fear, Lizzy. There must be a steward with whom we can speak. Mr. Ellis was quite elderly at the end. He would not have run the place without assistance.”
“I am not afraid,” Elizabeth replied, when her astonishment subsided. “I am shocked. He never spoke of his home, and we always met in town when I visited with Uncle and Aunt Gardiner.” She turned to her father. “It is the sort of joke you would devise if you could.”
All her father could say was, “You may be right.”
Elizabeth took a deep breath. “But yes, there must be a steward. You have already taught me much about Longbourn, and I shall simply have to learn about Hollydale House.”
Her father smiled at her, the colour returning to his cheeks. “Well done, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth smiled back. Her heart was slowing to its normal rhythm, but now her mind was racing.
Why would Mr. Ellis leave his home to her?
She barely knew him! They had met when she was six and attending her Uncle Gardiner’s marriage to her aunt.
He had been standing in the churchyard amid the gravestones appearing lost, and as the rest of her family was gathered around the bride and groom, she had approached to speak with him.
He was kind and funny and gruff, and she had liked him instantly.
Oh, she had been fond of all his stories, and knew he had no family left.
He had been old even when she met him, and she had done what she could to help him over the years on her several subsequent trips to Lambton with the Gardiners.
She had engaged him in childish conversation, helped him carry his parcels, and written out his lists.
But he must have had someone closer to him than a girl who had visited the area only infrequently and had last seen him several years ago.
“Well,” Papa said, “shall we go inside?”
Mamma nodded, but still did not speak.
The butler, a man about Papa’s age, answered the door and welcomed them in. “I am Mr. Riggs,” he told them solemnly. “Mr. Ellis told me to expect you, and we have your rooms ready.”
“Thank you, Mr. Riggs,” Papa said.
The butler then called a few maids forward. “We do not have enough help for a family, Mr. Bennet, as Mr. Ellis did not require much. If you are to open the house, you will want to see to hiring a few footmen and maids, including for the ladies. Mrs. Riggs can assist with that when you are ready.”
“Papa,” Elizabeth whispered when the butler was busy with the maids, “do you think they know that I have inherited?”
“Mr. and Mrs. Riggs must, but they likely will not mention it unless we do,” Papa whispered back. “I think we should keep it quiet for now. No need to attract any unwanted attention.”
Elizabeth considered that for a moment. “Are we opening the house?”
He shook his head. “I do not know yet.”
Still nothing from Mamma. Elizabeth was beginning to worry.
“Would you prefer tea before or after you have had a chance to view your chambers?” Mr. Riggs asked as he returned.
Her father began to say that they would go upstairs, but Elizabeth placed a hand on his arm. “Mamma may require a restorative.”
“Oh dear,” Papa said good-naturedly. “Would you like some tea, Fanny?”
Mamma took a deep breath, and Elizabeth thought she would say something at last. But again, she only nodded.
“Tea it is, Mr. Riggs,” Elizabeth said.
The butler bowed and turned to give orders to a maid before leading them into a drawing room that might once have been pretty but was now old-fashioned and faded. The wallpaper was peeling at the corners and the curtains were blocking a good deal of light.
Elizabeth turned to her mother. She could think of only one thing that was certain to encourage a response. “I can see we shall require your expertise in this room, Mamma.”
Her mother blinked, and her eyes travelled around the room. “The floor first.”
Elizabeth had not even noticed the floor, though now she looked at it closely she could see it required some repair.
“Then the wallpaper,” Mamma continued, wandering over to the wall and peering at it.
“It must go, all of it.” She made her way to the window and reached out to touch the dusty velvet of the window hangings.
“And these curtains as well. The room will be light and airy with a few changes.” Then she turned to them both and smiled broadly.
She was a very handsome woman when she smiled in that way.
Papa seemed to agree, for he strode to Mamma with the energy of a man of half his years, taking her hands in his own and lifting each to his lips for a gentle kiss. “Dear Fanny.”
Mamma gasped and blushed. Elizabeth was no less surprised. Her father was never so demonstrative—at least not that she ever could recall.
“You and Elizabeth will have this place set to rights in a few months, I have no doubt. It is such a gift!” He beamed at her mother.
“You and the girls never need worry about Longbourn’s heir again.
Elizabeth is to be the mistress of a home large enough for you all should you ever have need of it, and so long as you are prudent with the funds, you will lead very comfortable lives. ”
Two fat tears slid down Mamma’s cheeks, and Papa’s face fell.
“Oh, Fanny,” he mumbled, fumbling for his handkerchief.
When he found it, he tenderly wiped her tears away.
“Elizabeth has accomplished what I have been unable to do. All of you will be safe when I am gone. I feel a bit like weeping myself.”
“I had nothing to do with it,” Elizabeth protested. “I still have no idea why Mr. Ellis would leave all of this to me.”
“You must have done something clever,” her mother replied. “Or he would not have trusted you with all that he had.”
Elizabeth searched her memory, but there was nothing she had done that was in any way out of the ordinary.
She had liked Mr. Ellis, had written notes to him through Aunt Gardiner’s mother, Mrs. Wright.
She had considered him a friend. But she would no more have expected this bequest than to be told she was being given a trunk full of pirate gold.
Perhaps Mr. Ellis’s reasons would be revealed in time.
Perhaps she would never know at all. But as she watched her parents murmuring to one another in a manner she had not witnessed since she was small, Elizabeth knew she would thank their benefactor in her prayers each night for the rest of her life.