Chapter 12 #2
“Are you so addled that you forgot Mr Collins and his family are with the relations they pass some of each summer with?” Hilldale ribbed. He turned to his sire. “Why would Mr Collins write to you here?”
“I suppose if you give your father some time to read the epistle, he will be able to answer that question,” Lady Elaine opined.
“Anne, Holderness, if you would prefer, I will wait until after the meal to read the missive,” Matlock offered.
He saw two shaken heads. He broke the unknown seal with a raised ‘B’ surrounded by some ivy leaves.
He began to read. As he did, the shock of the words made his face lose some of its colour.
“My God, Reggie, what is it?” Lady Anne asked.
“It is about Bethie,” Matlock managed.
“Has a body been found after all of this time?” Hilldale questioned.
“Rather than each of you speculate, I will read it to you. I ask that you refrain from exclamations and questions until I have completed the reading.” He held up the paper, cleared his throat and began to read.
1 July 1807
Longbourn (My cousin Bennet’s estate)
Hertfordshire
Lord Matlock,
Please excuse my freedom in writing to you when not replying to a missive you posted to me. However, I think that you will understand my reasoning very soon.
I believe that my daughter-in-law-to-be has discovered Lady Bethany Osborne.
“Bethie!” Lady Anne exclaimed.
“How do they know it is our goddaughter? If this is not true, and she hears of the possibility; it will break Amelia’s spirit,” Lady Elaine stated.
“This is the reason I asked you to wait to make comments or ask questions,” Matlock said.
“If you allow me to continue, I believe that many of the questions you have will be answered. I know how hard it is, but please wait until I have read it all to you.” Matlock looked around the table and received nods from all. He picked up the letter again.
I believe Charles Bingley is known to some in your family.
He and his sister, Miss Caroline Bingley (my William’s betrothed) met us at Longbourn today.
When I introduced the family, Caroline stared at the girl we have always known as Elizabeth Bennet, the middle of five children of Mr and Mrs Thomas Bennet.
Caroline and her brother had met the Dowager Duchess of Leeds at Rosings Park in the summer of 1806.
When Lizzy (who is rather impertinent) asked if she had a blemish, Caroline stated that Lizzy looked exactly like a younger version of a lady she met over the summer past. Caroline’s brother, Charles blurted out his agreement that Lizzy was a younger version of Lady Amelia Osborne.
It was then my cousin agreed that even though we all believed Lizzy was his daughter by blood (she looks similar to Bennet’s mother, Mrs Beth Bennet), she was not.
Bennet and his family had been living in Grantham in Yorkshire. They were travelling to Hertfordshire after receiving word that his father and brother had died in a horrific carriage accident.
His wife, Fanny, loves walking, especially in wooded areas, and went for a ramble while the horses were being rested at the coaching inn.
She walked in the forest near the town of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire on the 5th day of August 1791.
During her walk, she discovered a crying babe in a carriage in a clearing.
There was a dead man next to the carriage.
In his pocket she found a part of a note which instructed the criminal to murder the babe.
She was still feeding her son at that time, so she was able to provide the girl with sustenance.
She and Bennet assumed (incorrectly) the note was from a parent wanting to rid themselves of an unwanted babe. As such, they told no one, named her Elizabeth Rose, and departed for the south. They believed they were protecting her from those who wanted to murder her.
I have seen the note. It was in the hand of the late Mrs Catherine de Bourgh.
I told them what I knew of Mr and Mrs de Bourgh’s actions and that the Dowager Duchess still prays her daughter will be found. I also told them that the de Bourghs had paid for their actions with their lives.
I suspect that Lizzy Bennet is in fact Lady Bethany Osborne, but as I am sure you understand, no one here wants to raise the Dowager Duchess’s hopes unnecessarily.
This letter is to beg you to come hither before contacting Lady Amelia Osborne.
I was hoping you have a way to identify Lady Bethany conclusively.
Lizzy (or Lady Bethany) mentioned a rather distinctive birthmark. I have not seen it, nor would I ask her to reveal it to me.
With respect,
Reverend Clem William Collins
The silence around the table was deafening for some moments after Matlock concluded reading the missive.
“These Bennets stole Lady Bethany!” Conyers exclaimed.
“No, William, they did not. They more than likely saved her life,” Lady Anne corrected.
“Did you not hear your uncle read why they believed that Bethie was in mortal danger, and they were saving her from evil? You should not be so quick to jump to conclusions without all of the information.” She turned to her brother.
“Mr Collins did not say where the birthmark is or what it looks like, but I am almost certain that Elizabeth Bennet and Bethie are the same person.”
Conyers felt his mother’s rebuke. He did not like being told he was wrong, but it seemed he was overruled by everyone at the table. Even Anne and Giana were looking at him with disagreement.
“I agree with Anne on all points.” Lady Elaine looked at her nephew with a gimlet eye. She turned to her husband. “Reggie, we need to depart for Hertfordshire this very day.”
“Indeed we will,” Holderness stated. “If we find that this girl is in fact our goddaughter, then we will send riders up the Great North Road to redirect Amelia to the estate of Longbourn. I would suggest that we be very careful in the way we share the news. With all of the time she has suffered, I am certain that if this Lizzy Bennet looks as much like Amelia as Miss Bingley and her brother stated, then Amelia will banish the doubts as soon as she sees her.”
“Will I be able to meet Lady Bethany so I can apologise that my late birthparents could do something so very heinous?” Anne Fitzwilliam enquired. “When Lord Granville completes his year of mourning, before he proposes, I want to tell him about the people who bore me and what they did.”
“Once we have established her identity, I am sure you will meet her, and Anne, you have nothing for which to apologise. You were three or four when Mr and Mrs de Bourgh committed their crimes,” Matlock responded.
“As for telling Granville, that my dear daughter is entirely your decision. If you feel it is something you must do, then speak to him. However, just like Bethie will not hold you responsible for the actions of others, I am certain neither will he.”
Lady Anne rang for the butler. “Instruct our personal servants to pack; we leave within an hour,” she commanded. The butler bowed and went to carry out the mistress’s orders.
“I will send a rider ahead to reserve chambers for us at a coaching inn. It is more than one hundred miles, meaning that we will arrive on the morrow,” Holderness related. “It seems like a dream that in less than two days we will know if this Miss Bennet is truly Bethie.”
“Amelia will be beyond ecstatic if it is Bethie,” Lady Anne mused. “It will be her dearest hope come true.”
“And I will craft a missive to Collins to inform him of our coming. It should reach him by the morning on the morrow. I do not think we should descend upon this Mr Bennet’s estate without any warning,” Matlock proposed. “As soon as it is ready, I will send it with one of my couriers.”
No one disagreed with Matlock’s decision.
While Holderness’s man rode to find an inn for the night, a Matlock courier was on his way to Longbourn.