Chapter 11
When the Duke was walking in Meryton a few days later, he bumped into none other than Miss Elizabeth Bennet, literally.
He was surprised, and Elizabeth, already thinking he was an arrogant man who thought he could do what he wanted when he wanted, misread the look she saw as one of hauteur and disdain rather than surprise.
Before the Duke could say a word, she was off with a “Well, I never! Who does that man think he is? The King!”
Richard, whose leg was bothering him, had remained at Netherfield with Lady Georgiana. “Miss Bennet, I assume?” Major Wickham snickered at the surprise still evident on his friend’s face.
“The one and only,” Lord William drawled as he shook his head. Would he ever get to greet her without causing offense?
Mrs. Bennet and her grasping daughter had seen the interaction from across the street. “Mama, we must apologise to the Duke for Cinder-Liza’s rudeness. It will bring me to his notice!” Caroline bleated.
“Yes, my dear, you are correct; let us cross the road.” Martha took her daughters thin fingers and crossed the road. They stopped in front of the Duke and his party, and before Biggs or Johns moved, they genuflected as they would for the Queen.
“Your Grace,” Caroline said, in her nasally, grating voice, “we must apologise for Cinder-Liza, she knows not how to behave around one as highborn as yourself,” she simpered.
“Who are you to address me without my requesting an introduction? It is you and this other woman who know not how to behave in my presence, not Miss Bennet,” the Duke replied angrily.
Both women were taken back at the rebuke.
They were certain all they would need to do was to introduce themselves and he would be under their influence.
“I am Mrs. Bennet, mistress of Longbourn, and this is my daughter, Miss Caroline Bennet,” Martha fawned.
Mr. Hurst stepped forward. “Firstly, madam, how dare you lie to a duke?” Both women gasped.
“It is well known that this,” he speared Caroline with a look of pure disdain, “is Miss Caroline Bingley, the daughter of a tradesman.” Caroline almost swooned with the humiliation.
“And you are as much the mistress of Longbourn as I am!” With that, the Duke, Major Wickham, and Mr. Hurst turned away, cutting the women.
Two huge bodyguards followed them, daring the gasping women to try to approach their master again.
“This is all Cinder-Liza’s fault!” Caroline Bingley hissed.
“You are correct, my daughter. We will get even with that uppity chit!” Martha promised.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The day the HMS Charger docked in Nassau was the day the reality of their rescue hit the Bennets and the two former crew of The West Indies Trader fully.
They stepped onto the quay and were met by no less than the governor, Lord Wesley St. George.
A pigeon had been released a day out of Nassau, and from their reception as the frigate docked, it was obvious the bird’s message had been received.
“Lord and Lady Holder and family, you are most welcome. This is a glorious day; it has been years since there has been any hope of your being alive and well. We feared it was to be naught but an impossible dream! Before we go any further, and you have a chance to relax at the governor’s mansion, there is a packet ship departing in two hours.
The post and goods she carries will reach England, God willing, in about two months.
I expect there are those at home who would want to know you are alive and well,” Lord St. George suggested.
It was decided with alacrity. The Earl wrote to his daughter, his cousin Thomas, Mr. Philips, and Mr. Gardiner, and Jane wrote to her father and Elizabeth, care of Mr. Philips.
She would not take a chance the awful stepmother would intercept this most important of missives.
The letters were sealed and delivered into the hands of the Captain of the packet ship.
The Earl stated the two men who had survived with them on the island were to be included in the party hosted at the governor’s house, and Lord St. George did not object.
Before the Bennets left the dock, they could not thank Captain Sandiford and his crew enough for rescuing them from New England.
The Captain quipped that, instead, the Earl should thank the pirates, who tried to hide in the waters around the islands.
Parrot was happy sitting on Tommy’s shoulder as the party was shown to their chambers; he squawked his approval.
Oh, what a luxury, to sleep in a feather bed once again!
Jane and Jamey were especially pleased to have a suite to themselves with thick walls rather than the thin boards that separated the cabins on board the frigate.
The newly married couple found their enjoyment of the marriage bed increased exponentially when they could not be heard by others and were themselves unable to hear others.
Jane told her father and Lizzy of her marriage in her letters to them. She could not wait to hug them both again, which she was sure was true for Tommy as well. ‘Wait until Papa sees Tommy is taller than him! Oh, I cannot wait to see his face,’ Jane giggled at the thought.
“Why are you giggling, Janey?” her husband asked, as he bestowed a long languid kiss.
“I was thinking about Papa’s reaction when he sees how big Tommy is, and Phillip as well. Lizzy was always petite so Tommy will tower over her now.” Jane smiled, as her husband captured her lips, and all thoughts of England and family were forgotten for a time.
The next day, with a letter of unlimited credit from the governor, the Bennet family went about the business of visiting seamstress and tailors.
They had a few days before the ship that would carry them home to England departed.
As much as they wanted to return home, they were not unhappy they would have some time in a thriving port town before going to sea again.
By the time the Bennets boarded the Dennington Lines ship for the voyage home, they once again looked like English gentry and not castaways. Before departing, the Earl issued an invitation to any of the officers of the frigate to visit him when they were in England once again.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“How dare you show us up like that, Cinder-Liza!” Caroline Bingley fairly screeched as she and her mother arrived back at Longbourn after their demeaning performance in front of so many denizens of the town.
“Of what do you speak, stepsister?” Elizabeth asked, not having a clue what the shrew was on about this time.
“You were rude to him, the Duke, and we had to apologise to him on your behalf!” Martha spat out, literally, with spittle flying in all directions.
“He was so angry at you he cut us!” Caroline screamed, at the top her lungs.
“Let me see if I have this right. The Duke bumped into me, he said nothing to me, and somehow it is my fault you decided to approach him even after I explained protocol to you. When he did exactly what I said he would, you chose to lay at my feet responsibility for your own actions. Let me guess, you introduced yourself and you introduced this doxy,” Elizabeth pointed at the Caroline, placidly ignoring that she was shaking with rage, “as Miss Caroline Bennet when every single resident of the area knows that is a lie! Please explain to me how I have anything to do with ridiculous choices you made with no reference to me? You thought this was a chance to come to the arrogant man’s notice.
All this after I clearly explained he would ask for an introduction should he wish it! ” Elizabeth challenged.
Both changed colours as Elizabeth hit the nail squarely on the head, and they hated her even more for being correct. Caroline advanced and tried to slap Elizabeth, but the intended victim was more than ready for the paltry attack and easily caught her arm.
“Would you like a reminder what happened to you the last time you hit me, Caroline Bingley? If you do not remember, the next time you raise your hand to me I will make sure you never again forget!” Elizabeth stated, with steel in her voice.
Caroline shrank back. The one and only time she had struck Elizabeth would not be forgotten, and she looked to her mother, pleadingly, for her intervention.
“You strike my daughter again and you will rue the day you were born, Cinder-Liza! If you had been more like a lady and less like a man, you would not have been in the Duke’s way, and we would not have had to apologise for you!” the nasty woman unloaded her vitriol.
“And how did that apology work out for you, stepmother dearest!” Elizabeth knew she was goading the woman, but she cared not. Louisa sat quietly, ashamed again at being related to her mother and younger sister.
“Your family all went away and died to get away from you…” spewed forth from Martha’s mouth when an unexpected voice rose in opposition and halted her tirade midway through.
“That is enough, mother! A halfwit can see that you and Caroline alone are the authors of your own problems. How can you be so evil as to say something like that to Lizzy? If it were not for her running this estate you and that,” Louisa pointed at Caroline, “would be in the hedgerows you are always going on about! I am ashamed to be your daughter,” she looked at her mother, “and Lizzy has been a friend and sister to me these many years, when you have allowed your selfish needs be your only guide, Caroline!”
“So, you stand against your own blood with Cinder-Liza!” Martha spat. “So be it, you are no daughter of mine!” Mother and younger daughter marched out of the drawing room with their noses in the air.
“Lulu, I thank you for your support, but you did not have to destroy what little relationship you had left with your mother and sister for me. You know I pay them no heed, no matter what they say,” Elizabeth told her friend, as she hugged her.