Long Lost Letters (Pride & Prejudice Variation)
Prologue Part 1 A
Matlock and Lady Elaine had two sons, Andrew, who was four, and Richard, who had recently reached the ripe old age of one. Their sons were at Snowhaven, the main Matlock estate, which was eight miles southwest of Pemberley, near the town of Matlock.
Lady Anne’s brother, who was ten years her senior, was well pleased that the future of the Matlock Earldom was assured. Although she was the youngest of the family and Reggie the eldest, Lady Anne had always been far closer to him than their sister, Catherine, who was four years Reggie’s junior.
To say that Lady Anne was not close to her older sister was an understatement.
It was not the six years in age difference because the ten years between Reggie and her were no impediment to a good and loving sibling relationship.
The problem was that Catherine thought she could order the world according to her whims and imperious commands.
It was little wonder she had not taken in London for six seasons until her father brokered a marriage to a knight, Sir Lewis de Bourgh.
De Bourgh was wealthy and had a large estate in Kent.
Simply put, Lady Catherine was jealous of her younger sister.
Anne was an excellent musician, her preferred instrument the pianoforte—Catherine was tone-deaf.
Anne was pretty—Catherine was rather homely.
Anne had become engaged in her first season without their father having to arrange the wedding—Sir Lewis had been bribed with an increased dowry to agree to marry Catherine.
Anne was universally liked—Catherine was universally disdained.
When Anne had become engaged, Catherine had railed to her father against her younger sister marrying before her and for marrying a mere gentleman farmer.
Like with almost all her rantings, she had been ignored.
Out of sisterly affection, Anne had written to Catherine to invite her to Pemberley as she approached her lying-in.
Catherine had written a curt refusal saying she was too busy with her courtship of her titled suitor.
She ignored the fact that everyone knew she had not been able to attract any man.
The truth that ultimately, in an act of desperation, their father had bribed a man to take her was well known and nothing Lady Catherine did hid the facts from the Ton.
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The birth had almost been the end of Lady Anne, but she had survived. Although she never regained her full measure of health, she was well enough to hide that fact from her beloved husband.
Whenever Robert expressed concern, Anne would wave it away and tell him that because of her long period of labouring, her body needed more time to recover.
She never told her darling Robert that the physician, who had attended her after the birth, opined that she should not endeavour to carry another child.
Anne was determined to provide more children for their family.
They had named their son Fitzwilliam, as it was a Darcy family tradition to name the first-born son for the mother’s family’s name.
Darcy was very lucky his late mother was a ‘Roberts’ before she married his late father.
They had removed the ‘s’, which had left him with an acceptable first name.
Some of his ancestors—for instance, he could think of one who had been named ‘Higgabottom’—had not been so fortunate.
As much as he worried about how wan Anne looked more than six weeks after she gave birth, he tried not to worry too much. As he and his wife did not keep secrets, Darcy accepted her word that she was well.
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The family had added one more member in November 1786.
The Fitzwilliams and Darcys had been at Rosings Park in Kent—Sir Lewis’s estate—for the blessed event.
Notwithstanding they were not close to her, both Ladies Elaine and Anne stood by Lady Catherine through her labouring.
During that time, the latter had been even more imperious and demanding than normal.
Even though she had insisted that like her sister-in-law and sister, she would give her husband a son, Lady Catherine de Bourgh had birthed a daughter, who she named Anne after her younger sister.
After the birth she claimed that she always knew it would be a girl, and of course, she would succeed in delivering a female when neither Elaine nor Anne had.
The reason Lady Catherine named her daughter Anne had nothing to do with affection.
She was aware that, like Pemberley was entailed to Darcys, Rosings Park had an entail which restricted ownership to one of the de Bourgh bloodline.
There would never be a second child because Catherine had locked her door to her husband as soon as it had been confirmed she was with child.
Now that she had delivered one, she would never unlock that door again.
Hence, when the time was right, she would order her weak-willed sister Anne to betroth Fitzwilliam to her daughter.
That way, when they married, her daughter would be carried off to Pemberley, leaving Catherine to rule over Rosings Park once her disobliging husband shuffled off the mortal coil.
As he was twenty years her senior, Catherine was sure he would go to his end many years before her.
Seeing that in her own mind everyone always bent to her will, Lady Catherine had no doubt of her success when she commanded her sister to do as she ordered.
When it was time to depart Rosings Park, Andrew, Richard, and William were very pleased to be leaving. They liked their Uncle Lewis, but the less time they spent in Aunt Cat’s presence—Richard had given her that sobriquet—the happier they were.
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A month before William’s fourth birthday, Pemberley’s long-time butler and housekeeper retired. Mr and Mrs Bidderman were given generous pensions, and although they were offered a pensioner’s cottage, they demurred, saying they would be going to live with their daughter and her family.
For almost two years, it had been known that the Biddermans would retire.
Thankfully, a few years previously, the head footman and one of the upstairs maids had been promoted to under-butler and under-housekeeper.
A year after their promotions, the two had married.
Hence, on the retirement of the previous two in those roles, Mr and Mrs Reynolds took over as butler and housekeeper without any disruption to the running of the manor house.
They had been well-trained by the Biddermans, and they had each worked for the Darcys since one was a houseboy and the other a very young scullery maid.
Lady Anne and Mrs Reynolds were close to one another in age and had a very comfortable working relationship. It did not take long before the mistress and housekeeper became as much like friends as those separated by their social divide could become.
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As he grew and the years passed by, William—as he was called by his family, save one—looked more and more like his father.
He looked like a miniature Robert Darcy in all ways except his eyes.
His Fitzwilliam piercing-blue eyes were his mother’s.
His wavy dark hair, his face, and his height—at four he was taller than some six-year-olds—were all traits he had inherited from the Darcys.
The one who refused to call him William was Lady Catherine.
She claimed the name was not nearly as noble as Fitzwilliam, ignoring the fact, or perhaps it was her lack of education, that there had been three kings of England named William, beginning with William I, the Conqueror.
Lady Catherine never allowed facts to change her pronouncements.
William and Richard Fitzwilliam were very close in age, the two grew up more as brothers than cousins. William liked his older cousin, Andrew, as well, but the bond with Richard was much stronger.
When he was five, William began lessons with a governess. It soon became apparent that he was a very intelligent boy who loved to read as soon as he learnt to do so. One of his favourite rooms in Pemberley’s mansion was the enormous library, which was one of the largest contained in a private home.
Even more than spending time in the library, William’s other favourite times were when he was with one or both of his parents.
Unlike many in the Ton, the Darcys did not believe the maxim that ‘children should be seen and not heard’.
They did not treat William like he was something to be displayed when there were friends to impress.
In fact, as unfashionable as it was considered, when there were no guests present, William would join his parents to break his fast and for dinner.
There were times when he was not allowed to spend time with Mamma. William did not understand why; all he was told was that she had to rest.
The truth was that since William’s birth, Lady Anne had experienced two more miscarriages.
Because she had been determined not to raise Robert’s hopes, Anne did not tell him she was increasing.
She wanted to wait until almost two months past the quickening because each of her disappointments had occurred either just before she would have expected to feel proof of her state, or within weeks after.
She knew that each time she miscarried it took more of her strength, but she was bound and determined that Robert would not know that she was suffering.
Another pastime William loved was riding. On his fifth birthday Mamma and Papa presented William with a pony. Before that, he had sat atop Papa’s stallion in front of his father many times as they rode together. It seemed that William had inherited the Darcys’ love of horses and riding.
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As he was instructed by his governess and then by masters as he got older, William also learnt other lessons, ones not from a book.