Chapter 19 #2
She went to see her brother’s solicitor.
No matter how much she berated the man, demanded, or cajoled, he would not give her the full amount of her dowry but rather the amount her miserly brother had mentioned.
With her money in hand, she purchased a ticket on a ship which was to sail to the West Indies and then to the Canadas.
It was the first ship she found sailing in the direction she wanted, and she cared not that the voyage would be very long.
Her maid had refused to remain with her, so Caroline travelled alone.
She would employ a maid when she reached her destination.
On the day the ship slipped its moorings on the Thames, Caroline Bingley was one of five passengers on board. The Hursts had departed for Winsdale two days previously, so no one was there to farewell Miss Bingley.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Much to Darcy’s delight, Miss Bennet agreed to be conveyed in the Darcy coach on the day they departed Rosings Park.
Anna, Miss Lucas, and Mrs Annesley were with them, so they were well chaperoned.
Lady Catherine and Mrs Collins were in the Matlock conveyance, along with the Fitzwilliam parents and younger son.
The three ladies’ trunks—most of them Mrs Collins’s—were spread between the three carriages.
As much as the former mistress of Rosings Park had not wanted to leave the estate, her brother and sister-in-law convinced her it was for the best. She eventually had agreed with them that she did not want to be present when the new owner took possession.
This way, she left on her own terms with her dignity intact.
A cart with all Lady Catherine’s trunks, and a few pieces of furniture which belonged to her, had departed at first light that morning.
The cart was for Snowhaven, where Lady Catherine would take up residence in the dower house.
For the first hour, Elizabeth furthered her growing friendship with Anna—as she had been asked to call her—until her new friend was rocked to sleep by the motion of the coach.
Maria had fallen asleep almost immediately.
Mrs Annesley had her nose in a book. The latter lady and Mr Darcy were seated on the rear-facing bench while she, Anna, and Maria occupied the forward-facing seat.
“Mr Darcy, I would like to propose something.” Elizabeth saw the way his eyebrows shot up, leading to a wide smile.
“Not that kind of proposal. What I meant to suggest is this; if you agree that is, may we begin again and put all our misunderstandings of the past behind us?”
“There is nothing I would like more than that,” Darcy responded with alacrity.
Elizabeth nodded. “Miss Elizabeth Bennet of Longbourn. I am the second daughter of five. And you are?” She gave as much of a curtsy as she could while seated.
“Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley. I believe you have met my only sibling, Georgiana. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance. I can see that you will be a far more than tolerable person to know, and perhaps, you will give me some consequence.” Darcy bowed from the waist up.
The last thing she had thought was that she would see any humour from Mr Darcy, never mind the self-deprecating kind. As such, Elizabeth was duly impressed, which once again reinforced her knowledge that she had misjudged him terribly.
“Mr Darcy, I hope you will not be angry, but I wrote some letters to people in Meryton and warned them about Mr Wickham. Before you ask; no, I did not mention the occurrence with Anna or even allude to it tangentially.” Elizabeth told Mr Darcy what she had written, to whom, and the results as had been reported in a letter from Sir William to Charlotte.
“Angry with you? Not even in the smallest measure am I upset with you. If anything, I am ashamed I did not do something myself, instead I just bought up that devil’s debts but allowed him to sow havoc unchecked.
After what we suspected he did, he should have been dealt with and not allowed to bedevil the good people in towns across the country. ” Darcy shook his head.
“Let us speak of far more pleasant things than that criminal. What think you of books, Mr Darcy?”
For the rest of the first leg of their journey, Elizabeth and Mr Darcy debated books until they reached The Belle in Bromley.
It was a true debate in which both sides gave and took.
It was nothing like the way Elizabeth had tried to needle him when she had been a guest at Netherfield Park while Jane had recuperated.
Everyone alighted at the coaching inn. Elizabeth did not miss how forlorn Lady Catherine seemed.
She was sure it was more than Miss de Bourgh’s death.
No matter what she had thought about her, Elizabeth could not but feel sympathy for her.
On top of losing her only child, Lady Catherine had lost her home, and Elizabeth suspected, her sense of who she was.
As such, Elizabeth made sure to reach the older lady as soon as Lady Catherine was handed out of her brother’s coach. Elizabeth took her arm and guided her inside to the private room the earl reserved for them.
“Why are you being so kind to me? I do not deserve it after the way I spoke to you,” Lady Catherine stated.
“Because I believe beneath that gruff, demanding exterior beats the heart of a kind woman. I used to judge based on the facade people show, but I have learnt to look below the surface,” Elizabeth revealed.
“I was very wrong about you, Miss Bennet. You are far too intelligent to have accepted that late buffoon I installed in Hunsford. I am sure the new master or mistress will act with more prudence than I did,” Lady Catherine admitted.
The two—a strange pairing by anyone’s measure—chatted amicably until it was time to reboard the conveyances.
Before they entered the respective coaches they were travelling in, Fitzwilliam and Darcy looked at one another with surprise. They had both witnessed the interactions between their aunt and Miss Bennet while at Rosings Park, so this new camaraderie was something neither expected.
When Darcy told him what Miss Bennet did, Fitzwilliam was reminded that before he was distracted with Anne’s infirmity and being tasked to do things by his father, he had decided to write to Colonel Forster.
Miss Bennet’s action had made his need to see the commander of the regiment of the Derbyshire Militia in person superfluous.
“Did I hear correctly that your father’s estate is no longer entailed upon the male line?” Darcy enquired not long after they departed from The Belle.
“You did. As I understand it now, it is entailed to only those who are descendants of my father. If the heir is female and she marries, her husband can become the master, but as he will not be of Bennet blood, he is barred from owning Longbourn,” Elizabeth explained.
“Hmm, that is the same case as the entail on Rosings Park,” Darcy responded absentmindedly.
Soon enough Anna and Maria claimed Elizabeth’s attention.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Lizzy, I am so happy to see you sooner than we had thought you would be here. I am only sorry it is because our cousin was called home,” Jane enthused as the sisters fell into one another’s arms. “You were riding with the Darcys?”
“Yes, the past is all forgot! I was wrong about so much more than you and Mr Bingley,” Elizabeth related. “I have much to tell you, but I will wait until the house is less crowded. I wonder why Lord Matlock, Mr Darcy, and Colonel Fitzwilliam asked to meet with Uncle Edward?”
“I am sure we will know soon enough,” Jane replied.
“Now Jane, when will I have the pleasure of meeting your viscount?” Elizabeth gushed. “I read every word about him, but nothing substitutes for meeting him in person.”
“We are all invited to dine at Holder House this evening. Jamey was here when the express announcing Mr Collins’s passing and your return was delivered.” Jane paused. “I did not get a chance to speak to Charlotte before she went to rest. How is she?”
“After the shock of entering his study and discovering his mortal remains on the floor, she is as well as can be expected,” Elizabeth stated.
“Mr Jacoby, Mr Collins’s solicitor, informed Charlotte that Mr Collins passed away intestate.
He had a little more than six thousand pounds to his name, which is Charlotte’s now.
I suggested she speak to Uncle Edward about investing with him because that will give her about six hundred pounds per annum—more than enough for her to comfortably support herself. ”
Before the two eldest Bennet sisters could speak any further, the Gardiner butler asked them to join the master in his office. When Jane and Elizabeth entered, they were surprised to see that in addition to Uncle Edward and Lord Matlock; Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr Darcy were still in the room.
The men stood when the sisters entered.
“Jane and Lizzy, please sit.” Gardiner waited until his nieces were seated. “Lord Matlock told me some rather interesting and unexpected news. I told him that he should tell you also. Lord Matlock, the floor is yours.”
“Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, what do you know of your great-grandmother named Eloise?” Matlock enquired.
“As far as I know, there were two named Eloise. One was late Grandmama Gardiner’s mother, and the other was Grandmama Bennet’s mother. Why do you ask?” Elizabeth wondered.
“Am I correct that your Grandmama Bennet, for whom you, Miss Elizabeth, are named, was Miss Elizabeth Courtney before she married your Grandfather Bennet?”
“Yes, my Lord, that is correct according to the family Bible.”
“I do not suppose your family Bible lists the maiden name of your Great-grandmother Eloise, does it? The one on the Bennet side,” Matlock pressed.
“It does not,” Jane remembered.
“Do you still have contact with the Courtneys?” Matlock asked.
“As far as I know, after Grandmama Beth was lost, there were no more,” Elizabeth revealed.
“I do not suppose your father has the Courtney family Bible, does he?” Matlock questioned.
“Yes, he does. He has his late mother’s hope chest in his study, and I remember him saying that the Courtney family Bible is in it.” Elizabeth looked at the men in the office. “This may sound impertinent, but to what do these questions tend?”
“I believe that your father is the new owner of Rosings Park,” Matlock said plainly.
“How?” Both sisters chorused.
“When he was at Pemberley, Darcy discovered a letter from the late Sir Lewis de Bourgh. It mentioned an estranged aunt, Eloise de Bourgh, who, against her family’s wishes, married a Roger Courtney.
They had one child, Elizabeth Rose, who, according to Sir Lewis, married a Bennet.
” Matlock explained. “If the maiden name in the Bible lists Eloise de Bourgh as the wife of Roger Courtney, then your father will be confirmed as the master of Rosings Park. If this is true, and I believe it is, that means that your father and you two, plus your sisters, all have de Bourgh blood and are distant cousins to the late Anne de Bourgh.”
Jane and Elizabeth were both in shock at the revelation. They could only imagine how Mamma and Papa would take this news.
“Jane and Lizzy, I will be able to leave London in two days. At that point we will all travel to Meryton,” Gardiner said.
All the sisters could do was nod.