Chapter 10
Mr Bingley was an enormously proud father as he conveyed his son to Eton for his first year at the start of his gentleman’s education.
His son would be the first in the family to be so educated.
With a wry smile he thought about the fact that it would be somewhat more pleasant at home as he had also dropped off Louisa at Miss Pettigrew’s Seminary for Young Ladies before he continued with Charles to Eton.
The town of Eton was in Berkshire, not far from Windsor and relatively close to Town.
The new boys at Eton were placed with a boy who was year ahead of them to help them acclimate.
By the luck of the draw, Master Charles Bingley was told that his roommate would arrive a little later that day, a Master Fitzwilliam Darcy from Derbyshire.
The lodging was in the town itself, as he and most attendees were Oppidans.
Only the seventy King’s Scholars, those recipients of the coveted scholarship to study at and attend Eton, lived on the college campus.
The rest, like Charles Bingley, paid their own fees and lived in the houses.
The house that young Bingley was in had six bed chambers, a common room, a dining parlour, and a study room.
Five of the chambers were occupied by two boys and one was reserved for the house captain, a Richard Fitzwilliam.
House captains were all in their final year at the august learning institution.
It soon became evident to both Bingley men that sons of tradesmen were an exceedingly small minority among the attendees.
Most were sons of members of the Ton from wealthy and long established non-titled families all the way up to some who were sons of dukes.
The house captain was the son of an Earl, and they had heard someone address one of the young men in the neighbouring chamber as Lord Westmore.
He was in fact a viscount, the son and heir of the Earl and Countess of Jersey.
The two Bingley’s joked that had the sisters or Mrs Bingley been present, they would not have been able to decide who to ingratiate themselves with first.
Once all of Charles’s belongings had been moved in, Mr Bingley took Charles to the college itself where they visited the main office to verify all of his son’s paperwork was in order and that the payment for his first year had been received.
After everything was confirmed to be in order, the two wandered about the school in awe of being within the hallowed halls so many members of the Ton, past and present, had walked.
The two walked back to the Bingley travelling carriage where father and son shook hands and the son stood and watched until the vehicle was no longer visible after turning a corner.
Before he walked back into the house, a most impressive carriage was stopped by the driver in front of the house.
It was one of the largest and most luxurious carriage that Charles had seen, even counting those under construction on those occasions when he visited his father at work before they moved from Yorkshire.
There were two footmen riding on the rear bench and he counted four outriders.
The door with the crest on it swung open and a man around his father’s age, just a lot fitter looking, stepped down.
Charles assumed he was followed by the son who was as tall as the father and looked to be built just as solidly.
The one who had been identified as the house captain exited the house and clapped the young man on his back.
“William and Uncle George, welcome.” Richard Fitzwilliam said jovially.
“I told you that you should have come with me,” Richard said as he punched his cousin on the arm in jest, “we arrived yesterday. Father is already half way back to Snowhaven by now.”
“I am not sorry that we had an additional day at home,” William stated, “Alex was none too happy that Anne, Lizzy, and Georgie all departed for Snowhaven the same day,” he said, grinning as he remembered the snit that his brother had thrown.
“Soon enough,” Mr Darcy said, “Alex will be visiting without us like the rest of you do.”
As Richard turned, he saw Bingley standing looking a little nonplussed as he watched the scene outside his house. “You are Bingley, are you not?” he asked the lad who seemed startled to be addressed by his house captain. Richard had seen the lad with his father and heard the name.
“Er, yes sir, I am Charles Bingley,” Charles responded, not sure what the protocol for addressing his house captain was.
“I am not a sir, Master Bingley,” Richard informed him with a slight chuckle at the lad’s behalf. “You call me Captain or Fitzwilliam.” Richard extended his hand and was glad the shake was firm, even if Charles seemed nervous.
“This tall fellow here,” Richard pointed towards William, “is your chamber mate Fitzwilliam Darcy, and the gentleman,” he indicated his uncle, “is my reprobate of a cousin’s honoured father and my uncle, Mr George Darcy of Pemberley in Derbyshire.
” Bingley gave a crisp bow to each as he was introduced.
“That makes you a first year,” William stated. “Well met, Master Bingley.” William extended his hand to the scrawny lad.
“Please call me Bingley,” Charles requested as he extended his hand.
“What is your father’s estate?” Mr Darcy asked, trying to determine whether or not he knew the lad’s father as the Bingley name was known to him in some way he could not quite place.
“We do not have an estate, sir,” Bingley said awkwardly. “My father owns the Bingley Carriage Works in Scarborough.” He expected to be derided and was surprised that was not the reaction he received.
“Your family’s business makes good carriages,” Mr Darcy said as he considered his equipages. “I have a landau and barouche that were built there, and they are very well-made vehicles.”
“I will be sure to tell my father that I met a satisfied customer,” Bingley said as he gained a modicum of confidence because the members of the Ton before him seemed to accept him regardless of his roots. The four moved indoors as William’s trunks were carried into their chambers.
There were two men available in each house of underclassmen to help them with their needs; only upperclassmen like Richard who had their own chambers were allowed to have a personal valet to attend them.
Mr Darcy had just hired a man for William, Carstens, who would train under his valet until William returned home for term breaks and other times when there was no school.
Mr Darcy took his leave after bidding his son and nephew a good term and wished the Bingley lad good luck.
It did not take long for the three young men to become comfortable in one another’s company.
Unfortunately for Charles Bingley, however, word soon spread that a tradesman’s son was in the incoming class that year.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
At Snowhaven the three cousins seemed to grow closer by the day.
Even though Anne de Bourgh was approaching her twelfth birthday, she often deferred to Elizabeth who took a leadership role among the three.
She did not seek or demand it; it had just happened due to her ability to see things from multiple sides of an issue or task.
Contrary to her mother’s prediction that Anne would never master a musical instrument like she herself had failed to do, Anne was progressing very nicely.
Anne had joined Lizzy and Georgie when the voice master worked with them, but by mutual agreement she soon put her energies into the harp and pianoforte as her singing voice was rather weak and would never be able to carry a tune far into an audience.
The three missed their older brothers and cousins but knew that in a month they would be going to London.
They would see the three in school a number of times while they were in Town, also they would be at Pemberley for the Christmas term break for close to a month’s duration.
While the mothers made sure that everything was in order for the almost three months they would be in Town, the masters of Pemberley and Snowhaven were working closely with their stewards to make sure that the autumn harvests were proceeding apace.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
William Bennet felt very grown up, the family had just celebrated his tenth birthday and he could not have felt happier, or more loved; he felt a member of the family in every way.
He was keen to see Charles Bingley when his friend returned to Netherfield from Eton for the Christmas break as he was very keen to quiz his older friend about what it was like at school.
True, it was still more than three years before he would attend, but he was an inquisitive lad and had many questions stored up.
Bennet and his two older sons had worked hard with the stewards of all three estates to make sure that the harvest that year was a bountiful one.
Thanks to having implemented some of the modern farming methods like crop rotation, Bennet calculated that there would be an increase of around a combined thousand pounds from the estates over the previous year.
After consulting with his wife, it was decided that more than half of the increase would be used to give the servants at all three estates substantial Christmas bonuses and the rest would be placed into the fund they maintained to assist any of their tenants who had genuine and unforeseen problems that taxed their income.
The way that his tenants were treated was one of the reasons his tenants did not leave and there was a waiting list of applications in the event that one of the coveted spots ever opened up.