Chapter 5. Dinner at Longbourn
“Mamma, why do we have to eat our supper early and retire above stairs?” asked Kitty.
“I want to stay downstairs,” insisted Lydia with a pout and teary eyes.
Mary looked between her mother and her sisters but remained silent as Mrs Bennet explained, “Tonight, we have a guest coming for supper. All of your sisters will eat and retire about stairs. You can sit in Jane and Elizabeth’s room and read stories or play with your hair styles while your father and I have supper with our guest.”
“Who is coming, Mamma?” asked Jane.
“It is Mr Darcy, the new owner of Netherfield Park,” their mother explained. “He is a young man who just finished University, and we want to welcome him to the neighbourhood.”
“Mamma, will you tell him about Davie Hall at Lucas Emporium?” asked Elizabeth.
“If the situation comes up,” Mrs Bennet agreed. “But Elizabeth, you must not fight with boys. It is unladylike.”
“Elizabeth will have trouble becoming a lady,” Mary announced. “She does not like to sew or walk quietly or tend the garden.”
“What do you mean?” asked Elizabeth. “I worked the garden with Jane and Mamma all summer!”
“Girls! Silence!” Mrs Bennet ordered as she herded her five daughters into the dining room where their supper was laid out on the table.
Mrs Hill remained in the dining room to supervise the meal while Mrs Bennet retired above stairs to bathe and dress for supper. Mr Hill laid out Mr Bennet’s best coat and trousers and finally cajoled the master of Longbourn to retire above stairs to bathe and dress.
“Are you serving pheasant tonight?” Kitty asked Mrs Hill.
“No, Miss Kitty. It is months too early to have pheasant. Your parents and Mr Darcy will dine on mutton, fish, carrots and potatoes, wine, cheese and bread.”
“What does wine taste like?” asked Lydia.
“Like your glass now,” Mary replied.
“We have watered wine Mary,” Elizabeth said. “Mamma and Papa have wine without water.”
“Wine has a very strong taste,” Jane confided to her sisters. “I prefer the watered wine at supper.”
“What story shall we read tonight?” asked Elizabeth. “Would you like to hear about King Arthur again? Or shall we read Robin Hood again?”
**++**
Fitzwilliam Darcy rode the three miles from Netherfield to Longbourn with his footman in attendance on a second horse.
Two miles further along was the small village of Meryton where he had ventured to locate a merchant for items needed in the household.
His valet had gone with Darcy into the village, and they agreed that the master of Netherfield would have to travel into town for a suitable tailor, fine wine and furnishings for his home.
The local blacksmith was a good man with a solid reputation.
Darcy believed his tenants raised sufficient oats for his stable of horses and the farmers were pleased when the master paid full price for the grain.
“I shall keep more of the oats from the homefarm this year,” he assured them. “I do not think my stable will shrink.”
He noticed immediately that the manor named Longbourn was less than half the size of Netherfield but the flowers in gardens along both sides of the house improved the look of the house.
The windows were not as numerous but appeared to be sufficient to light the interior of the house.
And he noticed that above stairs, the lights in several rooms threw shadows of children at play on the walls.
A man servant opened the front door and ushered William into the small foyer where his host greeted him warmly and introduced his wife, a handsome woman of some four and thirty years perhaps, at least ten years younger than her husband.
Behind him he heard the servant direct the footman to the stables and then to the kitchens for his own supper.
“You feed the footman too?” William asked.
Mrs Bennet glanced at her husband for direction, but he merely shrugged so she explained, “Oh course sir. Your servant will be fed with our servants while we dine. That will allow him to digest his meal and be awake for your return home this evening. A grumbling, hungry footman would not be good company on a dark night.”
Darcy smiled and nodded his head as he was lead into the parlour where they sat for many minutes while Mr and Mrs Bennet asked after the developments at Netherfield.
At some point in the conversation, Darcy said, “Mrs Bennet, I understand you have five daughters.”
Smiling indulgently at her husband, the lady replied, “Indeed I do sir though they are all young and not out yet. Our eldest, Jane will come out this fall in Meryton at seventeen years. Our second girl, Elizabeth, will soon be fifteen and she will wait at least three more years until she is eighteen years as well.”
“And eighteen is not too old,” William said. “I hope to encourage my own sister to wait until she is thirty years to come out.”
“Mr Darcy! How unfair of you!” Mrs Bennet teased. “The poor girl will have sewn a thousand needle work cushions in all that time but not know how to dance!”
Mr Bennet and Mr Darcy joined in laughter at the lady’s response.
“Have your daughters attended school?”
“No,” Mr Bennet replied quickly. “I wish to keep them at home, and I see to their education myself. Jane and Lizzy both are very conversant in French and some Latin though mathematics is a challenge to us all. We read extensively and our middle daughter Mary who is twelve years shows some interest in the pianoforte.”
“My girls will all sew and know how to care for the tenant families as well,” Mrs Bennet added. “Elizabeth prefers to spend her time with her father’s books, but I shall get a needle in her hands someday.”
“Do you have a large library, Mr Bennet?” asked William. “I fear Netherfield lacks anything printed in the last fifty years!”
“I do have some quality books. We shall look them over after dining and I can introduce you to our bookseller in Meryton. He is an excellent man with connexions to shops in town and the University dons who are forever purchasing books from families in need of cash.”
“My family library in Pemberley is excellent but my father would not wish me to cart books between our homes.”
“Then you will have to build a good library yourself,” Mr Bennet said. “It is a very satisfying thing I must admit. The books are much like a friend you have had for many years.”
The evening continued with pleasant conversation regarding more books, the escapades of the Bennet daughters, crops and the ever-continuing wars with the French.
“I do not understand these wars,” Mrs Bennet complained at one point during supper. “Why should Bonaparte want to invade England? We have no desire to invade France, do we?”
William answered, “Monsieur Bonaparte has imposed his will upon all of Europe except for Britain. We threw him out of Egypt, but I fear it will take the Russians and Austrians with our armies together to bring him to bay. We shall not bow to the French.”
“Has your first week in Hertfordshire pleased you Mr Darcy?” asked Mr Bennet. He steered the conversation away from politics though he was pleased that Fannie made the effort.
The young man nodded and glanced between his host and hostess.
“I am most pleased with the folk hereabout. It has been my good fortune to be born into a family of some consequence with great responsibilities. Unfortunately, my situation attracts...shall I call them grasping friends? And very often it attracts families anxious to marry off their daughters.”
Mr Bennet watched his wife closely and noted that she seemed affected by the shy, young man’s words.
“I understand that fathers and mothers wish to see their daughters settled but many of them see marriage as only a business transaction–what do they expect their daughter to speak of with the husband they select from a hat for thirty or forty years of married life?” William asked.
Francis Bennet took that moment to look down the table to her husband of eighteen years and realized how fortunate she was to have him–Thomas Bennet was pleasant and humorous. He did not mistreat her, and he cared for their children more than many other husbands she knew.
Likewise, Thomas Bennet smiled at his wife as her pleasant face softened with concern for their young guest at some other point in the meal.
“Mr Bennet, I find myself in need of cows,” William said as they waited for the dessert to be served.
“Come again?” asked his host.
Grinning at the quizzical expressions on the faces of Mr and Mrs Bennet, William explained.
“I have invaded my dairy at last and I found two milk maids who have no milk. There are six cows at Netherfield, and they are all dry at once. The girls assured me the cows are all with calf, but it may be two or more months before they drop the calves and begin to produce milk again. I found my cook having to buy butter from Mrs Goulding when she has any to spare.”
“My dear, how is our dairy set?” Mr Bennet asked.
Mrs Bennet nodded for Mr Hill to bring in the cake as she said, “We have eight cows presently and we are feeding extra milk to the pigs and to the chickens. There are three heifers that freshened this spring, and we could spare two cows for Mr Darcy.”
“Excellent!” Mr Bennet said. “I enjoy settling all questions and discussions of livestock so easily.”
“But what price would you ask for your two cows?” asked William.
Bennet looked at his wife who shook her head, telling him she had notion of the price of cow.
“My wife who runs the dairy will not sell you any cow, Mr Darcy. We shall loan you two cows until your dairy begins to produce milk again.”
“But I cannot accept such a gift, sir.” Turning to Mrs Bennet, William said, “Madam, you must allow me to make recompense for milk and butter for my household for months.”
“Mr Darcy, I have an idea,” Mrs Bennet said.
“The Netherfield dairy has a very good bloodline. Perhaps if my husband were to have his pick of the calves this summer–a young bull or a goodly heifer from your dairy that would improve my dairy–that would be ample payment for the milk for these months.”
Mr Bennet nodded and grinned while Mr Darcy thanked Mrs Bennet for her generous offer.
**++**
After their guest departed, Mr Bennet retired to his library for a final thimble of port before checking that the doors were locked and the candles all snuffed. At the top of the stairs, he checked the bedroom of his eldest daughters and then the nursery where the four younger girls still slept.
Upon entering his chamber, he found the door to his wife’s bedchamber ajar–an unspoken invitation to share her bed for the evening. Dismissing Mr Hill as soon as he was changed into his night shift, Thomas Bennet ventured into his wife’s bedchamber for the entire evening.
**++**
The following morning, Mr Bennet and his wife were late rising. Later in the morning, while he put their daughters through their regular lessons, Mrs Bennet prepared to further the sewing lessons for her daughters. She was determined that even Elizabeth would learn to sew a strong hem.
Late in the morning, a letter was brought into the library by Mr Hill. Glancing at the address, he recognized his brother Gardiner’s handwriting, turned the letter over, broke the seal and read.
**++**
Gracechurch Street London
Dear Brother, Edward asked me to tell you everything I knew about the Darcy family from my home in Lambton.
I am pleased to be of use to my family with my story.
As you can imagine, my family was never intimate with the great house, but the Darcys were patrons of all local merchants in Lambton.
Mrs Darcy was a very proud lady of the highest fashion, but she did purchase stationary and inks, baskets and notions from my father’s store.
I know Mrs Reynolds the housekeeper–she and my mother are distant cousins. She tells my mother that young Mr Darcy is a considerate, intelligent young man. There is a very young sister–only ten years who lives at the great house. I will allow Edward to tell you of the father.
Your sister, Madeline Gardiner
**++**
On the second page, Mr Bennet found more damning information in the letter from Mr Gardiner.
Bennet,
What my wife is unwilling to include in her lines is a report of the father–George Darcy.
It is unfortunate that the noble class often ignore the mores of society.
While is it often gossip, in this case it is truth–Mr Darcy keeps a mistress.
He had the mistress before his late wife died and now has two natural children that he supports in school.
The woman is not resident in the home, but she has been established on a Darcy estate in the neighbourhood.
The father is a good landlord generally from all reports.
The son of whom you have inquired is reported to be very reserved and unlike the father does not appear to be a scoundrel with the ladies.
There is a young man associated with the household who is not welcomed in any homes in Lambton, but he is the master’s godson, a George Wickham.
Of Master Fitzwilliam Darcy, there are none but what say good things. Sincerely, Edward Gardiner
**++**
Mr Bennet folded up both pages and stored them in his drawer of correspondence. Mr Darcy would be welcome in his home for dinner, hunting and companionship.
**++**