Miss Gardiner (Pride and Prejudice Variation)
Chapter 1. Elizabeth’s Shillings and Gowns
When she was eight years, Elizabeth Bennet listened with great interest to a conversation between Papa, Uncle Gardiner and Uncle Phillips.
The family gathered at Longbourn for Christmas and Mr Edward Gardiner stayed for a week to celebrate the holiday and introduce the Bennets and Phillips to his new wife, Madeline.
“My largest investment is in a merchant ship named Morning Star that just returned from India loaded with calicos, indigo, and raw cotton. My profits are triple my investment,” Uncle Gardiner reported when the men discussed the past year.
“Yes, but the ship was gone for almost two years,” Uncle Phillips said.
“And there was no guarantee that it would even return,” Mr Bennet added. “Meanwhile, I have children to feed.”
“Trade does include some risks,” Uncle Gardiner admitted. “But look at the rewards.”
Lizzy thought carefully about everything the men said and tried to ask questions, but Papa patted her head and told her he would let her read some adventure about pirates and treasure later. Undeterred, the child went to Mamma who refused to discuss money and business with her curious daughter.
In the end, Lizzy asked Aunt Madeline, Uncle Edward’s new wife.
They sat in the parlour while Aunt Madeline watched Kitty and Lydia play with dolls on the rug before the fireplace.
Normally, the Bennet children were confined to the nursery when visitors called, but during this family visit, the five girls roamed about the house.
“Auntie, what is trade?” Elizabeth asked her new relative.
The daughter of merchants in the town of Lambton, Madeline Barnes grew up working in the shop and listening to her father and his visitors discuss trade matters every night.
When Edward Gardiner appeared as one of the factors purchasing the Darcy wool every year, ‘Maddie’ found him interesting and handsome.
The man found the young woman just as interesting and after a year of conversations, Mr Gardiner approached Mr Barnes about marrying the shopkeeper’s daughter.
The day they married; they left Derbyshire for London where Madeline found a new world awaited her.
Turning her attention to her new niece, the young wife explained, “Well, Lizzy, trade is where gentlemen exchange goods for gold or for other goods. Something like corn for cloth or wine.”
“And Uncle Edward trades corn for cloth?” the girl asked.
“Yes, that is one of the things that your uncle uses in trade, but many times, he uses coins… pounds and letters of credit.”
“And does he have more money then?”
Madeline smiled as she replied, “Yes, your Uncle Edward has proven to be good with making money.”
“Good,” Lizzy replied. “I want to make money too.”
“Oh, Lizzy!” scolded Mrs Bennet entering the room and listening to her daughter’s declaration. “First it was books and then pretending to play with your father’s chess set. Next, you will want to be an apprentice in London…”
“Mrs Bennet, she is a very smart child,” Madeline told her new sister-in-law.
“She’s too intelligent for a girl,” Mrs Bennet replied.
Surprised by the other woman’s statement, Mrs Gardiner asked, “What do you mean?”
“Men will not marry a smart girl,” stated Mrs Bennet. “They will pass over Lizzy for Jane, Mary, Kitty or Lydia. Mark my words.”
Once Mrs Bennet had left the room, carrying Lydia to the nursery, Mrs Gardiner spoke to Elizabeth.
“Lizzy, there is nothing wrong with a girl being smart,” she assured her niece.
The little girl nodded and sighed, “Mamma does not like me to be smart. Papa laughs at Mamma when she fusses about me reading and doing sums.”
The woman watched at the child who asked in all seriousness, “Can I give Uncle Gardiner my money for trade?”
“What do you want to purchase?”
Shaking her head, Elizabeth said, “I want to buy the Morning Star and make money.”
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“Edward.”
“Yes, my dear,” the man replied as he settled back in the narrow bed provided in his sister’s house.
His wife turned toward him with a glint in her eye that he usually found rewarding. But tonight, she said, “Lizzy wants to invest in the Morning Star.”
Surprized by the statement, the man asked, “What do you mean?”
“Your niece…our niece asked me many questions this afternoon about ‘trade’ and she is very interested in your ventures.”
“Elizabeth is only eight years,” he reminded his wife.
“And you were apprenticed at ten years and began working in the warehouses and docks of London.”
“Thomas will not agree to any investments and girls cannot be apprentices.”
“Of course not. But I believe that Elizabeth is a very intelligent child,” Madeline stated firmly. “If you foster her interest, you may gain a family ally for future investments.”
“Thomas Bennet will never ‘invest’ a pound or a penny, and my sister only knows how to spend money!”
“Are there not the monies from your mother’s estate to invest?”
“My mother’s legacy…” Edward admitted. “I have to have signatures from Bennet and Phillips on an investment contract to touch the monies. I believe that Phillips always hoped I would forget about the inheritance.”
“Perhaps an investment contract for Lizzy’s funds would let you move the monies into the Morning Star and other ventures. Our children will come…and we must think of them as well as Franny’s girls.”
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The next day, Elizabeth waited until her uncle was alone in the parlour to approach him with a child’s penny purse.
“Uncle Edward.”
“Yes Elizabeth,” he replied formally, setting aside his book and addressing his niece seriously.
The little girl lifted her chin and said, “Can I give you my money to buy part of the Morning Star?”
“Yes, you may invest in my next venture with the Morning Star,” he replied. “How much money do you have?”
“I have one pound ten shillings and four pence.”
“That is a large sum of money for a young girl,” the man replied, honestly surprized by her total amount.
“I save my ‘lowance and Papa gives me pence when I get my lessons right,” she replied.
Edward smiled and said, “I would be glad to have you as my youngest investor, Miss Elizabeth Bennet. But we must do this properly.”
“How do you mean?” asked the girl.
“Let’s go to your father’s library and write an agreement. Then you and I must sign the agreement, and your father must sign because you are underage.”
“What is ‘underage’?”
“Until you are five-and-twenty years or married, your father controls your money. Once you are married, your husband controls your money.”
Concentrating on the words her uncle spoke, Elizabeth frowned and again asked, “Why?”
“That is the law,” her uncle replied. “But a smart man listens to his wife’s opinions and wishes.”
In Mr Bennet’s office, Uncle Gardiner explained that he wished to take Miss Elizabeth Bennet as an investor in his business.
It was Mrs Bennet’s original complaint against Elizabeth that Thomas Bennet indulged their second daughter’s questions and notions about books, business, and the estate too regularly.
Today, being Christmas Eve and the regular consumption of port being expected all through the day, Bennet readily agreed to the request. Edward drew up the contract, signed the document, showed Elizabeth where to sign, and then obtained Mr Bennet’s signature as well as Mr Phillip’s signature as witness.
With a smile upon her face, Elizabeth handed over her coin purse to her uncle.
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Thereafter, whenever Elizabeth was in company with her Uncle and Aunt Gardiner, she handed over her pounds and pennies to increase her investment.
As she grew, Lizzy saved every penny she was gifted and earned.
She became talented at remaking dresses for herself and her sisters and was given some of the money that would have been spent on cloth, ribbons, and lace.
One summer, she earned two pounds from her mother when she remade the gowns her sisters had outgrown into new gowns for the maids and into aprons for Mrs Hill and the undercook.
Her eldest sister, Jane, indulged Elizabeth’s fascination with trade by always gifting her sister with pennies instead of ribbons. Her next sister, Mary, imitated Jane’s ideas but the two youngest, Catherine and Lydia followed their mother’s lead and laughed at Lizzy.
“Lizzy wants to go to London and work on the docks!” Kitty declared on Elizabeth’s fourteenth birthday.
At Christmas that year, Uncle Edward showed Lizzy an account sheet that recorded her contributions as well as the returns on trade ventures; her fourteen pounds had grown to almost fifty pounds.
“Now, Elizabeth, this is very important,” Uncle Edward told her. “You must not tell your father or mother about this balance sheet.”
For a moment, Elizabeth was confused but then she remembered her parents arguing about allowances, spending, and debts.
“Mamma would spend the money for bonnets and shoes,” Lizzy said. “And Papa would use it for tobacco, port and horses.”
“Longbourn makes an acceptable income, Lizzy,” Uncle Edward said. “But your father must remind your mother to remain within her allowance each year and he has to restrain his spending before collecting rents each quarter.”
The young woman asked, “May I come to London and learn sums with you? Aunt Maddie says she helps you with numbers at night.”
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