Chapter 1. Elizabeth’s Shillings and Gowns #2
At Easter when Lizzy was fifteen, she came to London for an extended visit.
Aunt Madeline had three children and was expecting her fourth that spring, but the Gardiners could not yet afford a nanny.
Mrs Bennet encouraged the visit for Lizzy to provide her aunt with assistance, thinking the time with the young children and then a babe would be good training for her seldom-understood daughter.
Two years earlier, Jane spent six months with the Gardiners when the third child was born.
In London at the Gardiner House on Gracechurch Street, Elizabeth helped with her cousins, their clothes and meals.
She helped her aunt fetching items from above stairs when Madeline did not want to climb the stairs in the middle of the day.
She found great pleasure in helping to sew clothes for the expected child and her other cousins.
And more importantly, Elizabeth reviewed her uncle’s accounting books with Aunt Madeline each afternoon to provide Uncle Edward with accurate numbers each evening.
She learned how to sum columns of numbers in her head, how to properly write numbers on the pages, and how to keep the accurate notes her uncle needed.
When the day came that Aunt Madeline called for the midwife, Elizabeth kept the three young Gardiners entertained and they remained in the nursery on the third floor.
The next morning, Uncle Edward led his children into the master bed chamber to meet the new baby, whose name was Rebecca.
Coming immediately behind the children was Elizabeth who could only stare at the infant in her aunt’s arms.
“She is small,” Andrew stated solemnly. “When can she play?”
“I have never seen anything more beautiful in my life,” Elizabeth declared softly when her uncle lay the new-born in her arms for a few minutes.
That afternoon, Uncle Edward came home early and spent time with his wife, babe, and young children. Elizabeth played with her cousins to allow his parents a few quiet moments. But while Aunt Madeline napped, her uncle asked Elizabeth to bring them into his office.
As the little ones played with blocks and toys on the floor, Elizabeth sat in a chair across from Uncle Edward where adults always sat when discussing business matters.
“Elizabeth, when you were eight years, we began a business venture together. You have shown me that you are serious about understanding trade, and that you can keep figures in your head.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
“Your account page reflects the monies you have handed to me over the years,” he replied. “And this spring with the return of Morning Star from her latest voyage to India, you have almost two hundred pounds.”
Grinning and nodding her head, Elizabeth said, “And I shall not tell Mamma or Papa about my monies. I shall only tell my husband after we are married.”
Edward’s lips tightened for a moment before he continued, “I have used some subterfuge with your account as well, Lizzy.”
“I do not understand,” the young woman stated.
Uncle Edward explained, “When my father died, he divided his estate equally among his three children. Five thousand pounds each went to your mother, your Aunt Eugenia, and me. That is the source of the money that you and your sisters will receive after your mother dies. Your mother’s portion and your Aunt Eugena’s portions were invested in the ‘four percents’ with the government; this gives your mother two hundred pounds each year. ”
“That’s where Mamma’s allowance comes from,” Elizabeth stated. “Papa…”
“Your father provides money for clothes and food, but your mother’s pin money is her own. She can save it or spend it.”
Frowning with teenage disapproval, Elizabeth said, “Mamma and Aunt Phillips are penny-short every month.”
“Now Lizzy, your interest in accounts allowed me to do something with the monies from my mother’s estate. Her wish was that the monies would go to her grandchildren.”
“Grandmother Gardiner left an estate?” Elizabeth asked. She had no memory of this grandmother who died when she was only three years.
Uncle Gardiner continued, “My mother’s father, George Smyth, was an attorney and he wrote a marriage settlement for his daughter that I shall use for my daughters when they marry.
The income from the monies left for my mother were hers to do with as she pleased but she was required to pass along the principle to her grandchildren.
That is why your mother has two hundred a year but cannot touch the principal. ”
Now, Uncle Edward drew out a second account sheet and handed it to his niece.
“My mother left almost seven thousand pounds as her legacy for her grandchildren. And I was made executor of the legacy in my mother and father’s wills but before I could invest the money, I had to have the approval of your father and your Uncle Phillips as the husbands of my sisters.”
“Seven thousand…” Lizzy said with interest as she traced the figures beginning with her first investments with her uncle.
“Who signed our contract on that Christmas Eve?” he asked.
“You, Papa, Uncle Phillips, and me,” Lizzy replied.
Her uncle nodded. “And with the contract to ‘invest Elizabeth’s money’, I have permission from your father and uncle to invest my mother’s legacy.”
“You lost a little money the first two years and then recovered… Uncle, this is almost twenty thousand now,” exclaimed Lizzy reading the balance sheet.
“Yes, and I want you to begin helping me keep the accounts for this money,” he said. “Each time we meet you, Aunt Maddie and I will go over the account and discuss investments.”
“Thank you, Uncle!”
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Elizabeth remained in London until October when Uncle Gardiner’s business interests grew sufficient to provide the funds to hire Nanny Spencer.
The young woman was sad to leave her small cousins, her uncle and aunt, but glad to return to Jane, her parents and other sisters at Longbourn.
With renewed interest, she turned her attention to her sewing and knitting.
Three weeks before Christmas, Elizabeth was pleased with her efforts; she had knitted mittens for her sisters, mother and father as gifts.
She had remade one of her mother’s old dresses to be her own gown for Christmas and Mrs Bennet praised her daughter’s needlework.
And Elizabeth’s purse held almost three pounds to give Uncle Gardiner to invest in his business.
Working on a remade dress for Mrs Hill, Elizabeth focused on her sewing and only noticed how quiet the house was when she finished the waist of the gown.
Mrs Hill and Mrs Bennet had similar body shapes though Mrs Hill was taller, and Lizzy would have to work some magic with her needles to drop the hem almost an inch.
“Hill, where are my sisters? Where is my mother?” the young woman asked when she walked into the kitchen.
Mrs Hill replied, “Mrs Bennet took your sisters into Meryton to the shops.”
“The shops?” Elizabeth asked. “But Mamma spent the last of her allowance last week.”
The housekeeper remained silent until Elizabeth asked, “Did Papa give Mamma more funds to buy gifts?”
Mrs Hill sighed and explained, “Miss Lydia brought your Mamma a purse filled with pence and shillings. Mrs Bennet declared she would buy fabric for gowns, ribbons and bonnets.”
“A purse?” Elizabeth asked before she turned and flew up the back stairs.
When she reached the room she shared with Jane, she found it ransacked with clothes on the floor, books thrown about, and the box where she kept her purse open.
She hid the box underneath their bed and never told anyone where it was.
Taking the box in hand, Elizabeth went to her father’s library.
She knocked on the door, and when her father called ‘Enter’, she pushed the door open. With a few tears falling down her cheeks, she told Mr Bennet the story of her missing purse.
“Lizzy, why did you have three pounds?” Mr Bennet asked curiously. “How did you accumulate that much money this year?”
“It was my birthday money, and from my sewing for Mama and Mrs Hill, and you give me pennies when I complete the essays on the books I read,” Elizabeth explained.
“What were you going to do with that money?”
“It… I invest in the Morning Star with my Uncle Gardiner.”
Thomas Bennet smiled indulgently; his daughter’s investments must total almost thirty pounds now and he would not interfere; between her books and her sewing, Elizabeth was an obedient daughter who caused him few problems.
He asked, “And is that the money your mother took to Meryton?”
“Yes. Mrs Hill told me,” Elizabeth replied with tears on her face.
“She will spend every penny,” Mr Bennet replied with a finality in his tone.
“But Lydia ransacked my room and stole my purse!”
“I shall speak to your Mamma and to your sister when they return.”
“My money…”
“...is gone. Perhaps you will need to find a better hiding place,” Mr Bennet said dismissing her further complaints.
“Papa, I know it is wrong for a gentlewoman to work, but I do not want to be poor when you die. Mamma tells us all the time that we will have nothing when you are dead,” Elizabeth reminded him. “How are we to survive?”
Displeased to hear his wife’s constant complaint repeated by a daughter, Mr Bennet said shortly, “Like women through the whole of history, you will marry, and your husband will support you.”
“But what if he is not a good husband?”
“Do not worry about that. Your husband will take care of you to the best of his ability. Once you are married, your husband owns you…” Mr Bennet misspoke and immediately corrected himself saying, “He will be responsible for you.”
“Own me? Like a cow?” demanded Elizabeth. “Last week you and Mamma argued over the cows, and you said that you own all the cows at Longbourn!”
Mr Bennet stared at his daughter for a moment before he decided to be frank, “Elizabeth, women are not capable of handling business matters. Your husband will manage all matters of finance and the important decisions.”
“But…”