Chapter 1. Elizabeth’s Shillings and Gowns #3
“Lizzy, women are not capable of working in business beyond working behind the counter in a shop. Is that what you want?”
Elizabeth sat on the stairs and said nothing to Mrs Hill or the chambermaids who slipped around her as she waited for her mother and sisters to return. The carriage returned with Mrs Bennet and four of her daughters, carrying paper packages and hat boxes.
“Oh Lizzy, we had the most fun,” Lydia said. “Mamma bought cloth to make new dresses, bonnets…”
“Mamma, did you spend all my money?” Elizabeth asked.
Mrs Bennet’s good mood vanished in that instant. “What do you mean, Lizzy?”
“The purse you took into Meryton is my purse and my money.”
Sighing, Mrs Bennet said, “You are my daughter. You do not have any monies that are not mine. Now be quiet.”
“Lizzy, you can sew new dresses for all of us,” Kitty announced.
“And she can remake our old dresses to wear herself… like the gowns for the maids,” Lydia teased. “When she is grown, she will be a seamstress in some small shop and stick pins in people for fun.”
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When Mr and Mrs Gardiner and their four children arrived at Longbourn for Christmas, they found the Bennet family healthy and relatively happy.
After sharing greetings at the door, sending the children to the nursery and dismissing the gentlemen to Mr Bennet’s library, Madeline Gardiner inquired about Elizabeth, Mrs Bennet replied, “Lizzy is petulant and sits in the parlour with a book. I despair of her ever being a regular girl.”
Rather than drawing attention to the missing member of the family, Mrs Gardiner greeted each of her other nieces and discussed her own children with Mrs Bennet.
“How I envy you having little Andrew,” Mrs Bennet said. “If I had a son, we would be secure in Longbourn.”
Madelyn Gardiner eventually made her way to the parlour and immediately crossed the room to sit beside Elizabeth who held a copy of Fordyce’s Sermons, a book filled with sermons that gave instruction on proper conduct for young women.
At some point in her youth, Mrs Gardiner read several of the sermons and found them to have some good direction, but she would only allow her daughters to read them if they could immediately discuss the admonitions for young women.
“Lizzy, you did not come out to greet us. Are you well?”
“I am well, Aunt Gardiner but I must read three sermons each day until I agree to sew new gowns for Mamma and my sisters.”
“I do not understand.”
“Two weeks ago, Lydia stole my purse and gave Mamma the money I saved since Easter. They took the carriage into Meryton and spent all my money on cloth, ribbons and bonnets. Papa laughed and said that I cannot make money. Mamma said that any money I had belonged to her.”
“Oh Lizzy,” Aunt Madeline said as she hugged her niece and held the girl as the tears flowed freely that she had held back previously.
“Mamma says that until I agree to sew new gowns for my sisters, I must sit in the parlour and read three sermons every day.”
“And does your mother ask you questions about the sermons?”
“No,” Elizabeth replied.
“How does she know you read them, then?”
“She watches the clock and after two hours every afternoon, she allows me to leave.”
Covering her mouth with several fingers to hide a smirk, Madelyn Gardiner asked, “What have you managed to read instead of the boring sermons?”
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During that Christmas visit, it was agreed that Elizabeth would stay with the Gardiners for the whole of the winter and the morning the Gardiners returned to London, only Jane whispered that she would miss Elizabeth.
When winter turned into spring and then summer without Elizabeth’s return to Longbourn, Jane contented herself with writing to Elizabeth twice a week and receiving the same number of letters from London.
The house on Gracechurch Street became a home for Elizabeth during the next three years; she spent all those many months with her aunt and uncle.
She would visit Longbourn now and then, but she always returned to London in less than a month.
During her visits to Longbourn, she spent many hours sewing new gowns for her mother and her sisters as well as for Hill and the maids.
There was one memorable conversation the summer after Elizabeth turned seventeen years when Lizzy and Jane were sewing in the parlour. Mrs Bennet came in and complimented both of her daughters on the quality of their stitches, before sitting and drawing forth her own mending.
“Lady Lucas remarked on how fine Jane looked when your father and I took her to Lucas Lodge the other evening for dinner. She admired Jane’s frock and asked for the pattern to make one for Charlotte,” Mrs Bennet said holding her needle up in the sunlight to tread the needle.
“It was the blue one you sewed for me at Christmas, Lizzy,” Jane explained.
“Yes, it accents Jane’s bosom nicely,” Mrs Bennet said. “Your sister is old enough to capture the attention of gentlemen now and I want to see…”
“What are you mending, Mamma?” asked Elizabeth as she and Jane compared the new aprons, they sewed for Mrs Hill and the chambermaids.
Sighing, Mrs Bennet held up a gown with a split seam in the waist and explained, “Kitty and Lydia keep growing so rapidly they burst the seams in the waist of every new dress they wear. As soon as they put on a new gown, they burst some stitches, and I must mend it.”
Jane caught the smirk on Elizabeth’s face but did not ask any questions until they were alone. “Lizzy, when Mamma was speaking about her mending, why did you make that face?”
“I am certain I do not understand your question, Jane,” Elizabeth replied.
“You are an expert seamstress and understand stitching better than any person I know. Why did you smirk when Mamma mentioned Kitty and Lydia bursting their seams?”
Without meeting her sister’s eye, Elizabeth replied again saying, “My youngest two sisters are growing so rapidly, they tear stitching every week. It is a shame that Mamma does not teach them to sew.”
Unwilling to press forward and possibly create an argument, Jane allowed the question to go unanswered as the two sisters returned to discussing the neighbours in Meryton. And Elizabeth Bennet remained silent about her sabotage of seams in the dresses of her youngest sisters.
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Uncle Gardiner took a day away from his warehouses to come to Longbourn and collect Elizabeth at the end of her latest visit. His carriage was large enough to transport his entire family, but he came alone to impress the Bennets with his growing wealth.
“And what will you see in London to draw you back so soon after returning to us in Meryton, Elizabeth?” Mr Bennet asked when the family was gathered round the dining room table that evening. Understanding the hidden questions, Elizabeth responded carefully.
“A ship newly arrived from China with silks in so many different colours I shall lose my breath. And there will be barrels of beautiful blue dishes and chests of tea. We shall have fresh tea at dinner every night for a week,” she explained.
“An extravagance brother, surely,” Mr Bennet chided his brother-in-law. “Fresh tea every night?”
“There will be visitors each night for a week, and the fresh tea will bring them to my warehouse the following day. Each man will make significant purchases of tea, silks and spices.”
From her spot near her mother, Lydia asked, “Are you working on the ships, Lizzy?”
Kitty and Lydia both giggled though Mrs Bennet merely grimaced momentarily and Mr Bennet grinned broadly.
The two youngest girls were not ‘out’ yet, but with their uncle present, they were allowed to join the family at dinner and in the parlour rather than being restricted to the nursery and an early bed.
The next day during their journey to London, uncle and niece discussed the behaviour of the two youngest sisters and their presence at the dinner table with the adults.
Elizabeth always supposed it was because Mr Bennet chose not to employ a nanny, but Uncle Edward explained, “Your mother does not want a nanny. Franny never liked being confined to the nursery when family or visitors came for dinner. She would sneak down the stairs and then cry when Mother caught her out of bed.”
Now, Elizabeth lived with the Gardiners in London and the only sister she remained close to was Jane.
The constant flow of letters kept them informed of sewing, lessons, and dreams. After Christmas and in summer, Jane would come to London for a month.
Mr Bennet did not miss his curious daughter often and Mrs Bennet did not miss her at all because the remaining four girls were perfectly well behaved in her opinion.
Mr and Mrs Gardiner welcomed Lizzy as a permanent resident in their home, and she became a ‘sister’ to her cousins.
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