Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Elizabeth rose from the chair with shaking legs and a spinning head. Mr Bennet called for their carriage but was otherwise silent. During the short ride home, she noticed her father’s demeanour gradually change from confusion to scepticism to what almost looked like anger.
“Goulding thought I did not prepare well enough for your futures. That I did not save or invest enough money to create dowries for you.” Mr Bennet faced her, a frown on his face.
“That is what this is. An insult to me. Leaving my child to create a charity and then reward you for it. Making me a laughingstock for the neighbourhood.”
“Papa, that cannot be! You were Mr Goulding’s friend; you were friends from childhood! He cared for you. Why would he use his last communication in his life to insult you? It makes no sense.”
But her father was already talking himself into a state of resentment and affront. Why? Could he not understand any other reason that this responsibility had been passed to her? She herself could not understand it, but perhaps the letter would tell her more.
They alighted from the carriage at the front door of the manor house only to be met by Mrs Bennet, who was jumping up and down and fluttering her handkerchief wildly.
“We are saved! Oh Mr Bennet, we are saved! My sister has brought us the happy news! Oh! Lizzy, you are a sly one! I knew you could not be so clever for nothing!”
Mrs Philips appeared behind her sister’s shoulder, took one look at Mr Bennet’s wrathful countenance, and excused herself quickly, running out the back door.
Without another word, Mr Bennet went into his library and closed the door behind him.
Elizabeth tried to dampen her mother’s excitement. “Mr Goulding does not mean for me to inherit his estate but for me to make a way that it might be used for the benefit of the community.”
Mrs Bennet was beyond reason. “Longbourn is nothing to Haye-Park! My girls will have dowries and new clothes. And the pin money!”
Elizabeth caught her mother’s waving hands in hers.
“No Mama! Mr Goulding has left me in charge, but not to spend his money! He wishes me to plan its future use, not spend it! Not a penny of it until I have learnt what his wishes are and how to carry them out. That will probably take a considerable amount of time and research, I might add. Pray do not go about the neighbourhood telling others that the estate is mine to do as I want. It is not mine; it will belong to the charity. Not only that, but I am also legally obliged to carry out his wishes!”
“But, it is still a very good thing for us, is it not?” Mrs Bennet was bewildered.
“Perhaps. You knew Mr Goulding all your life. You know he was a thoughtful man. He cared about all his neighbours and friends, not just our family. It will be good, but do not go about as if we are suddenly rich. We are not. But we do have a home if we need one. He left me the dower house.”
Her mother nodded vaguely. “The dower house… It is a pretty house, as I recall. A very pretty house.” She brightened.
“Oh yes, I visited there as a child.” She turned again to Elizabeth.
“It is ours? Truly ours? The drapes will need refreshing of course. I hope the furnishings have been kept covered. And the rugs…”
Elizabeth left her mother to her musings and hurried up the stairs to her room. She closed the door behind her, throwing herself on her bed. She closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing, to compose herself. Then, with a deep breath, she opened the letter.
The handwriting was shaky and light, as if he had not had the strength in his hands to hold the pen steady. How it must have tired poor Mr Goulding to write it!
My dear little Goddaughter,
Since you are reading this, I have shuffled off this mortal coil. You will by now be surprised, dare I say shocked, at what I have asked of you. Permit me to explain.
There have been Gouldings at Haye-Park for over three centuries.
I, like my ancestors, was raised to love our home, and the town and countryside surrounding it.
Our roots here are deep, but our numbers have dwindled over the most recent generations and now the family has played out completely.
I had one second cousin once removed with a son who was the next to inherit, but they were both lost to an accident just before Christmastide, you may remember.
We searched but were unable to find any more distant relations.
The estate has never been entailed, and I can do whatever I see fit to do with it.
So, what does one do? Even if the estate were sold, who would receive the proceeds from the sale?
My esteemed father once told me that we do not own our estates, we merely hold them for future generations.
A healthy estate is a benefit to the community that surrounds it.
It provides work for the local population; it brings trade to nearby merchants.
It supports the parish church and school.
My last wish is that Haye-Park, even without a Goulding at its helm, will continue to be a force for good locally.
Before I returned to England, before you even came into the world, the woollen mill that was on the river was closed, and dozens of workers and their families relocated elsewhere.
Do you remember when you were a young child, perhaps six or seven years of age, and you were quite downcast about a little playfellow of yours who had to move away so her father could find work?
Nora, I think her name was. Her family was one among many others who left our quiet little part of the realm.
That shell of a building down the road from the smithy’s was a pottery.
Plates, bowls, and cups were made there and shipped all over England and even overseas.
When the owner went bankrupt, more workers were forced to go elsewhere to support their families.
Meryton also once boasted an iron foundry, a tannery, and a glassmaker, among other small industries.
Neither have our farmers been spared. Crops have been ruined by weather, and prices have increased. Taxes have been raised and raised again to pay for the war against Bonaparte. Industry flourishes in our cities at the expense of rural towns and counties.
I remember Meryton and its surrounds as a thriving community in my youth, and I have realised a wish to use what fortune I have to increase its prosperity and the prosperity of its people.
I have chosen you, Elizabeth, as the person to carry out this scheme of mine, because I believe your intelligence, your consideration for others, and your sense of fairness and justice will serve you well.
Your stubbornness will serve you as well; I trust you will prevail.
You will not be running the estate; Mr Hargrove does that admirably.
Rather, your charge is to create an organisation: a trust, or a charitable society of some sort that will in future manage the income from Haye-Park and my investments and use it carefully to loan or grant monies to persons or entities that plan to live locally and work to benefit the community.
You, with the assistance and advice of your uncles Philips and Gardiner, and your father should he wish it, will create a framework for such an organisation, naming a board of trustees and writing by-laws.
I place great trust in you, and I know you will not fail me or our community.
In this way, my venerable old home will continue as it always has.
Your diligence will not go unrewarded. In loving memory of my wife and children, I bequeath to you, and by extension your family, the dower house at Haye-Park and the property surrounding it consisting of twenty-one acres, and the funds for its maintenance in perpetuity.
The house will be readied and remain ready until you, your mother, and your sisters have need of it.
I could not leave this earth without ensuring your safety and the safety of your family.
In truth, the house is yours even if you do not choose to create the charity.
I have long been concerned about what might become of you due to the entail. I learnt not to mention the subject to your father many years ago. Yet it saddens me to see your mother so nervous and fearful for herself and her daughters.
I have assisted others of our neighbours in the past, and it brought me joy to do so.
I set aside money for Mrs Collins should she ever need it; it is hers, safe from her husband, guarded by Sir William.
(This is a great secret, just between you and me.
I neither like nor trust Mr Collins.) I have paid for apprenticeships and schooling for others, and loaned money for the purchase of needed farm equipment.
This I have chosen as the mission for my beloved home; a gift to our friends and neighbours and a memorial to the Goulding family.
Fare thee well, little Miss Lizzy. I have so enjoyed watching you and your sisters grow up.
You wondered recently if you would ever receive an offer of marriage that was not insulting.
You will. When your future husband makes his proposal, you will know that he will want you for his wife because he loves you for who you are.
You are deserving of that kind of love and regard. Do not lose faith.
Do not mourn for me. I go joyfully, knowing that I have done my best for my friends and neighbours, and that I will be with my darling wife and children again.
Your godfather and oldest friend,
William Goulding
Elizabeth dropped her hands to her lap, still clutching the letter as the tears came. It sometimes seemed as if good people died and bad people lived forever.
There was no question in her mind that she would take this on. She would do her best, work as hard as she could, learn whatever she needed to learn, no matter how long it took, to make Mr Goulding’s wishes come true.
Elizabeth loved her father with all her heart.
At his knee, she had developed her love for learning; he had taught her to appreciate literature, history, and science.
He had even made the study of mathematics enjoyable.
He had given her a love of observing nature and an appreciation of the antics of people.
She enjoyed his dry humour and wit, but over the years they had hardened into sarcasm.
As she had grown older, she had learnt to avoid sharing her most tender feelings and sentiments with him.
He always made sport of them. Could he take nothing seriously?
Mr Goulding had always listened carefully and respected her feelings. Another reason she would miss him. She would do this task for him and start the very next day with a visit to Mr Philips’s office.