Chapter 24 Greetings
As he had hoped, when Thomas Bennet opened the latest packet from Gardiner, a second letter was enclosed.
Setting Gardiner's letter aside, he opened the enclosure eagerly, looking forward to Rand's assessment of recent events.
Pouring out a cup of tea from the pot Mrs. Hill had brought along with the post, Bennet unfolded the pages and began to read.
Greetings, my friend,
I hope the damp and cold have not seeped into your bones and made you ache the way these late-November days so often do. Be glad you are not in Derbyshire, where the snow is already beginning to fall, at least among the hills.
I wish I could be sitting there in your study right now, so we could laugh over all this together.
Do you suppose that, without the intrigue, plots and counterplots provided by my sister and my younger son, we would have descended into stodgy old age with nothing more exciting than our books and port to sustain us?
I could easily see myself becoming an opinionated curmudgeon like my father.
Yes, yes. I hear you laughing as you prepare to tell me that I already am.
Well, I say it is a matter of degree, my friend.
He would simply huff and puff and grumble with annoyance were he to learn the truth of the current situation, while I think it is highly amusing.
First off, I can confirm that both Richard and I were correct in predictions we made several years ago.
Back in the days before either of them had left Eton, Richard told me of a discussion he had with his cousin.
Will had been parroting Catherine's description of Lizzy as a graceless hoyden.
Richard told his cousin that he believed she would grow into a diamond of the first water and one day Will would meet her and regret that he had ever listened to their aunt. Richard was correct on all points.
Of course, our Lizzy is lovely, graceful and highly accomplished.
Richard had the vision to see what that scruffy, inquisitive child could become with the right guidance and training.
Without Catherine's censure to strive against or Miss Stanton's relentless pushing, I doubt she would have reached her full potential, although she still would have been lovely and intelligent.
What is more, Darcy agrees she is a diamond of the first water, although he still does not know he thinks that of Elizabeth Bennet.
I have not told Richard yet - he must hear this in person - so please do not write to him and spoil the fun.
Hopefully, we can gather in your study when he returns and laugh until we are ready to burst. In the meantime, I know you have heard from Damask, Gardiner and Lizzy herself. Now, you get to hear from me.
As planned, I made a brief, quiet and, hopefully, secret visit to Rosehaven to check on the girls.
With so many people in the house, an outsider would hardly notice me.
I had a delightful two days there. Madeline Gardiner's mother and aunts are a force of nature, I must say.
They may even succeed in shaking Jane out of that calm complacency she dons like so much armor.
She was the one whose development suffered most under Miss Stanton and it is good to see her finding her way with help from her sister and the house full of strong-willed women.
Not that you do not have a number of those in your own house, these are just strong-willed in a different way and one that will make her into what she always should have been.
Sir Barnaby Linton is clearly serious about her.
I expect you will have a visit from him soon.
Whether he will ask for courtship or skip straight to betrothal, I could not say.
Of course, he was drawn in at first by her pretty face, and who could blame him?
We both know there is more than just that to Jane, though.
As she is discovering how to show her true nature, he is learning that she could be a good companion to him for a lifetime.
They seem well-suited overall. He is a steady young man, and he can offer her a good home.
I am sure you already have Gardiner checking out his financial background.
I doubt he will find anything untoward. If she were my daughter, I would give them my blessing.
Matters are less clear-cut with our Lizzy.
My long-ago prediction was that she and my nephew would suit one another very well if he could just get past that stubborn belief that loyalty to family meant believing my sister even when everyone else told him she was wrong.
I should have added that Lizzy needs to overcome a bit of stubbornness as well.
You know how matters stand. She met Will and liked him well enough until he started spouting Catherine's foolish opinions.
I was pleased Damask took him to task in a kind but firm manner.
Will needed to hear it from someone other than his own family and only calm and firm would have gotten through to him.
Threats or anger would just have put his back up and made him defensive.
Damask told me Will made his apology sounding as if he had a poker up his backside, but he did follow through and send the notes he promised retracting his comments.
That must have been hard for him. Will hates to look the fool.
Lizzy, however, will not let it go. She still insists he not be told her true name and she refuses to speak with Will even though she knows he is searching for her under the name of Elizabeth Rose.
I have tried reminding her that Will is loyal to a fault, something I know Richard has told her in the past as well.
She is having trouble seeing beyond his attempt to warn Sir Barnaby away from Jane.
It is yet another thing they have in common – our Lizzy is equally loyal to those she loves.
I hope she will come around eventually. For now, I am rather glad she is being stubborn on this point and not just for the amusement I find in the situation.
You see, speaking of stodgy, young Will was becoming as claggy as an underbaked loaf.
He was drawing the borders of his known world tighter and tighter about him, as he has discovered now that he is trying so desperately to uncover the location of Miss Elizabeth Rose.
Oh yes, he is desperate to find her! The problem is that he has neglected to maintain his social contacts.
He receives very few invitations, having made a habit of turning most of them down in the past, and knows very few people who might assist him outside of those who are already determined to keep him in the dark about Lizzy's identity.
The limits he has set for himself are only now becoming clear to him.
Worse yet, he has no idea what to do about it.
He will either extend himself and grow or just give up the fight, crawling back into his little dark hole. I am betting on the former.
After leaving Rosehaven, I took a very roundabout way to make it seem I was arriving at Pemberley on a direct path from Randbrook.
I found my stodgy nephew doing a fair impression of a duck swimming upstream on a rushing watercourse - outwardly calm but paddling madly away just under the surface as he tried to think of ways to find the location of his lady fair.
Do you know how hard it was to keep a straight face when he asked me if I knew where to find Lord Sheldon?
I had played chess with the man just that morning!
I kept my composure, though, and told him I had met Lord Sheldon before, but was not certain exactly where he called home at the moment.
Will accepted my statement at face value, as I suspected he would.
That was part of his problem with Catherine, but it worked out well for me this time.
Will has finally realized that information from Catherine cannot be trusted.
The good Lord be praised for that! After some prodding, he admitted to me that it was, in part, his shyness and discomfort at the assembly that led him to open his mouth and start gossiping.
With young Tavistock, it was the relief of simply having someone he knew to talk to.
The incident with Sir Barnaby was a little more complicated, but he also realizes he should not have passed on Catherine's opinions of the girls even if they had been the truth. Damask made quite an impression on him.
That said, I still do not think Will has learned enough to be ready either to know our full strategy regarding Catherine or to accept Lizzy's true name and origin.
I would like to see those two together, but it is going to take some unbending on both sides before they can reach common ground.
It is better that happens before Catherine realizes Will is enamored of our Lizzy.
Let her keep searching for the elusive Elizabeth Rose as well.
Georgiana is enjoying her clandestine correspondence with Kitty and Lydia.
She was so lonely and unhappy at school that I am glad Will took her out.
At the same time, she cannot be allowed to let her shyness isolate her in the same way Will's has done for him.
I do not think your Lydia has been shy a moment in her life, even with Miss Parks making certain her liveliness does not go beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior.
Her zest for life and Kitty's kindness have already begun to help my niece feel less alone and a little more comfortable with herself.
Hopefully her friendship will be of help to them as well.
I still expect they will meet in person one day.
I am also glad Will had accepted my advice not to hire that woman from the school, Mrs. Younge, to be Georgiana's governess/companion when he brought her home.
I did a bit of investigating after he made his decision and found she is related to Catherine's housekeeper.
I feel better knowing that Mrs. Annesley has no ties to Rosings Park to complicate her position as a kind woman who will help Georgiana learn and grow.
Will's friend, Charles Bingley, will be joining my niece and nephew in mid-December.
That connection is one of the few Will maintained when he buried himself in his role as master of the estate.
If he had to pick just one friend to keep, he could not have chosen better.
Will asked me to join them for at least part of the visit, and I find I am looking forward to the company.
As each year passes, I miss Richard more and more, not to mention the fun of stopping to visit with you and your lively family.
Hopefully we will get the girls settled soon and out of danger from my sister.
Then, finally, you and I can drop all pretense of disagreement, and my regular visits can resume.
Jane and Lizzy tell me Mary is enjoying her time in London.
I hope to see her when I return to town after the new year.
I have the excuse of business with Gardiner to cover a brief visit with my goddaughter from any spies who may be watching.
If she has grown even half as lovely as the other two, I am sure she can also be classed as a diamond of the first water.
I am glad we have Gardiner, his wife and all her family to keep an eye on the suitors who will come calling for your girls.
Bxe5 for my next move. I have to keep you on your toes.
Best wishes to you and yours.
Bennet set the letter down on the desk and had a good laugh. Rand was clearly enjoying his nephew's discomfiture. Bennet enjoyed it as well. He also agreed with Rand's thoughts on Lizzy. Stubborn was not even the half of it, but loyal described her very well.
His Lizzy matched with young Mr. Darcy, though? Bennet shook his head. He was not certain how he felt about that point, although he had to admit Rand knew his nephew far better than Bennet could.
Looking to the miniature chessboard on the corner of the desk, Bennet wondered what his old chess partner would have thought of the idea.
Somehow, he had a feeling George Darcy would have been just as amused as he and Rand regarding this little case of mistaken identity.
Beyond that, well, it was a moot point now.
There was nothing Bennet could do either, except let the situation play out as it would. Still smiling, even as he shook his head slightly, Bennet picked up the letter from Gardiner to see what his brother-in-law had to say.