Chapter 5 #2
Part of Mavis’s desire to rise in society was driven by some of the ladies who she knew were jealous she had captured the very wealthy Arthur Bingley. Those ladies seemed to take any opportunity they could to remind Mavis that the Bingleys were, after all, from Ireland.
It was that concern which fuelled her worry that little Charles’s hair colour would remind people of their ancestors’ birthplace.
Louisa, who would be six in October upcoming, was overjoyed to have a little brother. When she had turned five, Papa had employed a governess, a Miss Trainor, who had begun lessons with Lulu.
The governess never flinched at Miss Bingley’s birthmark and felt sorry for Mrs Bingley that she only saw it and not the wonderful and intelligent daughter she had.
The governess was pleased to report to Mr Bingley that his daughter was well able to understand and learn her lessons.
In fact, the little girl seemed to relish learning.
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As pleased as Mavis was that she had delivered a son with no birthmarks on his face, she still craved a daughter, one who she would be able to take into society.
One who would not have an impediment to being seen in the highest circles to which Mavis dreamed of belonging.
Hence, when she felt the quickening for the third time in mid-September 1786, Mavis was well pleased.
This time she had not had to wait the almost five years like it had been before she felt Charles quicken.
Now, all Mavis needed to make herself feel content was an unblemished daughter.
Her dreams came true on the ninth day of February 1787, when a bald daughter without any trace of the harbinger of Louisa’s birthmark was born.
With Arthur’s agreement, she was named Caroline Maleficent for his and her late mothers, respectively.
Not long after Caroline’s birth, the midwife opined that Mrs Bingley would not be able to carry another babe.
The news did not upset Mavis too much. She had her son and a perfectly unmarked daughter, and not bearing any more children would maintain her slender figure.
For most of her first year, Caroline was bald.
However, just before her birthday, when Mavis visited her, her younger daughter had a shock of red hair on her head, seemingly overnight.
Combined with her blue eyes, this child was marked as one with Irish ancestry.
Mavis decided that as Caroline had perfect skin, without a single birthmark anywhere, she could live with the red hair.
Mavis tried to keep Caroline separate from Louisa, something she had failed to convince her husband to agree to with Charles, but again, Arthur refused to oblige her. She could usually coerce him to bend to her will, but in some things, he was very obstinate and would not change his determination.
Caroline was completely indulged by her mother, and by the time she was nine, she only tolerated being with Louisa when their father was present.
Whenever Mavis could, she made sure Caroline understood how important it was to rise in society, and for the family to hide the Irish ancestry while leaving their roots in trade behind them.
In her younger daughter, Mavis had a sponge who absorbed everything her mother taught her.
Charles was almost eleven and working with tutors to prepare him to be sent to Eton in two or three years.
He was not the best of students, but he was not a bad one either.
His tutors were frustrated with Master Bingley’s atrocious script which was almost impossible to decipher.
The truth was that he could write perfectly neatly, but Charles thought it was amusing to frustrate his tutors in that way.
Unlike Caroline, his mother never succeeded in convincing Charles to distance himself from her eldest daughter.
A few months before she turned sixteen, Louisa was everything that was good and nice.
She was the most unselfish and compassionate girl one could meet.
Since she turned nine, she had been working with masters in any area that interested her, as her father would deny her nothing.
Aside from being extremely accomplished on the pianoforte and harp, Louisa studied languages and was proficient in French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
In addition, she had learnt Greek and Latin.
Because it was very seldom that she went out in public—her mother had argued that Louisa would be ridiculed when her worry was her own embarrassment—hence, Louisa sought solace in books.
While Charles had begun to work with some of the masters when he had turned nine, now that Caroline had reached that age, Mavis vociferously disagreed that Caroline would study with masters.
Miss Trainor, the governess, had been enough.
As part of her aspirations for her family to rise in society, Mavis was determined that Caroline would attend an exclusive London seminary in a few years.
She wanted to make sure that Caroline would be ready to ascend the societal ladder to the very top of the first circles.
Another argument Mavis lost was when she tried to convince her husband to add Louisa’s dowry to Caroline’s to give their younger daughter the chance of making a magnificent match. Her rationale was that no man would want to marry her firstborn with her marred face.
Bingley had angrily rejected his wife’s request, and when she had asked that he increase Caroline’s dowry even without taking from Louisa, he had again refused her.
Brooking no opposition, Bingley held firm.
Mavis hated it when Arthur took such a firm position, but she knew that nothing she said or did would move him when he dug in his heels.
Over the years, as the dividends from his share of Bingley Enterprises, which was the company that now encompassed the carriage works and the land where the timber grew, increased, Bingley saved the lion’s share.
Due to that, he had so far saved close to eighty thousand pounds.
Bingley had not told his wife of his saved wealth, but he had not ignored her desire for them to purchase an estate.
To that end, once he had above one hundred thousand pounds in reserve, he would look at purchasing one.
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Longbourn June 1796
As large as she was, Fanny could not wait to expel her sons from her body. All she could see was her home being secured until the end of her days and never having to admit that cruel husband of hers to her bedchamber ever again.
The night of Thursday the second day of June, not long before midnight, Fanny felt the now all too familiar pains that told her she was labouring.
She rang her bell without stopping until her husband in his nightrobe attended her.
“Mr Bennet, it is time for me to deliver your sons. Have Mrs Sherman and Mr Jones summoned and have some of your footmen assist me to the birthing chamber,” Fanny commanded.
It could not be too soon, with the massive size of her belly, she had been restricted to her bedchamber for a few months now, so she was well and truly ready to expel her sons from her body.
Bennet was thankful that the nursery was two floors above the birthing chamber.
He hoped that his wife would not caterwaul so much as to wake his daughters.
Janey was already eight, Lizzy was six, Mary already almost five, and Kate would be two in September.
As much as he wanted a son to make sure a Collins never got his hands on Longbourn, Bennet could not have been happier with his four daughters.
Soon enough, Bennet had woken his staff and servants. Grooms were on their way: one to the midwife’s house and the other to summon Mr Jones. The one who was riding to Mr Jones would also notify the Phillipses.
Mrs Hill quickly donned a dress and was soon directing two footmen to carefully assist Mrs Bennet to the birthing chamber.
Before the clock struck midnight, Mrs Sherman and Mr Jones had arrived. The former made directly for the birthing chamber to examine Mrs Bennet while the latter joined Mr Bennet in his study in case he was needed.
It was less than a half hour later that Hattie and Frank Phillips arrived at Longbourn. The former handed her outerwear to Mr Hill—who was at his station near the front door now—and made her way up to the birthing chamber on the first floor while Phillips joined the two men already in the study.
After examining Mrs Bennet thoroughly Mrs Sherman was concerned. Things did not look normal. She was sure she was worrying for no reason. After all, with nary a problem, Mrs Bennet had delivered four babes before this one.
By a little after three in the morning on the fourth of June, after labouring for almost two days, the frequency and intensity of the pains were as the midwife would expect right before it was time to push, hence, the midwife directed Mrs Bennet to the birthing chair.
Mrs Bennet was screaming like she had with each of her previous labours.
There was some bloody discharge, even though it was more than Mrs Sherman expected, she assumed that was due to Mrs Bennet’s size, and in the case of twins, it was not unusual.
A quarter of an hour later she could see the head crowning and it was time to have Mrs Bennet bear down. “Push, Mrs Bennet, on the next pain, push for all you are worth,” Mrs Sherman instructed.
Even though Fanny had no more energy after such a long labour, she pushed.
The babe was larger than any other the midwife had delivered and the size caused the mother to bleed. It was far more than anything Mrs Sherman had seen.
She cut the cord and handed the babe—another girl—to Mrs Phillips.
Seeing that the bleeding was not slowing she sent the maid to summon Mr Jones. It was not long before the doctor entered. “The bleeding will not stop,” Mrs Sherman stated the obvious.
“Mrs Phillips, please take the babe out of this room and everyone but Mrs Sherman must exit as well,” Jones ordered in a businesslike fashion.
As soon as the two were alone with Mrs Bennet, Jones examined her.
“Her blood is like water!” he exclaimed.
“I must know what she has been taking, but I fear nothing will help her now. At this rate, in mere minutes, she will not have enough blood left. There is nothing I can do for her.”
Mrs Sherman had Sarah, the maid who would assist Mrs Bennet at times, go to her chamber to search for anything which looked like medication or an elixir.
The maid returned with a little box full of various bottles.
“That is why her blood is like water,” Jones said as he held up an empty bottle.
“This is pure meadowsweet which makes the blood much thinner than normal. If she has imbibed as much as I believe she has, there is nothing anyone could do. Some of these others could explain why she was so big.”
Not long after Jones spoke the last, Fanny Bennet breathed her final breath.