Chapter 6 #2
As soon as the tenant left, Bennet returned to his study where Phillips was nursing a glass of port.
Without a word, Bennet sat at his desk and pulled a sheet of paper to himself.
His letter to Gardiner was short and sweet.
As he had predicted, he could see the sky lightening in the east when he looked out of the floor to ceiling windows opposite his desk.
Once he was satisfied with his missive, Bennet allowed it to dry and then he sealed it.
He rang for Hill. “Have a groom deliver this to 23 Gracechurch Street in London as soon as may be,” he instructed when he handed the epistle to his butler.
Mr Hill bowed and left the study to execute the master’s orders.
“Mourning?” Phillips asked once the door had been pulled closed behind the departing retainer.
“Decisions will be made once Gardiner is here,” Bennet revealed.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Gardiner was seated in his dining parlour breaking his fast before eight in the morning as was his wont. As had been the case the last months, his mind was not on work, but rather the lady to whom he had lost his heart. Her name was Madeline Lambert; she was eighteen years old.
Until she was sixteen, she had lived in the town of Lambton in Derbyshire with her father who had owned a bookstore in the town.
When her father had passed away, and being that there were no other siblings, the concern had been sold along with Mr Lambert’s cottage.
The money for both had been added to her dowry when Maddie, as she preferred to be called, had come to live with her cousins.
By a stroke of fate, the cousins’ home was on the same street and some four doors down from Gardiner’s house.
The first time he met her; she had been in half-mourning.
He had been invited to the Huntingtons’ house for dinner and had felt a pull to the intelligent, kind lady almost from the time they had met.
Gardiner had waited until she was out of mourning for three months before he began to call on her.
Two months ago, he had requested a courtship from Miss Lambert and had been accepted.
This very morning, he intended to request her hand in marriage.
Gardiner was very much in love with Maddie, as he called her now, and was close to certain she returned the sentiment in full measure.
Had he not been aware that the Huntingtons were waiting for their house to be sold before leaving England for the Canadas, Gardiner may have waited longer to propose.
However, he wanted to make sure he secured Maddie before her guardians left the country.
His thoughts of the lady he loved were interrupted when the housekeeper entered the room. “Mrs Jacobson?” Gardiner queried.
“Master, this letter just arrived, brought by a groom from Longbourn,” the housekeeper responded. She offered the master the missive the young man had handed her. “He said it is urgent.”
With his attention on the epistle from Bennet, Gardiner waved Mrs Jacobson away. He broke his brother-in-law’s seal and read.
4 June 1796
Longbourn
Gardiner,
This note contains the worst kind of news. Your sister, Frances, passed away during childbirth within the last hour.
It is not quite 4 o’clock in the morning which explains why I have not had time to make or acquire black-edged paper. You have my sympathies, Brother.
As this is a hot summer we cannot wait too long before we commit her remains to the earth. I will wait for you to arrive unless you send a note back with my groom (after he has rested) saying you are unable to attend.
Your new niece, Lydia Hattie, seems perfectly healthy.
I will wait for you before I make any decisions regarding mourning, etc.
Yours,
Bennet
As much as he knew it should not be what he felt, Gardiner felt relief on Bennet’s behalf that he was free of Fanny. Of course, he had not wished this on her, but now that it had happened, like he was in business, he had to be pragmatic.
He would, of course, hie to Longbourn, but before he did, he would call at the Huntingtons’ house.
He knew not how many days he would be in Hertfordshire.
The last thing he wanted was for Maddie to think he was not going to offer for her.
If the Huntingtons began their journey to the Canadas before his return from Meryton, it would be a disaster.
He could not allow his sister’s passing to cause him to lose the love of his life.
Yes, it was just after eight o’clock in the morning, however, those in trade did not hold to the ridiculous strictures the gentry did, especially those of London’s polite society with their mores which made no sense.
Gardiner stood and made for his chamber to wash his face and don his jacket.
He could not arrive at 31 Gracechurch Street wearing only a waistcoat and shirt.
Huntington’s valet opened the door. Gardiner ignored his raised eyebrows. Huntington himself followed his man.
It did not take long for Gardiner to explain why he needed to arrive at the house so early.
He was more than pleased he had. The house had sold the previous day, and Huntington was preparing to depart in a few days.
The private interview with his ward was approved, and Huntington sent the housekeeper to retrieve Miss Lambert.
Much to Gardiner’s delight, Maddie accepted him with alacrity.
When he applied to Huntington, he gave his permission and blessing.
To ensure the wedding did not need to happen that same day, Huntington said he would arrange with a cousin of his by marriage, who lived a few streets over, to act as temporary guardian to Maddie for a few weeks.
Maddie was related to the Huntingtons through the mistress of the house, so, it was unsurprising this cousin would take on the task, even if it would be for about a month.
Huntington revealed he had planned for this contingency in case they had to depart before Gardiner spoke.
He admitted that had he taken Maddie away, his wife would have pushed him overboard on the crossing from England to the Canadas.
Notwithstanding his younger sister’s passing, it was a very happy man who sat in his carriage with Longbourn’s groom as they departed shortly after nine that morning. The horse was tied to the back of the conveyance.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Edward, I know you were not close to Fanny, but surely you are not happy that she is gone, are you?” Hattie asked when her brother alighted from his carriage.
“No, Hattie, I do not celebrate Fanny’s death,” Gardiner assured his older sister as they stood in the drive before Longbourn. “My ebullience that you are noting is because as of this morning I am engaged to the most wonderful woman. I intend to make her your sister in a month.”
“As happy as I am that you have found a lady to marry, should it not be three months, not one from today?” Hattie demanded.
“Hattie, I love you, but I will not mourn for more than three weeks like I would for a first cousin.” Gardiner raised his hand to stem the protest he could see forming on his sister’s lips.
“Not only was I never close with Fanny, but I found her and our mother very dishonourable. I only mourned our mother for a month, but you did not see that because I was in London. I must remain true to myself, and before you ask, I will demand that Bennet not mourn her at all.”
“At all!” Hattie exclaimed indignantly.
“Yes, Sister dearest. Think what our late mother and late sister’s actions cost Bennet.
Why should I insist he mourn the woman who caused him not to marry the lady he loved and wanted to make his wife?
And why is that? It is because our late sister was like a dog in the manger who only cared about her own selfish desires.
Hattie, you know Fanny was not a good person.
” Gardiner took his older sister’s hand as tears began to roll down her cheek.
“You are such a good person, but do I need to remind you how many times Fanny hurt you by harping on your inability to have a child of your own? Do you remember writing to me each time she went out of her way to cause you pain while you offered her love and friendship?”
She knew her brother had the right of it. “I will not protest your and Thomas’s choices regarding mourning,” Hattie decided.
“All I ask is that you do what is right for you, and not what others expect. I am sure Phillips will not stand for a long mourning period for Fanny.” With that, Gardiner placed his older sister’s hand on his arm and guided her into the manor house.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
With the temperatures what they were, Fanny Bennet was committed to the earth two hours after her brother arrived from London. She was not interred with generations of Bennets, rather her eternal slumber would be next to her parents in the cemetery belonging to St Alfred’s church in Meryton.
That evening, Bennet had Mrs Dudley, the governess, bring Janey and Lizzy to his study. The two girls were very happy to see Aunt Hattie, Uncle Frank, and Uncle Edward. They loved their aunt and uncles very deeply.
Bennet had his two eldest sit on the settee between the windows looking out onto the park.
“Are you going to read to us, Papa?” Elizabeth asked keenly. “If not, I can read to you. I am sure my aunt and uncles will enjoy the way I make voices when I read a story.”
“Yes, Lizzy, I am sure that is true. This is about your mother, the lady who bore you,” Bennet corrected.
“You mean the lady who would sniff at us when Lizzy and I joined you for meals sometimes? We did not know her, Papa. You told us her name is Mrs Bennet, and when we were older, you would explain all to us,” Jane wondered confusedly.
The late Fanny Bennet’s siblings looked at one another.
Hattie nodded at her brother’s raised eyebrows.
No, mourning would only confuse these dear girls.
Thomas’s idea of explaining everything regarding their moth—no, Fanny could not be called that, as she was never a mother to any of her girls, she was nothing more than a wetnurse—was a good idea.
“Yes, I refer to Mrs Bennet. Do you remember I told you how my mother and father were called to God and live in heaven now?” Bennet saw his two eldest daughters nod.
“Mrs Bennet was called home today, just after your newest sister, Lydia, joined our family.” Bennet would wait some years before explaining that his late wife had been his daughters’ birthmother.
There was nothing to be gained by explaining any of that now.
“That means we will not see Mrs Bennet when we join you in the dining parlour anymore, does it not, Papa?” Elizabeth was puzzled.
“Yes, Lizzy, that is true,” Bennet confirmed.
“I will not miss the looks she gave us like she was angry with us,” Elizabeth said matter-of-factly. “Mrs Dudley told me it was not good manners to ask her why she looked at us that way.”
“Mrs Dudley, you may return the girls to the nursery,” Bennet ordered.
The four adults waited until the governess and the two eldest Bennet sisters had left the study and the door had been closed.
“Bennet, I have discussed this with Hattie and Phillips, none of us expect you to go into mourning. It will only confuse our older nieces, and there is no reason to disrupt their lives. As it is, I will only mourn for…” Gardiner explained how long he would mourn and why.
He received hearty congratulations from Bennet.
“Entail or not, I will never marry again. The only woman I could ever love is married. Hattie, you can let it be known that I will never again honour an entrapment attempted on my person.” He turned to Gardiner.
“I will save as much for my five girls as possible so that when I am called home, none of them who have not married will have any fear for their futures.” Next, he turned to Phillips.
“We will draw up a new will in which I will name you and Gardiner as guardians if I go to my final reward before any of my girls reach their majority. I will never leave them at the mercy of a Collins.”
Although his brothers-in-law did not agree with Bennet’s resolve not to marry again, each man held his peace.