Chapter 20 #3
There was an influx of money that for the life of her she could not explain, and the normally excessively loquacious Sir William would tell her naught about their apparent, rather substantial increase in income.
What she did not know is that while Charlotte was living at Lucas Lodge, she would only keep one hundred pounds of the five hundred per annum that she would receive from her investment made with Gardiner and Associates.
The balance would be turned over to her father.
Even though she had invested her money less than three months prior, she had recently received the funds for the first quarter in the sum of one hundred five and twenty pounds.
She kept the five and twenty and gave the rest to her father on condition that he not share the source of the added income with anyone, her mother included.
Lady Lucas was still smarting from the descriptions of Gardiner House that Maria had imparted after her return home.
It was bad enough that even the Gardiners were higher than them now.
The descriptions of their Portman Square house left her green with envy.
Then to rub salt in her wounds, Charlotte returned from Bennet House stating that if anything it was more palatial than the Gardiner’s house.
If Sarah Lucas was envious and resentful before, after hearing about Bennet House from Charlotte, the envy was immeasurable.
There was one thing she could truly not comprehend, the lack of boasting from Fanny Bennet.
In the past her friend, well rival and friend, would boast about anything, even contrived things, and Fanny, along with her sister Hattie Phillips, used to be two of Meryton’s most prolific and indecorous gossips.
Yet that had stopped as if someone had turned off a spigot from one day to the next.
Not only was there not one word of boasting from Fanny Bennet, but her sister Hattie had stopped as well. Mrs Phillips was three years older than her sister and seven years more so than her brother Edward. She would still make vulgar utterances, but even those were now few and far between.
The mistress of Lucas Lodge was fuming. She had received a letter from the object of her envy a few days previously where she had mentioned Jane’s betrothal and Eliza’s courtship.
She had mentioned it almost in passing and had not expanded on the subject other than the statement of fact.
Fanny never mentioned their social calendar, the calls, the Bedford-Jersey-Matlock ball, none of it.
The only way that she learnt of everything else was by reading the reports of the on-dit from Town in the gossip rags.
No, Lady Lucas could not understand the changes that had come over her friend and rival.
Earlier that day she had run into Mrs Hill, Longbourn’s housekeeper, as she and the fellow housekeepers from the newly named Bennet Fields and Bennet Park ran errands in preparations for the wedding and the family’s return to Meryton.
Mrs Hill had stated that the Bennets would be home before the last day of the month to prepare for the wedding that would be on the fifteenth day of June.
Hill would not mention the other families who would be present to witness the oldest Bennet daughter’s nuptials, but it was well known that the two estates besides Longbourn would host the guests as extensive renovations were still being undertaken to the manor house at that estate.
Charlotte Collins was sitting on her bed in the chambers that she shared with Maria.
Now that her younger brother John was fourteen, he and her older brother Frank, no longer shared a bedchamber.
That meant that she, a widow, had to share the chamber with her sixteen-year-old, and not most sensible, sister.
The widow Collins was thinking quietly to herself as she had rarely found such a moment.
‘I had thought that it would be quieter at Lucas Lodge, but between Mama’s constant stream of recriminations about that ‘smug’ Fanny Bennet and Maria’s prattle, it has been anything but.
I cannot thank Eliza enough for inviting me to join her on her trip to Derbyshire after the wedding.
It took me all of two minutes to respond in the affirmative.
If there is an option for me not to return to Lucas Lodge for the rest of my mandated mourning period, I will grasp it and hold on with all of my might! ’
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
It was later that afternoon when a very tired group of ladies flopped down on seats in the family sitting room at Bennet House.
Lydia Bennet could still not comprehend the amount of clothing that had been ordered for her.
Mama had not exaggerated, they had ordered her a new wardrobe complete with everything from head to toe, and all very appropriate for a girl not yet sixteen or out in society.
Their mother had ordered two gowns each that were quite fancy when compared to the rest for both Kitty and Lydia.
One would be worn at Jane’s pre-wedding ball, which they were being allowed to attend along with Georgie, Tiffany, and Loretta.
They would only be allowed to dance with males in the family, and would have to retire after supper. The second gown was for Jane’s wedding.
The girls sat gushing over all of Lydia’s new clothing.
The first fittings would be before they departed town to return to Longbourn.
One of Madame’s senior seamstresses would be sent to Longbourn with all of Lydia’s new gowns and dresses for the final fitting, and while there, they would make any needed adjustments to the garments.
She would then stay until the day of the wedding to make sure that none of Jane’s trousseau or her wedding gown needed any repair or adjustment.
Yes, there were distinct advantages to being part owners of the shop!