Chapter 23 #3
“G-good morning Uncle and Aunt,” Georgiana, who had been granted leave to address the Bennet parents thusly for a while now, managed in a timorous, shy voice, “I-I h-have a r-request to make of y-you.” The uncharacteristically apprehensive girl stammered.
Rather than toy with her, Bennet took pity, especially after a quelling look he received from his wife that warned him against any such thing, just in case he had considered such.
“Sit Georgie, please.” He gestured to a chair close to the desk. “How may we be of assistance?” he asked gently when she had settled.
“Aunt, Uncle? I-I would like to extend an invitation for Kitty, Lydia, and Helen to join me and Tiffany at Pemberley after the wedding.” She had initially again stammered, but seeing the welcoming looks on their faces she continued with more self-assurance.
“Will they return with you for Anne’s wedding, Georgie? Does your brother favour the girls accompanying you to Pemberley? He might be overwhelmed as you all will outnumber him so.” asked Fanny kindly and added a light tease to help Georgiana smile.
“Yes, he has given me his permission to make this request Uncle and Aunt. My brother told me that we will arrive at Rosings Park on the first day of August, some days before the wedding and my three friends will be conveyed there with us.” Georgiana settled into the chair, feeling the wonder of what it must have been like to have such loving parents.
After looking at her husband and seeing no opposition to the proposition, Fanny looked at the hopeful girl.
“They may return with you to Pemberley after Jane and Richard are wed, Georgie. I am sure that they will love seeing your home.” Fanny patted her hand gently as if she could divine her thoughts, and likely had.
The girl let out a squeal of joy before she clapped her hands over her mouth in mortification for her unladylike display. Noticing that the Bennets laughed, she thanked them and beat a hasty retreat to go inform her cohorts of the good news.
Bennet returned to his perusal of the document that Helen’s father had signed, making her a ward of him and his wife.
Lady Longbourn left the study to go meet with Hill as Bennet’s thoughts drifted back to the heart wrenching conversation he had with Mr Jacobson when he delivered Helen to Bennet Park.
“Welcome, Mr Jacobson, I thank you for helping make Lydia’s summer. She counts your daughter as the best of friends as close as another sister really,” Bennet said as he indicated that the man be seated.
“I thank you for your condescension, my Lord. In truth, your request that Helen join Lady Lydia for the summer and then go to Greenlake School with her was providential in the extreme.” Jacobson paused to collect his thoughts.
“I am sick, my Lord. I have a cancer, and while my physician does not know when, he has no doubt that I will be leaving the mortal world to join my Janet in heaven sooner rather than later.”
“We have no family living, so Helen and her brother, my heir Timothy, will be the only two left of my family line. Tim, who is just twenty and has just now completed his final year at Oxford, is not equipped to be guardian of his sister. When I return home, I will dedicate all of the time that God grants me before he calls me home to educate Tim and prepare him, as much as I am able, to take over the running of our estate, Janet’s Well, many years before he ever thought that he would have to.
He will reach his majority in December.” Jacobson paused again as a wave of pain racked his body.
He grimaced but gathered himself and proceeded.
He reached into his inside coat pocket and handed some papers to Bennet, and further said, “These are papers that I had my solicitor draw up, my Lord. I pray you do not think me presumptuous, but as time is of the essence, I wanted to be prepared in case you agree. I know that this is an unprecedented request I make of you and your family, and believe me, sir, if I had any other option, I would not be here hat in hand begging this of you.” He tensed when Bennet stayed him as he rang the bell to summon the butler.
Jacobson’s fears that he was about to be turned out of the house were allayed when the butler was told to send a messenger and to return with his brother Phillips, the local solicitor.
After the butler departed, Bennet offered the man a glass of port.
The two men drank quietly. Lord Longbourn wanted his brother to review the documents and offer any advice if needed.
It was not too long before Phillips was ushered into the study.
Bennet apprised him of the conversation to that point and handed him the papers that Jacobson had provided.
The three men were silent; the only noise was that of the rustle of paper.
When he had read the documents twice and was satisfied that he had a firm grasp on the contents, the solicitor spoke for the first time since starting to read the agreement before him.
“Bennet, there are two documents.” He indicated the first, which was the lengthier one.
“This is a standard guardianship contract naming you and Fanny as guardians and Miss Helen Janet Jacobson your ward, if you accept the charge. The second is a conditional guardianship. If Mr Jacobson predeceases his son turning one and twenty, you would be the boy’s temporary guardian.
If he lives until or past the tenth day of December, then the boy will not need a guardian as he will have reached his majority.
” Phillips was thoughtful as he considered the wording of the documents.
“I see nothing of concern for your side of this, Thomas, and the only stipulation is that you not adopt Helen and give her the Bennet name. Her father wishes her to retain the name Jacobson until and unless she resigns it in matrimony.”
As Bennet considered his options, he again rang for Mr Hill and set him the task of finding Lady Longbourn for her to join them in the study.
It was less than a five-minute wait before the lady joined the three men.
Bennet relayed all of the facts to his wife, who was distressed for Helen having to mourn a second parent so soon after the first. Just before she was about to speak, Jacobson requested that he address them before they made a final decision. Both Bennets agreed.
“Until she met Lydia, Helen has never bonded with another girl.
As much as I understand that my request could be seen as in imposition on your family, as a loving father I have to try and situate Helen where I know that she will be in the company of her best friend in the world and a loving family, though it is not a foregone conclusion that you will agree.
You could choose not to, and yes, I would understand your refusal as this is an extraordinary request. In that case I would have to have her brother, who is barely able to look after himself, be her guardian.
“Please, Lord and Lady Longbourn, I do this out of love for my Helen. She resembles her mother so much in looks and character, so I know that she will never give you trouble, especially after a year at Dark Hollow where she grew from an incorrigible, ill-behaved young girl in her grief, to the young lady that you see now.” He held his breath as he watched the Earl and Countess confer with their heads close together.
After a short while it was the Countess that spoke.
“Even had Helen not helped our Lydia at Dark Hollow the way she did and been a friend and sister to her, we would have agreed to help you without reservation. Yes, Mr Jacobson, we will accept your daughter as our ward and will make sure that your son knows that he will be welcomed in the bosom of our family at any time for advice or comfort, even once he is independent and past his majority. Helen will be raised as one of our daughters, and the fact that the family name will be Jacobson and not Bennet will in no way influence the way that she will be treated and accepted. I say that knowing my other daughters will easily love another sister, and we were just lamenting that we were losing at least one so soon. I do, however, want to offer my condolences for your family,” Fanny offered quietly and with all the truth of her meaning easy to read.
In his reflection, Bennet marvelled anew that Jane felt as deeply as her mother, and more, but had learned to hide it behind her mask of serenity so effectively.
It was Kitty that closely resembled his Fanny, this ability for such perfect compassion, allowing herself to commiserate without the immediate need to fix, as their Lizzy attacked such emotions.
Sometimes the greatest comfort was someone that could share your pain without requiring a stream of words to force it away.
That thought faded as he recalled what had come after.
With tears of appreciation for her words, and feeling as if the weight of a millstone had lifted from his shoulders, Jacobson thanked the Bennets, the quiver in his voice betraying the depth of feelings with which it was offered.
Bennet respected his feelings and had responded with a nod.
A gentleman soon learned that thanks spoken a hundred times could not equate the depth offered in this one Jacobson had rendered.
The documents were signed and then witnessed by Phillips.
Now that the deed was done, Jacobson could offer the particulars: Helen’s dowry was seven thousand five hundred pounds, and there was a legacy of a thousand pounds that would be Tim’s when he turned five and twenty.
Jacobson handed two letters to Bennet, one to be given to Helen when he had the unfortunate need to inform her of the fact that she was now their ward, and the second to be handed to her once he had left this world to join his beloved wife.