Chapter 9
Maddie was pleased to receive a letter from Adam.
It was the first one since they had arrived home after visiting Lambton.
The children were at their lessons, or in Peter’s case, with Nurse, and Edward was at his offices.
She was relaxing in the private sitting room attached to her and Edward’s bedchamber after completing her meetings with the housekeeper and cook.
She broke the seal, the same one her father used to use, and she smoothed the paper before reading.
North Star House
Maddie and Gardiner,
Please pass our fondest greetings onto our Gardiner nieces and nephews. When you write to or see any of our Bennet nieces by marriage, please convey our regards.
You may be interested to know that I recently received a letter from Darcy. He told me that the situation which had looked rather hopeless has made a hopeful turn for the better. So much so that he intends to join his friend at his leased estate on the 27th of this month.
The friend arrives on the 23rd, which I believe you know as the name of the man is Bingley, and he is leasing your estate near Meryton. A small world, is it not?
Maddie, I wonder if you will finally get to meet Darcy. No, I have not shared that you two own the estate as you had requested that I keep that information to myself. Even though Darcy is the soul of discretion, it is not my news to tell.
Personally, I think Darcy is somewhat addled to agree to reside in a house with the two Bingley sisters.
I say two because although the older one is married, she does whatever she can to promote a match between Darcy and the younger Bingley sister.
From what Darcy told me; she is dissatisfied with the level of society her husband occupies.
It seems that the sisters forget, or more likely, ignore, their own roots in trade.
Darcy will never offer for Miss Bingley, not even if she entraps him.
If Miss Bingley ever attempts a compromise, all she will do is ruin herself and her family.
The Earl and Countess of Matlock will never stand for the Bingleys or Hursts attempting to force Darcy into an unwanted marriage.
If you remember the eldest Fitzwilliam son, Lord Hilldale, married the only daughter of the Duke of Bedford.
Not only will Miss Bingley and her family have to contend with an angry Lady Matlock, but the Duchess of Bedford will be right at her side, among many others.
My friend knows who the sisters are, but he clings to the belief that Bingley will not allow anything untoward to happen.
He seems to forget that Bingley is unable to stand up to his sisters.
I am afraid Darcy is, at times, blinded by his belief in the infallibility of his judgement—this after he employed that woman who treated him and others so falsely.
My friend needs to read the Book of Proverbs 16:18. I quote: ‘Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.’
I suspect that someone will have to shake him enough that he takes note and wakes up. He is a fundamentally good man with a laudable character, if only he could regulate his improper pride and his propensity to speak before he thinks when he is not in a good mood.
Enough about him. Please tell me how your children and Bennet nieces are doing. Is Kitty still drawing? I hope so, the sketch she made of Eve holding Gerald is framed and on the wall above my desk.
When will some of your Bennet nieces be coming to you next? I assume after your Christmastide visit to Longbourn?
With brotherly and sisterly love from us,
Adam
Madeline shook her head. It seemed that even after his missteps in employing Mrs Younge, Mr Darcy was yet to learn humility.
She thought about Lizzy’s stubbornness and that of Mr Darcy’s.
It did not take long to realise that although there were differences, there were also similarities in their personalities.
Especially insofar as both Lizzy and Mr Darcy seemed to think that once they reached a conclusion, they were not wrong.
Just then the door opened, and Edward entered. As was his wont, he had come home to enjoy nuncheon with her. “Who wrote to you?” Gardiner asked when he spied the letter.
“It is from Adam to both of us. Here,” Maddie handed Gardiner the epistle, “read it.”
After kissing his wife warmly, Gardiner sat on the settee next to her and read. “It seems that the Bennets will meet Darcy before you,” he opined. “The way Lambert describes Darcy, part could be said of Lizzy as well.”
“It should not surprise either of us, but I was just thinking the same thing about Lizzy. You and I are often in accord in our thinking. As far as meeting Mr Darcy, if he is there when we go to the Bennets before Christmastide, I may finally meet him. It will be about time as he has been Adam’s friend for more than twenty years. ”
“Do not forget you had moved to London before Lambert met Darcy and they became friends,” Gardiner pointed out.
“Yes, there was that. You saw what Adam said about Mr Darcy, sometimes speaking without thinking, did you not?”
“I did. What of it?”
“If he is prone to uttering insults, and it is aimed at one of her sisters, Lizzy will take up against him in a strong fashion,” Maddie predicted.
Gardiner had nothing to say to refute his wife. After a few more kisses, they made their way to the dining parlour to enjoy their nuncheon. After the small meal, Gardiner went to see his children before returning to his offices.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Mr Bennet! Mr Bennet!” Fanny screeched.
She burst into Bennet’s study and once again destroyed his peace and quiet. “What is it that you felt the need to interrupt my important work, Mrs Bennet?” Bennet shot back with some asperity. “Have I not told you that you may not enter my study without knocking and my inviting you?”
“That is all very well and good,” Fanny responded as she flapped her muslin square furiously. “You need to mount your horse and ride to Netherfield Park. That Mr Bingley and his family arrived today. Do you not remember I told you that you must call on him?”
“And did I not tell you that I would not?” Bennet barked.
“Mr Bennet, you do like to vex me so. How will he meet Jane and marry her if you do not call on him? You must do your duty. Your daughters will suffer if you do not call on him.” With each sentence, Fanny’s voice got higher in pitch and was extremely shrill by the time she had her say.
“You know that Sir William and the other men will call, and then Mr Bingley will not know us!”
“Did you say he arrived today?” Bennet verified.
“Indeed, I did!” Fanny confirmed.
“Then calls will not be made before the morrow. It would be very bad form to call on the day of arrival when they are moving in. It will do more harm than good.” Bennet raised his hand to stem the forming protest. “No, Mrs Bennet, I will call on Mr Bingley on the morrow or not at all.”
Fanny was about to launch into all sorts of complaints, but she recognised the look on her husband’s countenance.
He would not be moved. Having not been gently born she was not sure what the protocol for calling on a new neighbour was, so she could not refute her husband’s words.
She supposed it was better that he should call on the morrow rather than not at all.
Without another word, Fanny turned and made her way out of the study and back to the drawing room where her five daughters were seated.
Lydia was pulling apart a bonnet while Kitty was wasting her time drawing.
Fanny could not fathom why her husband had agreed to expend money on a master who had been coming once each week for over a month now in order to teach Kitty drawing and painting.
Mary and Lizzy were reading a book between them, and beautiful, serene Jane was working on her sampler frame.
Jane’s dexterity with her embroidery had always impressed Fanny.
While Fanny knew that her husband would not allow her to openly criticise Lizzy, she was certain that Lizzy would never marry. Who would want a woman who was not nearly as pretty as Jane, who walked about the estate like a hoyden, and who was far too intelligent?
The entail to heirs male was the bane of her existence, and the reason she had to see her daughters well disposed of in marriage, even Lizzy, as hard as it would be.
If Jane married a wealthy man, like Mr Bingley was purported to be, then she would save them from the hedgerows.
Fanny was convinced that before Mr Bennet’s body was cold in his grave that the Collins cousin would order her and her unmarried daughters out of his house.
If her brothers would not be kind to her, it would be a disaster.
These fears were why she had attempted to put her daughters out at fifteen, but no, her husband had ordered her to wait until they were seventeen.
What a waste of two years. Fanny had come out at the age of fifteen, and she was married to Mr Bennet just after she turned sixteen.
She ignored the fact that her marriage to Thomas Bennet had been a mésalliance.
All that was important was that she had married and to a landed gentleman no less.
“Girls, your father is so good to you. He has changed his mind and will call on Mr Bingley on the morrow,” Fanny gushed. She did not want her girls to know she would have preferred her husband go today. “I am sure he will be for you, Jane. You could not be so beautiful for nothing.”
“Well, unless he is wearing the scarlet coat of the army, I care not how rich he is.” Lydia sniffed and returned to her bonnet.
“You will care when you have no money on which to live,” Mary said softly.