Chapter 5
Mrs. Gardiner, being just eight years older than Elizabeth, was on very good terms with her oldest two nieces. Both Elizabeth and Jane had been invited for extended stays multiple times in the last few years, and they all carried on an affectionate and frequent correspondence.
Mr. Gardiner was also held in high esteem by Elizabeth.
Despite her uncle’s profession as a shop owner, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner were among the most genteel people she knew, well-mannered, soft-spoken, well-informed, and slow to anger.
In short, Elizabeth was very much looking forward to staying with them as she learned more about her new situation in life.
Elizabeth and her father were welcomed warmly upon their arrival in the mid-afternoon. They rested and washed up from their journey. Then, after dinner, Elizabeth was fortunate enough to attend the theater with her relations.
It was a perfect start to what promised to be a very busy and possibly trying time.
The next morning, Elizabeth and her father began their work in earnest. Their first destination was Mrs. Blythe’s townhome.
Since it was in Cheapside, Elizabeth expected it to be similar to Uncle Gardiner’s home or perhaps a little smaller. In fact, it was significantly larger. It was nothing compared to the mansions of Mayfair, but it was entirely possible that the house was the largest in the entire district.
It had been a couple of months since Mrs. Blythe’s passing, and the house had been shut up during that entire time.
Elizabeth feared that with it appearing to be entirely vacant, it might be the subject of some thievery or perhaps even some sort of defacement, but no such thing was evident from the outside.
The front door was still locked, and the house appeared to be in perfect condition.
Elizabeth and her father spent some time exploring and getting used to the layout of the home.
They discovered that it had six bedrooms, two more than Uncle Gardiner’s home, as well as an extra drawing room.
As she looked around, Elizabeth wondered why a lady who was saving as much money as possible and who had no living relations would own such a large home.
She could find no answer to her questions that day, but she learned later that Mrs. Blythe had a great many friends, especially in her youth, that she enjoyed housing as often as they could be convinced to visit.
Once she understood the layout of the house, Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet began the arduous and time-consuming task of verifying that everything listed on the solicitor’s inventory was present.
It took hours, and Elizabeth was grateful that only the items that were worth more than half a pound were included, else they would have been there for weeks.
As they worked, Elizabeth found a broken latch on one of the ground floor windows.
It looked as though someone had broken it in an attempt to enter the empty house.
It was unclear whether any minor items had been stolen, though Mr. Bennet certainly suspected that to be the case.
None of the items actually listed on the inventory were missing, so Elizabeth was not overly concerned.
By the time it was necessary to return to the Gardiners’ to prepare for dinner, Elizabeth and her father had checked the entire inventory. On their way home, her father said, “Well, now that you have seen the house, what would you like to do with it?”
“The entire time we were going over the house, I was thinking how it was a perfect size for Uncle Gardiner’s growing family,” said Elizabeth. “With his four children, he will want more bedrooms as they begin to grow out of the nursery.”
“Are you hoping he will buy it from you?” asked Papa.
“Actually, I was hoping to give it to him outright,” said Elizabeth.
Her father opened his mouth to object, but Elizabeth held up her hand so that she could continue.
“In exchange for him taking the trouble of selling all the contents for me. While there were plenty of items that were quite nice or interesting, there is nothing there that I would wish to keep.”
Papa looked pensive for a few moments then said, “I was going to say that Gardiner would be unlikely to accept such a gift, but if you phrase it as a bargain rather than a gift, he just might. Besides, I can’t think of anyone more suited to the task of selling everything than him.
He is certain to get you the best value for each item, and you can trust him to be honest with you. ”
Elizabeth shrugged. “Even if he didn’t get the best value, I would still ask him. All I truly want is to be rid of it all. It felt very odd, almost spooky, to be going through a lifetime’s accumulation of some stranger’s belongings.”
Papa chuckled. “An understandable sentiment,” he said.
~~~~~
At dinner that night, Elizabeth made her offer. Uncle Gardiner didn’t reject it outright, but he didn’t immediately accept either. Instead, he asked for time to think it over. Elizabeth suspected he would take that time to talk it over with his wife before coming to a decision.
Their relationship of mutual respect and support was one Elizabeth admired greatly. She had long ago adopted it as her model for an ideal marriage. Her parents were her model of what to avoid assiduously.
While Elizabeth adored her father, she was not blind to the way he treated her mother with bare tolerance, with no respect and no affection to make up for such poor treatment.
She sometimes wondered why he had married her in the first place, but it was not hard to see some hint of it.
Even now, when Mrs. Bennet was just over forty years old, she was still quite a beautiful lady.
It took two days for Elizabeth to receive a response to her offer, but in the end Uncle Gardiner agreed.
Elizabeth was honestly grateful. She would not have to wade through someone else’s belongings anymore, nor would she have to go through the long and arduous task of finding a purchaser for the home.
Her next task was to determine what to do with the other three homes. To do so, it was necessary, though very uncomfortable, for her to tour them despite the fact that they were currently occupied.
What she found were three very elegantly furnished, very large homes in the heart of fashionable London: one on Grosvenor Street, one on Audley Street, and one on Park Street.
She was not surprised to learn that all three of them were consistently rented out for the first half of the year, every year.
They were in perfect locations for the Season, as well as being eminently comfortable homes.
As she and her father headed back to Gracechurch Street after touring the last of the homes, she said, “Papa, I wonder if you might be willing to take us all to London this winter. We could use one of my homes to stay in. I believe the house on Audley Street is not yet under lease for the winter. Imagine Mama’s delight to be at the very center of London Society at the height of the Season. ”
“She would be no such thing, and you know it, Lizzy,” said Papa. “With her manners being what they are, she would be ignored and disrespected by most of those who are wealthy enough to live nearby.”
Elizabeth’s shoulders slumped. She had very much wished to use her new wealth to bring joy to her family, but she would not wish them to be made unhappy in the attempt.
“Still, if she just wished to shop and go to the theater and not join in with high society, I can see no harm in it,” he continued.
“Truly, Papa?” asked Elizabeth, hope rising in her heart. “You would be willing to bring us all to London for the winter?”
“Only for the winter,” he said. “Once it warms up even the slightest, we will be heading back to Longbourn. And I expect to be well compensated for uprooting myself.”
“Not to worry, Papa,” said Elizabeth. “You shall make as many shopping trips to Hatchards as you like, just like Mama shall shop along High Street as much as she likes.”
He reached across the carriage and patted her hand. “You are a good girl,” he said. “You do not have to spend your money on anyone, and here you are, perfectly willing to spend a great deal just to make your family happy.”
“I am only being selfish, Papa,” she said. “If I kept it all to myself, I would just be lonely. By spending it on shopping and entertainment for our whole family, I am simply purchasing that much more joy for myself.”
“As I said, you are a good girl.”