An Island for Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice Variations)
Chapter 1
Osea House
Emerald Island
Off the Coast of Essex
Noon
Tuesday, 1st October, 1811
No matter how long she spent here on Emerald Island, she relished every day; she could hardly believe it would soon belong to her.
This day was a particularly beautiful one, with the brilliant cerulean dome above only just dotted with cotton-wool, while sunlight streamed down on gray-brown fields and small thatched cottages and tiled slate roofs
Elizabeth Bennet walked a few steps away from the house, which was the largest on the island, took a deep breath of autumnal air, and turned to look around herself.
Osea House was placed on a plateau with no trees about and no neighbors close at hand, the better to present its residents an unobstructed view of the glory of the heavens.
Below them, however, sprawled fields and farmers’ cottages and a wood currently arrayed in stunning autumn foliage.
Reds and oranges and golds flamed along branches still vibrant with the last of the year’s sap.
Beyond the trees and houses, the sea spread blue and green and gray around the island. White foam speckled the tops of breeze-ruffled waves like pearls scattered artfully across folds of rich fabric. It was a sight that never grew old.
Elizabeth heard a door close behind her, and she turned as her next younger sister, Mary, stepped out of the house and adjusted her bonnet in order to block the sun that shone in her eyes.
“It is so bright out here!” Mary exclaimed. “Lizzy, Father, Uncle Gardiner, and the solicitor are waiting for you.”
Elizabeth nodded, bit her lip, and said, “Mary, are you absolutely certain that…?”
Mary lifted a hand to stop her and said, “Lizzy, I know you feel guilty about this, but truly, I want this as much as Father does. I have no desire to be in charge of Emerald Island, much less Longbourn. Indeed, I feel regret that you have significant shouldered such responsibility for both so that Father and I are able to fulfill our passion of studying the night skies. Please be at peace. There is no one else in the family who can do what you are doing, after all.”
Elizabeth wrinkled her nose and sighed. “I think Jane could manage.”
Mary looked doubtful. “Jane would have a hard time holding the line with Mamma, and she has no head for figures. In any case, the decision has been made that you will be the owner of Emerald Island, so get along with you.”
Her older sister nodded. “Very well.”
***
Study
Osea House
Emerald Island
Elizabeth glanced around the familiar study as she stepped inside.
Osea House on Emerald Island had been designed entirely for practicality.
It was far smaller than the Bennet estate of Longbourn in Hertfordshire, and lacked the decades’ accumulation of creature comforts, decorations, and feminine knickknacks in the family’s home.
Sir Thomas Bennet wanted a sufficient house in which to shelter as he studied the stars, without any extra frills or furbelows.
There were five bedrooms, barely suitable for the entire family to fit into, and the drawing room was adequate rather than generous, and simply furnished.
The kitchen, at least, was large, roomy enough for the cook and the maid to feed any residents.
The servants’ quarters were as spartan as could be expected, though at least all four of them had private rooms.
Sir Thomas had focused more attention on his study, and of all the rooms in the house, it was the one that most bore signs of continuous habitation.
Heavy chairs of oak and walnut, upholstered in thick, soft leather, provided comfort for late nights of studying.
The equally heavy oak desk had almost vanished beneath a sea of star maps, and globes, and diagrams of constellations, and notes, and pieces of several telescopes in varying states of repair, and delicate parts of other finely tuned instruments.
The entire south wall consisted of banks of windows, and the streaming sunlight helped to warm the room.
This late in the year, however, the autumn sun was insufficient for heating, and Elizabeth glanced gratefully at the fire burning brightly in the grate.
Sturdy bookshelves lined the rest of the walls, and though she had seen them thousands of times before, Elizabeth found her attention drawn to the familiar leather and fabric spines.
Only one subject was represented in any great number, but of that one subject, Sir Thomas had collected every volume on which he could lay hands.
It was strange to consider that in but a very few minutes, all those books of astronomy would belong to Elizabeth. It would be an ownership of name only; to refuse her father and sister access to them would be unimaginable, and she would never dream of selling them.
“Well, my dear, are you ready to sign your life away?” Sir Thomas asked.
She turned a smile on her father and then shifted her gaze to her Uncle Gardiner and Mr. Standish, her father’s solicitor, who had arrived an hour previously while she had been closeted in the kitchen with the cook discussing upcoming meals.
“Mr. Standish, Uncle Gardiner,” she said. “Good morning. I hope you are well and had a pleasant journey?”
“Good day, Lizzy,” Mr. Gardiner said, stepping forward to embrace his second niece. “Yes, it was well enough, though we made the mistake of arriving too close to high tide, so the causeway was still covered. But it took only an hour for it to clear.”
“Was there not a rowboat available on the mainland?” Elizabeth asked.
“There was, Miss Bennet, but I requested that we wait for the isthmus to clear instead of climbing into a boat,” Mr. Standish said and then added, with some levity, “I have not been fond of boats ever since I ignominiously fell out of one on my twentieth birthday. It is a painful memory.”
Elizabeth laughed and felt her chest lighten. The situation was a peculiar one, and her responsibilities both at Emerald Island and Longbourn were burdensome at times, but she had both her dear Uncle Gardiner and Mr. Standish to help her as needed.
“Where shall I sign?” she asked, and Standish guided her to the desk and instructed her to the appropriate place on the page.
She did so as directed, and then her father signed, and with that, she was legally the owner of Emerald Island, though until she reached her majority, her uncle Gardiner would serve as overseer of the finances.
When all was completed and the ink was dry, she said, “Mr. Standish, Uncle Gardiner, would you care to join Mary and Father and me for tea and muffins, perhaps?”
“Thank you, we would enjoy that,” her uncle said, “although we need to leave for London before the causeway floods again.”
“You should go with them, Lizzy,” Sir Thomas said absently. He had already picked up one of his notebooks and was studying it with far more interest than he had displayed at signing his island away to his second child.
“To London?” Elizabeth asked in surprise. “Are you certain?”
“Yes, and from thence to Longbourn,” he replied, looking around vaguely and then plucking a paper off of a seemingly random pile. “Your mother wrote asking that you return home.”
She took the paper in confusion and walked over to the window to allow the sunlight to flood the page.
Longbourn
23rd September
Dear Sir Thomas,
I must request most fervently that you send Lizzy home at once.
Netherfield Hall is let at last, to a single man of good fortune from the north.
The girls simply must have new gowns, and I know perfectly well that without your permission, or Lizzy’s, they will not have them, and I well know that you will not return to Longbourn as you are far more interested in the stars than your family!
There are rumors that Mr. Bingley will be bringing a large party of friends and relations to the Meryton assembly in a few weeks, and thus it is absolutely necessary that Jane and Lydia and Kitty are dressed in the most fashionable styles.
Even if he is alone, well, Jane will likely draw Mr. Bingley’s attention, but it is just possible that he will be attracted to a younger lady.
Sincerely,
Lady Fanny Bennet
Elizabeth winced and opened her mouth, only to close it.
Her father had obviously received the letter several days previously and not shown it to her, but she had no doubt that his failure to do so was rooted in absentmindedness, not malice.
Her father’s main obsession in life was astronomy, and the older he got, the more powerful the draw of the heavens was to his considerable intellect.
“Do you mind if I accompany you to London, Uncle Gardiner?” she asked.
“You are certainly welcome to join us, my dear,” her uncle replied, “and I will ensure that you are safely delivered to Longbourn in the next day or two.”
“Thank you, Uncle.”