Chapter 2
On Thursday, the fourth day of August, Thomas Bennet had just returned from Highclere Abbey, where he had been tutoring the four eldest Crawleys.
He made for his small study to see if there was anything to which he needed to attend.
He had just sat down at his desk when there was an insistent banging on the front door.
Thomas stood from behind his desk and went to go see who was there.
He opened the door to find an express rider on his doorstep.
Seeing the black edging on the item the man held, Bennet had to force himself to accept the missive.
He handed over some coin to the man, mumbled something about the rider going to the kitchens for some food and drink, and closed the door as if in a trance.
He knew it was not someone in Fanny’s family, as the epistle was addressed to him and not his wife.
Not paying attention to his walking, Bennet reached the sitting room where Fanny was sitting on the rug playing with their children.
She and Jane were placing wooden blocks one on top of the other and James was taking great pleasure in knocking them over each time, saying “Fawl don,” and giggling happily.
Fanny sensed Thomas’s presence and looked up at him lovingly, but her face froze when she saw the look of despair on her husband’s face; it was then that she noticed the letter with the black edging in his hand.
“Jane, dear, please ask Nurse to come and take you and James to the nursery,” she requested of her daughter.
“Yes, Mamma,” Jane responded and skipped out of the room to do as her mother asked her.
Within a minute or two, Jane returned, leading Nurse into the sitting room.
Soon, Nurse had scooped up an indignant James who demanded more time to play with Mamma and Janey. Jane obediently followed Nurse towards the nursery, leaving her parents alone in the sitting room.
As soon as the children left the room, Fanny stood and pushed the door closed. “Thomas, what is it?” Fanny asked gently.
“Bad news,” Thomas articulated. “If I do not open it, will it be less real?”
“It is addressed to you, but it is written in Hattie’s hand,” Fanny observed. “Would you like me to read it to you?”
“I thank you, my dearest wife, but I cannot ignore my duty. I will read it. Not doing so will not change the words your sister has written,” Thomas stated.
He took a deep breath and broke the seal.
Next, he slowly unfolded the page and smoothed it out deliberately.
Thomas was aware he was procrastinating because he was clutching at the last few moments when nothing had changed.
After another deep breath, he allowed his eyes to fall to the page in his hand.
1 August 1791
Longbourn
Brother:
I am acting as the scribe for this horrendous missive because neither your mother nor Penelope is in a state of mind to write the following words.
On Saturday past, your father and brother travelled to St Albans to attend to some estate business.
There was a terrible carriage accident on the section of the road over the hill before the town to which they were travelling. The wreckage and bodies were not discovered until the next morning.
It is my sad duty to inform you that there were no survivors, neither man nor horse.
The funeral service and interment will be on the morrow. I am sure you understand that, given the heat of the summer, it must be so. Frank and Edward will represent you, while I will be with your mother and Penelope when the ladies come to condole during the service.
Thomas, I pray that you, Fanny, and the darling children make all haste to arrive here as soon as it is possible.
Your mother and sister-in-law are devastated, and you and your family’s presence will help them recover from their horrendous losses, if only in a small measure.
On behalf of Frank, Edward, and me, you, Fanny, Jane, and James have our deepest sympathies,
Hattie
By the time he had read the second paragraph, tears were rolling down Thomas’s cheeks.
Without a word, he handed his wife the page that had just irrevocably changed their lives. Fanny read it in silence, and like Thomas before her, the tears fell freely as soon as she reached the paragraph enumerating the death of her father-in-law and brother-in-law.
“I must ride to Highclere Abbey,” Thomas said without thinking.
“No, Thomas, there is no need, and when Lord Richard and Lady Camille read the letter I will write, I am sure they will understand why you have not come in person,” Fanny insisted as she took charge.
She knew she needed to be strong for her Thomas now.
“Start to pack up your books, so we may depart in the morning on the morrow. In a little while, I will make for the inn to rent a carriage for the morning.” After seeing a listless nod from her husband, Fanny made for the nursery, where she explained to Nurse the urgent need to depart Grantham.
As all of her family lived in Grantham, Sophie, the nurse, did not want to move so far south; however, she agreed to accompany the Bennets into Hertfordshire, and then once a replacement had been found and trained, she would return to her family.
Her sister was the cook at the abbey, so Sophie had no doubt she would find a position with the Crawleys without too much trouble.
Fanny wrote the letter of explanation to the Earl and Countess of Grantham and sent it with the lad who helped around the house as needed.
Rather than a reply in written form, the Grantham coach came to a halt in front of the cottage about an hour later.
When Fanny answered the ringing of the doorbell, the earl and countess stood without.
“Lord and Lady Grantham, please come in. I am afraid that as we are furiously packing, offering you refreshments will not be easy,” Fanny said as she curtsied to the two.
“And we would not expect you to do so at a time like this,” Lady Camille insisted. “Richard and I are here to convey our and the children’s condolences and to tell you that we will assist in any way possible. Where is Mr Bennet?”
“In the study, packing his tomes,” Fanny responded.
“I will go see Bennet,” Grantham decided.
He gave a shallow bow to Mrs Bennet and made his way to the small study.
“Bennet, there is no need to stand on ceremony,” he said when he saw the man about to stand and bow to him.
“I know how hard it is to lose a father, as mine went to his reward some eight years past. On top of that to lose your brother as well, you have my deepest sympathies.”
“I thank you, my Lord. It is very good of you to come to tell me in person,” Thomas responded.
“Camille is with Mrs Bennet. I am certain my wife is telling yours we will help in any way,” Grantham stated.
“To that end, I will make a horse-drawn cart available for your use to move your belongings; it is on its way here now. In addition, I know you have no carriage, so my older travelling coach and four will be at your disposal for your journey.”
“As much as I appreciate your generosity, we cannot impose on you in this manner,” Thomas tried to demur.
“How are you imposing on me when it was my decision without your asking for assistance? For the man who was not only an excellent teacher to my sons and daughters but also to the children of Grantham, my honour would not allow me to do less,” the earl insisted.
“And Bennet, if you ever need my assistance in the future, you need only ask.”
“When you put it like that, it would be rather churlish of me to refuse the helping hand you and Lady Grantham have extended. I am in your debt, my Lord,” Thomas accepted.
“No, Bennet. For preparing my sons so well for their future education and being willing to teach my two eldest daughters, it is me who is in your debt. I am only sorry that Anna was too young to begin lessons with you,” Grantham replied.
“My assistance is transitory; what you have given my four eldest children will last a lifetime.”
All Thomas could do was incline his head in thanks. He stood and accompanied Lord Grantham back to the sitting room where their wives were. The visitors refused tea, saying there was enough going on in the cottage already and took their leave.
“That was beyond generous of them,” Fanny opined when Thomas told her what Lord Grantham had told him. “It will save me having to go to the inn to rent a carriage. I had not even thought of a cart.”
At that moment, the cart pulled by two enormous Shire[3] draft horses came to a halt in front of the cottage.
It was manned by two burly men. The coach and four arrived soon after with two coachmen on the box and two footmen on the back bench.
There would be more than enough hands to carry and load anything which needed to be placed on the cart or in the conveyance.
Jane understood they were to leave the house she had grown up in, but any sadness at that thought was overridden by the thoughts of seeing her grandparents, aunt and uncle at their new house. James had no concept of what was about to occur. For him, very little would change.
Although thoughts of his father and brother were always in his thoughts, having to pack up their cottage and prepare for the journey commencing on the morrow distracted Thomas from his grief for some of the time.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“You promise that little Lady Bethie will not be harmed, do you not?” Mrs Becky Younge the replacement nursemaid, verified.
She had only agreed to help with this because the money she had been promised was more than enough to ensure her young twins, Clem, named for his father, and Karen, would have a better future than she.
“I’s tol’ ya so ‘afore,” Jim Younge, Becky’s husband, Clem’s, younger brother, assured her. There was no reason to tell his cousin’s wife that he had been paid to end the little miss.