Chapter 7
The Bingleys all anticipated their first sight of their estate.
The women in the family conveniently ignored the fact that it was leased and not owned, while the male members of the family said nothing to correct them as they knew that it was a waste of time and effort.
The lead carriage made the turn as the drive wound around to the left and the manor house came into view.
Martha Bingley and her two daughters opined that they had never seen so fine an estate and manor house, that there could not be a finer one in the realm.
Mr Bingley rolled his eyes as it was the only estate that any of his family had ever seen.
He knew that he would have to have a long talk with his wife once they were settled in the master’s suite.
He had not mentioned to her yet that the servants were not theirs, but the landlord’s employees.
He had already determined that Mr Bennet, as his landlord, would not look kindly on anyone mistreating his servants.
He had to find a way to curtail his womenfolk’s behaviour, but he did not know how as of yet and kept deferring the decision.
Now, however, he no longer had any choice but to face it head on.
He could not afford to forfeit the balance of his lease if any of the terms of the contract were breached. Under the terms of the contract, mistreatment of the servants was cause for eviction; therefore also a forfeit of his rental fees.
As he had been investigated, he had done the same and investigated his landlord and had discovered that Mr Bennet did not suffer fools.
He knew that his landlord owned the three largest estates in the shire and close to fifty percent of the land in Hertfordshire.
It also came to light that the Bennets had been on the land in Hertfordshire for more than three hundred years, so they were well-established landed gentry.
From what he could tell, Mr Bennet’s income was north of ten thousand pounds per annum, but he did not know how much more.
This meant that, at the very minimum, Thomas Bennet had an income three times his own income after having to give Paul a bigger share in the business.
He could not find out how much, but from what he did find out it, seemed that the Bennet daughters had much larger dowries than his daughters did.
In addition, he had discovered that both of Bennet’s brothers-in-law were in trade.
One was the local solicitor in Meryton, and the other was the owner of Gardiner and Associates, an enterprise that eclipsed his carriage works revenue rather substantially.
It was hard to discern, but there had been something with the first wife and one of Mr Bennet’s daughters, but try as he might, Oscar Bingley could find out no more on that subject.
Oscar did not look forward to dealing with his youngest Caroline, who thought that they were above those who made their livings from trade and, more often than not, made derogatory comments about others who were in trade, looking down her nose at them.
From everything that he now knew, it seemed Mr Bennet had a close relationship with both brothers-in-law, even though they were not technically family any longer as his first wife had passed.
He would not take kindly if anyone were rude and dismissive of his family, especially one that had roots in trade themselves.
Before their carriage pulled into the circular drive that led to the front of Netherfield, Mr Bingley rapped the roof with his cane and the driver brought the conveyance to a halt.
“Mr Bingley, why have you stopped us here? It is undignified to walk from here to our new home,” Martha Bingley said in her most haughty voice.
“We are not to walk,” Mr Bingley said, his exasperation evident in his voice, “We need to get some things clear before they cause us to be evicted.”
“How can anyone evict us from our own home?” Caroline asked, her nose pointed high in the air. “We would summon the magistrate and have the low-lifes tossed into gaol.”
“This nonsense that you have put into our daughters’ heads,” he looked pointedly at his wife, “is the reason that we are having this discussion now before any of you three,” Mr Bingley looked at his wife and daughters in a slow sweep, “do something that causes our landlord to evict us.” He could see that all three were about to protest and he held up his hand.
“Silence!” he commanded, as his wife looked on in shock at her normally pliant husband, as he stood firm.
“But Mr Bingley…” Martha started to cajole but her husband cut her off.
“Mrs Bingley, I demand silence! The next one of you to talk before I am finished will lose her pin money for half a year at the very minimum!” The look he gave them told them that he was in earnest and all three reluctantly closed their mouths.
“Regardless of what you told one and all in Scarborough, and now seem to believe yourselves, this house,” he indicated the impressive edifice, “is not ours. We are tenants! The servants are employed by our landlord, who lives on one of his other two estates three miles from here and he will not stand for them being mistreated…” Mr Bingley filled in his increasingly horrified family about their situation, and the perils of overstepping which would trigger a clause that could get them evicted with no hope of refund.
He especially warned his youngest that she had better be on her best behaviour around all members of the Bennet family, including the relations in trade and the servants.
When she was about to protest, Mr Bingley gave her the gimlet eye and asked her how long she would like to be without any spending money, which caused her jaw to clack shut.
“Oh how you vex me Mr Bingley! Why did you not tell me that our neighbours are so wealthy? Mayhap they have a son for one of our girls or a daughter for Charles,” Martha gushed as she started to scheme for a precipitous advancement of her family.
“Before you go marrying off our landlord’s or our children, Mrs Bingley, let us move into the house first.” He looked at the members of his family.
Charles had been quiet through the whole exchange, somewhat entertained by it.
All nodded so he struck the roof of the vehicle again and it jerked forward the final yards to the base of the steps which led up to the big double doors that opened into the impressive looking house.
They were met by the Nichols, but just as Caroline was about to make some derogatory comment, she caught herself with the echo of her father’s threat to take her pin money for a year!
Never having been on estate before for all of their pretentions, the Bingley women were in awe as Mrs Nichols showed them to their chambers in the family wing.
Mr and Mrs Bingley’s personal servants were already unpacking their trunks as they had travelled with the carts that transported many of the family’s belongings that arrived the previous afternoon.
Charles had just had a man hired for him so he would have a man go to Eton with him in August, and Louisa and Caroline shared an Abigail.
Mrs Bingley had wanted French lady’s maids for both of her daughters, but so far, her husband had been intractable on the subject.
Caroline had one of her mega tantrums in an attempt to win her wishes, but still her father had not capitulated.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Bennet looked at the note that Hill had brought him on the silver salver; recognising the writing as that of Mrs Nichols at Netherfield. “Our tenants have arrived,” he informed his wife who was sitting with him on a settee reading in the new library while her head rested on his strong shoulder.
“When will you ride over to meet them and introduce yourself?” She asked distractedly, as she turned a page.
“Let us give them a little time to settle in; I will go in the morning,” he told his wife as he kissed the top of her head.
“I agree, Thomas,” Tammy said seductively. “If you would like to join me in our bedchamber, I can think of a very pleasant way to spend some time.” The master and mistress of the estate were unavailable to all for the remainder of the night.
The next morning, Bennet had Jupiter saddled and ready so he would arrive at Netherfield by ten.
William and John had the morning free of lessons, so they requested that they be allowed to go with their father.
Mr Bennet saw no reason why they should not, as it would be good training for them.
James, not wanting to be left out, begged his father to take him on Jupiter with him.
He was well on his way to mastering the art of riding, but he knew that his Papa would not allow him to ride out on his pony at any speed or for any distance.
Bennet could not say no to the big, blue eyes that looked back at him, so once he was seated in the saddle he leaned down and swung James up to sit in front of him on Jupiter’s back.
The three riders and one passenger set out at a leisurely canter for Netherfield.
When Nichols saw the master lowering his heir from his horse to the groom that met the riding party, he waited until Mr Bennet and his three sons were all on the ground and then informed his master that he would let Mr Bingley know that he had callers.
A few minutes after waiting in the entrance hall, Bennet and his sons were shown into the study.
As his rank was higher, Bennet requested that Nichols introduce Bingley to him.
Charles, Bingley’s adolescent son, was with his father in the study.
“Mr Bennet, may I introduce your tenant, Mr Oscar Bingley of Scarborough, and his son Master Charles to you? Mr and Master Bingley, Mister Thomas Bennet of Longbourn, Bennington Fields, and Netherfield Park, and his sons Master James Bennet, Master William Bennet, and Master John Manning.”