Chapter 7 #2
Bennet could see that Bingley was confused about the order of introduction of his sons, so he cleared the mystery up for the man.
“This big strong strapping fellow is my son and heir James, and the tall fellow next to him is my adopted son who was my late sister’s boy, and John here,” Bennet ruffled John’s light brown locks, “is my wife’s son from her first marriage.
Her husband was an officer who gave his life for King and Country in the Americas before he had the pleasure of meeting his son.
My wife and I decided that although he is my son in every way that counts, that he would keep his father’s name so that the Manning line would not die on some battlefield thousands of miles away. ”
“That is very admirable of you, Mr Bennet,” Bingley nodded in appreciation of such a character as that portrayed. Bennet inclined his head in thanks for the compliment.
“How old are your children, Mr Bingley?” Bennet asked.
“Charles here,” Bingley pointed toward his son, “is fourteen and will be attending Eton at the start of the school year. Louisa, my oldest, is enrolled at a seminary in London and is fifteen, while our youngest Caroline is eleven and will attend the seminary, if she is accepted, when she is fourteen.”
“Besides my dear wife, I have three more at home. My oldest Jane is now nine, and then there are the twins, Tom and Kitty. Well, her name is Catherine, but we all call her Kitty as she purrs like a kitten when she is happy. They will be three in December,” Bennet informed his tenant.
“If you need anything regarding the house or the portion of the estate that you have leased, you can contact myself, my brother Frank Phillips in Meryton, or of course the steward, Mr Joseph Beckman, as he will be the closest with his dwelling being just north of the home farm.”
“I thank you, Mr Bennet,” Bingley said. If he were about to say any more, the words died in his throat as Nichols knocked on the door and handed Mr Bingley a card. “Sir William Lucas?” he read off the card.
“One of my close friends; he used to be mayor of our fair town and is the magistrate these days,” Bennet informed Bingley. “Very affable and jovial man; the best of men, he is.”
“Show him in please, Nichols,” Bingley requested.
The butler gave a smart bow and left to fulfil his task.
It was not a minute later that Sir William Lucas, accompanied by his seventeen-year-old heir Frank, walked into the study with a big grin on his face.
The study was now beginning to become a little crowded.
“Capital to see you, Bennet, capital,” the rotund knight of the realm offered affably.
“Sir William, may I make the introductions?” Bennet asked, knowing how much his loquacious friend enjoyed meeting new acquaintances. Sir William nodded emphatically, and Bennet performed the office, introducing the Lucas men to the two Bingleys.
“I must take these three back to Longbourn,” Bennet nodded toward his sons. “Two of them have lessons soon, do you not boys?”
“Yes, sir,” chorused William and John. James looked triumphant that he was not yet required to learn anything beyond reading and writing.
“Do not look so pleased with yourself, James my boy,” Bennet said with a grin, “it will not be long before you too will have a full learning course like your older brothers do.” He chuckled when James affected a pout.
“Do not let these two influence you regarding university,” Bennet turned to Bingley as he ribbed his friend.
“Frank here is off to Oxford soon, and as we all know it is an inferior institution when compared to Cambridge.” Bennet departed with his sons before Sir William, or his heir could object to his statement that they found fallacious.
Sir William was followed by other men from the area, and by midday the visits were over, and Bingley and his son joined his wife and daughters in the drawing room. “Why did you not introduce us to the landlord?” his wife scolded.
“Because, my dear Mrs Bingley,” he drawled, “in the society to which you aspire, the first meeting is between the men. When I pay a call on Mr Bennet at his estate, you will accompany me so you can make the acquaintance of his wife and the rest of his family. I met three of his sons today, and before you start measuring our daughters for wedding gowns, the oldest son is not yet ten.”
With that, Mr Bingley returned to the haven that was his study and left poor Charles to be peppered with questions from his wife and daughters. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valour.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Lady Elizabeth was enchanted with her birthday gift.
For the first sennight after she had received the baby grand pianoforte, she had spent as much time as she was able playing it.
She had been sad when the Darcys returned to Pemberley two days earlier, taking Gigi and Anne with them.
Elizabeth knew that in a little more than fortnight her family would be joining the Darcys at Pemberley; if not she would have tried to wheedle permission from her mother and aunt for Gigi to stay longer.
Even though she was quite a bit smaller in stature than other girls of her age, her father had decided that it was time for his daughter to graduate to a small cob.
She would no doubt miss Fairy, and rather than have the pony be put out to pasture, he intended to suggest that she be given to Georgie to ride and then Alex could learn on her once his sister started to ride a larger equine.
The conversation about Fairy was not as hard as the Earl had envisaged.
It was not that Lizzy did not love her pony, she did very much; it was that she was most excited to be told that she was ready for a horse.
The fact that the cob would only be three hands taller than her pony was not the issue; it was a horse, not a pony.
Lizzy was somewhat disappointed that she would not get to name her horse but liked the name that she had already been given—Astraea—named for the Greek goddess also known as the star maiden for the three red stars on the white background of her forehead.
When she was introduced to Astraea with her father, mother, and brothers in attendance, Lizzy offered the cob a carrot and an apple and a beautiful friendship between them was forged.
When Lizzy asked if her horse would accompany her to Pemberley, much to her delight her father answered in the affirmative.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Except with his closest friends and family, William Darcy had become a serious and somewhat stoic young man.
He had learnt a hard lesson from his interactions with George Wickham in that not everyone who attempted to befriend him would have pure motives.
For William, who did not have a vindictive bone in his body, the fact that his honoured father had withdrawn his support for his erstwhile friend was a godsend.
The original plan was for young Wickham to be sent to school by Mr Darcy to receive a gentleman’s education; but if he were to attain that now, it would not be with assistance from the Darcys.
William shook his head when he heard reports of George hanging around the degenerate gamblers at the Big Bull Inn.
A number of Pemberley’s servants and some of the tradesmen that serviced the estate had seen the boy there trying to ingratiate himself with some of the gamesters and hucksters that frequented the establishment.
‘At least,’ William thought, ‘I will not have to look over my shoulder at Eton every minute to see what George Wickham is up to and if he is blackening the Darcy name. It is known far and wide that he has no patronage from us, and he has discovered using our name does not pay.’ William snickered to himself when he thought how angry the younger Wickham had looked the times that he had been seen mucking out the stalls to repay his debt to William’s father.
William was looking forward to the Fitzwilliam’s impending visit.
He very much enjoyed spending time with the Fitzwilliam brothers, especially Richard who he felt was more like a brother than a cousin, but he especially looked forward to seeing Lizzy again.
How many seven-year-old girls were there in the world with whom he could discuss Plato, Socrates, Descartes, and Machiavelli?
If he were allowed to wager, he knew that the odds were slim that another like Lizzy could be found.
She had started to learn languages less than two years before and now she was fluent in French, German, and Italian, as well as Latin and Greek!
He still could not understand how she could read a text, and then recite it word for word right after or at some point in the future.
He told himself that it would take an exceptionally special type of man to one day be able to love her without allowing her intellect and abilities to intimidate him.
He wondered if such a man existed, then decided that he should not worry; it would be more than ten years before Lizzy had a come out, after all.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The day after Bennet paid his call, it was reported that the Bingley carriage had entered the estate.
The three woman who had been extolling ‘their estate’ being the best and biggest but a few days previously sat in awe as the conveyance traversed the almost one-mile drive to the manor house, and then as it came into view all three fell into stunned silence.
Louisa was happy to be included before she returned to the seminary in a few days.
The edifice that they saw before them was at least twice the size, if not more, than Netherfield.
Bingley did not know that his landlord had reconstructed his home, but his practiced eye told him that it was a very new building.
As soon as their equipage came to a stop, liveried servants in the blue and green Longbourn colours, placed steps and opened the door.
Bingley handed his card to the butler who asked them to wait in the entrance hall.
As they waited, his wife and daughters could not understand why this obviously wealthy family did not have all sorts of baubles on display that displayed their wealth.
The butler returned and asked them to follow him to a drawing room where he announced the Bingleys to the assembled family.
All were present except for the twins who were having a nap in the nursery under the watchful eye of Miss Browning.
After the butler left, Bennet introduced his wife and children to the Bingleys.
Mrs Bennet invited them to sit and pulled the bell for her housekeeper to request tea.
Charles Bingley could not take his eyes off the blond angel sitting and talking to his sisters.
It was true that she was talking, but his sisters were still awestruck to be in the home of such a wealthy gentleman and his family.
He knew that she was only around ten, but she was already as tall as Louisa, and he had never seen any lady that came close to her in beauty.
It was, in fact, the first time that the fourteen-year-old lad had truly noticed one of the opposite gender.
Young Master Bingley was aware enough to know that the chances of a match with one so much above their station would be a reach but trying to avoid admiring her was futile.
The mistress of Longbourn was telling Mrs Bingley about the neighbourhood and was not surprised that the shallow, social climbing woman was only interested in what people had, not who they were.
Tammy Bennet knew that this would be an exceedingly long visit and hoped that the Bingleys would not stay beyond the requisite half hour.
She had talked about a dinner invitation with Thomas, and he had left it up to her; she was now relieved that she had not issued it.
The two men excused themselves and retired to the master’s study. Bennet offered his guest a drink from the port and cognac on a tray, but Mr Bingley demurred. “A report has reached me that your youngest has been extremely rude to some of my servants,” Bennet said, not beating around the bush.
“I apologise on behalf of my family, Mr Bennet, and will make sure that Caroline understands as soon as we return to Netherfield,” a chagrined Bingley stated. The two spoke about the area until it was time for the Bingleys to depart, thankfully just as the half hour concluded.
After a verbal tongue lashing, Caroline lost her allowance for three months, and both Mrs Bingley and Louisa were admonished not to provide her with any of theirs unless they wanted to lose theirs as well.
A very sullen Caroline knew she had to change her outward behaviour towards the servants who were not theirs; she could not understand why any of an elevated station cared about lowly servants.
Her mother had been most assured when she taught her daughters that servants were of no consequence and could be treated as she pleased.
Louisa was pleased that she would leave for her school in but a day or two.