January 1793
“I have received a note from Susannah, my dear. She writes that she and Ollie will visit us tomorrow on their way to see his relations and wish to stay one night,” Thomas Bennet informed his wife.
“I am surprised Ollie could get away from his little farm,” Frances Bennet said. “Still, I will take pleasure in seeing your sister again. It has been far too long. Do they bring their child with them? She must be six months old by now, and we have not yet met her.”
“Elizabeth was born at the end of February, so she is six weeks shy of her first birthday,” Thomas replied.
“Oh, that is right. I forgot she is barely two months older than our Mary. I do recall that little Elizabeth is almost three years younger than Jane, however. Do you remember when we told her she had a girl cousin? Let me see, yes, it was about three months before Jane’s birthday that the babe was born, and Jane was confused about why my middle was still so large if the child had been born already.
She pestered me for days to show her the baby, asking why I had put her back inside before she had a chance to see her. ”
Thomas laughed heartily at the memory, and Fanny joined in.
“Let us hope Jane is not so confused now that she nears the wise old age of four years and has had Mary for her companion these eight and a half months. And I do hope she does not speak of such inappropriate matters in company,” he chuckled.
The next day, not long after breakfast, a hired coach arrived at Longbourn to deliver Susannah and her husband and child.
Thomas greeted his sister and brother-in-law warmly.
He had been blessed to visit the pair several times over the years of their marriage and therefore had a better understanding of “Ollie” than Fanny did.
“I am interested in hearing the story meant for Fanny this time, my lord, but what of the truth can you reveal to me?” Thomas asked the Earl Rowe quietly while Fanny was occupied in fawning over Susannah’s baby.
“Let us remove to your study, if you do not mind,” Lord Rowe replied.
Once they were settled in matching elbow chairs beside the fire, Rowe spoke.
“Susie and I have a mission on the continent—”
“Not France, I beg you! It is not safe!” Thomas put in.
“No, not France. We go to the Lower Netherlands, to Antwerp, in fact,” Rowe said.
“That is somewhat better, although the area has seen its own military unrest in recent years,” Thomas reflected.
“England has many allies there, though. We will be in the city only two nights, but travel each way is unpredictable at present. What with the winter storms and expanding French aggression, our best case is to return on the evening of January 30th.”
“I see. I appreciate your informing me before you go. Your missions have been ever closer together, and it has been too long since I last saw Susannah. I will make the most of my time with her and your daughter before you take them away again. Unless you are going alone this time?”
“Susie is needed for this particular mission, but we cannot take Elizabeth. We had hoped you would keep her here until we return.”
“Of course. I welcome the opportunity for my daughters to know their little cousin, even if for only a short visit,” Thomas said.
“Thank you.” Rowe hesitated. “Of course, all of the usual stipulations remain in effect. Fanny must not know who I am. Nobody must know Elizabeth’s identity.”
“Yes, yes. She will be known hereabouts only as my niece, the daughter of a poor farmer with whom Susie ran away, destroying her life. While I do not understand the necessity of such extreme subterfuge, I do not at all mind Fanny having no avenue to attempt to raise our status through you.”
“I thank you. It is for Susie’s safety, and now for Elizabeth’s.” Rowe appeared pensive. “Perhaps it will not always be thus.”
“Is there more you are not telling me, Rowe?”
“Much, my friend. I wish I could tell you all, but I can say only that this mission is of vital importance to protect the interests of the Crown.”
“So much that a peer must attend to it?” Bennet raised his brows.
“We are meeting important people in Antwerp, so yes. Perhaps if my ducal father held a marquessate and not only an earldom with no estate attached to it, then another would have been found to go in my stead.” Rowe grinned.
“Alas, as it stands, Susie and I have the requisite authority, experience, and language skills for the best chance of success. Besides, you know that as an earl, my duties at the Home Office, though discreet, have always required much of me. Parliament is likely to soon establish the Alien Office, but I have already been working in that branch unofficially.”
“But your work must be well-known. I do not understand the need for secrecy.”
“Only the surface of my work is known, Bennet. While it is true that the House of Lords is aware of much of my work with French immigrants, most peers have no idea of my involvement with the war effort or that I have been traveling to the continent for the past several years.”
“And would it be so bad for them to know? You are working for England, after all.”
“Indeed I am.” Rowe gazed pensively at the flames burning before them.
“France has infiltrated the kingdom more than you can know. Traitors hide easily in town and in the countryside. While France is unfriendly with England, it is safest for my family—you and Fanny and the girls included—to have no known connection with me. If I were discovered to be working so thoroughly against France, none of us would be safe.”
“I think I understand,” Thomas said. He watched the flames crackle for several minutes as he considered all Rowe had said and was about to undertake. “Well, do not worry about Elizabeth while you perform your necessary duties. She will be safe with us at Longbourn.”
Rowe clasped Thomas’s shoulders in gratitude, and the brothers returned to their wives to find Jane and Mary had been brought down to meet Elizabeth, who Thomas now saw was a stunning child with soft, dark curls already beginning to frame her cherubic face.
She stood beside Jane, who had her mother’s straight, golden hair, and pointed to Mary sitting on the floor with a doll.
“Maaa-ry,” Jane coaxed. “This is my sister, Maaa-ry.”
“Papa!” Elizabeth’s eyes flashed as she noticed her father had entered the room. She ran toward him, and he took two large steps to reach her.
“Yes, Lizzy,” Rowe moved to kneel beside his daughter. “Are you making the acquaintance of your cousins?”
“Jane! Mawy!” Elizabeth said excitedly, pointing to each girl in turn.
“She is very bright to learn new words so quickly,” Thomas said.
Both of the girl’s parents looked at her with admiration and love unmistakably written across their faces.
“Shall Lizzy be allowed to share my bed, Mama? She is much older than Mary, so she should stay with me,” Jane requested.
The adults chuckled.
“We have space in the nursery for Elizabeth to have her own bed tonight, Jane,” Fanny said, turning back to Susannah and missing the frown on Jane’s little face.
“Do not worry, sweet one,” Thomas said to Jane. “You will have some days with your cousin, so you can surely bear to be parted with her at night. And we can move her bed quite close to yours. Will that do?”
The grin that spread across Jane’s face hit Thomas anew with a terror of what he would have to face in a decade or so when the young men began to notice her. She was the most beautiful child he had ever seen, and everyone who saw her agreed.
“Some days?” Fanny asked. “I thought you were leaving in the morning.”
“We hoped to beg your kindness for a bit longer,” Rowe said, toning down his cultured accent enough for Fanny to believe he was merely Ollie the Farmer.
Thomas knew most of his work abroad required Rowe to portray a high-born gentleman, usually himself, so he rarely had to deceive, but he did well enough in this situation.
“Susie and I have business, and we need to leave Lizzy here for a couple o’weeks, if it ain’t too inconvenient. ”
“What sort of business requires Susannah and not her baby?” Fanny demanded.
Fanny was generally a welcoming hostess, but she held a particular prejudice against his brother-in-law.
Perhaps giving Lord Rowe this low-born identity had not been the best idea, especially now that a child would be affected by it.
In truth, they had told Fanny that Susannah had married a farmer, which was true.
Lord Rowe was master of a substantial estate and was responsible for its farmland, but Fanny had believed he was barely a step up from a tenant farmer.
“I must visit my uncle to request a loan for farm equipment,” Lord Rowe explained. “He likes Susie, so she will help my case, but he does not like children.”
“Hmm. Very well. Lizzy seems like a bright, happy child,” Fanny said. “I am sure she will get along fine for a few days.”
“Thank you, Fanny,” Susannah said. “We will return for her as soon as we can.”
That evening, Lord Rowe insisted on reading to Lizzy before she went to sleep. While father and daughter performed their bedtime ritual, Fanny worked on the mending in the drawing room, and Thomas and Susannah sat in his study.
“I am worried about you, Susannah,” Thomas said. “This is not a safe time to go anywhere on the continent.”
“I know, but we will be quick. France is a danger to all around it, and we must help in the effort to contain its evil.”
Thomas sighed. “I trust Oliver. You know I do. He is a good man, very sensible. But how much longer will you go on like this? Now that you have Elizabeth, will you settle down?”
“We have discussed it, and I have been home far more of late, but this is an important mission, and he needs my assistance. Oliver has rejected many missions in the past year, and he is making plans to stay home, as well. It is difficult with so much unrest, however.”
“Yes, and your work is admirable—Though I am permitted to know so little, I do know that. Still, I worry for my sister.”
“Thank you for your concern, Thomas.” Susannah looked intently at a landscape of Longbourn estate that their mother had painted. “If anything should happen to us—”
“Susannah, no! You must return.”
“Of course, we must,” she placated him. “However, if anything should happen, you must promise me to care for Elizabeth.”
“Yes, yes, of course. I pray that will not be necessary, but you may rely on me.”
“Thank you, Brother.” Susannah shifted in her seat as if to change her attitude. “We will leave early tomorrow afternoon, so we may spend a bit more time with Elizabeth when she wakes. The overnight mail coach from London is the fastest way to Dover.”
“Why Dover? Could you not be quicker through Harwich?”
“Perhaps, but we wish to shorten our time in the water at this time of year.”
Thomas nodded, and his sister continued.
“Assuming the sea voyage from Dover to Ostend is not too treacherous, the roads are yet open to Antwerp, and all of our contacts are promptly in place, we hope to return within a fortnight.”
“Godspeed,” was all Thomas could say.