Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Longbourn
Meryton, Hertfordshire
“Why Nathaniel Gardiner, you have grown more than six inches!” Elizabeth exclaimed as her cousins tumbled down from her uncle’s carriage.
Edward Gardiner handed down his heavy and ungainly wife as greetings were exchanged. “I cannot express how grateful we are for the invitation, Bennet.”
“It is just as convenient for us to have you stay while we are gone.” Bennet turned to the house. “Come in. Charlotte awaits you in the drawing room if you would like a cup of tea, Madeleine.”
There were a great many exclamations and everyone excitedly spoke over one another as greetings were exchanged again in the parlour with Charlotte, and the children were herded upstairs by Lydia and Kitty.
“How are you, Charlotte?” Mrs Gardiner asked.
She liked the new Mrs Bennet and had invited her to address her informally when Charlotte had been kind enough to invite the Gardiners for Christmas the first year after Mrs Bennet had died.
It was a gesture that meant the world to Mrs Gardiner and her husband, and whatever Fanny Bennet might have thought of the matter, the Gardiners regarded Charlotte as family.
“I still struggle to recover my strength,” Charlotte admitted. “I am eager to be off on Monday. Then perhaps I can recover, without my mother hindering me.”
“Lady Lucas is still being difficult, I take it?” Mr Gardiner asked.
Difficult was an understatement. It seemed to matter not that she still had an unmarried daughter at home who needed her.
Lady Lucas would not be separated from her eldest for more than a day.
She entered Longbourn through the kitchens each afternoon like she owned the place, harangued the cook about the menus, and went into fits every time she found her daughter out of bed.
The day she learned that the family was going away for the summer and that she was not invited was a scene Longbourn would not soon forget.
Mr Bennet informed Sir William and Lady Lucas of the journey in his study, and after some disagreement, the young ladies in the drawing room heard and saw Lady Lucas leaving the house in a rage.
“You treated your first wife with shameful disrespect, Mr Bennet, and I will not abandon my daughter to the same! I will care for her and ensure her happiness! You cannot stop me from going to Sanditon! Indeed, Sir William and I can holiday anywhere we like!”
It was rather an awkward moment when it was realised that the couple had stormed out and left in their carriage without their daughter Maria.
“Sanditon, Papa?” Kitty asked curiously.
“Not another word unless you wish to remain in Meryton to mind your Gardiner cousins, Kitty Bennet.” Mr Bennet eyed Maria Lucas meaningfully before his daughters understood his intention.
The Lucases would never disturb them on holiday, because they had no idea to where the Bennets were travelling.
Indeed, Sir William and Lady Lucas were under the impression that the family was leaving the following Friday, instead of early Monday morning.
By the time it was realised, the Bennets would have left the county entirely and would definitely not travel to Sanditon.
Mr Bennet was determined that his wife should have a rest from her mother.
Mr and Mrs Gardiner learned all of this with kind and well meant humour, and listened to the plans of the Bennets for their journey for some minutes before finally Mr Gardiner eyed his wife and then cleared his throat.
“Bennet, I have a matter of business to discuss with you. It concerns the girls, so perhaps they should remain.”
“A matter of business with me and my girls? How curious.” Bennet encouraged Gardiner to continue.
“Well, the investment in question was not matured when Fanny passed, so there was little point in bringing up the matter then. The funds that she saved from her pin money during your marriage were invested at Fanny’s request before she died, and now the investment has borne fruit,” Gardiner attempted to explain.
“Her pin money?” Bennet exclaimed. “I have never heard of any such investment, Gardiner.”
“I mentioned it to you more than once several years ago, Thomas. When Fanny gave me quite a large sum and asked me to invest it for her.” Gardiner raised a brow.
“Recall that Christmas when Lizzy fell out of the tree attempting to collect mistletoe? I brought it up thrice on that visit, and twice the year after as well.”
Mr Bennet frowned. “I thought you were trying to convince me to invest in something. We did not have the spare funds.”
“I am happy to hear you pay so much attention when I speak. I was properly straightforward with you.” Gardiner frowned.
“Of course you were, and Mr Bennet, this explains the difference in the household spending,” Charlotte spoke up.
When everyone looked at her, she continued.
“After I married Mr Bennet, I was determined to stop waste, for it is a detriment to my future. I expected to find a great deal of waste, for we know how Mrs Bennet always made it seem like she spent every penny she had. I did not even need to cut back on very much before we had a great deal of money left at the end of each quarter. So I asked Mr Bennet about it.”
“And of course, I had never audited Fanny’s household ledgers.
Not once,” Bennet grumbled. “As Charlotte points out, Fanny was skilled in making it appear she had spent every available penny. I bought as many books and as much port as I wished, since she would not save, and the rest she spent on entertaining and lace, or so I thought. When we investigated the ledgers and household journals, we learned that my first wife was uncommonly shrewd with her income, though we never discovered where the unspent money went.”
“You really are terrible with money, Bennet,” Mr Gardiner tutted. “How could you not know what your wife was and was not spending?”
“It was not in her strongbox, and we spent months searching the house.” Charlotte shook her head. “So she gave it to you for saving?”
“It must have been quite a sum, Gardiner,” Bennet said.
“It was, which is why I attempted to speak to you about it several times, Bennet.” Gardiner rolled his eyes.
“Since you married, until her death, Fanny saved close to five hundred pounds a year, nearly ten thousand pounds by her death. Obviously it could not all have been her pin money, but if she saved it from the household accounts that were her responsibility to manage, I could see little harm. I invested it, at her request, several times over. Her intentions, so I understand, were to use it in the same manner as her dowry, to live off of the interest after you died, and then to split it between the girls after her own death.”
“So, our mother left us money?” Jane asked.
“Could she even do that?” Mary said. “Could it even be legal, without Papa’s permission?”
“How much is there?” Elizabeth put forth the question they all really wanted to know.
“Lizzy, you will find this difficult to believe, but your mother was weak to investing just like some men are powerless when it comes to gambling at the tables. She made money a few fortunate times, and then she wanted to take enormous risks. She was very lucky she did not lose all several times over. I have no idea how she came to find some of the schemes she wished to invest in, but as I told you, your mother was shrewd. When she made her last investment, she had sixteen thousand from her previous ventures. I felt she had quite enough and ought to stop. But this last one, it made me nervous. It was quite risky, and eventually she was so insistent that I capitulated, and made a sizable investment of my own, because I feared that if the scheme did not have enough support, it would fail. If only I had invested as much as Fanny did, I would be a great deal richer, but I cannot complain. What I took in will provide a handsome dowry for Dorothy, and a sum to get Henry started when he leaves university. He will never have to enter the army, that is for certain.”
“How much is there, Gardiner?” Bennet insisted.
“Forty-three thousand pounds.” Mr Gardiner’s voice was suddenly very serious.
Jane slumped over the arm of her chair in disbelief.
Charlotte suddenly began to laugh and laugh, her chuckles gaining enthusiasm until she was giggling madly.
“I think, Jane,” Charlotte giggled girlishly. “That your worries about being a burden to your brother are behind you.”
“But what about Papa?” Everyone turned to Mary, who seemed outraged. “Mama’s pin money was never five hundred a year. She took money from Longbourn without Papa’s permission. She was stealing from the estate! We cannot just expect Papa to turn it over to us. Papa, is what Mama did wrong?”
“It is hard to say, I suppose, Mary,” Mr Bennet said thoughtfully.
“Well, she was your wife and saved your funds to give to your children eventually. You must be the one to decide if she was wrong.” Mrs Gardiner said.
“Although I must say, even I observed Edward attempt to speak to you about the matter in this very room, and you were the one who put him off, Thomas.”
“Madeleine is correct,” Mr Bennet said decisively.
“I placed my first wife entirely in control of my household. I never questioned her spending as long as I had my books, and though she made a great deal of effort to hide the amounts from me to look like they had been spent, the fact remains that she appeared to go through hundreds of pounds more each year than she ought, and I never investigated it, which is as good as giving permission. She may not have offered it to me for books, but why should she? I had all the books I wanted already, and she was the one who had worked so hard to save while maintaining appearances so very well.”
“I cannot imagine how she did it.” Charlotte shook her head. “I must study her ledgers and household journals again much more closely now that we know where the money went. I hope that Mr Bennet and I save half as well for Lucas.”
“That is a very good point, and we must do it together when we return,” Mr Bennet agreed with her.
“What will you do about the money, Bennet?” Mr Gardiner asked pointedly.
The room seemed to hold its breath collectively while they waited for Mr Bennet to announce whether he would divide the funds the way Mrs Bennet intended, or if he would use the funds himself, as he was certainly entitled to do.
“The funds will be divided among Fanny’s daughters, as is proper,” Mr Bennet announced.
“Though I will enjoy the liberty of using the interest until they wed. The money was saved by her during her time as mistress here. Though the current Mrs Bennet has no proper widow’s pension, she does have her son to provide her with security, and we have time to save together to put something by for her. ”
“Oh Papa, all of it? Will you not set something by for yourself?” Jane objected.
“No, Jane, I need not.” Mr Bennet was firm. “With your mother’s dowry included, you will all have nine thousand pounds and a bit more to your dowries. I cannot imagine that you will not find husbands quickly now.”
“I would like to insist that three thousand be given to Charlotte,” Elizabeth interrupted. “Forty thousand to split amongst us is enough. We do not need to split the last three thousand so awkwardly. Papa, I beg you to please agree.”
“I concur with Lizzy,” Mary said. “I would be unhappy indeed if something was not set by for Lucas’s mother.
We lived under fear of poverty for years.
Let history not repeat itself if we can help it.
Yes, Lucas will take care of our stepmother.
But that does not mean she ought not have something of her own.
I could never be easy otherwise. It is a worthy idea, Lizzy. ”
“I agree with Mary and Lizzy, of course.” Jane pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed her eyes. “Ought we to ask Lydia and Kitty? I am sure they will agree.”
“I am certain they will as well, but they are so young, and they do not need to be consulted over such a small sum when their fortunes have changed so drastically.” Mary shook her head.
“I intend no disrespect to my youngest daughters, but I am with Mary,” Mr Bennet announced. “It is a small sum to be split amongst five. I do not think they would object.”
He looked at his wife. “We could build a proper dower house. With the seven hundred you brought with you, we could build something comfortable and genteel indeed, and keep the three thousand, and whatever else we manage to set aside for your pension.”
Charlotte reddened. “Are you sure? I am certain my predecessor did not set aside money intended for me.”
“I am certain that even my mother would understand that the birth of your son brought each of her daughters another measure of security besides what she sought to provide,” Jane insisted.
“She was a more shrewd woman than we gave her credit for, and she knew you well. I hope she would agree that your kindness and willingness to house us if we needed it would merit such a gesture.”
“Well…” Charlotte trailed off, then gave the young ladies an impish grin. “We should prepare to get you to Ramsgate and find you all husbands!”
“It seems that my wife is feeling better already,” Mr Bennet joked.
“It is a shame she hid it so long, Mr Bennet, but your late wife provided the dowries a young lady needs to marry well, and now, I shall do my part to put her daughters forward in her absence,” Charlotte declared.
“Oh dear,” Mary said to Elizabeth. “I do not like the sound of that.”
“Nor do I,” agreed Elizabeth. “We must endeavour to remind our stepmother that her purpose in Ramsgate is to get well.”
“Speak for yourselves.” Jane grinned. “I should still like to be married for love, and now that I have a proper dowry, I will take all the help my well-meaning stepmama is willing to give me.”
“Jane has been too much with Lucas,” Mary quipped to Elizabeth. “She is going mad.”
“Young ladies do that, eventually.” Mrs Gardiner reached over and patted Jane’s hand. “Now, my dear, you may meet a fine gentleman and fall in love as much as you chuse.”