Chapter 29 #2
“Sir Rupert, we do not charge people with witchcraft any longer,” warned Sir Dudley. “This is 1812, please do not offend us with antiquated fearmongering.”
“Indeed,” said Dr Klein.
“Hear, hear,” Lord Matlock grumbled. “Is this the best you can do?”
“Please continue, Sir Rupert.” Dr Sturt gestured.
“I have done my best to be kind to my aunt since I inherited from my uncle.” Sir Rupert continued.
“Cousin!” Lady Barry barked. “Do not pretend a close familial relation to my husband or me. You were only his third cousin once removed. You never met me, nor Sir Charles in his lifetime, and he could not have given a tinker’s damn about you.
In fact, he neglected his estate due to his disappointment at having no sons.
He would have left the entailed estate to the church or to a perfect stranger before you, if he could have. ”
“Lady Barry, you will not interrupt.” Dr Sturt frowned at her in disapproval. “Outbursts like this will not help you.”
Sir Rupert cleared his throat. “In spite of the distant connection, my sister and I did everything we could to create a close connection with Lady Barry. Here was our relation, distant perhaps, but ageing. Widowed, and quite alone, her only child long dead. She ought to have been grateful for relations who wished to care for her. Instead, she left Derbyshire before we even arrived. I have visited her as often as I could, but she prefers to remain reclusive. Even in Hertfordshire, where she resided for some years, and here in Ramsgate, she admits no callers. She refuses to attend church in her own parish, and she never stirred herself from this house until she did so for the benefit of this chit.”
“You will be respectful when you speak of my daughter!” Mr Bennet barked.
“Indeed,” Darcy said. “Miss Bennet is a gentlewoman of good family. We will not hear her disparaged.”
“Recently, a friend wrote to me from London, informing me that Lady Barry has lately altered her will in favour of this young woman, who has nothing whatsoever to do with her. Why would she do something so irrational? What is this gentlewoman to do with her? Only madness, or the vulnerability of age could explain it. My sister and I rushed to her aid at once, but were immediately rebuffed. Not even offered the hospitality of the house. It is highly irregular to live her life in seclusion, on the very precipice of insane behaviour, and then suddenly develop a preference for one young woman without explanation. I hope you will agree.”
Elizabeth knew that such claims were often accepted as truth by society and by physicians.
People of fortune, women especially, could be declared insane by their relations if there was disapproval of their decisions or worry about inheritances.
She was glad that she had called the men.
She had no notion of Priscilla’s father arriving in Ramsgate today, but she was grateful for his appearance.
Sir Dudley and Lord Matlock obviously respected Lady Barry.
The Darcy family cared for her welfare. They would never allow this to happen.
“It is not uncommon to hear of those who have always been eccentric to submit to insanity when they age.” Dr Sturt was grave. “These concerns are not without merit. Reverend Stanley, you say that you have harboured concerns for some years?”
“Stanley, you cannot have a woman declared insane for refusing to give your son a living.” Sir Dudley shook his head. “It is for Lady Barry to decide who she will honour with that distinction.”
“Sir Dudley, you will have your moment to speak,” Dr Sturt admonished. “I wish to hear Reverend Stanley now.”
Reverend Stanley stood again. “Five years ago, Lady Barry heard a scurrilous lie created by malicious tenant farmers who took exception to my son’s refusal to marry their daughter.
Though it had been long expected that she would distinguish him with a living when he received ordination, she suddenly became difficult.
Not only did she refuse to fulfil the expectation, but she also wrote to the bishop.
She prevented my son from being ordained as a minister and ruined his future.
It took funds from my other children to educate him for the law so that he might find employment.
Worse, because I defended my own son, she attempted to revoke my living.
She has travelled for miles to attend services in a parish farther away ever since, damaging my reputation in my own church.
For a year, her madness was openly apparent as she interfered in the future of my son and myself.
What kind of lady meddles in affairs such as these, which are not her business?
Only insanity could be the cause of such vicious and unladylike behaviour. ”
“Does anyone else have a claim to lay against Lady Barry?” Dr Klein asked as Reverend Stanley resumed his seat.
No one volunteered to speak. “In that case, I think it is time to hear from those in the room who are obviously here to defend her. Sir Dudley, you are the magistrate here. Have you observed signs of madness in Lady Barry? What light can you shed to explain her behaviour in the matter of young Mr Stanley?”
The magistrate stood and began to speak.
“Lady Barry moved permanently to Ramsgate perhaps ten years ago, though her family owned Nethercourt House for generations and visited often when she was a younger woman, or so I am told. I understand that her previous home, since the death of her husband, was in Hertfordshire, where she was raised, and there she presumably became acquainted with the family Bennet, and the young woman in question.”
Mr Bennet nodded in agreement, and Sir Dudley continued.
“Since she arrived, she has not been reclusive, precisely, but she does keep to herself. She has always attended church, and even since her disapproval of Reverend Stanley, she has continued to pay the man’s living, and maintain the rectory for his family.
She could let the place fall to pieces and force Stanley to live off his tithes.
It is true that she does not often take callers, but she is–forgive me, Lady Barry, I beg you–ageing in years.
She has never been a person who tolerates nonsense or mischief, and it is not inconceivable that an older widow might prefer to retire quietly and entertain little. ”
“And what of the matter with Stanley’s son?” Dr Klein probed.
“I was not the magistrate then,” Sir Dudley said.
“I took it on only three years ago, after the death of the previous man. If it had been in my hands, I would have had young Stanley arrested and sent up to Sandwich for trial. A tenant of Lord Arlington’s found John Stanley attempting to force himself on the farmer’s young daughter.
There was a fight, and John Stanley was beaten and marched to the door of the magistrate.
The magistrate at the time was old-fashioned.
He believed Stanley when he claimed that the family was only attempting to force a wedding to hide the girl’s complicity in what her father saw.
He blamed the girl, a mere child, for seducing John Stanley, and then Reverend Stanley belaboured the matter in church, until the entire village, even the other farmers and their families on Arlington’s estate, drove the family to abandon their tenancy and leave Ramsgate.
Lady Barry was not the only one to be disgusted and change where she worshipped.
My family did the same, and I hope I do not appear mad to anyone here.
If Lady Barry wrote to the bishop, it was her duty as Stanley’s patroness, and no more.
I would have done the same if I were in her position, and if I may say so, being a man, I likely would have been given more heed.
John Stanley was a vicious boy, and he grew up to be known as an even more vicious man.
Perhaps the lower orders, the other tenants, might have been easily persuaded by their minister to turn against the tenant family, but the genteel residents of Ramsgate found John Stanley distasteful enough that he could never earn a living here as a solicitor, and was obliged to settle and practice farther away.
I certainly would never have given him a living. ”
“How appalling.” Lord Matlock appeared outraged. “The young man ought to have been hanged, or at the very least imprisoned.”
“I beg your pardon!” Stanley stood up and objected.
“Address my father again, and you will indeed find yourself begging. Now sit down,” Viscount Fitzwilliam advised.
“And you are absolutely certain that there is nothing irregular, or at the very least, unladylike, about Lady Barry’s behaviour?” Dr Sturt probed.
“Of course not.” Sir Dudley insisted. “My wife and I visited Lady Barry, along with Lady Arlington, the very day that Sir Rupert arrived in Ramsgate. Do you think we associate with madwomen, sir?”
“She only invited you and your wife in a malicious campaign to have my sister and me excluded from society here in Ramsgate,” Sir Rupert spoke up. “Do not lie and say it is not true.”