April 3, 1812
Four months into her marriage to Jonathan Flint, Clara finally begun to show, her dresses refitted as often as her breasts expanded. Jonny, for all his concerns about never being able to father an heir, rejoiced in her pregnancy. All of Rosings learned of it before their acquaintances in Hertfordshire, and by then Gideon and Edith returned to Netherfield in obscurity. The many nights spent in Lady de Bourg's company revealed to the Flints one inescapable truth – that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet would not be able to marry in peace. Miss de Bourg often remarked how it was that her mother pushed the match when Fitzwilliam Darcy already informed her of the impossibility. With Mrs. Jenkins not near, she confided in Mrs. Flint that her mother ignored whatever she disliked.
" Miss Anne," Clara dared one day. " Are you so frail that childbirth would take your life?"
Anne, a sickly looking lady, nodded. " What am I to do, Mrs. Flint, than bear my mother's disapproval. I was born defective, now I am a burden she can not cast off. Has Mr. Flint not told you – she believes any marriage with the man earning less than 8,000 to be forbidden,"
" Surely there are suitors-"
" But none who want an invalid of a wife unable to bear a child. You must understand while I have a dowry and Rosings, my body will perish during the birthing and I wish to live,"
Clara paced the drawing room, the glazings that provided much light to the interior of the home illuminating her path, hands held behind her back. Nothing aided her argument, and no argument could withstand the storm called Lady Catherine de Bourg. " At least you will always have a home," Even as she said it, it sounded wrong.
" What comfort is that if my mother screeches at me and any unfortunate guests? The only reason Mr. Flint visits is to keep my mother away from the Flint estate, and she mocks his bad leg. You come with him as a proper escort if ever we are alone and I do not wish Mrs. Jenkins near,"
" Do you wish to marry?"
" I wish to be loved, Mrs. Flint, not to be a pawn in my mother's games,"
Games. Not exactly the word choice Clara had in mind, but it fit well enough to not debate it.
" You do not have many alternatives, Miss Anne. But perhaps if you were to consider a marriage with someone who matched your desires – possibly take an infant and claim it as yours-"
" As I am certain others have done before, but pray tell, who will be mad enough to agree to that?"
Clara sighed. " You are right, it is wrong," She gave up on the task of freeing Anne from her mother. " But if you visited the Flint estate instead, we could walk the hedge gardens and you could help me help you,"
Anne's laughter echoed in the near empty drawing room grand in size and expensively decorated with pearl inlaid and comfortable furniture. A grandfather clock across the fireplace showed the time, its ticking near silent except to the less occupied. " No one can help me. My mother is Lady Catherine de Bourg,"
" Then we may take comfort in that when you turn one and twenty your mother's permission becomes obsolete," Lady de Bourg, after all, could not disobey English law, and if Anne truly gained the courage, she could run off to Gretna Green or one the less known border villages that catered to such wayward couples.
Anne sighed deeply. " What a small comfort that is still four years away. But at least I have you to depend on, save for the visits to your brother," The hope in her eyes crushed Clara more than the situation, as Clara realized she inspired an impossible hope that would never be reality. Even if four years did pass, and Lady de Bourg could not prevent her daughter's union of choice, then Lady de Bourg simply would make life extremely difficult for Anne. The depth of the de Bourg's pockets sunk deep.
" It is odd that Gideon hasn't begged my return yet, I admit. But I am no more rushed to visit him. Uncle John is most attentive and Jonny will not be able to accompany me. I do not wish to travel while pregnant as the motion will excite sickness," Anne de Bourg listened to Clara prattle on about the swelling of her breasts, the increased need to relieve her bowels and bladder often, and the exhaustion that plagued her. When she departed Rosings with Lucas, Anne listened to Mrs. Jenkins recommend Clara Flint not longer be permitted an audience with Anne again. Lady de Bourg, when asked why, learned that Mrs. Flint spread seeds of chaos in the perfectly ordered house.
April 17, 1812
A fortnight passed and no invitation to dine at Rosings extended to the Flints. Jonny, after placing his ear to his wife's growing bump to listen for a heart beat or to feel movement, reluctantly pulled away from his wife. " How far along did the midwife estimate?" He tried to be present for when the mid-wife visited, but business on the estate pulled him away at the time.
" A month, perhaps two. The symptoms are early, yet advanced enough that she's hesitant to provide a final answer," Clara answered him, taking care to stroll the drawing room ever so often to keep circulation flowing in her legs. " I would not worry about how far along I am, if I were you. Better to pray for a healthy child than an accurate guess on my current progress,"
Lucas nodded. " Mama miscarried twice before I was born, and you nearly died at birth, Jonathan,"
Jonny moved behind Clara to adjust the pillows for her. " I was curious,"
" Curiosity killed the bird, and it is nothing to worry about now," Clara assured him. " Besides my brother has finally written me, and I intend to answer it immediately. Adelaine has been very quiet about her sister's marriage, and I am dying to know if the Bennets further embarrassed themselves. Lydia did show great promise of dragging her family through the mud,"
" Ah, yes the newest married, Mrs. Wickham," Lucas mused out loud from recollections of their past conversations over letters received from Elizabeth Bennet and Georgiana Darcy. " Pray tell, has Mr. Darcy resumed his courtship of Elizabeth Bennet?"
Uncle John glanced up from the chess board, waiting for Jonathan to rejoin him for their current game. Jonathan finally did, only to keep asking Clara if she needed anything. " Mrs. Chambers is a bell away," She snapped back each time he asked.
" Resumed and as of recent they are betrothed, though the date is not for another month as Lady de Bourg spoke with the Bishop of Canterbury. Something about something, and the Bishop is reviewing marriage documents to see if they are valid, though I suspect not as Mr. Darcy is the one who needs to sign them, banns only last three months, and even a special license does have a limit on how long it lasts,"
" How very meddlesome of her," Uncle John remarked as he captured Jonny's queen with a triumphant grin. " And to think Lucas might've been a good match for Miss de Bourg,"
" Not if Lady de Bourg insists on her 8,000 per annum rule," Clara reminded him as she turned one of her needlepoints into a quilt for their shared bedchamber. " The living at Hunsford provides just over 1,000 per annum, a respectable living to be certain, and Lucas has no fortune to speak of as he is a second son,"
" I may not be able to enter the militia, sister, but I will be able to enter a profession, and I did attend Eton and been tutored since a young age," Lucas defended his skillset, abandoning his view of the window in favor of being closer to his father and brother. " And it is not as if I wish to be a parson,"
" Nor would I wish you to be a parson. You are far better to make yourself useful to society by practicing a profession that will allow you to purchase you an estate, or perhaps your children if they do not foolishly spend what you save,"
Lucas nodded. " A doctor or banker even,"
" Both a noble profession, but you did not attend Cambridge or Oxford," John dashed his dream. "And it is a tiring profession with no rest. On demand and always expected to save lives when the Good Lord takes them. You should direct yourself more towards becoming a barrister. I would gladly front you the funds to undergo the schooling,"
Clara stopped her quilting and cocked her head. " That is a very good idea, Uncle John. You should attempt it, Lucas. It is only three to five years, and after that you could make as much 4,000 per annum, more than Jonny will make when he inherits," Now that she thought of it, hadn't Lucas mentioned becoming a solicitor? He already held some experience as a clerk in a legal office, and a solicitor was not out of reach.
Uncle John reset the chess board. " I will arrange for the funds to be transferred, and you will leave Kent for London once the application is accepted," He announced all too cheerfully, as Jonny cast a long look at Clara again before allowing his father the first move. Lucas offered a smile to Clara, who returned it, all too glad to be of assistance. In her family's clan, they held claim to at least 2 barristers, a number of solicitors, four clergymen, and a knighted militia veteran. Now they could add a barrister to the Flint clan as well.
February 2, 1812 – April 18, 1812
Mr. Bingley's business called him to London once a fortnight, Jane Bingley taking the reins often enough that she learned how to properly set a table, entertain, and to speak with the steward on matters that required immediate urgency for Charles. Much to her displeasure, while Charles cut all ties with the law firm that built his father's fortune, he did not wish to actively manage the estate and attend to all its functions and demands. The 5,000 per annum started to shrink in small increments as all discretion for cost had been handed over to the steward, and by indirectness, Jane.
Only having been tutored in the basics, she hired tutors to instruct her in the playing of the pianoforte; speaking, reading, and writing French as well as Latin, and to a degree, a minor education in running an estate. Charles did not care if she stepped out of the accepted boundaries as long as he held a fortune that earned him 5,000 per annum. Disallowed from ever seeing her mother and father again, Jane often wrote to Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary to keep up to date on the events at Longbourn. When news of Lydia's marriage to Wickham relayed to her, she hid it from Charles and refused to reveal anything truly demeaning about her family.
She discovered that his attentions in Hertfordshire had been as shallow as all courtships started and extended well into their married life. A pained heart resigned to the fact that she married for wealth now, as nothing of love lingered in her chest. As the months passed and no symptoms of pregnancy surfaced, she feared herself barren. In an effort to provide herself relief from the Bingley estate and running it, she suggested to Charles one evening after entertaining their neighbors that they visit Mr. and Mrs. Flint in Kent. " They are connected to the de Bourgs by proximity of estates, and I have word from Elizabeth that Clara is with child. She would like female companionship in a house full of males, as it is lonely here,"
Ever so happy to keep his 'beloved angel' pleased with her surroundings, Charles immediately agreed. " Absolutely. While we're there, Mr. Flint might show me the crops he planted, and how an estate of 3,000 per annum maintains itself. It is a substandard we can compare this estate too," Not so entirely withdrawn from the Bingley estate, Charles did wish for it to succeed and remain profitable. With half the desire and determination to make it so, his education on the matter also remained half as affective.
Jane nodded, having learned not to challenge him lest he become impatient with her and call her a simpleton. Only once did he mention the 3,500 dowry, and the settlement of 10,000 he placed on her if she should die assured her that he did care for her. Or at least he wanted society to believe he cared for her. To her, 10,000 assured her a comfortable life for a number of years before she needed to remarry, if the unfortunate event arose. Still, she feared his reproach for her lack of fortune and submitted to whatever he agreed to. Lately, she discovered she could ask for anything and it would be granted. Wisdom ordered her to use this new discovery wisely.
" And while you have Mrs. Flint's confidence, inquire to the matters of Miss de Bourg. I have a colleague with a considerable fortune – a barrister who earns nearly 12,000 in gratuity – that wishes to become landed gentry. Miss de Bourg is unmarried and Lady de Bourg, although hasn't presented her, talks much of her when she goes to town,"
" Would it not be simpler if this colleague were to join us?"
" His schedule for court demands he not be absent for the next three months, but you are much more intelligent than I give credit,"
Jane took the minor slight quite well considering she earned it for her lack of ambition before his proposal. " I believe that the easiest avenue is the best if it uses the least resources, Charles," She did not expound upon how she came upon this belief, fondly remembering the near one-sided conversations they held in Netherfield. If he only prattled on more, it'd be easier for her to nod along and just agree – like her father did to her mother. Had she married someone exactly like her mother? Fortune and honor aside, did Charles Bingley match Mr. Wickham in worthlessness?
" You appear troubled again. What is it?"
She smiled and looked down at the white sauce smothering the cooked duck. " I miss Lizzy. She always had something to say that would make life seem so more amusing. I wish for her visit after her and Mr. Darcy are married and honeymooned,"
" Mr. Darcy spends his time at Netherfield until Lady de Bourg ends her obstruction of his marriage. I already extended the open invitation once he wrote to me last week about it," Charles informed her between bites of food. " How long do you wish Mrs. Darcy to stay? A fortnight? A month?"
Jane considered the answer. " I believe that a month would be preferred but I understand Pemberley is grand, and I would not wish to keep her away from the estate long," Especially considering that the mistress of the estate still held a crucial role of support to the Lord and Master of it. No, as much as she wished Lizzy stay longer, it would inopportune Mr. Darcy too much.
Charles nodded, smiled wide, and then mentioned that his sister would return from Bath to stay a fortnight before she traveled to Brighton with her second cousins to spend the season sea bathing. " While Caroline is here, if you have any complaints, if she invades your authority whatsoever, tell me and I resolve it," He assured her repeatedly before feeling the matter settled. Jane, however, feared Caroline's tongue and cold civility more than her meddling. If anyone learned that Charles did not manage his own estate, then he'd lose any respectability in the Commons and London.
" Charles, will you be returning to London soon? I would like for us to spend more time together, perhaps we might tour England – Lizzy suggested several sites when I told her that we postponed the honeymoon for more practical reasons,"
" I will not be returning to London until after the visit with the Flints, and when I go, I will make arrangements for possible sea bathing. I hear it cures all ills,"
Remembering her mother's penchant for all things luxurious, Jane nodded. " Yes, that sounds lovely,"
" Not nearly as lovely as you, My Darling," Charles abandoned her to the drawing room where she played the pianoforte and he to the Billiards room. Now more than ever, Jane missed Longbourn. Her loneliness did not last long, as Clara wrote back days later that they were most certainly welcome to visit Kent and that a room would be prepared. Charles helped Jane pack her best dresses, as Clara warned they might be asked to dine with Lady de Bourg, and the coach delivered them to the Flint Estate punctually by noon on April 18th.
Clara waited with Lucas for their arrival. " Jonny and Uncle John are walking the fields, as the drainage failed in one field and drowned half the crops. We're hoping to salvage what we can before the health is affected. The tenants in that area are having transportation difficulty, and the work animals miserable from the lack of dryness,"
Charles Bingley and Lucas Flint sized each other up before shaking hands. Jane accepted Clara's arm. " I'll show you to the room, and then we can walk the garden. I try to stay active for the baby's sake more than mine. The mid-wife said the birth be easier if I stayed active, and a stillbirth might be avoided,"
The natural beauty admired the clearly pregnant Clara wishing she shared the same condition. " Aye,"
" I turned the needlepoints into a quilt. I had been thinking too, about selling them so that I might make extra coin for spending, but then I realized that it'd be too tiresome on my health. Jonny agreed it a good idea however and encouraged it. He said that the coin earned could be put toward my settlement, and the jointure might increase it if earns more than a set amount,"
" How very generous of him," Jane remarked quietly as they lead the way into the house. Lucas engaged Mr. Bingley in conversation about his new land and house, Charles replying in kind and eventually inquiring about his leg. " I am glad you are well and happy, no matter what Caroline might've said about your husband,"
Clara lowered onto a chaise. " Caroline says many things, Jane. I take none of them personally," She pulled a quilt in-progress from a large, round basket woven from ribbon and sticks. " Neither should you,"
Placing herself at an angle toward Clara and away from the gentlemen, Jane nodded. " Clara, even if what Caroline said is true, no one can say that an heir was not produced. Mr. Flint's injury is enough to limit his mobility, and were it not, you have always observed society's strictures," Now Clara's brow rose. " But forgive me for speaking out of turn, I had only wanted to congratulate you on your pregnancy,"
" It had come rather soon into the marriage, I admit. I fully expected to not be able to bear a child for quite some months, possibly a year. My own mother had a difficult time conceiving Matthais, and Gideon and I were a miracle. She counted her good graces after we passed the first year, and Papa never tried for more,"
" I understand there are ways to increase one's chances,"
" Of becoming pregnant? Oh yes, but surely you are not that worried, are you? Your mother birthed five girls within the span of seven years,"
" Yes, but not all are lucky as her," Jane replied quietly, now glancing anxiously toward Charles. She fidgeted with her hands and hesitated, and Clara leaned forward. " I only wish to make him happy-"
" Jane, you have always made Mr. Bingley happy. You are beautiful, just the perfect mix of quiet and respectful. You rarely speak ill of anyone. He is lucky to have you," Clara assured her half-truthfully. " Besides, pregnancy is not an art or science. It takes time and effort and no small amount of fortune,"
Seeing that she could not explain her problems to Clara with the men so close, she then took Clara up on the walk in the garden hedges. " It is – just that, Mr. Flint is willing to run his estate, and your Mr. Flint is willing to take up that mantle," Jane explained so quietly Clara almost needed to lean in to listen. " Charles takes it all for granted that the steward is all capable,"
" So who is running the estate?"
" I am. Papa taught me some things – and then I had to hire tutors willing to educate me on the rest. Still, the steward is given the most preference in the matter, and if the steward needs more funds or permission to attempt a different solution, he comes to me so that I may quickly gain Charles permission to accomplish the different approach. I have not had a quiet evening that did not involve running over the ledgers in the past three weeks, and he goes off to London for business he will not disclose. His accountants in London do not disclose details on the account until each quarter, and even then I hesitate to question him. I come from nothing, Clara, and I can easily be cast aside if I displease him,"
" So you remain quiet and unhappy, unappreciated?"
" Not unappreciated. Anything I ask for is mine, and he so willingly gives it that I am the one wary of overspending pin money. It worries me because he has no concern for anything but the present, and in regard to an heir, he seems most unconcerned I have not conceived yet,"
" It is only four months,"
" Three, and Mama conceived almost on the day of her wedding," Jane explained quickly, breathing more agitated, color deepening in her cheeks. " Lizzy tells me that I worry too much, but I am not Mama and I can not afford to return home to Longbourn, where Lydia prances about with Mr. Wickham till he travels with the Regiment to Brighton,"
Clara listened intently never guessing behind that empty smile someone so stress existed. " Is Mr. Wickham as awful as he is made out to be? I had heard he is a fortune hunter, and that he almost eloped with quite a fortune before the possible bride was rescued by her relatives,"
" Miss King joined her uncle after his attentions were marked in her direction, then he refocused them on Lydia. Somehow Lydia got wind of the 3,500 pound dowry that each of us gained by Papa's sly investing years ago. She told him, and he whisked her off to Gretna Green. Half of it is gone already to pay of his debts in Meryton, and I've a feeling the other half will be gone once they are in Brighton,"
Listening more intently now, Clara Flint tried to keep the growing concern off her countenance. Jane, too deep in her own relief, failed to notice the growing concern on full display in her companion. Thankful for Gideon's careful watch over her and Jonny's love for her, she now considered herself the luckiest woman in Kent. " But with you running the estate, you are fully aware of the particulars and will know how good of a marriage your children must make in order to keep the estate as it is,"
Jane relaxed for the first time since her arrival. " I never looked at it that way," Returning to the men, Clara and Jane spoke of the particulars that concerned the Flint estate with full permission of the Flint family and Bingley's indifference. " The Allanies are without food, and so we were forced to give them food from the stores, and of course the animals needed a dry place to sleep and rest, so we could not use the stables in the low land and are considering rebuilding the stables on higher ground,"
" It will be worth the cost of rebuilding, but you can reuse the material from the other stable to build the new one,"
" Aye, and it must be done before it rains again so heavily. The start of spring has surprised us, but I suspect it will improve as spring bleeds into summer. If Lucas is accepted at the Inn of Courts, he will depart from us and hopefully become a barrister. The military will not take him with his bum knee,"
Jane now allowed herself to politely study the young man. He favored his left leg greatly. Crutches always near with upper torso strength, it showed that he recovered from the carriage accident and moved on. The doctor did him rightfully proud. " They hanged the man who shot the driver?"
" I hear it was a most raucous event," Clara turned her attention to the men as they retreated off to the dining area most likely to discuss whatever men discussed. " I am glad he is uncommonly able to keep his mobility and wished him to be better acquainted with Miss de Bourg. She is a frail thing, however, and childbirth will kill her. She is the only heir to Rosings Park with an impressive dowry, although she never disclosed the amount to me nor did I ask it,"
" She has not been presented at court or Almack's," Jane was to be presented in winter, Charles insisted upon it even though she told him that being presented did not make a difference in their countryside income. " Which is odd given that Lady de Bourg had been presented at the age of fifteen. She is the sister of an Earl, as Charles tells me,"
" Earl Matlock, yes. She speaks fondly of him, and as she does all the talking at Rosings, I can probably tell you that Mr. Darcy is expected to be added to the family tree as her daughter's husband – though we both know that Mr. Darcy does not wish it, or else he'd not lead Eliza on at all,"
" Or my father and mother," Jane agreed readily, picking up her hoop and stretching material tight before tightening the hoop around the target area for needlepoint. " Miss de Bourg is not much talked of otherwise, and everyone is curious as to what kind of girl she is given who her mother is,"
The ladies conversed comfortably till dinner, and the gentlemen rejoined them at the dining table. Lucas complimented Charles on his estate and then went on to speak of his future plans if he did become a barrister. Jonny tended to Clara, further irritating her, as John questioned Jane about Longbourn and its productivity. Jane answered his questions with astounding accuracy how little her father coaxed from the soil and how run down the cottages were. " Mrs. Flint has seen the property. It will need much rejuvenation,"
" I wouldn't say rejuvenation. It just needs a loving, firm hand that wishes to make it better," Clara dismissed in a rosier view, as Mr. Bingley appeared uneasy and Jonny wanted to discuss Charles's property. " In any case, the Bennets are above poverty by 1,950 pounds. They are not poor by any means,"
John Flint didn't accept the brush off, so well practiced, and pinned the next question on Jane. " Mrs. Collins said that the Bennets were the primary family of Meryton, a small village. If that is true, and your relatives come from trade, and that trade is wealthy, then it should also benefit your family too. Why has no extra income been put into the land?"
Clearly in this household running the estate was an equal opportunity subject, and Charles ever so glad he did not need to be the primary participant, allowed everyone else to speak first. Jane's knowledge put him at a better advantage, he decided, than when he first married her. Not a bad choice at all, he decided cheerfully.
A neutral façade saved Jane from being outted, but Clara noted the manner in which she ate peckishly and leaned back instead of toward everyone. " My mother has a fondness for shopping, but as of late, that fondness has decreased and Papa has been able to put more money back into the account with Uncle Gardiner. He said it is a jointure for Mama in case he passes before her, and if she passes before him, it will be split five ways between us. Mrs. Collins inherits nothing that her husband could have inherited, as the entail ended with his death. No boy child, and she is a widow with only 350 per annum until she remarries. It is all a sad, unfortunate situation, but Mr. Collins provoked it when he insisted that Lizzy did him wrong by refusing his hand,"
John Flint arched an eyebrow in Charles's direction. " And you, sir, are to inherit more than you intended. With such a minor income, surely you could keep the property together and buy out the rest,"
" It would please me greatly," Charles announced with his usual amiable spirit. " I could almost call it a home for my dear Jane, but my property in Derbyshire demands greater attention, and if we have more than one boy, it will be a most convenient inheritance for him,"
Lucas tired of talk about inheritance and engaged Clara in an argument about a proper boy's name. " You can not call him Augustus. In this family, we have always considered the bible as the first inspiration-"
" Unless you are the father of this child, you have no say in the child's name. Marry Miss de Bourg and name the child whatever you wish. Until then the first boy child Jonny and I birth will be called Augustus," Jane quite happily considered the first day in Kent a success, and Charles wished to be in continued acquaintance with the Flints. They were a busy sort of people, the busy sort of people that could benefit him without him requesting their aid – just like Mr. Darcy.
*On a side note, entails are said to last three to four generations under English law, but in this fanfiction I conveniently shortened it to where if there is no male heir at all in any line, as the book makes clear Collins and Bennet are an only child, then the entail from that, I have been historically true on all details including the widow receiving 1/3 of the husband's estate and her dowry returned to her parents,*