Previously: Miss Anne de Bourgh confronted her uncle and cousin
Wednesday, July 7, 1813
The Great House, Pemberley, Derbyshire
Elizabeth finally received Charlotte's much anticipated Midsummer's Day letter.
Gentle Reader, with your indulgence, we will skip over those portions of this letter (and those letters to follow between the two young matrons) dealing with the minutiae of the weather, the price of tea, sugar and other domestic commodities, and the methods employed in caring for babes and husbands (which methods apparently vary only in degree) and concentrate on those portions dealing with the goings on of Mrs. Bennet. In her letters Charlotte never mentioned Mr. Darcy's assault on Mr. Collins, nor did she ever mention anything to do with Rosings or the de Bourghs.
Charlotte wrote (transmitting information relayed to her by Lady Lucas and her sister, Maria):
'…I imagine you have heard by now that Mrs. Bennet has decamped from Longbourn in favour of Hollyhock House (you remember it, the nice brick house on the west side of Meryton, Miss Brooks lived there with her dozen cats) to live with Mrs. Philips. Mr. Collins was shocked to hear of it and looked askance at me for several days until I assured him that he was in no danger of being deserted. He was determined to send Mrs. Bennet a letter of chastisement but I managed to dissuade him. I, myself, was also surprised at the news, but I think even more at the reaction of the good people of Meryton. Instead of condemning Mrs. Bennet as I would have expected, they commended her. I do not mean to distress you but Mr. Bennet has been painted as the villain for preventing Mrs. Bennet from attending any of her daughters' weddings ('Five! Stopped from five weddings!' is apparently the shocked refrain) and then abandoning her all winter in favour of the magnificence of Pemberley. Needless to say, Mr. Darcy is considered to be Mr. Bennet's accomplice as, I am afraid, are you. The feeling against the three of you is such that I fear you would receive the cut direct from your old neighbours should you visit Meryton any time soon.
As for Mrs. Bennet's activities, there is not much to relate; she and Mrs. Philips are still in mourning for Mr. Philips and do not socialize…'
Elizabeth huffed but kept her pique to herself. She did not tell her father, she did not want to hear him exercise his mordant wit at the expense of his wife and his former neighbours. She did not tell her husband; she did not want to awaken his former contempt for her mother and the people of Meryton.
In any event Elizabeth did not have much time to let the problem of her mother fester. The arrival of Jane, and her 'son' (now there was a surprise) in Kympton at the end of July and the attendant problems quite pushed Mrs. Bennet from Elizabeth's thoughts. Jane's adamant refusal to step foot in Pemberley because she had been compromised there was more than Elizabeth could understand (it was over and done with, get over it, remember only those things from the past which give you pleasure was the way she would have dealt with it). Elizabeth could not overcome that obstinacy and so Jane and Rick stayed with Mary in the cramped quarters of the Vicarage until Primrose Cottage could be readied for her while acres and acres of guest rooms remained empty at Pemberley. Mr. Darcy reacted to Jane's implicit insult about as well as could be expected which is to say when he, always with Elizabeth, never alone, called on Jane for tea (she never invited them for supper) he all but gave her the cut direct and Jane, of course, reciprocated. In the almost five years before Mr. Darcy took an interest in Rick, he and Jane probably did not exchange more than ten words. It was worse with Mr. Bennet; he required Jane attend on him at Pemberley, which she would not do; and he would not go to Primrose Cottage; so they only met at church on those rare occasions when Mr. Bennet was in attendance (he having seemingly given up religion as he had marriage). When they did meet, they exchanged only the hint of a nod and the briefest of curtseys. Given the difference in their surnames an observer not familiar with the manorial gossip would not think of them related, but rather indifferent acquaintances who mutually did not care for a formal introduction.
The girl of before Portugal who had always been so accommodating was no more; instead there was the woman of after Portugal who accommodated not all. Elizabeth was hurt by the change, she had lost her friend and confidant; going forward Jane was no closer to Elizabeth than Mary was; indeed, was likely less so.
Jane did not even believe Elizabeth regarding the flight of Mrs. Bennet from Longbourn and only gave up the idea of going to see her mother when her own letter to Meryton was returned marked 'refused'.
Charlotte's 1813 Michaelmas letter contained interesting gossip, although not directly relating to Mrs. Bennet (who was still in mourning for her brother Philips):
'… As one of your uncle Philips' executors my father found out how much country lawyers really make - apparently for a long-established practice such as the one your grandfather Gardiner founded, your uncle Philips expanded, and Mr. Dewey has purchased, it is in the thousands per annum. Yes, that is plural, my father will not be more explicit, and as a consequence, my sister Maria finds herself engaged to Mr. Dewey. Can you even recall what he looks like? It has only been a year and a half since I've been back to Meryton and I can't remember. He might be unprepossessing but in her letter to me Maria assures me that he is quite the romantic and she is well on the way to falling in love with him. I wish her luck. The wedding will be at Christmas time as Mr. Dewey wishes to wait until Mrs. Philips is out of mourning. My mother says Mrs. Philips has assumed the role of mother towards Mr. Dewey ….'
Charlotte's 1813 Christmas letter contained news of the Dewey – Lucas wedding, which she attended:
'… my mother asked Mrs. Bennet to assist in planning the wedding but Mrs. Bennet refused, saying that she would not take that joy away from a mother. However, she did lend my mother a notebook of ideas for weddings she had compiled over the years 'in case she would ever have to plan one' – my mother showed it to me; it was quite extensive and she did use some of the ideas. Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Philips also lent their cook to help with the wedding breakfast as there is a new cook at Lucas Lodge and she was quite overwhelmed. The wedding itself was a success; the bride was radiant and the groom, of plain visage, quite serious. Cheeky too, he caught me studying him and winked at me. The two seemed to be very much in love and they stole away from the wedding breakfast early to an undisclosed location (I found out later they just went to back to their rooms over his office and hid there for three days, playing cribbage I suppose). As a wedding present Mrs. Philips forgave the 1814 payment Mr. Dewey owed her for the law practice and building.
I hesitate to write this next as it will no doubt hurt you, but you did say you wanted to know what Mrs. Bennet was up to and so forgive me – at the wedding breakfast Mrs. Bennet invited me and little Kate to tea with her and Mrs. Philips the next day. When we attended, your mother apologized for slighting me when I married Mr. Collins; she explained that at the time she had quite lost her mind over worrying about ending up in the hedgerows; and as now that all those fears had been for naught, she was very ashamed for things she had said about me and other people; and she begged me for forgiveness. Which of course I gave. After that doleful moment, Mrs. Bennet picked up little Kate, complimented her to the heavens and charmed her to the point I was worried if she would come back home with me (Mrs. Bennet has quite the way with little children). Mrs. Bennet then said 'grandchildren are so much more fun than children; you can spoil them without any responsibility for how they turn out. I wish I had grandchildren of my own; with no children, I suppose I never will.' She then asked me if I minded if she acted as an honourary grandmother to Kate. What could I do? I agreed, whereupon she brought out a beautiful hope chest (made by old Mr. Farr, you remember him?) with Kate's full name inlaid on the cover…'
It stung. 'No children' indeed. 'No grandchildren of her own.' Really. Her mother had one grandchild for sure (no one had heard from Lydia, no telling how many children she had; Elizabeth did not know whether to include Rick) plus Mary and Kitty were both expecting and, she rubbed her stomach, maybe she was as well. Where was Ben's fancy chest?
Charlotte's 1814 Lady Day letter contained only this about Mrs. Bennet: she and Mrs. Philips were talking (nothing was definite yet) about going to Bath to take the waters.
Thursday, April 21, 1814
Hollyhock House, Meryton, Hertfordshire
Elizabeth was with child. She had not told Mr. Darcy as she wanted at least a month in town before he twigged on and whisked her back to Pemberley. And since Meryton was not that far off the way to London; and since Mr. Darcy acknowledged that he should see for himself how the steward he had appointed to run Longbourn was doing (Mr. Bennet having abdicated any and all responsibility to Mr. Darcy); it was agreed that he would drop her off at Hollyhock House to have it out with Mrs. Bennet while he went to Longbourn. He would come back to pick her in two hours by which time Elizabeth calculated the expected tears would have dried.
It is lucky that Mr. Darcy waited to see how Elizabeth would be received before he left because her mother's housekeeper, Hill, would not let Elizabeth in Hollyhock House.
"They're not here; go away" Hill was quite abrupt.
"Hill, it's me, Elizabeth."
"Don't know you."
"Come now Hill, don't be like that. You've known me since I was a baby."
Hill snorted. "And look what an ungrateful daughter you've become. You should be ashamed of how you treated your mother. Now go away, they're in Bath. Nothing for you here."
"What's the problem here?" Unobserved by the women Mr. Darcy had moved up to stand behind Elizabeth. Both startled at his interjection.
Hill stared defiance at him then spat on the step. "You can go to hell." She stepped back and slammed the door in their faces. They heard the lock snick shut.
"Why the insolence…" Mr. Darcy said as he started banging on the door with his cane "… open up I say."
Elizabeth tugged at his arm "William, quit, let's …"
"Excuse me, sir."
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy both turned. It was one of their footmen. "The people there…" he pointed "…they're getting restless."
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy looked. A small crowd was forming. Someone yelled out "Take your hoity-toity ways back to town and leave Hill alone." There was a chorus of agreement. Mr. Darcy grabbed Elizabeth's arm and steered her towards the coach. A little boy threw a horse apple at Mr. Darcy; it just missed. And then they were in the coach and it was off. The Battle of Holly Hock House ended in a rout of the Darcy forces.
When they were well out of Meryton, the jeering of the crowd long faded away, on the way to London, Elizabeth leaned back in her seat and said "Someday we'll laugh about this."
Mr. Darcy glowered at her.
By the ides of May Mr. Darcy figured out that one plus one equals three and so Elizabeth only enjoyed a sojourn of three weeks in town but that was enough time for her to assemble a box of treats which she arranged to have her uncle Gardiner ship to Meryton along with a heartfelt letter of supplication. She dared not ask Mr. Darcy to drop it off on their way to Pemberley.