That week, everyone at Netherfield was invited to attend a large party hosted by Sir William and Lady Lucas. Of course, the Bennets were all invited as well. Darcy used this occasion as another opportunity to improve his relations with Miss Elizabeth. While she was not rude to him, she was still not friendly in the least. When someone began to play dance music, Darcy happened to be speaking to Sir William about all savages knowing how to dance.
Just then, Elizabeth walked near them and Sir William asked, "My dear Miss Eliza, why are you not dancing? Mr. Darcy, you must allow me to present this young lady to you as a very
desirable partner. You cannot refuse to dance when so much beauty is before you."
Even though Sir William attempted to induce Elizabeth to dance with Darcy, she refused. "Indeed, sir, I have not the least intention of dancing. I entreat you not to suppose that I moved this way in order to beg for a partner."
In spite of her words, Darcy requested her hand for a set, but she still refused. Sir William tried to convince her by saying, "You excel so much in the dance, Miss Eliza, that it is cruel to
deny me the happiness of seeing you dance, and though this gentleman dislikes the amusement in general, he can have no objection, I am sure, to oblige us for one half-hour."
Elizabeth continued to refuse. "Mr. Darcy is all politeness, but I will not be dancing."
With these words, Darcy knew that he still had a long way to go to gain her good opinion. If she had such good connections, it was best not to continue to have her be annoyed at him. He began to wonder if she was not bothering to be friendly with him because of her excellent connections. Was she actually thinking that he was not worthy of her? This thought was quite a shock to him as it had never happened before. It would certainly make his attempts to gain her good opinion that much more difficult.
One piece of news that they heard that evening was that the militia regiment that was being stationed in Meryton for the winter would be arriving in just a day or two. This news excited some of the Bennet ladies as they loved nothing more than an officer in a red coat.
Late the next morning, Mr. Bennet received a messenger dressed in royal livery. When he invited him into his office, the messenger asked, "Are you Mr. Thomas Bennet of Longbourn? I have been instructed to hand this letter to him personally."
"I am."
The messenger then gave him a letter. "I have been instructed to wait for your reply."
Mr. Bennet then rang for a footman. "Please take this messenger to the kitchen for refreshments." He turned to the messenger. "I will read the message and write a reply." He knew that he could not ignore a message from any member of the royal family.
When he opened the letter, he saw that it was quite short. He first looked to see who had sent it. He was not too surprised to see that it was from Prince Augustus Frederick as this was the prince that Elizabeth had mentioned that she had met in Ramsgate. The content was quite brief, the essence of it was that the Prince 'requested' the honour of the presence of Mr. Thomas Bennet and Miss Elizabeth Bennet at St. James's Palace at a certain time in just a week. No reason for this request was given, but from what Lizzy had said, he assumed that it would be to discuss her reward.
He sat back, wondering. For the Prince himself to see them, the reward must be significant. Lizzy had mentioned that Gardiner had said that the Prince was interested in the entail and Longbourn's earnings. There was nothing he could do now but to write a letter to the Prince stating that they would be there. He called for a footman and told him to give his letter to the messenger. He then wrote a letter to Gardiner asking for their hospitality while they were in London.
Next, he called for his daughter. When she came in, he handed her the Prince's letter. "Well Lizzy, we will find out what reward you will receive. Of course I replied that we would be there. I also wrote to Gardiner asking if we could stay there. We will leave the day before and stay only for a day or two, depending on what happens."
Elizabeth was stunned that the reward was really going to happen. After waiting for so long since her actions in Ramsgate, she had been losing hope. She knew there was another problem. "What are we going to tell Mama?"
"If we tell her everything, it will be all over Meryton in a flash. I would rather hold off until we know the facts. I will just tell her that we have to go to town on business."
"But why would I be going with you?"
"You are right. I will just say that I want you for company."
Their explanations did not go over well with Mrs. Bennet as she was aware that the messenger was dressed in the royal livery. To say that she was curious would be a complete understatement. "Now Mr. Bennet, why would you receive a message from a member of the royal family? What is happening? It must be very important. What are you not telling me?"
"Now, my dear, I do not know what it is all about. I have been requested to go to London to meet with one of the princes, not the Prince Regent himself. I will find out next week when I go there. In the meantime, please do not get your hopes up. I have done nothing that warrants any special notice by any prince. I strongly encourage you not to say anything to anyone until we know what it is all about. You would not want to get everyone's hopes up only to have to retract your words, now would you?"
"But 'Lady Bennet' sounds so fine."
"It would, but it will never happen as I have done nothing to earn such a title."
Try as they might, the days until they left for London seemed to be interminable as Mrs. Bennet could not stop from speculating about why he had been invited to meet with a Prince. She was barely restrained from spreading the word among her friends. All her daughters, except for Lizzy and Jane, joined in with more and more extravagant hopes and dreams. After the summons that her father received, Elizabeth decided that she had to tell Jane what had happened in Ramsgate and the possibility of her receiving a reward for her actions. Jane was aghast when she heard that Lizzy had risked her life to save an unknown girl from drowning.
When they arrived at the Gardiners' house in Cheapside, her Aunt Gardiner teased her. "Well Lizzy, what do you think we will be calling you from now on? 'Lady' Elizabeth? Will we be curtsying to you every time we see you?"
Elizabeth chuckled at this thought. "Now, Aunt, I have no idea. We will find out tomorrow. I have tried not to think about it. I do not want to get my hopes up." In spite of her protestations, she was excited and barely slept that night. She knew that this royal summons could have a profound effect on her family.
In the morning, she and her father dressed in their finest and went to St. James's Palace. They were not kept waiting for long before they were ushered into a large receiving room where she saw Prince Augustus Frederick and several courtiers.
She made her best curtsy to him, which he returned with a very polite bow. "Miss Elizabeth, how wonderful to see you again."
"Your Royal Highness, the pleasure is all mine."
"Is this your father?"
"Yes, Sir. Father, may I introduce His Royal Highness, Prince Augustus Frederick?" She turned to the Prince. "Sir, this is my Father, Mr. Thomas Bennet, of Longbourn in Hertfordshire."
They exchanged pleasantries. The Prince invited them to sit. "Miss Elizabeth, I am sorry it took so long to get back to you. I told you I was in your debt for your saving my daughter and that I would reward you. It took longer than I expected for my people to gather the information I needed to decide how I should reward you.
"Before I get into the details of what we decided, please tell me about Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. I understand that he apologized to you for his insult."
"Yes, he did, although I must admit I was not very impressed when his apology appeared to have been forced by his uncle, the Earl of Matlock. I assume that you were involved in that?"
"Yes, I was. When I heard about his insult, I simply would not tolerate it. I thought that bringing the Earl into the situation would force Darcy to do the right thing, no matter how repugnant he might find humbling himself to a young lady would be. I understand that Darcy is quite a proud person." Elizabeth smiled when he said this, confirming his suspicions.
"Did you accept the apology?"
"I did, but only reluctantly because of the fact that he was forced to do it. However, he has been very polite and complimentary to me since then. I may be able to forgive him in time."
"I am pleased to hear that as I understand that Darcy is basically a good person, just proud. He is also not comfortable meeting new people." This last statement made Elizabeth think. Was this why he seemed to be so inept in company?
"Now, about your reward."
Elizabeth dared to interrupt him. "Sir, I told you that I did not expect any reward. I just did what needed to be done."
"Nevertheless, I always reward good service, and your saving my daughter was the greatest service that has been done for me in a long time. I love my daughter dearly."
He turned to her father, who had been listening with great interest to how easily his Elizabeth was talking to a prince. Their acquaintance was deeper than he had assumed. "Mr. Bennet, we have researched the entail on your estate and found that we can revoke it by royal decree. This has been done. You now own Longbourn outright and may leave it to whomever you choose." He handed a parchment to Mr. Bennet. "This is the royal decree making it official."
"Your Royal Highness, I can only thank you on behalf of myself and my family. I did not expect such wonderful news. Ending the entail is a great relief to me as I have been worried what would happen to my wife and daughters when I die. They would have lost their home and source of income."
He thought for a moment. "I wonder how my heir presumptive will take it. William Collins has written me and wants to come to visit us at Longbourn. I suspect that he wants to inspect his expected inheritance. He will be disappointed, to say the least."
"I can certainly understand his disappointment. To be fair, we will be offering him another estate. However, the reports we received of him were not very impressive, even if he is the parson to Lady Catherine de Bourgh. The Crown happens to have a small estate in North Yorkshire that is nothing but a nuisance for us to maintain. If he accepts this estate, he will disappear into the wilds, hopefully never to be heard from again. If he refuses, we will not entertain any request from him at any time in the future."
He then turned to Elizabeth. "Now, for Miss Elizabeth, your personal reward is in two parts. First, I convinced the Prince Regent that you should be made a baroness in your own right. I think that 'Lady Elizabeth' will suit you very well. The letters patent creating your barony, which will be called after your father's estate, provide that the title will automatically pass to your oldest son upon your death. If you have no son, it will pass to your oldest nephew, and so on. Collins will not be in line for this title. So, you will be known as Lady Elizabeth Bennet, Baroness Longbourn, until you marry. Then, of course, you will take your husband's name instead of Bennet, but you will still be Lady Elizabeth." He saw that this news shocked her as her eyes were very large. He could see that the importance of this was sinking in.
"We need only to arrange for a time for your investiture. The Prince Regent's time is fully occupied, so a formal ceremony has been difficult to schedule. However, if you will be satisfied with a very informal ceremony, we can do it in the morning. If this is acceptable to you, you may invite your relatives to attend."
"Sir, I am stunned at your generosity. I never expected anything like that."
"That is not all. A baroness should have an estate. That was more difficult to arrange as I wanted to give you a good one. The best estate that was available to be granted is not in great shape. It was abandoned to the Crown a number of years ago and has been sadly neglected since then. Its earnings have suffered badly and will require some work if they are to rise once again to what it had produced in the past, which was quite a respectable amount. When it is once again in prime condition, it will allow you to live in comfort befitting a baroness. It is in Leicestershire near the town of Hinckley. I understand that it has a decent manor house that is only minimally staffed. The estate is called Hinckston Abbey. Apparently the house began an abbey until the Reformation. I have not been there, but I am told that part of the house is quite old but has been extensively remodeled at some time in the past and has been added onto several times over the years. I understand that it is in reasonable condition.
"I am sorry that this is the best that I could find for you, but do not worry—it was quite productive in the past and can be greatly improved with some close attention. To ease your work, it will come with a decent subsidy to help you bring it back to its potential.
"Lord Margison has all the details, so you need to speak to him to learn the names of the steward and housekeeper." The Prince then turned to Mr. Bennet. "There is a caveat about the estate. As Miss Elizabeth is not yet of age, it will need to be held in trust for her until her birthday; then it will be hers absolutely. Hinckston Abbey will be completely separate from your own estate of Longbourn.
"I have been saving another interesting piece of news about the estate. To help you make it come back to full production, we thought that a proven advisor would be necessary to help you, someone who will advise you what to do to bring it back into its full potential. Ideally, I wanted someone who owns an estate in that area and who knows how to make an estate productive. We found someone who fills these requirements and who owes us a significant debt, so he was 'asked' to assist you for the first year. An added benefit is that you know him."
He waited for the expectancy to build. "Fitzwilliam Darcy." He had to force himself not to smile too broadly or to add that Lord Matlock had spoken to him personally about their meeting with Miss Elizabeth and how he thought that she and Darcy would make a perfect couple if they could just get over that first negative impression that he had so deservedly earned. The Prince had also learned that Elizabeth's father would not be a good advisor to her as his own estate was not well run. He certainly would not say this out loud.
The Prince could see that his announcement stunned her. She obviously wanted to object, and object most strenuously, but he knew that no one refused an offer made by a prince.
He turned to her father, "Mr. Bennet, are you satisfied with these rewards?"
"Your Royal Highness, I am just as astonished as my daughter is. I compliment you on being one of the few people who has ever left her speechless. This is far more than we ever expected. Are you quite sure that so much is necessary?"
"Mr. Bennet! Lady Elizabeth saved my daughter's life. That is a priceless gift. In my opinion, what we are granting her cannot ever compare to that. I just hope that Lady Elizabeth will be satisfied with how her life is about to be changed. Of course, she also has a friend for life in the royal household."
Elizabeth finally regained her senses. She fell on her knees in front of the Prince. "Sir, are you sure about this? It is too much. I do not deserve so much." She barely registered that she had been called 'Lady Elizabeth' for the first time.
The Prince took her hand and helped her to stand up. "Not at all, my dear. You gave me back my daughter. The best I could do for you was to make your life better.
"Now, I am sorry that I have to cut my time short with you, but I have other duties that I could not put off. I will leave you with Lord Margison who will tell you about tomorrow's ceremony." He bowed very politely to her, then to her father, and left. Lord Margison came to talk to them about the morning's ceremony and gave them more details about her new estate. Lady Elizabeth was barely able to absorb what he was saying as she was still in shock at how her life had just changed.