Chapter 4
"Fanny, Bennet, and my beautiful nieces, I am so happy to see all of you," Edward Gardiner said in welcome to the Bennets as he welcomed them to the parsonage for a family dinner to meet his betrothed, her siblings, and his soon-to-be father-in-law.
"Will you introduce us to your new family please Gardiner?" Bennet requested.
Gardiner proudly introduced his betrothed Madeline, called Maddie, her father the Reverend Arthur Lambert, Harry, the oldest Lambert, and his wife Amanda, and the middle sibling, Grant.
"Edward told me you girls are very advanced in your musical and language studies," Madeline Lambert told her soon-to-be nieces to help put them at ease.
"Oh yes," Hattie Phillips interjected, "Fanny's girls are more accomplished than most older girls than they." Hattie no longer gossiped, but she was so proud of her nieces who to her made up for the sad fact she and Frank had not been blessed with children of their own.
"Quam operor vos facere Miss Jane?" Reverend Lambert asked Jane how she was in Latin, sure that girls so young may know a word or two here and there but no more.
"Ego sum etiam valde gratias ago tibi, domine. Quid agis hodie?" Jane responded in perfect Latin saying she was well and asking the clergyman how he was. Just when he believed he could not be more shocked, the younger girl introduced as Lizzy spoke.
"Domine dominus noster Latina didicit ex nostra bene Lectiones sumus." Elizabeth stated proudly, telling the man they had learnt Latin well from their masters.
"Good lord!" Mr. Lambert exclaimed.
"Would you like to converse in Greek, French, or Italian sir?" Elizabeth asked innocently. After the shock wore off, there was laughter in the room as everyone found out Hattie Phillips had not made an empty boast.
After a very enjoyable dinner, Maddie led the ladies and the two eldest Bennet sisters to the drawing room while the men sat and drank their port and brandy at the table. "Lambert, do you know the Darcys?" Bennet asked.
"Yes, very well. They are the nicest of people, always willing to help, and not just with money. Why do you ask? Do you know them?" Lambert senior asked.
Bennet relayed the happenings at Pemberley that morning. He had to calm his daughters' uncles down who both wanted to ride to that estate to whip the insolent whelp. "There is no need, his father will hear of it and punish him," Lambert senior opined. "Believe me when I tell you that Robert Darcy does not believe in sparing the rod and spoiling the child. Lady Anne loves all things musical and is an extremely proficient player of the pianoforte and harp, so I am sure she would have loved to have heard your Lizzy play."
The statement from Lambert calmed the uncles considerably and placated Bennet to a certain degree. No one spoke to any member of his family thusly, no matter who they thought they were.
When the men joined the ladies, Jane was entertaining them on the upright pianoforte in the drawing room. It was the second time that night that Hattie Phillips' pronouncement had been proven completely correct.
"My goodness, first Lizzy and now you Jane. How is it you are so proficient at such young ages?" Madeline asked.
"Have you heard of Signore Alberto da Funti the most sought-after music master in London?" Fanny asked. Both Maddie and her sister-in-law Mandy nodded. "He is with us for two days a week teaching our girls and others from our neighbourhood."
"Even so, your girls must have innate ability to be as advanced as they are at such young ages regardless of the quality of their masters," Amanda Lambert opined. She was with child with her and her husband's first and could only pray her child would have a small measure of the intelligence and talent she saw in the Bennet sisters, not to mention the striking beauty of all three.
"The reason we started bringing in language masters was the way Jane and Lizzy, and then later Mary picked up Italian from the Signore. He has been working with the older two almost two years and just a few months with Mary. Jane and Lizzy speak Italian like a native and Mary is well on her way. It seems my girls have an aptitude for languages," Fanny stated. It was not a boast, just a simple statement of fact.
Not long after, the Bennets, Gardiner, and Phillipses returned to the Big Bull Inn to turn in for the night.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Two days later on a warm and clear Friday morning, Edward Gardiner and Madeline Lambert were joined in holy wedlock at Sr. Crispin's church in Lambton. As he preferred to walk his daughter up the aisle to her betrothed, Mr. Lambert's good friend and the pastor of the Pemberley church had the pleasure of performing the marriage rites in his friend's stead.
The wedding breakfast had been organised by a committee of ladies from the parish and was held in the hall where the bi-monthly local assemblies were held in Lambton. Given the Lambert's popularity, especially the goodhearted Madeline, practically everyone in the small market town wanted to wish them well.
Many of the ladies in the town had provided dishes so there was enough food to feed all the populace of the town—twice. It was a boisterous affair and only quieted for an instant when the master and mistress of Pemberley stopped by.
Mr. Robert and Lady Anne Darcy made a brief visit to wish the bride and her groom happy. They did not miss the couple with the three beautiful and impeccably behaved girls and correctly guessed they were the family to whom William had been so rude.
When the little girl with the mahogany hair turned around, Lady Anne thought she was seeing things. Growing up, her best friend in the world was Priscilla De Melville. The two had been introduced when Priscilla was five and Anne Fitzwilliam, as she was, eight. From that point on they had spent as much time together as their respective parents would allow.
Lady Anne knew all about Priscilla's marriage to Prince Frederick and had written to her fiend on a regular basis. After the King had forced the two apart, Lady Anne's letters were not answered again, she suspected it had something to do with Priscilla's parents breaking with her. It had hurt Anne Darcy greatly to lose touch with her friend, but she had respected her wishes.
Lady Anne could not believe her eyes, before her she saw Priscilla as she was at age five when the two met. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she was not seeing things, but it did not change the picture before her. The same hair, height, and the eyes. The biggest green eyes which Lady Anne would never forget. Realising that she was staring she took her husband's hand as they paid their respect to Reverend Lambert and departed.
"Anne are you well?" Robert Darcy asked with concern. His wife suffered from indifferent health at best. "You look as if you have seen a ghost."
"Robert, I should not have stared, but the family, the one William abused, their one daughter. It gave me chills up and down my spine," Lady Anne shared with her worried husband.
"What about the girl perturbed you, my sweet?" Robert asked his wife feeling very unsettled. "I will cancel our acceptance of Holder's invitation if you are too disconcerted by being in company with that family."
"NO, that is not what I want, in fact the opposite. You remember my friend—my best friend—Lady Priscilla De Melville as she was?" Lady Anne asked.
"I do. She was the Duchess of York and Albany until the King ordered a divorce," Robert remembered.
"You know she was my best friend since we were little girls, do you not?" Robert Darcy nodded. "What flustered me today was seeing one of those gorgeous girls, the one with the mahogany-coloured hair and green eyes," Lady Anne explained.
"I saw all three but did not note individual features," Robert owned.
"If I were eight again, I would have sworn I had gone back in time to the day I met Priscilla at five because that girl did not just like similar to her, she looked exactly like my friend," Lady Anne insisted.
"How can that be unless the family is somehow related to the De Melvilles," George surmised.
"Which is why it is imperative we keep to a visit with the Carringtons next week. I need to see her close up to be sure it was not a trick of the light or my imagination as I have been missing Priscilla these almost six years with no news of her," Lady Anne stated emphatically.
"You know I would deny you nothing it is in my power to grant you Anne. I will not change the plans. I did receive a note from Holder, William is welcome. In fact, Jamie is excited for company of a boy his own age," George shared.
Lady Anne hoped Priscilla did not think she had cut her like her parents and many others had, if only she had some way of contacting her friend again.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
"Mama why was the tall, pretty, blond lady staring at me at the wedding breakfast?" Elizabeth asked as the family walked back to the Black Bull.
"You were not the only who noted that Lizzy, so did I. But I have no idea why, I doubt we will ever see the lady again," Fanny responded.
"How long will it take us to reach Uncle Paul and Aunt Edith on the morrow?" Jane asked.
"It is about four hours Janey," Bennet averred. "Do you have somewhere you need to be tomorrow that you worry about the time it will take us?"
"No silly Papa; I just wanted to know," Jane returned through a big smile.
"You have the right of it Janie, your Papa can be silly, can he not?" Fanny added.
Bennet gave a mock stern look which caused his three daughters to giggle. "If I see that mean boy again I will kick him," Elizabeth insisted. She had been upset on the day which at some point had turned to anger with the boy. William, that was his name, the housekeeper had called him William. Insufferable William!
"If that rude boy shows his face again Uncle Phillips will be with your farther to protect you," Hattie stated with conviction. She would have loved to have given the boy a piece of her mind. No one frightened her nieces!
"If I see him I will box his ears," Jane insisted arms akimbo, "No one talks to my sister in that fashion!" There was no quicker way to raise Jane's ire than to harm one of the members of her family.
"If I were the rude boy, I would keep far away from you Jane," Fanny stated with amusement.
"Will you box his ears if he apologises?" Bennet asked trying to hide his grin from his seven-year-old.
"Mayhap if it is a sincere apology," Jane replied thoughtfully. "I may hold off punishing him for now," Jane related perfectly seriously.
"Do not forget daughters," Fanny stated as they entered their suite of rooms, "we must always allow those who trespass against us the chance to own their error and beg the aggrieved party's pardon first."
"Yes Mama," all three girls chorused, even if Mary had no idea what she was saying yes to.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
That evening as their servants packed for their departure to Holder Heights at the inn, another group of servants were packing for the master, mistress, the young master, and their nephew, young master Fitzwilliam.
Like the Bennets and Phillipses, the Darcys planned to depart for the Carringtons' estate early the next morning. The Earl and Countess of Matlock, Lord Reginald and Lady Elaine Fitzwilliam along with their older son and heir Andrew Fitzwilliam, Viscount Hilldale, would arrive at Holder Heights, if all went to plan, early in the afternoon that Saturday.