Madam and Missy — A Pride and Prejudice Variation

This is dedicated to all the writers both here and on KU who've released their stories for free! As I enjoy reading them so much, I thought that I'd have a go, and here it is.

[Note that I'm a Brit, so have written with British spelling, punctuation and terminology 😏]

In which Mr. Bennet hears about Lady E and tries to teach Elizabeth to be patient

Longbourn

Mr. Bennet

After lunch, when Mary, Kitty and Lydia had returned upstairs for their lessons, Mr. Bennet asked Mrs. Hill to find Jane and Lizzy's bonnets and to see if they needed help to put on their boots. Soon they were outside, slipping through a gate in their garden fence onto the path through the Longbourn estate which led up to Oakham Mount. This was another joy — holding each child by her hand as they strolled along together pointing out flora and fauna.

For most of the way, the path along the edges of the fields was wide enough for them to walk three abreast. Whenever it narrowed, Mr. Bennet would pull his daughters together in front of him, bumping them against each other so that they giggled with delight. He had to release their hands as they climbed the well-worn stiles in the fences separating the fields, but both girls enjoyed jumping into his arms instead of climbing down sedately.

As they followed the path as it started to leave fields behind and enter their woods, they rounded a bend in the path and stopped in surprise. Still and silent, they watched as a doe and her fawn stepped slowly and cautiously out before them from amongst the trees. Time seemed to stand still too, as the deer regarded them — then, in the blink of an eye, sprang over the hedgerow into the next field.

The path wound through the woods, gently rising as it climbed Oakham Mount. As they neared the brow of the small hill, the trees cleared and he let go of their hands and pretended to race them to the top. There, at the top, was a single oak tree, its roots growing over and through a large rock. The tree was ancient; Mr. Bennet had no idea just how long ago an acorn had found its way into a crevice in that rock and germinated. But this was the tree that gave Oakham Mount its name. Jane and Elizabeth sat on the rock in gaps amongst the roots, leaving him a larger space between them.

He joined them and regarded the view.

"What do we see when we climb Oakham Mount and look over the land?" he asked.

The girls knew that much of the land before them was part of Longbourn's estate. They were beginning to learn about it and its history, about the tenants who lived there, and about the crops grown and livestock raised. They pointed out the different farms and mentioned the families living in and working on each. They tried to identify the crops growing in the various fields, but Mr. Bennet acknowledged that, this early in the season and from that distance, it was difficult to tell the cereal crops from one another.

When they had finished telling the story of Longbourn's land and its inhabitants, both two-legged and four, Mr. Bennet smiled, paused and turned to ask Jane about their visit to Netherfield that morning.

"But, Pappa— " interjected Elizabeth.

"Now, now," he said, stopping her, "I asked Jane to tell me first. You will have a turn when she has finished."

Elizabeth looked down, chastened. "Yes, Pappa."

"Well, Jane, what happened after I left you at Netherfield this morning?"

Jane smiled broadly, reminding her father that, although she would soon be a young woman, growing in calmness and composure, she was still his little girl.

"When we arrived, I had to hold Lizzy's hand to get her to climb the steps with me as she was looking everywhere, up and down, and all around."

"It was so interesting to s— "

"Hush, child. It will be your turn after Jane has spoken."

"But— "

" —and the more that you interrupt her, the longer you will have to wait."

"Yes, Pappa," Elizabeth replied and, turning to Jane, continued, "I am sorry to interrupt you, Jane."

Jane smiled at her boisterous sister and said, "Thank you, Lizzy.

"When we arrived and when Lizzy's bonnet had not come loose as she examined everything within sight," she continued, teasingly, "we were greeted by a nice woman who did not tell us her name, but did take our coats and bonnets. She told us that her mistress was awaiting our arrival and would introduce herself— "

"And ask our names!"

" —and ask our names."

Elizabeth made a face, probably hoping that it looked like repentance, and apologised to her sister again. Mr. Bennet turned to face her, held her chin and said firmly, "Elizabeth, I am trying to teach you a little patience and to help you to learn to think before you speak. Please do not interrupt Jane again."

Elizabeth's expression changed to true repentance under her father's censure. She nodded and, with a flourish, clapped both hands over her mouth. Mr. Bennet managed not to raise his eyebrows at that performance, but asked Jane to carry on with her tale.

"I do not know if the woman who greeted us was the housekeeper, but she showed us into a lovely room where a very pretty gentlewoman was smiling and waiting for us."

Elizabeth nodded with her hands still covering her mouth, but did not interrupt.

"She asked us if you had told us that our visit there was to be a secret and said that we had to have secret names too. The lady said that the last letter of her name is 'e', so she would be 'Lady E'. She asked what the last letters of our names are, and, when we told her, called us 'Miss E' and Miss Y'."

Mr. Bennet swallowed with the realisation that the 'Miss Y' in the note was indeed his darling Elizabeth.

"What did you do next, Jane?" he prompted her to continue.

"Lady E gave us tea, but oh, before that, the housekeeper brought it in on a tray and we sat down. Then she, that is Lady E, asked us about you and our other sisters, and all of our neighbours, and about Longbourn, and what we are learning from you and Mrs. Annesley." Jane counted the conversational topics off on her fingers. "When it was time for us to leave, she said that she had liked meeting us, which was very nice of her, was it not, Pappa?"

"It was," he agreed.

"Then we ran down the steps to find you hiding in our carriage! I liked meeting Lady E, but I was glad to see you waiting for us." She looked up at him.

Mr. Bennet put his arm around his eldest daughter, pulled her close and kissed her forehead.

Then it was Elizabeth's turn to speak, so he released Jane, turned to face his second daughter, removed her hands from her mouth and said, "I think that we should return to Longbourn now. You may tell me your tale tomorrow."

Elizabeth looked crestfallen. "Pappa!" she cried.

"I am teasing you, child. Come; tell me about it on our walk back."

After sending Jane and Elizabeth up to their lessons with Mrs. Annesley, Mr. Bennet sat at his desk in his book-room with the door firmly closed. He shook his head with wonder and disbelief as he recalled their walk home. Elizabeth had done more than flesh out Jane's tale, telling him about the style of Netherfield and the number of windows, how the front door appeared to be made of oak, about the marbled floor in the foyer and the number of stairs up to the first floor. "More than two times as many as we have, Pappa." He had heard about the little room, "or was it a big closet?" in which the housekeeper "a very nice woman, about Mrs. Annesley's age perhaps, but not from here as she had a strange manner of speaking" had hung their coats and bonnets. Elizabeth had described Lady E in great detail, "as Jane told you, she is very pretty and has fair hair just like Jane and she had on a greenish blue dress which might have been silk" with "some sparkling jewellery, emeralds, I think. And her slippers were very pretty too and had roses embroidered on them".

He had managed to curtail her musings about whether Netherfield had dungeons and the possibility of digging a moat and having crocodiles in it, "as I have seen pictures of crocodiles in one of your books, Pappa," and had asked about the room that that they had sat in. Elizabeth had, of course, noticed and remembered a great deal. Though he was not at all interested in the blue curtains which were "a little faded from the sun as the room faces full west", nor the clock ticking loudly on the mantelpiece next to some pottery figures, "I could not see what they were from where we were sitting," he was very pleased, very pleased indeed, that she had seen and could recall so much.

It is no wonder that this 'Lady E' wishes to meet my Lizzy again.

Mr. Bennet put thoughts of Elizabeth aside and reached for the parcel that had arrived earlier that day. Glancing up to make sure that the door to the book-room was firmly closed, he carefully untied the string and pulled away the waxed fabric wrapping. As Mrs. Hill had told him, the contents were books. But not only books — there were papers concealed within the books.

At first appearance, Mr. Bennet was a minor country gentleman and, in many respects, that is exactly what he was. But, unknown to his precious daughters and unknown to the other members of his household, his tenants and his neighbours, he also worked for the Crown. Those around him saw a rather lazy landowner always with a book in his hand, but Mr. Bennet had a way of looking at information, unravelling mistruths and deciphering coded messages that had drawn the attention of the Palace. Over the years, he had become very useful, almost indispensable. So useful was he that when his employers had wished to reward him, it had been decided not to give him a knighthood as that might draw unwanted attention to him and thus to his labours. When asked what he would like in lieu, he had replied that he would like security for his daughters.

It seems that Lizzy's future will be secured by marriage to the son of a titled lady. Ah, Netherfield; owned by the Darcys; 'Lady Anne' ends with the letter 'e'. I have good reports of the Darcys.

That day's parcel contained copies of messages in code which he was charged to decipher. He started to work — that was the agreement.

Some time later, having decoded most of the messages, laughing at one that he should have given to Elizabeth to work on, he tucked the papers back into the books, rose and joined his family for their evening meal.

Please don't copy, but please do let me have comments/corrections 😏