A/N I've started adding the girls' age on the year note, to save mental arithmetic for my gentle reader :)
1802 (Jane 13; Lizzy 11 Mary 10; Kitty 8; Lydia 6)
Jane clucked to the horse, flicked the reins and the gig took off, she and her father leaning back with the sudden start. Her mother did not approve of her doing the driving, let alone her visiting the tenants, she knew, but her father said it let him concentrate more on the visits and he thought it a sensible skill for a young lady to have.
"What do you think Mrs Jackson will say?" asked Jane.
"I am unsure. She will probably want to stay. Her eldest is just old enough to take on the tenant farm - I think. Otherwise, we will be replacing them. But the Hawkins have worked out well enough on the old Maguire place, so I don't think it will really be a problem for us either way. I know she has family she can go back to, though whether they will be happy to receive the 6 of them… that I do not know!"
Mr Jackson had died a couple of days earlier in a freak accident - a tree had fallen on him when he was in his fields, a tree that had been checked, a tree that had been thought to be sound. His boys had been with him, but they had been unable to save him - the widow was said to be inconsolable. Mr Bennet was in no rush to have her decide what she would do next, and he wanted to let her know that, so made the decision to drop by as part of their normal rounds where he might possibly have left the family undisturbed to mourn.
The gig pulled up at the Jackson place. Mr Bennet stepped down first then turned to hand Jane down. She looked soberly at her father as she stepped out of the gig. She knew the family well as she had seen them regularly, "doing the rounds" with her father. They came around the gig to see that the Jacksons had heard the gig and come out to meet them. Jane went to Mrs Jackson and hugged her. "I am so sorry, Mrs Jackson" said Jane, softly. The woman looked at her, dark circles under her eyes. Jane saw her bottom lip tremble. Her two sons stood behind her with crossed arms. The older boy, Tommy, was sixteen and looked at them with worried eyes. The younger at twelve just looked frightened. "What shall we do now, Miss? He is gone. He is all I had!" cried Mrs Jackson. Jane looked at her with sadness and held her tighter, but at thirteen was not sure how to comfort the older woman in her loss. Mr Bennet stepped in. "Let us go inside and talk about it, Ellie" he said sympathetically.
The group went into the small house and the oldest girl looked up in alarm at their entrance and then industriously put the kettle on the fire for tea. Mr Bennet smiled in appreciation of her common sense - if in doubt, make tea. They settled at the table, Mrs Jackson looking at them with some concern. "Now Ellie… Mrs Jackson" said Thomas, "firstly I do not want you to panic. We are not going to turn you out into the hedgerows." Some measure of hope came over her face and Mr Bennet looked up to the older boy. "Tommy, come sit - you're the man of the house now". The boy looked at him nervously but came over to the table. The eldest daughter quietly brought what must have been the company china to the table and poured cups of tea with shaky hands. They sipped politely and Mr Bennet continued.
"As I see it, you have a choice to make. and I know it's too early for you to be making decisions. Much too early! But I wanted to make sure you knew what your options were and for you to know that you have time to decide between them." Mr Bennet smiled at her reassuringly then sobered. "This is a terrible thing to happen, just terrible and you have all my family's condolences and the most important thing we can give you: time."
"I know you came from up north and still have family up there, so it looks to me like you have two options: you can pack up the house and children and head back north to your family…." She nodded slowly, waiting for the other choice. "Or", he continued, "Tommy could take over the farm. He is but sixteen - but I know his father has trained him. That is what would have happened eventually, other things not arising, and no one expected it to be this soon. But I think it might work." He turned to Tommy at this point. "You have neighbours close by who I am sure you can call on for advice when you are unsure how to proceed, or even come up to the big house if you want. We are one community at Longbourn". The young man nodded at him hesitantly.
The widow Jackson looked from one to the other of them and spoke in a quiet voice "Tommy is full young for such a responsibility". She looked at her son, and then tilted her head. "But Harold taught him since he could walk…" she trailed off hesitantly.
Mr Bennet continued "I certainly neither want nor need you to decide today. I just wanted to let you know you have options, and that you do not have to decide what to do in a rush. Let it not be said that Longbourn doesn't look after its tenants!" He finished his tea and stood up from the table. "But, again, my lady and our daughters are united with me in offering our condolences for your loss and please, feel no pressure in your mourning. We will leave you now." Jane murmured her repeated condolences and the new widow got up from the table a little shocked, but also quite relieved to know she wasn't being immediately thrown out of the home she had known for almost two decades. Mr Bennet and Jane walked back to the gig and Jane started them away again. The family stood in the doorway quietly, probably in a little bit of shock she thought, as the gig pulled away.
Father and daughter were quiet for a little as they pulled away then Jane spoke. "I think that went well. I didn't like to intrude so soon, but I agree it was good to let them know they didn't necessarily have to leave." They stopped at each of the other seven tenant families, mentioning what they had said to the Jacksons. Half to reduce any thought that tenants weren't cared for and half to let them know that if the Jacksons did stay then Mr Bennet expected the other families to support them where possible. "One big, happy Longbourn family" was how he put it to them. The older men smiled in recognition of the phrase. "My father always said that" Mr Bennet whispered to Jane as they rode away from one of the farms.
As they left the last tenant, Mr Bennet said "Let's check the top pasture on the home farm" and pointed north. She looked at him with an eyebrow raised then took the turn in the track.
They pulled up at the top of the field, hopped down from the gig and surveyed the rolling field below them. "I am thinking" said Mr Bennet, "that we should add some sheep to our fields." Jane frowned in thought "How would that affect our rotation of crops?" she asked. Mr Bennet smiled at her insight and continued "I am only thinking of a small flock, maybe twenty sheep, at least initially, and probably never more. I would make this field, the smallest field of our nine, which is a bit of a hill and has never been easy to harvest anyway, to be their home paddock. We would move them into each field in turn after it is harvested to eat down the stubble and enough of the turnip crop would be kept to ensure they have fodder through winter. It would take one field out of the rotation, yes. But the manure and stubble removal would be a benefit on its own, and diversifying like this is another way to give reliability to our system and assure it could stand up to problems - if we had a complete disaster in the crops one year, we could slaughter sheep for meat and then replace them when things picked up. And the wool would be a saleable item each year in the meantime. It would mean hiring a shepherd to care for the sheep and shear them each year. I think the small expense would be offset by the increased income and the improvement to the soil of all the other fields from manure in the longer term. Plus the risk reduction. We would have to determine the carrying capacity of the land for the sheep, and an experienced shepherd may be able to offer advice, but I think twenty is a solid number to start with." Jane looked thoughtful and then added "And we can just trial it - if we aren't happy with the outcome, we can sell them on. Its quite low risk." She looked up at him and smiled, "Always thinking of us, papa". He looked bashful, "well I do have to think of the future" he smiled.
They returned to the house to share the happenings at the Jackson farm with Mrs Bennet.