To the four winds

When tragedy steals the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their unborn fifth child, Jethro Collins is overjoyed to inherit. But finally claiming Longbourn is not enough for him. If Thomas Bennet was watching down from heaven then he wanted his cousin to see his children suffer too. Thankfully his wife still had a little fight left in her. Through her intervention she saw that the little girls found good homes, but she could not keep them from being scattered to the four winds.

AN: There is implication of domestic abuse in this, but nothing described.

Longbourn, 1796

The pallid and worn-down Mrs. Collins, who had once been the pretty and vivacious Miss Helena Bennet, hung back with her equally skittish and beaten down son William as her husband stomped gleefully into his new manor house. Once he was fully engaged in studying his new surroundings, Helena pulled a letter out of her apron and stealthily slipped it into Mrs. Hill's hand.

Just as she successfully made the transfer, Jethro Collins barked for his wife and son to attend to him. Like two terrified dogs the mother and daughter hurried to obey. Helena was grateful to get the letter out of her apron. Even though her husband could not read, he was constantly suspicious and quick to erupt into anger. Both she and her son bore the marks and the poorly healed bones to prove it.

Within the hour one of the stable boys managed to slip the letter into the hands of Mrs. Lucy Webb, the former Lucy Goulding and one of Helena's dearest friends from childhood. When Lucy read the letter she was glad of the stable boy's discretion in slipping the letter to her without her own husband's notice. Of course at the moment her husband Jonas was sleeping off another drunken night celebating his victory over the Gardiners, Phillips, and Bennets.

Not even two weeks had passed since the terrible carriage accident that had taken the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Phillips and Mr. and Mrs. Bennet... along with Mrs. Bennet's unborn babe. The two couples had only just left Liverpool, where they had seen off young Edward Gardiner, their younger brother. He had departed by ship to the Caribbean, where he was to serve as a buyer for the import/export company that he had bought a partnership in.

Lucy Webb's husband Jonas had been a clerk under the solicitor Edmund Gardiner alongside Nathaniel Phillips. Even though Jonas had been both younger and junior to Nathaniel, he had still been furious when Nathaniel inherited the business instead of him. It should have been expected. After all, Nathaniel had married Esther Gardiner, Edmund's eldest daughter, and had been taking on most of the work from the time that Mr. Gardiner became ill... yet Jonas could not see past his own jealous rage! Sadly, Lucy had been the one to suffer for that, since her husband was too much of a coward to confront the person he was actually angry at.

Jethro Collins was even worse. He had very publicly compromised Lucy's dear friend Helena Bennet hoping to secure control of Longbourn, her father's estate. He was not aware of the entail along the male bloodline. When he learned that Helena's cousin Thomas would inherit instead of him, he flew into a rage and caused all manner of problems. Very quickly he had to flee with his abused wife to another county far away from Hertfordshire or face confinement.

Jethro and Jonas were cousins. Jonas was at least intelligent and literate, yet he had always followed the lead of his older cousin. So it was no surprise to Lucy that Jethro planned on pulling Jonas into furthering his revenge scheme. Honestly Lucy had some suspicions that there was nothing "accidental" about the accident which killed both the Bennets and the Phillips couples. Jonas had just been too smug and self-satisfied for the past two weeks.

But that was not something that either Lucy or Helena had any hope of addressing. What Lucy could address was the disposition of the four dear orphaned Bennet girls. Jethro had spoken long and gleefully in front of Helena about scattering the four girls into orphanages and work houses to further his revenge. Lucy had heard Jonas regret that the Phillips had no children for the same reason. Now that the Collins family was in Longbourn, it would only be a matter of days before the two cousins executed their cruel plan. This left little time for Lucy to act.

The four girls had been left with William and Sarah Lucas when the Bennets set out. William Lucas was not only a prosperous merchant, but also the current Mayor of Meryton. He should have been enough to protect the girls, but unfortunately Jonas now had control of all solicitor files, including the Bennet's will and provisions. Lucy had no doubt that everything had now been forged to put Jethro Collins in charge of the orphans, with Jonas as the second. Not even Mayor Lucas could fight that.

Not wanting any rumors of her complicity to reach her husband, Lucy waited until she saw young Charlotte, the eldest Lucas child, stepping into the grocers shop. In moments she was beside the kind and responsible young girl and slipping her a note, "Please take this to your mother as soon as you leave here. Time is of the essence."

Charlotte, wise for her age, nodded silently and slipped the letter into her dress pocket before continuing to work the shopping list her mother had given her. Twenty minutes later she arrived back at their family's large home and went directly to where her mother was instructing Cook about the week's menu. Sarah Lucas thanked her sweet daughter and sent her off to entertain the four Bennet girls as best as she could given the circumstances.

Sarah read the letter and went immediately to her husband. He was a good man, but slow to action, so it was well that this planning had begun almost from the day that everyone learned of the tragedy. The normally cheerful man sighed, "Tonight then." He had counted Thomas Bennet and Nathaniel Phillips as two of his best friends, so their deaths had struck him very hard. "Everything is in place?"

"Except for food baskets, yes. Cook will have those ready. Helena made certain that there was plenty for that man to drink tonight so that he will not think about the girls until he wakes up later tomorrow. By then they will be far away."

"Are you certain that we should not know where they are?"

"You and I... all of us, need to be able to answer honestly that the girls vanished in the night and we have no earthly idea where they went. We will not even know the name of the wagoner who will carry them away. This is the best that we can do for them. We can be certain that the will has been altered, along with any other legal documents."

William Lucas ran his hand over his exhausted face, "Very well. Let us give them the best farewell dinner that we can."

Later that night, after the Lucas family went to sleep, having forgotten to lock the door to the servant's entrance, several figures slipped in silently. Four slumbering sisters were bundled up and carried out to a waiting wagon. They barely stirred, having been gently dosed with laudanum in their after-dinner milks. Neither family nor house servants stirred from their beds either, though all of the adults were awake and praying for the four dear children.

Kympton, Derbyshire, 1800

Eleven year old Jane Forthright held the hand of her young Aunt Madeline as they sat vigil beside the body of Mrs. Adelaide Forthright, wife of the Vicar of Lambton.

Madeline, Adelaide's younger sister, had come to live in the parsonage after her own dear father, once the owner of Lambton's Grocer, had passed away. That had only been two years before and now it was Adelaide who was gone, felled by an attack of influenza that had wreaked havoc throughout the area. It was reported that even Lady Anne Darcy, the Mistress of Pemberley, had been struck down.

The mourners and well-wishers threaded through the parsonage all day. Matthew Forthright, now a widower, had been there when he could but his duties to the other parishioners also impacted had kept him from his own private grief.

Later that night, with trembling hands, the man handed young Jane a letter from his wife, her adopted mother.

Dear Jane,

We have never made it a secret that you are our beloved adopted child, as we were blessed with none of our own. You are the dearest and sweetest blessing that God could have given us, despite the unfortunate circumstances that brought about your adoption.

You were also old enough to remember that you had three sisters: Elizabeth, Mary, and Catherine. When I told you that I did not know where your sisters were, I spoke the truth. I had planned on telling you everything that I knew when you were old enough to make an attempt to find them.

If you are reading this, then it means that something has happened to me and I will not be able to tell you in person. I am truly sorry. I am writing this just in case, because I know how fleeting life can be. So allow me to tell you a story.

Many years ago there were three girls who met at school and became good friends, Helena Bennet, Lucy Goulding, and Hannah White. Only Hannah married well, having become the wife of a Baron she became Lady Stanton. The other two made poor matches to men who proved to be terrible. The latter two kept in contact with Hannah as best as they could, which proved fortuitous because one day they wrote begging for aide for four orphaned girls, you and your sisters.

Your parents were Thomas and Fanny Bennet, master and mistress of a small estate in Hertfordshire named Longbourn. A cousin, Jethro Collins, the same who compromised and married Helena, coveted the estate and hated the Bennets. When your parents died with your aunt and uncle in a carriage accident, Collins took over Longbourn and his cousin, the husband of Lucy, took over the solicitor's office that held your father's will. The two cousins were not satisfied and wanted to make life miserable for you and your sisters, so they begged Lady Stanton to find homes for you.

Lady Stanton took you in and found you all homes, but separate and none with her. She did this first because the cousins might have remembered the that she was their closest friend and pursued legal action to demand your return. She not only found separate homes for you, but concealed the identity of the other adoptive parents so that even if the cousins found one, they could not find the rest.

Sadly the Stantons perished in a fire that took the entire family, also destroying any documents that might have informed us where your sisters might be. All that she would tell me was that you were all "Scattered to the four winds."

I have left a letter with my dear Matthew with the name of your one surviving uncle, Edward Gardiner. At the time of the death of both sisters he was somewhere else in the world, but his information perished with his sisters. Your papa will use the information that I was provided to attempt to ascertain if Mr. Gardiner has returned to England. If so, he will be notified about you. What you do from there I must leave in your hands.

Only know that I love you dearly and you have been a blessing to both Michael and me,

Sincerely, Adelaide Forthright

No. 23 Gracechurch Street, London, 1811

Twenty year old Jane Bennet closed the book that she had been reading to the Gardiner children, kissed each on the cheek, and sent them off with their nurses to bed. Then she sat and waited for whatever news her aunt and uncle had to share with her.

The unexpected blessing that came with contacting her uncle, Edward Gardiner, was that he hurried north from London, met Madeline, and fell deeply in love with Jane's lovely young aunt. Over the next year Edward journeyed north as often as his business would allow to get to know his long lost niece and to court Madeline. When they married the new couple returned to London. was saddened Jane to bid them goodbye, but she joined them less than a year later when Matthew Forthright breathed his last and joined his Adelaide in heaven.

Edward had learned through his childhood friends that both Jethro Collins and Jonas Webb were dead, hanged for their involvement in a large fraud case and the murder of the man who caught them in their scheme. Sadly, Helena had already passed five years before, but Lucy Webb had moved into Longbourn to raise and support William Collins who was now the Master of Longbourn.

On her uncle's advice Jane had changed her surname back to Bennet in the hopes that this would help any of her sister's who might be also searching. As of yet no word of the other three had reached her, though she and the Gardiners never ceased to search.

Perhaps this evening her uncle might have an answer, or at least a clue.

Jane found herself holding her breath as Edward and Madeline took seats facing her in the family drawing room. Her uncle began, "I received the most amazing news from Lucy Webb today. Elizabeth has been found."

Both Jane and Madeline exclaimed in joy, then both started pressing for answers at once. Edward laughed and waved them both down, "Allow me to answer! In the most ironic twist of fate, a man by the name of Charles Bingley leased the estate adjoining Longbourn. His father, whom I have known for years, passed away and left him and his sisters with fortunes. His father wanted his son to become a landed gentleman. Young Bingley, in a display of wisdom, chose to lease first to learn how to manage an estate before laying out a large portion of his fortune to purchase.

"Because he knows nothing about how to manage an estate, he asked for help and instruction from his dear friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy."

Madeline sat back at the name, since the Darcy's had been the owners of the vast estate situated between Kympton and Lambton. In fact the Darcy's owned most of the land that Lambton sat on and the Kympton living that her brother held was in the Darcy's gift.

Edward grinned at the reaction, "It seems that among their other estates the Darcy's have a rather large estate and castle in Scotland, near Lochaber. When young Darcy was up there he met, fell in love with, and eventually married a beautiful Scottish lass, the adopted daughter of Laird and Lady Lochaber..."

Jane's tentative smile was now in full bloom, her body bouncing unintentionally with joy! "My Elizabeth? Please say she is?"

Edward grinned, "Lucy writes that Elizabeth Darcy is the very image of her dear departed friend Helena. So much so that poor William Collins almost collapsed at seeing the young ghost of his mother."

"We have to go to Meryton!"

On the following afternoon the Gardiner's carriage pulled to a stop in front of Netherfield Park, where a handsome, smiling man with red hair, a taller and also handsome man with dark brown hair, and a petite but lovely woman with sparkling eyes and sable hair stepped out to greet them.

No introductions were required between Jane and Elizabeth. Somehow, despite almost two decades of separation, the sisters instantly knew each other. In a moment they were in each other's arms and weeping with joy!

Fitzwilliam Darcy was quite pleased to see his lovely wife reunited with one of her sisters. She had been only four, almost five at the time of her adoption, but she had never forgotten her sisters, especially her Janie. She could barely recall Mary's features and "Kitty" had been only a little over a year old, but she and her big sister had been the best of friends.

Charles Bingley was suddenly very glad that he had leased this property. He was also glad that he had asked Darcy's bride to serve temporarily as hostess rather than his very difficult sister. Caroline had not wanted to come since "some country chit" had stolen her Mr. Darcy away. If she had been there, she would have mucked things up. As soon as Charles saw the angelic Miss Bennet he knew that he wanted to know her better... without Caroline's intervention.

Elizabeth Darcy remembered herself and stepped back, resuming her duties as hostess. With the help of the seasoned housekeeper and the well-prepared staff the visiting family and their own servants were soon well situated.

Everyone else allowed the sisters the afternoon to be alone and get to know each other, then in the evening Elizabeth was afforded the opportunity to become acquainted with the uncle she could not remember and her new aunt. She also took great joy in seeing her beloved husband making the effort to befriend her uncle and aunt.

The poor long-suffering man endured the laughter that evening when Elizabeth detailed the rather tumultuous and oftentimes start of their relationship, including the insult which began it all. He countered that he "got it right in the end, and that is all that matters." It was clear to Jane and to the Gardiners that theirs was a love match.

While Jane spent most of her time focused on her sister, she was far from unaware of the handsome Master of Netherfield. As the evening wore on they gravitated towards each other more and more. The others, seeing this, left them mostly to their own devices.

On the following day Mr. William Collins and his cousin/aunt Mrs. Lucy Webb presented themselves at Netherfield. William was not well-favored in appearance, but he was a kind young man who was trying to make up for all of the hardships that his father had caused. He tried to apologize for what had happened to the sisters, but they gently reminded him that he had no more control over his father than they had.

Lucy also attempted to apologize for her part in separating the sisters, but again they assured her that they were grateful for all that she, Helena, and Lady Stanton had done to save them. They did ask if the lady had any other clues as to the whereabouts of the other two sisters, but she had nothing. They all dined together that evening and new friendships were formed.

On the following day Jane and Elizabeth, along with Darcy and the Gardiners, were given a tour of Longbourn. Of the two sisters Jane was the only one who had any memories of the manor house, until Elizabeth saw the nursery and suddenly remembered the three older sisters playing there. Neither of the ladies begrudged Mr. William Collins his current ownership.

Business matters pulled the Gardiners back to London. They promised to bring their children for the next visit and extended invitations to their home as well.

Jane remained at Netherfield, ostensibly to get to know her sister better, but also because of the mutual interest between her and Mr. Bingley. When it became clear that a romance was blooming propriety demanded that they live in separate homes. It was the Lucas family, now Sir William and Lady Lucas, who offered to host Jane so that she would not have to return to London. As soon as she was installed at Lucas Lodge Charles Bingley requested and was granted a courtship with his angel.

At Mr. Bingley's request Elizabeth planned a ball for November 26th in celebration of the sisters reuniting. Bingley also intended to use that night to propose.

The Netherfield Ball, November 26th, 1811

Neither Bingley, Darcy, or Elizabeth thought anything of it when Colonel Forster requested the addition of several names to the invitations. The Brighton Militia were currently encamped nearby. Out of courtesy the officers had been included in the invitations. Only a week before the ball Army HQ sent team of regular officers to conduct a readiness inspection. The man in charge, a Colonel Strickland, even brought his young bride along.

On the night of the ball Jane and Elizabeth were included in the very short receiving line. Over the past eight weeks both young ladies had become acquainted with most of the locals, so they were pleased to greet each family as they arrived. Neither sister had gotten to know any of the militia. After an unpleasant incident with a Lieutenant Wickham they had mostly steared clear of all the men in uniform.

Elizabeth had been planning to host her dear sister Georgiana and introduce the shy young lady to Jane, but the discovery of Wickham's presence had put an end to that idea... until another cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, arrived to collect the man and send him to the front. The situation had spooked the poor girl enough that she would not come to Meryton, so the sisters made a trip with Darcy and met her in London.

So when the militia came through, the sisters greeted them in a polite but cool manner... right up until the regular commander, Colonel Strickland, stepped up to introduce himself and his wife. Something in the pretty young woman's features alerted both sisters, prompting them to greet the couple with more enthusiasm. Soon after Jane found Edward Gardiner and Lucy Webb to ask them to meet the young lady.

It was only a matter of ten minutes conversation before Jane and Elizabeth's suspicions were proven true: Lady Kate, daughter of Viscount Richfield and wife of Colonel Strickland was none other than Catherine "Kitty" Bennet, who had been adopted by a couple near Dorchester. Unlike her sisters, Catherine had no memories of her former family, so she did not share the same level of joy. To her the Richfields were and always would be her parents, which was understandable. Still she was very pleased to meet two such pretty and kind sisters.

In truth Colonel Strickland was more pleased, since he was now associated by marriage to the Darcys of Pemberley. He was himself the third son of a prominent baron, so he was not lacking in connections.

The Inspection Team remained in the area for another week full, then departed for another tour of inspection far to the north. Lady Kate exchanged contact information with her sisters before departing. They maintained only a desultory correspondence until she went into confinement for her first child. Her sisters presence at her bedside formed a bond that had been lacking until that point.

Charles waited until the following day to propose, not wishing to interrupt the reunion. Jane almost did not let him finish before she gave him a very happy "Yes!" and then kissed him soundly! This response was ample compensation for not being allowed to finish his very well-practiced proposal, though he did tease his wife often in the years that followed. Her response each time only prompted him to continue with the teasing.

Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., 1832

Edward Gardiner's investigators continued tirelessly until they found the missing clues in 1813. It seemed that Mary Bennet had been adopted into a very fine family in Wales. In 1810 she caught the eye of visiting clergyman who wanted to emigrate to the United States. They were married and departed England's shores in early 1811.

Of course with the current war between England and the U.S., all further investigations were halted. Mr. Gardiner was busy dealing with the massive influx of business involved in reopening trade with France after the second Treaty of Paris was signed to resume the investigation, but when the dust settled in the U.S. he had one of his business representatives hire men to search.

Mary Rowley was surprised in 1818 when the lawyer approached her with the information about her lost family. After a lengthy discussion with her husband, the Reverend Horatio Rowley, she penned letters to all three sisters. Though correspondence across the Atlantic was slow, the four sisters continued writing for more than a decade before the Darcys and the Bingleys made the journey to meet the Rowleys. General Strickland was then commanding the military detachment in Barbados, so they were not involved.

Sadly, but not entirely unexpected, the lifestyles and experiences of the sisters was so vastly different that the meeting was polite at best. The children of the three families actually made closer bonds than the three sisters. Still, when the English sisters returned home the correspondence continued and as ships improved the children took the opportunity to visit each other. Some even relocated.

Jane and Elizabeth, along with their spouses, maintained the best of relationships for all of the years of their lives. The Gardiner family was added to that mix so that their children grew up with much higher connections and consequence than they could have ever expected.

Thus the four sisters who were scattered to the four winds found each other again. Though it was not all that they had hoped, at least the older sisters knew that their younger siblings had fulfilling lives.

AN: I would have liked to make the ending all butterflies and roses, but I had to let the story tell itself. When I was still a teen I accompanied my grandfather on a drive across the U.S. to see family that he had not seen for a few decades. I could not help but notice that he was disappointed to find that the close relationship of his youth was lost with time and separate life experiences. I'm still glad that I was able to take him on the trip.

In response to several reviewers who understand German currency:

It seems that I must retract my previous assertion. Enough people have told me that there was no such thing as a 50 mark coin that I searched myself. Then I used common sense and phoned my sister, the only other person still alive who was there. She thinks it was probably a five mark piece and it was when I was six, only a month or two after we arrived. I apologize because in my mind it was always a fifty mark coin.
LFU