Checkmate, Mr Darcy Chapter 14, a pride and prejudice fanfic

A/N: Yes, I know that JA never mentioned the hedgerows, but I thought it was funny – and based on the number of comments, so did my readers. 😊

~O~

Chapter 14

It took a few minutes before the party was ready to enter the house, as the discovery caused somewhat hysterical laughter from all the ladies.

Phillips did not join in, but his lips twitched as he rolled his eyes and said to no one in particular. 'I am not certain that I appreciate Bennet's sense of humour, but it does seem rather appropriate after all your lamentations.'

Elizabeth agreed. 'It does put a different spin on papa's comments about Mr Collins sending us to live in the hedgerows as soon as he was dead.'

'Shall we explore The Hedgerows, now that we are here?' Phillips asked once everyone had calmed down enough.

Mrs Wright watched in bemusement. She had known the name of the house since she started to work here, but it now became clear why the name had been chosen. Since the ladies were in a state to take in what she had to show them, she gave them a tour of the house.

The ground floor consisted of a formal drawing room, dining room, music room, family sitting room, breakfast room and a study, the walls of which were covered in bookcases, all of which were empty. The first floor held six bedrooms, two of them large and four smaller ones. One of the large bedrooms also had a good-sized dressing room and a sitting room joined it to the second large bedroom. That was obviously the master suite.

The second floor which extended into the attic space as the ceilings were sloping halfway up the walls, was made up mostly of comfortable staff quarters, most of which were unused at present. Their final stop was in the half-basement, which held the kitchen, scullery, staff dining room and several storerooms.

But the most amazing thing for Mrs Bennet was that on each floor, one of the latest flushing water closets had been installed.

The house was fully furnished, although the furniture was shrouded in holland covers.

Mrs Wright said, 'It won't take much time to remove the covers, give the rooms a good sweep and air them out, though it would be good to have a bit of extra help for a few days. I was told that you might be bringing a housekeeper and butler… maybe even some other staff.'

'Mr and Mrs Hill. Of course, I could not do without them,' exclaimed Mrs Bennet, but suddenly she broke into tears, the distraction of her new home having worn off. 'Oh, dear Mr Bennet. I should have known that he would see us secure. Why did he have to be taken from us. Especially now, just as our girls were to be married.'

Even though Jane was near tears, she draped an arm over Mrs Bennet's shoulders and guided her towards the door. 'Come, mama. It is time to go home and prepare for the funeral and then our move. It will do you good to keep busy.'

As they entered the carriage, Phillips said quietly to Elizabeth, 'I will come by in about an hour with some papers I have from your father.'

'Thank you, uncle.'

Once the Bennet carriage had gone, Mr Phillips arranged with Mrs Wright to make the house ready for occupancy and to inform him as soon as it was done. He and his wife then returned to their home where both busied themselves with writing letters.

~O~

As soon as the Bennets arrived back at Longbourn, Mrs Hill informed them, 'I beg your pardon, but I sent word to Netherfield about what has happened. I expect that at least the young men will arrive shortly to lend their support.'

Mrs Bennet grasped Mrs Hill's hand. 'Thank you, Hill. You are very good to me. I was rather distracted before.'

She had barely finished speaking, when Richard and Bingley arrived and Hill tactfully withdrew. 'They both offered their condolences to Mrs Bennet before they went to their ladies and offered whatever aid they could.

'Our families will be here shortly. We came across the fields,' Fitzwilliam explained. When he saw Elizabeth starting to bristle, he added, 'Carefully.'

They retired to the drawing room and sent for tea. Just as it was being delivered, the rest of the Netherfield party arrived and offered their own condolences to the family.

Once everyone was settled, Bingley was the first to speak. 'All you ladies will of course be welcome at Netherfield, since I expect Mr Collins will not be long in claiming his inheritance.'

Mrs Bennet smiled tremulously but responded quite firmly, 'That is most kind and generous of you, but it will not be necessary. We just learnt that my late husband made provisions for us. We have a house in Meryton to move to.'

'No hedgerows after all,' muttered Richard.

'Oh, but we are moving to The Hedgerows,' Elizabeth replied with a crooked smile. 'That happens to be the name of the house.'

Matlock groaned, 'That sounds just like Bennet's sense of humour.'

'So there was no need for us to ride to the rescue,' Bingley said, torn between chagrin that he could not be their saviour and relief that he was not required to take on the care of six ladies.

The Fitzwilliams and the Bingleys were exchanging glances as if unsure how to raise a delicate subject. Eventually, Lady Matlock said delicately, 'About the weddings…'

'It was my husband's dying wish that Jane and Lizzy do not wait to get married,' Mrs Bennet said with a sad smile as a few more tears escaped her eyes. 'He also did not wish us to wear black.'

'Sensible man,' said Mrs Bingley.' Receiving some puzzled looks she added, 'One does not have to wear black to mourn and just because someone wears black does not necessarily mean that they do mourn. It is a ridiculous custom.'

Mrs Bennet was relieved when all their guests agreed, but she was resolved to return to the subject of the two weddings once the funeral was behind them.

~O~

They were finishing their tea when Mr Phillips and his wife, who immediately took a seat beside her sister, arrived again.

When the Matlocks tactfully offered to leave, Phillips said, 'Since you will be family soon enough, you might as well stay. And perhaps you might be good enough to assist.'

'Whatever we can do…' Lord Matlock replied.

'As you probably know, William Collins, Lady Catherine's parson, is the heir to Longbourn.' Everyone nodded. 'Since Lizzy rejected his proposal, I expect that he will do everything in his power to make things as difficult as possible for the ladies.'

'That man is the worst kind of sycophant and petty to boot,' muttered Richard.

'The point is, I had to send a letter informing him of Bennet's death. In my distraction, I am afraid I sent it by ordinary mail rather than express. That should give us two days to remove the bulk of personal possession from the house. Anything which is not covered by the entail.'

Phillips extracted several sheets of paper from a document case. 'Here are copies of the inventories of items specified in his will.' He turned to the guests. 'If you happen to have any spare footmen who could lend a hand. Perhaps some carts for transport?'

Matlock immediately offered the assistance of all the footmen he had brought along for security in their travels, while Bingley offered not only the help of Netherfield's staff, but also any vehicles available on that estate.

Phillips handed out the inventories to each of the Bennet ladies. They saw that each list was headed by their name. Phillips explained, 'At the official reading of the will, the items on the lists will be bequeathed to you. Since I do not trust Collins not to be difficult, I thought it would be advantageous to secure your belongings before there can be any arguments.'

'Wise move.' Lord Matlock nodded and offered, 'Since I am the brother of his revered patroness, I believe it would be wise for me to oversee the removal. I doubt that he will argue with me.'

Phillips gave him a relieved smile. 'That would be most helpful, my lord.'

~O~

Longbourn was a hive of activity over the next two days, with all the ladies gathering their belongings and Mr Bennet's bequests. They were aided in their endeavours by Mr and Mrs Gardiner, who arrived the day after Bennet's death in response to the letter sent express by Mrs Phillips.

The Gardiners had come prepared to offer refuge to at least some of the Bennet ladies, but like everyone else, they were relieved that no substantial assistance was necessary. The couple too shook their heads about the name of the Bennet's new abode.

Lord and Lady Matlock supervised the packing of the bequests, not that they feared that the Bennet ladies would remove anything which belonged to the estate, but so that they could negate any claims to the contrary.

The benefit of all this activity was that the ladies were generally too busy to wallow in their loss and by the time they fell into bed, they were too tired to even think.

Despite that, every so often, an item would recall fond memories of Mr Bennet, and the lady would shed some tears, before shaking off her malaise and continue with the task at hand.

Soon, much of Longbourn was stripped of the Bennet's personal possessions while The Hedgerows began to look like a home. The items belonging to the estate, many of which had been retrieved from the attic, had been distributed through the various rooms so as not to make it too obvious that the family was ready to move out.

The one room which was left almost unchanged was the main drawing room to receive well-wishers on the day of the funeral. Mr Bennet lay in state in the small parlour which had been stripped for that purpose.

In the late afternoon of the third day after Mr Bennet's death, Mr Collins arrived in a rented gig.

He was preceded by a day by an express from Mrs Collins to Elizabeth Bennet.

~O~

Dearest Eliza

Please accept my most heartfelt condolences on the loss of your father. I had hoped you would have the pleasure of his company for many years to come.

While some might argue I am being disloyal to my husband, you are my oldest and dearest friend, and I must therefore give you warning.

Mr Collins has not yet forgiven you for your rejection of his proposal and is therefore disinclined to be charitable towards you and your family.

To mitigate his ire, I have not informed him of your and Jane's courtships, in the hope that he will at least give you a few days to find alternate accommodations.

I suspect that if he knew you were being courted by such an illustrious gentleman as Lady Catherine's nephew, he would do anything in his power to make life as difficult for you as possible. That could include slandering you to Lady Catherine in an effort to break up your courtship.

So, please, whatever you do, make yourself look as poor and disadvantaged as possible.

I also pray that you can prevail on your mother to go along with this scheme as it will be to her advantage.

I must close to get this missive to you as quickly as possible to ensure that it arrives a day before my husband.

Your friend

Charlotte

When Elizabeth read this letter to her family, Mrs Bennet looked grim.

'Very well. We shall not mention any of our good fortunes. Not either of your engagements or our new home,' Mrs Bennet said decisively, fixing all her daughters a stern look.

'La, what a joke it will be when he discovers too late that we shall be excessively comfortable,' crowed Lydia.

~O~

Collins clambered down from his seat and strutted up to the door, where he used the knocker vigorously until it was opened by Mr Hill.

'Take my trunks to my rooms,' Collins commanded and tried to enter the house.

'I am sorry, sir, but there are no rooms for you available, as all the rooms are in use by family,' Hill said politely but firmly and refused to make way.

'How dare you deny the master of the house,' blustered Collins.

Before the situation could get out of hand, Mr Gardiner appeared at the door.

'Mr Collins, until the reading of the will you are not the master of Longbourn. But you are welcome to come in and refresh yourself, and perhaps join the family for dinner, if you are so inclined,' Gardiner offered.

Collins was offended at the tone and the message, but he had been on the road all day and he was in dire need of refreshment and sustenance. 'Very well,' he huffed and without looking back, he followed Mr Hill to a room at the back of the house to freshen up.

~O~

Conversation at dinner was stilted on the part of the extended Bennet family. Mr Collins made up for their lack by speaking almost without a pause.

'Lady Catherine in her wisdom advised that out of Christian charity I should give you a month to remove yourself from my property.'

'It is not yet your property,' bristled Mrs Bennet who was getting ever more vexed by the irritating man and his patroness.

'That is purely a technicality. But considering the lack of civility and deference you have shown the new master of Longbourn, I am inclined to insist that you remove yourself within a sennight.'

'Mr Collins,' protested Mrs Gardiner, disgusted by the man.

'No, Mrs Gardiner. I will not tolerate such disrespect. Lady Catherine has explained that I must preserve the distinctions of rank. I am now a landed gentleman and these… ladies are merely homeless vagabonds.'

Before Mrs Bennet could give the game away, Gardiner intervened, 'Mr Collins, my family will never be, as you said, homeless vagabonds. But I believe that you have overstayed your welcome.'

Collins threw down his serviette and, standing up, said, 'Very well. I shall repair to Lucas Lodge.'

Under the circumstances, Gardiner was only too happy to inform the man, 'I am afraid that Lucas Lodge has been remodelled and they also have no spare rooms. I have therefore taken the liberty to reserve rooms for you at the White Hart.'

Since travelling all day had tired him, Collins sought his bed immediately upon gaining his room at the inn.

~O~