~O~
Chapter 10
The excitement was high at Longbourn when Mrs Bennet heard that Netherfield was being reopened.
She bustled into Mr Bennet study and demanded, 'Mr Bennet, you must send for Jane immediately.'
'And why should I do such a thing?'
'Have you not heard; Mr Bingley is coming back. It seems there was some miscommunication and Netherfield was not supposed to have been closed because he meant to come back all along.'
'Surely, if he meant to come back all along, then it will not matter if Jane returns a day or two after he does. After all, he has been gone for five months without a word. It will not hurt him waiting for a bit.'
'But, Mr Bennet–'
'No, my mind is made up. Jane and Lizzy will be home soon enough. Now I would appreciate some peace and quiet to deal with my correspondence,' Mr Bennet demanded, waving a letter.
Mrs Bennet turned and stalked out of the room in a huff while Bennet allowed himself an amused smile. The letter he was holding was from Bingley explaining the reason for his latest delay and the information that Bingley and his aunt would convey the Bennet sisters to Longbourn on Saturday.
~O~
As it happened, Jane and Elizabeth arrived in style at their home, in one of the smaller Matlock coaches, which the Earl had gifted to Richard.
As neither of the vehicles would hold more than four people in comfort, and Mrs Bingley insisted that the proprieties must be observed, she and the sisters, as well as her new maid, occupied the Matlock carriage.
The men grumbled because their companions, which consisted of Bingley's valet and Fitzwilliam's batman, who shared Bingley's coach were nowhere near as appealing as the ladies. Their trip was also less comfortable as they followed Fitzwilliam's coach and therefore travelled in the cloud of dust raised by the lead vehicle. They only changed positions at Meryton, as Bingley's coachman knew the way to Longbourn.
As soon as Bingley's coach stopped, the men exited and were on hand to assist the ladies to step down from their vehicle.
By the time Mrs Bingley joined the couples, the Bennet family had made their way outside and greeted the sisters enthusiastically.
Mrs Bennet immediately embraced her oldest daughter and gushed with a quick sideways glance at Bingley, 'Jane, I am so pleased that you have returned and are looking so well.'
She turned to address Bingley. 'It is wonderful to see you again, Mr Bingley. It has been far too long since we had the pleasure of your company. And it is so very good of you to have brought my most beautiful daughter home. But why did you travel in the other vehicle, would you not have been more comfortable in your own carriage?'
Bingley, who was amused by Mrs Bennet's unsubtle attempts at matchmaking replied, 'If anyone should have travelled in that carriage, it is Colonel Fitzwilliam, since it belongs to him.'
Mrs Bennet paid any attention to the other arrivals for the first time and noticed Fitzwilliam's uniform. Given the chance at last to get a word in edgewise due to Mrs Bennet's astonishment, Bingley performed the introduction of his aunt and the Colonel to all the Bennets.
Before the lady could gush over him, Fitzwilliam said politely, 'Since I am to be a guest at Netherfield, I did not want to be in Bingley's brown books by enjoying the company of the ladies while he was stuck with his valet and my batman.'
While Mrs Bennet might be a woman of limited intelligence, she had an eye for the value of things, such as carriages and could immediately see that Fitzwilliam's vehicle was superior. For a moment she was tempted to divert Jane to the Colonel. But based on the looks Bingley and Jane exchanged, she thought that now that he had returned, it would be safer to let him have Jane. A bird in the hand and all that. But Lydia liked men in red coats, and being a Colonel, and owning such a carriage, meant he should be able to afford to keep her favourite daughter in comfort.
She set out to ingratiate herself with the officer. 'You are most considerate, Colonel. How long are you planning to visit?'
'That depends on how soon Bingley gets tired of my company.'
'I am sure that will not happen soon, and, in the meantime, you will have the opportunity to spend time in company with the most beautiful ladies the county has to offer… such as my own dear Lydia,' Mrs Bennet suggested as she pushed her youngest daughter towards the officer.
It must be said that Lydia did not need much pushing. While Fitzwilliam was not as handsome as his cousin or even Wickham, he did cut an exceedingly fine figure in his regimentals.
As soon as the attention was on her, Lydia batted her lashes and asked in what she thought was a flirtatious manner, 'Why is he called a batman? He does not have wings.'
Fitzwilliam could not resist and with a perfectly straight face explained, 'Because, like a bat, he can always find his way, even in the dark.'
Lydia did not know how to respond to that.
~O~
While Mrs Bennet gushed over the new arrivals, Elizabeth quietly greeted her father, who said, 'It is good to see you and I appreciate your warning in your last letter.'
The two watched Mrs Bennet's performance – Mr Bennet in amusement and Elizabeth with a mixture of embarrassment and resignation. Mrs Bennet would never change.
'Should we rescue your swain?' Bennet asked in a low voice.
Elizabeth's lips twitched as she replied, 'He has faced the French army. As long as mama is not shooting at him, he can deal with her quite easily. You should meet his aunt.'
'Ah, the redoubtable Lady Catherine de Bourgh.'
'Indeed.'
Fortunately for everyone, Jane remembered her manners, and suggested that Mrs Bingley might wish to come inside to refresh herself.
That break allowed the rest of the travellers the opportunity to excuse themselves but promised to come for lunch with the family the following day.
~O~
During the conversation, Longbourn servants had removed Jane's and Elizbeth's trunks from the Matlock carriage, while the other servants had gone ahead to Netherfield in Bingley's coach, which also carried the bulk of their luggage.
Once the Bingleys and Fitzwilliam had departed in his vehicle, the Bennets at last entered the house. Mrs Bennet graciously allowed Jane and Elizabeth time to refresh themselves and change out of their dusty travelling clothes.
The moment the sisters entered the drawing room, they were beset by questions. Jane explained that they had met Bingley by chance the other day and then gave a severely edited version of events.
Mrs Bennet was pleased. 'I suppose we must forgive Mr Bingley for events beyond his control. Especially as it seems that he is still as much in love with you as he was last year.' She sighed with happiness and contentment. Surely soon they would have some security, thanks to her most beautiful daughter.
But there had been that dashing officer. 'Now, tell me about the Colonel,' she demanded. 'I need to know if he would be suitable for Lydia.'
'I am sure that he will be in love with me before the week is out,' Lydia exclaimed in glee.
'I would not bet on that, Lydia,' Elizabeth said repressively. 'Colonel Fitzwilliam is the younger son of the Earl of Matlock and cousin to Mr Darcy.'
'Who cares who his cousin is, when I marry him, we do not have to be in company with that unpleasant man,' Lydia waved a dismissive hand.
'No indeed,' Mrs Bennet supported her youngest. 'With an earl as his father, I am sure you will be going to all the best balls in town, and we all know that Mr Darcy hates balls.'
Elizabeth decided that it was time to dash their hopes before Mrs Bennet spent the Earl's wealth until he was in the poorhouse. 'I hate to disappoint you, mama, Lydia, but Colonel Fitzwilliam is here because he is courting me.'
'Courting you? Whyever would he be interested in you when he could have a lively girl like Lydia,' protested Mrs Bennet. 'Surely, now that you have brought him here, you have done your duty and let a proper girl take over.'
'I shall do no such thing, mama. I will not give him up unless he or I decide that we do not suit,' Elizabeth shot back furiously while thinking and I can see that happening when hell freezes over.
'How can you be so selfish?' Mrs Bennet exclaimed in consternation, unable to realise how ridiculous her statement was… or how hurtful.
Elizabeth saw the speculative look in Lydia's eyes and was prompted to advise, 'Lydia, you should know that trying to force a man into a marriage he does not want is the stupidest thing you can do. At best he will laugh at you and walk away while you and all your sisters are ruined. At worst, he will marry you and make you wish you were dead.'
'What could he possibly do to me?' Lydia asked with the arrogance of youth and a complete lack of sense.
Being tired from their journey and hurt by her mother's unwitting cruelty, Elizabeth lost the last shred of patience with her youngest sister's selfishness and ignorance. She therefore explained, 'He could beat you to within an inch of your life every single day and you would not be able to do anything about it because the law is on his side.'
'Surely, he could not do that,' cried Mrs Bennet in horror.
'Ask Uncle Phillips if you do not believe me.'
'You can be sure that I shall do exactly that. And when he confirms that you lied…' she left her threat unsaid.
Elizabeth shrugged. 'Do as you wish,' she said before excusing herself to find refuge in her father's study.
~O~
'How bad was it?' Mr Bennet asked as soon as Elizabeth entered his sanctum.
'Exactly as I expected,' sighed Elizabeth. While part of her loved her mother, who could be caring on occasions which did not involve marriageable men, particularly officers, at other times the lady severely tested Elizabeth's resolve to be charitable towards the woman.
Lydia on the other hand seemed to have recovered from her disappointment with Wickham. She still wanted to marry a man in uniform. Although she had become a little more sensible about the kind of officer who could afford to marry.
To distract his daughter from her morose thoughts, he asked, 'So, tell me about your young man. How did you meet?'
Elizabeth was only too happy to comply. As he listened to her enthusiastic accounting of her interactions with Fitzwilliam, Bennet sat back in his chair, thinking that he would soon loose his favourite daughter. The thought made him happy for her sake but sad for his own.
Once Bennet had extracted all the information Elizabeth was willing to share about Fitzwilliam, including the meeting with his family, which cause him to chuckle, he said, 'It seems you had a more exciting time than I expected. But I must admit that I am a little surprised by Matlock. I had not thought that he would accept you so easily as a potential daughter.'
'I suppose it may have had something to do with Mrs George,' Elizabeth said cautiously.
'So, you met her again after all these years. Is she one of Barrington's cronies as I have suspected?'
'I am not sure that Her Majesty would like to be termed a crony,' his daughter replied and watched for his reaction.
She was disappointed when Bennet just nodded and laughed. 'So, my suspicion was correct after all.'
'You suspected? Why did you not say anything?'
'You were enjoying your games and I suspect the lady did too. I do not suppose she has many opportunities to be treated as a real person. And before you ask why I suspected; it was the timing of your meeting. Since you were a child, it did not really mean anything to you that the King was in town at the same time. But to have a Mrs George in his entourage…' Bennet chuckled again. 'I think the lady must have a sense of humour to style herself as Mrs George or perhaps she did not wish to overawe you.'
'Whatever the reason, when I had tea with her the other day, I thought she was a very kind lady,' Elizabeth said and went on to relate all that had happened.
'No wonder that Matlock was impressed by you. And the gift she will send cannot have hurt either. Just be sure that your mother does not get her hands on it. She would fritter it away in no time.'
Elizabeth was going to aver that she would keep it safe but was stopped by the thoughtful look her father was giving her. After a moment he seemed to make up his mind.
'There is something else you should know. All those games of chess we have played with various people over the last twenty plus years,' he paused to heighten the suspense. 'All those games I played for money… which your mother did not know about. I invested the winnings with your uncle to provide you girls with a dowry.'
Frowning a little, Elizabeth said, 'I remember you saying that you occasionally bet a pound or two on the outcome. Why would you invest such sums with Uncle Gardiner. Not that I do not appreciate your efforts to assist our future.'
'Elizabeth, the stakes were not a pound or two. Even in the early days the stakes were ten or twenty pounds. In recent times they were more like one or two hundred pounds per game… and we won most of them.' Now it was Bennet's turn to watch his daughter's reaction. He was not disappointed at the shock his words caused.
'Heavens. That must be thousands of pounds…' she gasped. 'Are you saying that I was potentially loosing two hundred pounds at every game I played?'
'Hmm.' Bennet could not resist a grin which was both amused and positively evil. 'Your overall winnings in the last three years have contributed almost two thousand pounds to your dowries. But you shall share equally in the amount your uncle currently holds in trust for you, which is in excess of five and twenty thousand pounds.'
Bennet waited a minute for the information to sink in. 'If you do marry your young man, you shall be very well provided. Between my contribution of five thousand, the Queen's gift and your godfather's investment, I would estimate that you shall have something like five and twenty thousand pounds as your portion.'
Elizabeth did a quick calculation. 'Even in the four percents, that will provide us with an income of a thousand pounds a year.' A moment later she shook herself out of her stupor. 'Papa, I thought you did not wish to pay some man to marry us…' She left the question hanging.
'That is correct. But I never said that I did not wish to see you well provided,' Bennet said with a fond smile. 'But since no one knows about this, even my silliest daughters will have a chance to be happy… or at least secure.'
Elizabeth went to her father, giving him a fierce hug and a kiss on the cheek. 'Thank you, papa.'
~O~
Far away in Derbyshire, a gentleman was pondering the situation of the lovely lady from Longbourn.
Miss Elizabeth Bennet was everything he could have wished for in a wife. If only she had better connections and a half-way decent dowry. Even ten thousand pounds would have been acceptable if she did not have those relations in Cheapside.
While that was only a third of his sister's dowry, he could have claimed that due to his own wealth he could afford not to give consideration to wealth.
Yet no matter how much he wished it, since the lady had no connection or wealth, he could never lower himself to marry her.
The knowledge of the expectations his station placed on him did not reduce the pain he felt to be forever denied the company of the lady.
~O~
~O~
Checkmate (working title) by Sydney Salier, Copyright © 2024
