Hello again! Thank you all, as always, for all the kind words. I'm so glad that Lizzy as a Bingley is starting to feel more comfortable to you. Yes, Caroline is just as mean and jealous as a sister to ODG, which is pretty in character for her, I think.
The writing for this one has been going very well, and I actually started chapter 11 this morning. So, as before, whenever I complete a chapter, you get a chapter! In this one, Lizzy gets a big surprise...
Chapter Five
When the ladies and the gentlemen separated after dinner, Elizabeth's sisters took it upon themselves to give her a pointed once-over.
"I do not know, Louisa," said Caroline after several clicks of her tongue. "She is awfully rough around the edges. She's so brown—and that gown! It is so out of fashion!"
"Now Caroline, do recall that our Eliza has spent the last four years away from good society," Louisa admonished. "She could hardly know of the latest fashions."
"Speaking of the society she did keep, they were all bawdy, uncivilized savages—the dregs of society, the lot of them!" Caroline went on.
Elizabeth frowned and crossed her arms; she was not pleased to hear them speaking about her as if she were not sitting right across from them.
"Would you say that our uncle is one of the 'dregs of society', sister? Or Colonel Fitzwilliam, whose father is an earl?"
Caroline simpered and said, "Now Eliza, I know there are exceptions to every rule, but really! I dread to think how much all those lesser men may have influenced your character. I daresay we may not be able to take you among proper society for quite some time—who knows how unladylike your manners have become?"
"If you have changed drastically, Eliza, it may prove very difficult for you to get a husband," added Louisa.
Elizabeth scoffed. "Thank you both ever so much for your confidence in my ability to retain the lessons I learned in the same school for gentlewomen that you also attended. I will have you know that those lessons were continuously reinforced by my beloved aunt up until she took ill five weeks past. I may know more about what goes on in a kitchen and how to field dress a wound than either of you, but I can assure you I know perfectly well how to conduct myself in company. You needn't worry that I will embarrass you in public—or be competition for you, Caroline, in the marriage mart. I've no interest in getting a husband."
Her sisters looked at each other and laughed. "Oh Eliza, do not speak such nonsense," said Louisa. "Of course you do! What young lady of good manners and excellent breeding has no desire to find a husband?"
"A lady of sense and education who has lived in the world, Louisa," Elizabeth retorted.
The three gentlemen entered the drawing room then, much to Elizabeth's relief. Mr. Hurst immediately called for a game of cards, prompting Caroline to beg Colonel Fitzwilliam to partner her against the Hursts. The colonel again shot Elizabeth a smile with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he accepted her request.
Charles moved to sit next to Elizabeth and patted her hand. "So, Lizzy, how are you enjoying your first night amongst us again?"
She scoffed. "I would enjoy it more if my sisters did not all but describe me as an ill-bred savage."
Her brother's eyes widened, and he glanced across the room at the card table that was being set up. "They did not!"
In a low voice, Elizabeth recounted the conversation that had taken place before the men had rejoined the ladies. Charles sighed, shook his head, and patted her hand again when she had finished.
"I am sorry, Lizzy," he said. "I am afraid our sisters have chosen to emulate the worst of society ladies' behavior. Oh, they can be pleasant when civility requires, but they do tend toward pride and superciliousness."
Charles shook his head a second time. "I do not know how we can share the same parents. You and I turned out well enough, but Caroline and Louisa…"
"Do not blame yourself, brother, nor our parents, for neither of you failed them," observed Elizabeth. "I can guess where the true blame lies—that seminary we attended. There were many society daughters at that school who were born into generational wealth, whereas our family's fortune was earned through trade … and they did not let any of us forget it. Though I do like to think I bore the teasing and scrutiny better than my sisters. And did you not say you suffered some of the same at Eton and Cambridge?"
Her brother chuckled as he nodded in confirmation. "You always did have a stronger resistance to scrutiny than our sisters, Lizzy—must be that saucy impertinence you were born with. No wonder you managed so well in a camp full of soldiers. Me? I simply chose not to care what others thought of me."
Elizabeth smiled. "And your fortitude must stem from your natural liveliness, Charles. Thank you for the kind words, dear brother. Why don't I go and fetch those letters for you?"
He nodded again and she rose to retrieve the letters from her room, explaining on her return that one was for their uncle's attorney.
Charles glanced at the direction and set one of the sealed letters aside. "Well, I know who I'll be paying a visit to tomorrow," said he as he broke the seal on the letter addressed to him.
Elizabeth wandered away from him to walk about the room. There were no books in this room, and she had yet to see the Hursts' library. There was a spinet in one corner, and though her skill at the instrument—such as it had been—had surely suffered for lack of practice over the last four years, she nevertheless sat herself down to it and idly began to play a tune she had long known by heart.
Moments later, Charles appeared at her side. "Lizzy, did you read the letter from Uncle Halsey?"
"Of course not, Charles," she replied as she continued to play. "The letter was addressed to you, and it was sealed, remember? I admit to some curiosity as to its contents, but I am sure had my uncle wished me to know what he had written to you, he would have told me."
"Or perhaps he thought I might be better to suited to delivering the news," Charles countered, holding the letter out to her. "Here, I think you should read it for yourself."
One eyebrow lifted in curiosity, Elizabeth took the letter and began to read:
Galicia, Spain
26 August 1811
Dearest Charles,
I know that by the time you read these words, Lizzy will have spoken to you of the death of my beloved Elinor. I am so very sorry that your father's sister has so soon followed him and your mother through Heaven's gates.
Do not be concerned for me, nephew—I am heartbroken, but I shall be well. In time.
The purpose of this letter is to convey my wishes as regards a topic of great importance to both your aunt and me. Though there were times I felt she should not have joined my wife in following the drum, having Elizabeth with us felt like we were a family. For four years, through your sister, Elinor and I were blessed with the daughter we always wished we'd had. For the joy her presence alone brought to my wife, I shall forever be thankful to Lizzy. As such, I wish to convey to her the entirety of Elinor's dowry.
Here, Elizabeth gasped and looked up at Charles in astonishment.
"He cannot mean it!" she cried softly.
Charles gestured to the letter she held in her now-shaking hand. "Read on, Lizzy," said he.
Your aunt and I only ever lived off the interest of the fortune granted to her by her father, in combination with my military pay; the principle twenty thousand pounds is therefore untouched. I understand this amount will double the dowry Lizzy was given by her own father and that your other sisters may feel slighted by our choice not to divide the money between them. If Caroline and Louisa should protest the perceived unfairness of Lizzy having a greater fortune than they, remind them who it was that loved her aunt so much she selflessly journeyed with her across pirate-infested waters into a war-torn foreign country to be of service to her aunt and His Majesty's Army, potentially risking her reputation and any chance she may have for a happy match of her own.
And Lizzy, if you are reading this, no, we do not grant you this money for fear of your becoming a spinster—you hardly need it when you have a fortune of your own. Elinor and I want you to have it because we love you and want the very best for you. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for being one of the brightest lights in these last few years of darkness.
Charles, the letter to my attorney will enable him to see that the bank transfers the funds to your care, as well as the jewelry Elinor locked away. All of that is for Elizabeth as well.
Hopefully this bloody war will end soon and enable me to return to see you all again. I only wish I could bring your aunt home with me. Best wishes, dear nephew, and do express good wishes on my behalf to Caroline and Louisa.
Your uncle,
George Halsey
Hot tears slipped down Elizabeth's cheeks as she wordlessly handed the letter back to her brother. Her thoughts were in turmoil, and she could hardly breathe as she wrapped her head around the full implications of what the letter meant.
Forty thousand pounds. I shall have a fortune of forty thousand pounds!
More than that, she amended almost instantly—for the entirety of her time away, she had accrued four thousand pounds in interest. That she would soon be endowed with nearly half her brother's inheritance was a dizzying prospect.
"Are you well, Lizzy?" Charles asked after he had folded the letter and slipped it into a pocket.
"I am stunned, Charles," she replied. "Simply stunned."
He withdrew a handkerchief from another pocket and held it out to her. Elizabeth took it and dabbed at her eyes, sniffling as Charles said, "I was rather shocked myself, but at the same time I entirely agree with him."
"I know our aunt and uncle always wanted children; I thought they long ago accepted that they were not in God's plan for them," said Elizabeth.
"Perhaps God's plan was that they would know the love of a parent through you," offered Charles. "Uncle Halsey did say you were the daughter they never had."
Elizabeth recalled her uncle's parting words. "I… I am beyond humbled, Charles."
She looked up then. "How can any one person be so blessed? What could I have done to deserve it?"
Charles smiled. "You only had to be you, I suppose."
Elizabeth drew a breath and smiled weakly. The smile fell as she glanced over at the card table. "Our sisters will not be pleased when they hear of Aunt and Uncle Halsey's generosity."
"I daresay not," Charles agreed. "To be perfectly candid, Lizzy, I do not know that we should even tell them. I mean, what purpose would it serve but to anger them?"
And make them despise me more, Elizabeth added silently. Caroline, at least. With Louisa favored as the first-born child, Charles as the only son, and Elizabeth as the precocious baby of the family, Caroline had always been rather contentious, demanding attention as though she feared she would get none. Louisa she had learned to bully, in spite of the five years between them, and with her Caroline always got what she wanted. Elizabeth had proven too stubborn and impertinent—or obstinate and headstrong, as Caroline had so often said—for the middle sister to control.
Elizabeth's refusal to kowtow to Caroline's demands was a long-standing point of enmity between them. It was also one of the factors that influenced her decision to join the Halseys in Spain, for she had simply wished to avoid her sister's thinly veiled animosity.
"Well then, I shall not speak of it," said Charles then. "I daresay the matter is really none of their concern."
"Indeed," Elizabeth agreed. "The size of my fortune is no one's concern but mine, yours, and my future husband's, should I ever get one."
Charles turned and glanced at the card players as Caroline cried out in delight and reached over to lay her hand on Colonel Fitzwilliam's arm.
"My dear colonel, I knew you had the king! Well played, sir!" said she.
"Well played indeed, Colonel," said Mr. Hurst. "Shall we go another round—I'd like a chance to win my money back."
Fitzwilliam laughed. "Do not distress yourself, sir, you owe me nothing. I only play for real money at my club, and I'm likely to lose there as it's been four years since I stepped foot through the door—those gents can be bloodthirsty sharks!"
Hurst laughed. "Don't I know it! So, another round?"
The colonel shook his head. "Not for me, sir. The exhaustion of the last several days' journey is beginning to creep up on me. I think I shall retire early."
Elizabeth stood as he did. "I am feeling rather fatigued as well," she said, not entirely telling a lie. Physically she was tired, but her mind was alive with wonder at the news her uncle's letter had conveyed.
Fitzwilliam moved to her side amidst protests from Caroline and Louisa, begging him to remain. "I thank you, ladies, but my tolerance has reached its limit. Miss Elizabeth, allow me to escort you to your chamber."
Elizabeth took the arm he offered, and after saying goodnight to her siblings, sighed softly as the colonel escorted her into the hall.
"Are you well, Miss Elizabeth?" Fitzwilliam asked her as they approached the stairs.
"I am quite well, Colonel," she replied. "My brother shared with me the letter my uncle wrote to him, and it contained some rather startling news, that is all."
"Startling but good news, I hope?"
Elizabeth tilted her head. "Very good, in one respect. Perhaps not so good in others. Charles and I agreed we should not speak of it to our sisters, but I fear it is inevitable that they will find out."
"And you are afraid it could cause a rift in the family, whatever this news is?" Fitzwilliam asked.
"I shall only say that I will hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Elizabeth replied.
Fitzwilliam lifted an eyebrow. "That sounds rather ominous. Might I be of any assistance to you?"
She considered telling him what the letter said, then decided against it. At least for now, she thought. I like him very much, but not in that way, and do not wish to encourage him if he does feel more for me than he has expressed. Forty thousand is a far greater incentive to a gentleman in his situation than twenty.
Elizabeth smiled weakly and suppressed another sigh. "I thank you, Colonel, but no," she said at last. "Not at the present, in any case."
They soon stopped before her door and she asked him, "Will you go to your family tomorrow, after you have delivered my uncle's letters to the war office?"
He nodded. "Aye. I do not know if my parents or even my brother remain in town—they're more likely to be at the Court for the summer," he said. "I shall certainly go to Disley House in any case, to be certain. And I shall see if my cousin Darcy is in town. I'll either stay with him or at my parents' home while I am in London. What about you, Miss Elizabeth? What are your grand plans for your first full day in our fair capital?"
Elizabeth laughed. "To prevent my sisters' abject mortification, I intend to visit a modiste. The few gowns I own are all dyed for mourning and out of fashion."
Fitzwilliam grinned. "Well, I do hope you shall order some ball gowns, madam, for you must recall my promise to dance with you."
Laughing again, Elizabeth nodded. "Indeed, I do, and so I shall. Goodnight, Colonel Fitzwilliam."
Fitzwilliam took a step back and bowed. "Goodnight, Miss Elizabeth."