A/N: This is the third chapter published in the last four days, so be sure you haven't skipped the other two.
Old Business: A few people have informed me that the story I mentioned in the previous chapter's author's note about Lizzy starting a brickwork was the delightful Random Acts of Kindness, by leavesfallingup. So at least I had the author right.
Speaking of favorite authors, several people have been kind enough to say they actually like the discussions about budgets and math in my story, so let me recommend sysa22 and LPK9 as other authors whom I recall as giving more realistic accounts of prices and wages in Regency England than are commonly encountered in fan fiction (and I don't have nearly as much time as I wish to read for pleasure, especially since I started writing this story, so by no means do I intend to imply that any authors I don't mention aren't brilliant). And WadeH, another favorite of mine, has posted several stories that have "math" right in the title that you should check out.
Reviews: I received over 1100 reviews for my story (thank you so much!) before I had to delete one. As always, I encourage my readers to say whatever they want, good or bad, about my story or my writing style, but I will not allow anyone to use my Review section to disparage other authors or their stories. It's very simple - if you don't like the premise of a story, don't read it.
At the other end of the spectrum of "guest" reviews, someone posted a very thoughtful and detailed review that I wish I could respond to via PM, but since it was "guest," I cannot. So I hope "guest" is reading this when I say, in complete sincerity, you should be writing stories yourself, because even your short review made me want to hear more about your ideas.
And I am very pleased that some of my lovely readers have realized that I am totally serious when I say that no error is too small to report, including things as trivial as a missing quotation mark. MS Word is giving me fits with unwanted autocorrections and the like, and my proofreading is like my chess playing - I can stare at the board until I am sure that a move is excellent, but as soon as I make the move, I see why it is a blunder. Similarly, I can proofread forever, but as soon as I post the chapter, I see mistakes - some I missed, and some that the website software introduced when converting from Word.
So please, let me know. I especially appreciate being told when I am using non-British terms, or misusing British terms (although I think I've already said that I've chosen to go with American spelling). Special thanks to Peperuda for some very helpful comments.
This Chapter: will be the last dealing with money in more than an incidental way, although I plan to attach an optional-to-read author's note on the value of a pound to the next chapter, as well as another math-geeks-only author's note, since the next chapter will be much shorter than this one. Unlike the last chapter, though, I encourage you to read this one even if you're not that interested in money, because it does advance the Bennet family dynamics considerably.
Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Chapter 20 - A Labour of Love
Longbourn, Hertfordshire, October 8, 1811
Lizzy and her mother sat in the chairs in front of Mr. Bennet's desk, which was now covered with several neat piles of ledgers and documents. True to her word, Mrs. Bennet had come down for dinner, and had nervously assented when Mr. Bennet had asked if she would attend him in his study after dessert to hear some good news. She was at first surprised when Lizzy followed her into the study, but on second thought was glad to have her there. Lizzy made sense when she spoke, and did not mock her the way her husband sometimes did.
Mr. Bennet smiled and said, "Fanny, do you remember years ago when you were angry at me, and you said that I was too lazy to save money for our daughters' future?"
Mrs. Bennet looked alarmed. She could not have forgotten the worst day of her life if she had tried, and Lord, how she had tried! "Oh! We should not talk about such things in front of Lizzy!"
"It is all right, as you will see. And I am glad to know that you remember, for you were correct, my dear. I am much too lazy and complacent, not to mention incompetent, to manage the estate and its finances as they should be managed. That is why I turned the job over to Lizzy."
THAT is your good news? thought Mrs. Bennet. "Well," she scowled, "that is just wonderful! You finally realize after all these years that our daughters need dowries, and fine gowns, and seasons in town, and your solution is to turn things over to Lizzy when it is far too late to matter. What can she do now? What can anyone do?" She started to sob softly.
"Papa," chided Lizzy, "this is not the time for your wit. My mother is justifiably distressed."
Bennet looked ashamed. "Quite right, my dear," he said, and then reached across the desk and gently touched his wife's arm. "Forgive me, Fanny. I called you in here to give you good news, so I was in an inappropriately jovial mood, forgetting that you could not know what I know."
Mrs. Bennet wiped her eyes and blew her nose, then her eyes widened as she thought she now understood the reason Lizzy was here. "Oh! Has Lizzy agreed to marry Mr. Collins?"
"Sadly, no. She was keeping an open mind about it, but I am afraid that Mr. Darcy has rather poured cold water on the idea."
"Mr. Darcy!" cried Mrs. Bennet and Lizzy simultaneously.
"Indeed. I spent some time with him this morning, while Lizzy was out, and I thought he might enjoy reading Mr. Collins' letter. And what do you think happened?"
Neither Lizzy nor her mother could guess, so Mr. Bennet continued, "Believe it or not, it transpires that Mr. Collins' patroness is Mr. Darcy's aunt!"
Lizzy's eyes lost focus for a moment as she consulted the reference books in her head, and then she gasped. "Oh! It is true! The previous Earl of Matlock had two daughters. Catherine married Sir Lewis de Bourgh of Rosings Park, Kent, and Anne married George Darcy of Pemberley, Derbyshire!"
Her father raised an eyebrow. "You have memorized DeBrett's?"
Lizzy blushed, but nodded. "Actually, DeBrett's does not mention the estates, but Kearsley's Peerage does."
Mr. Bennet shook his head. "You never cease to amaze me, Lizzy. But back to Mr. Darcy. He has not met Mr. Collins, but he says that he sounds exactly like the type of fawning idiot that his aunt would employ, so I am afraid that he quite put paid to your theory that he might be a Shakespearian scholar. And there is more."
Lizzy and her mother were eager to hear the rest as Mr. Bennet took a sip of wine, then continued, "He also says that he pities the woman who lives in Lady Catherine's parsonage, for she insists that everything be done her way. I believe the example he used is that she would demand final approval of Mrs. Collins' grocery list."
The look on her mother's face was such that Lizzy wondered whether she might have been planning to serve the same office for Jane when she became mistress of Netherfield, and was only now realizing that there was a fine line between "helpful" and "meddlesome." Lizzy thought she must be right when Mrs. Bennet asked, "Well, if it is not Lizzy, has Mr. Bingley come to an understanding with Jane? They seemed very content in each other's company this morning. Did he speak to you, Mr. Bennet?"
"He did not, though I agree there seems to be more hope in that direction."
"Then what is the happy news?"
"Yes, I apologize for getting off of the path. And it is not exactly news; it might more accurately be called history. You see, when I said I turned things over to Lizzy, I did not mean today. I did it many years ago."
Mrs. Bennet looked confused. "How many years ago?"
"Well, it was not all at once, but I suppose you could say it began shortly after our quarrel, when Lizzy discovered that our steward was embezzling."
Mrs. Bennet looked at Lizzy. "So that was true about the steward? But wait, you discovered it? That was… he left in… 17…"
"1796, my dear. And I do not blame you for being astonished. You know our Lizzy is clever, but you have no idea how clever, nor does anyone else. I used to think I had some idea, but she astonished me again just a moment ago, though I shouldn't be surprised that she has memorized every book in my library. But it is true, Lizzy was only four years old when she looked through my ledgers and found that the totals were wrong."
Mrs. Bennet gaped at Lizzy, who was looking down and blushing, and Mr. Bennet continued, "At any rate, you could say that was the beginning of the changes, for dismissing the steward immediately increased our income. Lady Rutherford was kind enough to lend her own steward to teach Lizzy how to record the entries rather than just add them up, and then more and more about how to manage the estate. It took very little time for me to realize that Lizzy was much better suited to run Longbourn than I, and with the help of your brother Edward, much better suited to manage our finances. I have done nothing but approve her decisions for these ten years or more." He paused, and then said, "Well, that is not quite true. I must congratulate myself on at least one thing - I stopped spending as if there were no tomorrow. And you must take your share of the credit as well, my dear, for you willingly gave up most of your pin money at around the same time."
Mrs. Bennet still looked dazed. "I… I thought that we had lost half of our income."
"Yes, so Lizzy has informed me. I don't know how you came to think that, but I assure you it is not true. Our income has increased considerably since Lizzy brought in the sheep, and the bees, and did things with drainage and crop rotation and the like that I don't pretend to understand. Show her, Lizzy."
To his mild surprise, Lizzy retrieved the red household expense ledger rather than the green estate ledger from the stack, and placed it on the desk in front of her mother, who suddenly looked wary again. Lizzy quickly said, "Mama, I imagine that you have never seen this before," and saw her mother's tension ease, "but this is my father's expense ledger. The entries are in Greek, but the numbers are not, and I can show you how to read it." She picked up another book from a pile and laid it next to the ledger. "This is a lexicon that gives the English equivalent of Greek words. The Greek alphabet is not so hard to read; our very word 'alphabet' comes from the first two Greek letters, alpha and beta. Look at this entry," and she pointed to a word in the ledger that looked to Mrs. Bennet like "kepia," next to 40/6/- in the ledger. She then quickly found the word in the lexicon, and showed her mother that the translation was "candles."
She then retrieved another ledger from another pile, and said, "This is a duplicate ledger that we normally keep in the safe in my Uncle Phillip's office. It is in case of some disaster like a fire, which might destroy the original and injure my father or me, so that someone else has to work with it. For that reason, the entries are in English."
She put that ledger next to the red ledger, and turned to the same page. "Now, look at this, mama. This is the same page as in the red ledger, and again you can see that the entry is for candles. You see, this shows that we spent 40 pounds six shillings on candles last year. That is more than usual for a house this size, because so many of us read late into the night."
Mrs. Bennet, who had feared she would be made to look ignorant at the hands of these two scholars of Greek, was relieved that she could easily make sense of what Lizzy was saying. Lizzy did the same with coal and soap. She turned the pages slowly, showing her mother that the figures were the same in both ledgers.
She then retrieved yet another ledger, one that Mrs. Bennet recognized. "Mama, I see that you recognize this ledger as the one you use to plan the week's menus with Mrs. Hill. So you will know that this is not a ruse, pick any week of any month in the last year."
Mrs. Bennet did not understand. "What do you mean?"
"Just tell me a month, and then which week of that month, and we will look at that week's grocery budget."
Her mother named the second week of April.
Lizzy quickly turned to that week in Hill's ledger, and showed it to her mother. "This shows we spent nine pounds seven shillings on provisions that week. You can see it is in Mrs. Hill's writing, yes?"
Her mother nodded.
"Now look, mama." Lizzy took the duplicate expense ledger and turned to the second week of April. "This is the entry for that same week in the expense ledger. You can see that the entry for provisions is the same nine pounds seven, yes?"
Her mother nodded again, and Lizzy picked up the red ledger and turned to the corresponding page. "And here is our Greek ledger. You can see that every number on this page is the same as in the English version, and in the same location on the page. You can see the nine pounds seven here, in the same position as in the other ledger. And remember, you picked this week out of thin air. I could not possibly have arranged this in advance."
Mrs. Bennet thought she understood each individual piece of what Lizzy had been showing her, but still felt that she was missing something. Then Lizzy said, tapping the red ledger, "So you see, mama, this ledger is obviously household expenses. It has nothing to do with the estate earnings."
Mrs. Bennet began to nod, but then froze as she finally grasped the importance of what Lizzy was showing her. What Lizzy had told her the previous evening was true. This really was the household expense ledger, rather than the estate income ledger. Her fears for all those years had been based on a mistake.
Mr. Bennet had been watching in silence, not knowing why Lizzy was spending so much time on what he considered a trivial point, but trusting that she knew what she was doing. When he saw the relief in Mrs. Bennet's face, however, he thought he understood. He looked sharply at Lizzy, who was standing behind her mother in order to reach the various ledgers, and saw her shake her head slightly. He gave a very small nod in return, and sat back in his chair, waiting for the next act.
Seeing the understanding reach her mother's eyes, Lizzy quickly moved the red ledger, took the green ledger from the pile, and placed it in front of her mother. "This one is in English, mama, so it will be much easier to read. It is the record of the estate, rather than the household." She expertly flipped through the pages, showing her mother entries for rents, crop sales, seed purchases, repairs to tenant cottages, and other items that made it clear that this was the ledger that recorded the profits and expenses of the estate. She then showed her mother the total profits for 1796 and several years after it. "You see, the profits did not fall after papa fired our steward, they increased, because we did not have to pay for a steward, nor did we lose any more money due to his theft."
Mrs. Bennet looked stunned as she looked from the ledger, to her husband, to Lizzy, and back to the ledger. She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and said, "Mr. Bennet, if our profits increased, why did you cut my pin money?"
Mr. Bennet looked confused. "Why, because you asked me to! You said that we were wasting money that should be saved for dowries, and I came to see that you were right. We were both, you and I, spending far too much indulging ourselves, so I cut both your pin money and my pocket money. Truly, Fanny, 200 pounds a year is very generous when all your needs have already been accounted for; you cannot say you suffered. As for myself, I cut my own spending even more drastically, down to about 100 pounds for luxuries. And what is more, most of that was spent on collectible books, whose cost can be recovered when they are sold. Many are quite rare and valuable. Lizzy keeps a careful inventory of them, and they are designated in my will to be left to your brother, who will sell them for you. Mr. Collins will find the shelves here quite bare when he inherits."
"How - how much are they worth?" Mrs. Bennet asked.
Mr. Bennet shrugged. "Lizzy keeps track of those things. Lizzy?"
"My latest price lists are as of September," said Lizzy, "but the total value of your books and investment wine is a bit over 12,000 pounds. I did not include that in the figures I gave you earlier, since the money is only potential until they are sold."
Mrs. Bennet looked around the walls of the study, lined with books, and sniffed. "These dreary old volumes? Why, I would think that only one person in a thousand would be interested in them!"
Mr. Bennet looked affronted, but before he could say anything, Lizzy said, "You may be correct, mama, but consider - there are over ten million people in England, so one person in a thousand still makes ten thousand possible buyers."
Mr. Bennet opened a drawer and produced the card and note that Darcy had given him. "As it happens, I have already found a buyer, Lizzy."
Lizzy looked at the note. "I have heard of Mr. Montague. I can take the inventory to him the next time I am in London, and leave it with him. He can write you with his tentative offer, and we can consult with my uncle and see whether he thinks he can do better." She frowned in thought. "I dare say that he cannot. Although he is a very astute trader and could do much better than we could by ourselves, he does not specialize in books. Mr. Montague is likely to have more contacts in that field."
"I did not make myself clear, Lizzy. Mr. Darcy is not simply giving us an introduction to Mr. Montague. He intends to buy the collection for himself."
Lizzy's eyes went wide at this. "Are you certain, papa? From what I have heard of his library, he already has many of these books."
"I raised the same point. He said that it would be easier for him to sort through them than for you when you have… other things to worry about, and that he could easily resell or donate the books he doesn't need."
Lizzy's opinion of Darcy went up a few notches. "Well, that is indeed most generous of him."
Mr. Bennet hoped that he had guessed correctly. His impression had been that Mr. Darcy was still interested in his Lizzy. If he was not, then it was a mistake to enhance Darcy in her eyes. But his best was the best he could do.
Lizzy looked speculatively at her father, then said, "Papa, could I have a moment alone with mama? It will not take long, no more than five minutes."
Mr. Bennet was not happy about being evicted from his own study, but this was Lizzy's show, so he said, "I will fetch myself a cup of tea, and drink it in the dining room. Come and get me when you are ready."
"Thank you, papa."
When Mr. Bennet closed the door behind him, Lizzy said, "Mama, I asked papa to leave because I want to talk to you about what will happen when he dies, and I think that all three of us would be uncomfortable if he were listening."
Her mother nodded, and Lizzy continued. "We have learned two very important things in the last few minutes. One is that we have a definite, serious buyer for papa's books, and the other is that Mr. Collins is not a suitable husband for any of your daughters."
She saw her mother gather herself to protest the latter point, so she rushed on before her mother could say anything. "Now mama, before you get upset, consider. The value of the books, as I have said, is now around 12,000 pounds. There is also some wine and some objets d'art that were acquired with papa's personal funds, and are therefore not part of the estate. I think that, assuming papa lives even a few more years, that by the time he dies the total value of items that my uncle Gardiner can sell for us, plus the books Mr. Darcy has offered to buy, will be around 15,000 pounds. Combined with your dowry, that will make 20,000 pounds. And invested with my uncle, that will pay you 2000 pounds per year. If you look at the Domestic Economy book that we used earlier today, you will see that with that income, you can afford a very fine house with ten servants, and both a carriage and a gig. You can live like a duchess."
As Lizzy had hoped, that last sentence stilled the protest that her mother had been preparing about Mr. Collins' eligibility. She piled on while she had the advantage. "Just think of that, mama. We have spent most of the last 15 years living on no more than a thousand pounds a year, and lacked for nothing. You will have twice that much for your expenses after papa dies. So we have no need for Mr. Collins."
Mrs. Bennet looked at the window for a moment, lost in thought, then said, "You are certain about all this, Lizzy?"
Lizzy took her hand and said, "I am, mama. And we have more yet to share with you. But while we are alone, let me ask you, are you now certain that you were looking at the wrong ledger, and that Longbourn's profits did not fall, and that you are in no danger of poverty after papa dies, whether your daughters marry or not?"
Her mother nodded slowly. "I do not yet feel it in my bones, but I can see that you are right. You must understand that I have thought for so long… but yes, you have convinced me. I have heard of people refusing to accept bad news. I never thought it would be so difficult to accept good news. But I dare say that I will grow more comfortable believing it, day by day."
Lizzy squeezed her mother's hand gently, then released it. "Then I will tell papa he may return to his study," she said smiling. "May I bring you tea, or something else?"
Mrs. Bennet had been too nervous to eat much at dinner. "Tea, and perhaps a biscuit, would be nice. Thank you, Lizzy."
UI
When everyone was back in the study, Mr. Bennet began again.
"I am not sure how we went so far astray, but let me get back to why I asked you here, Fanny. We truly do have good news for you."
Mrs. Bennet nodded, but did not speak.
"What I wanted to tell you is that thanks to Lizzy, Longbourn's profits have steadily improved, so that now they are…"
He hesitated, wondering whether he should give the exact figure to Fanny, and then realizing that he had forgotten it, he decided to leave the decision to Lizzy.
"Lizzy, what will our profits be this year?" he asked her.
Lizzy looked at her mother and said, "Mama, you must keep this secret, for we don't want our affairs to become gossip in Meryton just as the soldiers arrive. You saw how low the officer's salaries were, but most of the men coming here will be privates, who earn only one shilling a day. Eighteen pounds a year. While most of them may be decent, there are bound to be at least a few scoundrels among them, and they may find a pretty girl from a wealthy estate a tempting target." She looked into her mother's eyes, and did not look away until Mrs. Bennet nodded and looked down. When she did, Lizzy picked up the green ledger again, turned to the last page for the previous year, and placed it in front of her mother.
"This is the total profits for last year," said Lizzy, pointing to the 3245 at the bottom of the page. "We will do even better this year. Once the rents are in, we should make nearly three thousand four hundred pounds. We had an excellent harvest this year, and sadly, some of our neighbors did not get their harvest all in before the storm, so we were able to sell everything with no trouble."
Mr. Bennet said, "You see, Fanny, Lizzy has greatly increased what Longbourn earns, and she has been investing the profits, much of them in your brother's enterprise. And it has done very well for us. Tell her, Lizzy."
Lizzy took her mother's hands again and said, "Mama, the reason we are telling you this now is that we can see that you are worried about your daughters' marriage prospects. You think they must find a husband in the militia, or marry their cousin. You think they must all be out at once, even Lydia, to maximize the chance that at least one of them will marry well. We want to assure you that they have the means to do better than soldiers, or Mr. Collins. Much, much better. For papa has been putting money aside, as you wanted him to."
Mrs. Bennet looked at Lizzy dubiously, but also with a spark of hope in her eyes. When she said nothing, Lizzy continued, "First, your daughters each have a dowry of 5000 pounds."
Mrs. Bennet frowned. "What do you mean, each? You girls will inherit my 5000 pounds, but only after I die, and it will be split among you. That is only 1000 pounds each."
Lizzy said patiently, "No mama, I am not talking about your money. I am talking about the money that papa has put aside. We have 25,000 pounds in the four percents. Five thousand for each of your daughters, today, now. I am not including the thousand pounds each that we will get from your dowry later."
Mrs. Bennet gasped. "This is not a joke? You are not teasing me as your father does?"
Lizzy shook her head. "It is not a joke, mama." She rose and picked up another ledger that had come from the "Lizzy" box in her uncle Phillips' safe, and placed it in front of her mother. When she opened it, there were several government certificates between the pages, like bookmarks. They had official seals, and very impressive numbers of pounds listed. Written on each page marked by a certificate was a running total of its value, including compound interest, for each year. She turned the pages slowly, giving her mother time to see each subtotal, and then showed her the £24,977 total on the last page that had been used.
"You can see that I rounded up a bit, but we have a crop sale payment of several hundred pounds coming in any day now. And we can increase the dowries each year. A thousand pounds more every year for each daughter, or what we think is a better plan, five thousand a year for one daughter."
Mrs. Bennet was confused again. "Five thousand per year! But you said Longbourn was making three... three thousand..."
"Three thousand four hundred pounds," said Lizzy. "But in addition to that, we have investment income. These bonds alone will earn £1250 next year, and we have still more money invested with my uncle Gardiner. The total from all sources is over five thousand pounds per year, even after deducting our household expenses."
Mrs. Bennet's head was awhirl, but she appreciated that unlike the way her parents had bombarded her with a constant flow of things she didn't understand, Lizzy gave her one thing at a time, and waited until she understood it before giving her something else. She asked, "What did you mean about 5000 pounds to one daughter?"
"It is the way most of the gentry do it, mama. They concentrate on the eldest daughter until she is married, then the second eldest, and so on. It is quite unusual to have four or five daughters out at once.
"What my father and I propose is this - we will see how Jane gets on with Mr. Bingley. If they do not reach an understanding, then we will send you and Jane to London for the season, with enough money to buy a new wardrobe, and a 10,000 pound dowry - although we will not announce that publicly, for it will attract fortune hunters. But if she meets a man who would make a good husband, we can let him know privately that she has a very handsome dowry. She will almost certainly come home betrothed. Then we can do the same for your other daughters, one each year. In four or five years, all of your daughters will have fine husbands."
"Do you mean to say, that in four years, Lydia could have a dowry of 10,000 pounds?"
"Yes, mama, that is what I am saying. A 10,000-pound dowry, a new wardrobe, and a season in London, all by the time she is 20. That is a much better age to find a husband than 16, do you see? She will be far more poised and accomplished than she is now, but still very young by town standards. Can you see how much better it would be for her to meet a young viscount at a London ball, rather than some poor soldier at the Meryton assembly?
Tears began to leak out of Mrs. Bennet's eyes again, but this time they were tears of happiness. And they did not prevent her from seeing what she was seeing - her darling Lydia, wearing a gown of the finest silk, dancing with a viscount at a London ball.
Lizzy gave her a moment, and then said, "Now mama, there is something else we must decide before Mr. Collins arrives, and that is where you would like to live when you are older."
Mrs. Bennet's bubble burst. "Why Lizzy, of course I want to live at Longbourn! That is why I still say you should marry Mr. Collins! His patroness will not bother you when she is in Kent and you are here!"
Lizzy had half expected this, so she had no trouble speaking in soothing tones as she said, "Mama, we will discuss that in a moment, but first I want you to consider some things."
Her mother looked wary, but nodded.
"Do you remember what you told me a moment ago, that you had been so used to thinking one way that it was hard to think another way?"
Another nod.
"I want you to consider that until today, you thought that Longbourn was your only hope of living comfortably. You did not know that you would have a generous income for the rest of your life. Until this month, you did not know of any eligible suitors for your daughters, except John Lucas, who as you said does not seem to be interested in us." Although now that Kitty and especially Lydia are filling out, that may change, she thought to herself. "So you have been thinking for a long time that you must find a way to stay at Longbourn. I know it is very difficult to cast aside such a conviction in one day, but you should at least be open to alternatives, because I believe that you would almost certainly be happier living somewhere else."
Her mother looked incredulous at this, but Lizzy forged on.
"Let me make a guess. I believe that when you pictured yourself living at Longbourn after papa dies, you saw things going on very much the same as now, but with Mr. Collins in his study rather than papa. Am I correct?"
Mrs. Bennet reddened slightly, but nodded.
"Mama, I fear that it will not be that way at all. You wish for all of your daughters to marry well, yes?"
Mrs. Bennet nodded impatiently. Of course that was her fondest wish!
"Then consider what it will be like with papa and four of your daughters gone, and the fifth married to Mr. Collins. You will be rattling around in a house that is mostly empty, and will no longer be mistress. Everything, from the menus to the wallpaper, will be decided by Mrs. Collins, or Mr. Collins, or perhaps even Lady Catherine. You will have to sleep in Jane's bedroom, without a fire to warm your bones as you age.
"Mr. Collins is not used to wealth, so he may be very miserly in his spending, even on food. Everyone now agrees he is stupid, so he may even run Longbourn into the ground and have no choice about skimping on budgets.
"Most importantly, you are assuming that he is a kind man, but he might not be. Even if he married one of your daughters, he would still have the power to throw you and the rest of your daughters out of the house. And if he did not, as a parson, he might have very strict ideas of propriety, and forbid your daughters to go to dances or parties, or even to leave the house at all, so that they would have no chance to meet a potential husband. He might even deliberately sabotage their marriage chances and conspire to keep their dowries for himself." Lizzy knew that she would never allow that to happen, but it was still technically true that Mr. Collins might conspire to do it.
Her mother looked horrified.
"Mama, would it not be better to have a nice cozy cottage with no stairs to plague you when you are older, where a fire will warm the whole house in a few minutes instead of hours, where your sister's house and the shops are only a few steps away? Where you are the mistress of the house, and may come and go as you please? After your daughters are married, you could rent a small but cozy cottage which would require only a cook and a maid of all work, and you could take them with you whenever you wished to travel. You could live anywhere you wish, or everywhere you wish, perhaps visiting your daughters' estates in rotation, perhaps spending the summer at Brighton or Ramsgate, perhaps attending the season in Town with one or more of your daughters in the winter. If you felt like a change of scenery, you could tour the Peaks or the Lakes. You would have so much more freedom if you did not insist on staying at Longbourn, and I dare say you would be more content.
"Remember that you will have more than enough money to live wherever you want, and however you want. Once your daughters are married, there will be no more need to save for dowries or seasons, and our investments will still be there, generating income for you to spend. You could easily afford a town home on Grosvenor Square, and a fine carriage to take you anywhere you wish to go. Will you at least consider it?"
After a while, Mrs. Bennet nodded. "Yes, Lizzy, I shall consider it. I make no other promises."
Lizzy smiled. "That is all I ask. Please talk to me if you have any further questions at any time. I will be happy to review anything we have discussed, or any new questions you might have."
Her mother nodded again.
"And now, mama, I shall keep my promise and propose a way you might remain at Longbourn, if that is truly your wish, without sacrificing a daughter."
Lizzy mentally apologized in advance to Mr. Collins for what she was about to say, for other than his letter, she knew nothing about him except what a man she had known scarcely a week, and who himself had never met Collins, had opined to her father. But there was a dam in her mother's head that forced all streams to flow through Collins, and Lizzy meant to breach it. The best way she could see to do that was to never mention Collins without alluding to his purported stupidity and unsuitability.
"I agree with you that his patroness is of no concern. Even before we learned he was a lackwit, I had resolved not to marry him if he did not agree to move here at once, for as papa said, I help him run Longbourn."
Her father snorted at this, surprising both women, for he had been so silent that they had forgotten he was there. He said, "What Lizzy means to say is that she helps me pretend that I run the estate. I feel no shame in saying it, for I neither expected nor wanted to be a farmer nor a landlord, as I have no aptitude for either. On the contrary, I congratulate myself every day that I at least had the wisdom to let Lizzy take over as early as she did."
"He is being modest, mama. He makes many decisions every day."
Mr. Bennet snorted again, but said nothing more.
Lizzy continued, "As I was saying, I would never have married Mr. Collins if he expected me to move to Kent, and now that there seems to be no question that he is a fool, I cannot marry him at all. And I believe that my sisters will feel the same. But that does not necessarily mean that you cannot remain at Longbourn."
Mrs. Bennet shook her head. "But the entail-" She looked at Lizzy, now ready to believe that she could do anything. "You have found a way to break the entail?"
"No mama," said Lizzy as she shook her head. "There are different kinds of settlements that are lumped together as 'entails' in common parlance. Some can be broken rather easily, but unfortunately, ours is not of that type. Nevertheless, our entail states only that the next in the male line shall become the legal master of Longbourn, not that he must live here, or that you must leave."
"But Mr. Collins would sue!"
Lizzy nodded. "Of course he would sue if we barred the doors and refused to let him take possession, and of course he would win, but I propose nothing like that. I propose that we persuade him not to take immediate possession after papa dies."
Mrs. Bennet was hooked. "How would we do that?"
Lizzy smiled mischievously. "We would stage a pageant for him. I will be the director, and you and papa will be the principal actors. This is the plan: when he arrives, we will drag him around from field to field, from tenant to tenant, and show him one problem after another. I will arrange to have all of our tenants, one by one and repeating for the duration of his visit, come to the house and loudly complain to papa of their grievances, fictional if necessary. We shall have all of our servants constantly pestering you and papa with reports of vermin in the kitchen, leaks in the roof, drafts in the walls, and noisome odors everywhere. The sheep will have mange; the horses will have cracks in their hooves; the chickens will not lay. He will see papa being urgently called away to address estate issues day and night." She pointed to the large stack of ledgers on the desk, only one of which her father even glanced at more than occasionally. "He will see papa slaving away over his ledgers every waking moment that he is not out settling tenant disputes. And he will see you and all your daughters working from sunup to sundown sewing clothes for tenant children, and making calls to deliver them.
"In short, he will see that compared to his idyllic existence under the 'incontinent Lady Catherine de Bourgh,'" Lizzy smiled as she repeated the phrase from Mr. Collins' letter, "running an estate the size of Longbourn is a grueling, never-ending toil. So when we offer to let him continue as Lady Catherine's rector while running Longbourn for him, and paying him, say, a thousand pounds per year as rent, we believe that there is a very good chance that he will accept the offer, for that is much more than he could get from anyone else if he chose to let Longbourn, and he gets to keep his comfortable living in Kent, and the condescension of his patroness. We can make it a long-term lease, with a severe penalty for early termination unless you agree, so he will not bother you."
"But who will run the estate if you are all gone?"
Lizzy gave her mother a wry smile. "Mama, I believe that you may be correct about me not being able to find a husband who will tolerate my impertinence. I can no longer see myself as Mrs. Collins, married to a fool. But I could see myself remaining here as a spinster. I would rather not marry at all than marry a man I cannot respect. I love Longbourn, and I love running it, so I would continue to do so, if you could stand to live with me. If not, or if I should somehow manage to marry a man with his own estate despite all my flaws, then I will not leave until I have hired a competent steward for you, and I would check his books frequently."
Lizzy squeezed her mother's hands again. "So you see, mama, you have many possible futures, but none of them involve the hedgerows. All you need concern yourself with for now is picking out the gowns we will buy for Jane's season. But not more than half a dozen, for we will buy more after you take her to town and see the latest fashions."
Mrs. Bennet was overwhelmed, but she looked at her husband questioningly. Mr. Bennet's eyes looked suspiciously moist. "It's true, Fanny," he said softly, even tenderly. "It's all true. Now you know why Lizzy is my favorite daughter."
Mrs. Bennet nodded and looked at Lizzy, then back to her husband. "And now I understand why you always give Lizzy extra money when she asks."
Bennet was confused. "Of what do you speak? Lizzy has never asked me for a farthing!"
"But it was only yesterday that Kitty and Lydia were talking of Lizzy asking for money from you for their new ribbons!"
Bennet stared for a moment, then relaxed and said, "Ah, I comprehend." He looked at Lizzy, who was turning red, then turned back to his wife. "Mrs. Bennet, your brother Gardiner pays Lizzy, er, a substantial sum each year for her perfume, and auditing services, and business advice. She donates almost all of it to our family savings, but she keeps back a few pounds for gifts for her sisters, as you mentioned. I suppose that she pretends to get it from me so that she is not constantly importuned for more."
Mrs. Bennet turned back to her daughter. Lizzy was still wearing that same old dress, but now it took on new significance to Mrs. Bennet. She thought of the times she had been frustrated with Lizzy for not wanting to buy more lace, or for saying her current wardrobe was sufficient, or always opting for less expensive alternatives, when she was earning thousands of pounds for Longbourn, and managing tens of thousands of pounds. She thought of all the times she had disparaged Lizzy for having her head in the clouds, or not knowing about the real world, when she was being the most practical person in the family. Indeed, she had saved her family.
In a moment of clarity, she saw that it had all been Lizzy's doing. From discovering the steward's embezzling, to inspiring her father to change his ways, to making improvements that had increased Longbourn's income, to investing the money profitably. She had been doing the work that her father should have been doing with the help of a steward, and making frequent tenant visits besides, and never once complaining about the load she had assumed, the efforts that over the years that had ensured the future for her sisters and parents. Even her "Academy" had helped make her other daughters amazingly accomplished and educated.
"Oh Lizzy," she said, her eyes again brimming, "all this time, you have been taking care of us."
Lizzy squeezed her mother's hands again. "It is a labor of love, mama."
Copyright 2023 by DeeLime. All rights reserved.