Page 16 of Aunt Felicity
A bout ten days after Reggie commissioned the two investigations, he received a packet of documents via Mr Strike’s courier. The man never trusted documents connected to his work to the Royal Post.
He found Felicity sitting in the drawing room with their two youngest offspring as well as the two young Darcys. “Felicity dear, will you join me in the study, please?” Reggie requested.
“Is that regarding the investigation?” Richard asked as he allowed his eyes to indicate Anna.
The suspicions regarding Lady Catherine had not been shared with Robert Darcy yet, but it would be when they all visited Pemberley in a fortnight. William had sensed there was something his aunt, uncle, and Richard were keeping from him, so they had told him of their concerns and the fact that an investigation had been ordered.
“If it is, I will have Dodsley summon you and William,” Reggie averred.
Richard was about to stand—he was greatly pleased he could now stand and walk without the aid of crutches, just a walking stick—but he knew his father well enough to know this was not a time to ignore his words. He shrugged at William and relaxed back into his wingback chair. Bethie and Anna were sitting at the pianoforte, so they had missed the interplay between father and son.
Before they entered the study, Lord Matlock ordered the butler to station a footman in the hall leading to the study to make sure no one was tempted to eavesdrop.
“It is too soon for something regarding Ramsgate, is it not?” Felicity verified.
“I believe you are correct, my love,” Reggie returned. “Let us peruse this together, however.”
“Please read it to me. You know how much I love the sound of your sonorous voice, do you not?” Felicity stated with an arched eyebrow. She did not know how it was possible after more than thirty years of marriage, but she found more reasons to love her husband every day.
Reggie sat on the settee between the two windows, looking out onto one of Snowhaven’s rose gardens. He patted the surface next to him, and Felicity joined him. He broke the seal with the large ‘S’ imprinted in it and opened the packet. Inside were a letter and some sheets of paper. He reached over to place the documents on his desk, unfolded the letter, and began to read, so Felicity could easily hear, but no one in the hall would be able to listen.
22 July 1811
Strike Investigations
229 A Baker Street
London
Lord Matlock,
As I am sure you have surmised, there has not been nearly enough time to investigate the Ramsgate affair yet. All I can report is that we are seeking George Wickham and Karen Younge. Without them, it will be difficult to prove another had his or her hand in the attempt.
Discovering information about the Bennets was far easier. I sent Mr A and Miss B to Meryton, where they took separate rooms at the Red Lion Inn while posing as siblings.
As you will see from my report, finding people who would talk freely about the Bennets of Longbourn took very little effort on my investigators’ parts. You will see that a Mrs Hattie Phillips, sister to Mrs Frances Bennet, was more than happy to speak of the family, especially the entail on the property.
My investigators’ report follows, but let me know if you need more information. I would suggest you allow me to obtain a copy of the document governing the entail from the Court of Chancery. As you are aware, Mr C is a barrister, so it would be easy for him to obtain what would be needed. I suggest this as you never know what those documents stipulate, and it is possible there is unknown information contained within.
I await your instructions in the above matter and will continue the investigation I mentioned at the outset of this note.
Yours etc,
B.A. Strike
“We should ask him to have his man acquire a copy of the entail; it would not hurt to know what it contains,” Felicity opined. “Besides, my handsome husband once read the law so he would be able to understand the documents. That Hattie Phillips, or as I knew her then, Hattie Gardiner, was willing to speak freely is exactly as I remember her from all those years ago.”
“I will always be indebted to Phillips for introducing us, so I was able to claim your first set at that assembly in ‘77. Who knows what would have happened had I not danced with you that night?” Reggie reminisced. “As to the entail, I agree with you; when I send a message back to Strike, I will have him do so.”
They sat, Felicity leaning into her beloved Reggie, and rather than read aloud, he held the top document so they could both read it.
The Bennets of Longbourn
Master of the estate: Thomas Bennet
Mistress: Mrs Frances Bennet, known to all as Fanny
There are five daughters:
Jane Fiona born January 1788
Elizabeth Rose born March 1791 called Lizzy
Mary Eloise born August 1792
Catherine (no other familiar name), called Kitty, born June 1794
Lydia (also no other name), born November 1796
There are no living sons
The heir presumptive is Reverend William Collins. Nothing is known of him for now beyond his name.
The rest of the report will be brutally honest, as you demanded in your commission to my company. Some may be hard to read, but it is the truth as the investigators see it.
“Five daughters and no son; Longbourn will be lost. Could it be the late Mr Bennet’s worry was legitimate? Because as things are now after my brother, there will not be one of Bennet blood at Longbourn,” Felicity lamented. “I will never be sorry you and I eloped, as I could not imagine being with another, but my actions could be seen as selfish.”
“It was not selfishness, but rather self-preservation. The late Mr Henry Bennet was the selfish one, not you!” Reggie insisted and kissed his wife to make his point. They returned their eyes to the pages.
As she claims that she will be thrown into the hedgerows when her husband is called home, Mrs Bennet is a very shrill, vulgar, and nervous woman who pushes her daughters at any man she judges eligible. From what we learnt; she feels it is the only way to save them.
This shows a rather irrational mind. Contrary to Mrs Bennet’s assertions, there is a newly repaired dower house, which would easily accommodate her and any (and if needed all) unmarried daughters. We judge that along with everything else, she is a very selfish woman who refuses to see anything but what she desires. In our judgment, she likes to complain and caterwaul for attention. It is little wonder she has chosen her youngest as her favourite. Mrs Bennet and Miss Lydia are of similar looks, character, and sadly, maturity.
Her eldest is another favourite because she has the same colouring as her mother. Miss Bennet is arguably a very beautiful, while serene, lady who sees the world as she wants it to be and not as it is. She is rather na?ve. However, unlike her mother and two youngest sisters, she always behaves demurely and with propriety.
The father, who is indolent in the extreme, has his favourite as well, and that is Miss Elizabeth, who is, from what we have learnt, extremely intelligent, a great walker, a lover of the written word, beats her father in chess, and has a very quick wit. Unlike her older sister, she sees the world through, at times, a satirical eye, but is always well behaved. It seems she is quick to judge and slow to forgive.
If all of that were not enough, Mr Bennet trained her in estate management (so he has more time closeted in his study with his books and port), and she is the de facto master of the estate. She has even managed to raise the income back above 2,000 pounds per annum. Under Mr Bennet’s laissez faire attitude, it had fallen well below that level. From what we have learnt, she looks just like her late grandmother at the same age. It is for the late Mrs Elizabeth Rose Bennet for whom she was named. She has wavy raven-coloured tresses, the most intriguing emerald-green eyes, and is not as tall as her other sisters. She is called Lizzy by all, except her very good friend, Miss Charlotte Lucas, who addresses her as ‘Eliza.’
“Reggie, she looks just like Mama,” Felicity proclaimed. “I would be dissembling if I told you I am surprised my brother has fobbed his responsibilities off on his daughter. He always did look for the path of least resistance.”
“That means Miss Elizabeth is a younger version of the love of my life,” Reggie qualified. There was nothing else to say about the brother.
In Mrs Bennet’s eyes, only her eldest and youngest daughters are beautiful because they look like her. She calls the middle daughter, Miss Mary, plain, when she is anything but. However, years of denigration have caused her to dress in dark colours and style her hair severely.
Mrs Bennet says, at every opportunity she can, that Miss Elizabeth is nothing to Miss Bennet. The woman is blind; it is not the same beauty, but the second Miss Bennet is second to none in looks.
The mother has unfortunately spoilt the youngest rotten. Miss Lydia, who runs wild, is an unabashed flirt, has no accomplishments, and is out in society at 14! Whatever the girl wants, the mother gives her, even when it is the property of one of her other sisters. To gain her share of the mother’s attention, the second youngest (Miss Catherine) follows her younger sister in everything. The prevailing opinion is not if the two youngest will ruin themselves and the family, but rather when. There is, in fact, a book held by the innkeeper in which there are bets about when and how Miss Lydia will ruin herself and whether Miss Catherine will follow her.
They have an unnatural obsession with officers, which is driven by the youngest Miss Bennet. That will not bode well, as we have discovered that a regiment of the Derbyshire Militia will encamp in Meryton starting in October and will remain until March 1812. Knowing how ruinous soldiers can be to the economy of a town when they leave unpaid debts behind them, we have planted the seeds of doubt about offering credit to those not well known or residents of the neighbourhood.
Mrs Phillips was only too happy to share that even though her brother, Edward Gardiner of Gardiner and Associates in London, had urged their brother-in-law to invest for his daughters’ future with him, Mr Bennet could not trouble himself. Because of this, his daughters will have nothing but ?50 per annum until their mother passes and will then share her ?5,000 between them. Had he taken Mr Gardiner’s advice, all five would have healthy dowries by now.
Something else we managed to learn from Mrs Phillips was that the two eldest Bennet daughters spend some months each year with Mr and Mrs Gardiner, and their young cousins. She mentioned that it was her belief that the two learnt much from their aunt, Mrs Madeline Gardiner. Reading between the lines, we have concluded that the behaviour and character of the two eldest Bennet girls were influenced far more by their aunt and uncle in London than their own parents. It seems Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth have imparted what they have learnt to Miss Mary to a certain extent, but the youngest two have resisted any attempt to educate them other than reading and writing, with the full support of Mrs Bennet.
In summation, the two eldest Miss Bennets would be young ladies with whom it would be a pleasure to associate, Miss Mary to a lesser extent as she loves to make moralistic quotes without understanding the context as she should. The father may know how to behave, but he would rather make sport of his family than check them. Mrs Bennet and her two youngest should not be out in any society, let alone polite society in London.
To be fair to Mrs Bennet, had her husband taken the time to teach her or insisted she pay heed to the lessons the late Mrs Beth Bennet attempted to impart, things would be very different now.
Yours respectfully,
Mr A and Miss B
“It is a coincidence that we and Robert invest with Gardiner, while his own brother-in-law has done nothing for our nieces’ future by not troubling himself to have Gardiner assist him in increasing his wealth. I have never discussed you with him, and he has never asked. I assume you met him before we left Meryton together?” Reggie wondered.
“The last time I saw him, I must have been ten, but not much more. He went away to school and then university. Although I knew who they were, I did not spend much time with Hattie or Fanny, and hence, did not know them very well. He may or may not recognise my familiar name if he heard it, but if he saw me and the likeness our niece has to me, there would be no question in his mind who I am,” Felicity related. “One day I would like to meet Mr and Mrs Gardiner if only to thank them for the positive influence on my two eldest nieces.”
“Do you want to make yourself known to the Bennets?” Reggie enquired.
“Possibly one day, yes. With William about to be a guest of that Bingley fellow who has leased Netherfield Park, I want to hear what he has to say when he meets them, as he inevitably will,” Felicity mused. “I will urge Richard to encourage William to write to him of his impressions of Hertfordshire.”
“It will be interesting to see if William recognises you in your niece Elizabeth,” Reggie postulated.
“That will depend on whether our nephew sees past his forbidding mask and Darcy pride.” Felicity sighed as a look of sadness crossed her countenance. “If only Mama would have not been with Mr Bennet that horrendous day in ‘91. With Thomas’s indolent inclinations, he would have been only too happy for Mama to go live elsewhere at no cost or effort to himself.” She sighed again. “I know we cannot change the past, no matter how much we wish we could.”
When his wife had maudlin thoughts about her mother’s death, Reggie did what he always did: he pulled her into an embrace and rubbed her back while she rested her head on his shoulder. As it always did, the mood passed soon enough, and husband and wife expressed their love with their lips for a time. When done, they put themselves to rights, and Reggie locked the report in the safe.
As soon as they judged themselves ready, they returned to the drawing room, and without sharing what had been received, they told Richard and William that what had been read in the office only said that it was too early for any news regarding Ramsgate.
Richard told himself that had he been completely physically able, he would have ridden to Rosings Park and shaken the truth out of Lady de Bourgh. He usually would never consider any sort of violence against a woman, but if his aunt was behind the attempt made on Anna for her own selfish reasons, he would make an exception. It was just as well it was left to the investigators to discover the truth.
William still hoped that no one in his own family could have done anything so disgusting. If the daughter of an earl could do this, it would throw many of the ideas he and the nobility had about the classes on its head.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Lady de Bourgh could not believe her brilliant and well-conceived plan had come to nought! She should have never relied on common nobodies to execute her desires.
What had been so difficult? All the two she employed had to do was convince Robert Darcy’s daughter to elope, and rather than Gretna Green, the girl would have been brought to her. She would have held his daughter with the threat to publicise that she had run away with a steward’s son unless her weak, late younger sister’s husband announced an engagement between Anne and his son Fitzwilliam .
She had met and employed George Wickham and Karen Younge almost a year ago. It had not taken long before the steward’s son’s connection to Pemberley and the Darcys had come to light. Her path had been set into motion when at Easter past, Robert Darcy had uncovered her plan to gain access to more of the funds. Those funds were rightfully hers, and Darcy had had the temerity to threaten her, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, with arrest and hanging for theft.
She had sold a few pieces of her jewellery to fund the plan and had been sure of its success. True, she did not have the five thousand pounds to pay her lackeys, but she had intended to extract that and much, much more from Robert Darcy and her disloyal brother to avoid a scandal.
The updates from Ramsgate had been so hopeful, up to and including the final one she had received, which told that the girl had agreed to elope. Then nothing! They did not arrive at Rosings Park as planned not another update, not a word.
Catherine knew not where to write or to find them. She had seen not a hint about the girl missing, and not a word of gossip about the Darcys in the papers at all. She could not very well write to her brother or brother-in-law asking after Georgiana Darcy without exposing her own culpability in the affair.
She would not give up her role as mistress when Anne reached the age of five and twenty in a little more than a month. Catherine was determined that she would find a way to make Rosings Park hers and gain access to the funds she had been denied since her useless husband’s weak heart had claimed him.
If she ever discovered where Mrs Younge and that Wickham man had gone to ground, she would know how to act and exact a heavy price from their hides for daring to fail her.
Now all she could hope was that none of her family would ever discover what she had planned.