Page 2 of Aunt Felicity

R eginald Fitzwilliam arrived at the law offices of Mr Elias Gardiner a little before two that afternoon. He was shown into the solicitor’s office by the head clerk.

“Welcome, Mr Fitzwilliam,” Gardiner extended his hand to his guest. “I trust your trip was not too tedious?”

“Thank you, Mr Gardiner, it was not. Before we commence with our work, would you introduce me to your clerk, please?” Reggie requested.

“Of course, Mr Fitzwilliam, I present to you, Mr Frank Phillips of Meryton. Phillips, the Honourable Mr Reginald Fitzwilliam of London and Snowhaven in Derbyshire.” Gardiner waited for the two men to shake hands. “Phillips here will be my son in a month as he is engaged to my eldest. Also, I thought we could begin the work on the morrow. I am sure you are in need of a rest, even after only four hours in your conveyance, and you will need your energy for our quarterly assembly this evening. Frank and Hattie will attend, but my son, Edward, who is at Oxford, is with friends for a fortnight. I will remain at home with my youngest, Fanny, who is but fifteen.

“As much as she has tried to convince me, I will not allow her out before she is sixteen.” Gardiner got a wistful, far off look in his eyes, “It is not easy bringing up a girl on one’s own. I lost my Jane these six years past.”

“I thank you for your consideration in allowing me to have some time today, and as I enjoy dancing, it will be my honour to attend the assembly,” Reggie stated sincerely. “Where does one purchase a ticket? Or do I need one? The assemblies in Matlock, which is close to Snowhaven, require tickets.”

“As do ours,” Gardiner responded and turned to his desk. When he faced the other two men again, he proffered Mr Fitzwilliam a ticket. “I purchased one for you in anticipation.” Gardiner saw the man was about to protest. “It was my pleasure to do so as a way to welcome you to our small community for your short stay. You would not refuse a gift, would you?”

Reggie raised his hands in surrender. “Thank you, Mr Gardiner, it is most appreciated. Where will I be housed?”

“We have made reservations for you at the Red Lion Inn. It is Meryton’s best and only inn. However the service is very good, the rooms are always clean, and the food is excellent. You have the best suite,” Phillips informed the man from London. “The inn is just to the right when you exit. They also have a good carriage house and stables.”

“In that case I will go make myself known to the landlord, and Mr Gardiner,” Reggie turned to the older man, “I will be paying my own way.”

It was Gardiner’s turn to raise his hands and submit.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Felicity made herself ready for the assembly and looked at the result in the mirror. Agnes had just finished styling her uncooperative wavy raven coloured tresses into an attractive style held in place with a number of pins and two pearl combs which stood out against her dark hair. She was happy she favoured her mother, both in stature, and that she had been gifted with the same emerald-green eye colour as her; Thomas looked like their father. She was especially pleased on this day that she took after Mama when she was so angry with her sire. More than that, she was determined to thwart his plans, come what may.

Thankfully her father would not attend as he hated such events. Thomas would be present, but he would dance once or twice before seating himself and reading, as if he did not do enough of that already. Felicity was happy Thomas would be lost in his own world as he would not notice when she attempted to speak to any of the men she had identified as possible husbands. Her brother was afraid of their father, and as such if he got wind of her plan, he would report it in order to gain their father’s favour.

Her mama would keep her secrets, but she would not put her dear mother in the position of having to lie to her father. Her mother, for better or worse, was not very good at dissembling. Because of this, it would not take her husband very long to see she was keeping something from him, and then he would be very unpleasant to her when she eventually told him.

For that reason, she would protect Mama and say not a word. If she managed to convince one of the men to assist her, she would leave Mama a letter the night she slipped away from Longbourn.

Satisfied all was ready, Felicity donned her white silk gloves that had been a gift from her dear mother on the occasion of her fifteenth birthday. She took her reticule from its place on the dresser and made her way down the stairs where her mother and Thomas were waiting for her in the entrance hall.

The butler assisted the two ladies with their light pelisses and handed young Mr Bennet his cane and beaver. While Mr Hitchcock held the door open for them, the Bennet siblings followed their mother out onto the drive. Being the middle of the summer, there was still some daylight, thanks to the fact that the sun had not set yet, even though it was getting very low in the western sky. Best of all, the temperature was warm, no biting cold like the winter, and at times, the autumn assembly.

“Which book do you have with you tonight, Brother,” Felicity asked playfully.

“Robinson Crusoe,” Thomas averred. He knew many teased him for his preference to read at the assembly, but Felicity was not one of them.

He felt sad about his inability to stand up to his sire and defend his sister. He had no doubt that everything Felicity had said about the man Father had betrothed her to, was absolutely true. From what he knew of the brute, she may have understated some of Clem Collins’s bad traits. Thomas Bennet wished he had his sister’s spirit and ready answers. He was intelligent, having been at the top of his class at Cambridge, but he did not have his younger sister’s quick wit nor her strength of character to fight for that which she knew was right. He knew that he would always give in to his father, even if that meant Felicity would be consigned to such a life with that bully of a cousin of theirs.

Had he a fraction of Felicity’s courage he would have questioned and challenged his father’s assertions regarding his stated doubts in his son’s abilities to find a woman who would agree to marry him. Further he would have contested that if he discovered such a woman, he would not be able to sire a son. A son with fortitude would have defended his manhood, but he had sat hiding behind his book while Felicity had done all of the disputing. Thomas Bennet was not proud of the man he was becoming, but he knew not how to change things.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Reginald Fitzwilliam walked the hundred yards or so past the inn to the assembly hall with Phillips, Miss Gardiner, and Mrs Harrison, a widow who would act as the companion for the younger lady. Phillips had quietly confided his suspicion that the widow assisted when requested as she would like to be the next Mrs Gardiner. However, he saw no interest in remarrying from the widower.

At the same time they arrived at the assembly hall, a carriage was pulled to a halt and a young-looking man exited. He handed out an older lady and then a younger lady. That lady struck Reggie as if he had been run over by a stampeding herd of cattle. She looked nothing like the Ton’s definition of beauty, but then again, other than thinking his little sister was extremely pretty, the opinions of high society meant nothing to the younger Fitzwilliam son. To him, this young woman was the most beautiful he had ever seen in his five and twenty years in the mortal world. She shone with vivacity and confidence like he had never seen before.

Catherine exuded false assuredness, but she was nothing next to this beauty he had sighted. Just as Reggie was hoping he would be introduced to her; he was brought out of his fog on hearing Phillips speak.

“Mrs Bennet, Bennet, and Miss Bennet, how are all of you?” Phillips called out as he and his party approached the Bennets who had alighted. He turned to Fitzwilliam, “May I introduce the Bennets to you?”

All Reggie could manage was a nod as he did not trust himself to speak. He looked at the three before him and could see the older woman and the lady who fascinated him were obviously mother and daughter given how similar their looks were. He chided himself, of course they were based on the way Phillips had greeted them. The woman had made him addlepated, and that was even before they had met.

“Mrs Bennet, Bennet, Miss Bennet, I present to you the Honourable Mr Reginald Fitzwilliam of London and Derbyshire. Fitzwilliam, Mrs Elizabeth Bennet, Mr Thomas Bennet, her son, and Miss Felicity Bennet, her daughter, of Longbourn.” Phillips performed the office admirably.

Having recovered the power of speech, Reggie stepped forward and bowed to the Bennets, and they returned his courtesy with two curtsies and a bow. “Miss Bennet, if your first set is not spoken for, may I have the honour,” he asked.

Felicity had been intrigued by the tall man with the broad shoulders, sandy blond hair, handsome face, and noble mien. He had for some reason been staring at her since she had been handed out of the Bennet carriage. She planned to refuse him in consideration of her plan to save herself. She was certain that Matthew Long would have requested her first set, if not, then Felicity was sure one of the five men she had identified as potential saviours would. She made an instant decision allowing her rational mind to accept.

“That set is not taken, so it is yours, Mr Fitzwilliam,” Felicity granted.

“And may I have your second set when Fitzwilliam here dances with Hattie?” Phillips requested. He too was gratified.

Miss Bennet had always attracted him, but Phillips was well aware her father would not have considered his suit, and that was before he engaged her to that dullard of a cousin of hers. He gallantly turned his attention to Mrs Bennet. “And will you dance tonight Mrs Bennet?”

“I will not, I intend to sit with my friends and leave all of the dancing to you youngsters ,” Beth smiled. She hoped Felicity would enjoy herself, regardless of the sword of Damocles her husband had hung over her beloved daughter’s head by his attempting to force her into an unwanted alliance with that horrendous Collins family. She knew that as a wife she was powerless to stand up to her husband. He used to be such a different, much better, man. She did not know what had happened to him over the years.

On entering the hall, Beth Bennet kept to her determination and went to sit with Lady Morris, and Mmes Purvis, Long, and Goulding. At the same time, while Phillips and Hattie led the noble’s son around the room to introduce him, Thomas and Felicity joined a group of acquaintances. Much to the latter’s dismay, none of the men she had hoped would ask her to dance did so. In fact, they barely looked at her.

What she could not have known was that her father had visited each of the men he knew had been interested in his daughter at one time or another and forcefully warned them off his engaged daughter, refusing his permission for them to even dance with her. It did not take one of Felicity’s intelligence long before she divined what her father had done, and it was confirmed when she had approached William Lucas and asked him why he was all but ignoring her. He had admitted what it was her father had told him.

Before Felicity could cogitate on the turn of events for too long, the first set was called, and Mr Fitzwilliam came to collect her.

During the dance, Reggie could see that the young lady was deeply upset about something, but knew it would not be gentlemanly to enquire without her volunteering any information first. Hence, as much as he desired to try and offer her succour, he held his peace.

By the end of the set, Reggie watched as Miss Bennet was fighting tooth and nail to maintain her equanimity, and almost but not quite succeeding in schooling her features.

Felicity was sure that her father was doing whatever he could to leave her with only one choice: to accept the match to the last man in the world she wanted to marry. Normally a talkative dancer, she had not said a word as she danced with the man she thought to be a handsome gentleman. It seemed that he had seen her struggle to maintain her equanimity as he had said not a word and had not asked her if she was well. Had he done so, Felicity was sure she would have lost her composure and burst into tears in the middle of the dance floor.

While her daughter danced, Beth was learning from her friends what her husband had been about in making sure all of the young men who had admired her daughter had been warned away before the assembly. Beth was furious and as such was not watching her daughter as the final notes of the second dance were played.

The second the dance mercifully came to an end, Felicity bolted for the side door which led to the grassy area and small garden on the one side of the assembly hall. She reached the bench in the one corner of the grass near one of the flowerbeds and sat heavily with her back to the door. Then and only then, she allowed the tears free rein to fall. Her whole body shook as she attempted to stifle the noise of her sobs.

“Oh Lord God, what have I done to displease You to deserve such a fate?” Felicity asked softly with her eyes lifted towards the blinking stars in their millions visible in the cloudless sky.

As an answer, a man’s large handkerchief floated before her eyes. In her sorry state, she had not heard anyone approach her. Very slowly she turned her head, and there standing and offering her something with which to dry her eyes was the man with whom she had just danced the first set. She took the large square of cloth and began to wipe the tears from her eyes.

Beth Bennet looked around in panic when she did not see her daughter. She then noticed the man who had danced the first set with Felicity making his way to the little patch of greenery on the side of the hall. She excused herself from her friends and glided to the door. She stood there with the door open only a few inches thus blocking the door so no one else would follow the two outside. Seeing her daughter’s anguish almost rent her heart from her chest, but she managed to stay where she was and observe. She felt a little better when she saw the man hand Felicity his handkerchief and sit down on the bench.

“Miss Bennet, may I sit on the bench?” Reggie requested. He received a watery nod. “You are at liberty to tell me to mind my own concerns, but I could not help but overhear talk that you are to be forced to marry a man you have no desire to marry. Is that correct?”

“Y-yes,” Felicity hiccupped while she continued to dry her tears.

“My father is trying to force me to marry the daughter of a duke, a lady I neither like nor respect. Like you, I will not be forced to do that which I find abhorrent,” Reggie related. “Unfortunately he thinks his rank allows him to order my life as he sees fit.”

With her eyes dry and the crying having ceased, Felicity looked at the man next to her again. The truth was she had felt an attraction to him on first seeing him when Mr Phillips greeted them. She had not missed the way his gaze had locked onto her person. Additionally, there was no censure in his tone, and he was not telling her she needed to blindly obey her father. Rather, he was telling her about his own father’s attempt to force him to marry a lady for whom he did not care. Take away the title and their fathers could have been the same person.

“My father cares not a whit for me, only that I do what he has decided. He refuses to listen to any of my objections,” Felicity related. Now that she was under regulation, she was able to speak clearly again. “Once he decides on a path, nothing, or no one, will convince him to deviate.”

Reginald Fitzwilliam, the second son of the Earl of Matlock had always been certain that love at first sight was a concept only to be found in gothic novels, but never in real life. That was, until he laid eyes on Miss Bennet this very evening.

“If another eligible man were to come and apply for your hand, would your father consider the suit?” Reggie enquired.

“He will say I am already engaged.”

“But the engagement may be broken by the lady.”

“That is true, but it would not move my father. Not even a compromise would impress him.”

“Thank you, Miss Bennet, you answered my next question. Is he truly so intransigent and determined to carry his point.”

“He is, he told me…” Felicity related the consequences her father had laid out and his actions in warning off every young man in the neighbourhood who had ever shown the slightest interest in her, and even some who had never looked at her more than once.

As sudden as a bolt of lightning from a darkened sky, an idea struck Reggie. But it was insane, was it not? He was not an impulsive man. He always carefully weighed the pros and cons of any issue. There was no time for those considerations now, it was, however, time to take bold action.

“Miss Bennet, will you marry me?” Reggie blurted out.

Felicity thought she had been hearing things. “W-what d-did y-y-you s-say?” she stammered.

“I requested your hand, even though we do not know one another well…”

“Hardly at all,” Felicity corrected.

Standing at the door, she could not hear, but Beth could see that her girl looked much happier. She turned her back to the door so she was facing the inside of the hall, and stood near the door to make sure Felicity was not disturbed.

“Yes, that. Miss Bennet, from the instant I saw you I felt a pull that I have never felt with any woman before you. I know this is precipitate, and if you are against it, I will be silent on this subject. However, if you are open to a life with me, I am able to provide for you in a reasonable fashion. Also, we will save each other from the heartache of having to deal with fathers who have decided they know what our lives should be. It would involve an elopement if we are to marry.” Reggie waited and allowed Miss Bennet to think.

Her rational mind was engaged as she cogitated. ‘ If I was willing to elope with one of the local men, none of whom I was attracted to like I am to Mr Fitzwilliam, there can be no objection on that count. But how and when? And what do I tell Mama, or do I say nothing so Father cannot blame her?’ After speaking to herself silently, Felicity looked up determinedly. “I accept your proposal, Mr Fitzwilliam. Now we need to speak of the details of how we are to achieve our aims.”

“Today is the second day of July, and I believe I heard you are to be married on the twelfth of this month?”

“Correct. The illiterate bully is to arrive two days prior.”

“My honour will not allow me to leave before I complete the work Norman and James sent me to Meryton to do,” he saw his betrothed’s quizzical look. “The firm of barristers for whom I work. I will work long hours so all is done by Monday. I suggest you carry on as normal and do nothing which will arouse your father’s suspicions. To that end, we should not dance again, and other than greetings in passing if we see each other in Meryton, we should have no contact. I suggest you breathe not a word to anyone, not even your mother. The question is how will we meet early Tuesday morning.”

“I agree about my mother, I do not want her to have to prevaricate to my father. I am a great walker, and my father knows that most mornings I walk along the estate’s paths, and more often than not, I sit on Oakham Mount to watch the sun rise.” Seeing his blank look when she mentioned the hill, Felicity gave a brief explanation, before she continued on, “I will leave a note for my mama on my dresser. I will walk out before dawn, something I have done many times previously. My father, even if he notices my absence, will not think anything of it. Starting on the morrow, I will fill a valise with my essentials and hide it in a hole in a tree which is hidden from sight. Each day I will bring a little more. On Tuesday, I will collect my things and meet you and your carriage on the road out of Meryton to the north, a few hundred yards beyond the end of the town.”

Beth turned back towards the green area in time to see Mr Fitzwilliam assist Felicity to stand. She did not care that it was not proper they had been alone for so long, her girl was smiling again. Before they reached the door, she slipped away.