Page 25 of Great Uncle Henry (Pride & Prejudice Vagary)
“A nna!” Elizabeth exclaimed as she pulled her friend into the circle of her arms.
“It is so good to see you, Lizzy,” Georgiana said as her friend released her. “It has been far too long. At least, I had letters from you, Mary, and Kitty.”
On their arrival at Snowhaven, as soon as it came into view, Elizabeth had been fascinated by the remaining parts of the castle still standing and the way the manor house had been incorporated into the original parts of the structure without overwhelming or overshadowing it.
She had been thinking much on everything she had learnt the previous evening, but as soon as Elizabeth saw Anna, thoughts of her future inheritance flew from her head as the two ran towards one another the instant Elizabeth alighted from the coach.
Anna was twelve now, but she was as tall, if not a little taller, than Elizabeth.
It was not so very surprising because Elizabeth was on the petite side.
“Anna dear, will you introduce your friend to us?” Matlock boomed as he and his wife approached his ward and niece in one person.
Georgiana made the introductions. “Lizzy, there is a maze behind the house,” Georgiana gushed. “As I have lived here for more than two years, I know how to reach the centre directly and back out easily, but I am keen to see how quickly you find your way in and out of it.”
“I look forward to attempting it. You know how much I love puzzles,” Elizabeth responded .
“Miss Bennet, are you the Bennet sister your great uncle boasted is second to none at playing chess?” Matlock enquired. “If you are the one, I would enjoy challenging you to a few games. I am rather proficient at the game.”
“I do not know if I would say second to none, my Lord, but I do enjoy a challenging game of chess,” Elizabeth responded.
Matlock was charmed. This little miss was not intimidated by him in the least. He approached his friend who was alighting slowly with the aid of his valet. “Welcome to Snowhaven, Bennet. I assume that is the great-niece you told us about who is your heir?”
“Indeed. She was very excited to see your niece again,” Henry confirmed.
“Is she aware…?” Matlock trailed off.
“Yes, she is. In fact, I shared it all with her at the inn yesternight. She was understandably very quiet during the last portion of our journey here, but as soon as she saw your niece, she was herself again,” Henry related.
“For one who just discovered she will be one of the wealthiest people, by far the wealthiest non-royal, man or lady, in the realm, she is unaffected,” Matlock noted.
“Which is one of the many reasons I made her my heir,” Henry stated.
Lady Matlock offered her arms to the two younger ladies and slowly guided them towards the house.
The two men strolled into the house at a leisurely pace, following the three females. The more Henry walked, the more the stiffness he felt when seated for too long was banished from his muscles.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Lord Reginald Fitzwilliam, to his chagrin, discovered that if anything, Bennet had understated his great-niece’s ability at chess.
That first evening they played three games, and he had not come close to winning a single one.
The more time Matlock spent in her company, the more he understood the reasons why Bennet had chosen her to be his heir.
At first, the Fitzwilliam parents had thought that Lizzy, as she preferred being addressed, would have been a good possible match for one of their sons.
It had nothing to do with the fantastic fortune she would have one day, but the more time they were in her company, the more they were able to see that she was far too quick and intelligent for their sons.
That is not to say Andrew and Richard were not intelligent, just not as much as she was.
Even had they believed she could have been a good possible match for either Andrew or Richard, they would never attempt to pressure their sons into marriage.
They would have facilitated an introduction and stepped back.
For a few moments, Lady Elaine thought of William for Lizzy, but she knew they would not get along well, or more to the point, Lizzy would not tolerate William’s improper pride, aloofness, or arrogance.
It did not stand to reason that just because Lizzy enjoyed Anna’s company, it meant that she would be predisposed to like William.
The day after Henry and Lizzy arrived at Snowhaven, Anna led Lizzy to the back of the house and the maze.
The former was amazed that the latter solved the maze on her first try.
It was very impressive until Lizzy descended into a fit of giggles and admitted she had stood at one of the upper floor windows looking down on the labyrinth and had seen the path to follow.
Anna had been impressed by her friend’s ingenuity and memory.
The two giggled over it for a while after.
The next day Lizzy and Anna, escorted by a groom and two footmen, rode out towards Matlock, which was in the foothills of the peaks. Elizabeth loved the sight of the mountains rising out of the haze in their majesty.
They passed another two days at Snowhaven, and after the teams were hitched to the coach again, Henry and Lizzy departed for Sherwood Dale.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“The fields at your estate are much more level than what I saw the day Anna and I rode out at Snowhaven,” Elizabeth observed as they sat in the conveyance while traversing the long drive from the gates leading onto Sherwood Dale’s land and the manor house.
“Nottinghamshire’s topography, at least in this part of the county, is closer to Hertfordshire’s than to Derbyshire’s,” Henry noted.
“How many miles is it from the gates to the mansion?” Elizabeth enquired.
“Since the smaller estate was annexed to Sherwood Dale, it is about five miles to the house. The smaller estate’s house is the dower house here,” Henry revealed. “Did I tell you that the steward’s son is one of the under-stewards?”
“You did. But did you not tell Lord Matlock that you would be happy if his son in Surrey were interested in interviewing the younger Mr Wickham as his new steward at some point? I heard mention that the Earl’s son’s steward will retire in the next year or so,” Elizabeth reminded her uncle.
“I assume the younger Mr Wickham learnt from his father, which has prepared him to be a steward in his own right at a relatively young age.”
“That, and I believe that George Wickham has a natural aptitude for this kind of work. He chose to learn to be a steward rather than pursue a career in the law,” Henry responded.
When the house came into view, Elizabeth saw that it was at least double the size of Netherfield Park’s house.
Given the good weather, the staff and servants were lined up waiting for the master.
It was more than a year since Henry’s previous, short visit.
Once they alighted—Henry was not near as stiff, as it had been a relatively quick ride in the equipage—he introduced one of his great-nieces to those who had assembled to meet them.
George Wickham’s attention was captured by the beauty before him.
She had the most intriguing eyes. For a moment his mother’s voice intruded from deep in the recesses of his mind, telling him that being the niece of the master, she was more than likely well off.
Like he did whenever he had thoughts about his mother’s unwelcome way of looking at the world, George pushed them out of his mind.
He was a man of honour and would never stoop to the kind of behaviour his late mother had advocated.
He would be forever grateful that his father had removed him from her influence before it had been too late for him.
The younger Wickham could not imagine what kind of man he would have become had he followed his mother’s path.
Being that she was the daughter of a gentleman and realising that she was not for him did not change George’s opinion about Miss Bennet’s beauty.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Henry and Lizzy were at Sherwood Dale for a fortnight, during which time Elizabeth became familiar with the running of the house and the estate. The three senior staff members were informed that Miss Bennet was the master’s heir.
Although Elizabeth missed Aphrodite, there were good stables at Sherwood Dale, containing well-maintained and well-behaved riding horses, some of which were trained for the side-saddle.
Elizabeth rode out several times. On one ride, she rode to the dower house, which she discovered was about the same size as the house at Longbourn.
The day before they were to depart the area, Henry took his great-niece into Lambton for a few reasons.
He wanted her to see the town where her Aunt Maddie had lived.
They visited the Lambert bookstore, now run by Maddie’s brother since their father passed away almost two years previously.
Lastly, Henry and Elizabeth went to see the schools he funded in the town.
Elizabeth was pleased that they were open to anyone who wanted to attend and that no one was turned away because of an inability to pay. She promised Uncle Henry that in the future when she inherited, she would keep funding all of the schools and open even more of them if and when needed.
The last stop was at Mr Harrison’s house.
Henry explained to Lizzy how he had provided the funds for Lambton to afford a physician in the town.
He pointed out that it had been a few years since he had needed to subsidise the doctor thanks to patronage from Pemberley, Snowhaven, and some of the other estates in the area.
On the way back to Sherwood Dale after the calls, Henry explained all of his charitable endeavours to Lizzy, including his bringing Mr Jones to Meryton and adding to his annual income to make sure he remained and did not need to take money from all of those he treated.