Page 45 of Great Uncle Henry (Pride & Prejudice Vagary)

J ust as she planned to, Elizabeth mounted Aphrodite at dawn, and with a groom trailing her, made the short ride to the dower house. She knew her great-aunt and great-uncle were up at first light, so she would not be waking them.

The copy of the letter she carried was sufficiently concerning not to tarry long before seeing Uncle Henry.

She had not had much respect for her father before this, but now, she lost the little which had remained.

Uncle Henry’s estimation was that her father’s enjoyment of sport at the expense of others hid a cruel streak.

She could no longer deny the rectitude of that fact.

She was sure that his plan was to spring this news on Mama at the last possible moment to evoke as much of a reaction from her as possible.

Elizabeth still held Mama responsible for parts of her behaviour, but she realised that the bulk of the problems had been caused by her father for his own sick amusement.

The day Lydia had departed for school; her father’s plans had been thwarted.

He had refused the use of the Bennet carriage, saying he could not be without it for four or five days.

He had thought he had stymied the move to take Lydia away until, on the morning of her departure, a comfortable coach, one without any arms on the doors, had arrived with a maid and four burly footmen.

Albeit kicking and screaming, Lydia had departed for school.

After the departure, Father had pouted like Lydia was wont to do.

Mayhap, she got that trait from him and not Mama.

The less than one mile passed in a flash, especially with all the thoughts rattling around in Elizabeth’s mind.

She dismounted—something infinitely easier since she had begun to ride astride—and left her mare with the groom, who led her horse and the gelding he had ridden towards the back of the house where the stables were located.

Seeing that she was counted as one of the household, Elizabeth let herself into the house. As expected, Uncle Henry and Aunt Felicity were in their favourite chairs in the drawing room, enjoying a warm beverage of their choice.

“Welcome, Lizzy,” Aunt Felicity stated so Uncle Henry would know who had entered before their great-niece spoke.

“The letter must be concerning, seeing how early it is,” Uncle Henry opined.

“Good morning, Aunt and Uncle, and yes, Uncle Henry, it is,” Elizabeth reported.

“The letter was written by a complete fool, which does not concern me as much as what mischief Father will cause. As we have discussed, he has not been well pleased since Mama calmed, and now that Lydia is at the school—her five attempted escapes on the way notwithstanding—he is devoid of ways to make sport of his family. By the by, I copied the letter and placed the original back in its place so Father will be unaware the letter was seen by anyone but him.”

“Go ahead and read it to us, then we may make some decisions about how to proceed,” Henry requested.

After withdrawing her copy of the letter from her pocket, Elizabeth unfolded and read it to her great-aunt and great-uncle. Once the reading was complete, there was quiet for some moments as the idiocy of the writer and his words were digested.

“We will need to write to Matlock,” Henry decided.

“In his last letter to me, one Mrs Bellamy read to us as you did not call that day, he told me the truth of the situation that the man dissembled about in his letter…” He went on to relate all hi s friend had told him when he had requested that Anne de Bourgh be added to the party of those who would be hosted at the dower house.

“One of the few things which is fact is that he was about to conduct his own wedding ceremony himself.”

“And this is the man my father will allow to stay in the house with us—four single women and Mama?” Elizabeth gasped.

“Henry and Lizzy, I suggest you send a note asking Fanny and your sisters to come call here as soon as may be,” Felicity stated.

“Also, you should write one to my family at Purvis Lodge and have them join us. As this potentially affects all of us, they should be included in any discussions we have about the solution to the problem our Bennet nephew is attempting to create.”

“My sister has the right of it. Lizzy, will you write the notes, and we will compose a letter to my friend?” Henry requested.

“Of course, I will.” Elizabeth stood and sat herself at the escritoire and wrote the two notes.

She found the groom who had accompanied her and issued instructions for delivery.

The note for her mother was to be put in Mrs Hill’s hands with the instruction to wake Mrs Bennet if she was not up yet.

From there, he would ride to Purvis Lodge with the missive for Mr and Mrs Taylor.

On her return to the drawing room, Elizabeth sat and wrote the letter Uncle Henry dictated to her. By the time the groom returned, the letter was completed, sealed, and addressed. He was instructed to engage an express rider in Meryton.

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

Due to the fact that neither those from Longbourn nor the party from Purvis Lodge—which excluded the two youngest Taylors—had broken their fast, Felicity informed the cook-housekeeper there would be a large party for the morning meal.

“Mama, will Papa not notice he is alone at the table this morning?” Jane enquired.

“I doubt it. When we are there, he does not notice anyway. His head is always buried in his newspaper, and the most he will do is command quiet so he may read in peace,” Fanny replied.

“Peace is all he has when he is cloistered in his book room, so why he needs peace and quiet at meals with us as well, I do not know.”

Soon enough the meal was ready for them. By the variety and quantity on the sideboard, one would have sworn a large group had been expected. Elizabeth filled a plate for Uncle Henry while Debby did the same for her mother-in-law.

Roger and Mary were in quiet conversation during the meal, their heads as close as propriety would allow when they were not eating.

Since she had begun to see things with a clear eye, Fanny had realised what Jane and Lizzy had meant when they said one of their sisters was being unofficially courted.

Fighting her previous inclinations to help them along , Fanny had not said one word.

She did wonder how long it would be before Roger came to the point and offered for Mary.

Rather than her older daughters being jealous that they did not have suitors of their own, they were happy for Mary.

After Jane’s admonition about her sisters’ looks, Fanny had to own that all of her daughters were very pretty.

As soon as the meal was over, everyone retired to the drawing room. The door was closed, even though the servants working at the dower house were extremely loyal.

“Fanny, we have something to relate, which I am certain will be upsetting, but the aim of us meeting now is to come up with a plan to make sure you and your daughters are protected,” Henry began.

“What is my husband planning to do?” Fanny asked calmly.

“Mama, you remember some years ago, shortly after I was born, my father revealed that the entail precluded a Collins from inheriting Longbourn?” Elizabeth verified.

“I do,” Fanny confirmed. “But surely Thomas cannot reinstate the Collins line as heirs, can he?”

“No, he may not,” Henry responded firmly.

“The last remaining Collins, William, wrote your husband the most nonsensical letter we have ever read. What we think, in fact, Lizzy suggested, is that he will not tell you of the visit until the day of this simpleton’s arrival.

Before we proceed, Lizzy dear, allow your mother and sisters time to read the missive you copied, and then the Taylors may as well. ”

Elizabeth handed the copy of the letter to her mother. Jane and Kitty sat either side of her while Mary and Roger stood behind her while they read. Once they had read the epistle, Roger handed it to his father, who sat with his mother and two sisters who were present.

“Papa means to try and push one of us towards this man as a potential bride,” Jane realised.

“Among other mischief. I assume he will send the man to Purvis Lodge to try and claim he is the heir presumptive and not my nephew, Henry,” Henry opined.

“We all know there is no legal basis to have this man be part of the line of succession, and my Bennet nephew well knows that. His aim will be to sow as much discord as he can so he can find some amusement. I am sure this will be his way of repaying us, for as he sees it, depriving him of his sport.”

“What can be done?” Fanny asked. “I am sure he intends to attempt to provoke me as much as possible.”

“Thanks to my friend Matlock having written to me regarding the truth of what occurred in Kent, I had Lizzy scribe a letter to my friend…” Henry related what had been written and the requests he had made of his friend .

“As Thomas knows nothing of this, he will be the one who looks like a complete fool,” Fanny stated.

“He will. This is what I suggest…” Henry, with some aid from Lizzy, laid out a plan which would protect Fanny and her girls and arm the Taylors, in case, as they suspected he planned to do, Thomas Bennet sent the bumbling former parson to Purvis Lodge.

There were no disagreements with the plan. The family members spoke for a while longer before standing to leave for their respective homes. Roger asked Fanny for a moment.

“I know I should be asking this of Mr Bennet, but he is not here. May I address Mary privately?” Roger requested.

“You may,” Fanny allowed “Depending on what question you ask Mary and her reply, I would suggest you wait until all of this nonsense my husband is attempting to stir up is behind us before you seek permission from her guardian.”

“Thank you, Mrs Bennet,” Roger responded gratefully. “That was my intent.”