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Edith Adams was the daughter of two humble and hard-working people.
Her mother was a cook at a small inn, and her father worked in Mr. Robinson's blacksmith shop.
They had only one child and gave her the best they could.
Little Edith was always the prettiest and most elegant girl in her poor village, and when she grew into a beautiful young lady, women envied her and men admired her.
Yet Edith believed she had been born to be a great lady, and she did not wish to live a life like her mother's, spent in service to others.
Instead, she dreamed of living in a grand house with many servants and being surrounded by luxuries.
She begrudged those ladies of society who, without effort, possessed everything she had always desired.
Her fortune began to change when she turned twenty-one and met Henry Wickham.
Although he was twelve years her senior and not very handsome, Edith liked him.
He was devoted to his profession and had been successful through his ethics and effort since boyhood.
Moreover, Edith saw in Henry the means of escaping poverty and rising in society.
For that reason, she gladly accepted him when he proposed.
Within a few months of their marriage, Henry received two pieces of news that would determine his fate and that of his wife. The first was that he would be a father in a few months, and the second that he had been appointed steward of one of England's most prosperous estates.
When Edith saw Pemberley for the first time, she was awed by the beauty of its gardens and the majesty of the imposing mansion, encircled by a lake.
Everything there was elegant, magnificent, and expensive.
Yet neither the estate nor its furnishings impressed Edith as much as its master.
She had never seen such a handsome and sophisticated man, and she fell madly in love with him at first sight.
Predictably, in the same measure that she adored George Darcy, she despised Lady Anne, a plain woman of little personality.
That unfortunate woman possessed everything Edith coveted and could never have.
While Lady Anne lived in the great house, Edith was confined to what she considered a modest dwelling with only a few servants.
George Darcy and his wife Anne had been married for five years when the Wickhams came to Pemberley. George quickly formed a friendship with Henry that lasted for many years. He esteemed Henry's diligent work and trusted him entirely whenever he and his wife resided in their London house.
Although George and Anne's marriage had been arranged, they had fallen in love and were happy together.
Yet that happiness was marred by the absence of children.
Lady Anne had suffered more than one miscarriage, which left her physically and emotionally exhausted.
George, fearful of losing her, withdrew from her physically to avoid further pregnancies.
Lady Anne, of course, believed her husband no longer loved her, precisely because of her inability to provide him with the long-desired heir.
When Edith's son was born, she named him George after his godfather and ensured that Mr. Darcy spent much time with him. She knew that Lady Anne was such an insignificant woman that she could never give a child to a man as wonderful as Mr. Darcy.
For nearly two years, little George Wickham was the only child who walked about Pemberley holding his godfather's hand. Without realizing it, George Darcy poured all his fatherly affection upon him.
Lady Anne also loved little George, but she distrusted his mother.
She noticed how Edith looked at her husband and heard the cruel remarks she made to wound her because she had not been able to conceive.
Although Lady Anne was a sweet and intelligent woman, she was shy and preferred not to provoke discord, so she ignored Edith.
They rarely saw one another, as they did not move in the same social circle.
Edith dreamed that her husband and Lady Anne would die, so that she might marry George Darcy and her son become heir to the family fortune.
For that reason, she chose not to have more children and devoted herself entirely to little George.
She believed he was destined to be respected and influential in society.
But her dreams vanished when Fitzwilliam Darcy was born just a week before George Wickham turned two. At last, George Darcy had the heir he had long desired.
As the years passed, Edith's resentment towards Lady Anne and her son only grew.
What wounded her most was to see that the new heir bore so striking a resemblance to his father.
She even noticed that, like his George, Fitzwilliam had the same crescent-shaped mole on his neck, just behind his left ear.
Little Fitzwilliam was the joy of his parents, who loved him dearly.
His birth reunited the couple, and Pemberley became a happy home once more.
The child was not only beloved by his parents but also by all the servants, especially the housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, who had never known a better-behaved or kinder child.
By contrast, Mr. Darcy's godson inspired very different sentiments.
He was a mischievous boy who seldom obeyed and acted as though Pemberley belonged to him.
From an early age, Edith had encouraged him to feel superior, convincing him that with his godfather's help, he would one day be a rich and powerful man.
She also instilled in him a hatred of little Fitzwilliam, persuading him that the boy had been born to rob him of all that was meant to be his.
Edith's envy and jealousy hardened into irrational hatred when George and Anne Darcy gave a splendid party for their son's fifth birthday.
The most distinguished families of Derbyshire, including the Earl and Countess of Matlock with their two children, attended.
To see little Fitzwilliam admired by all and destined for a life of luxury, while her own son was merely the child of a servant, enraged Edith.
Her resentment clouded her reason so completely that she began to conceive a dreadful plan.
Two weeks later, Edith found the perfect opportunity to rid herself of the boy forever.
On a hot summer afternoon, little Fitzwilliam went to the river with his nursemaid and a footman to cool off.
Edith, pretending a chance meeting, began to converse with the nurse while her son George played with the heir.
At a moment when the servants were distracted, she approached Fitzwilliam and pushed him into the river. In his fall, the boy grasped her dress, and both were dragged into the water. Edith immediately began to scream for help, and both the nursemaid and the footman attempted in vain to rescue them.
Unfortunately, the river was swollen from recent heavy rains, and the current was too strong. Within minutes, both had disappeared.
Edith's body was found three days later, nearly ten kilometers from the place of the accident.
Everyone believed she had sacrificed her life in a desperate attempt to save little Fitzwilliam.
For that reason, George Darcy promised Henry Wickham that he would always protect his godson in honor of his late mother.
George and Anne Darcy sank into profound grief.
For a long time, they hoped to find their son's body to give him a Christian burial, but it was never recovered, and Pemberley was overwhelmed with sorrow.
Later, when little Georgiana was born, her parents regained some joy, but Lady Anne's early death soon overshadowed it.
George Darcy devoted the remainder of his life to his work, to the prosperity of his estate, and above all to the care and protection of his young daughter. She was all he had left, and he resolved never to allow her to meet the same fate as his firstborn.
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"Aunt Violet, I shall miss you so much. I do not like that you live so far away from all of us," Madeline Watson told her favorite aunt.
"One day, my dear child, you will marry, and you too will have to follow your husband wherever he goes," Violet Dalton replied.
"I shall never marry, Aunt," Madeline declared. She was fourteen, uninterested in boys, and preferred to spend her days reading and helping her father in his bookshop.
Violet smiled, for she had once said the same when she was that age. "If you do not follow your husband, you must then follow your father."
"I do not want my father to sell the bookshop, Aunt. I wish to live here forever; this is my land." Madeline had overheard her parents speaking of moving to London.
"My dear Maddie, your father is wise, and your brother has many innovative ideas. Lambton is a small town, and it is difficult to prosper here. You are already fourteen, and you should support your parents in everything, but especially your brother Peter."
"I know, Aunt. You are wise in all things. Thank you for listening, and I promise to write to you every month," Madeline concluded, embracing Violet.
"And I shall answer without fail," Violet replied, kissing her beloved niece on the cheek.
The Watsons were from Lambton in Derbyshire, where for years they had owned a bookshop and a tearoom.
Yet Peter Watson realized that the only way to fulfill his dreams was to move to London.
He and his father had saved money for years and now had the capital to embark on new ventures in a place where they might become wealthy through hard work.