Page 26 of The Next Mrs Bennet

E veryone in the family travelled to London to begin the preparations for Mary’s coming out ball.

A bound and gagged Collins was with them, but not in a place of honour as he would have expected was due him. Rather, he was in the old Bennet carriage seated next to Biggs with Johns on the opposite bench. The days in the cellar had done nothing to kill the delusion that he was the master of Longbourn. If anything, the mania had taken a stronger hold of his being.

The Bennet carriage did not follow any of the others to their various houses. Instead, it made a stop at the London rooms of the Duke of Devonshire’s physician. On arrival, three doctors examined Collins. It did not take them long to certify him insane and commit him to the care of those who ran St Mary Bethlehem Hospital. Bound and gagged once again, which was judged essential after his ravings, Collins was bundled back into the old Bennet conveyance in the company of the two huge men for little more than ten miles to Bromley and Bedlam.

While the insane former parson was being consigned to his new home, the Bennets, as they usually did when in London, joined Devonshire and Lady Anna at Devonshire House on Piccadilly Square. It was less than a mile to Grosvenor Square, where Matlock, Hartington, and Darcy Houses were located. Granville House, on Portman Square, was only a half mile or so from there. It was also where Hilldale House was located, although with Jane and Andrew in Eastbourne, they would only arrive at their home the day before Mary’s presentation.

Things were no longer the same at Devonshire House with regards to the suites the Bennets occupied. Before she was married, Jane shared a suite with Lizzy. The second bedchamber in the suite, which used to be occupied by her eldest sister, was now to house Mary. Ellie would have shared a suite with Henry, but that too had changed. Rather, Giana, Felicity, and Harriet were to arrive on the morrow and the four girls planned to share a suite between them, two in each bedchamber.

Other than Jane, the only other Bennet sibling not present was Tommy. As soon as Collins was dealt with, Tommy had departed Longbourn to commence his final year at Eton. Seeing that he had not had his levée yet and was not considered out in society, Tommy would not be in London for Mary’s presentation or her ball. Had he been at Devonshire House, he would have remained upstairs with Ellie, Giana, Felicity, Harriet, and Ian. For the younger girls, being able to watch all of the guests arrive and later discuss the ensembles would be heaven. Had the two boys been present, they would have sequestered themselves away from the female inanities.

At least Tommy was not alone at Eton. He had made many friends in the years he had studied there, and now he would not be without any family as well. Cousin Ian was there to commence his first year—a year earlier than originally planned, and as he was younger than Tommy, he too would remain at school and not attend the festivities in London. Like Henry had done for him when he was first at Eton, Tommy would watch over Ian and assist him when or if needed.

Sitting in her bedchamber, Elizabeth was staring out of the window absentmindedly. Yes, she was missing Janey, but she found that she was longing far more to be in the company of another. Since his move to Longbourn, not a day had gone by when she was not in Liam’s company for most or part of the day.

The more time she was in his company, the deeper her feelings for him became. She did not know if she was in love with him yet—after all, she had nothing to compare her feelings to, having never been in love before—but her heart cried out to him when they were apart. She had debated asking Mama about her feelings, but she had decided that it was too soon to be having that particular conversation with her mother.

She wished Janey was available to confide in, but she was not. Things had changed—as they should—when Janey had married Andrew. He was now the one whom Jane would speak to about anything, good or bad. Elizabeth knew she could not be selfish. She missed seeing Jane every day, but she would never begrudge Janey the bliss she had found with Andy.

As she looked out of the window, staring at nothing in particular, Elizabeth wondered if Liam was the one who would complete her heart. She was beginning to pray that he was in fact the man with whom she would find her forever felicity.

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

Darcy was a little maudlin that he was residing at his own house and no longer in the same abode as the Bennets. He was sitting in his study mindlessly playing with the stem of a quill, rolling it between his fingers. He had attempted to respond to some business correspondence a few times already, but each time, he saw Elizabeth’s face swimming before him.

He sighed as he stared blankly out of the nearest floor to ceiling window, which looked out onto the green in the middle of the square. The drapes were rippling in the weak breeze thanks to the top third of the window being opened, but he noticed none of it.

The truth was that he missed seeing Elizabeth every day and knew that he was falling in love with the second Bennet daughter. He admitted to himself that it was futile to attempt to write coherent replies to any of the letters waiting for him. Thankfully, he had the services of a secretary. He usually responded personally to certain men with whom he did business, and three such letters were on his desk. When he could think a little more clearly, he would make notes for Johnston and have him reply on his behalf.

It was no longer a question of what he was feeling for Elizabeth. Nor was it any longer an infatuation, of that he was sure. However, he did not know how she felt about him—he was relatively sure she was not indifferent to him—and the last thing Darcy wanted to do was overwhelm Elizabeth with his desires before she was prepared to accept his suit. There was a knock on the door. “Come,” Darcy called out.

Giana skipped into the study. “I cannot wait to go to Devonshire House on the morrow,” she enthused. “I like all of them so much, especially Lizzy, even though I am with Mary and Ellie most of the time.”

He schooled his features because Darcy did not want Giana to see envy on his face. Rather than thinking about not residing at Devonshire House himself, Darcy concentrated on the pleasure of his sister making so many good friends and how much she enjoyed spending time with girls close to her own age. “I have some errands I must see to after I convey you to Piccadilly Square on the morrow. However, Zeus and I will join you all after I have completed my errands, so we will be with you for a ride in Hyde Park.”

“Richard and Invictus will be with us as well,” Georgiana noted, her eyes shining with happiness. “Have you seen how much time he spends in Mary’s company? I heard he reserved some of her dances months ago to share with her at her coming out ball.”

“Yes,” Darcy replied, “I have observed that, and Rich may have mentioned just once or twice his pleasure at dancing two sets with our cousin at her ball.” As he said the last, he reached a decision. He would request the first set from Elizabeth, and based on her reaction, he would enquire if her supper set was open as well. All he could do was hope. After all, when they had danced at the assembly, and from everything he could tell, she enjoyed the set as much as he had.

“Fit…sorry, Liam, are you attracted to Lizzy?” As soon as she asked, what for her was a very impertinent question, Giana clapped her hand over her mouth.

Darcy was not displeased; it seemed that spending time with all of the cousins, especially the Bennets, had helped build his sister’s confidence, so the last thing he wanted to do was squelch it. “You are very observant,” he chuckled. “That is a very good trait, especially once you enter society. I am pleased to see that our cousins have drawn you out nicely.”

“So you are not upset?” Georgiana asked tentatively.

“Not at all. I never want you to feel like you need to censor yourself when you want to ask me a question. My hope is that we can learn to be open and honest with one another just like we saw among our cousins at Longbourn. To your question, yes, I am attracted to Elizabeth.”

“I thought so.” Georgiana paused. “Liam, are you aware that Tommy and Ian will not be in London as they are at Eton?”

There was no missing the disappointment in her voice when his sister mentioned the younger Bennet son. Both Giana and her cousin were full young, so it would be years before anything would occur between them, if anything at all. Tommy was a handsome young man, so, at this point, it could not be anything more than an infatuation. The last thing Darcy would do was mention what he observed and embarrass his sister. “I am aware. They will not be here, as neither is old enough to be out in society.”

“I will leave you to return to your work.” Georgiana turned to depart the study.

“Wait for me, Sweetling. I have no more to do at this moment. Will you play something for me?”

“It will be my pleasure,” Georgiana beamed.

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

“Reggie, when will you and Rich make for Rosings Park? And will you have Liam join you?” Lady Elaine asked her husband that evening after dinner when the three Fitzwilliams were relaxing in their sitting room on the family floor while she poured tea for her husband and younger son.

“It is my plan to remain in London for the remainder of this week. With Collins on his way to Bedlam and Catherine being unaware of that fact, it is not like she will attempt to appoint a new sycophant to replace him,” Matlock responded. “Even if she attempted to do so, the Bishop of Kent has been apprised of the Archbishop’s decision. Hence, no matter how much Catherine demands it, he will not send her any candidates.”

“Catherine will have an apoplexy when she loses all of her perceived power,” Lady Elaine opined.

“Will you move her to the dower house, Father?” Richard enquired.

“No, she will be moving further than that,” Matlock replied. “If she is allowed to remain close to Rosings Park, she will discover ways to make mischief.” The Earl paused as he cogitated. “As executor, I had the power to remove Catherine from her fiefdom before this. After she sent that insane parson of hers on his mission to Longbourn spouting her ridiculous advice, I realised that it is past the time to take care of her and her pretensions once and for all.”

As much as Matlock knew what had to be done, he had stayed his hand because regardless of how ridiculous she could be, Catherine was still his sister. However, he could no longer make excuses for her; it was simply dangerous to allow her to proceed as she had up until now.

“As to your question, Elaine,” Matlock remembered he had not replied to his wife. “Yes, I will be requesting that Liam accompany us. Until Catherine attempted to compromise him and Anne during his stay in Kent over Eastertide of ’10, he went to Rosings to correct Catherine’s errors. Therefore, he is very familiar with the proper running of the estate. In addition, unless you have too much to do to assist with planning Mary’s ball, I would like you to join us as well, Elaine.”

“Becca and Anna have everything well in hand, so yes, Husband, I will gladly accompany you and the boys, Lady Elaine agreed.

“But Father, what if Anne is not well enough to manage her estate? That is at least the excuse Aunt Cat used when we asked why Anne was not involved in learning how to run Rosings Park,” Richard related. “I know my aunt has things wrong most of the time, but in this, I would have to agree with her assessment. My cousin’s maladies and weaknesses are not one of my aunt’s imagined things.”

“You are correct, Richard,” Lady Elaine agreed. “Anne is very weak physically. We know from her late father that the scarlet fever she was afflicted with when she was five almost ended her life. It did leave her with a seriously weakened heart and lungs.”

“And because my late brother was aware of the reality, not the fiction my sister spouts when she tells of how, on the one hand, Anne is improved to the extent she can marry your cousin, but not enough to be able to manage her inheritance. Knowing the truth of his daughter’s conditions, De Bourgh made provisions for the eventuality that if Anne either passed before she was married, as well as one covering the case of her being physically unable to take charge of her inheritance as needed when the time came,” Matlock revealed.

“What provisions?” Richard wondered aloud.

“The late de Bourgh’s solicitor will meet us at the estate. Then and only then will he read the addendum to the will.” He looked at his wife and son. “I am barred from revealing what it is until the reading. Mr Zane must agree that the conditions have been met and that Anne is unable to meet the duties that would be incumbent upon her as both the mistress and master of her estate. Once that determination has been made, only then will he read the rest of de Bourgh’s will.”

“Very mysterious, but we will not ask you to reveal what you are not permitted to tell us,” Lady Elaine stated. She looked at her younger son, knowing how much he loved to solve puzzles.

Richard raised his hands in surrender. “I promise to leave things alone until the addendum is read in Kent.”

“Let us discuss more pleasant pastimes. I assume you will be one of the riding party in the park on the morrow?” Lady Elaine asked. She knew the answer already. Mary would be one of the riders so Richard would not miss it. He confirmed her surmise emphatically.

Elaine Fitzwilliam was aware that the Bennet girls had very healthy dowries, and not only from Andrew’s marriage to Jane. Richard had never asked anything about Mary’s dowry, and in her mind it was for two reasons. Her second son’s decision to offer for Mary had no bearing on whether she had a good dowry or not. More importantly and notwithstanding his jests in the past about a second son having to marry with an eye to fortune, Richard would not want to seem like a fortune hunter. She smiled as she thought about how surprised he would be when he discovered that Mary’s dowry was significantly more than Giana’s, which he considered very large.

Yes, she would love to have Mary as a daughter instead of a grandniece, but to Lady Elaine, the thing that would relieve her heart more than anything was that Richard would resign from the army and sell his commission. In daily prayers, she thanked God for the fact Richard’s injury had been minor, and it had kept him from being sent into harm’s way since.

Each time her youngest was on the Peninsula leading his men into battle, sleep came with the greatest of difficulty to the Countess. Since they had verified his light wounds and he had been on England’s shores, Lady Elaine Fitzwilliam had had no trouble sleeping.

For his part, Richard had already decided to resign before he was to report back to Dragoon headquarters at the end of his leave. He loved Mary far too much to be felled in battle now, and more than that, he was confident she loved him just as deeply. He could never put her through the pain his loss would cause. Just as important, even though they had not tried to forbid him from the army, he was fully cognisant of the fact that his parents and family, especially his mother, worried for his well-being from the time the ship he was on departed England’s shores until they saw him before them, hale and healthy, again.

He was aware how lucky he had been with his light injury. Many other officers and men had not been so fortunate during that engagement with the French.

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

Collins looked around his cell and could not fathom what he had done to displease Lady Catherine and cause her to have him locked up in gaol.

At least he had a narrow bed and not a litter like the prisoners he ministered to in the Hunsford town gaol. Well, he had been there only once. He had never returned to the gaol because Lady Catherine had called his visiting criminals ‘offensive’ to her, so he had ceased the calls immediately.

Now he was locked behind bars. No matter how he searched his memories, he could not recall a single instance where he had broken the law. It should have been impossible because he followed Lady Catherine’s dictates to the letter, and rather than contravening a law, her word was the law, was it not? That being said, his patroness could never instruct him to do something that would break a law, could she?

That question being resolved, Collins decided he needed to speak to the man in charge of the prison and explain that he was not supposed to be here.

To that end, Collins attempted to call some of the guards over. For some reason they all ignored him! How dare they? He was the parson to the great Lady Catherine de Bourgh! More than that, he was the owner of a great estate.

No matter how much he screamed or screeched, no one came, except for one man who struck the bars with a baton he was holding.

Frightened by the implied threat he would be next, Collins receded.