The Miracles of Marriage

by Elizabeth Ann West

  "Good, good," Lady Matlock said, not revealing that she was privy to such intelligence from Louisa Hurst herself. "I should like–" Lady Matlock did not finish her thought as Elizabeth winced and slightly doubled over with the feeling of a cramping sensation in her abdomen.

  "Higgins!" Lady Matlock revealed that she knew the name of Elizabeth’s maid and the woman swiftly came to her mistress’ side.

  "Take her straight to bed," Lady Matlock ordered, and as Elizabeth began to protest the Countess of Matlock shook her head. "I will see that dinner and all of the arrangements are followed through. You must rest."

  25

  When Elizabeth reached her room, her maid assisted her out of her gown. Another distressing pain seized her midsection and Elizabeth grabbed the chamber pot. Her condition had made her bladder eager to empty on most days, but this time when she wiped the filth away, a small tinge of blood stained the cloth.

  Elizabeth began to cry and accepted Higgins’ help into bed. Suddenly, her bedroom door received a perfunctory knock and then opened with Jane entering.

  “Mr. Darcy’s aunt said I must see to you right away!” Jane looked distressed to see Elizbeth in bed, crying. “Whatever’s wrong, what hurts?”

  “I’m losing it,” Elizabeth cried, her face already wet and mucousy from sobbing. “I’m going to lose the baby, just like Charlotte!”

  “Nonsense!” Jane had known what kind of evidence occurred when a wife experienced a disappointment. Lizzie was hardly doubled over in pain. “Whatever made you think that?”

  Elizabeth accepted a handkerchief from Higgins and cleaned her face. She explained to Jane the cramp-like feeling and that there was blood. She pointed vaguely to the chamber pot Higgins had just lifted to dispose, but Jane motioned for her to lift the cloth. Jane could spy the small dark spot on the cloth,

  “Was it bright red?”

  The maid shook her head.

  Frowning, Jane Bingley grew angry as she had left her crying children to rush to her sister’s aid. There was nothing else but urine in the pot, and she was too sleep-deprived to suffer her sister’s dramatics.

  “Do you remember when I thought I was losing the baby? Babies.” Jane corrected herself.

  “Y-y-yes,” Elizabeth stammered.

  “The twins made me nauseous, far more than you have experienced, and when we traveled from London to Netherfield Park, I had the same as you.”Jane dismissed Higgins, but then called after her for tea to be brought up.

  Higgins curtsied and handed the chamber pot to a lower maid, then expertly entered Mrs. Darcy’s dressing room to use one of two access points for the house bell system in the mistress’ quarters. The elaborate system of ropes running through the walls would alert a pantry maid on the first floor who could send the message to the kitchens. Reading the piece of parchment placed next to the pull cord with the proper codes, Higgins rang the bell four times for a tray with tea and refreshments for Mrs. Darcy.

  When she returned, Mrs. Bingley and Mrs. Darcy were laughing, and Mrs. Darcy brightened to see her long-time companion since Netherfield Park.

  “Higgins, Mrs. Bingley says there is nothing to worry about as yet. The small spot of blood and cramping is likely exhaustion and lack of liquids during our traveling days.” Mrs. Darcy smiled as she sat up in her bed with more energy now that she knew she was not actively losing the child, and that a small amount of blood now and then was fairly normal.

  “Perhaps, after I nap, I can still attend dinner—”

  “No!” Jane admonished as Higgins had been shaking her head behind her former employer.

  “Okay, okay, just promise you will not spike my tea with laudanum. Don’t think I forget this is how it all began when you put laudanum in my tea at Netherfield,” Elizabeth scolded her sister.

  Jane laughed. “And then, you thought Mr. Darcy was Mr. Bingley! Oh yes, I remember well. Oh I was so cross with that man! He nearly killed you, and the only thing that saved me from scratching his eyes out was how very sorry he was.”

  “Was he?” Elizabeth asked, as she never tired of hearing about how he had seen to her care after the accident.

  “He sulked in that hallway, never leaving. He had been standing there for hours before someone, perhaps a footman, sent a chair for him,” Jane continued to laugh with Lizzie as it had seemed so long ago, just a little over a year, but they had been through so much as a family.

  The tray of tea was brought in and Jane marveled at the speed. Together, the sisters watched the choreography of the hall maid addressing Higgins first before approaching the bed with the tea. There was an elaborate hierarchy to the staff that Elizabeth observed briefly when they were at Pemberley, tried to rebel in Scotland, and now accepted as her life.

  “Mmm,” Elizabeth mumbled as she accepted the tray. She thanked the hall maid by name and the young girl beamed at her mistress. When at last they were alone again, Elizabeth began to explain.

  “See, you cannot dose my tea now,” Elizabeth said proudly as she slurped while Jane watched. “The house bells run all throughout, one bell calls Higgins, two bells calls any maid, three bells calls footmen,” Elizabeth sipped again, finding the house size ever so convenient that tea arrived at the perfect temperature to drink.

  “It shall take some getting used to, but I feel Mama shall have the system down in no time at all for her comforts,” Jane said, watching her sister closely.

  “Yes, Mrs. Reynolds and I selected the most experienced maid for Mama, and Nancy knows she can report to me any troubles,” Elizabeth said, with a yawn. When she opened her eyes again, she blinked a few times as she stared at her sister. Slowly, recognition dawned in Elizabeth’s mind.

  “Jane! How!” she managed groggily, as her sister helped Higgins remove the tray.

  “Oh, Lady Matlock and I worked together. I had told her to have a tray made ready with the tincture added. By the time we called it, and it arrived, you were so very thirsty from crying . . .” Jane coddled her sister as she tucked the quilt around her.

  Elizabeth closed her eyes, most vexed by her sister. Here she was providing sanctuary to her entire family, and she had been outfoxed by her eldest sister and aunt by marriage.

  “When I wake up . . .” she started, but found the rest of the words too difficult to say.

  Jane gave her a kiss, ensured that Higgins would watch over her, and then returned to her own family in the other wing. As she walked, Jane was beginning to think she too needed a dose herself to find her desperately needed sleep.

  26

  Despite being confined to her bed, Elizabeth Darcy did not shirk her duties as mistress of Pemberley. Thankfully, on the first morning when she woke, she received a number of Fitzwilliam's letters that he had sent since leaving Netherfield Park at the end of September. Happily, Elizabeth had read them out of order, then sorted them in order, and read them again.

  She was reading the date of the last letter from Rosings with the plan to leave his aunt's estate no later than the fifteenth of October and began to count to herself. With the first of November the previous Sunday, Elizabeth eagerly realized that her husband had to arrive by month end!

  Mrs. Reynolds had offered to call the village apothecary to see to Mrs. Darcy, but she had declined. From her husband's last letter, she knew he would bring Dr. Matthews with him and there was no immediate danger to her health or the child she carried. As much as she disliked it, an agreement was brokered. So long as Mrs. Darcy remained abed until the master arrived, no one would force her to be examined by the apothecary.

  Mrs. Bennet complained after the first week at dinner as to the absence of her daughter. She insinuated that Elizabeth was perhaps being more dramatic than necessary. But where she had once swayed the opinions of Lydia and Mary, the first week at Pemberley had eroded all distrust the younger Bennets felt for the Darcys.

  Mary spent much of her days in quiet contemplation or in the music room, as it was quite well furnished with numerous instruments, including a gran
d pianoforte. Lydia had read some of the novels in her room, braved the library to find more, and settled on Gothic romances and stories of ghosts hunting for revenge to be her favorites. She also joined Mary some afternoons. One afternoon after completing St. Irvyne by Mary Shelley, she felt too lazy to go back downstairs to the library and seek a new book, nor upstairs to fetch one from her bedroom. So by happenstance, and a distaste for walking, Lydia discovered herself to be prodigiously skillful at the harp.

  Where Mary played by written music, Lydia would hold the harp and play almost by instinct and ear. So long as Mary played her piece a few times before, Lydia found the right strings to pluck in harmony with her sister’s playing. Mary was not a very emotive piano player, her focus always remained on the technical aspects of performing music. The addition of the harp allowed many to appreciate Mary's playing for a longer tenure than they had before, including Mrs. Bennet.

  Kitty had attempted to cheer her sister confined to bed with comical sketches and caricatures of various staff and family members in residence. Elizabeth, condoned such sketches so long as after they were shown to her, they were committed to the fire. Such a plan never risked offense to the subject.

  Kitty even taught Elizabeth how to find patience to sketch basic shapes. By the end of her first week of confinement, Mrs. Darcy had managed a very passing vase of flowers under Kitty's instruction.

  Just as Elizabeth was beginning to believe she might go crazy being so confined to bed, she attempted to bargain with Lady Matlock one morning when the countess had come to see her hostess. Elizabeth tried to explain that she was not quite certain she was with child.

  This surprised Lady matlock in the extreme. To her, there was no denying from simply looking at Mrs. Darcy the woman possessed the glow and effusive complexion many a blushing bride boasted a few months after their marriage.

  "My dear, it is November. When did you last have your courses?" Elizabeth confessed at that had been at the end of June, nearly four months ago.

  "And did you not suffer many bouts of nausea? I heard your maid described the journey was very difficult for you,"

  Elizabeth admitted as much to Lady Matlock, then the woman seemed convinced. But still, Lizzie grew frustrated.

  "But I feel nothing, Lady Matlock," she fussed and the woman scolded her for forgetting to call her Aunt Maggie when they were alone. So Elizabeth repeated after her. "Aunt Maggie."

  Lady Matlock patted the upper thigh of Mrs. Darcy so that she would slide over on the bed and the woman could take a seat.

  "My child, I have birthed four children in my lifetime, three of whom survived. My youngest boy, you've never met as he's been away at school. But he shall join us for the Christmas holidays," Lady Matlock explained. "Until one has children, the first flutters of a child's quickening are easily mistaken for the digestion of a bad plate of fish," Lady Matlock said pulling a face as Elizabeth giggled. "When he is ready, your child will make his presence known. Give it a little more time, you will finally experience that miracle that comes from a happy marriage." The wiser woman gave Elizabeth the motherly advice her own mother was unwilling to provide.

  Lady Matlock also came with an additional gift for Elizabeth. With a double knock, Mrs. Reynolds entered the room with two maids carrying a number of ledgers and leather-bound books that appeared to be journals.

  "My lady, Mrs. Darcy, I have brought the materials you have requested, Lady Matlock," Mrs. Reynolds said and the maids dutifully carried the heavy tomes to the table next to Elizabeth's bed.

  Impressed, Elizabeth realized that the book she had been reading was mysteriously absent when she awoke from her morning rest, and now it was replaced with giant leather-bound books of parchment.

  "Mrs. Darcy, may I introduce you to Pemberley's books." Lady Matlock smiled and Elizabeth suddenly realized what had been brought to her.

  As she gingerly picked up the topmost ledger, she opened it to recognize immediately her husband's penmanship on various lines of the ledger. Incomes, rents, salaries to various staff, and bills paid to the butcher and other tradesmen in the village, filled page after page to Elizabeth's delight. Involuntarily, she spread her hand over the page and rested it gently against the ink, as though she were somehow closer to her husband by the very act of touching work he had finished.

  Lady Matlock nudged the book away from Elizabeth to inspect it for herself and scowled.

  "Sloppy work, Darcy. I am surprised," Lady Matlock critiqued the ledger and Elizabeth asked her to explain. Instead, Lady Matlock motioned for the maid to move the the next book and to give Elizabeth the third ledger down.

  When Elizabeth opened this ledger, the ink was far more faded and the penmanship a lighter hand that her husband's. However, the letter formation was similar and the entries far more specific.

  3H. Of ham F. Evers -19 £ 8 s

  15 cndls dine 23 June 1789 -5 £ 3p

  Elizabeth looked at Lady Matlock with her eyes wide. Here was the work of her predecessor, Mr. Darcy's mother.

  Lady Matlock nodded to acknowledge Elizabeth’s understanding. "Yes, you see, a well-run household has very specific ledgers kept. To the men, the bill to the butcher or the draper, is nothing but the cheque that is written. But for the woman who runs the household, each line item is an instance of care for her family. An opportunity for luxury or economy, as were the need." Lady Matlock gulped as her family’s financial worries had not been so long ago that she was quite accustomed to how fast fortunes changed. One moment a lady could be hosting a dinner with thirty guests and the room ablaze in candles, and the next she is accepting every possible invitation out so as to keep her pantry bill low.

  "Mrs. Reynolds, how often did Lady Anne meet with you to maintain these ledgers?" Elizabeth asked. Mrs. Reynolds closed her eyes to remember.

  "When she was not ill, we frequently met every day. But as her illness progressed, she did her best to review them each week," Mrs. Reynolds explained.

  Lady Matlock asked how often Mr. Darcy tended to the ledgers, and Mrs. Reynolds laughed. Then apologized, but Lady Matlock and Mrs. Darcy had not taken offense.

  "The master reviews the ledgers when he is in residence, and then he often falls to every fortnight. If he goes longer than a month, I do bring the ledgers to him for his attention," Mrs. Reynolds explained, and Mrs. Darcy and Lady Matlock shared a laugh.

  "Well then, as I feel I have much to learn, would it be too difficult Mrs. Reynolds for you and I to meet twice a day, perhaps ten in the morning and three in the afternoon?" Mrs. Darcy asked, adding that if either one of them needed to adjust the time for that day, she was perfectly amenable to such action.

  Mrs. Reynolds nodded, and agreed with her mistress that such a plan would have the ledgers back in proper order in no time.

  "There is one other matter," Lady Matlock said, but hesitated. "But I'm afraid this one you are not going to be able to conduct as easily from your bed. So it may have to wait."

  "What is it? Whatever it is, if it's a service Pemberley needs and under the purview of the mistress, I shall find a way," Elizabeth stated and Lady Matlock and Mrs. Reynolds shared a look of solidarity. Elizabeth inquired as to the meaning of the look, and Lady Matlock spoke.

  "There was a small bet between myself and Mrs. Reynolds and I'm afraid to say that I have lost."

  "Oh dear," Elizabeth said, "what was the wager?"

  Mrs. Reynolds explained. “Her ladyship has to now assist in the task.”

  Elizabeth began to worry the task would be quite onerous, indeed, but it was nothing of the sort.

  “The inventory,” Lady Matlock pronounced and Elizabeth knew what the word meant, but was unclear as to the scope.

  “The last time Pemberley was properly inventoried was when Lady Anne married George Darcy. It is custom to perform such a task at least every ten years.”

  “And it’s been nearly thirty,” Elizabeth did the sum quickly in her head as her husband was nearing his third decade of life.


  “Precisely.”

  “Well, that does not sound so terrible, and if I was permitted to walk to one room per day . . .”

  “Absolutely not. But as I have lost the bet and I am a woman of my word, I will enlist the help of your unmarried sisters. And I shall invite your mother to help supervise them,” Lady Matlock said, with a smile. Elizabeth giggled as she imagined how very irritating it would be to inventory her family’s wealth when her mother had treated her so poorly.

  “But there’s three hundred rooms. Even at a room per day,” Elizabeth realized how very dreadful the inventory sounded. She had not even considered the count would need to be done at all of the Darcy properties, and include the outbuildings of Pemberley.

  “Oh, the staff will help with the mundane. Our focus shall be the antiquities and artwork. But yes, it can take the better part of two to three years to complete, if one is most prodigious,” Lady Matlock sighed as she had just completed Matlock’s inventory a year ago. It had proved helpful, as identifying pieces to sell for quick cash, discreetly, of course, had not been a chore.

  “Well, then if this is all,” Elizabeth stretched and felt irritated that it seemed to her the longer one laid in bed, the more tired one felt. “I propose that you leave the ledgers here and we can meet this afternoon. And the inventory may start tomorrow?”

  Lady Matlock clucked her tongue. “Nonsense, it’s already underway. If the mistress works, her unmarried sisters can as well.”

  27

  "You must have a spare axle," Mr. Darcy argued with the poor innkeeper at The Gray Sheep, the last inn he hardly ever stopped at before his home at Pemberley. Ten miles behind them, the Darcy carriage had hit a rut and the front axle had snapped in two. Luckily, no man or horse was seriously injured as the carriage had been travelling slowly to accommodate the rough road conditions.

  Mr. Darcy, Dr. Matthews, and Simmons had mounted horses to ride to the next inn in Kympton. But after pulling the carriage and riding the ten miles, the beasts were spent and turned into the stables for rest.