Follies and Nonsense

by Martin Hunnicutt

  For a moment, she ached with the familiar loss but time was healing her heart. “I shall always remember Matthew in his son.”

  As the carriage turned into the gravel drive at Longbourn and Elizabeth leaned out of the carriage to catch sight of her family home, the comfortable, sturdy house that represented family and love. As the carriage slowed, Mr. Hill opened Longbourn’s front door and Jane stepped onto the small stoop, waving and laughing. Mary came immediately behind, smiling and waving as well. The moment the carriage came to a stop, the footman hopped down and opened the door, handing Elizabeth down before turning back inside for Master Matthew. When Barrow turned around with the toddler in his arms, he found the young master’s mother buried in the arms of two sisters. An older woman came around the young women, a wide smile on her face, with outstretched arms for the boy who gurgled as his grandmother took him into an embrace.

  “You are early!” Mary exclaimed.

  “We didn’t expect you for several hours yet,” Jane agreed.

  Lizzy smiled at her sisters. “The roads were dry and the light was good so we journeyed extra hours each day. The horses are in fine shape and will not suffer from the exercise.”

  “Oh Lizzy, he has grown so much! I might not recognize him but for these blue eyes,” Mrs. Bennet exclaimed, leaning over to accept a kiss from her daughter.

  “He is a good baby Mama, and Nanny Brice is a treasure.”

  Now, Elizabeth greeted her two youngest sisters, Catherine and Lydia who came out of the door last.

  “Elizabeth!” the taller of the two girls greeted her sister with a hug.

  “Kitty! You have grown two inches since last year!”

  Turning toward Lydia, Elizabeth asked, “And who is this beautiful young woman? This can’t be my baby sister!”

  “Hello Lizzy. What did you bring me?”

  Laughing Elizabeth said, “Yes, you are Lydia!”

  “Come Nanny, I shall show you the nursery for Master Matthew and your adjoining room,” said Mrs. Bennet as she handed the little boy back to his nurse.

  Turning to Mr. Hill, Elizabeth introduced her servants.

  “Hill, this is Barrow, my footman. He will assist you with any duties in the house that you require. His wife, Mrs. Barrow is my lady’s maid and an excellent seamstress. Our coachman is Mr. Thomas and he will help Toby Brown and Billy Wild with the horses and the stable while we are here.”

  “Very good Miss Elizabeth…” Hill replied. The man blushed when he realized he had misspoken but Elizabeth only smiled.

  “Thank you for remembering me as a young Bennet daughter.” She glanced at her servants and said, “While we are at Longbourn, I prefer that you refer to me as Mrs. Hamilton.”

  “Very good madam,” replied Barrow as he and his wife helped Hill unload three small trunks from the carriage. From inside the house, Mrs. Hill, the housekeeper appeared at the door. She directed her husband and the other servants to the back stairs to carry up the luggage.

  “She has come for a long stay,” Hill remarked to his wife as he passed her. “Mrs. Hamilton brought enough servants to eat us out of house and home!”

  “Hush your mouth,” Hill admonished her husband. “Mrs. Hamilton sent money to pay for all the extra food. Now, put those trunks in her room and come out back. There’s a wagon to unload as well.”

  Outside the front door, Jane laid a hand on her sister’s arm in concern, “Is everything as it should be Lizzy? Why do you want the servants to call you ‘Mrs. Hamilton’ instead of ‘Lady Hamilton’?”

  “All is well,” Elizabeth assured her sisters. “I am just glad to be here with my family and want things to be as simple as possible.”

  “Did you bring any pretty ball gowns Lizzy?” asked Lydia ignoring her sister’s words. “Can I try them on? Can your maid sew me a gown?”

  “How many horses did you bring Elizabeth?” asked Kitty. “There is a wagon pulling up outside the kitchen just now and there are a string of horses following two riders.”

  “The wagon is driven by Toby and Billy with our trunks and those horses can be used on the farm.”

  “And the other horses?” asked Kitty.

  Grinning at Kitty, Elizabeth answered her sister’s question. “I brought the greys to pull the carriage and the mares so that my sisters and I can ride around Longbourn.”

  “Can we ride every day?” squealed Kitty. “Thank you, Lizzy!”

  “They have to rest for a day or two but then we can ride every day.”

  “Eight horses?” asked Mary. “That is a great expense Lizzy!”

  “Has Father filled the stables? I remembered someone wrote that there were only three horses in the stables that can hold a dozen. You haven’t moved the cows closer to the house, have you?”

  “No, the cows remain in the dairy and there will be room in the stable, Lizzy, but I am not certain that there is enough feed,” Jane admitted. “Horses require a great deal of hay and grain.”

  “I do not mean for Longbourn to bear any costs for my visit,” Elizabeth explained to her sisters. “Mr. Smyth brought sufficient funds to purchase the hay and oats for the horses and the food to feed all of the servants.”

  Jane nodded. “Mr. and Mrs. Smyth arrived last Thursday and he has already set out to meet with each tenant family, the blacksmith and the parson. He wants Mr. Hanson…”

  “Why couldn’t you send us a single, young man Lizzy? Mr. Smyth is married and old.”

  “Lydia!” Mary scolded the youngest sister. “Don’t let Mama hear you speaking so.”

  “Mama does not let me have any fun!” Lydia complained. She turned to Elizabeth and explained, “Kitty and I moved out of the nursery last week so that Hill and the maids could clean it for your boy. But we’re still not out in society.”

  “You are too young Lydia,” Jane consoled her youngest sister. “You must learn to be a lady before…”

  “Do you see Lizzy?” Lydia whined. “I am as grown as Kitty or Mary but Mama will not let me visit with young men or attend a ball. And I was promised that when I left the nursery, I would have my own room. But I have to share with Kitty while you are here Lizzy.”

  Jane took Lizzy’s hand and suggested, “Why not share my room Lizzy? It will be like old times.”

  “Oh, please Lizzy!” Lydia begged. I would so like to have a private room.”

  “Certainly then,” Elizabeth agreed. “I shall share with Jane and you will have your private room, Lydia.”

  “Thank you, Lizzy,” Kitty said. “Lydia snores.”

  “I do not snore,” Lydia protested.

  “Yes, you do,” Kitty argued as the two girls returned to the house.

  The older three sisters remained on the stoop for another moment before entering the house. “They have grown so tall since I left home,” Lizzy said.

  “They have grown quite a lot,” Mary agreed. “And Kitty has grown into a young woman but Lydia has much yet to learn.”

  From the top of the stairs, Lydia leaned down and pleaded, “Oh Lizzy, say that you will buy me a new gown!”

  ++**++

  Chapter 6.

  Stories are Shared at Longbourn

  After checking on Matthew and Nanny Brice, Elizabeth came down the stairs and wandered through the familiar parlours and dining room, reliving memories of her childhood; she concluded her wanderings in the kitchen. As the cook directed a young maid with kneading dough for tomorrow’s bread, Elizabeth found Mrs. Hill at the staff dining table reviewing a list of menus. Mr. and Mrs. Barrow were seated at the table with the coachman and stable boys eating lunch. Everyone rose when Elizabeth walked into the room.

  “Miss Elizabeth, forgive me – Mrs. Hamilton – welcome home,” Hill said as she stood.

  “Everyone take your seats. Thank you, Hill,” Elizabeth replied. “I believe you continue to manage Longbourn with the same efficiency as always.”

  Mr. Barrow pulled out a chair for Elizabeth and she sat so that the servants could return to thei
r seats.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Hamilton,” the housekeeper replied. Pleased that Elizabeth came to praise her in front of the other servants, Mrs. Hill also understood that this visit would reinforce the pecking order among the domestic staff and the visitors.

  “Have I provided adequate funds for food stuffs for our visit?”

  Mrs. Hill smiled graciously, “Mr. Smyth arrived with sufficient funds to feed the house for six months if we had nothing from our own fields, coops and barns. The butcher wondered at the size of my order this week but he smiled as I paid the bill.”

  “If there are any problems with bills, please bring it to my attention,” Elizabeth told the housekeeper.

  Hill smiled; pleased to see the maturity and authority now practiced by the young woman she had helped to rear from the cradle. “As you wish, Mrs. Hamilton.”

  “Where are Mr. and Mrs. Smyth residing?”

  “We moved the Smyth family into the dower cottage for now. They have three small children and they need the larger steward’s house but Mrs. Peterson asked for two weeks to pack before she could move.”

  “Of course,” Elizabeth agreed. “Does Mrs. Smyth have a maid to help with the housework and children?”

  “Mrs. Peterson was not willing to share her maid-of-all-work. She is sorting through her belongings and her packing,” Hill admitted. “I have been sending Louisa down to the dower cottage to help every day.”

  “Do we need an additional maid?” Elizabeth asked. “I don’t want my presence to create more work for the maids who are already busy with Louisa’s chores.”

  “I believe if Mrs. Peterson can decide on her future before the end of the month, everything will be settled,” Hill replied.

  “Very well, but only until the end of the month,” Elizabeth agreed.

  ++**++

  Leaving the kitchen, Elizabeth returned to the house and made her way to her father’s library to find Jane and Mary reviewing an account book at a second desk. As her sisters worked, Elizabeth walked slowly around the room, lightly touching the spines of favourite books from her childhood and realized that the room was not complete without her father’s form filling the chair behind his desk.

  “You have done well,” Elizabeth told her sisters. “The grounds are beautiful and the sheep look fat. Until I saw our father’s empty chair, I felt as though nothing had changed.”

  “We could not sit in Father’s place and so we left his desk as it was the day he left,” Mary told her sister.

  “We have made every effort to keep Longbourn secure in Father’s absence,” Jane added. “I never understood how hard Father and Mr. Peterson worked to keep us clothed and fed. When he decided to travel to Antigua, Father spent many hours reviewing the accounts with us.”

  “And Mr. Peterson spent time with us reviewing the tenants, their rents and the merchants we deal with. I learned that we buy most of the grain to feed the horses but we raise sufficient hay for our horses, cattle and sheep.”

  “We extended the kitchen garden to raise more food for our table.”

  “Do you pick peas yourself? Elizabeth asked Mary.

  “Indeed! This morning, I picked the peas and lettuce for our dinner,” Mary replied proudly.

  Jane’s exuberance for the conversation filtered into the tone of her voice as she shared a story with Elizabeth. “Even Mama ventures into the garden with a hoe. She can weed the beds better and faster than anyone else on the estate. Mr. Peterson brought boys and girls from the tenants to watch Mama and learn. You would have been proud of her, Lizzy. She had the five of them weeding like veterans after just two lessons.”

  “At Rose Briar Hall, I enjoyed working in the rose garden,” Lizzy confided to her sisters. “But the servants won’t let me touch a hoe or shovel. One day, the housekeeper ran out of the house with a footman when she saw me carrying a basket of roses from the garden.”

  “Life as the daughter-in-law of an earl is very different than the life as daughter of a country squire,” Mary observed.

  “I would much rather take a turn with a hoe than have a footman follow me holding a basket for the roses after I cut them,” Elizabeth insisted.

  Sitting in a wing chair near the window overlooking the gardens on the north side of the house, she sighed, “I cannot image how hard this has been with Father’s absence for all these months.”

  “Father’s absence is my fault,” said Jane. “When Colonel Hurley was killed before our wedding, his younger brother would not honour the marriage settlement and only granted me to the business in the West Indies.”

  “It is not your fault Jane,” Mary said.

  “It is the war with the French that delays Father’s return,” Elizabeth said.

  “And pirates,” Mary added. “There are many problems with privateers in the sea lanes in the last years.”

  From the doorway of the office, Mrs. Bennet joined her three eldest daughters. “This is not your fault Jane – it is my fault – I am the cause of the unhappiness in our lives and I must shoulder the blame.”

  “Mamma, that is not so,” Jane insisted as their mother remained at the threshold to her husband’s library.

  “I pushed your father to marry you girls too young. Napoleon’s wars killed both Colonel Hurley and Major Hamilton. I am the cause of broken hearts for two of my daughters. My worries about money drove Mr. Bennet to cross the ocean to claim Jane’s settlement – he’ll be killed in a naval battle with the French or with pirates I am certain.”

  “Why are you worried about money, Mamma?” asked Elizabeth.

  “When your father dies and his cousin inherits, we shall be thrown out of Longbourn.”

  “Then you will make your home with Matthew and me,” Elizabeth insisted.

  ++**++

  That afternoon at tea, the ladies of Longbourn sat in the parlour sharing stories.

  “Lizzy, do you dance with lords and dine with great ladies at balls and dinners?” Lydia asked. Before her sister could reply, she turned to her mother and said, “I should so enjoy dancing with a young man if ever I go to an assembly or a ball!”

  Leaning close to Elizabeth, Jane explained, “Lydia believes you do nothing but go to the dressmaker for fittings of new gowns and attend balls, Lizzy.”

  “Lydia, there haven’t been any balls at Rose Briar since before Matthew died. I have not had a new gown in the last twelve month and there are many other things that require my attention.”

  “But your mourning ended a year ago,” Lydia exclaimed. “You should have had a ball at Christmas and invited us to attend.”

  “A person’s mourning isn’t set by the calendar, Lydia!” insisted Mary. “Jane has…”

  “Yes, I know. Dear Jane has grieved for two years.” Lydia rolled her eyes without trying to hide her disdain, “Really Jane, you should stop mourning and go to parties again.”

  “Lydia, do not address our sister so!” Kitty added. “We do not know what she felt.”

  “Lydia, dearest, you are distressing your sisters!” Mrs. Bennet said as she watched her daughters; Jane, Mary and Kitty were embarrassed by Lydia’s words, her youngest daughter only looked bored, and Elizabeth looked concerned with the conversation’s direction.

  Rising from her seat, Mrs. Bennet consoled her eldest daughter for a moment, spoke quietly to Mary and Kitty, and finally turned her attention to Lydia.

  “I am certain when you are older that you will be sought after by young men at every dance,” Mrs. Bennet told her youngest daughter. “But you must be kind to your sisters always.”

  Watching her sisters, Elizabeth noticed Lydia first nod to Kitty and then frown to encourage her next oldest sister to turn to her mother and ask, “Mamma, may Lydia and I attend the assembly ball this summer? There will only be a few families and we shall be especially good!”

  Jane, Mary and Elizabeth held their breath; Lydia had coached this request out of Kitty rather than asking herself.

  Mrs. Bennet shook her head. “Not this sum
mer Kitty. I shall consider again this fall if you are faithful to your studies and duties.”

  She turned to her youngest daughter to add, “And Lydia, if I permit Kitty to attend an assembly this fall, you will still be at home for another year.”

  “That’s not fair!” Lydia protested. “I hate being the youngest! I am last to do everything!” She rose from the table and turned to flee the room when her mother’s voice grew stern.

  “Lydia, do you want to spend the afternoon in your room? If you act like a child, you shall return to the nursery. Is that your desire?” asked Mrs. Bennet sternly.

  “No Mamma,” Lydia answered sullenly.

  “Kitty fetch my bonnet please,” Mrs. Bennet directed. “We shall walk into Meryton with Lydia to visit my sister Phillips and share our news that Elizabeth and Matthew have arrived for long visit.”

  “Can we take the carriage Mama?” asked Lydia. “It will be as if we were making calls in town.”

  “Our horses are needed on the farm and Lizzy’s carriage team must rest for a few days. The walk will invigorate us Lydia,” Mrs. Bennet replied.

  ++**++

  After Mrs. Bennet and her two youngest daughters walked out of the gates, Elizabeth turned her hand to mending some of Matthew’s clothing.

  Jane sat beside Elizabeth on the sofa and Mary sat in a comfortable chair. Looking up from her sewing and noticing her sisters sitting with hands folded in their hands, Elizabeth paused to ask, “Is there something wrong that you have not told me?”

  “We do not mean to alarm you but…”

  Mary picked up the sentence as Jane’s voice faded away, “You must not leave any coins or anything valuable in your room unless it is locked away securely.”

  “Why?” asked Elizabeth.

  Jane sighed and explained, “Lydia is going through a difficult phase and she pilfers through our drawers.”

  “She steals!” Mary insisted. “Mama keeps her jewellery in the safe in Father’s office now along with all of the pen money.”