I find Mr Adams to be not only a man of openness and integrity, I also know him to be deeply devoted to Lilian and I believe he will do all he can to ensure her happiness. Dear Becky, I know how fond you are of Lilian and how keen you are to see her happily settled, and I am confident that you will be happy to receive this news.
The following day, the post brought two letters—one from her mother, Mrs Charlotte Collins, and another from her sister. Becky Tate's letter clearly pre-dated her own, which had been dispatched the day before, and Catherine opened it up first.
A curious communication, hastily composed, it was immediately apparent that Rebecca was, as yet, ignorant of Lilian's engagement to Mr Adams. She made no mention of any other matter, either, leaping without any of the customary courtesies into an extraordinary tale about Mr John Adams and a rumour she claimed to have heard about his parents.
She wrote:
Is it possible, dear Catherine, that Lilian has been misled into believing that Mr Adams is an eligible suitor from a respectable family, domiciled in France for reasons of business alone?
Is it likely that he has allowed her to think that his parents were respectable people, worthy of her regard? If this were the case, then poor Lilian appears to have been cruelly deceived and is likely sooner or later to be sadly disillusioned in Mr Adams and his family.
Dear Cathy, a most alarming piece of news has reached me from a close friend of Lady Ashton, who travels regularly to France and moves widely in society there. I am writing at once to apprise you of her information, in the hope that you may enlighten my niece and preserve her from the humiliation and hurt that must surely follow, were she to accept Mr Adams and learn the truth later.
By this time, Catherine's bewilderment was complete. Who was this friend of Lady Ashton and what information could she have that would cause such consternation, she wondered, as she read on:
Indeed, far from being the son of a respectable gentleman, it is being said that John Adams is the illegitimate son of one Mr James Adams and a French mistress!
The boy, it is said, was born out of wedlock in England, and the couple departed for France thereafter, to hide their shame, no doubt, which caused Sir Samuel Adams, father of James and a wealthy landowner in the north of England, to summarily cut his youngest son out of his will and forbid him ever to return to this country.
Considering the encumbrance he carries and the inferiority of his connections, it is no wonder Mr John Adams has attained only a lowly position at Rosings in spite of his education. Seen in this light, surely it is not appropriate that Lilian should become engaged to him and I am confident that if she is made aware of the truth, she will not do so. I do beg you, my dear sister, to inform her of these matters and persuade her with every means at your command that she can do much better than marry an ineligible and impecunious young man with little more than his good looks and pleasing manners to recommend him. Do tell her also, that there are others, far more worthy than Mr Adams, who will be quite desolated if she accepts him!
This last cryptic sentence left Catherine quite bemused.
Who did Becky mean? It was a complete mystery to her. Presumably, Rebecca expected Lilian to know the identity of the person or persons involved, but Catherine had already decided that she would certainly not show her sister's letter to Lilian. It would serve no purpose at all, except perhaps to inflame Lilian's hostility towards her aunt.
She determined, therefore, to write again to her sister, a brief note, pointing out that Mr Adams had revealed all of the facts regarding his parents and his own birth to her before receiving her consent.
Dear Becky, she wrote:
While I do appreciate your concern for Lilian's welfare, I cannot agree that Mr Adams is an unsuitable person to marry my daughter.
Indeed, he is now neither "ineligible nor impecunious" as you describe him. He has inherited a third of his mother's estate and all of his father's wine merchandising business. He expects thereby to receive a reasonable and regular income, which, taken together with the salary he is paid by the Rosings Trust, should enable him to support Lilian quite comfortably. I might add also that Mr Adams has received generous praise from Jonathan and Anna Bingley, who assure me that he came to the position at Rosings with excellent references.
I do beg you, Becky, to try to understand the feelings of these two young people. I cannot begin to tell you how much pleasure it has given me to see my daughter so happy in her choice of a husband. Lilian is not a fool, nor has she made her decision in ignorance; she is aware of as much of the facts as I am and has accordingly made her choice.
As she wrote, Catherine could not help recalling her own, very different experience. Unlike Lilian, she had been too compliant and impressionable to withstand the arguments put by Lady Catherine de Bourgh against her friendship with Mr Burnett. She had feared that by seeming to defy Her Ladyship, she would be offending her and would also consequently upset her dear mother, since Lady Catherine, having taken her mother's place, had demanded the same respect and obedience as a parent.
Catherine had been not much older than Lilian at the time. She could remember well how she had felt all those years ago, and an uncomfortable lump rose in her throat at the memory.
The arrival, at that very moment, of Mr Frank Burnett himself threw her into confusion, and she had to make some hurried excuse to retreat upstairs for a while, leaving him alone in the parlour.
When she returned, Mr Adams and Lilian had come indoors and joined Mr Burnett, who was congratulating them both upon their engagement. As Catherine entered, they turned to her and looked so cheerful together, she was glad of the time she had taken to splash her face with cold water and tidy her hair before returning.
Impulsively, she invited them to take a glass of sherry and seeing that John Adams had already been asked to dine with them, extended the invitation to Frank Burnett as well. It seemed the most natural and polite thing to do, she thought, rationalising her impulse. It would have been churlish to ask one of the two gentlemen to dinner and let the other go away to dine alone. Mr Burnett had accepted the invitation with pleasure, and she was sure Lilian and Mr Adams would not mind.
Lilian, engrossed in her conversation with John Adams, noticed nothing odd or curious about her mother's invitation to Mr Burnett. Indeed she and Mr Adams seemed to welcome his presence; it meant they could be talking privately, knowing her mother did not lack for congenial company.
The evening passed pleasantly during dinner and afterwards.
Both Catherine and Mr Burnett, left to themselves, found several subjects to talk about together. There was much they enjoyed in common and very little upon which they disagreed. Even when they did, each appeared so ready to listen to and accommodate the other's point of view, that harmony and concord were guaranteed.
There would be many such occasions in the weeks that followed, and Frank Burnett seemed appreciative of the invitations, making no secret of the fact that he enjoyed the company and preferred it greatly to dining alone at his lodgings.
***
Meanwhile, news of the engagement reached Mr and Mrs Darcy at Pemberley, from two sources.
Charlotte Collins, writing to her dear friend Elizabeth, was first with the news.
My dear Eliza,
Catherine has written informing me of young Lilian's engagement to a Mr John Adams, who is the curator at Rosings. She appears to like the young man and writes that he is a fine young gentleman, educated, cultured, and very much in love with Lilian. She mentions also that both Jonathan Bingley and Mr Darcy are acquainted with and approve of him, which fact, she believes, should reassure me of his suitability.
But I have quite a different report of this young man from Becky, who has written me a most disturbing account of a tale told her by her friend Lady Ashton. It claims that Mr Adams is the illegitimate son of one James Adams and a French woman who became his mistress. I am quite bewildered and very concerned to discover if this is true.
D
ear Eliza, is there some way by which either you or Mr Darcy may assist me in this? I am reluctant to broach the subject with Jonathan Bingley, and while I am not generally inclined to interfere in such matters, if there is any truth in Becky's story, I should feel it my duty to inform Catherine and advise her to counsel young Lilian against the match.
Elizabeth was both concerned and confused by her friend's letter and determined to discover the truth of the matter.
On this same day, Mr Darcy had received a letter from Jonathan Bingley pertaining mainly to business matters arising from the Rosings Trust. However, in a concluding paragraph, he had added:
I am not aware, sir, if you and Mrs Darcy have been advised already by Mrs Harrison, but Anna and I have received a letter informing us that her daughter Lilian is recently engaged to Mr John Adams, the curator at Rosings. Both Anna and I are convinced that Miss Lilian has made a happy choice. To our knowledge, Mr Adams appears to be a man of intelligence and integrity, with a most amiable disposition, and we are very pleased for both of them.
Mr Darcy, having read the letter through, took it upstairs to his wife.
"Lizzie, my dear, I am sure you will find the final page of Jonathan's letter of great interest," he said, handing it to her. When she had read it, Elizabeth put it down, rose, and walked about the room as if in exasperation.
"Really, Darcy, I am quite mystified! I cannot make it out at all! They cannot both be right."
"What is it? Who do you mean?" he asked and she replied by holding up Charlotte Collins's letter and saying, "If Mr Adams is so well thought of by Jonathan and Anna and Catherine is sufficiently satisfied to consent to his engagement to Lilian, how is it that Charlotte has had this dreadful story from Becky Tate about his family?"
Mr Darcy took Charlotte's letter from his wife and, going over to the window, perused it carefully. When he returned it to her, he looked very angry indeed.
"Lizzie, what you have here is a nasty piece of mischief! I cannot believe that Jonathan Bingley is mistaken in his judgment of Mr Adams, nor do I think Catherine Harrison will have agreed to let her daughter marry a man without making the most scrupulous enquiries about him, his family, and background. It is inconceivable that Mrs Tate's story is true."
Elizabeth merely shrugged her shoulders. "Why should anyone fabricate such a tale?"
Darcy, still looking quite shocked, replied, "I cannot imagine, but I am prepared to believe that Mrs Tate's friend Lady Ashton is in some way involved. I understand from Anthony Tate, who is most unhappy with his wife's association with Lady Ashton and her circle, that these people have little to do except play cards, go to balls and parties, and gossip, indulging themselves in the silliest way by destroying the reputations of others who are not of their group. I suspect this information comes from within her circle. Now, it may be that Mr Adams has in some way offended one of them. I think I would much rather trust Jonathan's opinion than theirs, my dear, do you not agree?"
Elizabeth agreed completely with her husband and expressed her determination to seek Jonathan Bingley's opinion herself. This she did subsequently, writing him a short note, which was despatched to the post immediately. She would wait for his reply before responding to Charlotte's letter, she thought.
Her husband, whose own mind was already made up, agreed that this was the best course of action.
"You are right to wait, Lizzie, there is nothing to be gained by distressing poor Mrs Collins to any greater degree than she has been by Mrs Tate's rather thoughtless retelling of rumour and gossip," he said.
***
It did not take Jonathan Bingley long to realise the purpose of Elizabeth's note. Rising abruptly from the breakfast table, he laid it before his wife.
"Anna, my dear, something quite extraordinary is afoot. My aunt Lizzie has heard a curious tale about Mr Adams…"
"About Mr Adams? Who from?" asked his wife, puzzled by the intensity with which her usually calm husband had reacted.
"From Mrs Charlotte Collins, who has had it from Becky Tate, who has had it from a friend of Lady Ashton!"
"What? And what does she say?"
"Read it and judge for yourself. It beggars belief that people should stoop to put such stories about. John Adams, it seems, is to be pilloried for something his parents are supposed to have done in their youth."
Anna read Elizabeth's note and was as astonished as her husband had been by its contents.
"I find it difficult to believe that Becky would even take such a rumour seriously. Clearly, it is an attempt to damage Mr Adams's character and must be the work of some person of malicious intent. Yet, why do you suppose anyone would wish to do this?" she asked.
Jonathan admitted he had no explanation. "I cannot imagine, yet I suppose I shall have to find out—if only to set my aunt Lizzie's mind at rest. I suppose I could write to my sister Emma, she has many contacts in London… but I can hardly expect her to be impartial in the matter, for she has no regard for Lady Ashton, who Emma believes is a woman of very little sense and no scruples at all…"
He was interrupted by the maid, who brought in a letter which had just been delivered by express. It had come overnight from Rosings and contained a message sent in confidence to Jonathan by Mrs Catherine Harrison.
On opening it, Jonathan found therein the answer to the question posed for him by Mrs Darcy. Catherine, having received Rebecca's letter, had responded to her sister and then proceeded to write to Jonathan, fearing the rumour may have reached his ears, too.
In the clearest possible terms, she explained that in his answers to her questions about his father's estrangement from his family in England, Mr Adams had given her a full and frank account of the circumstances as told to him by his mother, including the fact of his own birth out of wedlock and the subsequent marriage of his parents, before their departure for France.
Catherine wrote:
He has provided me with all the facts—names, dates, places, every particular related openly and plainly, without any hint of equivocation. I believe him, Jonathan, I have no reason not to do so.
Besides, there is nothing in his conduct or character which one can point to as a pernicious consequence of the unfortunate indiscretion of his parents. I should feel most un-Christian, indeed, were I to follow my sister's advice and forbid Lilian to marry him on such implausible grounds.
I beg you, Jonathan, to reassure my mother, and anyone else who may enquire, of my decision on this matter.
Jonathan was relieved indeed. Handing the note to his wife, he said, "I hope, my love, that this will be the final word on this unfortunate subject. I intend to see Mrs Collins first and then respond to my aunt Lizzie. Catherine's letter should suffice to set their minds at rest."
Anna agreed and shortly afterwards, Jonathan called for his horse to be saddled up and set off to ride over to Longbourn to reassure Mrs Collins.
Chapter Thirteen
While Jonathan's words did reassure Charlotte Collins and to an even greater degree Mrs Darcy, Becky Tate was not similarly comforted by her sister's letter.
She could not believe that Catherine could be quite so sanguine about the matter of her daughter's engagement. Urged on by Lady Ashton and her friend and confidante Madame du Valle, who had been the original source of their information, Becky decided to travel to Kent and confront Catherine with the story. Convinced that Mr Adams was not the right man for her niece, she took with her also another piece of information, which she hoped would assist her to change Lilian's mind on the subject of matrimony.
Prior to her departure for Kent, she took morning tea with Lady Ashton.
"It seems almost as if my sister, still grieving for her husband, has temporarily abandoned her sense of responsibility," she complained, "else she could not have countenanced such an engagement."
Lady Ashton agreed it was a most unsuitable match and had to be stopped, for all their sakes.
"No one of any standing in society would recognise your niece and her husband," she wa
rned, intoning it as though it were a sentence of death.
Presently, they were joined by Mr Joshua Armstrong, Her Ladyship's cousin. Rebecca had developed a great admiration for this gentleman and regarded him as a most appropriate suitor for her niece, although she had made no mention of her hopes to Lady Ashton. He had appeared to show a keen interest in Lilian when she was in London, and Becky had sensed that he was attracted to her, although there was no evidence of any serious intention on his part. If only Lilian could be worked on, to give up Mr Adams and return with her to London, she thought, there was no knowing what might transpire when the two met again.
Recollections of Rosings Page 19