“Please call me Elizabeth, Caroline. Indeed she did. I wish I had been presented with the opportunity to meet Lady Anne. Besides introducing her to her granddaughter, one of the many subjects I would wish to discuss would be her opinions on the latest home fashions. I do have the desire to change a few things and find myself quite out of my element.”
“Oh I am sure. In a home of the size and elegance of Pemberley, you surely WOULD be. Perhaps it is most prudent to leave these fine interiors unaltered.”
“Oh, Miss Bingley, you have no idea what is to come!” Elizabeth said to herself. She was amused. Miss Bingley was best able to feel her own superiority by insulting others. Her civil disdain was on full display, an all too familiar reminder of her character. She was unaware of Elizabeth’s work to update the servants’ quarters or Lambton Parsonage and probably assumed Elizabeth spent all her time drinking tea.
Fitzwilliam, far too perceptive to miss the hint of the storm about to arrive, broke in, “Ladies, I think you have much to discuss and I should be completely in your way. Caroline, I am pleased that your journey was uneventful. However, I would like to give you two the opportunity to visit. Elizabeth and I are hopeful that your stay here will be quite productive and for some duration. If you will both excuse me, I would hope to give you some privacy. Elizabeth, Mrs. Parker and I are taking Catherine to the stables again so that she may see the horses. She is not afraid at all, and appears to be quite curious to touch their noses.”
Caroline looked a little surprised at this speech, but said nothing. Elizabeth smiled at the reminder of the Darcy family training! Left to her own devices, she NEVER would have thought to expose her child to horses at such an early age. Fitzwilliam rose and gave his wife a look expressive of his understanding as he bowed to the ladies and exited the saloon to his material relief.
“Caroline, I must say Fitzwilliam and I are both pleased that you agreed to come to Pemberley.”
“Thank you Elizabeth.”
“I trust you left Charles and Jane in good health?” Elizabeth was fishing to see what Caroline knew.
“Oh, Elizabeth I assure you, Jane and the baby are fine. I don’t see why they did not invite me to join them on their tour of Italy,” she sniffed.
“Caroline, whether you may or may not know, the other pregnancies did not turn out FINE. Jane is entitled to peace and quiet for the duration of THIS one. There is no call to take any chances of that sort by taxing a woman in the family way who has trouble carrying through to her confinement.”
Caroline stilled and turned absolutely white. Clearly she did not know about Jane’s prior disappointments. But she certainly did know that Jane was currently with child. And her recent behavior on the Bingley estate at Barrington was causing significant stress and upheaval within the Bingley household. That was now at an end. And for that, Elizabeth was extremely grateful.
“Caroline, this may be impertinent, which is much my way, as you well know. I apologize for my bluntness, but I must speak plainly. Jane and Bingley need an environment to calmly see this pregnancy through and give it the best possible chance for success—”
Caroline started to interrupt, but Elizabeth raised her hand.
“-let me finish. This will be as difficult to hear as it is difficult to say, but I also believe it must be done. Please hear me out. Fitzwilliam and I want to help you. This is also an important opportunity for you.”
Caroline looked surprised.
“I know that our marriage was a disappointment to long laid plans of yours. We want to help you secure your future, whatever that may be. You deserve to be settled, either independently or as a married woman. But more than that, you deserve to be happy, Caroline. And I believe you are incredibly unhappy.”
Caroline’s mouth was now hanging open.
“Fitzwilliam and I want to give you an opportunity to determine your interests, to determine your own path, without reference to the pressures of finding a titled husband. We would like you to be able to meet some new people and to be able to socialize without all the refinement lessons from that finishing school you attended –”
“Mrs. Darcy, what ARE you saying? You are going to marry me off to a tenant farmer?!”
“Caroline, I’m sure you have many fine qualities. I know you are an accomplished pianist. But I can’t see much else of your true self beyond all the contrived and restrictive manners you were taught at that finishing school for girls.”
“Elizabeth, Gough House is an exemplary-”
“Caroline, it hasn’t worked. I don’t know WHAT they taught you there and I certainly don’t know what your parents said to you as an impressionable young girl before they sent you there. But you are not singlehandedly responsible for dragging your entire family tree into the Peerage because it was taught in a lesson at Gough House ten years ago.”
Caroline involuntarily drew in her breath. “How dare you!! How dare you bring my beloved parents into this!”
“Caroline, I am not acquainted with your parents. And they did not live long enough to see the sequel of your attending Gough House. Your brother and sister HAVE and neither of them approves of how you have applied your education to your life. They love you and they want you to be happy too, but not at the expense of their own families’ health and happiness. And neither Charles nor Louisa has shackled themselves to the belief that the Bingley name is supposed to be elevated into the ton in a single generation. Louisa married well, as Mr. Hurst is a man of fashion and independent means and of course Charles married for love and to a gentleman’s daughter and all are quite content. Rather than remaining as a tenant, your brother has purchased his estate at Barrington, which is another important advantage to the standing and prominence of your family. The Bingley family IS a family on the rise and is most certainly considered part of the landed gentry. You are robbing yourself of your time to be happy with these expectations that no one else has of you.”
Caroline did not appear to know what to say, she was so taken aback. Elizabeth could see a single tear sliding down her cheek.
“What could YOU possibly know of family expectations?”
Elizabeth said to herself, “Only a mother who would marry me off against my will to secure her own security and counteract her unwillingness to save!”
To Caroline, Elizabeth said, “I don’t know that they were family expectations. They may be your own expectations. But I know that somewhere along the way, you seemed to accept that the best way to achieve your motives was to put on airs, manipulate others, and abuse your authority over others. That is why you are passed around from one family member to another, because no one can put up with your manners and hostility for any length of time. And you are running out of time and out of options.”
Caroline, now a deep shade of red, rose, stormed out of the saloon, and headed up the stairs. Elizabeth did not follow her.
Chapter 23
Elizabeth found Fitzwilliam outside near the stables meeting with their steward, Mr. Smith. Mrs. Parker and Catherine were inside the stables and a very curious Catherine was indeed reaching for and grasping Artemis’ nose. Elizabeth wasn’t sure who had the bigger eyes, her horse or her daughter!
“How are you, my dear?”
“About as well as I expected,” Elizabeth laughed. “She at least let me finish before she stormed up to the Lavender Room. I don’t think we will see her until supper or perhaps to-morrow. She has had quite a shock, I fear.”
“Did the saloon survive unscathed? That would have been the perfect excuse to force you into fitting up the room anew!” Fitzwilliam laughed at his own joke.
“Mr. Smith, I apologize for being late, but I had hoped to join you and Fitzwilliam for the remainder of your tour of the property.”
“Mrs. Darcy, good day to you ma’am,” he replied cordially. “And we are happy you can participate in our meeting. Your input is always welcomed and appreciated.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Pemberley ran on a detailed a
nnual schedule. It was the work of many generations of the Darcy family and contained the learnings of many mistakes that were made along the way in building Pemberley into its current size and scale. Mr. Bennet was a rather indifferent and retiring estate holder, whereas Fitzwilliam was scrupulous and active. A portion of their differences could be explained by the entail on Longbourn. No matter how profitable, Longbourn would cease to be the Bennet homestead as soon as Mr. Bennet passed on. Pemberley of course was not entailed, in fact Pemberley did not even have any debt. It would be in the Darcy family for many generations to come if the Darcy learnings and plans had the desired effect. Although Mr. Bennet’s tutelage of Elizabeth regarding estate management had provided her with a general understanding of which only a few women could boast, it was Fitzwilliam’s instruction since their marriage which had truly elevated her skills to that of a competent estate holder. And she was still learning.
Mr. Smith and the Darcys spent the afternoon together, on horseback, touring several of the estate’s buildings, visiting with several key tradesman and staff, and looking at some of the crops and livestock in the fields. Fitzwilliam had been continuing his father’s work on building local canals to shorten the time of getting Pemberley’s goods to market. As there was always progress to be reviewed on the canals, part of their tour today included meeting with the supervising agent who was overseeing the canal construction. They also discussed the reports that had been received from the various under-stewards that Mr. Smith oversaw. After their tour concluded, they made arrangements with Mr. Smith to meet the next day and review the financial ledgers for the estate.
Elizabeth went to check with Georgiana’s lady’s maid, Clara, who would also be attending Caroline. As anticipated, Caroline had not stirred from the Lavender Room, which was to be her guest suite for the duration of her stay. Elizabeth had tea for two prepared and took the tray directly up herself.
“Caroline, its Elizabeth. I have tea for you. May I come in?” There was no answer, so she left the tray.
The next morning Darcy and Elizabeth had breakfast without the pleasure of Caroline’s company.
“I will check on her again today. I’d like her to join me on a walk after we finish with Mr. Smith.”
Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth checked on Catherine before meeting again with Mr. Smith. They met with him for several hours and reviewed the ledgers from the estate. Pemberley was doing well. Agriculture prices were up, probably because of the continued fighting on the Continent. Pemberley was carefully managing its cash as well. Gold and silver were becoming scarce with the war effort and the estate needed to watch its supply of coin so that it could pay servants, suppliers, workmen, and tradesmen. Fitzwilliam did not trust the bank notes from the Bank of England or the other local banks. he liked to deal in coin, and kept both gold and silver on hand. Regarding property improvements, all three were in agreement on changes to be made to the stables and the hiring of two additional milk maids. Making farming improvements were trickier. The new technologies and new planting methods sometimes resulted in reducing the labor needed to run the farms. Over the years, Fitzwilliam had carefully balanced procurement of new equipment with training for his tenants to use and maintain the equipment or reassigning them elsewhere so that no tenant was dismissed due to improvements. His tenants could see this and were grateful. Many estates were not run this way. But Pemberley still sometimes lost good tenants to the promise of higher wages in the factories.
Elizabeth had hired a teacher for the Pemberley children and they had overseen the conversion of one of the larger tenant cottages into a small school during her first year of marriage. Prior to this, the estate had relied on Sunday school to provide the children with instruction on reading and writing. Elizabeth had helped with buying slates and slate pencils for the children as well as desks and chairs for Pemberley School. One of the rooms in the cottage had been converted to a tenant lending library for the estate. At first it had been stocked with only children’s books, but Elizabeth had discovered several tenants looking at beginning readers and nursery rhymes and realized there was a certain amount of illiteracy amongst the tenants on the estate. She had consulted with the new teacher about instructing adults how to read and write and the idea had taken root. A class schedule was developed and a number of the tenants had been taught right alongside the children. Pemberley School had also received a new slate roof to hold in the warmth and keep out the dampness throughout the winter months because so many children spent time there. Stocking the lending library with books for pleasure and educational reading had been quite the undertaking. Elizabeth had spoken with one of the estate’s carpenters about designing the book shelves for the lending library and he had begun work straightaway. She had realized that Fitzwilliam had several titles at Pemberley’s library that were duplicates. All of the duplicates went into the lending library. She also discovered that few of the tenants could afford to buy newspapers and Fitzwilliam subscribed to several which were typically burned after being read. So she arranged for The Times, The Morning Post, La Belle Assemblée, and the local Lambton paper to all be sent to the Lending Library, as it was now known, once they had been read at the house. Elizabeth tried to be aware of putting upscale material in front of tenants who would never be able to afford it. Although La Belle Assemblée did have fashion news with wonderful illustrations and engraved fashion plates included which were entertaining to look at, it also featured literary items and articles on science, history, and the arts. Finally, Elizabeth went shopping for books. She asked several of the longer term tenants, tradesmen, and artisans their views of the reading needs of the estate. And she solicited advice from Pastor Jenkins and the new teacher. She bought novels, classic literature including Shakespeare, Greek mythology, bibles, poetry, technical manuals on current farming improvements, biographies, and historical works on Great Britain. Elizabeth was very proud of how the Lending Library had turned out. It appealed to her belief that books were for everybody to read and such of those as wished to learn should never want the means. She eagerly showed it to Fitzwilliam and Georgiana who were both very impressed. Fitzwilliam said his mother would have been very pleased, which was a compliment indeed.
They also reviewed their investments outside of Pemberley with Mr. Smith. These investments were also doing very well. One of the last items they had to discuss was Caroline’s dowry. Unbeknownst to Caroline, Fitzwilliam had managed the investment of her dowry for years. When they met, Charles was still new in his role as heir to his father’s fortune. Charles had eagerly sought advice from Fitzwilliam on many financial and legal matters. Fitzwilliam had made several suggestions regarding financial investments, selecting a banker, the hiring of legal counsel, and the purchasing of an estate. Charles had eventually followed them all. Ultimately, Caroline’s dowry was invested with Georgiana’s and had grown over time. Naturally, to avoid raising Caroline’s hopes in regard to Fitzwilliam as a potential husband, she had never been told that he had taken an interest in her well-being. She had been hopeful enough without any encouragement! Although Fitzwilliam could have added the profits to Georgiana’s thirty thousand pound dowry at any time since the death of their father, he saw no reason for it. For many years, until the birth of Catherine, Georgiana had been next in line to inherit Pemberley. She would always have titled family members to enhance her desirability in the marriage mart. She was always going to be a sweet tempered, highly accomplished, and lovely young lady. And although she might always be shy, the incident in Ramsgate has robbed her of much needed self-assurance. So increasing her dowry seemed to Fitzwilliam to serve no purpose whatever. It would merely attract more attention from fortune hunters.
Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth had reviewed the information from Charles regarding his father’s will. Caroline had a dowry of twenty thousand pounds settled upon her at the time of her father’s death. Also set aside had been funds for some of her living expenses and that included the completion of her education at Gough House. Charles h
ad graciously been covering all of her living expenses beyond the allowance their father had set aside. He had also generously decided that if the funds for her dowry could be increased through investment, that Caroline would be the beneficiary of the profit, which was not a stipulation of the will. Charles was of a mind that increasing the size of her dowry by adding the profit to it might improve Caroline’s marriage prospects. After all, the Bingley family, through its fortune, was still tied to trade and had no titled members of the aristocracy amongst its ranks. A larger dowry might add to Caroline’s appeal, although it certainly could not improve her manner. She had not been told of the increases to her dowry. She was already ambitious enough in her knowledge of having twenty thousand pounds. Charles must be reconciled to the idea that the hoped-for suitor would place enough importance on the financial advantages of the match to outweigh his less than favourable prospects of connubial felicity. That the gentleman, if indeed such a man was ever found, might be completely indifferent, or worse, toward Caroline was also a risk. Their father’s will had been structured in such a way that a portion of her dowry could be given over to Caroline in the event she did not marry for the immediate purchase of a home. The decision on whether or not to do that was solely Charles’. As events since the day of his and Fitzwilliam’s happy marriages had not inspired much hope for Caroline’s own successful settlement by marriage, Charles felt called into action. In token of Jane’s delicate condition, he was prevented from undertaking the exertion of seeing his sister settled. He was not, however, opposed to the convenience of other parties exerting themselves to secure her establishment.
“So the value of her dowry is now over six-and-thirty thousand pounds?” Elizabeth inquired.
“Yes, the investments are doing well and none of the money has ever been withdrawn, so it has simply grown over time,” replied Mr. Smith, looking over the account statement.
By Charm or by Choice Page 17