Page 75 of Introducing Mrs. Collins
I thank you for your last letter; I am now in a better position to advise on the matters you mention, with regards to the recent passing of Mr Bennet. The estate of Longbourn will fall in its entirety to you, as you expected, and once the papers enclosed are signed, it is done.
As to the practicalities: it is customary to wait at least a month before taking the house. I am in correspondence with a Mr Bingley, who is handling the affairs on behalf of the Bennets. If you wish to move to Longbourn before that period, please inform me, and I shall ask him to speak to the family; it may be possible. There are some details of the entail I wish to speak to you about, but for now, it is all in hand.
Your servant,
Mr Noakes
CHAPTER I
‘This is strange,’ said Charlotte, as she walked with Elizabeth through the wilderness at the back of the house. ‘Does it feel strange to you? Awkward?’
‘It should,’ replied her friend, touching the bark of a tree she had climbed many times when she was a child. Elizabeth stopped walking to take in the rest of the gardens, her gaze sweeping the estate. ‘It should feel peculiar, and yet somehow, it does not. This – you, here – seems fitting somehow, Charlotte. I believe you suit being the mistress of Longbourn better than my mother ever did. I always loved the house; it is understated and elegant. It did not deserve the howls and conniptions of my mother’s tenure.’
‘Eliza! Your poor mother. How is she?’
‘Settled, thank you. In truth, I think she is very content, considering everything. In living with her sister, she has a like-minded companion available at all hours, to share gossip and forceful opinions, to visit other families with. It suits them all very well. That is – I do not say that she does not miss my father, but all things considered, she is in a happy situation.’
‘Good. And it sounds as if Kitty will be content at Pemberley?’
‘Not only content but, if I may sound like my mother for a moment, rather advantaged by it. We are seeing to it that she belatedly enjoys some tuition, and her friendship with Georgiana is growing, so she has a companion close to her own age… We are all still learning to do without father – she feels it keenly, aswe all do – but, materially, she is well placed. As is Mary, in a different way.’
‘Will Jane like having Mary with her at Netherfield, do you think?’ asked Charlotte, looking sideways at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth grinned guiltily. ‘She will be a much better guardian for her than I ever could. Jane is so tolerant; Mary has been greeted with kindness and joined a gentle household, which suits her. Lord knows if she will ever embrace a dance, but she has as good a chance now as ever.’
‘But – how are you, Eliza? You must miss him terribly.’
Elizabeth sighed, looking back at the tree. ‘My mother never wanted us to climb trees as girls. Jane and I were good climbers – I know, Jane! Who should have thought it? But mother had a great fear that we would fall. She got less protective the more daughters she had,’ said Elizabeth dryly. ‘It did not stop us; it just meant we would climb it when she was not looking, to save the argument. Father initially waded into the discussion to defend our right to be adventurous but quickly gave it up for some peace. The next time Jane and I climbed this tree, we went farther than before, having spied something in the high branches. I reached it; it was a note, a little faded and folded, tied with coloured string to a branch, presumably so we would not miss it. It read:You are not allowed to be up here.’ She chuckled as she remembered it.
‘He was a good father.’
‘Not entirely,’ said Elizabeth, ‘but he loved us. And he tried his best.’
‘Things turned out very well for his daughters, in the end.’
‘Some of them…’ returned Eliza. She breathed in deeply. ‘I just so wish he had got to meet—’ Her face dissolved into tears now, and Charlotte moved quickly to hold her.
‘Sorry,’ whispered Elizabeth, her voice muffled against Charlotte’s dress.
‘You need not apologise.’ Charlotte held her friend as well as she could, allowing room for Elizabeth’s now prominent bump.
‘He would have suited being a grandfather.’
‘He would indeed,’ said Charlotte.
They stood for a moment and just took each other in. They were both thinking something similar: that girlhood was now firmly behind them. Adulthood pressed upon them more keenly than it ever had.
Elizabeth roused them both from their reverie. ‘Shall we return to the house? Toyourhouse?’
‘Only if you’re ready?’
‘I am ready.’
‘Thank goodness, because I do not want to leave Darcy alone with my husband for too much longer. I am afflicted, after all, with compassion.’
Eliza laughed but then, as they set off, observed, ‘But you seem more settled now, together. Perhaps I imagine it, but there is a calmness between you that I had not observed before. What has changed?’
Charlotte had so much to say to her dearest friend. Were she to tell anyone, it would be Elizabeth, but if she began to divulge any part of it, the dam might break. She feared she would start to proclaim all her secrets to the whole of Hertfordshire.
