Page 130 of New World Tea Company
The gentleman smiled as he replied, “Mr and Mrs Darcy will issue formal invitations for a visit to our home. We shall host a ball that includes supper and then dancing until the early hours of the morning. The guest list is limited to fifteen families from the county who spend a week under our roof.”
“A week?” asked Elizabeth, imagining the work involved with that many people descending upon any household for that length of time. “Fifteen families for all their meals, laundry and entertainments?”
“We issue the invitations a month in advance so that Mrs Reynolds and the staff have the house cleaned and ready. Shehires extra staff from the village, and the cook has assistants to assist with preparation of the food and drink.”
“And the stables? There will be teams of horses and hunters to fit into stalls. Do the guests bring their stableboys as well as coachmen and maids? Is there a dining hall large enough for the staff – all this gathering of servants?”
Darcy smiled realizing that his Elizabeth seemed to have a grasp on the scope of planning and preparation that such a gathering would require.
After the ball, we spend a day resting and then the actual fox hunt occurs the next day if the weather permits. That morning, the gentlemen rise early while the master of the hounds and the beaters prepare for the hunt. The hunters and hounds chase the fox for two hours or more before we return to the house.”
“And you sir? Do you enjoy the hunt?” asked the young woman who knew her fiancé enjoyed his time in the saddle very much.
“I do love the chase and riding my hunter across the fields after the hounds,” the man admitted. “My gamekeepers report that I have thirty, well-trained fox hounds this year.”
Elizabeth grinned, “After chasing the elusive fox across the fields and dales of the farms, the gentlemen will return for a large breakfast or luncheon where the ladies have waited patiently for their return. I suppose the ladies must make do with tea and entertainments – cards, music, and recitations of poems by young ladies.”
With a grimace, Darcy stated, “If my aunts are present, you must preside over the ladies as if you were the queen at court to keep them under control.”
With a smirk Elizabeth replied, “I imagine the ladies will gather to gossip and speculate on the victor of such a battle.”
“Lady Catherine de Bourgh will likely be confined to the dower house this autumn though I should like to invite my cousin and her new husband,” Darcy confided, and Elizabeth nodded her agreement.
“And after another large supper and some entertainments in the evening, everyone retires for the night,” Darcy shared with Elizabeth. “There is another large breakfast the next morning, everyone departs for their home.”
Pursing her lips, Elizabeth explained, “Fitzwilliam, it must take your staff two weeks to prepare for the ball and hunt. Then there is a week of intense work to care for the guests and their servants, and then two weeks of cleaning.”
“Yes, but I Mrs Reynolds hires extra staff from the village to provide extra footmen and chambermaids. And the older women work in the kitchens and laundry. I remember seeing the hedges festooned with the laundry for days after the hunt.”
Thinking about the weather later in the year, Elizabeth mused, “Better to hang it on ropes in the empty rooms than on the shrubbery in the autumn.”
“In October, we shall have the fox hunt and ball. Then in November, I shall host a hunt for deer where a half dozen gentlemen and their wives come to visit for three days of hunting and grand suppers but without a ball.”
“Why two hunts this autumn?” the young woman asked as she considered how much she had to learn and the many servants she would need to meet and supervise.
“We must allay and satisfy everyone’s curiosity about Mrs Elizabeth Darcy before Christmas. After these successful social events, no one will doubt my choice of wife.”
Seeing the confidence the man felt for her capabilities, Elizabeth promised herself that she would not disappoint him as a hostess or in any other role as his wife.
~~~
It was a pleasant summer afternoon with bright sun and a gentle breeze to encourage persons to venture out of doors. And with several days of dry weather, the road that passed by Longbourn was firm and offered a good path. Without any concern for propriety, a young couple walked ahead of their chaperones, lost in conversation and unaware of the countryside. It was not an imposition for Georgiana and Mary to walk out with the pair; the teenage girls talked of music and fashion while Elizabeth and Darcy spoke of their future.
Smiling because now that they were engaged Elizabeth was allowed to call him by his given name, she asked, “Fitzwilliam, does Pemberley provide a harvest home for the tenants in the autumn?”
Before he could answer, the young woman continued, “Since we talked about the social obligation to hold a fox hunt and gathering for the gentry at Pemberley, I wondered about the harvest home for the tenants.”
Blinking as he considered his answer, Darcy replied, “I believe… yes, I am certain the steward provides at least one harvest home at Pemberley, as do the Darcy stewards in Yorkshire and Kent.”
“Do you have estates in those counties too?” asked the young woman. “You have not mentioned them.”
Grinning the gentleman said, “It will take some time for you to come to know the extent of our holdings, but I am confident that you will be knowledgeable before the end of this year. In Yorkshire, there is a large estate that raises beef cattle for the markets, and in Kent, our estate is covered with orchards of different varieties of apples, pears and cherries. Those farms are close enough to London that the produce is sold at the markets in the city. I have trusted stewards in each county who haveheld their positions for many years, and the tenants seem to be satisfied and work hard.”
“Your life has been very different with lands and tenants spread across different counties,” Elizabeth said. “Here at Longbourn, the Bennet family knows some of the particulars of each tenant family.”
“We can never have that knowledge with the several hundred families that are tenants on our farms or in the villages,” Darcy reminded Elizabeth. “Pemberley holds the land where Lampton sits, and every tradesman and tavern keeper is a tenant of our family.”
Looking at her fiancé, Elizabeth asked, “Fitzwilliam, how did you keep from becoming a dilettante or rake? Your father owned everything with money for everything your heart desired. Everyone in your life worked for the Darcy while you were a boy growing up.”
