Page 6 of Master of Netherfield
He turned to Clemmons and asked, “Do you have anyone you would recommend as secretary for my estate in the south? I understand there is a steward, but I wish to hire a secretary as well to handle all of the correspondence for trade my father wants me to continue to manage.”
**++**
The trip to Hertfordshire required three days. William and his valet often rode ahead of the carriage and wagon that followed them, to survey the roads and inns along the way. With the future including annual journeys between Derbyshire and Hertfordshire, William intended to have established rights for rooms and spare horses at the different stables along the route.
He brought six horses to Netherfield, a team of greys pulling the carriage and a team of workhorses pulling the wagon of trunks. William and Harris rode saddle horses most of the day, and they as well as the drivers and footmen were armed as their small caravan carried a fortune in horses, clothing and supplies. On the third day, William and his valet road ahead of the wagon and carriage; the young man anxious to catch the first glimpse of his new home.
**++**
Coming from the north early in the afternoon, William Darcy found the drive leading to Netherfield Park and he slowed his horse, a gelding named Jupiter, to a walk and looked about him intently–the grove of oak trees that marked the entrance to his estate, the stone fences that lined the fields where a few sheep grazed, and the roof of the distant manor house under the bright, blue English sky that was the backdrop to his land.
The first person he met was a boy running along the drive who stopped when Darcy pulled his horse to a stop and tipped his hat to the youngster. The boy bobbed his head and said, “G’day sir.”
“Good day young man. What is your name?”
“M’ name is Davie Hall, sir.”
Dismounting, William turned to the boy again while his horse stamped one hoof as if impatient to reach the house. “Well Davie, can you tell me if this is Netherfield Park?”
Pointing back to house in the distance, Davie confirmed the estate’s name, “Yes, it be Ned’rfields, sir and there’s a to-do here abouts, let me tell you.”
“Why is that?” William asked the boy.
“Me da says that th’ new master be coming, and he’ll likely throw us out of our home.”
“Throw you out? Why would the new master dismiss your family? Is your father a good farmer?”
“He is a good farmer f’r certain–we had more oats from our fields than any other farm at Ned’rfields. But the swells don’t like us folks–the last master at Ned’rfields was rough on e’ryone.”
“Where are you going this afternoon?”
“M’ going home. I carried a pail of honey to th’ big house but gotta get back. Our farm is ‘cross th’ road and through th’ woodlot and me ma needs me to mind me brudders while me sisters help in the barn with some hay.”
Darcy pulled a shilling from his pocket and handed it to the boy.
“Thank you for stopping to talk to me this afternoon, Davie Hall. I am Mr Darcy; the new master of Netherfield and I hope to see you again soon.”
“A shillin’? Thank ye, sir! I h’d a penny once but never had a shillin’ before.”
“It is good luck for me to give you a coin because you are the first person I met at Netherfield,” Darcy insisted as the boy grinned and hid the coin in his pocket.
Harris waited quietly while his master and the boy had their conversation, and when Darcy mounted his horse again, they continued to the house at a walk.
“The tenant boy had a very thick accent sir,” the valet suggested, and Darcy laughed.
“Harris, you laboured many years to remove your Derbyshire accent,” Darcy said. “Besides, I like the sound of ‘Ned’rfields’ and so does Jupiter.”
Upon approach and closer examination of the manor, Darcy realized the Georgian architecture meant that the three-story house was relatively new–probably built in the last fifty years. They did not stop at the front door but continued around the house to the stable yard wherea lone boy ran into the stable before reappearing with a pair of companions to hold the horses.
“Good day, sir,” the eldest boy said, his pronunciation much better than the tenant boy along the drive.
“Good day, young man. I am the new master of Netherfield, Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy,” William told the boy. “Bring the horses into the stable and let us begin there.”
Walking into the stable and leaving Harris at the back to herd the three boys and two horses forward, Darcy quickly inspected the stalls and the feed bins, counted four cats in residence to manage the mice and rats, and then climbed into the hayloft to inspect the last of the hay from the previous year.
“Are there any oats?” he asked climbing down the ladder.
One of the stable boys replied, “Yes sir.”
