Page 3 of Miss Gardiner
Thereafter, whenever Elizabeth was in company with her Uncle and Aunt Gardiner, she handed over her pounds and pennies to increase her investment. As she grew, Lizzy saved every penny she was gifted and earned. She became talented at remaking dresses for herself and her sisters and was given some of the money that would have been spent on cloth, ribbons, and lace. One summer, she earned two pounds from her mother when she remade the gowns her sisters had outgrown into new gowns for the maids and into aprons for Mrs Hill and the undercook.
Her eldest sister, Jane, indulged Elizabeth’s fascination with trade by always gifting her sister with pennies instead of ribbons. Her next sister, Mary, imitated Jane’s ideas but the two youngest, Catherine and Lydia followed their mother’s lead and laughed at Lizzy.
“Lizzy wants to go to London and work on the docks!” Kitty declared on Elizabeth’s fourteenth birthday.
At Christmas that year, Uncle Edward showed Lizzy an account sheet that recorded her contributions as well as the returns on trade ventures; her fourteen pounds had grown to almost fifty pounds.
“Now, Elizabeth, this is very important,” Uncle Edward told her. “You must not tell your father or mother about this balance sheet.”
For a moment, Elizabeth was confused but then she remembered her parents arguing about allowances, spending, and debts.
“Mamma would spend the money for bonnets and shoes,” Lizzy said. “And Papa would use it for tobacco, port and horses.”
“Longbourn makes an acceptable income, Lizzy,” Uncle Edward said. “But your father must remind your mother to remain within her allowance each year and he has to restrain his spending before collecting rents each quarter.”
The young woman asked, “May I come to London and learn sums with you? Aunt Maddie says she helps you with numbers at night.”
++++
At Easter when Lizzy was fifteen, she came to London for an extended visit. Aunt Madeline had three children and was expecting her fourth that spring, but the Gardiners could not yet afford a nanny. Mrs Bennet encouraged the visit for Lizzy to provide her aunt with assistance, thinking the time with the young children and then a babe would be good training for her seldom-understood daughter. Two years earlier, Jane spent six months with the Gardiners when the third child was born. In London at the Gardiner House on Gracechurch Street, Elizabeth helped with her cousins, their clothes and meals. She helped her aunt fetching items from above stairs when Madeline did not want to climb the stairs in the middle of the day. She found great pleasure in helping to sew clothes for the expected child and her other cousins.
And more importantly, Elizabeth reviewed her uncle’s accounting books with Aunt Madeline each afternoon to provide Uncle Edward with accurate numbers each evening. She learned how to sum columns of numbers in her head, how to properly write numbers on the pages, and how to keep the accurate notes her uncle needed.
When the day came that Aunt Madeline called for the midwife, Elizabeth kept the three young Gardiners entertained and they remained in the nursery on the third floor. The next morning, Uncle Edward led his children into the master bed chamber to meet the new baby, whose name was Rebecca. Coming immediately behind the children was Elizabeth who could only stare at the infantin her aunt’s arms.
“She is small,” Andrew stated solemnly. “When can she play?”
“I have never seen anything more beautiful in my life,” Elizabeth declared softly when her uncle lay the new-born in her arms for a few minutes.
That afternoon, Uncle Edward came home early and spent time with his wife, babe, and young children. Elizabeth played with her cousins to allow his parents a few quiet moments. But while Aunt Madeline napped, her uncle asked Elizabeth to bring them into his office.
As the little ones played with blocks and toys on the floor, Elizabeth sat in a chair across from Uncle Edward where adults always sat when discussing business matters.
“Elizabeth, when you were eight years, we began a business venture together. You have shown me that you are serious about understanding trade, and that you can keep figures in your head.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
“Your account page reflects the monies you have handed to me over the years,” he replied. “And this spring with the return of Morning Star from her latest voyage to India, you have almost two hundred pounds.”
Grinning and nodding her head, Elizabeth said, “And I shall not tell Mamma or Papa about my monies. I shall only tell my husband after we are married.”
Edward’s lips tightened for a moment before he continued, “I have used some subterfuge with your account as well, Lizzy.”
“I do not understand,” the young woman stated.
Uncle Edward explained, “When my father died, he divided his estate equally among his three children. Five thousand pounds each went to your mother, your Aunt Eugenia, and me. That is the source of the money that you and your sisters will receive after your mother dies. Your mother’s portion and your Aunt Eugena’s portions were invested in the ‘four percents’ with the government; this gives your mother two hundred pounds each year.”
“That’s where Mamma’s allowance comes from,” Elizabeth stated. “Papa…”
“Your father provides money for clothes and food, but your mother’s pin money is her own. She can save it or spend it.”
Frowning with teenage disapproval, Elizabeth said, “Mamma and Aunt Phillips are penny-short every month.”
“Now Lizzy, your interest in accounts allowed me to do something with the monies from my mother’s estate. Her wish was that the monies would go to her grandchildren.”
“Grandmother Gardiner left an estate?” Elizabeth asked. She had no memory of this grandmother who died when she was only three years.
Uncle Gardiner continued, “My mother’s father, George Smyth, was an attorney and he wrote a marriage settlement for his daughter that I shall use for my daughters when they marry. The income from the monies left for my mother were hers to do with as she pleased but she was required to pass along the principle to her grandchildren. That is why your mother has two hundred a year but cannot touch the principal.”
