“She knows that she was not born a Fitzwilliam,” William said. His father and uncle looked at him in silent surprise.“Do you really expect that one with her intellect would not be able to put the pieces together?” William asked, surprised that his father and uncle did not already realise this.
“I hoped, more than knew, that she did not know yet,” Reggie said shaking his head as he was given further proof of how special his daughter was.“How is it that she never mentioned it to any of us?” Reggie asked, now bewildered.
“It did not change how she feels about any of you, and she told me you would talk to her when you felt ready,” William said with somewhat of a grin.“She knows that you and Aunt Elaine will always tell her the truth. She does not know the circumstances of Andrew and Richard finding her, but she knows she is not your natural daughter.”
“I think it is time for a family meeting that we had thought we could defer until she turned ten,” Reggie said.
“Would you like to use one of the parlours?” George asked his brother-in-law.
“We would want you, Anne, and William with us when we have the conversation,” Reggie told George.
“Then I suggest we meet in the family sitting room on the family floor,” George suggested.“What say you to our meeting in an hour?”
Reggie agreed and the meeting disbanded as the Earl went to break the news to his wife.
Chapter9
The town of Packwood in Warwickshire was unexceptional in every way. It was like any one of many market towns dotted throughout the kingdom. Mrs Carol Fitzpatrick had taken up residence in her home a sennight before. She had selected the town well, as it had a small population, and with her dressing like a widow of modest means, she did not stand out.
Her house was a red, two-story brick building that had an east facing drawing room so that it would not get the afternoon sun, a dining parlour, and a kitchen with attached servant’s quarters on the ground level. Above stairs there were three bedchambers and a private sitting room. Mrs Fitzpatrick took the largest bedchamber, which was nothing of note, but it was expected that the mistress of the house would claim the best chamber. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was that her lady’s maid, Miss Toppin, was given the small bedchamber down the short hall from her mistress. If anyone enquired about the out of the normal arrangement, they would be told that Miss Toppin doubled as a companion for the older lady, which was not far from the truth of the matter.
As Olive Toppin was privy to all of her secrets, the former Lady Catherine made sure that she treated her well, hence the bedchamber and the fact that her salary was twenty pounds a month, many times what it used to be. Olive was the recipient of a new wardrobe in keeping her role as companion and ate her meals with her mistress.
Mrs Fitzpatrick was still an angry and vengeful woman; she was just hiding her true character from everyone so far below her. However, she was aware that she needed to be accepted by them as part of the community so they would not ask too many questions about the town’s newest resident. She had employed two former soldiers, discharged from their prior employment for less than honest dealings with the employer, as spies. The men were housed above the small stables and doubled as footmen for now. When she was ready, she would send them forth to gather intelligence about her enemies. In addition, she hired Mrs Matilda Dudley as housekeeper and her husband Benedict was thede factobutler, although she would not use the title since it did not fit with the persona that she was presenting to the area residents. The two had been let go for pilfering from the estate they had previously worked for in Surrey. They would, therefore, be loyal to the lady, as no one else would hire them without references.
The lady had deposited the bulk of her money between two banks—one in Coventry and the other in Birmingham. She also opened an account at the local bank of a little more than a thousand pounds in keeping with her being a widow of moderate means. Each month, she would receive a draft from the bank in Coventry for twenty pounds which was her‘pension’, and so would deposit it each month at the local bank. The Birmingham bank was instructed to put any interest payments back into her account.
Her days were spent thinking of ways that she would exact her righteous revenge, but so far, she did not have a feasible plan. She knew that, as one who knew everything about anything, she understood it was only a matter of time before she would have a plan she could put in motion, and she did not care how long she had to wait so long as she extracted her vengeance.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“She was a servant and Mr Bennet married her!” Caroline exclaimed. The ladies had just returned from a visit with the town gossip, Mrs Long. Mrs Long had long envied the Bennet’s wealth and had hopes of filling the role of mistress of Longbourn herself in her younger years, but the older Bennet son, James, had shown no interest in her. When the younger brother inherited, and before anyone could blink, Fanny Gardiner had entrapped the man. She had accepted Mr Long as she had no other prospects. The Longs had not been blessed with children, so gossiping was what gave her pleasure.
“Of what do you talk, Caroline?” Mr Bingley asked, as he and Charles stopped in the drawing room to welcome the ladies home.
“That Mrs Bennet who thinks she is so much above us,” Caroline sneered as her sister and mother nodded.“She is naught but a servant!”
“Oh yes, Mr Bingley,” Martha chimed in.“Mrs Long told us the whole sordid tale of how he seduced the woman while his first wife was fighting for her life.”
“Then the former Mrs Bennet was not even cold in the ground,” Louisa added,“when the servant entrapped Mr Bennet, and she gave birth to that James six months after they married!”
“As we are so wealthy, how can a servant be above us?” Caroline asked.
“Are all three of you addlepated?” he asked with barely concealed rage. The three had learnt to recognise when Mr Bingley was really angry, and their mouths shut as one.“I have spoken to our landlord, so I know thetruestory. What that gossip has told you has a kernel of truth, but the rest is falsehoods!
“I will remind you that no matter what she had to do after her husband was killed and she was left destitute, she is a gentleman’s daughter,” he looked at all three women pointedly,“something none of you are or will ever be!”
“Husband, how can you speak to us thusly?” Mrs Bingley asked indignantly in attempt to regain the upper hand.“We are just repeating what we were told by someone who we have no reason not to trust.”
“Yes, I could hear the glee in your words as you relayed the story,” he derided them.“Do you think that it makes you higher if you believe that Mrs Bennet is below you? She is married to a gentleman, and not just any gentleman but ourlandlordwho will put us out of his house if one bad word comes back to him about his wife fromanyof us. Do you imagine that with his wealth it would be hard for him to ruin us? Where would your aspirations to rise in society be then?”
Mrs Bingley and Louisa had the decency to look chastised while Caroline had a pinched look on her face.‘What has happened to Papa?”she asked herself.“How can anything bad happen if we talk about a servant?’She resolved to bide her time, to make it seem as if she was complying with her father’s wishes for now, but it made her feel particularly good, believing she was above the mistress of Longbourn.
The next morning Mr Bingley rode to Longbourn and requested an audience with his landlord. He was shown into Bennet’s study where he was currently going over his ledgers. Once Bingley informed Bennet what Mrs Long had said about his wife, that man was no longer calm. Bingley decided then that he had been correct in surmising that he never wanted to be on the receiving end of his landlord’s wrath.
After he farewelled his tenant, Bennet had Jupiter saddled and rode to his friend Jonathan Long’s small estate, Longmeadow, where he was shown into Mr Long’s study.“Good morning, Bennet,” Long welcomed his friend,“to what do I owe this unexpected honour?”
“Good morning, Long,” Bennet returned.“When you hear why I am here, you may not feel it such an honour.” Bennet relayed all of the salacious falsehoods that Long’s wife had told the Bingley women. When he was done, his friend was red with anger. Not at Bennet, of course, but at his wife.
