“They offer their congratulations on behalf of themselves, the servants at Longbourn, and the tenants. Mr. Johnson asks about the stipulations on the household expenses—we will need to speak soon about what will happen with my sisters. He mentions a little of what was discussed before he left, primarily that Kitty and Lydia must go to school and that Longbourn earns enough to pay for it, instead of requiring that some other member of my family bear the expense.” Elizabeth looked at Darcy expressively as she said this, indicating that some thought he should pay for their schooling. Apparently, her father had complained about the estate’s funds being used to pay for his daughters’ upkeep and felt the Darcys and Gardiners should contribute more to their care while the girls lived with them. By rights, it was her father’s responsibility to care for his daughters, but he wanted those funds for himself.
“Our aunts have already made the arrangements, it would seem, for all of our sisters,” Darcy said dryly. “Georgiana is to go to Matlock with Anne. It seems that Mary may be asked to accompany them, since the three have connected over their shared love of the pianoforte—a newly discovered interest on the part of Anne, but she is enjoying what the other two can teach her.”
Elizabeth laughed at this, but soon their conversation drifted onto other matters.
Chapter Thirty-Two
One afternoon, with most of the family had gathered in the sitting room, Anne de Bourgh informed them that her mother had sent her a note. “Uncle, my mother is demanding I travel to an inn about ten miles away from Pemberley, where she is currently staying. She did not return home after her visit to Pemberley. She claims she wants to take me to Rosings, but I doubt that is the case, as my mother is not one to allow her plans to be challenged. Not only that, but I do not wish to go and be under her control once again. In the short time I have been at Pemberley, I have begun to feel much better. Must I do as she demands?” Anne asked.
“You are of age, Anne, and you may do as you wish. I recall Lewis once mentioning that he intended to leave Rosings to you, but even if he did not, you should be able to live off the interest of your dowry. You are always welcome to remain at Matlock with your aunt and me, and I dare say your cousin here would allow you to stay at Pemberley if you wished,” Lord Matlock replied, nodding toward Darcy.
Darcy nodded. “Of course. Elizabeth and I would be pleased to have you stay as long as you like. I seem to recall my father mentioning an obligation in his will to care for Rosings until it was time for you to take it up, but he did not say anything about when that was. Perhaps we should seek out Sir Lewis’s solicitors in town to find out what his will did say. If Rosings were left to you, surely it would have passed to you on your twenty-fifth birthday at the latest.”
“Mother always said that Rosings was hers for her lifetime, although I thought Papa told me before he died that he intended for Rosings to pass to me. Uncle George asked me about it once, when he visited right after Papa died. I became very sick not long after he arrived, and I was not able to see him again during that visit.”
Lord Matlock frowned while Darcy merely looked thoughtful. “I wonder if he would have a copy of Sir Lewis’s will somewhere in the study. When he passed, I had the steward put away any papers we did not immediately need into the estate office. I know there are also papers in the strong room he stored there. Old Mr. Wickham would have been the steward at the time, but Fraser was his under-steward for a time. However, I am not certain he was here when Sir Lewis died. We can ask him.”
That said, Darcy pulled the bell cord and instructed a footman to request Fraser’s presence if he was available.
Fraser answered his master’s summons within half an hour. After a brief discussion, the steward recalled a few papers dealing with Rosings and Sir Lewis de Bourgh, though not the details. Since it was already late afternoon, they decided to postpone the search until the morning.
The following morning, Darcy and Elizabeth, Lord Matlock, Fitzwilliam, and Anne met in the study after breaking their fasts. Fraser would begin the search in the estate office, while the family would search the study and adjacent strong room.
The group searched until early afternoon when finally Elizabeth discovered something in a neglected secretary in the corner of the room. Lord Matlock skimmed the documents quickly. “Rosings belongs to Anne, and it has since Sir Lewis’s death.” Anne gasped at this revelation, and Darcy helped her into a chair. “George knew of this since he was named Anne’s guardian, but he died just before Anne came of age. I suppose he never had a chance to tell her of it, especially not if Catherine kept her ill whenever he would visit. I cannot understand why George never mentioned this to me or anyone else.”
“Lady Catherine would have known what her husband’s will contained, would she not?” Fitzwilliam asked.
“She always claimed that Papa left Rosings to her for her lifetime,” Anne reminded them. “I do not know if she has another will somewhere that stated this, or if she thought if she said it often enough, everyone would believe it.”
Scanning the will he had taken from his uncle’s hands, Darcy spoke after a moment of silence. “I also cannot understand why Father never told me about Rosings. We discussed it often enough, especially since Aunt Catherine had already begun making noise about the ‘cradle betrothal’ she tried to insist on. Perhaps Father thought to speak to me of it when you came of age or when I returned home from university that year, but he was already sick when I returned. We were able to speak about a few things, mostly related to Pemberley, but the only thing he said about Rosings was to ask me to review the books each year.It is possible Lady Catherine had him convinced Anne was too ill to take control.”
“Does he have any journals or letters that might tell us his thoughts? Did he often write to Lady Catherine about estate matters? Would she have kept those, or would he have kept records of his suggestions?” Elizabeth asked.
Darcy frowned in thought. “Perhaps. It is more likely he conferred with the steward. Not long after my father died, the steward at Rosings retired. I believe he still lives, and Fraser should have his direction somewhere. We must call Fraser to let him know it has been found.”
Upon the steward’s arrival, those assembled were informed of old Mr. Pattison’s direction. Fraser also acknowledged that the senior Misters Darcy and Wickham may have spoken of the ownership of Rosings several times. However, since it was not Pemberley’s business, he was never included in the discussions.
After thanking and dismissing Fraser, Darcy strode across the room to the shelf where his father’s journals were and chose one randomly. After checking the dates, he replaced it and picked up another. Elizabeth approached once he had done this twice more. “What are you searching for?” she asked.
“I have my father’s journals from the years after my uncle’s death. I have at times perused them, looking for something or another, but I have never really bothered to organise them.” The rest of the group began to look through the journals for any clues about Rosings.
They found three journals from the years between Sir Lewis’s death, when Darcy was around eighteen, to the last one he kept. Darcy and Elizabeth sat close together on a settee as theyperused the one written just before George Darcy died; Lord Matlock took another, and Richard the last. Anne’s eyesight was poor, so she sat and listened to the others, who occasionally read out a selection.
“Uncle George mentions the will and guardianship briefly in this one,” Fitzwilliam said after several minutes. “He had just received a copy of the will and, of course, a scathing letter from Lady Catherine complaining that he was named guardian over her. He says a copy of the letter was placed in the strong room in a folio with other letters from Lady Catherine. I gather he had received quite a few following Aunt’s death about all manner of things, including the so-called betrothal between Darcy and Anne. Uncle is particularly acidic toward our mutual aunt and states that the letter is ‘beyond the pale, even for Catherine.’”
Darcy frowned. “When was this?”
“A few weeks after Sir Lewis died. He died late in April and was buried before anyone from the family could make it there. Your father expressed some concern about this since no one knew he was ill.”
Lord Matlock looked thoughtful. “Anne, do you recall what happened to your father? His death was rather sudden.”
Shaking her head, Anne replied sadly, “Mother always said he died in his sleep, though no one understood what exactly happened to him. He had appeared healthy enough the day before but never woke up the next morning. I remember Mother being upset, though perhaps not exactly sad. I was just sixteen and was not allowed to be present for the reading of the will. The next day, Mother told me that she had inherited the estate and that it would pass to me upon her death. My dowry, however, was mine, and I would have access to the interest upon mytwenty-first birthday. I am twenty-five now and have received a thousand pounds annually since reaching my majority. As you know, cousin, I have managed to save most of that, though Mother is unaware of the account you set up for me when you began visiting Rosings. I have not had the opportunity to spend much.”
Darcy scanned the will again. “According to this, your dowry is thirty thousand pounds. You should have received at least twelve hundred pounds a year in interest, though it is more likely you would have received fifteen hundred. I will have to see how the funds for the dowry were invested.”
Lord Matlock sighed heavily. “I should have checked things more thoroughly after Sir Lewis died and again after George passed. You were overwhelmed by Pemberley at first, and while you have done well with Rosings, you allowed Catherine to remain in charge because you were not told anything else. We all would have handled matters differently had we realised that Rosings belonged to Anne all this time.”
“Lady Catherine has been lying to us all,” Fitzwilliam said baldly. “I would be willing to bet she has a forged copy of the will and will attempt to make this one appear invalid.”
