Page 7 of Gold and Good Sense

The crossing of the Atlantic took a month with the weather mostly cooperating. In fact, the sailors all marveled that they hadn’t had any true storms, since autumn was usually quite rough in the north part of the ocean.

Though Collin had the largest cabin on board, the fundamental discomfort of the journey made his health decline even more. He had already begun to suspect that he was in a sorry state when the medical officer told him he had consumption.

Collin refused to give details of the difficulties he encountered once he reached land, but Thomas was fairly certain he wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for Rydley. Thomas could well understand Collin’s desire to reward such loyalty handsomely in his will.

After hearing the tale, Thomas was truly convinced that, once Collin had decided to return to England, there was nothing that could have been done to save his life, no choice that could have altered his fate. He resolved to make the best of the time he had left.

Less than a week later, Collin breathed his last. Thomas shed many tears over his loss, tears he had never in his life felt the need for, not even when his parents died. Now, they were absolutely necessary, not only to express the loss of a brother but the loss of the many years they had spent estranged.

Chapter 3

Kitty Bennet breathed a sigh of relief upon returning home to Longbourn on the day of her uncle’s funeral. The last week, while very interesting, had been rather uncomfortable. Aunt Phillips’ home was a great deal smaller than Longbourn, and she only had one spare bedroom. That in itself was no problem. At least Kitty had the bedroom all to herself just like at home. The bed, however, had been incredibly uncomfortable.

The mattress was so old that no amount of airing could make it smell fresh. The room itself was somehow both stuffy and freezing, since it had no fireplace and the window hadn’t been opened in donkey’s years.

Any time Kitty considered going back home to Longbourn, however, two things had stopped her. The first was that Aunt Phillips lived on the main thoroughfare in Meryton. As such, her home was a hub of gossip. Anything and everything that happened in the town or its neighborhood was bound to be heard first in Aunt Phillips’ parlor.

The second thing was that Kitty knew that if she returned home, she would be asked to take her turn caring for her dying uncle.

What did she care about a decrepit old man she had never met and barely knew anything about? All she had ever heard of him was that he went away to America before Jane was born. Kitty was not unkind, at least not to people she knew, however she absolutely refused to make herself miserable for the sake of a sick stranger.

At least now, Uncle Bennet was gone. She could behave prettily and pretend to mourn with the family as long as they didn’t expect her to do so for more than a day or two. And in exchange, she would have her elegant bedroom and her very comfortable bed instead of that dusty, musty room at Aunt Phillips’.

When she walked into the parlor, she greeted her sisters, Jane and Elizabeth. They were both doing some kind of needlework on black material, and Kitty was suddenly struck with the horrifying thought that she might have to go into true mourning.

“Welcome home, Kitty,” said Jane.

“Yes. Welcome back,” said Elizabeth. “Did you enjoy your time with Aunt Phillips?”

“Oh, it was wonderful,” said Kitty, deliberately leaving out the uncomfortable bits. She was hoping to make her sisters jealous over her adventure that they had not shared. “Aunt had so many visitors every day and so much news. She even threw a card party this past Wednesday night. It was a shame you could not attend.”

“I was sorry to miss it,” said Jane. “But taking care of our uncle was of much greater importance. After all, our only chance to ever know the man was this past week. He was very interesting to speak with when he could talk. It was truly a shame you did not get the chance to know him.”

“It’s true,” said Elizabeth. “He told me a most hilarious tale of how his chickens developed a strange disease where their feathers kept coming out. Only, he could never find where the feathers had fallen. It turned out, two of the neighborhood boys had been sneaking into his chicken coop and stealing the feathers right off the chickens.”

“What would they want with a bunch of chicken feathers?” asked Kitty with her nose wrinkled.

“He didn’t say, but I got the impression it was more mischief making than anything else,” said Elizabeth. “When he caught them, they claimed they were just trying to help by plucking the chickens before they were killed so he wouldn’t have to pluck them afterward.”

Kitty wrinkled her nose. Who cared about a bunch of chickens thousands of miles away?

“Have Mama and Lydia returned?” she asked to change the subject.

“Not yet, though they should be home mid-day tomorrow,” said Jane. “Mama wrote yesterday to say that she did not wish to return until all the fever had been cleaned and aired out of the house.”

“She also mentioned finishing up a few shopping trips,” said Elizabeth. “I shouldn’t be surprised if she comes home with yards and yards of cloth and ribbons and a hundred new ideas for gowns.”

“Oh, I do hope so,” said Kitty. “I only wish she had taken me with her. I am so jealous of Lydia. She was allowed to go to London even though she isn’t even old enough to enjoy it. By the way, what are you two sewing? I do hope we won’t have to go into mourning.”

“I am working on an armband for Papa,” said Elizabeth.

“I have been hemming a stack of black handkerchiefs,” said Jane. “Papa said it isn’t necessary for us to mourn a man we never knew, but I thought it might be nice to show some respect by carrying black handkerchiefs.”

“That was kind of you,” said Kitty with relief that she wouldn’t be required to wear black. She could easily carry around a black handkerchief with no inconvenience whatsoever.

She settled down in one of the chairs and continued chatting with her sisters, sharing all the news she had learned while staying with Aunt Phillips. All the while her sisters continued industriously sewing.

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