Page 11
“Lizzie, I have known you too long. Is it really that bad?”
Elizabeth looked her straight in the eye.
“If anything it is worse than I describe. When it comes to business, and especially the tradesmen I deal with, women have no value.”
Mary’s eyes widened at Elizabeth’s serious tone.
“How does Uncle Gardiner treat you?”
An immediate smile came over Elizabeth’s face.
“It is the counter to my annoyance at everyone I meet outside. Uncle Gardiner treats me very well. Maybe the best thing I can say is that he treats me as if I am a man. He has been teaching me constantly. I have a head for numbers, they do not scare me and I understand what they are saying, so that is a both a great help and a benefit in understanding the business. Where he has been hugely supportive is in all the other aspects of business; dealing with people, both pleasant and not so pleasant; explaining about finding the perfect balance of quality and cost, and how to maximise the price he sells at; thinking about the world, where do the goods come from, is a shortage of supply going to increase prices, is a glut going to cause them to plummet; and perhaps most of all reading people. That last one is nothing but part of dealing with people.”
“So he is treating you as an equal?”
“Oh no, I am nothing like his equal. The best way to describe me is as a family apprentice. In some ways I am getting him ready to teach young Edward once he finishes school.”
“I see that, and it is a good way to describe it. But he listens to you?”
“Yes, he does. Like I said he takes the time to answer my questions, especially my favourite, ‘why?’.”
Mary giggled, knowing that Elizabeth had driven both their parents mad with that exact question when she was a child.
“I know, you would have thought I would have grown out of it.”
“Have you had many dealing with uncle’s customers or just with people at the warehouse?”
“I have not dealt with any customers. At least not directly. I have heard several of them dealing with the clerks or with uncle on a Wednesday. I have cleared a space for a small desk in the room that is adjacent to uncle’s office. There is a high window between the two rooms and it is always open, so I can listen to the conversations. It is often the basis for lots of my questions that evening.”
Mary looked pensive.
“Are you engaging in trade Lizzie?”
“No Mary, we are careful about that. I do not want to harm my own reputation, or those of you or my other sisters. When I am down at the warehouse or office I am known as Rose Gardiner, a distant cousin of Mr. Gardiner. The age difference allows people to accept that I use the honorific of uncle with him.”
“You have two names?”
Elizabeth smiled.
“Yes. It was the only thing that Papa asked of me, Uncle Gardiner understood and so yes. Here in the house and when I am out with the children I am Miss Elizabeth Bennet but when I am helping uncle then I am Rose Gardiner. It is one of the things that annoys me. I have seen the sneers and heard the derision for those with the stench of trade.”
She shrugged although her face was grim.
“Enough of life here in London, how is life back in Meryton? Tell me all the things that you and Jane have not put in your letters.”
“In so many ways Meryton is unchanged. The seasons dictate the rhythm of the community. The general consensus is that it was a good year, the harvest was one of the best in recent memory, so that colours everything. There is that nice feeling of plenty in the air.”
Elizabeth indicated the ledgers that Mary had brought from Longbourn.
“I will go through these and see how Longbourn did. The Michaelmas quarter was not that different to the year before. I presume Papa has not stirred himself to take a more active role on the estate.”
Mary’s expression was torn between disapproval at Elizabeth for the harsh critique of their father and chagrin at the truth of the statement. She just shook her head.
“How is Mama?”
“In most ways she is unchanged, still endlessly fretting about the entail. I am 15 in March and I worry that she will insist on my coming out at the first Assembly after my birthday. She had Jane out when she was 15. Come to think of it, how did you manage to avoid it for a year? It was supposed to be your turn at the Michaelmas Assembly.”
Elizabeth smirked.
