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“I know that Uncle Edward, I do. But it is not fair to Mrs. Mallory, I mean Aunt Agatha.”
Elizabeth smiled and shook her head.
“That will take a bit of getting used to. Anyway, it is not fair to her, to the staff, even to the children. There cannot be two mistresses. My presence will just confuse everything. How will Mrs.-, sorry Aunt Agatha feel if she orders something done and the staff look to me. Things will change it is inevitable. And on top of that, young Edward is finished school and able to assist you with the business.”
That her uncle did not try to immediately refute her comments let Elizabeth know that she was correct. He reached over and took her hand.
“It feels ungrateful after everything that you have done for the family. I know I am not sending you away, yet it feels like it. I know that you are uncomfortable accepting praise and thanks, so I will say this briefly where it is just the two of us. You were a Godsend to the Gardiner family. I do not know what would have happened to the five of us without your unstinting help back in ’07 and every day, month and year since. There is so much more that I could say but I can see even this small speech has made you uncomfortable.”
Edward Gardiner patted the hand of his niece and they both leaned back letting their emotions, roiling close to the surface, settle. He took a cleansing breath.
“I would like you to stay for eight weeks please Lizzie. I know London is particularly unpleasant at this time of year but I would like you to spend time here at the house with your new aunt and help her with the transition. At the same time I want to pick that impressive brain of yours and make sure that we have all the information relating to the business. You will have to teach Edward and I about the ledgers so that we can maintain them. We will attempt them in October after the end of the Michaelmas quarter and again in January after the end of the year. Can I prevail upon you to visit in February and review them for me?”
Elizabeth smiled an enthusiastic smile.
“Of course, uncle. I would be happy to.”
“Excellent, thank you.”
The smile faded from Mr. Gardiner’s face.
“The main reason for eight weeks is so that the children can get used to the idea of you leaving. I know that you are not Michael’s mother, but you have been the mother figure in his life for the last four years. I do not think you realise how much Michael, Rebecca and Angela will miss you. Now they all like Agatha but as we have been talking it has struck me that you are right about returning to Longbourn. But just because the reason is correct does not mean that the moment of separation will not be tearful. You and I will have to spend time with the youngest three.”
Elizabeth knew that there would be many tears shed and she nodded in agreement.
“There are several more things that we should discuss now that you are returning to Longbourn. Your status, your guardianship and your money.”
Mr. Gardiner watched his niece sit up straighter. This was her future.
“Your father assigned your guardianship to me back in ’07. At first it was limited in both location and time. Meaning that I was your guardian while you resided in London and until the end of 1807. It was renewed twice.”
He sighed.
“The second renewal, so your third guardianship, had no conditions. There was some legal wording but the gist of the document was something like ‘I, Thomas Bennet, appoint Edward Gardiner, my brother through law and marriage, as the guardian of my daughter Elizabeth Rose Bennet.’. That was it, no end date, no limitations based on continuing to live in London, nothing like that. Do you understand so far?”
Edward Gardiner was sure Elizabeth was following but wanted to be clear. And it was another moment when he could delay the most awkward parts of the conversation.
“Yes Uncle Edward, I do.”
Elizabeth watched as her uncle sat quietly with his eyes closed. With a sigh he returned his gaze to his niece.
“This next part is going to be tough. Please listen and let me lay out my concerns.”
Elizabeth mentally grimaced, as an opening statement it had her heart racing already.
“I think that it will be tough for you when you return to Longbourn. We will talk more in the coming weeks about some of the details but let me explain the main points. Your actions today highlight the first point. You are going to return to Longbourn because there cannot be two mistresses here. Which very clearly shows that you have been the mistress of this house since you were 16 years of age. How do you think you will cope with returning to Longbourn and once again being under the authority of your mother? Longbourn has a mistress and you have an older sister who has been training there for years.”
Elizabeth had not been back to Hertfordshire since she had left in ’07. She and her mother wrote regularly but other than Mrs. Bennet’s one visit in the later summer of ’07 to check on her brother neither had visited to see the other. It would be a shock.
“And believe it or not, that is the easy conversation.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened.
“How do you think your parents would react if they knew I have one eighth of Gardiner Import/Export in trust for you. You have £1,000 in the bank from last year’s earnings and will receive more than that at the end of this year. If that income was in the four percents it would represent a dowry of £25,000. And you deserve it for all the work you did for the business. I know that it is almost completely unknown, but the key word in there is almost. You know, I know, and a couple of your society friends know. But again, coming back to my point, how will your parents react?”
Elizabeth hoped the question was rhetorical as she could think of no way to answer it honestly without embarrassing herself, her uncle, and her parents.
“I will save you the trouble of trying to phrase your response carefully. They will try and get their hands on it. Your parents know how to spend, they have both done that their whole lives. Or at least since Thomas became Master of Longbourn. You do not have to say anything, you do not have to express disloyalty to your parents.”
