Hello Dear Janeites, it is a pleasure to be back at Laughing with Lizzie to share more details of my new release, Five Daughters Out At Once.
Available on Kindle April 7th
The novel centers
around the premise of the Bennet sisters re-entering society (and encountering
heroes from across Austen’s other works!) after mourning the loss of first
their father and then their mother, with Lady Catherine de Bourgh as their
unlikely champion and ally against Mr. Collins. Things begin with a shaky
start; we discover that the Bennet sisters have not been idly awaiting some
rescue, but making plans of their own – which leads me to today’s excerpt….
***
The sight of Mr. Gardiner entering the room
instantly put the young ladies at ease, for his jovial manners were tempered
with a degree of solicitude and curiosity that gave Elizabeth some hope he
would not dismiss her careful planning out of hand. “Well, Jane, Lizzy, Mary –
good morning, Miss Lucas – what is all this about then? Your letter has given
me no little concern. Have you heard from him, this Collins fellow?”
“Not yet, but we expect to presently,” Jane said
with a placid smile.
Elizabeth added to this with a petulant grimace.
“If he is at all like his sister, he may arrive without notice any day now –
that is what I expect, sir.”
Mr. Gardiner nodded evenly. “I will confess, I
had shared my poor sister’s hope that these Collinses were content enough with
their own lot, that they would not disturb you.”
“That is what I had wished as well,” Elizabeth
replied, quirking her eyebrow up with wry humor as she tried to dispel her own
bitterness. “I hoped for the best, but have prepared for the worst.” The two
ledgers, one blue and one red, sat before her on the desk, and she opened them
both with triumphant pride. “Come and see, Uncle.”
Mary had checked the numbers meticulously the
night before – she moved that way and began to show Mr. Gardiner her work. “I
reviewed our father’s accounts going back to 1806, here in the blue
ledger. From there, we simply duplicated all the monthly expenses, as if
we had continued to live the same, these past two years, as we ever had before
– a slight reduction was logical, with fewer… fewer of us.”
Jane joined them at the other side of the desk.
“Here, in the red book, we have recorded how we have actually lived
these two years – much more frugal, you see. We have reduced the staff, limited
unnecessary spending – and our income has increased, a little. Lizzy has seen
to the tenants that were in arrears, and gotten them to pay some, if not
all their rent, which Papa never paid much mind to. The harvest last year was
far beyond what it had ever been,” Jane added, pointing to a sum that Elizabeth
was particularly proud of.
“Well! Lizzy, I must venture a guess that you
have been the mastermind behind all this?”
Though Lizzy sat in her father’s chair, looking
and feeling every bit in command of the household, she had never been easy with
taking all the credit of it. “No indeed – not entirely. Jane and Mary have
helped a vast deal with the sums, and they have even taken in some mending and
sewing to supplement our income – and we have all three taken on a pupil apiece
for piano lessons.” Again Jane pointed out the corresponding columns
representing the income from their other enterprises.
Elizabeth could see that it pained him to
consider his nieces’ labors. “You poor girls – having to run the estate is
dreadful enough, but your other pursuits….”
Elizabeth held her chin high as she met his eye.
“There are worse things than work – of all people I had hoped you would
understand.”
“That is not what gives me pause.” Her uncle
knit his brow, his eyes scanning the columns of sums in the two ledgers. “This
is dangerous, girls. If you were found out….”
Jane and Mary both shifted uncomfortably and
averted their gaze, but not Elizabeth. “How so, sir? We are not stealing, not
really – not any more than we would be if there was only one ledger. It can
make no difference to Mr. Collins, if and when he darkens our doorstep, whether
we have disbursed the income of this estate in the same fashion we have always
done, or differently. Why should he feel entitled to the fruits of our
thriftiness – of our labor – when he has not come to claim what is his?
He could hardly expect us to set aside every spare shilling for his future –
and hypothetical – usage. At any rate, I had always supposed, from the remarks
I have heard Papa make, that none of the Collinses are entirely sensible. His
sister certainly is not. It is likely that when the time comes for Mr. Collins
to sit in this chair, he will simply accept what is written in the blue ledger
and think no further than how fortunate he is to no longer be at the pulpit.”
Elizabeth had not meant to rail at her uncle as
she had done; Charlotte was obliged to lay a palliative hand on her arm, and in
doing so attracted her own share of Mr. Gardiner’s notice. “That is quite an
assumption. Miss Lucas, what has been your role in this little enterprise? I
should expect you to be the voice of reason in all this.”
Charlotte had always been the most pragmatic
figure in Elizabeth’s life – she had neither the high spirits of Mrs. Bennet,
Kitty, and Lydia nor the serenity of Jane, neither Mr. Bennet’s excessive
sardonic wit nor Mary’s somber want of mirth. But despite Charlotte’s
steadiness, the events of the last two years had affected her just as much as
the Bennet sisters. And she was not Mr. Gardiner’s niece – she looked up at him
and smiled evenly. “I have helped them however I could.”
The flaring of his nostrils and clenching of his
jaw betrayed Mr. Gardiner’s silent offense at what Charlotte had really meant.
Elizabeth attempted to keep her own countenance neutral. She loved her uncle
dearly, and in her heart she could not blame him for being so occupied in his
own business matters – but she wished the same respect for what her own actions
had been. “Sir, with Charlotte’s aid we have put by nearly three thousand
pounds. She helped us send to auction a great many items of value that did not
belong to the estate, and she has aided us in the safeguarding of these funds.”
“Has she? It did not occur to you to ask for my
help?” The three sisters and their friend were silent a moment, holding a
collective breath as Mr. Gardiner scowled at them each in turn.
Finally, Elizabeth squared her shoulders back
and answered him. “It seemed expedient that we should pool our funds with
Charlotte’s – we mean to open a school together at Lucas Lodge. Her uncle in
Plymouth has been advising us on how to go about it.”
Some of her uncle’s vexation seemed dispelled,
though his incredulity was not an improvement, in Elizabeth’s estimation. “A
school!”
“It would be perfectly respectable,” Mary
ventured, her hopeful eyes revealing how desperately she desired their uncle’s
approval.
“And not at all dangerous.” Elizabeth
could not help herself.
Jane looked between her two sisters, and then
offered their uncle one of her most angelic smiles – the softening effect on
him was instantaneous, as it ever had been. “You have been so busy – every time
our aunt has written, she has indicated you are very often out of town or
abroad, working so hard already. We did not wish to add to your burdens.”
“I was occupied in expanding my business so that
I could afford to take you all in,” Mr. Gardiner replied. “I have worked
tirelessly this past year, doing everything I could to increase my income
enough to allow me to support you all.”
“And so have we,” Elizabeth cried. “We did not
know of your plan, sir, and were obliged to form one of our own.”
“I did not wish to give you poor girls any false
hope – I meant to tell you of my intentions once they became possibilities, you
see.”
“We, too, wished to present a fait accompli.
And we nearly have done – we have the funds we need, at least. It is no small
accomplishment, Uncle.”
“Yes, well, Lizzy, perhaps you are to be
commended for your efforts,” he conceded.
“That is all I ask, sir. Well, not all – but
if you are still willing to offer any assistance, let it be for Kitty and
Lydia. We have all the funds we need, to start our school, and an extra
thousand to add to the five from Mamma. Kitty and Lydia might share the sum,
and the interest of it might go toward their support, if they were to live with
you in London.”
“They would not like our plan,” Mary added. “We
have agreed they deserve a better fate, anyhow – and I cannot imagine them as
teachers.”
“And as they are the youngest and prettiest of
us – and with three thousand apiece – they stand the best chance of marrying
well,” Jane said, just the barest trace of regret on her countenance.
“You would forfeit your share of your mother’s
portion? This is madness, girls,” their uncle cried, throwing up his hands in
frustration. “Charlotte Lucas, I would have expected better from you. When my
sister, rest her soul, was taken from us, I asked you to look after my nieces
while I was to be away so often.”
The three sisters all looked at Charlotte, who
still appeared the most tranquil of them all. “And so I have, sir. You said
nothing of the future you had in mind for them – I have only helped them
conceive of a different one.”
“You have helped yourself to their money!”
“That is hardly fair, Uncle!” Elizabeth was not
surprised that Charlotte had agreed to help them; she would have done so
without anyone asking it of her, and Elizabeth took her friend by the hand,
more for her own equanimity than Charlotte’s. “She has offered us some
modicum of security and stability, when all we have had these two years is
uncertainty. Even before – before the fire, you know how it was at Longbourn.
Mamma spoke often and without restraint of how we would someday be turned out
of the house by a stranger, left to starve in the hedgerows! Knowing that we
should all have a roof over our head at Lucas Lodge someday, when we are
turned out of Longbourn, which may in fact be any day now….”
Mr. Gardiner held up a hand to silence her. “I
understand you perfectly, my dear. And I do commend your efforts, but
such drastic measures are quite unnecessary. Notwithstanding your… unorthodox
methods of fundraising, which I think we ought to agree to hush up, if we
possibly can – perhaps we had better let the matter rest. I shall take you all
to London with me.”
Mary had picked up the bundle of papers that
constituted their emergency plan, and the diary in which Charlotte had
transcribed the details more coherently; she clutched them both to her chest,
her eyes beginning to glisten with tears. Out of all four of them, Mary had
wanted this the most. “Please, Uncle. At least consider our plan.”
“I believe it is a sound one,” Jane said softly.
“We have put considerable thought into it.”
Mr. Gardiner flicked his gaze back to Elizabeth,
who had grown so tense that every muscle in her body ached. He did not look
angry, only terribly sad; Elizabeth realized that her own sense of frustration
was much the same. She was so very tired of struggling, and offered her uncle a
thin smile. He nodded with an almost imperceptible upturning of his lips. “Very
well, I shall hear you. Miss Lucas, would you allow me a few minutes to speak
privately with my nieces?”
Elizabeth did not release her grip on Charlotte’s hand, but Charlotte withdrew with a little shake of her head. “I shall step out into the garden.” Charlotte opened the door to depart the study, and Kitty and Lydia, crouched on the other side of it, tumbled into the room in such a commotion that only Elizabeth noticed the other great shock that moment held – out of the wide front window she spied a very grand carriage approaching the house.
Jayne Bamber – Audio Books, Best Sellers, Author Bio | Audible.com
Biography
Thank you so much for stopping by Jayne! Love the sound of the new book. Wishing you all the best!
