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  An Unexpected Legacy

  A Pride and Prejudice Variation

  By Don H. Miller

  Copyright 2013 by Don H Miller

  Preface

  This book is a variation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that begins after Mr. Darcy’s ill-fated proposal to Elizabeth Bennet in Kent. It assumes that Darcy and Elizabeth have both gone from Kent to London and are living there at the beginning of the book: Elizabeth with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner at their house on Gracechurch Street in Cheapside and Darcy with his sister Georgiana in their townhouse, Darcy House, near Hyde Park. Neither knows that the other is in town. The major events in the beginning of Pride and Prejudice that take place before the beginning of this book that are relevant to this book are synopsized at various points within this book by various means. Therefore the reader need not have read Pride and Prejudice or one of the many variations of that book in order to follow the events of this book. However, the reader will undoubtedly appreciate this book more if he or she has read Pride and Prejudice before reading this.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious and are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Table of Contents

  Preface

  Chapter 1: The Encounter

  Chapter 2: Tea at Monttard House

  Chapter 3: Darcy’s Dilemma

  Chapter 4: Dinner at Denby House

  Chapter 5: A Visit to the Gardiners

  Chapter 6: At the Bookstore

  Chapter 7: Tea at Matlock House

  Chapter 8: Mrs. Bennet Knew

  Chapter 9: Revelation

  Chapter 10: A Change of Strategy

  Chapter 11: Dinner at Matlock House

  Chapter 12: A Walk in the Park

  Chapter 13: The Realization

  Chapter 14: Announcements

  Chapter 15: More Announcements

  Chapter 16: The Ball

  Chapter 17: Lady Catherine DeBourgh

  Chapter 18: A Visit from Longbourn

  Chapter 19: Tragedy at Longbourn

  Chapter 20: The Wedding

  Chapter 21: Finally Some News

  Chapter 22: To Somerset

  Chapter 23: Whither Wickham

  Chapter 24: Lydia Renewed

  Chapter 25: Love is in the Air

  Chapter 26: An Unexpected Wickham

  Chapter 27: Lady Elizabeth

  Chapter 1: The Encounter

  Baron and Baroness Monttard, having finished ordering several new gowns for Lady Monttard at the modiste, decided to go to the wine and coffee shop on Grove Street about which they had heard so much. Several of their friends had recommended the Gardiner Wine and Coffee shop, telling them the shop had an excellent selection of wines and coffees from all over the world and that they could sample the wines and coffees before purchasing them. Because of the conflict with France, it had been very difficult to purchase good French wines in the past few years, and they were interested in seeing what would be available in the shop. Also, they had found that coffee was an interesting alternative to tea and had decided they would like to sample different kinds to see if there were ones that particularly pleased them.

  When their coach stopped in front of the shop on Grove Street, they were impressed with the look of the shop. A beautifully carved wooden sign proclaimed it to be Gardiner Wines and Coffees, and the window treatment was quite tasteful. When they entered the shop, a young man hurried over to them, bowed, and asked, “May I help you, sir and madam?”

  “Yes, young man, we would like to sample some of your wines and coffees,” said Lord Monttard. “We have friends that have told us you have wines from many countries, as well as several different kinds of coffees. Is this true? For instance, do you actually have some French wines?”

  “Yes sir, we do have some French wines which were purchased and put in storage during the brief time during 1802 and 1803 when there was a truce with France. As a matter of fact, Mr. Gardiner has quite a large wine vault containing several varieties of French wine, but there is a waiting list of those wanting to purchase the wines. I do not deal with the French wines and am not familiar with the wines that are available, so if it is that in which you are interested, please allow me to call Mrs. Gardiner to serve you.”

  “By all means, if she is available, I would like to speak with her,” said Lord Monttard.

  The young man nodded his assent, bowed, and walked toward a door in a wall that separated the wine shop from the shop next to it. He disappeared through the door for a few minutes and then returned, saying, “She will be with you in a moment, sir.”

  In a few minutes, an attractive looking woman, who looked to be in her early thirties, entered the room through the door, and the young man directed her to Lord and Lady Monttard. As she was approaching them, another young woman, possibly nineteen or twenty years old, also came through the door, and hurried after the first woman. On seeing this young woman, both Lord and lady Monttard registered shock, and Lady Monttard seemed to almost faint. Her husband had to grab hold of her right arm to keep her from falling.

  Mrs. Gardiner noticed the distress that had registered on the faces of the lady and gentleman before her, particularly the lady. She rushed forward and took hold of the lady’s other arm, saying, “My Lady, are you all right? Would you like me to call for a doctor or an apothecary?”

  Lady Monttard, who was quickly recovering her composure, said, “No. No. It is alright. I think I will be fine. But I need to sit down.”

  “Certainly,” said Mrs. Gardiner, “come, let me take you into the bookstore next door where we have more comfortable tables and chairs.” Turning to the young lady, who had come into the room behind her, she said, “Lizzie, hurry next-door and make sure that there is a seat available for the lady.”

  “Yes Aunt,” said the young lady. She curtsied to Lord and Lady Monttard, turned, and hurried off to the shop next door.

  When Lord and Lady Monttard and Mrs. Gardner arrived in the bookstore, Elizabeth directed them to a couch with a small table in front of it. Lord Monttard helped his wife sit down and then sat next to her on the couch with his arm around her shoulder.

  After ensuring that Lord and Lady Monttard were comfortable, Mrs. Gardiner introduced herself and her niece. “I am Mrs. Gardiner,” she said, “and this is my niece, Miss Elizabeth Bennet. My husband and I are the proprietors of these shops. What can we do to help you?”

  “We came here to discuss French wines with you,” said Lord Monttard, “but the sight of your niece gave us quite a shock. We have a daughter who lives in Italy, who is a nun, and whom we have not seen for several years. Your niece bears a remarkable resemblance to her. In fact, she looks almost exactly like our daughter looked when she was age seventeen.”

  “Oh, I am so sorry that I was the cause of your distress,” said Elizabeth. “Would you like me to leave?”

  “Oh no, my dear,” said Lady Monttard. “Now that the shock has worn off, it is actually quite pleasant for us to look upon you. We love our daughter very much, and being reminded of her is really quite pleasant. It is just that I cannot get over how much you look like her. May I ask how old you are?”

  “I recently had my twentieth birthday,” said Elizabeth.

  “Of course, now that I can see you up close, you do look more mature than I remember Antoinette looking at age seventeen. Do not you think so, Henry?”

  Nodding to his wife, he said, “Yes, dear, I agree.” Turning back to Mrs. Gardiner and Elizabeth, he said, “But I forget myself. Please allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Lord Henri Dumont, the Baron of Monttard, and this is my wife, Lady Monttard.”

  Mrs. Gardiner
and Elizabeth both curtsied to Lord and Lady Monttard, and Mrs. Gardiner responded, “We are pleased to meet you. Now how can we be of service to you?”

  “Given that our surname is Dumont, I am sure you can deduce that we are French by birth, but our family has lived in England for many years. One of the things we do miss is a ready supply of good French wine, which has been difficult to obtain since the conflict with the French and Napoleon. I understand you have a stock of French wine, and I would dearly love to be able to purchase some.”

  “Yes,” said Madeleine Gardiner, “my husband had the foresight in 1802 and 1803, during the brief Peace of Amiens, to import many cases of French wines. He anticipated that the peace would not last long and that it would be impossible to import French wines at some point in the future, so he had a wine storage vault constructed, and filled it with as many good French wines as he could get at the time. He has been slowly selling them to our best customers over the past years and, I am sad to report, his supply is all but gone. He is very particular about his list of clients, sir, and I am afraid you will need to speak to him if you would like to become one of his clients for these wines. As you can guess, the demand outstrips the supply, and he tries to keep his best customers happy.”

  Elizabeth, who had been listening to his exchange with interest, suddenly realized where she had heard the name Dumont, which Lord Monttard said was his surname. She considered pulling her aunt aside to tell her what she knew, but decided that that might be impolite to Lord and Lady Monttard, so instead she said, “Aunt Gardiner, may I ask Lord Monttard a question?”

  Not waiting for Mrs. Gardner to answer, Lord Monttard said, “Of course, young lady, what would you like to know?”

  “My Lord, do you not own Dumont Shipping Lines?”

  “Why yes I do,” said Lord Monttard, with obvious surprise. “How do you know about my shipping line?”

  “I often help my uncle in the office of his export/import company,” said Elizabeth “and one of my duties is record transactions. He often does business with your shipping line, therefore, I have come across the name of the line and your name as owner many times.”

  Lord Monttard thought for a moment and then snapped his fingers and tapped his head with his index finger. “Of course, Gardiner Import/Export Company! Why did I not think of this? Even though I am not involved in the day-to-day running of the shipping line anymore, I regularly go over the books with my accountant and remember seeing the Gardiner name many times. As I recall, your company imports many items, not just wines and coffee. In fact, as I recall, he is a major dealer in fine fabrics. We just bought my wife several gowns at Mme. Tellier’s, and I expect that the fabrics for the dresses may have come from your uncle’s warehouse.”

  “You are probably correct,” answered Elizabeth. “I have processed many invoices from that establishment.”

  “Do you regularly work with your uncle at his office,” asked Lady Monttard.

  Mrs. Gardiner, always ready to take every opportunity to praise her favorite niece, answered for Elizabeth, “No. My niece only visits us a couple months out of the year, but in that time my husband likes to take advantage of her skills to allow some of his employees to take vacation. She has become quite a good accountant and has the advantage of knowing several languages, so she can help when the translation of papers or invoices is needed.”

  “My goodness,” said Lady Monttard. “All these accomplishments are unusual in a young lady?”

  “Yes,” answered Mrs. Gardiner. “She seems to have an amazing ability to learn and has a particular talent for learning languages. She started helping us when she was only 12 years old and has become an invaluable asset to our company as the years have passed.”

  Looking at Elizabeth, Lord Monttard asked, “Miss Bennet, have you received instruction from masters or have you acquired all of these skills without going to school or being formally taught?”

  “I have been taught by what I consider two masters: my father and my uncle. My father, who taught at Cambridge for a few years, taught me in my early years, including Latin, which prepared me to rather easily learn French, Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish. And both he and my uncle have allowed me access to their personal libraries.” Looking at her aunt, she gave a small laugh and said, “I guess they would tell you that I am a voracious reader,” a statement to which her aunt nodded her agreement.

  Lord Monttard leaned down and whispered something in his wife’s ear. When she nodded yes, he turned to Mrs. Gardiner and said, “We are both impressed with your shop and your niece, and I would like to speak to your husband. Would it be possible for you, your husband, and your niece to come to our townhouse for tea on Thursday afternoon?”

  With little hesitation, Mrs. Gardiner answered, “We would love to visit with you, my Lord, but please, I need to consult my husband to ensure he has no prior appointments. Would you mind if we sent you a note this evening confirming our visit or suggesting another time if my husband is not available at that time?

  “Certainly. In fact, we have no fixed appointments any afternoon for the remainder of the week. Therefore please feel free to choose any afternoon which would be convenient for you. And if afternoon tea is inconvenient for you, then perhaps we could have lunch together.”

  Mrs. Gardiner thanked them again for the invitation and their willingness to be so flexible with the time. Lord and Lady Monttard then said their au revoirs and exited the shop.

  When Mrs. Gardiner and Elizabeth arrived back at the Gardiner home on Gracechurch Street about 5 o’clock that evening, they found Mr. Gardiner in his library.

  “Edward,” said Mrs. Gardiner, “you will never guess who visited our shop this afternoon. It was Lord and Lady Monttard, the very Lord Monttard that owns Dumont Shipping Lines. They had heard from acquaintances that we had French wines and came to inquire about them. He is quite interested in being added to your wine client list and, therefore, desirous of meeting you. They extended an invitation to us to join them for tea on Thursday afternoon, but I felt that I could not accept until I had spoken to you to see if you had any prior appointments. They then said that their schedule is flexible, and we could pick any time during the week in the afternoon or even lunch to visit them. I told them I would send them a note this evening confirming Thursday afternoon or suggesting another time which would be better. Is Thursday afternoon acceptable to you?”

  Mr. Gardiner gave a broad smile and responded, “Indeed, this is most fortuitous. I was just thinking the other day how much I would like to meet Lord Monttard or one of his managers and discuss a closer connection between his company and mine. His shipping line gives me the best service of all the shipping lines I use. If I may ask, how was the relationship between his shipping line and my company recognized? Did you recognize his name and connect it with his shipping line or did he recognize our name?”

  “Actually, it was Lizzie who recognized the name from some of the transactions she had recorded for you. Oh, and speaking of Lizzie, I almost forgot. He and his wife had the most amazing reaction to meeting Lizzie. Lady Monttard almost fainted. I thought I might have to call a doctor for her.”

  “My goodness, Lizzie, did you have a horrible expression on your face, or were your clothes in disarray from crawling among the bookshelves?”

  “No, uncle, according to them I am almost a duplicate of their daughter when she was nearly my age, and the shock of seeing me was almost too much for Lady Monttard. And it was clear that Lord Monttard was just as shocked.” She shook her head. “It was most strange.”

  Looking at his calendar, Mr. Gardiner determined that he had no important Thursday afternoon meeting, so it was decided that Mrs. Gardiner would send Lord and Lady Monttard a note acknowledging that the Gardiners and Elizabeth would visit them on Thursday afternoon at 3 PM.

  The following Wednesday Mr. Gardiner took Elizabeth with him to his office, and they, along with one of his office accountants, looked through the books for the last five years to fin
d the records of all the business the Gardiner Import/Export had done with Dumont Shipping Lines. They had indeed done much business with Dumont Shipping Lines, and it took quite a long time for them to create a synopsis of all the business that had been done, a document Mr. Gardiner thought would help in his discussions with Lord Monttard during the visit on Thursday. He was hoping Lord Monttard would see that it would be advantageous to both parties if Dumont Shipping offered Gardiner Import/Export lower shipping rates in exchange for more shipping business from Gardiner. He also wanted to suggest some joint ventures into what he believed to be untapped markets.

  Chapter 2: Tea at Monttard House

  Thursday turned out to be a cold and rainy day, but it did not at all dampen the enthusiasm of Elizabeth and the Gardiner’s to meet and talk with Lord and Lady Monttard. Lord and Lady Monttard lived on Park Street, very close to Hyde Park and, therefore, in one of the finest residential areas in the city. It would be a real treat for them to visit one of the residences in that area, as none of them had ever had the opportunity to visit one of those houses before. As the carriage turned down Park Street, they were suitably impressed with the magnificence of the townhouses on the street. They were all very large and beautifully maintained.

  Dumont House was somewhat smaller than most of the houses on the street, but it was still quite large and magnificent. When their carriage pulled up in front of the house, two liveried servants quickly descended the front steps with step stools and umbrellas, helped Elizabeth and the Gardiners out of the carriage, and then held the umbrellas over them as they ascended the steps to the front door. They entered an impressive two-story foyer with a beautiful crystal chandelier in the middle of it. Standing under the chandelier to greet them were Lord and Lady Monttard.

  “Welcome to Dumont House,” said Lady Monttard. “I hope that the rain did not make your trip here too unpleasant.”