Lizzy Bennet Meets the Countess Read online

  Lizzy Bennet

  Meets the Countess

  By

  Don Jacobson

  A Pride and Prejudice Variation

  © 2017 by Donald P. Jacobson. All rights reserved. No portion of this work may be reproduced by any means electronic or mechanical without the expressed written consent of the holder of this copyright with the exception of brief excerpts for review purposes. Published in the United States of America.

  Cover painting: Detail from a hand-colored engraving of Villa Diodati, by Edward Francis Finden, ca. 1833, after a drawing by William Purser. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1923 and the creator of the work died more than 95 years ago.

  Cover design by Janet Taylor. JT Originals.

  All characters, real or imaginary, are treated as fiction and may have been altered for literary purposes. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental. All errors are the author’s own. He humbly apologizes in advance for any inconvenience or discomfort these may cause.

  Other Works by Don Jacobson

  The Bennet Wardrobe Stories

  Miss Bennet’s First Christmas

  The Bennet Wardrobe: Origins

  The Keeper: Mary Bennet’s Extraordinary Journey

  Henry Fitzwilliam’s War

  The Exile (Pt. 1): Kitty Bennet and the Belle Époque

  Lizzy Bennet Meets the Countess

  The Exile (Pt.2): The Countess Visits Longbourn

  The Avenger: Thomas Bennet and a Father’s Lament

  Other Pride and Prejudice Variations

  Lessers and Betters Stories

  Of Fortune’s Reversal

  The Maid and The Footman

  Lessers and Betters

  Table of Contents

  The Bennets of Longbourn Genealogy

  Preface

  Dedication

  Gibbons’ Rules of the Wardrobe

  A Letter from Elizabeth Darcy to Mary Benton (Excerpt)

  Prologue

  Book One: Through The Looking Glass

  Chapter I

  Chapter II

  Chapter III

  Chapter IV

  Chapter V

  Chapter VI

  Chapter VII

  Chapter VIII

  Chapter IX

  Chapter X

  Chapter XI

  Chapter XII

  Chapter XIII

  Chapter XIV

  Book Two: Finding Prometheus

  Chapter XV

  Chapter XVI

  Chapter XVII

  Chapter XVIII

  Chapter XIX

  Chapter XX

  Epilogue

  End Notes

  The Bennets of Longbourn

  Preface

  After finishing the first half of The Exile in May 2017, I was looking ahead to Part 2 of the book (essentially 1932-1944). But, something was nagging at me: the uncharted time sequence between 1892 when Part 1 ended and 1915 when Henry Fitzwilliam’s War had been set to explore the young Viscount’s behavior toward Kitty Bennet after she arrived through the Wardrobe in 1886.

  A “bread crumb” providentially rose to the surface, perhaps in a sub-conscious answer to my quandary. I discovered it in a transitional chapter (written in early 2016) in “The Keeper” (Ch. XLII) where Mary Benton is contemplating a letter she received from Lizzy who was traveling in Europe with Darcy. In it Elizabeth relates a tale about the time they had been spending with another party of British travelers at the Villa Diodati in Switzerland…Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary Godwin

  Questions began to bubble up in my mind.

  Notably: what would have inspired Mary Godwin’s story Frankenstein: The New Prometheus if it had been written in the Bennet Wardrobe universe during the summer of 1816?

  In our world, her reading of Erasmus Darwin’s Zoönomia (1796) and a variety of scientific experiments particularly Darwin’s account of animating a piece of vermicelli stimulated her creative process.

  But in the Wardrobe universe, the Darcys were also present at the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva that summer of 1816. Might not their attendance at Frankenstein’s birth imply that there had been some influence at the conception?

  Godwin’s story envisioned the future but did so by placing the gothic tale contemporaneously and using tools of her world—that of the Industrial Revolution—familiar to her listeners and readers. In this she followed in the steps of Homer who, when composing his epic poems around 750 BCE, employed the structures of the Greek Dark Ages (1100-700 BCE) to discuss Mycenaean Greece which vanished about 1100 BCE.

  Who within Godwin’s vicinity had the ability to suggest that future? Bennets had certainly used the Wardrobe to time travel since its creation in the early 1690s. But, Mrs. Darcy did not have the Wardrobe with her in Switzerland—that was secure in Mary and Edward’s rooms at the Kympton Parsonage. And, honestly, which account would Godwin have written if a mature Elizabeth had related a history of a trip to the future taken just days before the now legendary ghost story contest?

  Fresh memories are too crisp to smudge into gothic horror.

  However, the foggy recollections of an adult relating dreamtime images from her childhood, that rise at the edges of sleep, would provide ample fodder for a novelist.

  And so, they did.

  I needed to have Lizzy in 1816, still recovering from her miscarriage, relating dreams to Mary Godwin. How did she arrive at those ghostly images?

  That, dear readers, is the story which you will now learn… how Elizabeth Darcy came to dream the dreams of an Edwardian future.

  Don Jacobson

  Issaquah, WA

  September 2017

  Dedication

  I dedicate this book to the cadre of followers of one of the pathfinders in the world of fiction writing, Miss Jane Austen. These readers, through their interest, have kept alive her enduring studies of the human condition. So it is to those readers—and authors—who have endeavored to keep Austen fresh through countless variations of the Canonical stories, that I offer up this work in the hopes of opening new doors into her universe.

  I wish to offer “front of book praise” to the remarkable Nicole Clarkston. Her “Courtship of Edward Gardiner” illuminated the path to my own interpretation of the child Elizabeth Rose Bennet. Her beta notes and those of Carole Steinhardt were, as always, invaluable.

  Lest we forget: my work would be nothing without my Lizzy Bennet, Pam who, impertinent to perfection, keeps me an honest writer seeking to compose my truths.

  Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish hearts than all other human creations.

  L. Frank Baum[i]

  Gibbons’ Rules of The Wardrobe

  Only blood descendants of Christopher Bennet of Longbourn Estate, Meryton, Hertfordshire will be able to utilize the Cabinet to visit the future. No other person will be able to activate the forces channeled by the Wardrobe.

  Time transit will be accomplished from the Wardrobe in the present to the Wardrobe in the future. If the Wardrobe is altered, damaged or destroyed in the future, travel beyond that point in time will be impossible.

  Each time voyage is a cycle that must be completed. A cycle is one trip to the future accompanied by a return trip to moment of departure. The Bennet cannot use the Wardrobe to jump to one future and then jump to another future beyond.

  Time travel will only be undertaken based upon t
he expressed desire of the Bennet. However, the Wardrobe will interpret that desire and ascertain what is best for the Bennet, the Bennet family, and the Wardrobe itself.

  Travel forward in time does not stop the progression of time in the Universe. If the Bennet spends a year in the future and uses the Wardrobe to return, the Bennet will have aged one year.

  No travel to any past before the immediate present is possible.

  No male Bennet will be able to sire offspring in the future having travelled to that future through the Wardrobe in order to prevent improper relations. No female Bennet can increase in the future and then return to the past while awaiting confinement. Bennet children born in the future will not be able to return to the past with their parent.

  Other rules may be discovered that will modify these strictures.

  Destiny once composed cannot be undone (C. Bennet, 1697)

  9. Under no circumstances should an increasing woman, be she a Bennet or carrying a Bennet babe, touch the wardrobe lest both be transported because of the closeness of their bond. (S. Bennet, 1760)

  10. All traveling Bennets must immediately contact the head offices of the Bennet Family Trust in London using whatever means fitting for the epoch. (T. Bennet, 1812)

  11. Upon arrival, traveling Bennets must ascertain the correct date and location prior to leaving the vicinity of the Wardrobe. Under no circumstances shall the Bennet leave the vicinity of the Wardrobe until personal security is established lest the Wardrobe be compromised. (M. Benton, E. Benton, 1816)

  12. The Wardrobe may determine that two Bennets, one already having traveled forward but not yet having completed the cycle, may both move forward if they are in skin-to-skin contact when the cabinet is activated by the untraveled Bennet. (M. Benton, 2009)

  An Excerpt from The Keeper: Mary Bennet’s Extraordinary Journey, Ch. XLII

  This excerpt details a letter from Elizabeth Darcy to her sister Mary Benton written in July 1816 during “The Year without Summer.” Readers will find the information useful in establishing context for this work. DJ

  

  But, Lizzy’s most recent letter had set Mary to thinking. The Darcys had been passing through the Alps when they encountered another group of British tourists headed by the literary giants Byron and Shelley. The Swiss weather had been indifferent at best and downright miserable at worst, so the Darcys accepted Byron’s hospitality to share his rented villa for several days.

  Lizzy related that Lord Byron had suggested a diversion to pass the time while they were cooped up in the house. He wanted everyone to write a ghost story suitable for fireside reading after dinner. Elizabeth’s letter triggered something deep inside Mary.

  “You have to understand how out-of-our-depth Darcy and I felt. Fitzwilliam has only recently begun to read novels. Most of his time is spent absorbing tracts on farming techniques or new mill machinery. And you know that I do enjoy reading gothic tales, but to write one?

  Darcy and I were able to plead that as “simple country folk,” we would be poor contestants but rather better judges of the competition. In any event, the stories offered by Byron, Shelley and most of the other guests were workmanlike but not particularly scary.

  There was one, however, written by Mary Godwin, Shelley’s paramour, that utterly terrified everybody. Byron fled the room as she was reading. Please do not be outraged that we would associate with ‘that sort of woman’ for she and Shelley are deeply in love but are trapped by his marriage[ii].

  Her tale of a doctor revivifying a corpse he had assembled out of pieces pilfered from graveyards has the makings of a timeless story. It works on two levels. Certainly, it is the most frightening story I have ever heard. The monster is heart chilling.

  But, as Fitzwilliam and I later discussed, this doctor’s assumption of what had only been in God’s hands, the power to create life, is a metaphor for our new industrial age. Man is now using water and steam to create cloth and forge iron. And, the biblical ‘Let there be light’[iii] has been spoken by Sir Humphrey Davy with success. Where before we accepted ‘God’s Will’ to explain the world, now we are capable of changing that which has always been deemed unchangeable.

  But, we must beware lest our new powers destroy us as the monster destroyed his creator in Miss Godwin’s story.”

  Lizzy’s comments about Man taking on roles previously reserved only to God had left a mark on Mary’s mind. She reflected that both had changed to the point where they had become close confidantes. In the old days, Mary and Lizzy barely engaged in civil conversation. Now, they shared their deepest thoughts.

  

  Prologue

  Longbourn Estate, Hertfordshire, June 22, 1801

  John Lucas leaned his forehead into the trunk of the ancient oak in the garden behind the Bennet manse and buried his face in the crook of his elbow. Even though he had hidden his eyes, young Lucas, Harrow-bound for his first Michaelmas term, scrupulously squared his honor knowing that his integrity would always be measured by those seeking to fault a first-generation gentleman and squeezed his lids tightly as he began his century count. He could hear muffled giggles receding as his playmates raced away all-the-while avoiding Mrs. Bennet’s cherished rose beds.

  John and the three Bennet girls—Jane, Lizzy, and Mary—along with his best friend, Walter Goulding, had been allowed the extraordinary boon of being able to play outdoors after their dinner on this, the longest day of the year. Twelve-year-old Jane, as the eldest host youth, had been designated Commander-in-Chief of the Longbourn Irregulars by her Papa, understanding that his first-born would never suggest any course of action that would ruffle maternal sensibilities.

  Mr. Bennet had been anticipating a pleasant meal with his closest friends and their wives throughout the few days since his wife had announced her plans. This was Mrs. Bennet’s first real effort at entertaining after her terrible disappointment late last year. Thomas Bennet had keenly felt the loss, as it had made the reality of the entailment under which Longbourn’s succession was circumscribed as immediate as his next serious fever or unfortunate riding accident. While he managed to hide his worry over the fate of his girls, his wife began exhibiting her fears in a most disquieting manner.

  Charlotte Lucas, all of seven-and-ten, returned now from her first London season, would dine with the adults and later provide the distaff side with ample fodder for post-prandial conversation as they explored the mysteries of fashion, drawing rooms, and dance. While the young lady had not attracted the matrimonial interest, her mother had so ardently hoped for, Père Bennet knew that his own lady wife would have more than enough advice to offer both mother and daughter even though her own girls would not be entering the marriage mart for years.

  To promote a congenial atmosphere inside the manor house, the Master of Longbourn had decreed that the five children, ranging in age from nine to twelve, would celebrate Midsummer as the Druids had at Stonehenge, with outdoor food and games. Thus, Mrs. Hill and Cook had set up tables in the garden gazebo, loading them with tasty treats to tempt younger palettes. Allowing the youngsters to burn off excess energy in the early evening countryside, cooling now after the heat of the day, meant that the adults could dine as they had when all three couples had been newlyweds back in the Eighties.

  Without the burden of the littlest Bennets, Lucases, and Gouldings, left behind in their nurseries under the watchful eyes of housekeepers and nurses, the children quickly agreed that a game of hide-and-seek would be a famous way to celebrate the beginning of summer. Rather than endure a debate over who would be the first Seeker, John asserted his prerogative as eldest male on site to arbitrarily announce his assumption of the role. He could not help but notice that this did not sit well with ten-year-old Lizzy, whose rich brown eyes flashed dangerously beneath beetled dark brows.

  However, Lizzy chose to restrain her natural impulse to object to John’s presumption as she was still a bit in awe at how her old friend now towered over her. Young Master Lucas had enjo
yed a springtime adolescent growth spurt which left his mother despairing about the speed he was outsizing his clothing.

  On second thought, there are some obvious advantages to having John try to chase us down! While he may be taller than anybody else, that size could be a liability. He has become dreadfully clumsy, tripping over his feet all the time! I imagine that even Jane, encumbered by those horrid stays Mama insists she wear, could beat him in a footrace to safety. And do not even think about his voice…that is unless you want to break out laughing and embarrass him terribly.

  With those thoughts lightening her footsteps, Lizzy watched as Jane, holding onto Mary’s hand, flew toward the stables. Walter had loped off behind old Mr. Wheatfield’s[iv] cottage. Lizzy pondered her best hiding spot. The only rule they had agreed upon was that anything beyond Longbourn’s main grounds was out-of-bounds.

  The contestants had assumed that meant that the estate’s lawns, gardens, and outbuildings were fair game. Nothing had been said—either for or against—about inside the house!

  That gray area appealed to Lizzy’s unique view of sportsmanship. If it was not expressly against the rules—as when Papa stated that he did not wish to learn that she had been climbing trees in the orchard—then it could be done!

  Chuckling to herself at her cleverness, the ten-year-old dashed through the kitchen door and crept noiselessly through Mr. Hill’s pantry to slip into Papa’s book room. Scanning the library that took up one end of the ground floor, Lizzy searched for the perfect place to curl up and fool everyone!

  Daring to peek out of the French windows, thrown open to allow the early evening air to cool the chamber, she could see John continuing his count to one hundred. As he called out seventy, Lizzy began to consider her options with a greater sense of urgency.