Sorrow and Second Chances
Page 33
Fortunately, however, the birth was a relatively straightforward one and the midwife whom Mr Bennet had employed was highly skilled at her trade, and so just as the sun was setting the next day, Mrs Bennet was finally delivered of her baby. In fact, Mr Bennet was so relieved to be told that his wife was well, and moreover that he would finally be allowed upstairs to see her, that he quite forgot to ask what the sex of the baby was. However, as soon as Mr Bennet entered his wife’s bedroom, he saw her radiant smile and realised that she was bursting with excitement to tell him.
“See here,” Heather said, as she proudly presented him with their baby, “I have ended the threat of the family entail, for you have a son, Thomas.”
*****
Needless to say, Mr Collins was absolutely incandescent with rage when he received Mr Bennet’s letter with the announcement of the birth of his son – though in direct contrast, Mr Bennet had been quite unable to stop himself from grinning as he had written to give the good news to his cousin. In fact, Mr Bennet had thanked Mr Collins most sincerely for being the one to suggest the possibility of his marriage to his former-neighbour, for he stated that without his cousin’s thoughtful advice, he might never otherwise have got up the courage to ask her. Knowing full well what Mr Collins’ response would be to the news that he had fathered a son – a son who had replaced Mr Collins as the sole heir to the Longbourn estate and all its surrounding properties – Mr Bennet didn’t trouble himself to open his cousin’s letter when it came. Instead, Mr Bennet gave the letter to his son-in-law, Mr Darcy, who read and then summarised the contents of it with his typical style of brevity. Indeed, the fact that Mr Darcy simply snorted in response to the letter before throwing it onto the fire was enough to inform Mr Bennet that his own letter to Mr Collins had successfully done its work in severing such an unwelcome association.
He and Mrs Bennet named their son William Frederick, and there was never a shortage of doting sisters to hold and marvel over the new arrival to the Bennet family. Mary and her husband soon afterwards journeyed down to Hertfordshire to be with the rest of the family for the Christmas season, and so it was a noisy, laughter-filled occasion as they all celebrated together that year. Indeed, Mr Bennet felt very blessed as he looked around his sitting room and affectionately watched his family chatting and joking together, and he silently sent up a private message of thanks to Agnes, whom he felt sure would be watching over their family with a great deal of pride and love.
With such thoughts in mind, Mr Bennet returned his attention to the great family Bible which he had spread open in front of him upon the sitting room table, and with great satisfaction and no little amount of nostalgia, he began to update the front inside page with all the recent changes that had taken place within his family.[7] It had been a long time since he had last written anything in the pages of this family heirloom; in fact, he hadn’t updated it since the bleak days following Agnes’ death. In his desperate grief at the time, he had simply scrawled a thick black line through her name to indicate her passing and had written nothing else, except to record the date on which she had been cruelly taken from him.
He hadn’t been able to bear returning to the Bible ever since that day, but the happy life he led now was so completely different to the desperation which he had felt then that it felt like the right time to add more. Thus, in the formal handwriting which he had learnt long ago at school, Mr Bennet began to write down the details of his three eldest daughters’ marriages, along with his own, before adding the details of the births of Thomas Darcy, Charlotte Bingley, and finally, little William Bennet. He smiled as he glanced at the remainder of the page, which was blank – ready for all the future updates and changes which would no doubt occur within his family in the coming years.
* * *
[1] In the Regency-era, women of the upper and middle classes did not typically attend funeral services.
[2] Mourning in the Regency era had strict rules to follow which dictated what the bereaved should wear and even how much socialising would be acceptable. Widows were expected to be in ‘deep mourning’ for a full year, though the rules were much more lenient for men. Children of the deceased were expected to mourn for at least six months, and so it would not be seen as entirely proper for a marriage proposal to be made or accepted during this period.
[3] People of the fashionable ranks in the Regency era tended to keep later hours; they rose later in the mornings and stayed up much later into the night. They also dined later than people tended to do in the countryside, where people were generally not as concerned with fashionable trends. These habits were an indication of their wealth and status which separated them from the working classes, who naturally had to rise at dawn to begin work. Candles were a luxury good in those days and so dining later and using candles was also an indication of prestige.
[4] During the ‘half-mourning period’ women could wear colours such as maroon, violet, lavender or grey, with black edging. This denoted a gradual phasing out of the severe black dress code of full mourning and a gradual return to regular fashions.
[5] Christianity was introduced to the lands which later became known as ‘Britain’ during the rule of the Roman Empire. Many of the key events of the Christian calendar can in fact trace their origins to key Pagan celebrations, which had been the predominant faith of the assorted Celtic tribes beforehand.
[6] There was a temporary peace in Europe when Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated in March 1814 and was then exiled to the island of Elba.
[7] Traditionally, people would often log key family events, such as births, marriages and deaths, in the front pages of the family Bible.