Hello, All. This is Romona Regency here with all the latest and greatest news from Kent. This bit of scandal comes to us from just outside of Rochester and Higham upon the estate of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, the sister to the Earl of Matlock and widow of Sir Lewis de Bourgh. It seems her ladyship is to be displaced and by none other than her “favorite” nephew, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, the master of Pemberley, who by a twist of fate, or, rather, should we say, a twist of “marriage” is now the new master of Rosings Park, having inherited it from his late wife. The gentleman has provided his aunt her “marching orders.” It seems the grand dame must claim a new moniker: That of the Dowager Lady de Bourgh. Sources say even Lord Matlock has refused to assist her ladyship with her removal from the estate’s mansion to the dower house.
His lordship was heard to have said:
“Devilish rum business. But Darcy has his rights. You chose to force his hand, and, now, you must live with your manipulation. Our nephew married Anne, just as you insisted he do. It is not his fault your daughter died in a little over half a year of pronouncing her vows. Even though they held nothing more than familial affection for each other, who is to say they might have made the best of it for the remainder of their days—mayhap they would have had a half-dozen children. That might have satisfied you, to have grandchildren about you. Might have softened your nature. However, I do not think such a marriage would have made either Darcy or Anne happy. Like it or not, Catherine, they did not suit. Darcy adored his parents, and, whether you wish to recognize it or keep fooling yourself, George Darcy and our younger sister Anne were happy together. They loved each other deeply. Your belief that George Darcy should have chosen you instead of Anne—that you should have been mistress of such a breathtaking beautiful estate as Pemberley—is what drove you to force Darcy and your daughter together. You made your bed, now, you must lie in it.”
Rosings Park (Belton House/Public Domain)
My goodness! Is that not scandalous enough for you? Imagine one so regal—so full of her own consequence—being brought so low as to live on an allowance and to entertain in the estate’s dower house. I suppose those without connections would know satisfaction with such a house, but none of us here at The Tattler believe Lady Catherine will know ease.
Other sources have informed me that Mr. Darcy means to bring the estate back to his former grandeur, for such was his late wife’s dying wish. We can only hope Mr. Darcy performs with more expertise than did his aunt, who is said to have shamelessly neglected her obligations to her tenants.
As of this very morning, it is my understanding that Lady Catherine has taken to her bed, supposedly from a fall upon the main stairs of the manor house, but one can logically consider her ladyship’s “accident” simply a maneuver to keep Mr. Darcy at bay for as long as possible. Several servants attached to the manor house have confirmed that Lady Catherine has agreed to employ Miss Elizabeth Bennet to oversee the refurbishing of the dower house. Miss Bennet is said to be the cousin of Lady Catherine’s cleric, Mr. Collins, and she was visiting with the Collinses when the accident occurred. We here at The Tea Time Tattler wondered why Mrs. Collins did not take up the charge of assisting Lady Catherine, but several among those who are willing to speak of her ladyship’s woes have indicated Mrs. Collins has been ordered to bed by our own Doctor Wilson. All within Rosings Park assume Mrs. Collins is with child, but nothing has been confirmed; yet, such would explain much, as few know anything of Miss Bennet, who is said to be from Hertsfordshire. We shall keep both our eyes and our ears open and report back when we learn of Lady Catherine’s removal to her new home. Shan’t that be a sight for our sore eyes?
Side Note:
After this story was set for publication, we learned that Miss Bennet, at the insistence of Lady Catherine, has moved into Rosings Park itself, which means when Mr. Darcy arrives later in the week, he will be forced to stay either at the local inn or at the dower house being repaired for his aunt. Naturally, a gentleman cannot remain is the main house, even if he owns it, with an unmarried female and no chaperone. Now, that would be a scandal worth bringing out a special edition of lovely newsprint, would it not? If such occurs, you shall hear it here first.
About the Book
The Mistress of Rosings Park: A Pride and Prejudice Vagary
Release date: January 8, 2021
I much prefer the sharp criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses. – Johannes Kepler
When she arrives at Hunsford Cottage for a visit with her long-time friend Charlotte Collins, Elizabeth Bennet does not expect the melodrama awaiting her at Rosings Park.
Mrs. Anne Darcy, nee de Bourgh, has passed, and Rosings Park is, by law, the property of the woman’s husband, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy; yet, Lady Catherine de Bourgh is not ready to abandon the mansion over which she has served as mistress for thirty years. Elizabeth holds sympathy for her ladyship’s situation. After all, Elizabeth’s mother will eventually be banished from Longbourn when Mr. Bennet passes without male issue. She inherently understands Lady Catherine’s “hysterics,” while not necessarily condoning them, for her ladyship will have the luxury of the right to the estate’s dower house, and, moreover, it is obvious Rosings Park requires the hand of a more knowledgeable overseer. Therefore, Elizabeth takes on the task of easing Lady Catherine’s transition to dowager baronetess, but doing so places Elizabeth often in the company of the “odious” Mr. Darcy, a man Lady Catherine claims poisoned her daughter Anne in order to claim Rosings Park as his own.
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About the Author
Regina Jeffers, an award-winning author of historical cozy mysteries, Austenesque sequels and retellings, as well as Regency era romances, has worn many hats over her lifetime: daughter, student, military brat, wife, mother, grandmother, teacher, tax preparer, journalist, choreographer, Broadway dancer, theatre director, history buff, grant writer, media literacy consultant, and author. Living outside of Charlotte, NC, Jeffers writes novels that take the ordinary and adds a bit of mayhem, while mastering tension in her own life with a bit of gardening and the exuberance of her “grand joys.”
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My Dear Mr. Clemens,
Now you owe me because there’s more. It isn’t just the boy that washed up in Macao. A girl followed him—Sudbury’s oldest girl, the uppity one too proud to so much as dance with any gent lower than a duke, the one with the weird Arabic name. Superintendent Eliot and his wife put it out that they’re hosting her on Sudbury’s behalf, but I doubt Sudbury even knows where she is. I saw her myself going in and out of Eliot’s house as swanky and stuck up as ever she was in London, every inch the duke’s daughter, but I heard rumors.
I got myself an invitation to dinner by one of the China traders, Harold McIlroy. It cost me a pretty penny in drinks at the club where they all congregate, but it was worth it. The ladies of Macao dig dirt with the best of them. I got an earful, I can tell you. I don’t see how it can all be true, but where there’s smoke, there has to be at least an ember or two.
The Chit has nerve. All Macao knows what she is, but she parades around town while a little servant hops along behind her holding some fancy parasol on a bent handle to keep the sun off her like she’s some short of rajah’s female. I cornered the little weasel, a Chinese boy who looks like at least one Portuguese tomcat got at his great-grandfather’s tabbies. Name’s Filipe. The boy talked about the trollop like she’s the queen herself. Calls her “Lady Zamb.” I think he’s half in love with her. Wouldn’t say a bad word. Talked about her like she’s some kind of saint, and I know for fact she isn’t that. He told me to ask the woman who runs the mission school. One of the Quakers. He had to be lying. I can’t see a prune-faced female missionary tolerating the sort those women at McIlroy’s described.
Crushed with grief after the death of his son, Charles Wheatly, Duke of Murnane throws himself into the new Queen’s service in 1838. When the government sends him on an unofficial fact-finding mission to the East India Company’s enclave in Canton, China, he anticipates intrigue, international tensions, and an outlet for his frustration. He isn’t entirely surprised when he also encounters a pair of troublesome young people that need his help. However, the appearance of his estranged wife throws the entire enterprise into conflict. He didn’t expect to face his troubled marriage in such an exotic locale, much less to encounter profound love at last in the person of a determined young woman. Tensions boil over, and his wife’s scheming—and the beginnings of the First Opium War—force him to act to rescue the one he loves and perhaps save himself in the process.
Mary Fisher went about her business as her mistress directed, even with the house in an uproar and the mistress preoccupied with worry. The whole staff had more work than usual, what with a wedding the day before. She carried her bucket and rags carefully up the servant stairs to the third level with great care so as not to spill a drop, an effort that proved futile when a hand snaked out, grabbed her free arm, and pulled her into the linen closet. The door slammed shut.
Reclusive businessman Rand Wheatly finds his solitude disrupted by a desperate woman running with her children from an ugly past. But even his remote cabin in Upper Canada isn’t safe enough. Meggy Blair may have lied to him, but she and her children have breached the walls of his betrayed heart. Now she’s on the run again. To save them he must return to face his demons and seek help from the family he vowed to never see again.
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