25. Chapter 23: What ever you hand finds

Ch 23: Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your heart*

The early morning fog slowed Lizzy as she took her customary morning walk. The air was cool and moist, clinging to her softly, tickling like a kitten's tail against her face. Jane thinks I have lost my mind when I tell her I love the feeling of fog in the morning. She finds it so ominous, like it is hiding something. But it is only playful, in a game of hide and seek with the sunrise on its heels, ready to reveal all it obscures. Twirling on her toes, she laughed to herself, feeling as good-humored as the fog she danced in. The lure of a new challenge, a new adventure, thrilled her. The possibility of failure did not intimidate her as it did Jane, it energized her.

I really should get back to the house. There is so much to be done today. Papa left so late yesterday and Mama was so distraught, we achieved nothing of which we intended yesterday. I so hope Mama will be in better spirits today. I had no idea that Papa's absence would distress her as much as it did.I suppose if she remains troubled, I could write him and let him know. But I would hate to disrupt his business if we do not have to. We will do the best we can to calm her, and hope that is enough. Hill is so good with her, I am sure she will be able to help Mama.

By the time Lizzy made it back to Longbourn, the fog was burning away and the warmth of the sun's rays caressed her face. This will be a lovely day.

Jane sat at the table, waiting for her wandering sister. "Did you enjoy the fog this morning?" she teased gently, sipping her tea.

"I certainly did! I cannot imagine a lovelier way to begin the morning." Lizzy lowered herself into her seat, nodding in thanks as her sister poured tea for her. "I imagine neither Mama nor our sisters have risen yet?"

"No. After dinner last night, I believe Kitty and Mary suddenly found a great deal to talk about, and were up quite late." A wry smile crept across her face. "In truth, I would never have imagined them getting along so well. I am quite astounded by the transformation in both of them."

"I would not have imagined that Lydia's departure would make such a difference in either of them." Lizzy shook her head, wondering. "I am worried about Lyddie, though. Mrs. Forster is such a young woman, still just newly married. I wonder that she is truly a fitting chaperone for our sister." She turned to her sister, arching her brow. " But alas, it is out of our hands and we should focus on that which we can affect, right?"

"I do believe you are teasing me, Lizzy!" she laughed good-naturedly. "But yes, that does sound like something I would say."

They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes before Lizzy felt compelled to break the stillness. "So then, where do you think we should begin today?"

"Well," Jane sighed, "I would prefer to leave the household accounts in your capable hands, if that is all right with you. I believe it is time to exert myself to become a bit more outgoing than is my wont. It has been a long time since our tenants have received proper calls from Longbourn. I would like to take the morning to visit a few of Papa's tenants. I spoke with cook last night, and found we have an abundance of blackberry jam in the pantry. So I will take them each a jar as a small gift."

"I would be pleased to have you handle the morning calls, Jane. Your gentle nature is sure to put people at ease. You are very much suited to the task. I fear I am better fitted to arguing with merchants and commanding servants," Lizzy laughed self-deprecatingly.

"Do not criticize yourself so, Lizzy!" Jane immediately admonished.

"We all have our gifts, dear. While you are immeasurably kind, I am simply bossy." Despite the saucy wink Lizzy offered with her words, the older girl knew too well the pain behind them. Before she could respond, though, Lizzy continued, "I had thought to set Mary and Kitty to check on the hen house and dairy barn. Do you think they are up to that?"

"There is no better way to find out than to try. I cannot imagine they can come to much harm among the chickens and cows." Jane laughed as she tried to shake the image from her mind.

"I hope they will find the idea appealing. I do not imagine that Kitty would prefer going over ledgers and Mary will not want to go alone"

An hour later, while her younger sisters ate breakfast in the dining room, Lizzy met with Hill in the housekeeper's small office off the kitchen.

"I have been going over the household accounts, and I wanted to ask you a few questions," Lizzy began gently. I do not wish to offend her.

"Yes, Madam," Hill bobbed her head respectfully. "I have kept the books quite faithfully. I hope that you have not found anything missing." She clasped her hands before her.

"They are quite complete, Hill. You have done a very good job in keeping them. In fact, that is why I wish to speak with you."

"I am afraid I do not understand."

Carefully opening the ledger, Lizzy directed the housekeeper's attention to several specific entries. "As I looked over these records, I noticed something that does not make sense to me."

"All that your father asked is there, is it not? The date, the purchases, the prices, the merchants?" Worried lines creased Hill's face.

"Yes, yes it is all here. That is not the problem at all." Lizzy sighed softly, trying to contain her mounting frustration. "When I looked over all the information you have so dutifully recorded, I noticed that in the last six months we seem to be purchasing sugar much more often than we had in months past. I looked over the menus, and I do not see any reason why we should be running out of sugar so much faster now."

Hill's eyes grew wide as she listened, then they narrowed as she searched for an answer. "I am afraid I cannot for the life of me think why that might be, ma'am."

"Is it your practice to check the weight of the items sent by the merchants?" the younger woman asked carefully.

"Yes, I do. I know it is the way of some to short the merchandise. That is why I have used Mr. Sterling for so many years. His parcels are always correctly weighed." The housekeeper began to wring her hands.

"That is odd indeed. Would you show me where you weigh the parcels?"

Silently, Hill nodded and led Lizzy to the back corner of the kitchen, near the pantry. "Here's where the girls put the packages when they come in, on the table next to my scale. Nothing moves from here until I have checked it against the order I made."

Carefully, Lizzy scrutinized the arrangement. She is far more efficient than I realized. I do not know that I would have ever thought to do this had Mrs. Rundell's book not mentioned it. How much I have to learn! "I have to agree with you, Hill. Everything looks in order here." She pressed her lips into a thoughtful frown, glancing into the pantry. Suddenly her brows furrowed and she walked toward the pantry, an alarmed Hill scurrying after her. "This is strange, do you know what this is?" In the corner of the pantry, on the floor, was a pile of small stones.

"I have never noticed that before. I cannot image what those are doing in my kitchen. Betsy!" Hill stepped out into the kitchen proper. "Betsy!"

"Yes ma'am!" A young woman dashed in and stood before Hill, panting hard.

"Can you tell me why there are rocks in my pantry?" An angry finger pointed accusingly at the offending pile.

"I'm sorry ma'am! I usually remember to take them out. I forgot!" the young woman's words spilled out anxiously.

"Take them out? Where do they come from?"

"The sugar. I find them in the bags of sugar. It is a simple thing to sieve them out before I bring it out to cook. I leave them rocks on the floor until I can take them out to the garden." Betsy glanced nervously at Lizzy, who now stood close by, listening intensely.

"Why was I not told?" The housekeeper's face turned red as her hands flew to her hips.

"I…I…I thought I ought not trouble you with that. It were no trouble for me to take care of it."

"Thank you, Betsy," Lizzy stepped in. Poor thing, she meant no harm. She has no idea why there were stones in the sugar. She was only doing the best she knew how. "In the future, should you find anything like that again, you are to notify Mrs. Hill. You have done fine. You may go back to your duties."

"Thank you," Betsy bobbed a curtsey and scampered away nervously.

An awkward silence followed. Lizzy looked at Hill with a wry smile. "That would explain why the sugar has not lasted as long as it used to."

"I am so sorry, ma'am. I had no idea. If that girl had only told me…"

"It is all right, Mrs. Hill. She had no idea. I do not believe she was intentionally keeping anything from you. Do not punish her for this. I know you suspected nothing of this sort, and I do not hold this against you either."

Hill swallowed hard. "That is very good of you. Thank you,"

"The question is, what to do about it now? I cannot imagine that we should call the magistrate over something such as this." She chewed her lower lip thoughtfully.

"No, ma'am. With your permission, I believe I have a better way." A satisfied grin bloomed on the older woman's weathered face.

"Do tell."

"I will tell our girls of Mr. Sterling's odd way of packing the sugar, and send them on errands to the other houses in the neighborhood. It will be but a day or so before everyone knows what has happened."

With a twinkle in her eye, Lizzy agreed, "That would be a more fitting consequence than calling the magistrate. Of course, we will take our patronage to Mr. Nash now." She laughed to herself.That does explain some of 's odd behavior when we were in town.

"I do believe that there will be many in town who will agree with you soon."No wonder the Master left her in charge. She is such a clever girl to figure that out so quick.

"Lizzy? Lizzy!" Mary's strong voice called from hall outside the kitchen.

Lizzy nodded to Hill then hurried to her sister. She found Mary and Kitty standing in the hall, holding another ledger. "What is wrong? Please, tell me you did not try to milk the cow yourselves."

The younger girls looked at each other and laughed. "My goodness, no!" Kitty sputtered. "I would not dare try, I am too afraid of her kicking me."

"Do not look at me like that Lizzy!" Mary held her hands up in surrender. "I have no wish to get too close to that great hairy beast either."

"Then what? Did the hens attack you as you tried to steal their eggs?" Lizzy's eyes danced with good natured mischief.

"Please Lizzy, this is serious," Mary protested in exasperation.Please do not ignore me as Papa has.

"Very well, you do not seem in the mood for a tease, so tell me, what is wrong?" She led them into the parlor to sit down.

"There is something very strange in the ledgers." Mary opened the ungainly book and searched for the page she needed.

Sighing, Lizzy rolled her eyes. This again? I cannot imagine.

"It does not make sense." Kitty pointed at a series of entries. "We talked to Mr. Clay…"

"He runs the home farm for Papa," Mary quickly explained. "Sorry, you knew that. He records the amount of eggs and milk that are taken to town to sell, who buys them, and how much he receives for them."

"Let me guess, you have no problem with his record keeping…" Lizzy offered, biting her upper lip.

"No, that is done just as Papa has requested. But look at this and this and this." Kitty pointed to three specific entries. "If you look at the amount sold and the amount received, something is not right with the numbers."

Lizzy stared at the numbers, thinking. Her brows knit as she blinked hard. That does not make sense. I must have calculated incorrectly.

Kitty could tell what her sister was thinking. "No, Lizzy, I am sure you figured correctly. Something is not the way it should be."

"I did not know you so proficient with your sums." She looked at her younger sister in surprise.

"It is quite useful in pattern making," Kitty shrugged. "But look here, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it seems as though the amounts received are less than they should be compared to the other days of the week."

"That is very odd indeed!" Lizzy squinted and blinked as she studied several pages of entries. "This seems to be a long standing pattern. Have you spoken to Mr. Clay?"

"No, not yet. I…we wanted to be certain that there was indeed something there," Mary replied softly.

Laying a warm hand on her sister's arm, Lizzy assured, "You have done a wonderful job, both of you. I am truly impressed. Let us take a trip down to speak with Mr. Clay and see what we can see."

In short order, the three sisters arrived at the dairy barn where Mr. Clay was instructing his son on the care of the calves. Quickly, Lizzy explained their findings to him.

"Beggin' your pardon, ma'am, but I canna' think why dat would be." He scratched his head with a dirty hand.

"Can you think of anything different that happens on those days?" Lizzy offered gently.Does no one here do anything but write numbers down? No one seems to consider what they mean.

Mr. Clay's son tugged insistently on his father's sleeve. "Papa, ain't those da days dat Bonnie takes da eggs and milk ta town?"

The farmer's eyes grew wide with understanding, then a dark cloud descended over his coarse features. "Bonnie!" he shouted angrily, "Git yourself o'er here! Bonnie!"

Kitty and Mary cringed as they saw the girl running toward them.

Quickly, he explained what Mary and Kitty had discovered and demanded an accounting.

None were surprised when Bonnie broke down into tears. "Oh, please, Miss, please, do not dismiss my papa!" she pleaded.

"Nothing will happen to your papa or your family if you tell us the truth," Lizzy answered firmly. "Did you steal that money?"

"Oh no, no! I did na! Papa would tan my hide ever so fierce if I e'er did something so evil!" Bonnie sobbed.

"Then what happened?" Mary dropped to her knee to look the little girl in the eye. Taking the youngster's hand, she calmly soothed the child.Poor thing is terrified.

"Billy Thompson," Bonnie whispered hoarsely.

"What about him?" Lizzy followed Mary's lead and crouched down.

"He…'e knows I 'ave the milk an' egg money when I come back from town. Billy, 'e waits at da foot bridge, 'e makes me give 'im…four pence or sometime even six pence to let me pass…" The child broke down sobbing once again.

"And if you did not?" Mary pressed, drying her tears.

"'e said 'e would hit me and take it all, then tell the magistrate I stole it! 'e said the magistrate would…would…"

"There, there, it is all right. Nothing will happen to you." Mary drew the girl into a reassuring embrace. Poor dear little thing!

Lizzy rose, brushing her hands on her skirt. She fixed a stare on Mr. Clay.

"Dis be da first I heard o' it! Truly ma'am…" The farmer's alarm was clear in his voice.

"I can see that," Lizzy agreed. "The question is, what do we do about it now?" Glancing at her sisters for support, she continued, "I believe a visit to the Thompson's would be in order."

"It would indeed!" he agreed. "Come now, Bonnie." Gently he took his daughter's small hand in his and led them all on a brisk walk to the Thompson's farm.

Lizzy's mind raced as she hurried to keep up with the angry farmer's long strides. What am I going to say to them? What am I going to do? Billy Thompson is hardly more than nine years old. I cannot call the magistrate against a child! Yet, the amount that has been taken would be considered a hanging offense! How I wish Mary and Kitty had never found that! I cannot allow a child to face the gallows over something we never even noticed before now!

Too soon for Lizzy's tastes, they arrived at the tenant farm. Mr. Clay knocked sharply at the door and demanded to see Mr. Thompson. Mrs. Thompson ushered him into the house, then did a double take when she saw the sisters standing behind him.

"Please, come in. I imagine you are looking for Miss Bennet? She just came to call a few minutes ago. She is here in the parlor." The farmer's wife anxiously led them into the parlor where Jane sat talking with Mr. Pierce.

Jane is here! I am so glad. I need her right now! Lizzy's eyes searched for her sister.

Surprised, the eldest Bennet sister sprang to her feet. "Lizzy! Mary! Kitty! Is everything all right? I did not expect to see you here." On no! What is wrong?

Seeing the suffering on Lizzy's face, Mr. Pierce added, "Please, Miss Elizabeth, sit down. Is there anything I can do for your present distress? Can you tell us what has happened?" Kindly, he guided Lizzy to a chair.

With gratitude, she sat down and pressed her temples hard. "Things have suddenly become quite complicated," she sighed and rapidly explained the events that had led them to the Thompson's home.

Raised voices from the back of the house convinced them that Mr. Thompson had indeed been found and was listening to Mr. Clay's complaint. Moments later they heard, "Billy! Get in your arse in here! Billy!" shouted from the back door.

"Oh Jane! I do not know what to do," Lizzy whispered desperately.

Mr. Pierce looked from one sister to the next, identical expressions of compassion and worry in each of their eyes. He drew breath to speak, but was interrupted by the arrival of the farmers with their children in tow.

"Clay tol' me o' what ma' Billy done," Mr. Thompson declared, glaring furiously, first at his son, then at the other farmer. "What ya' done there be a hanging offense, boy!" He shook the boy by the shoulder angrily.

"I will get the magistrate," Mr. Clay declared, taking a step toward the door.

Mr. Thompson blanched at the suggestion, a look of horror lighting his eyes.

"No!" Lizzy cried, springing to her feet to stop the farmer. Briskly she stepped toward the young boy, still in his father's grasp.

"But ma'am…" Clay protested as Lizzy shook her head sharply.

"Why did you take the money from Bonnie?" Lizzy asked, dropping down to look the child in the eye.

"I did na…" Billy began to protest until his father's powerful squeeze on his shoulder stopped his words. "I…I…dinna' know." He glowered at his interrogator.

"He's a bad seed," Clay declared, glowering at the boy and his father.

"That is enough, Mr. Clay," Lizzy commanded, rising. "He is a child. A child who has done a bad deed." She turned her eyes on Mr. Thompson. "Who certainly should be punished for what he has done." She frowned at Clay. "But not by the magistrate."

Thompson swallowed hard. "I will tan his hide for sure, ma'am. But please, donna' call da magistrate. I will see to it dat he will na' do dis agin."

Lizzy looked over her shoulder to Jane. Her elder sister shrugged helplessly, but rose to stand beside Lizzy. Looking critically at the defiant child, Lizzy shook her head, "I fear that will not be enough."

"An' what would you know…" Thompson retorted angrily.

"I agree with Miss Elizabeth," Mr. Pierce added, joining the sisters.

Thompson drew a sharp breath. "He's but a child!"

Mr. Pierce raised his hand to stop the protest. "I have a suggestion, if I may, Miss Elizabeth, Miss Bennet."

The four sisters turned hopeful eyes on the curate.

"The good book says 'If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house; if the thief be found, let him pay double.'** It seems to me that is what has happened here." The curate's gentle brown eyes focused on the boy.

"But I ain't got that!" Billy protested loudly.

"We jes paid da rent. I donna' have…" Mr. Thompson continued.

"Wait," Lizzy interrupted. "If he does not have the money, he may work to repay his debt. I believe, Mr. Clay, you have need of extra help in the barns right now?" She turned her gaze to the farmer.

Mr. Pierce smiled and nodded approvingly.

"I suppose…" Clay agreed reluctantly.

Suddenly the boy's defiant demeanor shattered and a ray of hope lit his eyes. "I can work hard in da barns!"

"I am sure you can," Jane warmly agreed. "I think it is a good plan. Understand, you will have to work hard, and for a long time, to pay off your debts." She looked at the boy very seriously.

He nodded up at her, "But da magistrate will na' be comin' ta git me?"

"No he will not," Lizzy crossed her arms over her chest. "Not as long as you do as you are told and work hard. Mr. Clay, please add young Billy's work to those things you record for my father."

"Yes, ma'am."

Thompson breathed a heavy sigh of relief. From outside the room, they heard his wife burst into loud tears of relief. "Thank ya, ma'am and ma'am. And you too, sir," he turned to Mr. Pierce gratefully, "I will na' forgit what ya done for ma boy."

Lizzy sighed with relief, grateful for Mr. Pierce's quick intervention. A few minutes later the sisters took their leave of the Thompsons and began their journey back to Longbourn.

Jane insisted on being informed of all their discoveries as they walked. "To think I was feeling sorry for myself, listening to the complaints of the tenants' wives!" She laughed. "Here I thought myself so patient and longsuffering while all I had to do was simply listen. In the meantime, you were studying ledgers, solving mysteries, and meting out justice!"

"I hardly think this is what Papa intended when he handed the management of the household over to us," Mary remarked contemplatively.

"I believe you are correct, dear," Lizzy agreed, twining her arm in Mary's. "I do so dearly hope all our days will not be nearly so exciting!"

*Eccl 9:10

**EX 22:7