Prologue #6
Bennet added all of the clear profits from both expanded estates to his investment portfolio and reinvested the profits made by the investments each year.
This meant that even in a lean year, or years of lower than expected productivity, would not have a negative impact on his family.
His friend Reggie had not dubbed Gardiner ‘King Midas’ without good reason; what he touched really did turn to gold.
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Mr. and Mrs. Bennet had become a team in every respect. Bennet apprised and consulted with his wife about everything he was doing, and anything significant he planned to do.
They had a true partnership, and when a man looked at him in confusion on an occasion when Bennet said he would first consult his wife, he looked back at him with pity for not understanding the immense treasure a true meeting of the minds was.
With his Fanny’s blessing and wholehearted support, and a glowing recommendation from Elaine Fitzwilliam, they employed a governess, Mrs. Henrietta Chandler.
She was charged with teaching his daughters what they needed to know to become proper gentlewomen, including educating them and assisting each to hone her natural gifts—turning them into true accomplishments.
Masters were hired to expand on those accomplishments as soon as they were required.
Later, as the Bennet sons reached the appropriate age, tutors and more masters were employed. It came as no surprise to anyone when Lizzy took in as much additional education as she could. She could never learn enough to satisfy her thirst for knowledge.
Her brain soaked up lessons and enjoyed a challenge, as all good education evokes. She was like a sponge soaking up water; she even asked to join the other girls in their individual lessons, with that sister’s approval, of course.
The Bennets’ other three daughters, while not quite as witty or intelligent as Lizzy, each took full advantage of the educational opportunities made available at Longbourn.
Thanks to the guiding hand of their mama, Mrs. Chandler, and their masters, they all became proficient in music, languages, dancing, their preferred talent in the arts, and all the other accomplishments gently bred ladies were expected to have.
However, they were not satisfied to become accomplished in ladies’ pursuits only; with Lizzy blazing the path, they persuaded their parents to allow a much broader education, though not quite as broad as the scope of Lizzy’s learning.
Initially, their parents worried about teaching them subjects considered to be the sole province of men. One day the Earl of Matlock listened to Lizzy’s reasoning for why a particular plant could not grow in his conservatory.
Matlock had grinned at both Fanny and Bennet, and told them it was no surprise to him their girls were so knowledgeable and were growing into the kind of women only the best of men would earn one day.
That statement helped Fanny accept the girls could learn all they chose, because the more they knew the less they might fall for one of the scoundrels she knew hunted in society.
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The Bennets eventually became wealthier than the wealthiest five families in Hertfordshire combined.
They never flaunted their wealth or boasted about it, although they were generous to those around them—especially in times of genuine need or tragedy.
They never wasted their wealth, nor did they spend it frivolously.
Others in the area suspected they were well off, based on Bennet’s land purchases they were aware of.
The general suspicion was merely that the Bennets were somewhat wealthier than their neighbours, who were, thankfully, unaware the Bennets’ wealth rivalled that of some of the wealthier families of the Ton.
Once the Bennet sons reached the age of thirteen, Bennet planned to send them to Eton. After Eton, they would be enrolled at Cambridge to complete their gentleman’s education.
He often joked with them he would disinherit one or both should they apply at that other school, Oxford.
Tom and James Bennet would be sorely missed at Longbourn, but schooling was a necessary part of their journey to manhood, and imperative if they were to take their rightful places as the heirs of thriving estates.
Fanny Bennet’s new outlook on life and the sense of peace and accomplishment she had attained after the birth of her sons was not transitory; that outlook would remain with her for the rest of her long and happy life.
While in the guise of her motherly duty, she watched them as they attended all their lessons.
She saw all that was being taught and learnt, and sometimes was afraid for their Lizzy, who had an intelligence greater than most boys.
She was careful to ensure both her sons and her daughters were taught the rules of propriety.
After the compliment from their good friend Reggie, rather than suppress the girls’ lessons that might be considered unladylike, she encouraged and supported their quest for an education, especially her Lizzy.
This included teaching all four of her daughters how to be effective mistresses of an estate, and how to respect and care for its tenants.
Respect for servants was also part of the credo she emphasised to her daughters.
Her main goal in life was all her children were to be happy, even if it meant some of them chose to never marry.
When she thanked God every night for all the wonders her life had been blessed with, she added the gift of her Thomas and the stipulation which meant her daughters could find their true happiness, no matter the course it took.
The boys were her pride and joy, but she never showed favouritism to any of her children.
Bennet, who before the twins had started to favour Lizzy, now showed no favouritism to any of his sons or daughters.
Fanny loved her daughters, but openly acknowledged the changes the birth of her darling boys had wrought on her relationship with Thomas, her girls, and her outlook on life.
Further, the Thomas she married was back, a change that made Fanny glow with happiness. She was more in love with her husband now than the day she married him all those years ago.
As time and the years rolled by, Longbourn’s manor house was enlarged substantially.
Two wings were added to it, one containing a library fast growing into an enviable collection of books, including many rare first editions.
It was the one indulgence Bennet allowed himself, but it was well-regulated.
Thanks to all the additional lands Bennet purchased, he was also able to enlarge Longbourn’s park.
He and Fanny deepened their friendships with those they were close to, Including Reggie and Elaine Fitzwilliam and their family.
Visits to Snowhaven or Matlock House became commonplace, as were the Fitzwilliams’ reciprocal visits to Longbourn.
What had once been merely friendship had grown so the bond between the two families became unbreakable. If one injured a member of one family, the affront was felt by the other.
Visitors were forever coming and going, as Fanny kept an excellent table, but she still economised no matter how wealthy they became—she did not overindulge just because she could.
She had discarded her former pastimes of boasting and gossiping and replaced them with charitable works in the parish—an orphanage, a school, and a clinic.
She spent time with her husband each morning, planning their day, discussing plans for investments, and dealing with personal and estate correspondence.
The change in Fanny caused a great deal of head-scratching among her neighbours, who would have died from shock and envy had they known the change in the family’s wealth. They found it difficult to fathom the changes they did know about.
When husband and wife had quiet time, they would spend it together or with their children, not apart from them.
They displayed parental pride for their children.
Bennet would often lean over to his Fanny and whisper in her ear: “I love you so very much, my beloved Fanny. Look at what we have done together.”
“Thomas, I love you more and more each day.” Fanny would say, squeezing Thomas’s hand and whispering back to him whenever she heard this particular statement.
The Bennet family, quietly and unassumingly, became the principal family in the area once again, if not the principal family in all of Hertfordshire.