Chapter 1
The first thing that Bennet did on his return to Meryton was to see his solicitor and friend, Jacob Philips. Just as Gardiner had, Philips advised his friend to not allow the woman to get away with her scheme.
“As much as I would like to walk away from the disgusting woman, my honour will not allow it.
I want a settlement that will reflect my disdain for the woman.
The two thousand pounds she has will be invested in the four percents, which will give her eighty pounds per annum.
By my calculation, that is less than seven pounds per month.
I will raise it to eight pounds, but no more.
“Then, there is the son’s inheritance invested with Gardiner.
It will be shifted to the four percents as well.
After the behaviour of her children, Gardiner will do no more than the father’s will charges him to do.
Of the four hundred eighty pounds per annum the boy’s money will earn, ninety pounds, thirty each a year, will be disbursed for the children’s allowance.
One hundred fifty pounds per annum will be paid to me for their board and lodging, as I refuse to spend one penny on that woman’s children.
The other half will be saved to send young Bingley to school as his father requested.
” Bennet was firm on the matter of the woman and her children receiving as little as possible from Longbourn’s coffers.
“I see that you want the entail mentioned, but not defined. I like this,” Philips pointed to his friend’s notes.
“The woman and her offspring may stay in the house until your heir claims it, should you pass before that time. It will be an incentive for the conniving woman to make sure you stay hale and healthy. What about Tommy and your cousins?” Philips asked.
“Never will that social climbing shrew or her devil’s spawn know of Tommy or my cousins!
She would try to engineer a compromise between one of her daughters and poor Jamey as soon as he was old enough.
I would no sooner trust her and her offspring around my cousins than love her!
When I travel to Holder Heights to inform my cousins and my daughters, I hope to convince them to stay with James and Amy.
I will not attempt to force them, for you know how stubborn my daughters are wont to be,” Bennet smiled warmly as he thought of his children.
“As far as Tommy goes, the neighbours will not mention him; they are all disgusted with the woman for what she did to me!”
“I am to change your will to name Gardiner executor and the Holder Bennets’ guardians if you die before all three reach their majority?” Philips read more of the notes.
“Yes, for even if I am no longer alive, that woman will not sink her claws into my children’s future.
Can you believe the temerity of the witch?
She suggested I adopt her children and give them the Bennet name.
That will never happen! Before I forget, I want all merchants informed neither the woman nor her children are allowed to charge anything to my accounts without my express, in-person permission.
If a merchant does so against my wishes, then the unauthorised bill will not be paid by me!
Also please make it known that the three children are Bingleys, not Bennets!
” The men stood and shook hands, after which Bennet mounted his steed Orion and rode the one mile to Longbourn.
Once in his study, Bennet composed a letter to his cousin James, informing him of what had occurred.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
As promised, Bennet returned to Gracechurch Street a sennight later. Unlike his wife-to-be, he had honour and kept his word. As he sat with Gardiner in his study, Bennet derived much pleasure from seeing the pinched look on his betrothed’s face as she read the settlement.
“I am only to have eight pounds a month pin money? And my poor children will only have two pounds and a half-sovereign! You are a landed gentleman; how can it be that we will be no better off than we are now?” Mrs. Bingley screeched.
“You chose to compromise me, madam! I will not reward your behaviour in any way. Longbourn is a small, entailed estate, and I will not harm my budget to indulge you and your spoiled children. Before you ask, I will NEVER share your bed! There is only one woman that I will ever love, and I will not sully her memory with the likes of you—which is why you will not be occupying the mistress’s chambers.
If this is not to your liking, you are free to withdraw from the betrothal,” Bennet offered hopefully.
Martha Bingley seriously considered taking the out she had been offered but decided being the wife of a gentleman would be worth it—after all, she could work on him to change his mind after they were wed as no man would be able to resist her charms when she had time and privacy to work her wiles.
“Mr. Gardiner may sign on my behalf. Why do we wed in only a month?” she asked.
“I have things to see to, Mrs. Bingley—things that do not concern you. I will return in a month. You are free to find another man in that time if waiting is not agreeable to you,” Bennet sneered at the despicable woman.
Martha Bingley would have done so had she access to the social circles where she would meet gentlemen or, better yet, a member of the first circles.
It was her ultimate aim for her son and daughters to gain access to that lofty social circle.
As it was not an option for her, she would have to cool her heels for one more month in the small, rented home.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Thomas, are you out of your senses, giving in to this woman that you describe as being a fortune hunting social climber!” Not for the first time, Lord James Bennet, the Earl of Holder, berated his favourite cousin in an attempt to stop him from walking down a ruinous path.
“James, you know me; I felt I had no choice. Even if this woman has no honour, I do! It is too late now; we have a signed settlement, and I will not bring dishonour to our family or to my children under any circumstances,” Bennet responded forcefully.
“I know that is the kind of man you are, and I respect you for it. However, to be sentenced to be husband to such a woman as you have described! I feel for you, Cousin. Know that Amy and I will do anything we are able to, in order to help you,” the Earl pledged.
“You are already raising Tommy for me; there is no amount of thanks sufficient for the service you are doing me in that quarter. If I am able to convince my stubborn daughters to remain at Holder Heights, I will do so. In that endeavour, I am not hopeful. You know Jane and Lizzy; they will not want to leave me,” Bennet stated with resignation.
“My only hope is that I am able to convince them that staying with you will be a way of helping Tommy.”
“Knowing my young cousins, who I count as nieces, there is little chance of them not wanting to be with you, my friend,” the Earl commiserated.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“No, Papa, we will not live without you!” Jane, who would be eight in June, insisted, while Elizabeth, who was about to turn five, nodded her head in emphatic agreement. They had already planned to celebrate Elizabeth’s birthday with their family before returning to Longbourn.
“You have to teach me, Papa; I want to be with you,” Elizabeth insisted, stamping her foot as an almost five-year-old child is wont to do.
“As I offered you girls the right to make the decision for yourselves, you will come home with me.” Bennet was not surprised.
He knew that he could have exerted his fatherly authority and ordered them to remain with their cousins, but he had given them a choice and he would honour that choice.
“It shall be as you wish, and I promise you, we will visit Tommy every summer for at least three months, and we shall all be here for Christmastide each year as well,” Bennet promised his daughters.
Jane was blond, with deep blue eyes, and would be tall like her grandmother had been.
Elizabeth looked just like her mother, Fanny.
A slight olive complexion, chestnut curls, the greenest of eyes, but shorter than most girls of her age.
Bennet supposed the likeness that his beloved Fanny had seen in their Lizzy had endeared the young girl to her mother.
Fanny had never shown favouritism, but it had not been hard for Bennet to see she had an especially warm place in her heart for Lizzy.
“Now tell me what you have been doing since I was last here, my darling girls,” Bennet asked, as he kissed each one on her forehead in turn.
“We met a mark-ess, Papa,” Elizabeth said jubilantly. “And vi’count, and his younger brother, Richard. Richard was ever so much fun!”
“A mark-ess?” Bennet repeated in question.
“Lizzy means a Marquess, Papa. Lord Fitzwilliam Darcy, the Marquess of Pemberley, but he prefers we call him Lord William. His father is the Duke of Derbyshire, Earl of Lambton. He is sad because his mama went to heaven like our mama did after his little sister, Gigi, who is one, was born. Lord William is the same age as our cousin Jamey. The viscount is Andrew Fitzwilliam; he is the son of the Earl of Matlock, and a good friend of Uncle James. He is almost sixteen while his younger brother Richard is fourteen, a year more than Jamey and Lord William,” Jane filled her father in.
“Gigi?” Bennet asked. “I have never heard such a name.
“Silly Papa, that is a nickname, her name is Lady Georgiana Darcy,” Jane explained.
“She is too young to play with me!” Elizabeth pouted, her lower lip pushing out just as far as she was able.
“If you see her again in a few years then she will want to play with you, my Lizzy. She will be old enough then,” Bennet assured his second daughter.
“Fine, Papa,” Elizabeth recovered fully, as would be expected of one so young.