Chapter 1
“I am birthing a son!” Fanny Bennet screeched maniacally at the midwife.
“You stole my son and replaced him with that dark-haired devil’s spawn.
I DID NOT BIRTH ANOTHER DAUGHTER!” she screamed with all of her might.
“The devil killed my son and replaced him with that…demon thing.” The more that Fanny yelled, the more nonsensical her pronouncements became.
Both Mrs Hill and Mrs Ponsonby tried to reason with her, but there was nothing rational left at the moment to allow them to dispute with.
“That is enough, Mrs Bennet,” her husband warned.
“It is a demon that killed my son,” Fanny insisted. “It is her fault; she was supposed to be a son!”
“I said enough, Mrs Bennet!” This was said with an implied threat and finally the unreasonable women shut her mouth with a clack.
“There is only one who determines the gender of a babe and that is God on High.” Bennet was lost as soon as Mrs Hill placed his swaddled daughter in his hands; she had the biggest eyes, hazel with what seemed to be flecks of gold, raven hair, a lot of it for a new-born babe, and olive colouring.
He saw his beloved mother in his new daughter and his heart swelled to almost bursting with pride.
“Elizabeth,” he said emphatically, “you are Elizabeth Rose after your late grandmother.”
“I will not feed that devil’s spawn,” Fanny said with rancour. “Send her out to one of the tenants,” she said spitefully.
“You will be sent out to a tenant’s cottage, not my daughter!” Bennet said with anger as he rounded on his vapid wife. “Do either of you know of a woman in the area who will be willing to work as a wet nurse?” Bennet asked the two ladies who had attended his wife.
“I do, sir,” the midwife agreed quickly.
“Young Mrs Tammy Manning was married to an officer who was killed in battle, and she gave birth a month ago. I know that she is looking for employment, but she will not abandon her son to the care of others. If you allow her to keep her son with her, she will take the position with pleasure.”
“Will you be willing to go to her now with a groom who will convey you in my gig?”” Bennet asked. “Little Lizzy needs to be fed and I do not trust Mrs Bennet”, he would never use the appellation of ‘mother’, “not to harm her or to feed her as she should be fed.”
“Yes, sir,” Mrs Ponsonby responded. “I am ready to depart as soon as your groom is." Bennet issued the order to Mrs Hill who relayed them to her husband, and less than a half hour later the midwife was on her way to the Widow Manning.
Mrs Bennet had been silent, finally deciding that her husband had not been serious. “I am mistress of this house, and I do not want that demon in my house!”
“Mrs Bennet!” Bennet, who had never lifted his hand to a female before felt like he wanted to do just that, but instead put his face close to hers so she could see his resolve. “One more word, and I will have you moved to a cottage within the hour!”
Fanny Bennet was slow to comprehend things, but she understood that her husband was deadly serious, so she decided to bide her time.
She would have nothing to do with the ugly daughter, all dark haired and olive skin.
She fervently hoped that God would destroy Satan’s demon so she would not have to worry about it any longer.
‘I will bide my time,’ she told herself. ‘This demon babe has destroyed my relationship with my husband; it is all her fault!’ Fanny told herself, conveniently forgetting that other than for procreation, she had never had any sort of relationship with her husband.
Fanny Gardiner Bennet chose not to remember that which did not fit with the narrative that she told herself.
She had been so proud of herself for entrapping a gentleman to raise her from the stink of trade, but she had never considered the cost. Both her sister and brother had been disgusted with her actions and had effectively broken with her.
They both had a good relationship with her husband and her older daughter Jane, but when they saw her, there was no more than a perfunctory greeting.
Her father had passed before Fanny bore Jane, and Frank Phillips had taken over his late father-in-law’s practice in Meryton.
Fanny was extremely jealous as her sister had birthed a son, Graham, six or seven months before her daughter was born, and her father had the pleasure of meeting his grandson before the onset of the apoplexy that had taken his life.
Fanny had been shocked that her husband never relented to allow her more than the fifteen pounds per quarter in pin money stipulated in his marriage settlement.
Not only that, as she had discovered, to her chagrin, he had instructed all of the local merchants that she was not allowed to purchase on Longbourn’s accounts and that if they allowed her to do that, he would not honour the debts.
Such purchases would then be paid out of her pin money.
In a rare moment of introspection, Fanny Bennet had considered that she may have made an error in her calculations when she decided to entrap the handsome landowner.
She quickly dismissed the thoughts as she decided that she was the envy of all of her old friends, especially Sarah Lucas who had married the buffoon William Lucas that ran the general store in Meryton.
Given her mean understanding of reality, Fanny Bennet could not understand why she received almost no invitations nor why so few of her former friends ever called on her at Longbourn.
Not long after marrying, Fanny had visited all of her friends, boasting about her ‘wonderful’ life as a gentlewoman and how she would condescend to still see them even though she was so much higher than them now.
Fanny Gardiner had never been popular, merely tolerated, and now due to her insufferable behaviour she was reviled.
Sarah Lucas was another of whom Fanny was jealous as her first-born had been a son, Franklin, who was now ten.
She consoled herself that Sarah’s daughter Charlotte, who was born four years after her brother, was plain looking and nothing to her Jane—an opinion that she had never been shy expressing in Sarah Lucas’s company.
Now she had just birthed another girl! Of course, it was not her fault; the ugly, dark thing should have known that she was supposed to be a son!
While his wife sat stewing in her bed, Bennet welcomed Mrs Tammy Manning to Longbourn.
He offered her five pounds a month, almost double the amount that would normally be paid for a wet nurse, told her that she would have a roomy bedchamber in the nursery, and also told her that her son, John, was welcome to reside there as well.
The widow accepted the terms gratefully and was shown up to the nursery by Hill.
The housekeeper placed the swaddled babe into Tammy’s arms so that she could have some much-needed sustenance.
The beautiful little girl ate hungrily then, when satiated, and after being burped and changed, was placed in her cradle alongside the one in which John Manning had been installed.
She was introduced to Miss Loretta Browning, the nursemaid whose chamber was right next to hers.
After the ladies were satisfied that the two babes and little Jane were all fast asleep, the wet nurse and nursemaid were told that they were required in the master’s study.
It was not yet six in the morning, but Mrs Hill explained that the master wanted to talk to both without delay and that she would stay to monitor the nursery.
Mr Hill showed them into the master’s study then closed the door behind them. “Please sit,” Bennet requested. The two occupied the two chairs facing Bennet’s large oak desk. “What I am about to say could very well sound crazy to you, but I have good cause to do so.”
Miss Browning had a reasonable idea what the master was about to say as she had heard the mistress’ ravings after Miss Lizzy had been born. She could not comprehend how any sane person could make such utterances, never mind the mother of the child.
“Under no circumstances is Miss Elizabeth to be alone in the company of her mother,” he stated his expectation, the wealth of emotion in his expression proved his words true.
Miss Browning accepted the command without question, but Mrs Manning was genuinely concerned.
Bennet explained in detail why he had felt it necessary to explain so there would never be an incident due to omission; the nursemaid added her own insight after hearing the angry tirade emanating from the master’s wife.
“I understand, sir, but could it not be the stress of childbirth that made the mistress say things that she does not mean?” the wet nurse asked with some trepidation.
Bennet explained about the entail and that his wife was obsessed with bearing a son to break it.
It did not take much more for Mrs Manning to realise that the master was fully justified in the measures that he was taking to protect his precious, new-born daughter.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
In the years since she murdered her husband, nothing had gone as she commanded, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh was less happy than she normally was.
Her brother had hired a governess for Anne, a Mrs Maud Jenkinson, who did not respect the title of mistress of Rosings or her exalted rank at all.
Not only that, but the woman thwarted Lady Catherine’s attempts to try to influence her daughter at every turn.
It seemed that the servant kept her brother informed of all goings on connected to her charge, and whenever she tried to exert her considerable influence, which was only such in her own mind, she would receive a letter from her brother or a visit where she would be told in no uncertain terms that she was expected to behave.