Chapter 4
Perry met the Bennets at ten in the morning.
Before they ascended the stairs to the door, he pointed out Darcy House opposite and Matlock House, three doors down, on the same side of the square as they now stood.
As they were about to enter, they spied Elizabeth returning from a walk in Hyde Park, being trailed by two enormous footmen, her companion, and with her huge dog Aggie trotting easily at her side.
Elizabeth, too, saw her brother-in-law and the Bennet family, so headed toward them. “Will he bite if we try to pet him,” James asked nervously.
“No, Aggie is fully trained; she will do nothing until she detects someone trying to harm me, then she can be quite ferocious,” Elizabeth explained to her cousin, well her brother but she was more comfortable thinking of the Bennet children as cousins, except for Jane.
“How old is she?” William asked as he joined James in rubbing behind one of Aggie’s ears.
Seeing his other brothers not being eaten by the pony-sized dog, John approached her and started to pet her around the tail which Aggie liked, so she turned and gave him a slobbering lick on his face.
The rest of the party laughed as John pulled a face and tried to dry it off.
“She is a little past seven years old,” Elizabeth answered once she had stopped laughing at her dog’s antics.
“We are about to view Perry’s townhouse to decide whether we should purchase it,” Bennet informed his second daughter/niece. “You are most welcome to join us as we look over the house.”
“I would like that,” Elizabeth answered. She beckoned to her companion, a Mrs Annesley, and requested that she inform the family at Matlock House where she was. She asked John to take Aggie home, but Biggs remained with her, even knowing she was surrounded by family.
The housekeeper and butler were waiting for his Grace at the top of the stairs.
Perry performed the introductions to the relatively new housekeeper and butler, Mrs Kerry O’Grady and Mr Jacob Franklin, who had been hired less than a year before when their predecessors retired.
He explained that there were three maids and the same number of footmen as part of the skeleton staff maintained at the house.
As they were about to enter, Elizabeth pointed out Matlock and Darcy Houses. She was, of course, aware that the Bennets had been to her house the day of the revelation, but she was not sure that they knew how close they would be if they purchased the house.
“That is one of the reasons that this address is attractive, Lizzy,” Bennet winked at her. “If we purchase it, then we will be able to keep an eye on you when we are all in town.”
“More so I can keep an eye on you as you are less familiar with the ways of town, Uncle Thomas?” Elizabeth huffed, smiling when her Bennet family laughed.
Without seeing her, she sensed Jane next to her and turned to claim one of the warm hugs that Jane gave her. When they all followed Perry and the senior staff into the house, Jane and Elizabeth had their arms intertwined.
There was nothing not to like about the townhouse.
From the outside, it looked like most of the others around the perimeter of the square, and Perry informed them that most of the houses on the square also had similar floor plans inside, except for one or two whose owners had made extensive changes.
There were five floors, many family and guest chambers, an oversized ballroom, all the public rooms one would expect, a family and a guest sitting room, and three dining parlours; one for breakfast, an informal family parlour, and a large formal parlour.
The ballroom and the three dining parlours could become one larger room to accommodate additional space for a ball.
After showing them where the master’s and mistress’s studies were, which had a connecting door, Perry had kept the best for last—the library.
It was on the floor above the ballroom and was almost as big.
At the instant that he saw all the tomes that had been undisturbed for far too long.
Bennet made a decision; unless Tammy had objections, he would make an offer of purchase for the house.
He asked Tammy to join him in the family sitting room close to the entrance to the library.
“Do you have any objections to us purchasing this town home, Tammy?” he asked as soon as he closed the door after he had kissed his wife soundly for the support, her smile proving she knew the house was important so he could be close to their new family.
“It was the library, was it not?” Tammy smiled. After thirteen wonderful years married to her husband, she knew him too well to doubt that was the case.
“Well, yes, I suppose that played a small part,” Bennet teased his wife. “I like the house as a whole as it is close to our new family and but ten minutes by carriage to the Gardiners.”
“No, Thomas, I have no objection whatsoever. On the purchase of this house, you and I are of one mind.” Tammy kissed her husband to put an exclamation point on her statement.
“Well then, let us go tell our future son-in-law and see how his mother would like to proceed,” Bennet said, kissing his wife again, the chaos of the last few days not tempering his need of reminding her she was paramount to his happiness.
“Perry, Tammy and I would like to purchase the house,” Bennet announced as they joined the rest in the library. The three Bennet sons present expressed their approbation by laughter.
“Did I not say that once father saw the library, he would not leave this house without purchasing it,” William smirked.
“None of us held a contrary view,” John pointed out.
Jane and Lizzy used the occasion to hug, as they would be living close to one another while they were in town; well until Jane moved into Bedford House on Russell Square.
The two were comforted by the fact that it was barely more than one mile from where they now stood.
If that was too far, Perry owned a townhouse on St James Square, which was even closer, not to mention the one on Portman Square that had been instrumental in their meeting.
“Before you meet with my mother and me, we require your word of honour on one point, Bennet,” Perry stated cryptically.
“If you tell me what I will be binding my honour to, I will give you an answer,” Bennet responded, trying to divine what Perry was driving at.
“The price that my mother will offer will be at or below market price. Her condition is that you accept the price with no argument,” Perry revealed.
“Well, that is a promise I can make with ease. You have my word as a gentleman,” Bennet responded.
When the group descended to the entrance hall, Mrs Annesley was waiting for her charge.
After she wished her family good luck for the upcoming meeting with the Dowager Duchess and her goodbye hug to Jane, Elizabeth and her escorts headed back to Matlock House.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
That morning, the same members of the Ton who had placated their jealous feelings with the knowledge that Miss Jane Bennet had no remarkable connections, had to eat their words as they broke their fasts and read that day’s copy of the Times.
The recently unknown family had connections that anyone would envy.
Not only that, but the royals had placed a congratulatory notice in the broadsheets, which was a clear signal to the Ton that the Rhys-Davies’s royal cousins supported the match fully.
With both pieces of added information, there were none in the Ton who would commit social suicide by denigrating any of the Bennets, much less the Duke’s betrothed. The family went from ‘looked down upon’ to one whom many wanted to ingratiate themselves to increase their own connections.
The kind of hypocrisy displayed by many in the Ton was the main reason Bennet had kept his family away from London society. Now, in the blink of an eye, hiding away in Hertfordshire had become an impossibility.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Bingley and his son walked into the main Bank of England branch as the doors were opened to the banking public.
Oscar requested his personal banker, and within a minute or two he and his son were shown into the man’s office.
He handed the man Bennet’s account information and then instructed him to transfer the required amount from his investment account into the one specified.
After verifying Bennets signature on the form, the banker filled out a transfer form, and after he had Mr Bingley’s signature, he went to have the order executed.
Not ten minutes later the man returned and handed Oscar the documents with the bank’s official seal attesting the transfer had been made.
As they rode home Charles turned to his father, “Will not the outlay of seventy-five thousand pounds significantly hurt our income?” he asked.
“No son, it will not,” Bingley saw his son’s sceptical look. “Do you know how much Netherfield earns, Charles?” Bingley asked. His son shook his head. “It is just shy of four thousand per annum. So no, we will not suffer. In fact, it will be a few hundred pounds to our good.”
“There will be those that call us ‘new money’ as we are new to the landed gentry,” Charles pointed out.
“Let them say what they want; it will have no effect on us and those are not the type of people with whom we want to be acquainted!” Oscar reminded his son vehemently.
They went directly to Gardiner House where they found Bennet was out with all of his family, save the twins.
However, he had signed the deed in anticipation so once Phillips checked the transfer receipt and verified the account number, he had Bingley sign the deed as purchaser and he and Gardiner witnessed the document.
The two Bingley men shook the brothers-in-law’s hands vigorously, after which Oscar folded the deed carefully as if it were the most precious of gems.