The Wager

Prologue

Young Thomas Bennet, heir to Longbourn Manor, fell in love with Francine Gardiner almost from the first moment he saw the golden-haired beauty while home from university. Unfortunately for the heart-sick lad, she was engaged to his father’s newly appointed rector, Mr. Timothy Hamilton, third-born son of a wealthy earl from Norfolk, a fact few people in Meryton were aware of.

When old Mr. Bennet died, Thomas took over the reins of Longbourn and learned to live with the fact that his Francine was incandescently happy with her husband and celebrated with them when they welcomed their first child, a beautiful little girl they named Jane. Less than a year later, Mr. Hamilton’s father died unexpectedly from an apoplectic fit upon receiving news his second son, an officer in His Majesty’s army had died in France. Timothy’s eldest brother now ascended to the earldom.

The following year Francine gave birth to twins, Trenton and Elizabeth, and the new earl condescended to visit for their baptism service. Timothy took his brother out for a drive to show him Meryton and the surrounding area during this visit. No one knew exactly what spooked the horses, causing the carriage to tip into a deep ravine but the results were unfortunately clear. Once the brothers were discovered, the earl was pronounced dead at the scene while his younger brother succumbed to his injuries the next morning.

Upon hearing the news, Francine collapsed, striking her head on a nearby table. When she regained consciousness, it was plain to anyone who knew the vibrant young woman, that her personality had altered. Strangely enough, very few of Bennet’s neighbors pieced together the ramifications of Mr. Timothy Hamilton outliving his brother by a few hours, making him the 7th Earl of Tiverton, which in turn made his widow a countess, his infant son the new earl and his daughters forever known as Lady Jane and Lady Elizabeth. All assumed, the exceptions being Mr. and Mrs. Philips and Sir William and Lady Lucas, that the earldom had passed onto some cousin. No one privy to the truth of the matter disabused them of that assumption.

Thomas Bennet could not deny his love for Francine still burned bright and he began to court her gently, and when her time of mourning was over, he asked for her hand in marriage. He did not care that since her accident she tended to behave in a flighty manner, often forgetting things and sometimes words escaping her. She was gentle and kind and he loved her and her children.

The Marquis of Courtland, married to Timothy’s sister Sarah, was the legal guardian of all children born to Timothy and Francine. He had no issue with the young earl living at Longbourn until it came time for him to attend Eton College and then Cambridge. When Trenton Hamilton reached his majority, he would spend more time with his uncle, learning about all the estates and responsibilities that came with his title.

Mr. Bennet and Francine had three daughters, which did not bode well for the future of Longbourn as the estate was entailed to a distant third cousin. Mr. Bennet knew Jane and Elizabeth would not be destitute as their portion, stipulated in their grandfather’s will for any female progeny, was sixty thousand pounds each. However, the thought of his beloved Francine being tossed from Longbourn upon his death had him worried. He knew she would always have a home with her son, but because of her head injury, his wife’s world needed to remain small and unvaried. For this very reason, Bennet asked his adopted children’s uncle, Lord Courtland to purchase Netherfield Park and bequeath it to Jane.

Bennet spent the next ten years paying back the marquis in full. He could now rest easy, knowing Netherfield was not part of the entail, and his ‘family of girls’ had a haven upon his demise. He then turned to building up his own daughter’s marriage portions. He would never attain the heady numbers his adopted daughters had achieved, however, in the year of our Lord, 1811; Mary, Catherine, and Lydia each had two thousand pounds, plus a share of their mother’s settlement of forty thousand pounds at the time of her death.

And where was Mr. Darcy all this time? Well, suffice it to say, he had spent the last eight and twenty years growing into his reticent, taciturn persona. He was chillingly polite, a gentleman people loved to hate, but dared not say anything to his face for fear of reprisal and being cut socially as Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley, Derbyshire was very wealthy and very well connected.

It is at this juncture of their lives that we join their story.