Prologue

In the county of Cambridgeshire near the market town of Huntingdon, on the estate of Hampton Downs, lived an insignificant country squire, his wife and three daughters. Mr. Saul Granger lived happily with his wife Isabelle. Isabelle had escaped the persecution of her parents by the crown in France. Her parents had been landowners whose land was seized by the King, based on lies of jealous neighbours. They had entrusted their only child, a daughter of four, to an English family who had been visiting the area where their stolen land was located, before the victimised parents were taken to Paris and executed for supposed treason. Isabelle was an orphan with no dowry to speak of, but Saul cared not. The match between Saul and Belle, as he called her, was a love match. As far as he was concerned, she was more than enough with or without a fortune.

They were blessed with three daughters. In age order: Twins, Rose and Elaine, born in December 1758 and Priscilla, whom everyone called Cilla, born in May 1760. From a young age the Granger sisters were taught when they married, there had to be love and respect. No amount of money, titles, or property would ever make up for the lack of true felicity in a marriage. Since the birth of the three daughters, the Grangers had not been blessed with another child. Rather than bemoan they did not have a son, they celebrated the fact they had three wonderful, compassionate, charitable, and very pretty daughters.

Hampton Downs, which was thankfully not entailed, was a medium sized estate which had an annual income of about three thousand five hundred pounds. As they did not live extravagantly, Granger was able to save between one and two thousand pounds per annum towards his daughter’s dowries. The Granger family was more than contented with their lot in life and did not aspire to be part of the Ton, nor did they envy those who were far wealthier than they were.

As they became older, the closeness between the three sisters strengthened. They had friends in the neighbourhood, but none were closer than they were to each other. Hence, rather than Rose and Elaine having their come out when they were seventeen, they waited for Cilla to reached that age, and then all three girls came out together. They would make their debut at a public assembly in Huntingdon on the first day of May 1777.

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Sedgewick Rhys-Davies, Paul Carrington, Reginald Fitzwilliam, and Robert Darcy were the best of friends. The bond between the latter two was on the way to being strengthened as Fitzwilliam’s younger sister was being courted by Darcy. It was only a matter of time before a proposal would be made and gladly accepted.

They had all met as young lads at Eton when they had begun their studies in the same year, and then moved on to Cambridge together. All four were avid chess players, and had, until their final year, held almost all the university records for the game.

Their records began to fall in their last year when a student from Hertfordshire had gone the whole of his first year unbeaten. By the time the four friends graduated, some of their records had been destroyed by the young man. After leaving their studies, they had been informed when record after record fell, until he held them all. It was what had brought the four friends to Cambridge towards the end of April 1777. The student who had decimated their records was about to graduate and an open competition was being held. They, along with other former record holders, had been invited to challenge the current champion who was unbeaten in his years at the venerable institution of higher education. Hungry for some revenge against he who had the temerity to topple all of their records, all four had jumped at the chance.

There were ten former Cambridge champions seated at tables which formed a rectangle. The student, Thomas Bennet, was on the inside of the tables, playing each of them at the same time. He would make a move, then move on to the next board and make his chosen play. He kept moving to the right. Inside of an hour only the four friends remained undefeated. As long as one of them beat this young pup—they cared not which one of them—they would feel a small sense of vindication.

The chess gods did not smile on the friends that day. Carrington was the first to tip his king, Fitzwilliam did so two moves later. Rhys-Davies attempted to hold on, but he was next to be checkmated, leaving only Darcy. All nine of the defeated former champions were silently hoping for him to win his match. Darcy’s king was driven into a corner and with no other choice, he too tipped his king over. That this Bennet had been able to challenge ten at once was extraordinary in and of itself. That he had won every game was something! Had those in the room not seen this for themselves, it would have been unbelievable.

To drown their sorrows at being defeated by a far superior chess master, the four friends rode to the town of Huntingdon where no one would know of their defeats and made for the Fox and Hound Inn where they proceeded to drown their sorrows. As all four were well in their cups, they took rooms at the inn for the night.

The next morning was Thursday, the first day of May, and when they went to break their fasts, the landlady mentioned there was an assembly that evening. The friends decided some dancing would take their minds off the sting of their routs at the hand of that Bennet man.

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The Granger sisters were in great anticipation of their first assembly. As was their wont, they assisted each other dressing and coiffing their hair. Their proud parents escorted their daughters to the hall where they arrived well in advance of the first set. Granger was to dance a set with each of his daughters in descending age order, starting with Rose as the oldest.

The four men had arrived a few minutes ahead of the Grangers and made themselves known to the master of ceremonies so he could make the introductions to the locals. It did not take long before the buzz regarding their wealth and ranks was circulating throughout the hall. The friends shrugged it off. It was neither the first nor the last time they had, or would hear such talk about themselves. Darcy at least was confident in the fact he had withdrawn himself from the marriage mart.

There was one family who seemed singularly unimpressed by the talk circulating about them. Hence the men requested the master of ceremonies, who was also the mayor of the town, make the introductions. The man led the four men to the family to whom they had asked to be introduced.

“Granger, Mrs. Granger good evening,” the Mayor greeted as he bowed. “These gentlemen have requested an introduction to you and your daughters.”

“Please go ahead,” Granger allowed after his wife nodded.

“Lords Birchington, Hilldale, and Hadlock, and Mr. Darcy, allow me to present Mr. and Mrs. Saul Granger of Hampton Downs, Miss Rose Granger, Miss Elaine Granger, and Miss Priscilla Granger. Grangers, Lord Sedgwick Rhys-Davies, the Marquess of Birchington, Lord Reginald Fitzwilliam, Viscount Hilldale, Lord Paul Carrington, Viscount Hadlock, and Mr. Robert Darcy of Pemberley in Derbyshire,” the Mayor did his duty and then bowed leaving the newly introduced people to speak.

As soon as the friends were made aware which sets Mr. Granger was to dance with his daughters, they made their requests. Darcy asked Mrs. Granger to partner him for the first set.

By the end of the evening, Birchington, Hilldale, and Hadlock had each danced twice with one of the sisters.

As the three lords had nothing urgent to draw them back to their estates, they decided to remain in the town longer as the three wanted to come to know the lady who had captured his interest. Darcy had to return to Pemberley as his father had allowed him to attend the tournament, but he required his son home as soon as may be afterward.

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In July 1778, Saul Granger had the pleasure of giving his daughters away in a triple ceremony to three well deserving men. He and his Belle were satisfied his daughters had accepted the proposals for love and not wealth or titles. Rose married Sedgewick Rhys-Davies, Elaine was joined with Reginald Fitzwilliam, while Cilla said her vows to Paul Carrington.

In the time leading up to the weddings, the men had been constant and had proved they saw the girls and not their lack of wealth and connections. It was part of the reason Granger had demanded first a six-month courtship followed by a six-month engagement. The men had been very steadfast in their attentions to his daughters, and when he had met the suitors’ parents, they had been accepting and welcoming of him and his family.

All four affected families, which included the Darcys as Robert was engaged to Lady Anne Fitzwilliam, could not have been more pleased. They had all charged their sons to find the woman who suited him best, and as long as she was a gentlewoman, none of them would have any complaints—none that is except one member of the Fitzwilliam family. Lady Catherine Fitzwilliam was incensed her parents had accepted her brother marrying an impecunious daughter of an untitled country squire. If that were not enough, her father had consented to Anne becoming engaged before her and to a man with no title! Yes, the Darcys were fabulously wealthy, but they were nought but gentlemen farmers.

It was not her fault she had not taken for four seasons! Two of the men she had wanted for herself were now marrying the sisters of Reggie’s inappropriate bride. She would have preferred to be a future duchess, but she would have settled for being a future countess. Only her father’s promise he would cut her off and disown her if she made her displeasure known outside of the family had caused Lady Catherine to keep her objections to herself and to hold her piece each time the vicar had asked if there were any objections during the ceremony of each of the three sets of brides and grooms.

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By the end of 1785, there had been much joy, and some great sadness for the families who had been joined with the marriage of the three Granger sisters to their respective husbands.

In October 1778, Lady Anne Fitzwilliam married her beloved Robert Darcy. Unfortunately, first Robert’s mother in early 1779 and then his father, not two months later, were called home to heaven.

January 1780, saw another joyful occasion when Rose delivered a son who, by tradition was named Sedgewick like all prior future dukes of Bedford before him. In April of the same year, Elaine delivered a son and heir to the Matlock earldom, who they named Andrew Saul. In July 1781, Cilla and Paul’s son and heir, James Cedrick joined the family.

Before the end of 1781, Reginald and Elaine were the Earl and Countess of Matlock, and Andrew the new Viscount Hilldale. In early 1782, the Earl and Countess of Holder succumbed to influenza elevating Paul and Cilla. The Dowager Countess of Matlock joined her husband in heaven by the end of 1783, a few months after Elaine birthed her second son, Richard Saul. It was the Darcy’s turn to experience the pleasure of their family expanding when Fitzwilliam Alexander was born in May 1784.

Just when everyone thought there had been more than enough loss in the extended family, Saul and Belle Granger were lost in a carriage accident in November 1784. There had been an unexpected early freeze in Cambridgeshire and the carriage had slid on some unseen ice and rolled down an embankment.

Not long after she had completed her mourning for her parents, Rose Rhys-Davies delivered her second child, a daughter named Isabelle Marie, in June 1785. Within six months of Belle’s birth, her husband was the new Duke of Bedford, and she was the new Duchess.

In between all of the happenings, Lady Catherine Fitzwilliam, who everyone thought well on the shelf, compromised a wealthy knight, by the name of Sir Lewis de Bourgh in mid-1785. Sir Lewis owned a large estate, Rosings Park in Kent. By the latter half of 1786, Lady Catherine locked her door to her husband as she was with child.

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Having maintained his unbeaten record in chess during his time studying at Cambridge and through the challenge against ten past champions, Thomas Bennet began his return to the Bennet family estate and his parents after graduating first in his class. As much as he would have rather pursued a career in academia, he was fully aware of his duty to his father and the family estate of Longbourn near Meryton in Hertfordshire.

Thomas was the only child of Henry and Elizabeth Bennet and as such, the future of the estate rested on his shoulders. Unfortunately, his great-grandfather had instituted an entail on the estate in favour of heirs male, however, it would end with the next generation of Bennets. If he did not marry and beget a son, then the estate would devolve to a Collins.

It was all the more important he find a wife and begin to work on producing an heir as his father was not getting younger and there was no luxury of a second son in case he did not marry and his wife birth a son.

Thoughts of the reason for the entail swam in his head as Thomas rested against the squabs in the carriage bearing him home from Cambridge. His father’s grandfather had been one of two sons. The younger was a rather dissipated profligate, and spent much of his free time at the tables. At that time, Longbourn was more than double the size and income it was today. The problem was not just that the younger son gambled, but he was not good at it. He lost far more than he would ever be able to repay. To save himself, he pledged Longbourn against his debts.

When the men who were owed the money came to collect, they were told the son had no right to pledge against the estate as he was neither the master nor the heir. The men threatened to end the profligate son’s life. Thomas’s great-grandfather then sold a little more than half of the Bennets’ land. As much disgust as he felt at his son’s behaviour, he did not desire to see him murdered.

When the debts had been paid and the son’s markers returned, the father told his son that he would not receive another penny from the estate and if he ever pledged Bennet land again it would not be honoured. To emphasise that point, the master created the entail which not only made it so only a male of Bennet blood could inherit, but that none of the estate, in part or in whole, could be sold.

The son, conveniently forgetting what he had cost the family, left the estate to seek his fortune. He met a lady with a reasonable dowry and at the cost of adopting her name, he married her. His new family name was Collins. It had not taken him too many years after the wedding to lose, in games of chance, the bulk of the fortune his wife had brought to the marriage. By the time he was shot for cheating, his wife had born two sons.

The current patriarch of the Collins family was one nasty, illiterate bully by the name of Clem Collins. The family was not well off, never having recovered from the former Bennet who had gambled away a substantial fortune.

Thomas knew what he must do. He had to find a wife and begin to fill his nursery. His problem was he did not enjoy society. He much preferred his books, playing chess, and studies. Although his father was aging, Thomas knew that he himself was fit and fully capable of running the estate. He would do his duty and learn how to manage Longbourn from his father, but he would take his time to find a wife. After all he was but one and twenty and there was time.

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He kept to his word and learnt everything his father taught him. He still preferred spending time with the collection of books he was building, but Thomas did not allow that to stop him from performing his duties.

Not long after returning to Longbourn, Thomas accompanied his father to the local solicitor’s office. There they met with Elias Gardiner, and his head clerk, Frank Philips. Mr. Gardiner was a widower with three children of his own. Bennet wanted his son to become familiar with all aspects of the business which affected Longbourn and the Bennets, which was his reason for introducing his son to his solicitor.

After the meeting, Thomas met the three Gardiner siblings. The eldest, a son, Edward, was a year younger than Thomas and was home from Oxford. He would return for his final year at the start of the next academic year. The son seemed intelligent and a very good fellow. Next was Hattie who was seventeen at the time, and lastly was Frances, Fanny to everyone, who at nine, was as cute as could be. Thomas could see she would be extremely pretty when she was older. In one of their discussions at a later date Edward Gardiner shared it was Fanny’s birth, eight years after her older sister, from which Mrs. Lydia Gardiner had not recovered and passed away from childbed fever.

Other than Thomas’s father, there were none in the area around Meryton who could hold their own against him in chess so he played several games at a time via the post. One of his regular opponents was Robert Darcy, the man who had almost played him to a draw that day at Cambridge. He never saw Darcy, or the other three men who had been with him at the time in person, as they moved in very different circles and Thomas preferred not to travel away from Longbourn and its environs if it could be helped.

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By the middle of 1785, Thomas was aware that his father was suffering from a heart ailment. His procrastinating regarding finding a wife had to come to an end. He was spurred to action by a letter Clem Collins had had written for him announcing the birth of a son, William.

Over the years since his return from university, Thomas had become very close to Edward Gardiner. His friend had gone into the import-export business as he had never been interested in the law. He lived in London on Gracechurch Street, not far from his main warehouse. Not only was his friend good in his chosen field, but he also had a nose for investing. As such, Thomas had turned over the six thousand pounds his father had gifted him when he had turned five and twenty to his friend to invest for him.

At least the Gardiner Law Office in Meryton would remain in the family. The head clerk, Philips, had married Hattie when the latter had turned twenty. Elias Gardiner had begun to groom his son-in-law to assume management of the practice when he either went to join his Lydia or retired.

The biggest change Thomas noticed was in Fanny Gardiner. She was seventeen, and would be eighteen early in 1786. When he had first met her he had guessed she would be pretty when she matured, but she was much more than that. She was a blonde, blue eyed, buxom beauty. He was falling in love with her even though he was fully aware she was not his intellectual equal. She was also not a gentlewoman so she had no knowledge of how to be the mistress of an estate.

The last item did not concern Thomas very much. His mother, who was fifteen years his father’s junior was hale and healthy and she would be more than willing to teach any woman he chose to be a creditable mistress of the estate.

One thing he did know about Miss Gardiner was she was willing to learn. She was aware she was a great beauty, but she was also cognisant that having grown up without a mother, there were large gaps in her education. Thomas knew Fanny Gardiner was close to her sister Hattie Philips who was a rather silly, gossipy creature, but nevertheless, she had a good heart. He hoped Miss Gardiner was not too much influenced by Mrs. Philips.

Before he approached Fanny or her father, Thomas spoke to his parents and received their blessing to make his own choice without concern for the fact she was the daughter of a solicitor and he a gentleman.

The next day Thomas requested a courtship from Miss Gardiner, who granted it. He then approached Mr. Gardiner who added his permission. Two months later, Thomas proposed and was accepted. He married his Fanny in January 1786, a few days after her eighteenth birthday.

After a week spent in Bath for their wedding trip, the newly married Thomas and Fanny Bennet returned to Longbourn where Beth Bennet began to educate her daughter-in-law in the ways of the gentry and all about the duties of the mistress of an estate.

Not only had Bennet gained a wife he loved, but he and Edward Gardiner were brothers. At his brother’s suggestion, Thomas handed Fanny’s dowry of five thousand pounds to Edward to be invested. At least with his money growing and now his wife’s which would also, Thomas knew if the worst happened and they never had a son, his widow would be taken care of quite well.

It did not take long before Fanny was with child. A daughter was born in January 1787, and named Jane. By the time Jane was one, it was easy to see she was, in looks at least, a miniature version of her mother. Before Jane turned two, her ‘Gwanpapa Hnry’ passed away, his heart losing the battle and giving up.

Neither Fanny nor her husband, the new master of Longbourn would hear of Beth Bennet decamping to the dower house, so other than moving out of the master suite, Beth remained at the manor house.

By July 1789, Fanny suspected she was once again with child, she felt the quickening in late August. She was sure this babe would be a son.

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Although Lady Elaine Fitzwilliam never became with child after Richard, she was very pleased for her sisters. They were both with child again. Rose felt the quickening in mid-August 1789, and Cilla on the second day of September.

As much as she would have loved to have another child, especially a daughter to go along with her two sons, Elaine was more than pleased her sisters would give her nieces, nephews, or a combination thereof.