AN: To the guest reviewer who asks why did Bennet threaten divorce or annulment after saying he would marry Martha Bingley because of his honour. 1. He would have satisfied his feeling of honour having married her as he promised, if she caused a problem after it would not be against his honour and 2. It was a threat to get her in line. Whether it works, we will find out as the story progresses.

Chapter 3

June 1801

Nothing had gone as Martha Bennet, formerly Bingley, had imagined. One time she had attempted to go to her husband and when her shouting woke him, as the footman would not allow her to pass, Bennet had exited his bedchamber and told her in no uncertain terms what he thought of her charms. That was three years ago, and she had never made another attempt.

She and her daughters had food and had a dry place to live, but no more. If they wanted new dresses, they had to use some of their pittance of an allowance. At least Charles was in his second year at Eton and his expenses were paid from the trust that the officious Mr. Gardiner ran. No matter how she ranted at him, the man would not release a penny more than her and her children's allowances to her.

Martha was pleased that Charles would be home from Eton in a few days. He would be able to report on his success at ingratiating himself with sons of the first circles. Martha could not understand how with her perfect instructions her son had not succeeded in making any high born friends as of his last term break,

One of her biggest vexations was her husband and his daughters, who at fifteen and eleven had grown even more beautiful, especially as the older had begun to grow her womanly curves, would travel away at Easter, Christmastide, and for all of the summer never telling her where they were going and never inviting her or any of her children to join them.

While the Bennet daughters had been educated by their governess and masters from Town, her daughters had received no training as she could not afford to spend her meagre resources on educating her daughters on anything except the art of the compromise.

When her daughters pointed out that their mother's compromise had not garnered much success, or as much as she expected to, Martha Bennet could not argue the point. Nothing had been as she had wanted it to be.

She had tried to charge items to her husband's accounts in Meryton and been refused, the only time she had gained a little extra was one time that the owner of the haberdashery gave into his lust and exchanged her services for some ribbons. It was the first and last time anyone in Meryton had been interested in trading services.

The servants were polite but would not accept any orders from her or her children. If Martha could go back six years, she would have never compromised her miserly husband. On the other side of the house, the Bennets were as happy as could be expected.

The only time they would see the interloping Bingleys was when they shared dinner. The Bennets were up with the sunrise, while Martha and her children usually ambled down at noon after taking a tray in their chambers. For the first few months they had expected warm, fresh food waiting for them when they deigned to get themselves out of bed. Bennet had disabused them of the notion with alacrity—hence the trays.

As their father promised, each Christmastide and summer had been spent with their cousins and Tommy. After the first year of them being at Longbourn, Easter became a time to hie to Holder Heights as well.

Since Charles Bingley had begun at Eton, their summer trip north would normally commence a few days before his expected arrival as neither Bennet sister felt comfortable with the way that he stared at them, especially Jane. This year, they were delayed a few days as their father had to take care of an issue on the estate that would not wait for three months.

Charles Bingley arrived home and as was his wont he leered at Jane Bennet. No amount of spying on his sisters could come close to the lust he felt when viewing Jane, and that was fully clothed. In his imagination, he had undressed her many times.

The day before their scheduled departure from Longbourn, Jane escaped the house to walk in the little wilderness on one side of the park. Charles Bingley saw her leave but did not follow her right away. Luckily, his following Jane did not go unnoticed by Elizabeth who told one of the footmen to follow her outside.

Before Jane saw him, she felt a presence behind her and whirled around just as Charles Bingley attempted to grab her body with one hand and place his other hand over her mouth. Thanks to her sudden movement, his hand went into her mouth instead of over it and she bit down onto the offending limb with all of her might.

Charles Bingley let out a scream like a stuck pig as he saw blood running from his injured right hand. Like the coward he was, he lifted his left arm to strike a blow to the chit who injured him. Had his mother not told them to take what they wanted? Did she not say it was their right? Then why did this girl bite him. He would make her rue the day.

As his hand began its arc down towards Jane, and she being close to him thanks to his attempt to detain her, she remembered what her father had told her about sensitive areas on a man. Before his hand reached her, her knee, with as much force as she could muster, found his most sensitive of spots.

If he screamed before, it was nothing to the caterwauling that he managed after he got his breath back. "Jane are you well?" Elizabeth and the footman ran up to her. They had witnessed the whole of the attack but had been too far away to stop it.

"Oh Lizzy," Jane fell into her younger sister's arms as the fight went out of her and she realised how close she had come to something distasteful in the extreme. Jane burst into tears as the tension was released from her body.

Bennet arrived with his wife in tow who was followed by her two daughters. "What have you done to my brother?" Caroline, who was twelve, screeched.

"Your lecherous brother tried to attack my sister, and she defended herself," Elizabeth bristled.

"You lie," Caroline retorted, and would have said more but the footman stepped towards her threateningly. By now Jane had ceased crying and was sniffling into her father's chest.

"Jane my dear, can you tell us what happened?" Bennet asked softly as he rubbed his daughter's back.

"He," Jane pointed at the still writhing Charles Bingley, "tried to grab me and cover my mouth at the same time. I bit him, then he was going to strike me, so I put my knee into the spot you showed me Papa."

"I am sure that Charles was just trying to play a prank on his step-sister," said Martha, trying to defend her son.

"Does he play a prank when he spies on his sisters when they change and bathe?" Bennet thundered. Young Bingley blanched as he was trying to stand up.

Both Louisa and Caroline turned to their brother and yelled in unison, "CHARLES!" Martha did not dispute what was said. She had caught him in the act a few years back and he swore to her it was the only time and he would never do it again.

"He is to leave my home on the morrow and never return," Bennet stated brooking no dissent.

"Where will he go?" Martha pleaded.

"I care not. He can apply to Gardiner for some of the interest for rent or he can go to his uncle in Scarborough. Where he goes is his problem. If he approaches any member of my family again, I will see him in gaol, and you will find yourself and your daughters thrown out of my house. Do I make myself clear?" Bennet demanded.

Charles Bingley held his peace, but he swore to himself as he stared at Bennet sullenly, he would avenge himself on the man he hated. He would also have to find a way to pay the chit back who injured and humiliated him.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

That night when their packing was complete, Bennet called his two daughters into his study. A footman was posted outside as on more than one occasion Martha, or her youngest daughter had been caught trying to eavesdrop at the study door. Luckily, it was of heavy oak construction, but Bennet preferred to be careful, nonetheless.

"Jane and Lizzy, I want you to remain with my cousins when I return to Longbourn. The less you are around these interlopers the happier I will be," Bennet informed his daughters.

Unlike the last time he had talked about living with their cousins, Jane did not object. Of course Elizabeth was another story. "I will remain with Jane and Tommy until after Twelfth Night, but I will return home with you in January Papa. I will not allow these people to chase me from me house!" Elizabeth insisted.

"We will talk again when I return for Christmastide Lizzy," Bennet told his second daughter who sat with her arms akimbo and a determined look on her face. "Time for bed you two. In case you are worried about that disgusting young man, there will be a footman outside his door all night and two in the hall outside our chambers. I promise you that he will never be in this house with us again." Bennet kissed both his daughters on their cheeks and then walked them back to their chambers acknowledging the two footmen on duty.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

The next morning a sullen Charles Bingley was escorted to the post and placed on the stage to London. The men watched until the coach was out of view. Charles Bingley would get funds from Mr. Gardiner and then take the post to Scarborough to be with his father's younger brother until school began again.

Bennet had sent an express to Gardiner the previous afternoon apprising him of why the young man was never allowed to return to Longbourn. Unbeknownst to Martha, Bennet, he also changed his will to state that even should he die, that Charles Bingley being allowed back into Longbourn would be grounds for himself, his mother, and his sisters to be permanently removed from Bennet lands.

"How could you attempt such a thing with my niece?" an angry Gardiner demanded, as he supported his weight on his fists leaning forward towards the cowering young man. "If you father were alive, he would have disowned you!"

"It was just a silly prank," the younger man tried to prevaricate.

"And is that why my niece bit your hand and put her knee in your bullocks? Is part of a prank trying to strike the object of the prank when it is a young lady?" He raised his hand to stay the next lie before it was uttered. "If you ever go near any of my family again, I will make you disappear. I know many men of varied backgrounds and believe me when I tell you that no one will find your miserable body. Take your money and get out and remember my warning well. It is not a jest!" Gardiner stated dispassionately.

Charles Bingley felt a cold shiver traverse his spine. He read in Mr. Gardiner's eyes that this was no idle threat. He would have to rethink his desire for revenge because it was not worth losing his life over. Also, for the first time in his life he began to question his mother's way of doing things.

An hour later he was on the stage headed north.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

George Wickham stood in the Duke's study much like he had five or six years previously and like before, his father and Lord William were present. Lord Robert Darcy was impressed at the way that the young man had turned his life around. Since the last time they had met in the study, there had not been a harder worker than George Wickham when he was presented with a task. At times, when he felt it needed, he would take the initiative to perform tasks he saw in need of completion rather than try and pawn it off on another,

The best part, it was not for show. The younger Wickham had been observed in candid moments and his behaviour was never found wanting. Even though their stations were enormously far apart, a true friendship had been struck up between the heir to Pemberley and the steward's son. George had been accepted into the circle that included Anthony and Richard Fitzwilliam as well.

"I have been most pleased by the way that you have changed direction since the last time we all met in my study some years previously. What have you learnt from your endeavours George?" the Duke asked kindly.

"I thank you for your encouraging words your Grace," young Wickham gave a half bow. "There are two main things that I have seen your Grace. Firstly the only way to make true friends is to be honest to a fault and be willing to give as much, even more than one is apt to take or receive. Secondly, when I work for something, apply myself, and especially when I help others, there is a fulfilment I would never experience when I tried to gain what I did not deserve by trickery and prevarication," young Wickham stated evenly.

It had been hard, extremely hard for the younger Wickham in the beginning. He had railed against the unfairness of his situation telling himself that he would get his due! His late mother had always told him that he should aspire to more and that with all the Darcys possessed, they would not feel it to give him a small fortune to set him up in life. Mrs. Henrietta Wickham was an envious and avaricious woman who was never happy with her lot.

Then he had started to observe those around him—his father, the tenants, and even the servants—had seemingly a contentment in them of which he could only dream. George had started to talk to his father and the more they spoke, the more he realised his mother was wrong and that she had started to direct him down a path that would lead to his ruin.

As George Wickham started to wake up and make the changes that he needed to make, not a few times did he reflect on the fact that had he stayed on his previous path, he would have ended up a libertine living a life of debauchery and dissipation. He was never more grateful for the Duke's calling him on the carpet six years earlier. It had been the shock he needed to seek his father's help and become the young man he was today.

"You are the one who has made the effort to change and I, we," the Duke indicated his son and the steward, "are all impressed with who you are now." Lord Robert paused. "Have you thought about what you would like to do for a profession?"

"As you well know your Grace, my esteemed father had made sure that I have been educated, that was another thing I learn—the value of education. Without a university education, however, I find my choices limited to a trade. I will not allow my father to use his meagre savings sending me to university," young Wickham responded firmly.

"Your feelings do you credit young man! If you had a university education, what would you do with your life?" Lord Robert probed.

"I know myself well enough to know that I am not suited to be a clergyman, so I could read the law and then follow my father into his profession of stewardship. My first love though is the army. I have been speaking to your nephew, Richard, who has just completed university. Lord Matlock has purchased him a lieutenant's commission in the Royal Dragoons. That would be my first choice your Grace." George Wickham had a glint in his eye when he spoke about the army showing it was not simply talk.

"You would go into the regulars where you can be sent into battle and risk the chance of not surviving? Why not the militia?" the Duke pushed.

"As much as I respect militia officers, I find I would prefer to serve King and country in a more active way," young Wickham insisted.

"It is my intention to gift you a university education at Oxford," the Duke held up his hand to stay the protest he saw forming on the young man's lips. "It is exactly the reason you deserve this; you did not change for gain or reward. This is my choice because I feel that you deserve it. Apply yourself, keep your nose to the grindstone, do well in your studies, and keep away from gambling and cavorting with women. When you graduate, you too will receive a lieutenant's commission in the Dragoons like Richard."

"Just thank my father," Lord William grinned, "you know how obstinate we Darcys are when we make a decision."

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart your Grace," George bowed to his benefactor.

"Papa, I missed you," little Gigi, just seven, in a blur of blonde ringlets and light blue skirts, launched herself into her father's arms.

"My apologies, your Grace." The governess, Miss Karen Younge, curtsied looking chagrined that she had lost control of her charge. "Lady Georgiana took off before I could catch up to her," the out of breath and harried woman explained.

"It is fine Miss Younge. I know my daughter's propensity to run at times. I will send her back to you after she has had some time with her old Papa." After he dismissed the governess, he looked to the Wickhams. "Unless there is something else from either of you?" Both bowed and left the family in the study.

A half hour later, Lord William took his little sister by the hand and led her back to her waiting governess.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Lady Catherine de Bourgh was at her wit's end. She had been writing to her brother-in-law, who by rights should have been her husband, for years with no response. Not only was there never an answer, but all invitations to Pemberley, Darcy, or Derbyshire Houses, or any of his other properties had ceased more than five years previously.

Worse, no invitations to Rosings Park were answered. Her sickly daughter was sixteen, in but five years Rosings would become hers and Lady Catherine could not allow that! She refused to be relegated to the dower house.

Being refused, and worse ignored, was not something that sat well with Lady Catherine, who believed that she could shape events with just the force of her will. She did not know how yet, but with her brilliant mind she was sure she would come up with a solution soon enough. She just had to get Anne into her cousin's company so she could engineer a compromise that would be more successful than the one she attempted on Lord Robert Darcy.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

After a most enjoyable summer at Holder Heights, Bennet was not happy to return to that woman and her daughters. At least the insipid, lecherous son would no longer darken his property.

He had hardly crossed the threshold when his termagant of a wife started pleading her son's case, begging for Bennet to relent and give her 'dear Charles' another chance. After about five minutes of her whining Bennet had enough.

"Do you remember what I told you will happen to you and your daughters if your son sets foot on my lands again?" he asked with asperity.

"You meant that? Surely you jested," Martha hoped.

"NO madam! It was no jest. You should know my will was changed. If I should die and if your son arrives on my property before my heir takes possession of the estate, you and your daughters will be evicted. It will be my heir's decision what happens after taking over the estate." Seeing she was about to protest, he held up his hand. "I tire of this subject, not another word madam!"

Mrs. Bennet got her pinched look, one that her younger daughter had perfected as well, and left the master's study in a huff. No, this had not been the gentleman to compromise!