Chapter 2

March 1795

For the last five years, the Bennets had been living at Netherfield Park. It had taken a lot of debate for them to decide to live at the estate after Fanny had returned home with her two daughters. It was not the extra room and prestige from living at the premier estate in the area that drove the decision. Fanny felt her best friend's presence at Netherfield, and it was in a way a balm to her soul to reside in the house Cilla had lived in for more than two years. Bennet understood his wife's feelings and therefore agreed to the move.

In January of 1792 Mary Rose Bennet entered the world; she was followed about a year and a half later by Katherine, who was lovingly called Kitty by her family. The current babe of the family, not yet one was Lydia, who was born in October 1794.

The fact they had no son—yet—did not concern the Bennets in any way. His wife's and his daughters' futures, especially Elizabeth's, had been secured by the unbelievable generosity of the late Lady Priscilla.

Fanny loved all five of her daughters and although she tried not to show it, Lizzy was her favourite. Fanny sometimes called her 'princess' and the only one in the house who understood the reference was Mrs. Nichols, who unlike the two maids and Mrs. Sherman, had not retired.

Mrs. Nichols' husband, the butler at Netherfield, had exclaimed his amazement at her Ladyship leaving them five thousand pounds in her will. As had been suggested to her by her late mistress, Shirley Nichols proposed they use the bulk of the money to better the lives of their three children. Peter, her husband, had accepted his wife's wisdom and they had invested one thousand pounds for their retirement with Mr. Edward Gardiner based on Mrs. Bennet's suggestion.

Miss Anita Jones, who has been Jane's nursemaid, became the governess. She was the sister of Mr. Jones, the local doctor and apothecary. They had been raised on a tiny estate in Bedfordshire with little wealth. However, their late father had saved to educate his three sons and only daughter. After her parents passed, her eldest brother would have kept her at the estate, but she did not want to be a burden, hence she had to shift for herself.

She had come to stay with her brother in Meryton and had not found a position of governess. She accepted the position of nursemaid to Jane Bennet with the understanding that when Jane was of an appropriate age, Miss Anita Jones would become the governess. She was now happily the governess of the three older Bennet girls and would have Kitty join her for lessons within a year. All three were intelligent, well-behaved girls however the second Bennet daughter, Elizabeth was head and shoulders above her older and younger sister.

In the afternoons Fanny always took time to be with her daughters in the nursery. Jane and Kitty had their mother's blond hair and blue eyes and were a little taller than most of their own age. Mary had dark hair and hazel eyes, also tall for her age, taking after the Bennet side of the family. All three of her natural daughters were beautiful. Fanny made it a point not to emphasise beauty as an accomplishment.

Then there was Elizabeth. Fanny saw a miniature Pricilla who she would call Princess as an endearment now and again. She had the identical mahogany coloured wavey hair her mother had and was petite just like Cilla as well. Most striking were her eyes. They were definitely her mother's; the greenest eyes only seen on one before. As Miss Jones had noted, Elizabeth was as smart as a whip, far more advanced than an almost five-year-old should be. Then there was her radiant beauty. As pretty as her three sisters were, Elizabeth was in a class all on her own.

When Bennet had remarked on the coincidence their second daughter had similar coloured eyes to the late Priscilla, Fanny had pointed out that with daughters with blue and hazel eyes, it was not unheard of for one to have green eyes. Seeing the logic in his wife's statement, Bennet had never remarked on the similarity again.

The Bennets never lorded their good fortune over their neighbours. When asked by their closest friends, the Lucases, Longs, and Gouldings how they had ended up owning Netherfield, they told a story as close to the truth as they were able.

Their friends were informed that as an afterthought Lady Priscilla Oatlands had added a clause to her will almost as a joke that in the event she died without another heir, Netherfield Park became the property of the Bennets. As their friends had no idea of the massive wealth the lady had possessed there were no more questions asked or information volunteered.

The only friend who knew the truth—well the truth as Bennet knew it—was his good friend Lord Paul Carrington, the Earl of Holder. He was very happy for his friend as it relieved the stress Bennet had relayed he felt to his friend when he had visited Holder Heights in 1790. The two men had examined the documents, as Paul Carrington specialised in the laws the Court of Chancery dealt with, but they had found no loophole to end the entail. The only way in the current generation was for Bennet and the heir presumptive to agree to break the entail, and knowing his miserly, mean spirited, and illiterate Cousin Collins, Bennet knew there was no chance of that avenue being explored to break the entail. Once Fanny had shared the information about her and any daughters they had having secure futures, Bennet had shared the information he had learnt from his friend with his wife.

Masters were hired to teach the girls supplementing the lessons that Miss Jones gave them, the most prominent of them being the music and singing master, Signore Alberto da Funti, widely acknowledged as the best master available in his field. Luckily for the Bennets, they lived close enough to London for him to be willing to travel to their home.

Shortly after the move to Netherfield, Bennet had leased Longbourn and the home farm out to a family. The Hills and their servants remained with the estate to make sure things were run correctly. Mr. Hill was promoted to steward and under Bennet's close supervision made sure Longbourn's tenants were happy and productive.

There we two servants who had made the move with the Bennets, Sarah the upstairs maid who became Fanny's personal maid, and the cook Mrs. Lucinda Mills, known as Lucy. Netherfield's cook had decided to retire just prior to that tragic day in March of 1790 which led to Lucy Mills being installed in a much larger and more modern kitchen.

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Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, Earl of Ulster did his duty to King and country in November 1791, by marrying Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia. The King expressed urgency for an heir and some spares to be produced since his own heir, George, Prince of Wales, was not legally married to Maria Fitzherbert and did not think he needed to be bothered by dynastic concerns.

By 1794 no children were forthcoming, and Frederick believed it was God's punishment for the forced divorce and subsequent demise of his Cilla and their son. The relationship with Frederica Charlotte was amicable but Frederick was not able to hide his heartbreak or his devoted love of his late Cilla from his wife.

After it became clear there would be no children and theirs was a marriage in name only, Princess Frederica Charlotte, the Duchess of York and Albany, Countess of Ulster, and Frederick separated without rancour and she retired to Surrey to live permanently at Oatlands Park, Weybridge where she lived in peace for the rest of her days.

One day, some months after the separation, in anger Frederick informed his father that his true wife and son had passed away and had the King not forced the divorce there would have been an heir that was so much needed. It was the one and only time King George III had openly regretted his decision and subsequent actions.

The Duke of York and Albany, Earl of Ulster turned to the arms of mistresses and started to live a dissipated life, like he had never before. He would gamble and carouse and earned himself the reputation of being quite the rake.

The truth was he was not a rake, but he looked for any distractions which would take his mind off all that he lost after he was torn asunder from his Priscilla. Not a night went by that the Duke did not dream about his beloved Cilla. He honoured his late ex-wife's wishes past on by Mrs. Bennet that he not inform Cilla's family of her passing unless they asked about her themselves first. To date they had not.

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Charlotte Lucas, who was about five years Jane's senior was one of the two eldest Bennet daughter's best friends. One would have thought the not yet five-year-old Elizabeth was too young to be her friend as Charlotte approached the ripe old age of twelve, but Eliza's intelligence ameliorated the age difference. Charlotte and her family, Sir William and Lady Sarah Lucas the parents, and brothers Franklin, and John, were the only ones Elizabeth allowed to call her by the appellation of Eliza. The Lucas baby, Mariah was between Kitty and Lydia in age.

The group of close friends was rounded out by Jenny Goulding, who was between Jane and Elizabeth in age and Mandy Long who was just five. Mandy and her sister Cara, two, had been adopted by Jonathan and Cheryl Long when their parents, Mr. Long's brother and sister-in-law, had succumbed to a bad bout of influenza in their neighbourhood. Thankfully their young daughter had been visiting her aunt and uncle in Meryton when this occurred.

The parents of the various friends were beyond happy when the Bennets had invited their daughters to take lessons with the Bennet daughters, including with the masters. With so many to teach, Signore da Funti spent two days a week at Netherfield to accommodate all of his students. It soon became evident that all three of their older daughters had an ear for languages when they quickly picked up Italian from the Signore, so Bennet requested the master also instruct only his daughters in his native tongue which delighted the man.

After a year of conversing with Signore da Funti, the three older Bennets were fluent in Italian and had mastered the accent to perfection. After Lizzy's upcoming fifth birthday, Bennet and Fanny planned to hire masters in Latin, Greek, French, and Spanish. All three of their girls had a thirst for learning.

One afternoon Bennet joined his wife in the west drawing room after his day of making sure everything at both estates was running smoothly. "Fanny who is the letter from?" Bennet asked as he sat down after kissing his wife's cheek.

"It is from Edward, he is betrothed. While he was travelling for work, he was stuck in the town of Lambton in Derbyshire for three days while a new wheel was being fabricated for his carriage. There he met the pastor's daughter, according to his letter, a Miss Madeline Lambert. Now two months later he is betrothed to her, and they will marry from Lambton t he first Friday of the month in June. He would love us to attend Thomas. He has written to Hattie and Frank too. We can be there, can we not?" Fanny asked hopefully.

"I see no reason why not. It does not hurt that we have access to Lizzy's, I mean our coaches which came with this estate. If Hattie and Frank want to join us, they may use one of our conveyances," Bennet agreed. "I will contact Holder and see if we are able to visit him either on the way there or back, as Holder Heights is no more than four hours from Lambton if memory serves."

"Lydia will be more than one so there should be no issue with her travelling with us, I am not of a mind to be separated from our children for very long," Fanny stated firmly.

"We are of one mind in that Fanny," Bennet confirmed. Just then their three oldest girls joined them as their lessons were completed for the day. It had become a tradition that they received a treat of tea with their Mama and Papa after lessons each day.

The three were very excited when they heard Uncle Edward was to marry. "Will our new aunt like us?" Jane asked innocently.

"I am sure she will love you Janey, all five of you. One would have to travel far to find such well-behaved daughters you and your sisters," Fanny assured her eldest.

"Where is Lambton?" Elizabeth asked. She loved to find places on maps.

"In Derbyshire Lizzy," Bennet averred. "The town is in the southeast of the county, a few miles from the border with Staffordshire. We hope to visit Uncle Paul and Aunt Edith while we are in the area."

"Will I come too?" Mary asked with apprehension worried she was too young for the journey.

"Of course you will be with us Mary. Kitty and Lyddie with also be with us, and before you ask, yes Miss Jones and nurse too," Fanny told her middle daughter indulgently.

Less than two hours later Hattie Phillips arrived to discuss travel to their brother's wedding with her younger sister. As her husband had agreed they would be at the wedding, Hattie accepted the use of one of her sister's family's coaches as even the Bennets' small vehicle was far larger and more comfortable than their own.

A few days later a letter was received from Holder Heights with an invitation to stay after the wedding for as long as the Bennets chose. A letter of thanks was posted accepting the kind invitation and informing their hosts they would impose on the Carrington's hospitality until the end of June.