Chapter 16
August 1806
His Royal Highness Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, Earl of Ulster marvelled at his daughter's beauty. In the last three years she had matured into a refined young gentlewoman. She had always looked like her mother—the holder of his heart—but never more so than now that she was for the most part fully grown. In the last year he had been bestowed with an honour from his father the King.
In 1801 the Prince had been very vocal in his support of the establishment of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, which promoted the professional, merit-based training of future commissioned officers. He had opined that in order for the army to have the best, then the officers needed training, professional training, and not just the ability to purchase a rank.
The King had been so impressed with the quality of the officers being produced at Sandhurst he made Frederick the honorary Warden of Windsor Forest in September 1805. As much as he appreciated the honour from his father, Frederick would have much preferred that the wife in his heart was still alive to share his life and honours with him.
As he looked at his daughter, the Prince offered thanks to on high for being able to be part of her life. He was concerned that in two years when the truth was revealed to her she would be very angry at all of those who withheld the truth from her. Elizabeth prized honestly above all else, but he was willing to risk her ire to protect her for two more years.
He was sure about what the King would do if Elizabeth agreed to meet her royal grandparents. One day he had been visiting Buckingham House and he posited a hypothetical to his father, asking what he would have done had the dead boy lived as far as succession went.
The King had given his son's question consideration and then had replied that although the child would have been recognised as a legitimate son, and a Prince of England, the King would not have angered the spiritual leaders of the Church of England by having a child born after divorce so close in succession to the throne.
It was the one and only time in Frederick's life his father had expressed remorse for forcing the divorce. It did not repair the heartbreak that had been caused, but Frederick treasured the fact his father was willing to acknowledge such to him.
What the King did not say was that he knew he had made two women unhappy along with his son. Princess Frederica Charlotte lived in seclusion at his son's estate of Oatlands near Weybridge in Surrey. Although he acknowledged the pain his actions had caused to three, the King knew what he had done he had done for good reason as Prussia was an ally in the fight against the little tyrant and his wars in Europe.
The prince was returned to the present as he watched his daughter and her sisters talking quietly in the drawing room. Yes, Priscilla was gone but she had left him the most special of gifts. He understood why she had chosen Elizabeth's eighteenth birthday to reveal her presence to him, but he was ever so pleased that Bennet had informed him of her existence, and he had met he those eleven years ago.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
At one and twenty, George Wickham was an unhappy and resentful man. He was living in Seven Dials, the bowels of London. The money his father had given him was all but gone. He had lost most of it at the tables and had at least the good sense to keep some for living expenses. None of his schemes to make his fortune in the last three years had come close to working and producing a result he needed.
Since the day his father had given him the funds, George had not tried to contact the man. He was determined to make his fortune, the way he saw fit, and show his father how wrong his estimation of his son was. To George's chagrin, so far the only thing he had proved was how correct his father had been.
Almost three years in the past, in a little town in Staffordshire he had claimed to be a Darcy—for the one and only time he dared—and gained credit after he charmed the merchants into believing his claim. The problem was the village was close to Holder Heights and when Lord Holder had heard of this mysterious George Darcy, he had a good idea who the man was.
Lord Holder sent an express to Robert Darcy informing him what his steward's son was up and at the same time sullying the Darcy name. Unluckily for George Wickham, the Bennets were still with the Darcys as it was not quite three months after the death of Lady Anne.
Biggs and Johns had been dispatched to give the wastrel a gentle warning. At the same time, the day the two footmen guards arrived, Lord Holder had his steward canvass the business owners to get a list of the debts Wickham had run up. All of the vowels were purchased in his friend's name and the merchants told it was the last time someone would cover them if they chose to extend credit to one unknown without seriously verifying his tale.
Meanwhile, the two huge men found Wickham in the local inn drinking and spreading his lies about the grand estate he would inherit. "An 'ow would the son of a steward in'erit Mr. Darcy's estate, Wickham?" Biggs growled.
George Wickham slowly turned and when he saw the two mountainous men with scowls behind him, all colour drained from his face. "'Ey," one of the locals who had been conned into buying drinks for the libertine spoke up. "Ya sayin' 'e is not a Darcy?"
"No, 'e is a liar, thief, an' a cheat. 'Is name be George Wickham, the son of the steward of Pemberley, not the master!" Biggs informed the now angry group of men.
Before the crowd turned too ugly, Biggs and Johns each took an arm of the petrified liar, lifted him as if he was nothing, and walked out of the inn. When they reached a dark alley behind the establishment, the one-time warning was delivered leaving Wickham with a broken nose and some missing teeth. Before they left, Biggs turned to the snivelling coward.
"Mr. Darcy wants you t' know," Biggs stated menacingly, "if ya' ever use 'is name agin, there will be no mercy. 'E 'as bought your debts 'ere and you will go to gaol—if you are alive at that point—an' there will be no mercy."
In the moon's light it was then that George had recognised them as two of the men who he had seen protecting the blonde after whom he still lusted. Up close they were much scarier than from a distance. He knew then and there he could never use the Darcy, or any of their friend's or family's names, ever again.
From Staffordshire he had made his way to London where he would beg, borrow, and steal to live which is how where he found himself in a tiny rat-infested room in the worst part Town. The next day, he was in a neighbourhood that was somewhat better than where he lived—then again any neighbourhood in London was better—walking down Edward Street. He saw a boarding house that the sign over the door identified as 'Younge's Boarding House."
There was a notice next to the door: "Seeking a man of all work." Taking a chance it may get him out of the squalor his was living in, George Wickham knocked on the door and told the woman who opened it he wanted to apply for the position available.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Robert Darcy had kept his word to his beloved late wife. In July, a year after her passing, the master of Pemberley had ended his year of mourning. He was thankful beyond words for the support and friendship of his extended family. They had never allowed him to sink into the depths of despair he would have liked to otherwise.
At the end of the three months, he had accompanied first William to Cambridge to take up his studies and then his daughter to Netherfield Park to be with the Bennets. His wife's wisdom was proved once again as Gigi had thrived with the Bennets. She had been surrounded by love and sisterhood, and even a little adopted brother, and when Darcy had joined William to have Christmas at Netherfield the year Anne had died, neither he nor his son recognised the self-confident girl who threw her arms around them in welcome. Especially after her mother had passed, Gigi had exhibited a level of shyness not seen before. After a few months with the Bennets, the shyness had been banished.
Georgiana Darcy still missed her mother each and every day, but the love extended to her by the Bennets had done much to ameliorate her sorrow. She was still closest to Kitty and Lydia, but she felt like she was sister to all six of the Bennet offspring and looked upon Aunt Fanny and Uncle Thomas almost as surrogate parents. In addition she had become very close with Mariah Lucas and the Long sisters.
William was enjoying Cambridge. Yes, he was sad much of the time when he was not busy, and his mother's death had left a hole in his heart, but he loved the intellectual stimulation. In addition to cricket, the Darcy heir excelled at fencing and was a force on the debating team.
The latter he joined to sharpen his skills for the epic debates he and Elizabeth tended to have. He needed every edge he could attain, and the debate team would help with bolstering his defences against the young lady.
Georgiana had remained with the Bennets until her father's year of mourning was complete. As his wife had wanted, Robert Darcy visited his daughter almost every month she was at Netherfield, so she never felt she was being abandoned by the one parent she had left in the world.
Even after the year of mourning was complete, with the Bennet's ready agreement, Gigi had spent a good deal of the year in Hertfordshire so she could keep studying with the masters the Bennets had on staff, especially Mr. Mercury for voice and Signore da Funti for her playing of the pianoforte, which was now on par with the three eldest Bennet sisters.
As Kitty had displayed an innate skill for drawing in the last two years, a new, young, drawing and art master had been hired. A Mr. Adam Lambert from London. Aunt Maddie Gardiner had told them there was no blood connection between the new master and her family. Mr. Lambert joining the group of masters was an added incentive for Gigi to want to be at Netherfield Park as she, like Kitty, loved drawing and sketching.
In the last months William had started to notice Elizabeth as far more than a family friend. He had become attracted to her, not just her looks—there was no arguing her striking beauty—but her intelligence was a huge attraction.
Some may have been intimidated by a woman as intelligent, if not more so, than themselves, but not William—to him it was a huge plus. She was teasing, playful, and could exercise impertinence if she so desired. The more time William spent around her, the more he came to realise he was falling in love with Elizabeth Bennet.
One evening when William had arrived home at Pemberley for his Easter term break from Cambridge, he told his father he felt he was falling in love with Elizabeth. Robert Darcy threw back his head and laughed. Even though he felt bad as his father had laughed at him, William held his peace as it was the first time he had heard his father laugh since before his mother had become to vert sick.
"I am sorry, William, I was not laughing at you," Robert told his son as he regulated his mirth, not missing the hurt in Williams eyes. "I am laughing at your mother's perceptivity. She told me she believed you would fall in love with Lizzy one day and I thought she was out of her senses as it was during the time you and she were standoffish to one another."
"Thank you, Father," William stated with relief. The fact his late mother had predicted his falling for Elizabeth, made her all the more desirable to himself.
"You know you will need to wait for her come out before you declare yourself," Robert reminded hid son. "In addition, before you approach her you will need permission from her father."
"It will be hard to wait, but I will do so and use the time to deepen my friendship with Elizabeth so she will hopefully start to gain tender feelings for me," William voiced his hopes.
"What about the young men you assisted at Cambridge?" Darcy remembered his son telling him something close to the beginning of the current academic year at Cambridge. "Did you become friends?"
"You mean Bingley and Jamison," William reminded his father. "Some lordlings were attacking them for no other reason but that the former's father was in trade while the latter's father was an insignificant country squire with a small estate.
"We are acquaintances, nothing more, at Bingley's insistence," William shared.
"Why would this Bingley eschew a connection to you given his roots?" Darcy asked his son.
"As he tells it, his mother and younger sister are incorrigible social climbers and he did not want to subject me—us—to their machinations," William shared. "Based on his description of the two, I think he did us a great service."
A few hours later father and son had departed south to visit the Bennets and Gigi.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Louisa and Harold hurst had been happy since their wedding in August of 1803. The only darkness in their otherwise felicitous life was when Mrs. Martha Bingley and her youngest, now seventeen, Caroline were in company with them.
The Hursts had a smallish town home on Curzon street in London, which when they were in residence, they felt obligated to invite Caroline, who was attending Mrs. Hawthorn-Jones Seminary for Young Ladies, to reside with them.
It had not taken Caroline long to feel the disdain of titled and untitled daughters of the Ton to what they termed was the upstart pretentious daughter of a tradesman. Rather than learn the way she was treated was wrong, Miss Bingley learnt the opposite lesson and felt if she was to climb to the levels of society she craved she would need to emulate the behaviour of the girls who belittled, bullied, and denigrated her.
She could not blame them for disdaining her father's roots in trade, as she felt the same way. She thought her dowry of ten thousand pounds would buy access to the upper echelons of girls at the school, until she found out ten thousand was insignificant compared to the twenty thousand and higher most others had.
She enlisted her mother to join her in working on her father to increase her dowry to twenty thousand or higher. Unfortunately, no matter how much they cajoled, tried to manipulate, or simply begged, Mr. Bingley senior was unmoved.
As the dissatisfaction built inside of her, Caroline Bingley became more and more of a chore to be around to all in her family other than her mother, who continued to indulge her spoilt daughter's whims.
Unbeknownst to his family, Arthur Bingley was saving for an estate to raise his family to the minor gentry. His desire to own an estate had nothing to do with the pretentions of his wife or youngest daughter. He was looking forward to retirement and decided he would like to relax at some point and enjoy the fruits of his labours.
All his plans changed in early September of 1806, when in a twist of cruel irony for a carriage maker, a wheel broke as the conveyance he and his wife were in was negotiating a sharp bend at speed. The vehicle turned over breaking free of the horse and then slid down a steep embankment, smashing to pieces on the rocks below. The coachman, a footman, and Mr. and Mrs. Bingley were killed instantly.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Fanny was expecting her two best friends to arrive back from London after Jane's curtsy before the queen. In the end, to cater to Bennet's aversion to Town, Jane had gone with Ladies Edith and Elaine, with the former sponsoring her presentation.
There was no secret among the families that Andrew Fitzwilliam, Viscount Hilldale, was in love with Jane and she returned his love in full measure. Both understood he could not declare himself until after she came out. Andrew had already reserved the second, supper, and final sets with her at the ball to be held at Holder Heights.
The two had always been friendly, but it was in the last six months things had changed and both had developed tender feelings one for the other. At six and twenty, Andrew felt he was ready to take the next step in his life and could imagine no one other than Jane Bennet making life's journey at his side.
Fanny would never forget the conversation she and her husband had with Jane when she insisted she wanted all of the family with her. With Lizzy being sixteen, Mary fourteen, Kitty thirteen, Lydia twelve, soon to be thirteen, and Tommy almost ten, Jane could not understand why her father could not bring all of her sisters to London to see her presentation. She also asked why her ball would be held at Holder Heights.
"Jane sit," Fanny had instructed after Jane joined her parents. "We must have your promise you will not repeat a word of what we are about to tell you to anyone, not until after Lizzy's eighteenth birthday," Bennet insisted.
Jane had looked at her parents questioningly. "What has this to do with Lizzy and her birthday?"
"Will you promise us Jane, solemnly swear you will not repeat a word of what we are about to tell you to another sole until it becomes more widely known?" Fanny asked.
"I give you my vow, I will not repeat anything," Jane agreed.
"How much do you remember of Aunt Priscilla, Janey?" Fanny asked.
"Nothing beyond what you, Uncle Freddy, and others have told me, Mama" Jane admitted.
"Here is a painting of Aunt Priscilla. You will soon understand why I do not allow it to be hung with the other portraits in the gallery." Fanny handed the small portrait of Priscilla, which was painted soon after her marriage to Frederick, to Jane. There was no missing the gasp from Jane as soon as she saw the likeness.
"Mama, Papa, why are you saying this painting of Lizzy is Aunt Priscilla?" Jane asked confused.
"Jane dearest, although Lizzy is our daughter and your sister in every way that counts, she is not related to us by blood," Bennet explained.
"But Aunt Priscilla's son… He was my brother was he not?" Both her parents nodded. "Then why was Lizzy brought up as one of us? Is she not a royal princess if Uncle Freddy is her father?" Jane asked as the reality of what her parents were telling her sunk in.
Fanny explained all to Jane. "Do you understand why the Prince left her with us and did not consign her to be raised the same way he had to endure?" Fanny asked.
"I do, Mama. I now understand why we are not able to go to Town as a family. I love Lizzy and nothing you have revealed to me changes that, regardless of her having royal blood, she is, and always will remain, my sister." Jane had showed her steely determination. "Am I to deduce from what you said about Lizzy's eighteenth birthday that that is when the truth will be revealed to her?"
"Your deduction is correct. We are aware she will not be happy at not being told the truth of her antecedents initially, but we hope she will see the reasoning and the need to tell her," Bennet stated.
"It will be up to her if she wants to be known to either or both sets of grandparents. As far as the King and Queen go, it will depend on them more so than Lizzy. It is their decision whether they recognise her as a princess or not," Fanny explained.
"I hope Lizzy does not want to know Aunt Priscilla's family. They do not deserve to be acquainted with her after they cut their daughter is such a way," Jane had stated with steel in her voice.
Once Jane understood the reasoning behind the ball being in Staffordshire and not London she had accepted the necessity of the protections her parents, Uncle Freddy, and her other Aunts and Uncles had put in place to make sure Lizzy would not be seen by anyone who knew the late Lady Priscilla.