March 1811
"Dear sister, I have some exciting news to share with you. Yesterday, the new parson of Netherfield Park finally arrived. He is a young and handsome gentleman who happens to be single. He comes from a wealthy family in Derbyshire, and his name is Fitzwilliam Darcy…"
Fanny Bennet's face lit up with joy as she thought of the potential opportunities for her four daughters and niece to marry. However, in her opinion, her eldest daughter was too beautiful to settle for just a parson, and her youngest daughter was not yet out.
Chapter 1
For nearly 200 years the Bennet family had lived in Longbourn. In 1758, George Bennet married Clara Rochester, who brought a dowry of £5,000 to the marriage. They were blessed with two sons, Thomas, born in 1760, and, two years later, Louis.
The brothers had different temperaments, but they had a good relationship. Thomas was not very social and did not like physical activities, while Louis enjoyed society and was very active. A love of books was the only interest they shared. They both received a gentleman's education and had attended Cambridge University. Louis chose the clergy as his profession, and by chance, had been appointed to fill a vacancy in Derbyshire shortly after being ordained in 1786.
In that same year, Thomas married Fanny Gardiner, a beautiful and silly young woman, who was ten years younger than Thomas. Thomas's parents had tried to dissuade their son from marrying but were unsuccessful.
In 1787, George and Clara Bennet died in a carriage accident. Since Thomas was Longbourn's heir, in George Bennet's will, he left the money from his wife's settlement to Louis.
When Louis went to his bank in London, he discovered that the account now in his name had over £10,000. Although he could live on the interest of that money, he loved his profession, so he decided to invest the money in the four percent interest rate and continued living in the parsonage on his salary.
In 1788, Louis married Maria Thompson. Maria was the only daughter of a gentleman who had an estate similar in size to Longbourn, and she had a dowry of £10,000.
One year later, the first daughter of Thomas and Fanny Bennet, Jane, was born. Three years later their second daughter was born, Mary Bennet; Kitty was born two years later; and one year after Kitty, came Lydia.
In 1791, Louis and Maria Bennet had their first and only child, whom they named Elizabeth. Unfortunately, a few months after the birth, Maria died of pneumonia and three years later, Louis died in an accident.
In Louis Bennet's will, Elizabeth's maternal grandfather and Louis' brother, Thomas Bennet, were appointed her guardians and all of Louis's money, which included Maria's dowry, was designated as Elizabeth's dowry and totaled nearly £25,000.
Since Mr. Thompson was a widower and Thomas was married with three daughters, it was decided that Elizabeth would live half of the time in Longbourn with her cousins and the other half with her grandfather. Thomas would receive about £300 a year, to be used to support Elizabeth as well as to hire a governess.
Mr. Thompson, in addition to his estate, had a house in London, which was the ideal location for him and Elizabeth to spend the winter. Sadly, as with Longbourn, Mr. Thompson's properties could only be inherited by men, and the heir was a distant cousin he barely knew.
Thus, Elizabeth lived in Longbourn for several months of the year, and between December and March, she visited her grandfather in London.
During the months she spent in London, her grandfather hired the best piano, painting, and foreign language masters for her. In the remaining months of the year, she practiced her lessons using Longbourn's piano and practiced her French and Spanish with her Uncle Bennet.
Years passed, and shortly after Elizabeth's seventeenth birthday, her grandfather died. Thereafter, she lived permanently with the Bennets at Longbourn. In Mr. Thompson's will he bequeathed all his money to Elizabeth with a clause stating that it could only be withdrawn from the bank by Elizabeth when she turned twenty-one or when she married.
The four daughters of Thomas and Fanny had blond hair, though of a different shade and light eyes. While Elizabeth had dark hair, tanned skin, and dark green eyes with golden highlights.
Jane was considered a classic beauty. She was tall and slender, while Elizabeth drew a lot of attention for her exotic beauty and slim figure which was more voluptuous than her cousin's.
Since Longbourn would be inherited by a distant cousin when Mr. Bennet died, Mrs. Bennet had decided that Jane should be out at 16. She was sure her most beautiful daughter would marry very well, maybe even an Earl. Furthermore, her daughters needed to make good marriages and their dowries were only £2,200. She didn't worry about Elizabeth's future, because she knew she had money, and her priority was first and foremost, her daughters.
The years went by, and Jane turned 22. Thus far, she had not received a marriage proposal nor a request for a courtship. She had been admired by more than one gentleman but their admiration had never gone beyond a simple flirtation. Elizabeth, meanwhile, had already turned down a marriage proposal from Mr. Watson, the eldest son of her grandfather's heir. That gentleman's defect was that he had sired at least one illegitimate child and it was rumored that he refused to provide any support for him. Her grandfather fully supported her, and relations between Elizabeth and her grandfather's heir were not good.
Mrs. Bennet, as time passed, became more and more desperate, and did not understand how it was possible that her eldest, most beautiful daughter did not have suitors. Jane had been going to her uncle's house in London for four years but returned each year without success. She did not realize that, with her vulgar matchmaking attitude, she was contributing negatively to Jane's chances. In addition, due to the war, there were more young ladies than gentlemen, and many of the gentlemen could not afford to marry a woman with a small dowry.
