Page 69 of A Life Diverted

For the previous five years, the Bennets had been living at Netherfield Park.

There had been many days of debate before they agreed to move to the estate after Fanny had returned home with her two daughters.

It was not the larger size or the prestige of living at the premier estate in the area that drove the decision.

It was because 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 almost two years.

Bennet understood his wife’s feelings, and so had agreed to the move, understanding that she seemed more at peace in their Priscilla’s space.

The fact they had no son—yet—did not concern the Bennets. Bennet knew the future of his wife and daughters, 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 did not to show it, Lizzy was her favourite.

Fanny sometimes called her ‘princess’ knowing the only one in the house who understood the reference was Mrs. Nichols, who, unlike the two maids and Mrs. Sherman, had not retired after they had received their settlements.

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; they had invested one thousand pounds for their retirement with Mr. Edward Gardiner, based on Mrs. Bennet’s suggestion.

Miss Anita Jones, who had been Jane’s nursemaid, became the girls’ 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 willingly allow her to continue to live at the estate, but she did not want to be a burden, so she had left of her own accord and made her way in the world.

She was invited to reside with her brother in Meryton and had accepted the position of nursemaid to Jane Bennet with the understanding that when Jane was of an appropriate age, Miss Anita Jones would become her governess.

She was now content as she was 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 young ladies; however, the second Bennet daughter, Elizabeth, was more so than her older and younger sisters.

In the afternoons, Fanny always took time to join her daughters in the nursery.

Jane and Kitty had their mother’s blond hair and blue eyes and were a little taller than most girls of their age.

Taking after the Bennet side of the family, Mary had dark hair and hazel eyes; she was tall for her age as well.

All three of her daughters of her body were beautiful, but Fanny made it a point not to emphasise beauty as an accomplishment.

Then there was Elizabeth. Fanny saw a miniature Priscilla in the girl she called Princess as an endearment now and again.

She had the identical mahogany-coloured wavy hair her mother had and was petite, as Cilla had been.

Most striking were her eyes. They were definitely Priscilla’s green eyes.

As Miss Jones had noted, Elizabeth was as smart as a whip, and 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 perhaps a bit more so.

When Bennet remarked on the coincidence of their second daughter having eyes similar to those of the late Priscilla, Fanny pointed out that green eyes were not unheard of, given their other daughters had blue and hazel eyes.

Seeing the logic in his wife’s statement, Bennet had never remarked on the similarity again.

The Bennets did not lord it over their neighbours because of their good fortune. When the Lucases, Longs, and Gouldings, their closest friends, asked how they had ended up owning Netherfield, they told a story as close to the truth as possible.

Their friends were informed that as an afterthought, Lady Priscilla Oatland had added a clause to her will, almost as a joke, what to do in the event she died without another heir.

It was due to the tragedy that took both the lady and her son that Netherfield Park had unexpectedly become the property of the Bennets.

As their friends had no idea of the massive wealth the lady had possessed, no more questions were asked, nor was any further 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 over the entail Bennet had discussed with him during his visit to Holder Heights in 1790.

The two men had examined the entail 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—as long as he was one and twenty or older—to agree to break the entail.

Knowing his miserly, mean spirited, and illiterate Cousin Collins, Bennet knew there was no chance of that outcome.

Once Fanny had shared the information about Priscilla’s gift to her and any daughters, securing their future, Bennet 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 Master was Signore Alberto da Funti, the music master who also taught singing up to a certain level; he was widely acknowledged as the best master available in the field of playing music.

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 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, well looked after, and productive.

There were 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 larger and more modern kitchen.

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

Prince 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.

His relationship with Frederica Charlotte was amicable, but Frederick was unable to hide his heartbreak or his devoted love for his late Cilla from his wife.

After it became clear there would be no children and that theirs was a marriage in name only, Princess Frederica Charlotte, the Duchess of York and Albany, Countess of Ulster, and Frederick separated without rancour.

She retired to Surrey to live a completely separate life permanently at Oatlands Park, near Weybridge, where she lived in peace for the rest of her days.

One day, some months after the separation, Frederick angrily informed his father that his true wife and son had passed away, and that had the King not forced the divorce there would have been a much-needed heir.

It was the one of the times King George III 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, unlike the life he led before. He would gamble and carouse, earning 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 he lost after he was torn from his first wife.

Not a night went by that the Prince did not dream about his beloved Cilla.

He honoured his late ex-wife’s wish, which had been forwarded 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.

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

Charlotte Lucas, who was Jane’s senior by five years, was friends with the two eldest Bennet daughters.

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, and her brothers Franklin and John, were the only ones Elizabeth allowed to call her 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 the five-year-old Mandy Long.

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, succumbed to a bad bout of influenza.

Thankfully, their young daughters had been visiting their aunt and uncle in Meryton when the outbreak swept through their late parent’s neighbourhood.

The parents of the various friends were beyond happy when the Bennets 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.

Bennet requested the master instruct only his two oldest daughters in his native tongue, after it had become evident that they had an ear for languages when they quickly picked up Italian from the Signore .

After more than a year of conversing with Signore da Funti, Jane and Elizabeth were fluent in Italian and had mastered the accent to perfection.

Mary was beginning to learn as she had started music lessons in the last few months.

It seemed that at their young age, the children were able to assimilate languages much more easily than older children.

After Lizzy’s upcoming fifth birthday, Bennet and Fanny planned to hire masters in Latin, Greek, French, Russian, and Spanish.

Their girls had a thirst for learning, and their parents were wise enough to quench it.

One afternoon, Bennet joined his wife in the west drawing room after his day of making sure everything was running smoothly at both estates. “Fanny, who is your 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 he is betrothed to her, and they will marry from Lambton the first Friday of the month in June.

He would love us to attend, Thomas. He has written to Hattie and Frank, too.

We can journey 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 to see if he is willing to host us either on the way there or the way 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 take tea with their Mama and Papa every day after lessons.

The three were 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, Janie, all five of you. One would have to travel far to find such well-behaved daughters as 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 southwest 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 apprehensively, worried she was too young for the journey.

“Of course you will come with us, Mary. Kitty and Lyddie with also be with us, and before you ask, yes, Miss Jones and the nursemaids 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 and Phillips chose.

A letter of thanks was posted accepting the kind invitation and informing their hosts they would impose on the Carrington’s hospitality, possibly until the end of June.