Page 79 of A Life Diverted

He could never refuse Priscilla anything in life, and it was the same after her death.

He understood her reasoning for protecting their daughter from the same loveless and lonely existence in which he had been raised.

By watching her closeness with her sisters, he could not but agree it would have been nice to have had a chance to be his brother’s brother.

Frederick performed all of his official duties with aplomb, so his absence from London every now and then raised no question. If he had neglected his duties, such would not have been the case.

A smallish estate had come up for sale near Longbourn and just over two miles from Netherfield Park.

The Purvis family decided to take advantage of the cheap cost of land in the Canadas and offered their estate, Purvis Lodge, for sale.

The Prince had been notified by Bennet; he bought it sight unseen in 1796, and had the house fully renovated before he resided there.

For the time being, he decided not to change the name of the estate.

When the King and Queen asked what the attraction of Hertfordshire was, he did not lie.

He told them it was a good place to relax, and that it was close enough to London in case he was needed.

More importantly, it was where the love of his life had lived with him and died alone, and he had good friends in the neighbourhood.

The King, who still felt guilt over what he had had to do, asked no further questions.

So long as his second son performed all of his royal duties, he would not interfere in his second son’s life again.

As parents, the monarchs were pleased that he was living his life in the same manner as he had before the death of his former wife and stillborn son.

Over the five years since he became aware of his daughter’s existence, the Prince had become the much-loved Uncle Freddy to all six Bennet children.

As he watched his daughter grow older and more accomplished, she began to look even more like his beloved Priscilla than she had when he first met her.

Seeing the carefree and loved little girl reaffirmed his commitment to allow her to be raised as a normal young lady.

Frederick made sure he never usurped the Bennets’ role as parents, and every day he prayed that when she found out the truth on her eighteenth birthday she would not be angry with those who loved her for not telling her the truth.

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

“Girls, where is Tommy?” Fanny Bennet asked.

It was Saturday morning, the first day of March.

The Darcys, Carringtons, and Fitzwilliams would arrive that afternoon from Town for a sennight to help celebrate Elizabeth’s tenth birthday.

The Prince had been in residence at Purvis Lodge since Wednesday.

He had not missed any of the Bennet children’s birthdays if he could help it since he had found out about his daughter.

On the second day of December 1796, the Bennets had been blessed with a son and heir, Thomas Henry Bennet Junior, called Tommy.

Fanny had opined to her husband after having been gifted with their son that since she was no longer concerned with the entail, as soon as she stopped worrying about birthing a son they had been blessed with one.

Tommy was a little imp, with wavy, sandy blond hair and blue-green eyes.

For his third birthday, Uncle Freddy gifted him a pony.

So his sisters would not feel left out, the Prince gifted the youngest three with their own ponies, and cobs for Jane and Elizabeth.

Miss Jones was teaching Kitty, Lydia, and Tommy.

When he got a little older, his father planned to hire tutors for his heir.

“Tommy is at the stables talking to Scottie,” Lydia, now five, informed her mother. “Papa is with him, Mama.”

Fanny was relieved. As hard as it was with a boy that age who loved to run free, he was not allowed out of the house alone after they had received an abusive letter from Ned Collins, the displaced heir presumptive of Longbourn.

They hoped the man was not that insane, but they would not take any chance with the security of Tommy, nor that of their other children.

Once he was shown the letter, the Prince sent some of his men to Wiltshire to keep an eye on Collins. When Bennet objected and said it was his responsibility, the Prince had trumped him by telling him he was just making sure that the man was never able to approach his daughter.

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

When notice of Tommy’s birth was sent to the illiterate Ned Collins, and once he had his own son read the missive to him, he had gone into a rage.

Until this birth, he had been the heir presumptive of Longbourn.

He had gone so far as engaging a solicitor to challenge the parentage of the Bennet son, but he found no one daft enough to take his case.

From that day on, he attempted to drum into his son’s head that his inheritance had been stolen from him by those artful Bennets, promising his own son they would find a way to right the wrong one day.

While his son William could read, it was often said that he had no more sense than his father.

The truth was William was not deficient of intellect but he did not want to show his father up as he knew how cruel the man could be.

Even though he was a miser, he set money aside for his son to attend school, and William Collins, at sixteen, was at a local school for boys in Wiltshire.

He was in his final year, and his father planned to send the boy to a seminary to receive a degree in divinity.

When he graduated, hopefully he would take orders.

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

“Mary, Kitty, Lydia, have you finished with all of your lessons and chores?” Fanny asked her three youngest daughters. Mary was eight and Kitty almost seven.

“Yes, Mama,” they chorused. Fanny looked to Miss Jones, who smiled and nodded in agreement that they had indeed.

The Bennets’ wealth had grown over the last five years.

Each of their four daughters by blood had dowries in excess of twenty thousand pounds.

Nevertheless, Fanny and Thomas did not want any of their children—including Elizabeth—to take things for granted, so they were assigned certain chores each week.

While they were often indulged by their extended family, they were far from spoilt.

Kitty and Lydia were learning French and Italian well, but they did not seem to have the same ear for languages as their older sisters.

Kitty had a talent for art, and even before she started to work with a local art master she could sketch well indeed.

Lydia was intelligent and well behaved like her sisters, but as yet she did not excel in any particular discipline.

She was, however, well rounded and was becoming more proficient on the pianoforte and especially with her singing.

Given her age, Fanny and Bennet did not want to push too much as that might make her give up before she learned what it was she loved to do.

The Bennet children had been looking forward to the guests’ arrival that afternoon.

The girls especially were excited to welcome Anne, Cassie, and Gigi.

Charlotte and Mariah Lucas, who were seventeen and almost six, respectively, had been invited to spend a fortnight at Netherfield Park with their friends.

The four teenaged boys would all be at school. William was in his final year at Eton; Elizabeth was not sorry for his absence. Andrew, Richard, and Jamey were at Cambridge.

Tommy was not happy they were away, but at least Nick Lucas, who was four, would be with them some of the time.

Lady Lucas had not yet decided if Nick would be allowed to stay for the full fortnight with his sisters.

What Tommy did not know was that Uncle and Aunt Gardiner were coming, bringing Eddy with them, who had been born but a month after Tommy.

Lilly, almost one, would accompany her family for the first time.

Bennet was in his study meeting with the Longbourn and Netherfield Park stewards. The yields of both had increased under his management. When the income from leasing Longbourn, from the estate—excluding the home farm—were added up, the profits were over four thousand pounds per annum.

Finding Jane and Elizabeth practicing in the music room, Jane on the harp and Elizabeth on the pianoforte, Fanny was satisfied all her daughters were occupied.

She sought out Mrs. Nichols to make sure all the required chambers were prepared for the arriving guests.

Being her usual efficient self, Mrs. Nichols had everything well in hand.

It was a little after two that afternoon when the Bennets were notified the first coach had entered the park.