Page 5 of Great Uncle Henry (Pride & Prejudice Vagary)

I n the three years plus Henry had been back in England, he had stopped at Longbourn each time he travelled to and from London.

Notwithstanding his niece and nephew and the way they behaved, they were the only living family he was aware of, so he would keep the connection.

Like the first time he had visited after his arrival from India, other than tea, he had never been invited to be hosted at the estate where he had been born and grown up.

His niece, Fanny, still looked at him as if he were a vulture sitting on a fence waiting for her husband to die so he could pick over the bones.

Knowing that his nephew could relieve his wife’s anxiety about her future, only increased Henry’s disgust of James’s son’s behaviour.

That his nephew refused to explain all to his wife for his own entertainment cemented Henry’s resolve that Thomas could never know about his fortune.

When they—especially Fanny—tried to probe for information about where he lived, Henry’s replies were vague.

The only thing they knew was that he was in business with Edward Gardiner, but that was all he told them.

Gardiner had been sworn to keep the truth of Henry’s wealth confidential, and being an intelligent man who owed the rapid expansion of his business to Henry, even were he not an honourable man—which he was—it would not have been in his best interests to go against his single largest investor.

Over the last three years, Henry’s friendship with Matlock and Darcy had strengthened. The two men’s three sons had visited Sherwood Dale on numerous occasions, and in spite of Lady Anne’s objections, Henry had satisfied all of William Darcy’s curiosity about India.

Darcy had been apologetic about his wife’s attitude, but Henry had assured his friend he did not hold it against him.

Due to her prejudices, Henry did not visit Pemberley very often, but he did call there on occasion, usually when Lady Anne was away.

Said Lady spent a lot of time with her widowed sister, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, from whom, according to Darcy, his wife had learnt her prejudices.

His friend had told him one day that when he had married Anne, she had not been like that, but she had slowly but surely bent to the will of her much older and more forceful sister.

The sister lived at Rosings Park in Kent and had a four-year-old daughter named Anne for her Aunt Darcy.

The two sisters had contrived to betroth Anne and the Darcy heir, something Robert Darcy had rejected out of hand, pointing out clearly to his wife that he was the only one allowed to make such a commitment for his son.

Henry was aware that Lady Anne, spurred on by her sister, tried to have her husband break the connection with a man who had been in trade.

The fact he owned an estate did not seem to enter into her thoughts.

She was unaware Henry owned a house almost opposite Darcy House in Grosvenor Square.

Had she known that Henry’s wealth dwarfed that of her husband’s, she may have sung a different song, but Henry was not interested in false friends.

Sherwood Dale was exceeding even the income from before the prior owner’s decline into games of chance.

It was thanks to a number of factors. From before he employed a steward.

Henry had Matlock and Darcy advising him while at the same time, they were giving names of candidates to be his steward.

On his friends’ advice, Henry authorised all and any repairs to the tenant cottages.

Given a few years of neglect under the former master, the morale of the tenants improved exponentially when they saw the new owner took their concerns seriously and acted on them without delay.

In addition, he provided the tenant farmers with all of the resources they needed to bring their farms back to profitability.

An important piece of the puzzle was when Henry interviewed and employed a steward Darcy recommended to him.

Mr Lucas Wickham had read the law and had been clerking for a solicitor in Lambton.

His wages were not quite enough to support his wife and son, who was two at the time.

Henry had employed Wickham, offering him more than five times what he had earned as a clerk.

Before the Wickhams took up residence, Henry had the steward’s abode renovated and made almost like new. Wickham had been with him for almost three years now, and his work was stellar. He had one drawback, his wife. The woman was a covetous and grasping spendthrift.

It was easy for Henry to understand why Wickham had not been able to make a hundred pounds per annum last; even now at six hundred pounds a year, it was hard for him to save anything.

The Wickhams had not been in their house for three months before Johanna Wickham was attempting to use her feminine wiles on Henry; first to have him increase her husband’s wages and then for Henry to stand as godfather to her son, George.

Henry’s reaction had been swift. He had summoned Wickham to his study and told him to bring his wife with him. Henry could still see the meeting in his mind’s eye as if it had just occurred.

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

February 20, 1788

“You asked my wife and me to meet with you, Mr Bennet,” Wickham said after he and his wife entered the study.

It was not hard to see how Mrs Wickham was eyeing the contents of the study to see their worth.

“Indeed, I did. Wickham, Mrs Wickham, please take a seat.” Henry indicated the chairs in front of his large, highly polished mahogany desk.

He waited until they were seated; Henry did not miss the look of the cat who found the cream on Mrs Wickham’s countenance.

She obviously thought he was about to gratify one or both of her demands.

“Wickham, I am sorry to have to speak on this subject, but I feel I have no choice.” Henry paused.

He noticed that the wife did not look so confident any longer.

“Are you unhappy with the remuneration I have given you to be my steward?”

Wickham was taken aback. “No indeed, Mr Bennet, my wages are generous in the extreme and rival some of the more highly paid and far more experienced stewards’ earnings.”

“I ask because on more than one occasion; while flirting with me, your wife has told me I am not paying you enough. I assume you were unaware of this?” Henry stated. He leaned back in his comfortable chair and interlaced his fingers over his belly.

Johanna Wickham did not expect Mr Bennet to confront her and her husband with her actions.

She was sure that as the master of the estate was a bachelor, he would take that which she was willing to give to gain more money and to have George first become the godson and, after some passionate interludes, the heir.

“Mr Bennet must have misunderstood me,” she prevaricated.

“No, Madam, there is no confusion. Did you not notice that my valet accompanies me around the estate when I am not with your husband?” Henry returned.

“She also has been attempting to convince me to stand as your son’s godfather.

Please explain why one so wholly unconnected with your family would agree to be a godparent to your son? ”

She had not noticed the valet with his master. While she was trying to formulate a plausible response, her husband interjected .

“After I forbade you to attempt the same with Mr Darcy and Lord Matlock, you embarrass us by trying this with Mr Bennet? Why Johanna? You wanted me to earn more, and I do, by a wide margin,” Wickham demanded.

“Mr Bennet has no connection to our family; why on earth would he take a position that a relative or a close friend would? Did you not promise me you would not flirt with any more of my employers or any other men?”

“With your husband here as witness, you will not approach me unless you are invited to do so, and that will only be in the presence of your husband. If, and only if, it is needed, or I deem it is time, your husband and I will discuss his future increased wages. It is not something I will discuss with any other but him,” Henry articulated firmly.

How was it her wiles had not worked on this man? They had always worked with other men in the past. Johanna Wickham was unnerved that Mr Bennet was not only not charmed by her, but had also reported all to her husband.

Wickham stood. He stared at his wife, who followed suit. “This will not happen again. My apologies, Mr Bennet.” He bowed, his wife gave a passable curtsy, and they left the study.

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

March 1791

In the almost three years since Lucas Wickham had been his steward, his wife had never approached Henry again. From what he could see, his steward was taking a much firmer hand with his spouse.

Henry prepared to travel to London in early March.

Like he always did, he intended to make a stop at Longbourn.

He was aware that Fanny was with child again, and like she had with little Jane, she was insisting it was the son and heir who would end the entail.

Yes, she was mean of understanding, but her husband could have easily corrected and educated her in the ways of the gentry years ago, but he had chosen not to .

Even though Fanny was not well pleased Jane was not the son she had demanded, because the girl, who had recently turned three, looked very much like Fanny did at the same age, she doted on her daughter.

She did not take her disappointment that Jane was not a male out on her.

Rather, Fanny extolled Jane’s beauty to one and all.

Sadly, Henry’s niece had made Jane wary of him with tales of how he would steal their home, and of course, Thomas did nothing to correct the impression, preferring to laugh instead.