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Life had been good to the Bennet’s since she had left the mortal coil, but as with all of God’s creations, there is never all good or all bad.

The one bad thing for the family was that Lord Thomas Bennet’s brother and sister-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Bedford had not been able to have any children.

Lady Rose Bennet had been with child four times, but each one had been lost before the third month of her increasing.

After that she never became enceinte again.

The family was one of the wealthiest in the realm outside of the royal family.

In addition to the fifteen estates between both dukedoms and an enormous amount of liquid assets and investments, they owned the Dennington Shipping Line which is the largest shipping line in the realm with several shipyards in which they built many ships for His Majesty’s Royal Navy, and the East India Company.

Lord Thomas Bennet had lent Edward Gardiner the seed money to start Gardiner and Associates, and rather than full repayment he retained a ten percent stake in the highly successful company.

Gardiner had paid back ninety percent of the borrowed funds well before either of them had expected profits.

As a much-loved uncle to Ladies Marie and Jane, Bennet had loaned him the money interest-free.

The connection and approval of the Royals made sure that no one outwardly derided their-closer-than-most connection to trade.

Luckily for the Bennet family and the ducal line, The Duke and Duchess of Hertfordshire had no problems bearing children.

Less than a year after Lord Thomas had married the love of his life, Lady Sarah, their first son, Lord Thomas Hugh Bennet, called Tom, was born.

He became the Marquess of Birchington and Netherfield.

He was followed two years later by a daughter, Lady Elizabeth Rose Bennet, who looked like her mother, Lady Sarah Bennet, in colouring, and was gifted with vivaciousness, wit, and intelligence.

She had her mother’s raven hair and hazel eyes with flecks of green and gold that shone and changed when she felt more intense emotions.

Just a little more than a year after Lizzy, Lord James Atticus Bennet, named for Lady Sarah’s late father, was born.

He became the Marquess of Netherfield so that in the future, as there was now, there would be a Duke of Bedford, inherited by Lord Thomas from his Uncle Sed, and a Duke of Hertfordshire, Lord James.

Almost three years later, the last of the children that the couple had been blessed with were born, twin girls, Ladies Mary and Catherine.

Unlike the previous set of Bennet twins, the babes were not identical.

Lady Mary looked a lot like her mother and her older sister Lady Elizabeth, while Lady Catherine, who was called Kitty in private, had the sandy blonde hair and light blue eyes of her father and eldest sisters.

When the children were old enough, their papa’s entrapment and first marriage were explained to them so that they would learn to always be careful and more circumspect.

‘That woman’s’ name was otherwise never mentioned as it was not worthy of being spoken.

One unintended consequence of telling the story of the Duke’s entrapment was that Elizabeth became quick to judge people’s intentions.

She was suspicious of people’s motives, and she tended to sketch their characters very quickly; once her good opinion was lost, it was gone forever.

The oldest two Bennet girls knew that the woman that bore them, and made their dearest Papa and Mama both miserable for a year, was the sister of their Uncle Frank and Aunt Hattie Phillips, and was also the sister of their much-loved Uncle Edward and Aunt Maddie Gardiner.

The citizens of the area who knew the story respected the Duke’s wishes and never mentioned the disgraced and still-hated woman by name.

When they spent time with the Bennet’s, their uncles in trade and their wives were never made to feel less than.

Even though the children born from the union of Thomas and Sarah Bennet were not related to them by blood, the Gardiners and the Phillips were considered aunts and uncles by all of the Bennet children, and conversely the Gardiner and Phillips children considered the Bennet’s their aunt and uncle.

The Phillips had a son, Graham, who was four and twenty, that had followed his father into the practice of law, and a daughter, Franny, who was seventeen and was named after Hattie’s mother.

The Gardiners had four children, Lilly who was twelve, Edward Jr, called Eddy, was ten, May was six, and the baby, Peter, was four.

At Christmastide, the three families gathered together to celebrate, they alternated between Bedford and Longbourn.

Ladies Jane and Marie, although identical in looks, were vastly different in character.

Jane, who was older by four minutes, was of a serene temperament, always trying to find the good in everyone and everything.

Those that knew her well would first say that she had a backbone of steel; so, any who tried to take advantage of her or anyone that she loved did so at their own peril.

Marie was more like her younger sister Elizabeth in character, except she was not as quick to judge and forgave much more readily than her next youngest sister.

While both Lords Tom and James very much took after their father in character, Tom had the same hair colour that his Mama, Lizzy, and Mary had, while James and Kitty had their papa’s colouring.

Lady Elizabeth Bennet was a beautiful, vivacious, intelligent young lady who loved to read and study far beyond the limits that were usually imposed on young ladies

The twins, Ladies Mary and Catherine, the latter of which had a love for cats which led to her being called Kitty, were seventeen and not out yet.

Jane and Marie were four and twenty. Lady Marie was betrothed to Lord Andrew Fitzwilliam, Viscount Hilldale and heir to her papa’s good friend the Earl of Matlock, and Lady Jane was being courted by his younger brother Richard, who was a colonel in the army, intending to resign shortly to claim his inheritance, the estate of Brookfield in Derbyshire.

Some questioned why the two oldest Bennets were not yet married, and the answer was simple; Bennets married for one reason and one reason only: for the deepest love and respect.

Marie and Andrew would marry in a month, and it was an open secret that Richard Fitzwilliam would be proposing to his Jane soon.

Lord Tom was three and twenty, had no special lady yet, and divided his time between his estate of Birchington, one of the family houses in Town, Bedford, and Longbourn.

He had learnt all there was to know about Bedford and the other estates that he would inherit one day from his uncle the Duke.

He fervently hoped that his inheritance was many years in the future, as he and all the Bennet offspring loved Uncle Sed and Aunt Rose like a second set of parents.

Lady Elizabeth was one and twenty and so far after three seasons, no one had been able to catch her interest. Lord James was twenty and in his final year at Cambridge, which is why the lease offered on his estate, Netherfield was but for one year in length.

He would take up residence at his estate after the Bingley’s lease ran out in October of 1812.

Besides the various estates, His Grace the Duke of Hertfordshire and his sons owned several town houses in London.

Bennet House, the Duke’s preferred London residence was on Grosvenor Square in Mayfair.

It was coincidently across the square from Darcy House, and had Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy been of a more sociable nature, he would have known who the Bennets were before he committed one of the biggest social gaffs in recent history.

The Bennets had invited the Darcys to events from time to time.

After the fourth or fifth time the gentleman in question disregarded an invitation, he was dropped from the Bennet’s lists.

Thomas Bennet knew that he was his friend Matlock’s nephew, but he had no interest in furthering an acquaintance that was clearly not desired by the other side.

On Russel Square, which the late Duke’s grandfather had developed, were Birchington and Netherfield Houses, as well as Bedford House that belonged to the Duke and Duchess of Bedford.

The Hertfordshire House on Portman Square was currently being leased due to Bennet’s preference for Bennet House, and his brother preferred the house on Russel Square.

The coming out ball for the twins and Elizabeth had been held at Bennet house, as would be done when Mary and Kitty came out the following year.

Lady Sarah’s brother had married the love of his life, which meant Lord Cyril and Lady Pricilla De Melville were now the Earl and Countess of Jersey.

They had two children, Lord Wesley, Viscount Westmore, who was one and twenty and the heir, and a daughter, Lady Loretta, who had just turned seventeen and would have her come out with her Bennet cousins, Ladies Mary and Catherine the following year.

As would be expected, the De Melvilles and the Bennets were close and spent much time together.