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Bennet did not know how to reply to the charges Gardiner had flung at his door because they were true.

At that moment, Bennet admitted to himself that he had not considered how his wife and her daughter would behave around his daughters.

Based on the comments he had heard from the two at meals and the rare times his wife invaded his study, Bennet was sure what Gardiner said about Fanny and Miss Millar was true.

Surely, they could come to some sort of agreement that did not involve a court or barristers.

“Can we not reach some compromise?” Bennet enquired tentatively.

“What incentive do I have? I have more than enough funds to fight to protect Lizzy and Mary. Can you afford the cost, which will run into the thousands by the time we are done?” Gardiner asked firmly.

“Is there a way to avoid the unpleasantness?” Bennet enquired plaintively.

“The only way I would agree that they spend any time at Longbourn is the following. First and foremost, both Lizzy and Mary must want to meet you. Second, unless you are able to exert complete control over them, neither Fanny nor her daughter may be present when the girls are there. Either a Gardiner or Phillips will be present, or some of the various men we have employed for their protection will be with them to ensure that they do not come to harm under your roof. We will agree to allow you to approve matches for them, if that is an issue before they reach their majority, but you may not arrange one for them.” Gardiner remembered his father-in-law’s patron, who had met Lizzy when she was six and had been impressed by her.

“Maddie’s father’s patron is the Duke of Hertfordshire.

The Duke is a good man who would do anything Mr Lambert or his son, Adam, asked of him.

If any harm comes to the girls in your care, I will ask Mr Lambert to request His Grace have you transported. ”

The thought of hard labour on top of a voyage of months fraught with danger put the fear of God into Bennet. “Is there anything else?” he questioned.

“Yes, if they agree to come to Longbourn, they will only be under your roof during the day. At night, they will sleep at my estate, Purvis Lodge. That is non-negotiable. I want to be assured they are safe at night. No matter what you do with Fanny and her daughter, you cannot watch them when you sleep,” Gardiner insisted.

As he was sure this was the only way without involving solicitors, barristers, and the courts, Bennet agreed. Phillips produced a document which codified all of the items Gardiner had demanded. Bennet signed without reading it.

“When will I meet them?” Bennet wanted to know.

“On my return to London, Maddie and I will speak to Lizzy and Mary. If they agree to meet you and come to Longbourn, I will send you a missive telling you when they will arrive,” Gardiner replied.

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

Purchasing Netherfield Park had been a whim. Hertfordshire owned more than enough estates without it, and it was less than five miles from the northern border of Falconwood. He debated whether to sell it but decided he might just as well retain it.

In the four years since he had acquired the estate, he had not been there once.

However, he had an idea what he could do with it, depending on what the future held.

Anthony had learnt everything he had been taught, and even though he was reasonably sure he would never marry and sire a son, Hertfordshire decided that if he ever remarried, the estate in Hertfordshire would be gifted to his nephew.

That way, rather than wait for his inheritance of Rivington, Anthony would have his own estate, and once he married, if he was blessed with a second son, no profession would be needed; he would have an estate.

He was seated on his favourite stallion riding the fields of Falconwood when he thought about the estate.

He brought the horse to a stop as something struck him.

Could it be he had purchased Netherfield Park because of the memory of the little pixie he had met at the parsonage in Lambton?

When the two Lambert men had told him the story about the girl and her sister, they had mentioned they had been born on an estate named Longbourn, which happened to be the one bordering Netherfield Park to its east. Surely not?

He could not have been thinking about her, could he have?

Now, nine years later, she would be fifteen or sixteen.

He was three and forty, far too old for her.

He did wonder if she was as fascinating now as she had been then.

Unless he bumped into her at Lambert’s house, he would never know.

A year or so later he had enquired after the Gardiners and been told that they, along with the sisters, had begun to spend summers at the Hardwick estate, Rambler’s Run, the one Philippe would have one day.

He had no good reason to look up the Gardiners in London, and as far as he knew, they did not spend much time in the area around Meryton, so it was all academic.