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That did not help him with his quandary. He had not come close to finding a lady he desired to pursue, and he would not try to court one with whom he knew he would not fit. So unless lightning was to strike in the next two years plus, he would have to accept his father’s choice.

He heard a knock on his study door and was about to berate his butler.

That was until he mentioned that the caller was his best friend, Lord Kenneth MacIntyre, the young Earl of Colbath.

He had met MacIntyre at Cambridge when he began, and his new friend was in his second year.

At the time, MacIntyre was still the Viscount of Loch Lomond with his estate, Loch Lomond Heights, on the Highlands of Scotland.

Hertford had travelled to his friend’s father’s estate in May 1785, to stand up with him when MacIntyre married the woman he loved, Lady Morag Wallace.

Her father, a Scottish duke, had an estate which bordered Colbath Dale, which is where the wedding had been solemnised.

Within three months of the wedding, his father was called home, and MacIntyre had become the Earl of Colbath.

“Colbath, welcome! With the birth of your son three months ago, I would not have expected you in London already,” Hertford said warmly as he stood and extended his hand to his friend. His worries about a wife were pushed to the side for now.

“My Morag and our Rory are at home,” Colbath replied with his light Scottish brogue.

“I was summoned to London on unavoidable business. My hope is it will be concluded within a fortnight, and I will return to hearth and home. You know me, I canna be away from my Morag and our boy for too long. This was my first stop before I arrived at my house on Cavendish Square.”

This was well known to Hertford, and it was the same sort of marriage he wanted for himself. It was just that as each month passed without his finding his match, he became more resigned to his father selecting a bride for him.

“I am sure you will not remain in London longer than you need to,” Hertford responded.

“Rather than open Colbath House, would you like to be hosted here? That way you will be able to concentrate your time on business and not have to deal with callers.” Seeing his friend was about to protest, the Marquess raised his hand.

“Do not say it is an imposition. It is not in the least, and I will be able to play chess against you while you are here.”

The young Earl raised his hand. “Thank you, Hertford, I will send a note to Colbath House to keep it closed and have my valet bring my trunks to your home.”

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

Fanny Millar could not believe that her father would not allow her to stay in his house.

No matter how much her older sister—who had married her father’s head clerk, Frank Phillips, about a year past—explained how grievously her elopement hurt her parents, Fanny could not comprehend how her actions affected any other.

She was informed that her mother had passed away some three months after the elopement, devastated by the casual way Fanny had stated she was already with child.

It had broken Jane Gardiner’s heart and led to her wasting away, eventually leaving the mortal world.

“What has that to do with me?” Fanny declared selfishly. “I, and of course, my beautiful Jane, must be allowed to live in Papa’s house. It is his duty to take me in. I do not see why it should not be so!”

“Frank and I have a spare chamber in our cottage. We will take you in, but only because of my niece. But, Fanny, hear me well,” Hattie stated firmly.

“You will not make any demands of my maid of all work; you will clean up after yourself and Jane. If you do not, I will demand you leave my house. Do not test me.”

In her mind, she was sure she would be able to work on Frank Phillips, because to Fanny’s thinking, all she would have to do is bat her eyelids at a man, and she would get whatever her heart desired.

“I hope the chamber is not too small; it is for Jane and me, after all,” Fanny sniffed.

“Hattie, will you pay for a nurse for your niece? It is only right…”

“Fanny Millar! One more ridiculous demand like that, and you will not be allowed to enter my house! If that worthless, philandering, profligate man you married wasted all of your dowry because you had no settlement and there is none left, that is a bed you made on your own, and you will have to lie in it.” Hattie huffed and turned towards her home, not helping her selfish sister with her valises or her child.

The cottage was at the northern end of the town, and Hattie never looked back at her sister as she marched home, bristling with anger.

When Fanny and her daughter entered the cottage, Hattie had just told her husband about allowing Fanny to live with them—for a time. Frank Phillips had no time for the vapid, self-centred, thoughtless woman.

“Oh, Frank,” Fanny batted her eyelids at her brother-in-law, “thank you for helping me…” She stopped when she saw the thunderous look on his countenance.

“If it were up to me, I would not have you under my roof!” Phillips bellowed. “I will not countermand my wife, who worries about this poor innocent child. You will follow all of our rules in this house, or you will find yourself on the street faster than you can blink.”

She could not understand what was happening.

How was it that Mr Phillips was immune to her charms?

She would have to find another husband sooner rather than later.

She still had her beauty and youth; she was only recently eighteen.

She would find a much better situation than she would have at Hattie’s, and afterwards she would not know them.

As long as her sister would mind Jane for part of each day, Fanny would find what she needed.

Hattie showed her to the chamber Fanny and Jane were to share.

At least the manservant carried the valises for her.

As soon as the door was closed, Fanny decided to continue the education she was giving Jane.

“Now Jane, you are as beautiful as me, and just like me, you cannot be so beautiful for nothing. When you are older, you will be able to get whatever you want from men who will not be able to resist one as pretty as you. I will never waste your time with education, other than teaching you how to catch a rich man.”

Jane who had only begun to speak about a month ago, seemed to listen with rapt attention. As she always did, she nodded her head and said two of her few words. “Wuv Mama.”

To Fanny this meant she understood what was being said to her. She would keep repeating her lessons so Jane would know what to do when the time came.

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

Thomas Bennet had been the master of Longbourn for more than a year since his parents and older brother, Henry, had been claimed by a smallpox outbreak in a small town in Bedfordshire where they had travelled to look at some sheep to be added to Longbourn’s flock.

He had been on his way to becoming a full professor at Cambridge when the black-edged notice had arrived for him.

Bennet was not happy that his neat and organised world of reading, study, and academia had been upended.

He had loved his parents and brother, but he had been perfectly happy to live surrounded by learning and more especially, men.

Although he told himself he did not feel an attraction to men, he felt nothing for women.

This change not only took him away from his teaching position, but it also meant he needed to marry and procreate.

On arriving at Longbourn, he had studied the papers in his late father’s study and, to his horror, discovered that the entail had not ended with Henry, nor with himself, but it would end with the generation after him, so he would have to marry.

Bennet did not love his new situation, but he had heard enough about the Collinses to be determined that a Collins would never get his grubby hands on Longbourn.

He was aware there would be an assembly a few days hence, and as much as he did not want to, he decided he needed to attend.

At the same time, Fanny heard that Longbourn had a new and very single master. She resolved that she would charm Mr Thomas Bennet, and if it meant lifting her skirt for him, she would do so. It had worked once before, so why not again?

Although her father would not allow her into his law practice or home, Fanny made sure that she put herself in Mr Bennet’s path whenever he was in the town. When she saw him enter her father’s offices, she would wait for him and accidently be in his company.

Bennet hated having to find a wife. In addition, with anything not connected to reading and academics, he was a very indolent man.

Hence, when Fanny Millar threw herself in his path without his having to expend energy to court her, he thought it was very providential.

He had no illusions about her character or intelligence, or lack thereof, but he cared not too much as he intended to live in his study unless it was for sleep.

He would do the distasteful deed once or twice a week until she became with child, and as soon as he had a son, he would never go back to her.

Thus he proposed to Fanny Millar, who accepted him with alacrity before the assembly, thereby saving himself the trouble of attending. The fact no one expected him to be there thanks to his mourning had gone over his head. He had never been good at social niceties.

Phillips asked Bennet if he had lost his senses, telling him everything he knew about Fanny. Bennet could not be bothered, so Phillips crafted the settlement, even though Fanny came to the union with nothing.

On the eighth day of September 1789, after the banns had been called, Fanny Millar became Fanny Bennet in the Longbourn Village church. Her status as a widow negated the need for parental permission, which meant that the rector performed the marriage service without her father’s permission.

There was no wedding breakfast, and that same day Fanny and Jane moved into Longbourn.

No matter how much Fanny tried to convince her new husband to adopt Jane and give her the Bennet name, he refused. He did not want anyone but a child or children of his own body to carry his family’s name.

Fanny was convinced she would be able to work on her new husband. She was wrong.