Page 1 of The Next Mrs Bennet

Meryton Summer 1788

F rances Gardiner—called Fanny by all, who would turn seventeen in a month —was by far the most beautiful girl in Meryton. As such, thanks to the lessons her late mother, Jane, had taught her, she believed that whatever she desired would be hers just because it was what she wanted.

The late Mrs Gardiner had told her daughter that all she needed was to be beautiful and agreeable to a man to catch a husband, and as she was so very pretty, her daughter deserved to marry into the landed gentry. Fanny could not understand why she had not been able to attract any of the sons of landowners in the neighbourhood. She was formulating a plan, and she was aware that her sister would be the only one she could work on to assist her.

Elias Gardiner, Fanny’s father, was the local solicitor. He had three children of whom Fanny was the youngest. Hattie, who was the oldest at four and twenty, was engaged to Frank Phillips, Gardiner’s head clerk. The middle Gardiner was a son, Edward, who at almost one and twenty had just graduated from Oxford. Unfortunately for Gardiner, his son had no interest in the law and had chosen to go work for a man in London whose company imported and exported goods. As such, Gardiner was grooming his soon-to-be son-in-law to take over his practise.

As she was seven years her sister’s senior, Hattie had stepped into the role of de facto mother. Although she was not intelligent, Fanny was unfortunately very cunning and was very good at manipulating Hattie into agreeing to do anything she desired.

Fanny had set her cap at Thomas Bennet, the new master of Longbourn, the second largest estate in the area. The largest one was Netherfield Park, but the Devon family, who owned it and had purchased it in the last year, did not reside in the area. Hence, she had settled on second best. The problem was that no matter how much she attempted to put herself into Mr Bennet’s path, regardless of the level of coquettish behaviour on her part, the Bennet heir hardly looked at her.

If she tried to ask him a question, or engage him in conversation, the best she would get was a one-word answer or a returned greeting before he would excuse himself from her company.

Hattie had told her the man was not interested in her, as had Sarah Lucas, who had married Mr William Lucas some three years previously. Mr Lucas was the owner of the general mercantile in Meryton. The fact that Sarah, who always flaunted the fact she was married and already a mother, had expressed such an opinion only made Fanny that much more determined to catch Thomas Bennet and become the mistress of an estate. Sarah Lucas and her tradesman husband would see!

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

“Mother, what else can I do to show Miss Fanny that I have absolutely no interest in her?” asked a frustrated Thomas Bennet. Bennet had been master of the estate for just over a year since his father’s passing.

“Other than what you are doing, I know not,” Elizabeth Rose Bennet, called Beth by her friends and family, replied. After losing her beloved Henry just over a year past, she had only recently transitioned to the muted colours of half mourning. “Just make sure she does not manage to compromise you. With this being a small, closely knit community, I do not see a way you would be able to escape her clutches if she entraps you, especially if there are witnesses. My suggestion is that you forgo the summer assembly, just in case. You are not fond of dancing, so you will not miss too much.”

“I will not allow that empty-headed, vapid, vain, mean of understanding gossip monger drive me from events in the community,” Bennet responded with some asperity.

It rubbed him the wrong way that because of Miss Fanny’s desire to have him, he should have to keep out of the public eye. He had turned five and twenty at the beginning of the year, and even if there were not all of the issues he had just mentioned with the woman, she was not yet seventeen. That would not have been a problem had she been an intelligent woman with a decent level of maturity to whom he was actually attracted, but Miss Fanny was anything but.

Bennet had been educated first at Eton and then at Cambridge. At the latter institution, he had graduated with honours and as an undefeated chess champion. The only one who had come close to beating him was a man who was in his first year when Bennet was in his last. His name was Lord William Cavendish, the Marquess of Hartington. The young Marquess had not treated Bennet in a way that had made him feel that he was disdained for being the son of a lowly country squire. It was sure that had they been in the same year, the young noble would have managed to beat Bennet before he graduated.

Even more than chess, Bennet loved the written word. To call him a bibliophile was an understatement. His late father had also revered books and reading, and hence, although not the largest library, the library at Longbourn was as full as the groaning shelves could accommodate.

Marry, he must. Thanks to a profligate relative, Longbourn had an entail on it. It was in favour of heirs male, and unless Bennet was blessed with a son, his illiterate, nasty, bully of a distant cousin, Clem Collins—whose wife had recently birthed him a son—would inherit the estate. Bennet lamented the fact that the entail ended not with him, but with the generation after him. It was critical that he have a son because he could not imagine one like Collins being steward over the Bennet legacy.

His hope had been that Father would have lived for many more years so he would have time before taking the reins of the estate, but God had other plans. As much as Bennet lamented the fact he was already the master, he knew there was nought he could do about it. Hence, he threw himself into the management of his estate, determined not to be less successful than his late sire.

Although he needed to marry, his mother was still the very capable mistress of Longbourn, which gave him the luxury of being careful in his choice.

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

“Anna, when are you and William going to visit that estate he purchased in Hertfordshire?” Lady Elaine Fitzwilliam, the Countess of Matlock, asked her identical twin sister, the Duchess of Devonshire, Lady Georgiana Cavendish, called Anna. “Being only twenty miles from London, it is much closer than any of your other estates.”

“Which is why William purchased it a little over a year ago,” Lady Georgiana responded. “I have not told you this yet, but when we go to that estate, we intend to remain incognito.”

“Are you and William tired of being your graced to death,” Lady Elaine smiled.

“That, and now that William, the younger, has married Marie Rhys-Davies, and they no longer have their big brother at home, the girls will be able to make some friends who want to know them for themselves, and not because they are daughters of a duke,” Lady Georgiana explained. “Becca is almost two and twenty and Connie is only sixteen, and they are tired of all of the false friends. My older daughter wants nothing more than to be away from the men of the Ton who pursue her purely for her dowry and connections. I am afraid that she will wait to get married as long as you did, or longer if she does not find a man who she will accept.”

While the younger twin—by half an hour—married the Duke of Devonshire before she was seventeen, her older sister had married Lord Reginald Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Matlock, when she was almost thirty. Like her niece, she refused to settle for a man unless she was in love with him and could respect him.

It was the reason the Duchess’s children were so much older than her sister’s offspring. Lady Georgiana’s son, named William for his father, was four and twenty, and recently married to the daughter of the Duke of Bedford. Lady Rebecca—Becca—was almost two and twenty, and looked very much like her mother and Aunt Elaine, and Lady Constance—Connie—was sixteen. Lady Elaine had two sons, Andrew, who was eight, and Richard, who was six. As she had been well past the age of thirty when her youngest was born, the slightly older sister was not surprised she had not become with child again.

While the Duke of Devonshire had no siblings living, the Earl of Matlock had two. The eldest was Lady Catherine de Bourgh, married to a knight, Sir Lewis, master of Rosings Park in Kent. They had one daughter, Anne, who was two. The other was the youngest of the three, Lady Anne Darcy, married to Robert Darcy, the master of Pemberley. Pemberley was a very large estate, second only to Chatsworth in Derbyshire. The Darcys had a son, Fitzwilliam, who was five. His older Fitzwilliam cousins called him Fitz. The Fitzwilliams’ estate, Snowhaven, was the next largest after Pemberley in Derbyshire.

“I think we will visit Netherfield Park during the season next year. When we need to escape London for a period of time, to Hertfordshire we will go using the older coaches, which do not have the Devonshire coat of arms on the doors,” Lady Georgiana stated.

“If we are in Town, Reggie and I may join you; that is, if we are allowed to intrude on your retreat,” Lady Elaine smiled. She was well aware that thanks to standing reciprocal invitations to any of their houses, there was no question of being welcomed.

That was not true of Reggie’s officious, know-it-all older sister, Catherine. The eldest Fitzwilliam had set her sights on the Dukes of Bedford, Hertfordshire, and Devonshire. She had gone as far as to attempt a compromise of the latter when he had still been the Marquess. The late Duke told the late Lord Matlock that he would never allow his son to marry such a termagant, and if she attempted to entrap another in society, she would be well and truly ruined. The late Earl had brokered a marriage between her and Sir Lewis, ignoring his daughter’s vociferous complaints about being betrothed to a lowly knight.

Regardless of the invitations to Rosings Park, the Cavendishes never accepted. And conversely, neither did they issue any reciprocal invitations to the de Bourghs.

“Elaine, you know that you and your family are always welcome, do you not?” Lady Georgiana reminded her sister.

“Yes, of course I am aware of that, Anna. Am I not allowed to tease my much younger sister?” Lady Elaine responded. “I can think of nothing which will keep us from attending the next season, so if the schedule allows it, we will travel into Hertfordshire with you.”

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

“Fanny, I am not certain that I want to assist you in entrapping Mr Bennet,” Hattie Gardiner told her younger and much more forceful sister.

Knowing that Hattie would deny her nothing when she cried, Fanny forced tears from her eyes and began to wail. “On her deathbed, did not Mama make you vow you would look after me?” Fanny manipulated. “At least you had time with Mama for many more years than I was allowed. In marrying Mr Bennet, I will be fulfilling a promise I made to her to raise our family’s standing.”

Hattie knew what Fanny was demanding was wrong. However, in the face of her tears and evoking the memory of their long-dead mother, she was powerless. “I will assist you,” she capitulated.

While pretending like she was drying her eyes with a silk square, Fanny was smiling out of her sister’s view. She knew how it would be; Hattie would never deny her anything. “Thank you, Hattie. I am sure our mother is smiling down on you from heaven because you will help realise a dream she had for me.”

“You said you will dance with Mr Bennet, but, Fanny, he rarely dances, and he never asks you to stand up with him,” Hattie pointed out.

She was about to protest that fact. Their late mother told her she could not be so beautiful for nothing, and no man would ever refuse her anything. Just then Fanny realised Hattie was correct; Mr Bennet always made to escape her company and never asked her to dance. As such, she would have to think of some other way.

“I will make another plan. Thank you for reminding me about his propensity not to dance,” Fanny replied. She ignored what Hattie had said about Mr Bennet not wanting to dance with her.

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

“Thomas, are you sure it is not better for you to remain home?” Beth Bennet enquired the evening of the assembly just before they departed Longbourn.

“No, Mother, I will not allow that woman with nought but fluff between her ears to drive me to hide away as if I have done something wrong. I told you I will not dance a set and go directly to the card room. Not even Miss Fanny would intrude into that room,” Bennet insisted.

“I pray you are correct,” Beth stated as the two made for the Bennet carriage waiting for them in the drive. “Thank you, Hill.” The new butler had the door of the carriage open and handed the mistress up. His wife, Agnes, was the new housekeeper.

Bennet joined his mother, and as soon as the butler closed the door, he struck the ceiling with his walking stick, and they were off. The one mile ride to the assembly hall on Meryton’s main street was quick. Once there, the Bennet carriage joined a line of others discharging their neighbours who would also be attending the assembly.

Neither Bennet, nor anyone else noticed Fanny Gardiner watching their arrival with a predatory gleam in her eye. She had been waiting outside to make sure her prey arrived. Once the Bennets alighted from their carriage, soon to be her own conveyance, Fanny slipped inside and went to stand next to her sister. They were standing just next to the hallway, which led to the card room. The sisters watched as Mr Bennet escorted his mother to some chairs where some of the matrons were seated.

Being the prettiest girl in the area meant that Fanny had many requests to open the ball and for subsequent sets. However, to make sure she would be in place to affect her plan, she told the disappointed men that she did not feel well enough to dance.

Rather than approach the card room the way she expected him to do, it seemed Mr Bennet had asked Jenny Purvis to dance. Fanny was fuming as she watched the man she was determined to be engaged to before the night was out, dancing with someone else. She could not change her mind and suddenly have someone escort her to the floor. All the men were dancing, and it would make her out to be a liar.

When Bennet walked to the group of matrons with his mother, he had heard one of the ladies comment that Jenney Purvis had not been asked to dance the first set. He felt no attraction to the lady but did not like to see a lady who loved to dance sit out. Hence, he set aside his resolve to eschew the activity for the night and asked Miss Purvis for the opening set. She brightened up immediately and accepted.

Beth Bennet was well pleased that her son had made her good friend’s daughter so happy. She watched carefully while he danced with her to make sure she did not see Fanny Gardiner try to approach him.

When Beth noted the girl was not dancing with anyone, she relaxed. Could it be that her worries were for nought and the youngest Gardiner was not even at the assembly? Feeling her worries lift, Beth concentrated on speaking to her friends until the end of the set.

Bennet guided a very grateful Miss Purvis back to the side of the hall and bowed to her curtsy of gratitude. Having danced one more set than he had intended, he headed in the direction of the card room.

Fanny saw Mr Bennet on his way to where she was waiting. She sent her sister to the cardroom to summon their father while she hid herself in a dark area of the hallway. She made a sizeable rip in her dress and waited for her victim to approach. As soon as he was a few steps from where she was hidden, Fanny jumped out, throwing herself into Mr Bennet’s arms.

Thanks to at first not understanding what was occurring, Bennet did the gentlemanly thing and caught the woman before she ended up on the floor.

A number of things occurred at once. The woman threw her arms around his neck and planted her lips on his. It was only then he saw who it was. Miss Fanny!

Upon his eldest summoning him, Gardiner, who did not like his card game being interrupted, was not in the best of moods already when he exited and joined Hattie in the hallway. His mood darkened significantly when he saw his youngest daughter in the arms of Thomas Bennet. Not only that, they were in an intimate embrace, and worse, her dress was torn! “ WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? UNHAND MY D AUGHTER !” Gardiner yelled at the top of his voice.

It had been loud enough that the musicians ceased playing, and the dancers who had just commenced the second set all stopped dancing. It took no time at all until many were crowded around watching the scene unfold.

Beth heard the outcry and identified it as Mr Gardiner’s voice. She got a sick feeling in her stomach that her son had been compromised.

Bennet woke up from the shock and pushed the woman he despised from his person, resulting in her falling onto the floor, landing on her derriere . It was obvious she had made herself fall, and she immediately began to wail.

“H-he k-k-kissed me a-and ripped m-my d-dress w-when he attempted to t-t-touch me, Papa,” Fanny sobbed out.

Before he could defend himself and explain to her father that his daughter had entrapped him, Mr Gardiner raised his hand. “I do not want to hear it! You will present yourself at my office first thing in the morning on the morrow,” Gardiner growled.

Knowing that he was well and truly trapped, all Bennet could do was to weakly nod his head as he stood in shock.

He would have remained there had it not been for his mother. Beth took her son’s arm. “Come, Thomas, we should go home,” she said sympathetically. The worst possible thing had occurred, and her poor son would have to marry the horrendous, selfish, vain girl.

All the way home, Bennet was lamenting his hubris at not following his mother’s advice to remain away from the assembly.

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

Bennet was not a man who imbibed anything other than a glass of port here or there, but when he arrived home from the assembly, he went directly to his study. There he poured four fingers of brandy into a tumbler and threw it back. The burn as the liquor coursed its way down towards his stomach made him think clearly. He sat down at his desk, pulled a sheet of paper from the pile, and began to write.

His mother had allowed him his space when they arrived home, but Bennet rang for Hill and sent a request for his mother to join him.

“Thomas, I am so sorry you are stuck with such a woman,” Beth commiserated with tears pricking her eyes. “With all the witnesses, by now the embellished story is known far and wide; there is nothing you can do. It will be dishonourable not to marry her, even though it was not your fault.”

“Unless she decides she does not want to marry me,” Bennet stated calmly. Seeing his mother’s questioning look, he proffered her the sheet of paper on which he had drafted a settlement. “I will sign no other settlement than one that encompasses all of the points I have made.”

Beth read over what Thomas had laid out. “I do not know if she will, but this may cause her to rethink her decision. If she withdraws, your honour will still be intact,” Beth opined.

“I will pray for that outcome,” Bennet said firmly. He retrieved the page and placed it on his desk.

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

“Bennet, surely you jest? You expect me to draw up this settlement for my daughter?” Gardiner spluttered after reading the page.

“I am as serious as can be. You did not want to hear it last night, but Miss Fanny pounced on me when I was on my way to the card room. If you ask your eldest, I am sure she will confirm this was entrapment. Your younger daughter has long attempted to put herself in my path. Since I have shown her no interest whatsoever, she took matters into her own hands,” Bennet stated dispassionately.

Gardiner knew enough about his youngest to not doubt that if Bennet showed no interest in her, it would have driven her to do something like she did the previous night. If he were honest, he would have admitted he had been suspicious as to why Hattie called him at that exact moment.

“If she does not marry you, she will be ruined,” Gardiner articulated.

“I am here, as you demanded, and if after she is made aware of the only settlement I will offer, she still wants to marry me, I will do as honour dictates. It will be her choice,” Bennet drawled.

Miss Gardiner and Miss Fanny were summoned. The former could not look at Mr Bennet while the latter looked like the cat who got the cream. At that moment Gardiner knew the truth.

“Fanny, if you choose to marry Mr Bennet, these are the points which will be in the settlement.” Gardiner handed the page to his youngest.

At first, Fanny was horrified when she took in what was written. However, she remembered she always got what she wanted, so she was sure this would not be different. “Of course I want to marry Mr Bennet,” Fanny sang as she handed the page back to her father. She and her sister were dismissed.

Bennet felt sick to his stomach; there was no getting out of it. It made him that much more determined to enforce every clause that would be in the settlement.

“I will have Phillips draw up the wedding contract,” Gardiner stated resignedly.

“This will be the final time I, and Longbourn, will use your law practice! Once I am sure the settlement has all of the points for which I asked, and only those, I will sign it and apply for a common licence. There is no point in drawing this out.” Bennet stood and exited the office. Now he had to go break the bad news to his mother.