“William will be four in a month, and when I told him where you had lived, he asked me many questions I could not answer. I suggested he ask you; I hope you are sanguine with that,” Darcy said contritely.
“I do not object in the least. I enjoy telling others of my experiences in India,” Henry assured his host.
“Perhaps another time,” Lady Anne decided as she rang for a nursemaid. “It is time for Fitzwilliam to rest.” She turned to the maid who entered the drawing room. “Please take Master Fitzwilliam back to the nursery.”
The maid bobbed a curtsy and led the obviously upset boy away. It was clear he wanted to hear more about India, but his mother preferred him not to.
Darcy was not pleased with his wife’s behaviour. “Bennet, if you agree, I will bring William with me for a visit, and if you are sanguine with him quizzing you, I am certain he would love to hear about India.”
Lady Anne Darcy did not look pleased at her husband’s statement but said nothing to contradict him. She excused herself not long after.
Henry waved away the apology on Darcy’s lips. The last thing he wanted to do was come between husband and wife. He did judge Lady Anne as having excessive pride, but given her reaction, he did not think he would be in company with her very often in the future. Henry was certain that although she may object, she would not stop her husband bringing their son to Sherwood Dale with him.
He remained for less than half an hour. Before Henry departed, he and Darcy set a date for them to ride and view Pemberley’s land and agriculture so Henry could glean ideas for Sherwood Dale. Darcy also promised to forward names of possible stewards to his friend.
Unlike their sister, Henry found both Matlocks very warm and welcoming when he called at Snowhaven. He enjoyed meeting their sons, Andrew who was seven and Richard, almost five.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Not long after taking up residence at his estate, Henry had written to his nephew to give him the direction for post to be delivered to the Rose and Crown Inn in Lambton.
In January 1788, he received a letter from Longbourn.
12 January 1788
Longbourn
Uncle:
I wish to notify you that my wife delivered a girl today. No matter her insistence that it would be the son and heir we need to cut off the entail, it was not to be. She is much vexed that God did not heed her.
Speaking of the entail, I went to see my Brother Phillips a few days after you departed regarding the Collins line being excluded. He wrote a letter to my distant cousin. Evidently Clem Collins is illiterate as he had someone write the reply for him. It was heavy on vitriol and venom.
As he has no legal rights, I ignored the letter.
We have named our daughter Jane Eloise. Although I do not have much use for girls, if you are in the area, you may come meet your great-niece.
Yours, etc.,
Thomas Bennet
When he travelled to London next, Henry would make a stop to meet Jane Bennet. He wondered if she could be his heir.
Chapter 2
In 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, andin 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.
