“Please, Bennet,” Gardiner implored. “My family name will not recover if you do not agree to marry Fanny. I know,” Gardiner proceeded before the younger man could protest. “None of this was by your hand. However, I have always seen you as an honourable and dutiful man, so I do not see you walking away and leaving my daughter ruined.”
It irked Bennet greatly, but much to his chagrin, Gardiner had his measure. “Does she have a dowry?” Bennet enquired.
“She does. It is five thousand pounds. I will reserve it for her use in the settlement. In the four per cents it will allow her fifty pounds per quarter allowance…” Gardiner tailed off when he saw the anger on Bennet’s countenance.
“If you think, I will reward her with such pin money or to have her dowry reserved for herself after the dishonourable way she and your wife acted, you are sorely mistaken. Not only that, but I will not give her the authority of mistress of my estate. She will receive three pounds per quarter, and not a penny more. Every shop in Meryton will be told she may not charge anything to Longbourn’s accounts. If they allow her to anyway, I will not pay.
“I was about to ask for a courtship from a lady for whom I have feelings and admire. I would wager your shrew of a daughter was aware of my feelings which caused her to act as she did.” Bennet paused and allowed some of the anger to bleed out of him. “If I must instead suffer with her as my wife, then she too will suffer. She will not receive anything she wants other than being my wife. The marriage contract will reflect all of this. If it does not, I will not sign it, and I will not marry her.”
With that, Bennet stood and marched out of the office.
Mother and daughter had been listening at the door which led from the office into the residence. As soon as they heard the door Mr Bennet used to exit close, they burst into the office.
“Elias, you cannot allow this to stand! Fanny must have her full pin money and be the mistress of the estate!” Jane Gardiner demanded.
“Jane, before you and Fanny plotted to compromise Bennet, you should have thought about how angry you would make him. It is well known that he was calling on Miss Morris. As it is, he feels nothing but disgust for Fanny, notwithstanding your statements that she could not be so beautiful for nothing,” Gardiner stated. “If you want Fanny to have more than three pounds a quarter in allowance, you will have to give her yours. Even if you do, there is no guarantee Bennet will not confiscate it, as it will be his right to do so. If I do not write the contract as he stipulated, he will not sign it. Whether Fanny is happy or not, the die is cast. If she refuses to marry him, which she can, she will be ruined.”
“Mama, noooo! You told me I would be envied for being the mistress of Longbourn! Who will envy me now? I do not want to marry him…” Fanny stopped caterwauling when her mother slapped her cheek.
“Your father has the right of it. There is no choice now,” Jane Gardiner ground out. “You must marry, or you will be irrevocably ruined.”
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
From Gardiner’s office, Bennet rode his gelding the two miles to Netherfield Park. At first, the butler did not want to admit him. Bennet told the retainer that he must be allowed to explain himself to Mr Morris.
Based on their past friendship, Morris received Bennetin his study. The anger the former had, bled away when he understood what had occurred. Knowing Bennet was not a man to prevaricate; he commiserated with him and led him to the drawing room where his wife and daughter were.
Morris begged them to hear Bennet out, and then, he allowed Bennet to repeat what had been told in the study.
“Can you not refuse to marry the horrid woman?” Melissa Morris asked with tears of sadness running down her cheeks. She answered her own question. “You would not be the man I lo…like if you were to act thusly.”
“As it will be too painful for Melissa to see you married to another, even though you have no choice, we will move to our estate in Cornwall and allow this one to be leased,” Morris stated. “We do feel for you, Bennet, but I will not allow Melissa to remain here and suffer, even though you are blameless.”
Within a sennight, the Morris family left Netherfield Park, and Gardiner’s head clerk, Phillips, was made their agent for rentals and the like.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
A week later, the settlement was acceptable to Bennet, and he signed it. The date of the wedding was set for the nineteenth of December, the earliest date after the banns were read.
Bennet met with his senior staff and explained that the woman who would be his wife would have no authority and that Mrs Hill would continue to function as thede factomistress of the estate. When this was done, Bennet went to each and every shop in Meryton where Longbourn had an account and informed them of his strictures regarding his wife’s ability to purchase and charge to his accounts. By the time he left, there was no misunderstanding as to his instructions.
On the Tuesday after the third banns were called at St Alfred’s Church in Meryton and St Hugh’s Church in Longbourn Village, Thomas Bennet and Fanny Gardiner were married, both were unwilling but knew they had no choice.
Chapter 2
Fanny Bennet believed that caterwauling would weaken her husband’s resolve, and he would capitulate and give her all she wanted. In her first weeks of marriage, much to her chagrin, Fanny discovered that her husband’s resolve was ironclad.
After screeching throughout the house for a few days, her disobliging husband had her restricted to the small bedchamber—not the one designated for the mistress—she had been assigned.
To protest, she had broken anything she was able to put her hands on and screamed as loudly as she could until her voice was hoarse. After two days—in which time no one cleaned up the broken items in her bedchamber—Mr Bennet entered the room. Although Fanny did not believe he would lift his hand to her, there was no missing the look of cold fury on his countenance.
She could still hear the conversation as if it was occurring at that moment.
Fanny had cowered when she saw the thunderous look on her husband’s face. How was it that she used to be able to get whatever she desired from her father or Hattie? That was especially true with regards to Mama. At least that was until Mama slapped her and told Fanny that there was no choice but to marry Mr Bennet. Had it not been Mama who had planned the compromise with her?
“I am a man of honour, and as such I will never strikea woman. However, you have brought me close to that point as you cost me the hand of the woman I loved. Know this. That is something I will never forgive. And, why you may ask. It is because you are a selfish, spoilt, unintelligent shrew who only cares for her own desires,” her husband had thundered, making her cower even more. “Did you not understand my disdain all of the times you put yourself in my path? You may be prettyish on the outside, but in your chest beats a black heart.
“Now,Mrs Bennet,” he had spat out the last two words, “behave like a child again, and it is not to the nursery you will go. I will send you to the smallest cottage on my land where you will cook and clean for yourself. Your allowance will be used to purchase your food, and that is all you will receive.
