When her brother, George Darcy,Sir Louis’s solicitorMrHarrison Wright, and some unknown tradesman arrived for the reading of the will, they took her incompetent forgery and tossed it in the fire. As she started to protest vociferously, each produced a copy of the genuine will, all signed and witnessed with proof that it had been filed with the courts in London. Under her husband’s legal will, she was allowed to live at Rosings until Anne reached her majority and inherited it, at which time she, the great Lady Catherine de Bourgh, would be relegated to the dower house. This was not to be borne! Only her dowry of thirty-five thousand pounds would be hers. In addition, she would receive one thousand per annum from the estate until Anne’s majority; however she would have no access to any of the de Bough fortune or any of the income from the estate. When she inquired why her dowry was larger than she was led to believe, she answered her own question by saying that she deserved it as she was the oldest. Her brother told her how their father had increased her dowry in order to bribe someone to marry her, but only Sir Louis had been interested. The men all suspected that Sir Louis’s death had not been of natural causes, but as they found no evidence to the contrary, they held their peace.
For the time being, Anne would remain at Rosings under the care of a governess appointed by her brother. Her mother would have no say in Anne’s upbringing, and it was stressed to her that if something befell Anne the estate would go to the distant, unnamed cousin. Her brother further informed her there was no scenario under which the estate would revert to Lady Catherine. As she sat alone on her throne like chair in the drawing room after the men departed, she realised that she had been precipitous in murdering her husband—she should have forced him to execute a new will before dispatching him. The woman still believed that she could obtain what she wanted just by her force of will, despite the fact that it had yet to work in her favour. She sat in solitude planning ways that she would be able to get her full due. She had to somehow force a marriage between her nephew Fitzwilliam and Anne. She was certain that they would live at Pemberley and leave her to run Rosings. Somehow, in her mind, that would give her unencumbered access to the Darcy fortune. As usual, when she did not get her way, she blamed everyone else without ever looking inward.
Snowhaven, Derbyshire
Lord Reginald Fitzwilliam, Reggie to his friends, the current Earl of Matlock was a happy man as he reflected on the days when he had first met his wife, Elaine Hamilton as she was then.
In April 1778, Lord Hilldale was on the way to inspect an outlying estate, Winsglade, also in Herefordshire, which was owned by the Fitzwilliams and part of the entail of the earldom. As he was riding on the last leg of his journey from his estate Hilldale, a fox broke from the hedgerow and startled his horse who reared up, unseating the then Viscount and causing him to hit his head on a small rock.
When he awoke, he looked up into the most beautiful green eyes that he had ever seen. A young lady of perhaps seventeen or eighteen years of age was trying to revive him. He could see that although she was a gentlewoman, she was not a wealthy one. She had golden brown locks and a truly kind face. She seemed very relieved when he opened his eyes. She explained that she had found him lying in the road with blood coming from a wound in his head. She had torn some of her petticoats to bind his wound and had stopped the bleeding. She informed him that her father’s estate was less than a mile away, and if he felt that he could remain on his own she would go and ask her father and two brothers to come and assist him to their home while she had the local apothecary summoned. Reggie responded that he was awake enough to wait, and after she assisted him to the side of the road, she corralled his horse and swung herself onto the saddle to ride astride toward the estate in the direction she had indicated.
He found out later that her father owned the small estate of Longriver in Herefordshire, which earned less than two thousand pounds a year. Being a minor country gentleman of no consequence, Elaine would not have a season in Town as they could not afford such frivolity.
Less than an hour later, her father and brothers returned with a cart and helped Reggie into the bed and returned with him to their estate. At no point did they ask him if he was a person of consequence and wealth; they only wanted to help, regardless of his status. The apothecary stitched up the gash in the scalp and opined that Miss Elaine, it was the first time that Reggie ever heard her name, had more than likely saved his life by stemming the flow of blood.
Due to the medicinal dose, it was the following morning when Reginald Fitzwilliam was introduced to his hosts. The patriarch was a Mr Amos Hamilton, his heir was named Walter, the younger son was Isaac, and his youngest and only daughter was Elaine. Mrs Hamilton had passed two years after her daughter was born. When Reggie introduced himself and provided his pedigree, there was no fawning or trying to ingratiate themselves with him, and it was most refreshing. The Hamiltons were nothing like members of theTonor his sister Catherine, who thought that rank was everything and grasped at every possible means to take advantage.
That first full day that he was recuperating at Longriver, Lord Hilldale sent a note to Winsglade’s steward and his father. He assured them both that he was well, especially his father who was not a well man himself. The more that he got to know Miss Hamilton, the more that he realised that, thanks to a wayward fox, he had met his match. Each day, once he was able, he would take long walks with the lady. When they were together, they discussed everything which led him to discover that Miss Hamilton was an intelligent lady who never fawned over his words or agreed with everything that he said to try and ingratiate herself to him. It was not many days before he admitted that he loved the lady and did not care that she only had a dowry of four thousand pounds; he did not need more money and would prefer if it were used for their middle son who was trying to determine if he had the means to take the education a clergyman required, rather than go into the militia as he was ill suited for that kind of life. She had no significant connections, but that meant not a lick to him. Two days before he was to leave for Winsglade, an express arrived for him with black edging. He was the newest Earl of Matlock. Before he left, he asked for Elaine to wait for him so he could court her for all to see. He promised that at the end of the deep mourning period, three months and no more, he would return.
Elaine had fallen in love with the handsome Viscount and saw the truth in his eyes, that he loved her and would come back as he said he would. Almost to the day, Lord Reginald Fitzwilliam returned to Longriver. After a three-month betrothal, Elaine Hamilton became the Countess of Matlock, much to his sister Catherine’s disgust and loudly expressed opinions that he was polluting the shades of Matlock with such a lowborn woman!
Reggie remembered how his Elaine had won his sceptical mother over easily, and contrary to his older sister’s pronouncements, Lady Elaine Fitzwilliam was an excellent mistress of Snowhaven. Like most of the family, Elaine ignored Lady Catherine’s ridiculous pronouncements but grew remarkably close to her sister-in-law Anne. On her first visit to his estate, Reggie had the pleasure of explaining the history of the Matlocks and their estate.
Snowhaven manor consisted of the old Matlock Castle, which looked like it had welcoming arms reaching out on either side of the drive. Over more recent generations two wings had been added by the current Earl of Matlock for additional living space and bed chambers. Unlike many others, the Fitzwilliams had not allowed their castle to fall into disrepair and ruin over the years. The castle and lands had been presented to the first Earl of Matlock in December 1485, when Sir Fredrick Fitzwilliam, a knight at the time, had supported and significantly helped the winning side in the War of the Roses. As his reward, he had been elevated, awarded the title Earl of Matlock, and presented with the Castle; it was then renamed Matlock Castle. Also awarded to him was the vast Snowhaven estate, and three satellite estates. His secondary title would be Viscount Hilldale, and with it came the Hilldale estate in Staffordshire just over the border from Derbyshire.
All of the Fitzwilliams were justifiably immensely proud of their home, but even better than that, they loved their home and took exceptional care with the estates throughout the generations. The land was flatter at Snowhaven than at Pemberley, where Reggie’s youngest sister and her husband resided as they were further from the peak district than the Darcy's estate. The Derwent River ran through Snowhaven; the water flowed from the split with the Trent River in Derby. One of the Fitzwilliam ancestors had a canal dug that fed into a manmade lake to the right of the manor, which was a boon to anglers as it was a fisherman’s paradise.
In the front of the manor was the formal garden with a complex maze that all generations of the family’s children had always loved to play in. His sons Andrew, twelve, and Richard, ten, loved it and would play soldiers in it for hours. As Reggie thought about his children, he could not but become maudlin as he thought about their darling Tiffany. She had been born in March 1791, ten years after Richard when Elaine had believed she would never have her daughter. At six months, she was already crawling and had somehow escaped the nursery. She had crawled to the staircase and just before her nursemaid got to her, she had slipped and fallen to her death. They had just completed a year of mourning for young Lady Tiffany, but Reggie remembered after his little daughter had been born the doctor had told them that the countess would not be able to become with child again. When their daughter had fallen to her death, their last chance to have the daughter they had always hoped for died with her.
Chapter1
March 5, 1791
“I am birthing a son!” Fanny Bennet screeched maniacally at the midwife.“You stole my son and replaced him with that dark-haired devil’s spawn. I DID NOT BIRTH ANOTHER DAUGHTER!” she screamed with all of her might.“The devil killed my son and replaced him with that…demonthing.” The more that Fanny yelled, the more nonsensical her pronouncements became. Both Mrs Hill and Mrs Ponsonby tried to reason with her, but there was nothing rational left at the moment to allow them to dispute with.
“That is enough, Mrs Bennet,” her husband warned.
“It is a demon that killed my son,” Fanny insisted.“It is her fault; she was supposed to be a son!”
“I said enough, Mrs Bennet!” This was said with an implied threat and finally the unreasonable women shut her mouth with a clack.“There is only one who determines the gender of a babe and that is God on High.” Bennet was lost as soon as Mrs Hill placed his swaddled daughter in his hands; she had the biggest eyes, hazel with what seemed to be flecks of gold, raven hair, a lot of it for a new-born babe, and olive colouring. He saw his beloved mother in his new daughter and his heart swelled to almost bursting with pride.
“Elizabeth,” he said emphatically,“you are Elizabeth Rose after your late grandmother.”
“I will not feed that devil’s spawn,” Fanny said with rancour.“Send her out to one of the tenants,” she said spitefully.
“You will be sent out to a tenant’s cottage, not my daughter!” Bennet said with anger as he rounded on his vapid wife.“Do either of you know of a woman in the area who will be willing to work as a wet nurse?” Bennet asked the two ladies who had attended his wife.
“I do, sir,” the midwife agreed quickly.“Young MrsTammyManning was married to an officer who was killed in battle, and she gave birth a month ago. I know that she is looking for employment, but she will not abandon her son to the care of others. If you allow her to keep her son with her, she will take the position with pleasure.”
“Will you be willing to go to her now with a groom who will convey you in my gig?”” Bennet asked.“Little Lizzy needs to be fed and I do not trust Mrs Bennet”, he would never use the appellation of‘mother’,“not to harm her or to feed her as she should be fed.”
“Yes, sir,” Mrs Ponsonby responded.“I am ready to depart as soon as your groom is." Bennet issued the order to Mrs Hill who relayed them to her husband, and less than a half hour later the midwife was on her way to the Widow Manning.
Mrs Bennet had been silent, finally deciding that her husband had not been serious.“I am mistress of this house, and I do not want that demon in my house!”
“Mrs Bennet!” Bennet, who had never lifted his hand to a female before felt like he wanted to do just that, but instead put his face close to hers so she could see his resolve.“One more word, and I will have you moved to a cottage within the hour!”
Fanny Bennet was slow to comprehend things, but she understood that her husband was deadly serious, so she decided to bide her time. She would have nothing to do with the ugly daughter, all dark haired and olive skin. She fervently hoped that God would destroy Satan’s demon so she would not have to worry about it any longer.
