Intrigue at Longbourn: Elizabeth Bennet's Secret Investigation and Mr Bennet's Audacious Plan: A Pride & Prejudice Prequel by Gill Mather

Author:Gill Mather [Mather, Gill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms, Pre-Canon
ISBN: 9781912955435
Amazon: B0C8JBMZ3Q
Barnesnoble: B0C8JBMZ3Q
Goodreads: 179319852
Publisher: Inquisitor Books
Published: 2023-06-18T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

Thursday 6th July 1797

IT HAD been a long three weeks for Mr Bennet, three weeks during which Jane and Lizzy had been away and during which he had hatched a daring plan with Mr and Mrs Gilbert for them to hand over their baby son when he was born, so that the Bennets could bring him up as their own thereby preserving the family inheritance.

It had seemed to be so simple to begin with and largely irreproachable, or so he had convinced himself. But now, the scheme had grown horns in his mind so that it invaded all his daytime thoughts as well as much of his dreams. He woke many times each night in a sweat imagining the sword of Damocles hanging over him ready to extinguish any anticipated benefits. Evil spirits spread themselves through his mind bringing visions of arrest by constables, of being cast into prison never to be set free, of the hangman’s noose around his neck, causing frequent losses of concentration during the day. He prided himself on being outwardly calm, through long habit, so that no one should perceive his inner disquiet, or so he thought.

He could still scarcely believe that Mrs Gilbert had espoused the plan, if not happily and wholeheartedly then at least to the extent that she joined in the discussion and planning. Indeed, she had actually contributed the suggestion that Mr Bennet should be included in the excursion to the spa town. She was certain, she said, that Mrs Bennet would object to Mr Bennet being left alone with her, Mrs Gilbert, coming to the house to look after him during the family’s absence. Mr Bennet could not disagree with this. The plan would then be that when Mrs Bennet could not, after all, go away, that Mr Bennet would also remain at Longbourn House. Mrs Gilbert acting as the servant of both of them would likely be more acceptable to Mrs Bennet.

Neither of the Gilberts had so far questioned whether Mrs Bennet’s withdrawal from the visit to the resort would cause any difficulty, might result in their daughters or some of them refusing to go away without their mother. It must be the case that they were aware of Mrs Bennet’s reputation for being inconstant, to put it at its mildest, so that her daughters would be unlikely to be surprised if she was seen to be disrupting the family’s plans.

Mrs Gilbert had voiced the opinion that the trip to the resort should be arranged soon so that everyone should start to look forward to it and it would be one step forward in their plan. And that meant talking to Mrs Bennet about it as soon as possible, without as yet revealing the planned adoption of the Gilberts’ child.

It was difficult to foretell how she would react to anything, therefore Mr Bennet approached with trepidation the prospect of suggesting to her that the family should go away in August and to the spa town of Buxton. He

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