Jack Caldwell - The Three Colonels

To Barbara,

who believed in me from the first.

The Three Colonels is a sequel to the Jane Austen novels Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. I use Austens characters from these and her other novels in the body of this story.

Austen aficionados differ in opinion as to exactly when during the Georgian/Regency period the novels take place. For matters of continuity, I chose to date the action in the original novels based on the year of publication, rather than the years Austen originally wrote them (17951796). I feel justified in this, since Austen substantially edited both Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility in the years prior to publication.

Therefore, I have dated Pride and Prejudice (published 1813) between 1811 and 1812, while Sense and Sensibility (1811) is set in 1810.

By making this choice, I believe I have opened the wonderful Jane Austen universe to great possibilities. I hope you enjoy the results.

Jack Caldwell

Faribault, Minnesota, July 2011

[*]Historical Character

Delaford Manor, Dorsetshire

Colonel Christopher Brandon, British Army (inactive)Owner of Delaford Manor, magistrate of Delaford. A veteran of the wars of the French Revolution and the early Napoleonic conflicts, he holds an honorary position in the Life Guards. Close friend to both Colonels Fitzwilliam and Buford and a confidant of Wellington.

Marianne Dashwood BrandonWife of Colonel Brandon (1813), mother of Joy Brandon, and friend to Elizabeth Darcy and Jane Bingley

Joy BrandonDaughter of Christopher and Marianne Brandon (1814)

The Rev. Edward FerrarsRector of Delaford Parish

Elinor Dashwood FerrarsWife of Edward Ferrars, sister to Marianne Brandon

Mr. McIntoshSteward of Delaford Manor

Mayfield, Nottinghamshire

Charles BingleyHead of the Bingley family, who until recently was in trade. Former lessee of Netherfield in Hertfordshire, which he quits in 1814 for an estate of his own in Nottinghamshire, thirty miles from Pemberley. The particular friend of Mr. Darcy.

Jane Bennet BingleyWife of Charles Bingley (1812), mother of Susan Frances Bingley

Susan Frances BingleyDaughter of Charles and Jane Bingley (1813)

Caroline BingleySister to Charles Bingley, friend to Annabella Adams

Louisa Bingley HurstWife of Geoffrey Hurst, sister to Charles and Caroline Bingley

Longbourn, Meryton, Hertfordshire

Thomas BennetOwner of Longbourn, head of the Bennet family

Frances Gardiner BennetWife of Thomas Bennet, mother of Jane Bingley, Elizabeth Darcy, Lydia Wickham, Mary Bennet, and Catherine Bennet

Mary BennetDaughter of Thomas Bennet

Kitty BennetDaughter of Thomas Bennet

Thomas Tucker, EsqClerk in Mr. Phillipss law firm

Pemberley, Lambton, Derbyshire

Fitzwilliam DarcyOwner of Pemberley, head of the Darcy family, nephew to the Earl of Matlock and Lady Catherine de Bourgh, cousin to Colonel Fitzwilliam, friend to Colonel Brandon

Elizabeth Bennet DarcyWife of Fitzwilliam Darcy (1812), mother of Bennet Darcy, friend to the Dashwood sisters

Bennet Edward George DarcySon and heir of Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy (1814)

Georgiana DarcyOnly sister to Fitzwilliam Darcy

The Rev. Franklin SoutherlandRector of Kympton Parish

Matlock Manor, Matlock, Derbyshire

Lord Hugh Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl of MatlockHead of the Fitzwilliam family, brother to Lady Catherine de Bourgh

Lady Alexandria Fitzwilliam, Countess MatlockWife of Lord Matlock

Andrew, Viscount Fitzwilliam of MatlockEldest son and heir of Lord and Lady Matlock

Colonel the Hon. Richard Fitzwilliam, rd Lt. Dragoons, British ArmySecond son of Lord and Lady Matlock, veteran of the Peninsular War, comrade of Colonel Buford

Buford Manor, Wales

Mrs. Albertine BufordMatriarch of the Buford family. Of French stock, her family fled the Revolution.

Philip BufordEldest son of Albertine Buford, owner of Buford Manor

Rebecca BufordWife of Philip Buford

Colonel Sir John Buford, CB, nd Lt. Dragoons, British ArmySecond son of Albertine Buford, he earned the Order of the Bath due to his service during the Peninsular War. Confidant of Wellington.

Lady Suzanne Buford DouglasDaughter of Albertine Buford, wife of Lord Douglas of Scotland

Rosings Park, Hunsford, Kent

Lady Catherine Fitzwilliam de BourghWidow of Sir Lewis de Bourgh, Bart., owner of Rosings, sister to Lord Matlock

Anne de BourghDaughter of Lady Catherine

Mrs. JenkinsonCompanion to Anne de Bourgh

The Rev. William CollinsRector of Hunsford Parish, cousin to Thomas Bennet, heir to Longbourn

Charlotte Lucas CollinsWife of William Collins, friend to Anne de Bourgh

Newcastle, Northumberland

Captain George Wickham, th Regiment of Foot, British ArmyHusband of Lydia Bennet

Lydia Bennet WickhamWife of George Wickham (1812)

Major Archibald Denny, British ArmyAttached to the General Staff

London

Edward GardinerUncle to the Bennet sisters, brother to Frances Bennet

Madeline GardinerWife of Edward Gardiner

Annabella Adams NorrisWife of Randolph Norris, schoolmate of Caroline Bingley and Louisa Hurst

Lady Victoria UppercrossAcquaintance of Sir John

Vienna, Austria

Field Marshall Sir Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, GCBHero of the Peninsular War, head of His Majestys delegation to the Congress of Vienna (1815), commander of all British forces on the Continent [*]

Lady Beatrice WellesleyCousin to Wellington

Countess Roxanne de PontchartrainWife of the Count de Pontchartrain (member of the Royal French delegation), acquaintance of Sir John Buford

Baron Wolfgang von OdbarMember of the Prussian delegation

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-PrigordPrince of Benevento, French foreign minister, and delegate to the Congress of Vienna [*]

BelgiumWaterloo, Brussels, and surrounding areas

Captain Hewitt, British Army

Prince Willem of OrangeDutch Crown Prince, Wellingtons second in command, commander of I Corps [*]

Lieutenant General Sir Henry William Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge, GCBCommander of British Horse at Waterloo [*]

Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton, GCBCommander of the British 5th Division of Foot [*]

Major General Sir William Ponsonby, KCBCommander of the Union Cavalry Brigade [*]

Major General Sir John VandeleurCommander of the 4th Cavalry Brigade [*]

Major General Sir Hussey Vivian, KCBCommander of the 6th Cavalry Brigade [*]

Napoleon BonaparteEmperor of the French [*]

1814. Peace had come to England.

Since 1740, George IIIs Great Britain had been in recurrent conflict with its ancient enemy France and all its various governments. She fought Louis XVs Kingdom of France again and again over their colonies in the New World and India. She prevented the expansion of Robespierres homicidal French Republic and its Revolution. She had spent irreplaceable men and treasure to overthrow the menace of Napoleon Bonaparte as he tried to build an empire out of Europe.

After seventy-four years of recurring warfare, her work was done. The cost in blood and gold had been high, but the country was safe. The self-proclaimed Emperor Napoleon abdicated and was exiled to Elba, a small island in the Mediterranean Sea. A new French king, one finally friendly to Britain, was established on his throne in Paris. A grand congress of all the allies who had stood against the Tyrant was assembled in Vienna to re-draw the post-war world. Britain was master of the subcontinent. Soldiers and sailors were brought back to sweet England, paid off, and sent home.