Chapter One – A Chess Match

"Reading again, Bennett?" said George Darcy jovially to the man two years his junior.

"There is precious little else to do," said Thomas Bennett, marking his page and closing his book. "My classwork is done, and I have little interest in gaming and houses of ill repute."

"You mean you cannot afford them," said Darcy.

"Neither can the sons of earls and dukes," said Bennett. "Yet they fritter their allowances away on nothing, and are no more learned by the time they finish university than when they began it. It's a waste."

"I suppose I might agree with you," said Darcy. "Can I tempt you with chess, then?"

"So eager to lose, Darcy?" grinned Bennett. "You already owe me two favours. Are you sure you want to owe a third?"

"Who says I'll owe?" retorted Darcy. "Besides, I am waiting for you to call in your other favours."

"Will they expire?" asked Bennett.

"No. I will honour them always."

"Good man. We'll play for favours, then. A favour for a win."

The two men sat down across the chessboard from each other. Darcy, like always, played white. Bennett, like always, played black. Over the next several hours, they moved pieces carefully across the board.

Bennett moved one final piece. "I do believe that's checkmate."

Darcy laughed. "So it is. A favour to you then. That's three. What will you ask for?"

"I haven't the faintest notion," said Bennett. "It will come to me."

"I should turn in for the night," said Darcy, standing. "Good show, Bennett, and good night."

A few weeks later, George Darcy graduated from the university and made his quiet debut into London society. He fell in love with Lady Anne Fitzwilliam, and after a long courtship and a short engagement, they married in the celebration of the year. Bennett went to the ceremony but skipped the wedding breakfast so as not to have to socialize with any of the lady's single friends.

The two men maintained a correspondence, and it was through this correspondence that Darcy heard about Bennett's meeting with Miss Frances Gardiner nearly five years to the day he had met Lady Anne. The details of a courtship were disclosed, despite their differences in station, and after a short courtship and a short engagement, Bennett and Miss Gardiner were married. Darcy expressed his congratulations to his friend and his doubts to his wife.

Neither man forgot the favours owed, though neither ever brought them up in the infrequent letters between them. As both families increased, they wrote each other less and less. Lady Anne grew ill and died when her daughter was only two years old, and Darcy stopped writing unnecessary letters altogether. Bennett began to notice a change in his wife after she was told that there would be no more children, and regretted not truly knowing her when they married. With his children to protect from their mother, correspondence became the least of his concerns.