Lizzy
"Have you heard?" Lydia exclaimed as she entered the parlour, distracting her sisters from their embroidery, "Netherfield is at last let."
"To whom?" Lizzy asked, eyeing her younger sister with a degree of scepticism.
"A single man from the North." Lydia had been unable to hide her excitement, having been the first to bring such pertinent knowledge forth.
"And how do you come by this information?" Jane asked, taking a moment to put aside the needlepoint that held little interest for her now. The news of a wealthy, single gentleman moving into the district was indeed pleasing to hear.
"No doubt she has been listening in on conversations between mother and father again," Lizzy sighed as she tipped her head to the side as she was apt to do when amused.
Although, she didn't much wish to admit it to herself, Lizzy was intrigued by the thought of the arrival of a single man to the district. He would no doubt bring with him news of the goings on in the rest of the country. News was something much missed by Lizzy and she often felt as if she had exhausted all supply of simple gossip from the town.
Lizzy had heard it said so many times that, "It was a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
Lydia stood in front of her sisters, keen to have centre-stage and to have their rapt attention.
"Mrs Long had just been here and I heard her telling mother all about it."
"What did father have to say?" Lizzy asked.
"He made no answer whatsoever," Lydia twirled in a circle in front of them, "and Mother found his reaction totally infuriating."
Not unlike Lizzy's reaction to her sister's apparent rapture at having them all hanging on her every word.
"Do you not wish to know who has taken Netherfield? Mother cried at him in frustration." Lydia's telling added to the unfolding melodrama.
"He would of course have had no objection to hearing it," Jane answered tucking one of the escaped tendrils of her blonde hair behind her ear.
"Yes, yes!" Lydia exclaimed her excitement now getting the better of her. "Mother said it appears the man has come from the North and he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place." She carried on, barely stopping for breath now so deep into the story. "He was so delighted he agreed with Mr Morris that he had to take possession immediately, before Michaelmass." Lydia gripped the back of the well worn parlour chair. "And some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week."
"Did you catch his name?" Mary asked. It astonished Lizzy how Mary could even try to keep a sensible head during Lydia's hysterical outbursts.
"Why yes," Lydia said, turning her attention to Lizzy's younger sister. "It's Bingley and of course we know he's single. I heard mother mention he earns four or five thousand a year and what a fine thing that is. Mother hopes that he may fall in love with one of us, so she insists that father has to see him right away to garner an invitation to his home."
"Is father to go?" Lizzy asked.
"Of that I can't be certain. But what I can be certain of is that Sir William and Lady Lucas are determined to go and if father does not visit it will make the situation impossible for us."
Lydia thew herself across the parlour chair in a most undignified fashion, then continued on. "Father wished to give you the preference Lizzie, but mother wouldn't have it. She said I am good-humoured and Jane is more handsome but father feels you are more quick witted than all of us."
Mother is right," Mary sighed, "Father is always giving you the preference."
"He is not." Lizzy tried to defend herself. True she felt extremely close to her father but he was oftentimes not evenhanded with his compliments. This wasn't her concern and Lizzy knew that despite his tendency for favouritism, he would in the end treat all of his daughters with fairness and respect.
It was unfortunate for their mother, with her nervous disposition that their father tended to treat her with a good dose of his sarcastic humour. Nigh, they had been together for so many years—Lizzy felt sure that they had by now forged a partnership that suited them both admirably.
Lizzy wondered some times if her father might not be quite so aware of their perilous circumstances as her mother. For, to find husbands for five girls weighed heavily on the nerves of Mrs Bennet.
Mr Bennet would have many a home to visit if their collective future was to be assured. For Lizzy felt sure her mother's nerves suffered so because the entire focus of her life was the business of getting her daughters married.