One week fatherly satisfaction...

Chapter ten: Pemberley

Derbyshire, Pemberley, Sunday the twenty second August. Evening.

Edward Bennet sighed lengthily, personifying satisfaction at being where he was at this late hour.

He smiled while shutting the book he was reading in the little study Fitzwilliam had provided for his father in law.

What could be better for a father than to have the pleasure to see, day after day, the satisfaction of his beloved daughters with the world as it was?

Alright, for him it was not quite so extraordinary. There was the little problem of being conquered and invaded that would, from time to time, come and spoil his perfect good humor.

But that didn't last long.

He was an old man and it never had been his duty to fight this recent war.

In his time he had fought –and won, sort of– the privilege to uphold the Empire and to defend the Crown.

Not, if he agreed to be honest, that the results had been better in the end.

But where he and his pals had lost a few unimportant colonies, this next generation just happened to lose the homeland!

And he could quite understand that losing one's homeland to an enemy who should never have the possibility to land was not a happy memory.

And it was not for the young Fitzwilliams. The one who had most problems was the general since he was one of those who just had lost to the French and –if one knew how to translate his gesturing– he was rather upset with the result.

Edward Bennet had spent a part of the afternoon with him and it was quite evident –posturing and flirting not included– that the situation was weighing heavily on the young man's shoulders.

But if there was one sure thing, it wasn't weighing on Edward Bennet's shoulders!

For many excellent reasons every other father could easily understand.

He inhaled deeply and stood up before taking hold of the candelabra he had just used to light the pages of the excellent book he had found in Fitzwilliam's library.

He would not let his country's situation mar his utter satisfaction.

A satisfaction born of family successes and old dynastic grudges Major Bennet was holding against the House of Hannover.

But, of that he was persuaded, the most important thing was the happiness of his eldest daughters.

There was not the least doubt that they were happy and satisfied.

And their satisfaction was clearly influencing his youngest daughters.

Even Mary was showing smiles and sparkling eyes.

Thanks to young Georgiana who shared a real love for music with her and who had found ways to show her real fondness for Kitty and the new Miss Bennet.

Even Lydia was well behaved as never before.

He knew that at the bottom of her heart that savage and unruly strand still existed but now it was smothered by a real obsession to get the most out of her new standing.

Lydia was showing a real mercenary strand that worried old Mr. Bennet. But he could not reproach her. Having a mercenary strand was much more accepted by the British ton than her former silliness…

He probably preferred his "old" Lydia but society at large was sure to understand this "new" Lydia much better.

Especially with a fifteen-thousand pound dowry to support her new ambitions.

He finally came to his room's door and was rather satisfied that Mrs. Bennet was not yet sleeping.

Mrs. Reynolds had provided them a unique room and he was now, quite satisfied to be able to share it with his wife.

"You're still up, dear? I hope you weren't waiting on me…"

"Yes I was," answered Mrs. Bennet. "I believe we need to talk and I was reticent to disturb you in your new study…"

"Feel free to come each time you need," answered he. "I'm no longer hiding; I'm just enjoying a book or two. Nothing you couldn't disturb with important family matters…"

She smiled at him and her eyes sparkled in quite the same way her daughter's eyes sparkled when she spoke of her French conqueror.

"I'll do it in the future, dear. Or we could perhaps see each other for a morning walk in the park. It has been a long time since we made time to walk together…"

He agreed with a knowing smile.

Indeed it had been a very long time.

"Beginning tomorrow?"

"Beginning tomorrow!"

"What is on your mind?"

"It's Lydia, dear. I no longer recognize her."

He sighed. It was indeed difficult to recognize her silly savage daughter when they were looking at the scheming young woman who was trying to enlist their other daughters in her plans.

"It's difficult to reproach her anything, dear. She's better behaved than she ever was…"

"That's a fact, but I'm worried nevertheless. She's changed. She's no longer careless. She looks at other people with mercenary eyes I didn't know could be found in our family…"

"Next time we see him, look at our dear cousin Collins. You'll see a real shark in the making. But, happily for us Collins has not only the character of a shark he has also its intelligence. That gives us a very good chance to outsmart him. If Lydia decides to use her mind to feed her greed we will have a few problems controling her…"

His wife nodded with a worried look on her face.

He took her hand and smiled at her.

"Don't worry, she's very family oriented. She won't harm her sisters or parents. She will use everything in her power to grab everything she can get, but she will share. She always shared after having gotten what she wanted…"

His wife made a face.

"I'm sorry, I failed her education…"

"No, you did fine! I was the one absent in their education. It should have been me teching them limitations. I failed, not you, but then I don't know a lot of parents who succeeded with all of their children…" He smiled at her. "We lost only two, dear. That's quite a success, don't you think?"

She nodded.

"Longbourn was a healthy country to raise children… You must have noticed that they were much less ill than other children in the neighborhood…"

"That and old Mrs. Perkins…"

Mrs. Bennet raised a surprised eyebrow.

"Mrs. Perkins? What could that old hag have to do with our children's survival?"

"She was a very good midwife, have you forgotten? She never lost a baby who was not stillborn!"

Mrs. Bennet could only reluctantly nod. She hadn't liked ol' widow Perkins. She had never fathomed why, but she had a real reluctance to greet her at home.

"After Lydia's birth we never even saw her again…"

"You never even saw her again. That doesn't mean that 'we' never even saw her again…"

"You saw her?"

"From time to time," he admitted. "Jane was spending a lot of time with her and I was rather curious about what they did together."

Her frown became deeper.

"And what did they do together?"

"She taught our Jane her trade…"

This time Mrs. Bennet could no longer lie still. She stood up and looked at her husband with more than surprise in her eyes.

"She did what? How could she. She was a gentleman's daughter. Had it been known she would have lost all chances to find a fine husband! Which gentleman would have accepted a midwife as a wife…"

Mr. Bennet chukled.

"I doubt that Geoffrey, had he known it, would have frowned at his fiancée's skills. He's quite a realist when it comes to people… And Jane never hesitated to share with her sisters…"

Another shock came upon poor Mrs. Bennet who could only lie down and pant.

"You mean all our daughters are midwives?"

"No, only Jane, but all our daughters know about herbs and potions and healing brews. They are quite efficient when it comes down to brewing an herb tea to cure a cough. Haven't you noticed that our outbuilding was always very full of various odoriferous herbs and plants…"

"I believed it was for Jane and Lizzy's perfume factory… They were so proficient at brewing their own perfumes. I thought that…"

"There was indeed that, but most of those plants went into potions, lotions and other mixtures that helped us –and the neighborhood–, quite a lot to overcome most winters without a major health problem…"

"I thought it was Mrs. Hill! It was always she who mixed the herbs…"

He shook his head.

"No, she only brewed them. The mixing was Jane or Lizzy's doing. Mrs. Hill was happy enough to live with a borrowed reputation." He chuckled once more. "Less and less borrowed truth be told. She had learned quite a lot by helping your daughters…"

Mrs. Bennet covered her mouth and looked at her husband with huge eyes.

"And I never saw a thing…"

"Never, dear… It was your daughters' secret and they managed to preserve it until now."

"But you knew! How?"

"I followed Jane, dear. I'm not very proud of it but I had to know. So I did what I had to do and learned what I wanted to know. Knowing what she was doing, I never again shadowed her…"

"But you let her go on…"

"Indeed, I let her go on. Should I have stopped her? Should I have crushed her only little hint of disobedience and rebellion? It was her passion and her only secret; I just hadn't the strength to take it away from her. I couldn't have without destroying a part of her I was just discovering." He nodded lengthily. "Yes, I permitted her behavior and I even gave her all the excuses to have her opportunities to join Mrs. Perkins in her trade. And, if the intelligence I gathered is right, she's now quite an accomplished midwife of her own!"

Mrs. Bennet took a long breath and opened her mouth.

"But…"

"No buts, dear. She's no longer our responsibility and I'm quite confident that our d'Arcy son will soon know if he doesn't already know. I don't believe they are adept at keeping secrets from each other. And, if I can be honest, he wanted her and he got her, midwife training and potion brewing included…"

He winked at his wife.

"Being a midwife didn't hinder her becoming a wife and a Countess, did it? Why should it be a problem for us, now?"

Finally she smiled.

"Indeed you are right, why should it be a problem for us? I'm even a little bit relieved."

"Relieved?"

Her eyes sparkled anew.

"She was always so perfect, dear. I was very worried about her not having all those female guiles that are so useful in a woman's life. I must admit it did worry me quite a bit. Without that arsenal it would have been rather difficult for her to stand up against a man with too much will to enslave her…"

He snorted.

"I don't know who enslaved who but I do believe that Jane did quite well with that husband of hers and that she is quite able of standing on her own in that marriage."

Mrs. Bennet nodded and smiled.

"Indeed I'm quite satisfied with her wedding management…" She winked at her husband. "It seems our daughters get their looks from me and their mind from you. They couldn't have done better."

He laughed with her.

"No they couldn't…" he agreed. "Let's hope the others follow their example."

Mrs. Bennet could only pout when she was reminded of her initial problem.

"What can we do about Lydia?"

Mr. Bennet shrugged.

"For the moment, there's no hurry, dear. She's thinking about a winning strategy and she's not yet decided how she will launch her campaign. While we are here at Pemberley we should have a respite. It will be much more difficult once we are in London…"

"Why should we go to London?"

"Geoffrey will have to go sooner or later. He won't be able to stay here when his negotiations with the Scots and the Welsh are done. He has a country to manage and it will be so much easier to manage from London. And I have no doubt that Lydia –with Jane living in London– she will give us no peace until she's there too…"

He looked at his wife.

"You know her, even with her better manners she's still the most strong-headed of all our brood. We will be able to resist a few days but it won't last more than a few weeks. I'd say by the end of September we will be in London…"

Mrs. Bennet sighed.

"We could restrain her at Longbourn…"

"We could, but it would mean hearing her protests all day long."

"As parents we should be able to accept that burden. She's only sixteen. She should know that there are limits."

"Too late for that, dear! It will be almost impossible to hold her at Longbourn. Not with Jane and the Gardiners back in London. She wants to be there and she will do what is necessary to be there."

He shook his head.

"No, I fear we have no longer any choice. I must be there and look at what she prepares."

He sighed lengthily.

"But one thing should be in our interest, a red coat is no longer enough to turn her head. Even colonel Mayfayr has lost her affections. I do believe she would accept Richard Fitzwilliam but he remembers her in her old self and won't be lured. But his indifference doesn't bother her at all. As I have followed her 'strategy' she's studying every suitable bachelor and there's not an aspect of his life she wants to oversee… She knows what she wants –for her and for her sisters– and she's more than determined to get only the best."

"How did we lose the silliest girl in Great Britain?"

"We didn't lose her; I think she just grew up very fast. She's seen what it means to have a gentleman of weight as a husband and she puts as much energy into getting one as she was putting into dancing and flirting. It's a rather different approach but beneath we have that same old will to get what she wants…"

Mrs. Bennet could only moan.

"I don't know. I'm not sure but I believe the old one was the more sympathetic of both. Now she seems much too interested!"

He could do nothing but agree.

"You're quite right, dear, but I see no way to get her back on her former path. She took pleasure in flirting and now I really believe that she takes even greater pleasure in scheming about her and her sisters' perfect future."

"Should I speak with Kitty and Mary?" asked Mrs. Bennet.

"It couldn't be a bad idea, dear. I know she has convinced them to follow her but they are not as ruthless as Lydia. They could probably still forsee a merrier vision of their future."

He let a smile light up his face.

"I even believe that Kitty won't take her advice into account…"

"How so?"

"I believe she fixed her choice on young Charles Bingley and while Lydia is managing her Grand Campaign I'm quite sure Kitty will do what's in her power to secure Charles for herself."

Mrs. Bennet could only smile at this news.

"Not a bad choice. He was quite an agreeable gentleman."

"Not a bad choice at all, dear. I rather like him. But of course against Prince Charming he had few chances to prevail."

He smiled back.

"We'll soon see how Kitty will act to secure him!"

"It will be interesting to observe!"

"Indeed, Mrs. Bennet. It will be interesting to observe!"