Chapter 10 Endings

Later, in the evening, Mary heard Mr. Dane's voice at the door, asking to see Mr. Bennet.

'Who can that be at this hour?' Mrs. Bennet asked. She was lying on the sofa, claiming a headache and had been talking of going to her bed. 'Do go and see who it is, Mary.'

She went to the door of the parlour, and opening it, was just in time to see Mr. Dane being admitted to the sanctuary of the library. He remained closeted there with Mr. Bennet for some time. Then Mary heard the door flung open. She had left the parlour door open on her mother's instructions - who seemed to have forgotten about her headache - and could see them both emerge. To her astonishment, they went straight up the stairs to the first floor. Where could they be going? There was the sound of another door being opened and then Lydia and Wickham's voices raised in surprise and annoyance. Lydia came flying down the stairs, her face flushed and angry.

'Papa has no right to storm into our room like that! And with a stranger too!'

'You have met Mr. Dane,' Mary reminded him.

Lydia tossed her head. 'I don't recall, and it is very ill mannered of Papa. He is searching our bedroom. He told me most rudely to get out and go downstairs.'

Mrs. Bennet emerged from the parlour. 'What's happening?' she asked.

Lydia repeated her complaint. Mrs. Bennet hastened up the stairs and went to Lydia's bedroom. She came out shortly afterwards with a red face and then bursting into tears, ran along the landing to her own bedroom. More raised voices could be heard and then Mr. Bennet came out onto the landing and looked down at Mary and Lydia.

'Lydia, go to your mother directly,' he ordered.

'But why?' began Lydia.

'No questions now,' her father barked. 'Just do as I bid.' His tone was so unusually severe that Lydia too burst into tears and fled to her mother.

A few moments later, Wickham came out and down the stairs, holding a small satchel. Mr. Dane was behind her. All three then disappeared into Mrs. Bennet's library. Mary did not know what to think. She did wonder if her place was not with her sister and her mother but curiousity kept her where she was. Then Wickham came out of the library, smiling. His former anger and resentment had disappeared. Mr. Bennet accompanied to the door.

'Am I not to be allowed to bid my wife adieu?' he asked.

'Under the circumstances, no,' was Mr. Bennet's reply.

Wickham shrugged his shoulders, made both Mr. Bennet and Mary a mocking bow, straightened up, opened the front door and disappeared into the night.

'Sir, what has happened?' cried Mary.

'Bring your mother and your sister to the parlour and I will explain.'

Mary did as she was bid. As she started for the stairs, Mr. Dane came out and walked towards the front door. He looked grave. Mr. Dane halted as he came close to Mary.

'Good night, Miss Bennet.'

Mary looked enquiringly at him.

'I'm afraid that I can offer no explanations for what has occurred tonight. It is not my place to do so. Your father will furnish an explanation if he sees fit.'

He bowed and left the premises. Mary was all wonder and conjecture as she went upstairs.

Mrs. Bennet and Lydia came promptly downstairs although not without many exclamations and asking a great deal of questions that Mary could not answer. Mr. Bennet was standing in front of the fireplace in the parlour. He looked weary and old; lines etched on his face.

He said, 'I have told Wickham that he is no longer welcome under my roof. He is staying at an inn tonight and going back to London in the morning.'

Lydia let out a little scream and rose from her seat. 'My darling Wickham! I must go to him at once. Which inn will he be staying at?'

'Sit down, Lydia,' said her father in so severe a tone as they had never heard before. Lydia was so impressed by its severity that she sank back down.

'Wickham has given me a note for you,' Mr. Bennet said, moving across to the sofa and holding it out to Lydia. She tore it open and read it, then looked up with tears in her eyes.

'He bids me remain here. He says he is going to London tomorrow to find the scoundrel who gave him the counterfeit coins and that I would hinder the search. He says that he will send for me in due course.'

'What has happened?' Mrs. Bennet cried. 'I do not understand.'

'Wickham was to utter counterfeit coins in Meryton and was only prevented by a lucky accident and the good offices of Mr. Dane,' Mrs. Bennet said in the coldest voice that Mary had ever heard from him.

Lydia burst into tears. 'We did not know that the coins were false,' she protested. 'Wicky was given them by a gentleman while playing cards and took them in good faith. He would not have given them to me if he had known that they were not good coins.'

'Indeed.'

'You must believe me,' wailed Lydia, tears running down her face.

'Of course, we believe you, don't we, husband?' Mrs. Bennet appealed Mr. Bennet.

Mr. Bennet's silence was eloquent.

'Mr. Bennet!'

'Mrs. Bennet try not to be a credulous fool for at least a few moments, I beg you. I have told Wickham never to show his face here again.'

This prompted wails from both Lydia and Mrs. Bennet.

'And on this, for once, I shall stand firm. Good night to you. Mary, a word with you in my library, if you please.'

Mary followed him to the library.

'Sir, have I offended you?' she asked.

'What? No. I am sure that you, at least, do not believe this fable that Wickham did not know that the coins were false.'

Mary thought of the curious look on Lydia's face when Mr. Dane told him of the counterfeit coins. 'And Lydia?'

'I am not sure if Lydia knew or not. Wickham first tried to blame it all on her, saying that Lydia has been given the coins and it was nothing to do with him. I have to admire the audacity of the scoundrel.'

Mary thought that nothing could shock her about Wickham, but this horrified her, that Wickham could so callously seek to blame his wife for his crimes.

Mr. Bennet sighed. 'We owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Dane. He came here tonight to urge me to seek out Wickham's hoard of counterfeit coins and prevent the ruin of our good name in this neighbourhood.'

Mary was speechless. That Mr. Dane should undertake such a kindness to her family after the disdainful way that she had treated him, was a marvel and almost impossible to believe.

Mrs. Bennet looked at him. 'He said that he was doing it for the sake of our friendship, but I believe that there was another motive at play as well.'

Mary blushed. " I think you are wrong, Papa. I believe he did it from the goodness of his heart.'

'Whatever the reason, I cannot thank him enough. I have invited him to make use of my library whenever he pleases.'

The more Mary thought about it, the more she despised Wickham and the more she admired Mr. Dane. She determined that she must thank Mr. Dane himself. Accordingly, Mary sat in the parlour for the next few evenings, waiting for Mr. Dane to call. When, at last he did, she was out of her chair and into the hallway before her mother could even open her mouth.

There was Mr. Dane, looking much the same as ever, serious and thoughtful.

'Mr. Dane, might I have a moment of your time?' she asked.

Mr. Dane looked surprised then nodded. Mary led him to the morning room and closed the door behind her.

'I just wanted to take the opportunity to express my own thanks for the kindness that you have shown this family,' she said.

'No thanks are necessary,' Dane said.

'I am sorry to disagree with you, but I believe that they are. I know that you came here to warn my father about Wickham and his nefarious dealings. You have helped to spare my family yet further shame and distress on account of that man.' Here Mary paused for breath, too overcome to continue.

'Miss Bennet, whatever you believe I have done, no thanks are necessary because I did what any right-thinking man would have done.' He paused, squared his shoulders and then added, 'But I did have another motive, I must confess. I came to warn your father not only because it was the right thing to do but because I wanted to spare you any embarrassment and to have the ignominy of a known criminal in your family. It was your feelings that I was most concerned about.'

He turned away at this point and Mary stared at him in amazement.

'I thank you for your consideration, Mr. Dane.'

Mr. Dane turned around and looked directly at Mary.

'I know that I can have no hopes after your rejection but that does not prevent me from having the warmest, the tenderest feelings for you.'

Mary did not know what to say. She opened and shut her mouth.

Mr. Dane regarded her and then said, 'Good evening, Miss Bennet. I see that I have discomposed you. I will go to your father.' He started to move.

'No!' exclaimed Mary. 'No, please understand, you have not distressed me. I am simply overwhelmed by the news. I thought that you had hated me now.'

'I was angry with you when you rejected my proposal, I own, and when I spoke to you about Sir Eustace,' said Mr. Dane, 'but on reflection, I came to realise that my proposal to you was not just based on good sense, that I was fond of you.'

'You said that you were my friend when you asked me why I was marrying Sir Eustace.'

'My motives were mixed; I was concerned for your future happiness, but I was also very jealous. That helped me to understand my true feelings. I was, I am in love with you. I would marry you if you would have me, but I understand that to be impossible. Let us speak no more of this and agree to be friends.'

'I cannot agree,' said Mary

Mr. Dane's face crumpled. 'I see,' he said.

'No, you do not see. I cannot agree because I do wish to marry you if you will have me.'

Mr. Dane's face brightened. 'Can this be true?' he exclaimed joyfully.

Mary assured him that it was. They then spent several tender moments discussing this happy phenomenon further. Now all misunderstandings had been explained away and there only remained the pleasure of recounting to one another the exact moment when they each realised that they had fallen in love with the other.

'I must go to your father immediately,' Mr. Dane said, 'and ask for your hand in marriage.'

She left the room and Mary, stood there, the happiest woman in the entire world that day or so she believed.

Mr. Dane requested the hand of his daughter in marriage from Mr. Bennet and received his approval. He and Mary married shortly afterwards.

Mrs. Bennet remained aggrieved for some time. She did not consider the substitution of an attorney's clerk for a titled gentleman to be a satisfactory exchange especially when Sir Eustace had been lost to a publican's daughter. When it was said to her by way of consolation that she would have the benefit of a married daughter living nearby, it was clear she could have borne the disadvantage of Mary living a long distance away if it had been accompanied by wealth and a title. Only the thought, as Mr. Bennet pointed out to her on several occasions, that she could boast to her friends and acquaintances of four married daughters, did anything to assuage her feelings of ill-usage.

And when a year later, Kitty married a clergyman, the fact she now had all her daughters married, helped Mrs. Bennet to almost forget the painful fact that not one of them had a title.

Wickham never sent for nor returned for Lydia. She remained at Longbourn to her mother's delight if not her own.

Mary received news of Sir Eustace from Elizabeth. He did marry Margaret Merryweather. She eventually gave him the son he so desperately wanted, and he was a happy man. Whether Margaret Merryweather found enough consolation in being Lady Watford was something Elizabeth was unable to comment on, as Sir Eustace never took his wife with him when visiting his connections.

With some financial help from her brothers, Mr. Dane resumed his studies and became an attorney in his own right. In time, as Mr. Philips had no children of his own, he took over that gentleman's business. Mary now discovered the best and truest meaning of 'marrying well' in her happy union with Mr. Dane.