Flora and Fauna
Chapter 2
-The way things are-
"Oh, Mr Bennet that child of yours does test me so." Fanny flapped her overly laced fan afront of her rouged face. Blotching so inelegantly.
"Now what child would that be my dear Fanny? The child who is as sombre as the undertaker or the one dropping her handkerchiefs for any man in uniform? Even if that uniform is that of a butchers." Thomas Bennet spoke into his book, not taking his eyes of the harvest survey. He did not have the greatest patience for his wife, but he had more than most.
"Mr Bennet! Is it your intention to vex me so. Not once do you take my understanding to thought." Fanny fanned herself more vigorously flapping her dark blond to grey curls to the back of her neck and out of the safety of her silken bonnet.
"Well of course I mean your Lizzy, who does she think she is? A man? A gentle man?" She carried on, her voice rising in speed and volume.
"She just wondered off at first daybreak with her hem already coated in mud. What ever will everyone think? She brings such shame to this family. How will this affect our children my dear? Think of our children Thomas." Fanny's whining was already to much for the man. Fanny Bennet had the ability to wear even the strongest man down.
Setting his beloved book down, Thomas pondered a response to his bordering feverish wife who had a passion for histrionics. Not one of her more redeemable features. Not that she had many redeemable characteristics.
Thomas chose his wife quickly without much thought. She has been the village beauty at one time. He succumbed to her sultrier talents after a long night in the local drinking house after which Mr Bennet was too much of a gentleman not to marry the woman who he 'tainted'.
It did not seem like such a depressing picture at the beginning, he knew they were ill suited, but her beauty seemed to solve that factor as well as her seeming need to marry the rich man in town.
By the time he had realised his deal it was far to late and he had resolved to misery in matrimony. But his Lizzy would not see the same fate. He was acutely aware of his wife's pushing to marry off her children, but he found this idea to be distasteful and unnecessary. Yes, her histrionics led to panic about 'hedgerows' but unknown to his wife they lived under their means to ensure a pot of money to sustain each of his children.
Thomas looked at his wife and watched her eyes dart around the room "Lizzy is our child Fanny, and she certainly has more of a brain than any other in this vapid family of females." Thomas spoke in a fitly manner that caused his wife to gasp in annoyance. She continuously expected Thomas to agree with her and be compelled by her charms.
"If anything, my dear Fanny. Lizzy will get a moments peace from this house. I suggest dear that you focus your attention on your other children. Leave Lizzy to me." Thomas watched the anger rise in his wife's face. She did not bottle her emotions but rather let them explode and catch whoever was near her.
"Vapid woman." He muttered under is breath as Fanny stormed out of his study. Thomas picked his book back up from his oak desk. His study had a serenity to it that nothing else was able to bring. The stone walls were lined with bookcases, each holding a precious volume to be handle with a delicacy reserved for a new-born. In the corner of the room in front of his desk was a smaller green velveteen chair. This was the only other chair in the room reserved for someone other than himself. Lizzy had claimed the piece of furniture just shy of her fifth 'birthday'. That was the moment when he decided it would not be the worst thing to only have female heirs. Little Lizzy was worth more than sons. Luckily for him as having five girls under the age of twenty was not considered to be a blessing in most parties.
She would sit and watch him work, asking questions when appropriate out of curiosity. Seemingly absorbing as much information as her brain could hold. She would sit and pluck the strings of his mahogany violin as she did so. The sound despite not having the movement of the bow possessed a melodic quality. As time went on their discussions turned into debates and her ability to play the violin only grew into an enchantment.
Mr Bennet sighed; his daughter had definitely grown in to a wildflower over the years. Unable to sit still she ran though the countryside for hours. She was so carefree. "However will I tell her" he muttered turning his chair to face out to the garden. Watching for his daughter running home. How could he tell her. She would be inconsolable, but he found the secret to way heavily on his old heart. "One day." He glanced to the open draw in his desk and promptly closed It and locked the draw. "One day I will tell her".
Lizzy was a child with such a magical presence, Thomas struggled to understand how her birth parents where able to give her up.
Thomas was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the not so angelic tone of Lydia's voice "Mama! Lizzy's home" echoing though Longborne. Lizzy had her head in a book as she wandered though the gardens up to the house. As Fanny described her hem was coated in mud, not that Lizzy seemed to be fazed. He struggled to understand how that little baby had turned into a women of 8 and 10. Lizzy was named the beauty of the family next to Jane. But together they where like night and day. There features so contrasting it amazed everyone.
A light knock tapped on the door. "Come in" Thomas called turning to face the door.