Reversed Fortune Chapter 11, a pride and prejudice fanfic

It won't be long now. 😊

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While Elizabeth and Collins were enjoying the hospitality of Mr and Mrs Phillips, Mr and Mrs Bennet together with Jane and Mary were made welcome at Lucas Lodge.

Lady Lucas, curious as to the reason only four members of the Bennet family were joining them for dinner, enquired, 'I hope there is nothing wrong with Eliza and the younger girls? I have been concerned when you accepted for only four of you.'

'Not at all. Lizzy and Mr Collins had already accepted an invitation from my sister and the younger girls are at home.'

Mr Bennet added, 'we decided that they needed more time in the schoolroom.'

Despite her efforts to hide her satisfaction at the news about Lydia and Kitty, Lady Lucas could not completely restrain herself. 'I think that you made a very wise decision. But please, come and join our other guests.'

Mrs Bennet was disappointed again when she heard Lady Lucas' reply. She had thought her old friend would support her in convincing her husband and Mr Collins that the girls should be allowed to have fun. It seemed that she would have to bide her time.

Since Lady Anne was a stickler for punctuality, the party from Netherfield had already arrived and Mr Bingley was keeping an eye on the entrance, eagerly awaiting his angel.

As soon as the Bennets entered, he rushed towards them and hovered impatiently until they finished greeting their hosts.

Jane was dazzled by the smile Mr Bingley directed at her when he offered his own welcome. 'I have been counting the hours since our last meeting, Miss Bennet.'

'Have you indeed, Mr Bingley?'

'I have. It has been almost exactly seventy hours since last we said adieu.'

A startled laugh escaped Jane's lips. 'You have truly counted the hours. I thought that you were only being gallant.'

'Well, to be honest, when we arrived here and Miss Lucas told me that you were to be amongst the guest tonight, I calculated how long it had been since I had last seen you,' he explained with a sheepish smile.

'I shall not hold your gallantry against you.' Jane smiled happily and allowed the gentleman to lead her to a sofa, where they could chat in comfort.

Mary too was immediately claimed by one of the visitors from Netherfield.

'I am glad that at least you have not deserted me,' Georgiana greeted her friend, before she commented sadly, 'I have hardly seen Lizzy this week.'

'I am afraid you will have to blame our cousin for that slight,' explained Mary with an uncharacteristically impish smile. 'He is the heir presumptive of our estate and has prevailed upon Lizzy to guide him all over the estate and introduce him to his future domain.'

'While that sounds admirable on both their parts, your smile suggests that there is more to this endeavour.'

'Our cousin is an excessively handsome and amiable young man…'

'Is Lizzy developing a tendre for your cousin?' Georgiana correctly interpreted Mary's smile.

'I could not say for certain as Lizzy has not confided in me, but she does seem to enjoy his company,' Mary explained. 'Fortunately, our mother believes that his interest is engaged elsewhere, otherwise she would not give Lizzy a minute's peace about Cousin William.'

'Your mother believes, but you do not?' prompted Georgiana.

'I can see how he looks at Lizzy and somehow I cannot believe in this other lady. But it would not do to say so to our mother.'

'Very well. I shall keep your confidence.'

~~RF~~

After dinner during the separation of the sexes, Jane noticed her mother speaking to Lady Anne. She thought about joining them but decided that it would be best to leave them be.

Instead, she sat with Charlotte and quietly caught her up on the developments at Longbourn.

'So, you are saying that Lydia and Kitty have been banished to the schoolroom?' asked Charlotte.

'They have, indeed. And I must admit that I hope this will continue after Mr Collins returns to Hunsford. Mama does not seem to understand that there is no desperate rush to marry us all off to the first man to offer, even if he is completely unsuitable.'

'Yes, I remember Mr what was his name? The one who must have been almost sixty when he proposed to you at the tender age of not quite seventeen.'

'Chalker,' interjected Jane.

'Of course, Mr Chalker. It was fortunate that your mother never found out that you rejected his offer.'

'I would never have heard the end of it, but that man was utterly revolting and there were rumours about his previous four wives.'

'At least she is not pushing the younger girls at any ghastly old men.'

'No, instead she is pushing them at penniless officers, simply because they look dashing in their regimentals. She does not seem to understand that none of them could afford to support her daughters at all, never mind the style to which they are accustomed.'

'Perhaps someone should take her to see the quarters in which the officers' wives live.'

Jane looked thoughtful at that suggestion. 'I wonder if someone could arrange that?'

~~RF~~

The following morning, Jane took an opportunity when she was alone with her mother in the parlour to ask, 'Mama, what did you think of Lady Anne last night?'

'She is such a fine lady and so elegant.'

'Did you know that she acts like the best ladies of the gentry.'

'I did notice that she acted very refined,' admitted Mrs Bennet while twisting her handkerchief. In recent weeks, for the first time in her life she had had the opportunity to observe a lady of the first circles, and while Mrs Bennet may not have been a mental giant, she had noted the differences between Lady Anne's behaviour and her neighbours, as well as her own.

'Do you know what it is that she does which makes her appear refined?' asked Jane quietly.

Her mother sighed. 'I am sure you are about to tell me.'

'She speaks quietly, rather than trying to drown out everyone with her voice. Because of that, people listen to her. She also does not boast about her daughter's beauty, and only quietly mentioned her love of music. In her circles it is also considered crass to speak about money in public.'

'I did not mention anything about our income,' protested the lady.

'No but at the assembly you did shout that Mr Bingley was supposed to have five thousand a year and Mr Darcy has an income of ten thousand.'

'Did she think me crass?' Mrs Bennet was shocked.

'She did not say so…'

'Then what makes you think she considers me vulgar?'

'Mama, please believe me when I say that I love you, but even I think you are… quite unrefined.'

'You cannot be right. Someone would have pointed this out to me years ago if they thought that I behave so very badly.'

'Mama, our neighbours know you. They know that you have a good heart beneath your loud manners.'

'Surely Mr Bennet would have said something…' Mrs Bennet trailed off as she saw the uncomfortable look on her daughter's face. She lowered her head to hide the blush and the look of chagrin. 'No… he just makes sport of me.'

'I am sorry, Mama,' whispered Jane.

They sat in silence for a few minutes while Mrs Bennet considered their conversation. Suddenly she raised her head again and said while her eyes flashed with anger, 'we will see about that.'

~~RF~~

Mrs Bennet invaded the library like a conquering army.

'Mr Bennet, I have discovered that my manners are not as refined as the should be for a lady in my situation.'

'It took you long enough,' her husband drawled.

'And it seems that I have to thank you for this. How many more decades were you planning to make sport of me while I humiliated myself and my daughters?'

Mr Bennet had the grace to look pained at this accusation, but he freely admitted, 'for the rest of our lives.'

'But why? Am I such a horrible person that I deserve to be publicly humiliated? And do not try to tell me that I humiliated myself. You are the one who apparently knew better, but you never told me.'

'I was disappointed when I discovered what I had married. As I recently said to Collins, I was thinking with the wrong head.'

''There is no need to be crass. As several people have pointed out to me lately, I am uneducated, but I am not stupid. You could have educated me, but that required work, which is something to which you are averse. But no. You took the easy way out and then you made fun of me.'

Mrs Bennet drew herself up to her full height, and perhaps accidentally displaying those assets which had caught her husband's attention then and now, as she huffed, 'well, that stops now. If you cannot treat me with respect, I will be unable to fulfill my marital duties.'

Before her husband could object, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the library, head held high.

Behind her, her husband murmured, 'I suppose it was too good to last.'

As soon as Mrs Bennet was in her own rooms, she wrote a letter to her brother, asking for his help to find a teacher for her youngest daughters as well as for herself.

~~RF~~

While the adults at Longbourn were busy, the two youngest girls were bored.

They had been confined to their shared room for two days and were heartily sick of inactivity.

'It is not fair,' complained Lydia. 'I should be allowed to go to Meryton and flirt with the officers. How shall I ever catch a husband if I am stuck in my room at home.'

'Our room,' declared Kitty, earning herself a disgusted look by her sister.

'Very well. Our room. But it matters not whose room it is, the point is that we are stuck in it and we have to find a way to get out.'

'Cousin Collins will leave in a week. I am sure that Mama will not keep us cooped up after his departure.'

'I should hope not. He seems to forget that once I have a husband I will not be living here anymore, and I shall not care what he thinks of me.'

Lydia basked in the vision of having a dashing husband and a home of her own. She could see herself entering a ballroom on the arm of the gentleman and all the other women in the room being jealous of her.

After several minutes of pleasant daydreams, she came back to reality and said, 'in the meantime let us make plans how to escape if Mama should prove intractable.'

~~RF~~

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