After the Proposal
"I must say, Mr. Darcy. You seem very different from the man we first met when you arrived here." Mr. Bennet told him.
"I believe I have you to thank for that, Mr. Bennet." Darcy answered.
"Me?"
"You and your daughter," Darcy smiled at Elizabeth. "She told me about your task to find admirable qualities in me. She also pointed out how very rude I had been. I decided to take up the challenge. It has changed my world."
"I am glad. It changed mine as well."
"Yours, sir?"
"Yes, well, I suppose I should tell you the story of how the punishment started. You see, when Jane was about five and Lizzie four, I overheard Jane insulting her mother."
Lizzie gasped. "Jane insulted Mama? I have never heard Jane insult anyone."
"I suppose you do not remember. Do you remember, Janie?"
"Yes, papa." Jane flushed. "I was so very mean. You were quite right to punish me."
"Yes, well, it was not just what you said. You were generally a good girl, so I intended to just tell you off and insist you did not do it again. But then Lizzie came to your defense. She said I said that all the time about your mother, so it could not be bad. That hurt. To realize that I had insulted your dear mother in front of you girls often enough that you were repeated my unkind words. I realized that I had become so judgmental about everything that I never took a moment to find good in people. I never tried to compliment your mother or you girls. I never thought about how much it hurt your mother when I poked fun at her. I decided then and there to change myself. I took on your punishment at the same time as you, trying to find several things I admired in your mother. Trying to remember why I had married her. It improved our relationship a great deal, and since then, that same task has helped me improve my relationship with all around me."
"I remember feeling so bad about making Mama cry. Then it felt so good to tell you each day what I admired about Mama. I suppose I have been trying to do the same thing with everyone I meet." Jane replied.
"I struggle with finding good in each person more than you Jane," Lizzie said. "But look where it has led me. I am engaged to a good man because I was able to look past a bad first impression and find things I admired in him. Your punishment has changed everyone's lives, Papa."