May 1810 – September 1811

News of Mr. Sherryl's marriage proposal to Elizabeth did not sit well with Jane and Mrs. Bennet. Not that Jane had much interest in the gentleman, but she was hurt that he hadn't proposed to her. On the other hand, she had just turned twenty-one and had not yet had any marriage proposal. She was beginning to have fears of being considered a spinster...

During the first days that Lizzy returned to Longbourn, she was struck by all the great changes her brother had in only four months. He grew over an inch, spoke much clearer, and walked much better. Johnny was a very sociable, curious, and affectionate child, especially with people who showed him affection. Within a few days, he got used to being with Lizzy and was very affectionate with her.

Unfortunately, a couple of months after returning to Longbourn she had another argument with Mrs. Bennett over the embroidery she did on Johnny's clothes with the initials J&B...

"...Aunt, you know very well my brother's name is John Thompson. He is not John Bennet."

"I have already talked to Mr. Bennet about changing Johnny's last name. It is not fair that my son has a different last name than his sisters."

Annoyed, Lizzy said, "Mrs. Bennet, I am John's sister. Your daughters are John's cousins. Besides, he is not your son, he is your nephew. Johnny's mother is Maria Thompson. Johnny's father is my father, John Thompson."

"Your mother is dead, and Johnny deserves to have a mother. Plus, your father is dead too and he used to be named John Bennet. The fairest thing is that Johnny is now called John Bennet…"

"The fairest for whom? You can't change my brother's name! My father stipulated it his will…"

After a frustrating argument with Mrs. Bennet, Lizzy had a second serious conversation with her uncle that ended very badly…

"Uncle, did you tell your wife that you were going to change my brother's name to Bennet?"

Mr. Bennet sighed, "I told her that so she wouldn't bother me anymore, but you know that by your father's will it is not possible. Only John can decide if he wants to change his name after he is twenty-one. If he changes his name, he loses Sandstone."

"Why do you allow her to say such things?"

Sarcastically Mr. Bennet said, "Lizzy, if you can't adjust to living in Longbourn because of the things Mrs. Bennet says and does, you'd better live with the Gardiners."

Lizzy's eyes widened.

"I don't have to keep listening to your complaints about Mrs. Bennet and how I should handle my family..."

From that incident, the relationship between Lizzy and her uncle completely deteriorated. She wrote a long letter to her Aunt Gardiner to tell her what had happened and to ask her for advice. Her aunt was very sweet in her response and encouraged her to be patient. A couple of months later, the initials J&B on Johnny's clothes disappeared.

What she would only find out a couple of years later was that her furious uncle Gardiner sent a letter to Mr. Bennet...

5th July 1810

London

Thomas,

Given your lack of ethics and now mistreatment of my niece, I have decided that if you do not talk seriously with my sister so she stops talking nonsense and upsetting Elizabeth, I will take legal action.

I know very well that you are stealing from Elizabeth and John.

You have until the end of the month to rectify the situation.

Edward Gardiner

For Johnny's third birthday, Mrs. Bennet asked the cook to make a chocolate cake to celebrate the occasion, and she bought him several gifts. Elizabeth bought him a storybook, crayons, and another doll. Since in recent years she had improved her drawing technique, while her little brother was drawing and painting, she took the opportunity to make her first pencil drawing of him.

Although she was not entirely happy with the result, according to Mary and even Jane, the drawing was very good. Mrs. Bennett who used to criticize everything Elizabeth did, in this case, just said the drawing looked a lot like Johnny.

The rest of the year passed without much change, Mrs. Bennet didn't make further allusions to John's name or Elizabeth's parents. There were no further quarrels, but they didn't have a good relationship either.

Shortly before Christmas Elizabeth returned to London. In early 1811, Elizabeth received her second marriage proposal from another gentleman who was the son of an associate of her Uncle Gardiner. Unlike Mr. Sherryl, this gentleman seemed to be genuinely interested in her and not in her dowry. Elizabeth was sadly very skeptical as she knew many gentlemen just wanted to marry her for her money and she turned him down too.

Jane joined her in London some weeks later, but like the year before she received no proposal of marriage, and two months later she returned to Longbourn.

In the spring of 1811, Elizabeth returned to Longbourn with several presents, especially for her brother. When Johnny turned four, she made the second portrait of her brother, which she also colored. In this case, she was satisfied with the portrait and framed and hung it in her room at Longbourn.