Chapter 19
It took some time for the ladies of Longbourn to discuss Charlotte Lucas's choice of husband. First, they did not know what to think or how to feel about it. Elizabeth remembered their conversation on the lane about marriage partners from not long ago. Now it looked like she meant what she said. After expressing her disbelief, she turned to her elder sister.
'What do you think, Jane? Is she reasonable? Am I too harsh in judging her?'
'I do not know what to say. I am still in shock. I thought Mary would be his final choice. I know I am presumptuous, Mary, but you seem to like your sermons.' Mary nodded in understanding. She even felt a bit betrayed by Charlotte. She did not examine if she had wished for such a husband or not. 'You would have been a perfect parson's wife. You would have enjoyed having some authority over the families of the parish.' Jane explained. 'The fact that Charlotte said yes only after a few days is a surprise. I do not know why though. She never struck me as a romantic. But three days?! She must be really desperate to marry. We have to allow for that.'
'But to such a man? How can you even know anything about your partner after so little time together and that was probably in company? You remember, Jane, I told you that she said that it was better to know as little as possible about one's future partner. Even then I thought that statement ridiculous. She is proving her idea though.'
Mrs. Bennet was not so friendly in sentiment toward Mrs. Lucas's daughter, 'She knew what she was doing. She knows that Mr. Collins will inherit Longbourn. It is a very clever move.'
'You make her sound mercenary, madam.' Elizabeth considered what her mother said.
'That is because that is what she is. No woman would voluntarily marry this man.'
'Mama!'
'I know, Lizzy. I know. But now that I have thought about it, I understand why you would not want to marry him. Then, all I could think about was that Longbourn would be kept in Bennet hands.' Lizzy went to sit with her mother. 'And now she will come here with all her fake smiles and apologies, but she will look around and think that this will be hers one day. You will see.' Elizabeth was taken aback.
'The whole thing sounds so cold, so calculated.' She looked at Jane.
'Do not look at me, Lizzy. I have to agree with Mother. The shortness of their so-called courting speaks loud. It may be that she is desperate, but she must have known what she was doing. If our cousin wanted to choose one of us, Mary would have been perfect, and we might have come to that conclusion with him in the end. That option was taken away from us. She did that. I did not pay attention to them at the ball, so I do not know if she really manipulated him into visiting them and offering for her so quickly, but I can well imagine. She is clever. She knows how to get what she wants. And as we all know Mr. Collins is not the brightest person.'
'Indeed, daughter, you speak well. A clever woman can wrap him around her finger. It was so easy to make him turn from you, Jane, to you, Lizzy. I know, sorry about that. But still, it was very easy. Oh, how will I bear when she comes here gloating?' She was working herself up.
'She did tell me that a woman should pretend to like the person more than they do to attract the man.'
'You see, she is a mercenary. I cannot stand them. Mrs. Lucas will come as well, latest on Monday, and will enjoy telling me in detail how her daughter is going to be married before any of mine when you are all more beautiful than her plain daughter. Oh, I cannot bear this.' Lizzy patted her mother's hand.
'I am not sure how I feel about Charlotte at the moment.' Elizabeth was lamenting all the information. 'If it had nothing to do with us, I would probably not mind much, but seeing that she becomes the mistress in waiting of my home is distressing. Especially since I was the one who introduced them to each other at the ball. How grateful I felt to her then. Now, who laughs last?' She shook her head.
'Our friends are serpents,' said Mrs. Bennet in disgust.
…
In the afternoon a note arrived from Netherfield for Jane.
Bingley had left for London the next day after the ball. Mr. Darcy left on the following day. Miss Bingley wanted to join Mr. Darcy and so approached him if he could wait to take them as well back to London because Bingley had taken their main carriage. Mr. Darcy was, naturally, not in the mood to entertain her. He had his own problems. He did not wish for an audience. He used urgency as the reason that he needed to leave immediately.
Miss Bingley, since her brother's revelation, had been nervous. If he offered for Miss Bennet, they would be tied to the Bennet family forever. Gone would be her dream of attaching themselves to the ton. He would settle, and become a landowner. She just started to understand what that all entails. The irony of it: they would be close to London, but still so far. She wanted to scream.
She also just started to contemplate that if she managed to get Mr. Darcy to propose to her, then at least half of her time would be spent in the backwaters of Derbyshire. Did she really want to do all that? She would have to insist that they live in Darcy House in London most of the time and use the estate for house parties only for when everybody left London.
Miss Bingley watched her brother at the ball. She expected him to make a spectacle of himself over Miss Bennet. She dreaded it. When that did not happen, he did not even open the ball with her but with Mrs. Hurst, she almost thought that she had worried for nothing. She saw him kiss Miss Bennet's hand at the end of the evening, however, with Miss Bennet blushing and a strange sparkle in his eyes which did not leave him as he went to bed. There was a dreamy expression on his face – her fears renewed.
When she heard with horror that Mr. Darcy was leaving, she did not know what to think. That was a disaster in itself. She did not have enough time to make any real progress. That Missy, Eliza, interfered. She could not do anything about the man leaving.
It was more important at the moment to deal with the Charles situation. Her sister surprisingly was disinterested, so she had to do everything. She decided that her best chance to get Charles to give up on Miss Bennet was if she could put distance between them. Charles, due to his nature, quickly would find a new target. It was always so in the past. Charles was now in London, so all she had to do was to keep him there.
They had to get to London before he came back.
There was only a secondary carriage left at Netherfield for pieces of luggage and staff. It was a small price to pay to travel in that vehicle. She hoped nobody would see them. Therefore, she gave the order to close the house. Louisa and her husband were given belated orders to get ready to leave. She penned a note to the Bennets pouring out her heartache at having to leave.
…
As Jane read the letter from Netherfield, she had mixed emotions. She let Elizabeth read it as well. Their mother was impatient to hear what it said.
'Mother, I am going to tell you, but you must promise that you take this calmly.' Mrs. Bennet put her handkerchief at her mouth and whimpered, but nodded. She just knew it was bad news.
'The rest of the party followed Mr. Bingley to London. They are saying that they will not be back this winter.'
'Oh, how-how can that be? I was going to have another session with them this week.'
'They say they have to join their brother, but I think he does not know about this. Jane?'
'The last time I spoke to Mr. Bingley, he assured me that he would be back. We will have to see how this will change that. The ladies closed the house. Mama, thank you for taking it so well. Before we panic, let's give Mr. Bingley time to make good on his word.'
'All right, child. Oh, dear.'
...
'Jane?' Elizabeth knocked on her sister's door. She thought she gave her enough time for herself. She was sorting through her garments. She always had beautiful things. She rather had fewer things but of good quality. Elizabeth had heard it a hundred times. Sometimes, she used the sentiment as well.
'Come in.'
'That letter was despicable.' Elizabeth stated as she caressed one of Jane's gowns. This one had such a smooth touch.
'Yes, it was. I hate to think ill of anyone,' Elizabeth smirked at her statement, 'but I do not have friendly feelings toward Caroline at the moment. We had talked about her with Mr. Bingley. She wants to join the ton, and our family and this neighbourhood do not fit her plans. Still, I did not expect this of her. That she insinuates an attachment between him and Miss Darcy is simply wishful thinking but is it not devious of her to write such a thing?'
'Yes, I believe she wants you to give up on him. She must have noticed his attentions to you. At the ball, he was as he promised to you though. He did not show you special treatment. He danced and talked to many of us.'
'Yes, I was actually very proud of him. Is that not strange? I think, since that talk, I have started to consider him mine, if you will. But she does not know that. So, she wants me to give up on her brother…'
'Well, that is her intention.'
'Yes, I realize that. I wonder if Louisa is of the same opinion or did she just go along with her?'
'It is worse if not. That means then that she is controlled by her younger sister. Just like Kitty.'
'Well, I am not going to think about it more. I will have to see if Mr. Bingley is strong enough to go against his sister. If he is, he deserves my attentions. If he is not, then he does not deserve me in the first place.'
'Jane, I am in awe of you. How can you be so calm about this?'
'Would it make things better if I screamed and showed a tantrum?'
'Very wise of you sister.'
'Thank you. Well, I keep saying this to myself, and hopefully, I will believe it. But that is enough of me. How are you feeling? You seem to be doing better.'
'I am thankful that you gave me space these last few days. Thank you for your quiet care. Do you know that Mother came to see me?'
'Yes, I know.'
...
'How do you feel, Lizzy?' Mrs. Bennet went to see her daughter when she would not come down for dinner the next day either.
'I do not feel well, Mother. I think it is my time of the month.'
'No, it is not, my dear. Whatever this is, that is not it.' She looked at her daughter meaningfully. 'It is Lydia's time, yours will be in a week's time.' Elizabeth gaped at her mother. 'Do not look at me like that, child. Do you think I do not know my daughters?'
'I would not have thought you to keep track of such things.'
'Well, I do. So, let us try again. What is going on? It is not like you to imprison yourself in your room.'
'I will be fine. I just need some time.' Mrs. Bennet looked at her daughter. She put her hand on her forehead and then her face. No fever. This was something else. So out of character for her… The only thing that even a strong daughter like she did not have a defence for was love.
'Oh, my dear, come here. I promise you; it will be better. What happened?'
'He-he left.' Elizabeth burst into tears. Mrs. Bennet held her suffering daughter. She wanted to strangle Mr. Darcy. He was the only one that would excite her clever daughter. Well, he was a handsome man. He also danced with her, only her other than the Bingley ladies at the ball. 'I do not even know why-why I am crying. It is not as if there was any-anything between us. He left before that could happen.' She had her head in her mother's lap. Mrs. Bennet took out her pins and stroked her hair with her hand.
'He is said to have ten thousand a year and a big estate. I can only imagine the real figure if the gossip is such. We have not met many men of his ilk here. They move in different circles. Most of these men would have no scruples and would play with your affections, maybe even try to take you as their mistress. The fact that he left shows that he is honourable. He must have a lot of demand on his time, his person. It is ingrained in them to further their family name. That means marrying well with a well dowered lady of the ton. If he chooses his duty, he will become a nice memory, Lizzy. You will go on. You are strong.' She sat there stroking her till she heard her even breathing. She put her to bed then and covered her. She left the room quietly.
'Yesterday, Aunt Phillips came into my room. She told me of her last meeting with Mr. Darcy. He went to pay his respects before he left Meryton. Wonders never cease. She told me to give some time to him.'
'What do you mean?'
'She said that he has battles to fight yet and it might just be that he realizes that the chance of happiness is too much to give up in the face of more money and more connections.'
'Oh, Lizzy. I am a bit angry at aunt for raising your hopes.'
'That would be the stuff of novels. I am not going to hang on to such a slight chance. We have said our goodbyes. I know though that although I say this, I will keep dreaming of him changing his mind.'
…
Thank you all for the many comments. They really inspire me.
