Mr Bennet had mulled over the advice he had received from Mr Phillips. He knew the man to be a competent lawyer, and trusted him sufficiently to know he would not give false advice. If Philips said challenging the marriage would be a long and complicated process with little chance of success and great chance of expense, then so it would be. Still, the factor that weighed most heavily with Thomas Bennet was the threat of retribution from his wife. True, Phillips knew his own sister, but surely Bennet knew her better. He had shared a house with her for twenty-five years, after all. Perhaps, he thought, he might be able to work on her to oppose the match, for she would not worry about legalities or expense - she would be a force to be reckoned with, and no one would think to blame him for her conduct. He recalled how she had hated Mr Darcy when he first came into the neighbourhood, and slighted one of her daughters at the assembly. He sat up straighter and began to plan his attack.
Mrs Bennet was not surprised to be summoned to her husband's book room. She presumed he wished to hear more of the wedding plans, or to chastise her about the extent of her expenditure on the arrangements for it. It was a shock, therefore, to be invited to join him in the comfortable chairs before the fireplace, and have her hand taken solicitously in his.
"Three weddings at once is a great deal to ask of you, my dear," he began. "Surely your task would be easier if one of our girls might delay her nuptials?"
"Well, of course it is a challenge, Mr Bennet," she answered, and was about to add that she had risen to the challenge and would deliver an event that would be the talk of the neighbourhood for years to come, when he interrupted to say, "I thought as much. It seems unfair to you to indulge our daughters' fancy to marry all at once. Surely we should ask Lizzy to wait her turn?"
"Oh, there is no need for that, I assure you," she said firmly. .I have already made most of the arrangements, and all our neighbours already know to expect a triple wedding. It would raise all the wrong sort of speculation if one of them were to be delayed now. In any case, it is the bridegrooms, not the brides, who have insisted on such a short engagement period. How on earth do you think we might explain a delay to them? Particularly to Mr Darcy!"
"I have been wondering about our Lizzy and Mr Darcy. We all know that she really dislikes him, and must only be accepting him for his fortune. Surely that will not make her happy. Would it not be kinder to our girl to scare the man off? We should forbid her to marry such a rude, haughty fellow."
All this he said with a warmth and apparent sympathy that his wife had not seen for many years. Perhaps if he had shown her more kindness from time to time she might have believed him now. Instead, her reaction rewarded the scorn with which Mr Bennet had habitually treated his wife.
"Forbid her to marry him? Scare him off? Have you taken leave of your senses?" Her outrage was immediate. "He may be a proud, disagreeable sort of man, but he has ten thousand a year. Ten. Thousand. A. Year! It is nearly as good as a lord! Whether she likes him or not, your Lizzy is doing the right thing by marrying him. She will be so rich. She will have such pin money. She will be able to put Mary and Kitty in the path of other rich men. She will be able to save me from the hedgerows should you meet your maker and those horrible Collinses come to take possession of Longbourn. Why, the very idea of throwing him over is incredible!" Mrs Bennet was turning an impressive shade of red as she grew steadily more incensed at the idea.
Then she paused, and let out a shuddering sigh that ended in a little giggle. "Oh, Mr Bennet," she cried in relief, "How you do like to vex me. This is one of your little teases, isn't it? Of course our Lizzy shall marry Mr Darcy, and from what I have seen since she returned home, I do not think she dislikes him any more. If I had to guess, I would say that her feelings are quite the opposite, in fact."
Mr Bennet was only too aware of the fact, and liked it no more now than when he had first learned it. He withdrew his hand from his wife's and all pretence of affection was dropped, as he said, "In that case, my dear, may she have every bit as much joy in her marriage as I have had in mine." Buoyed by having three daughters engaged and insensible as ever to her husband's sarcasm, Fanny Bennet leaned across to give him a kiss on the cheek in reward for such sweet words, before rushing off to speak with the cook about dinner. Thomas Bennet was left behind to contemplate the failure of all his efforts.
It seemed that Lizzy and Darcy would wed and there was nothing he could do about it.
It was only a family dinner that evening, which meant that in addition to the three bridegrooms and all the Bennets, Mr and Mrs Phillips were invited, making up a large and boisterous dining table. Manners were easy and conversation varied. Darcy was pleased to find himself seated far enough from Mr Bennet that no attempt at conversation was necessary with that man. Indeed, Mr Bennet seemed content to talk only to Captain Denny and Lydia, who were seated at his left and right respectively, and to ignore the remainder of the assembled company.
Darcy was seated opposite Elizabeth and between Mr and Mrs Phillips. Darcy had not previously spent more than a few moments time in company with either, but after the pleasure of getting to know the Gardiners, he was eager to add more of Elizabeth's relations to his circle of friends. Mr Phillips turned out to be a well informed gentleman who hid a sharp legal mind behind an exterior of affability and lethargy. His observations on current politics were astute, and the two gentlemen maintained a mutually satisfactory discourse until the first remove.
Darcy then turned politely to his other side, to attempt a conversation with Mrs Phillips. To his disappointment, he found her both less well informed and less genteel than her husband. He suffered many minutes of insipid conversation about neighbourhood gossip, interspersed with poorly-disguised innuendo about the reason for such a short engagement period, before he was rescued by Elizabeth loudly asking across the table for him to tell her more about the gardens at Pemberley. Hearing a rich man describe the great estate of which her niece was soon to be mistress was sufficient distraction for Mrs Phillips that she did not return to her more offensive line of speculation, although she did ask several pointed questions about the value of the estate and Darcy's annual income.
After the meal, Elizabeth did her best to deflect her aunt's attention, and to protect William and Georgiana from such impertinent curiosity. The unfortunate result was that she spent no time at all in company with those two she most wished to talk to, and the carriage had been called to take the Netherfield party home before she had managed more than twenty words together with Darcy. Being an enterprising young lady, however, those twenty words proposed a walk to Oakham Mount on the morrow, accompanied for propriety's sake by Georgiana and Kitty. With this plan fixed, Darcy left in far better cheer than he had expected.
A walk in the countryside was just what the young couple needed. Georgiana remembered Elizabeth's comparisons of the countryside in Derbyshire with that around her own home, and was at first full of questions about where they were going and what they would see, but after some minutes of frustrated onlooking, her brother finally cleared his throat loudly enough to remind her that she was a supposed to be chaperoning an engaged couple, not coming between them. Darcy and Elizabeth soon outpaced their guardians, as Georgiana turned her questions to Kitty, and the two girls gradually slowed to a dawdle, chatting about their homes, their families and a scandalously good novel that Kitty had just finished and was willing to recount blow by blow.
It is perhaps not surprising that the glorious panorama to be seen from atop Oakham Mount inspired the young lovers to exchange words of devotion and not a few kisses, but by the time their sisters finally joined them, they were sitting calmly, hand in hand, talking about their future hopes and enjoying the view.
There followed only a few days before the wedding was upon them. Although in some cases it seemed more like witchcraft than good management, Mrs Bennet succeeded in all her preparations: the brides were well presented, the church was beautifully decorated, the wedding breakfast was sumptuous and everyone who attended was appropriately accommodated - even Darcy's uncle and aunt, who spent the Friday night in the best guest rooms at Netherfield Park and lent their presence to the wedding on the Saturday morning. They were joined in the church by assorted Bingley's and Dennys - Lydia was particularly pleased by the attendance of her future sister, Cecelia Charlton. With so many relatives in attendance, the pews were soon full, and the crowd of local well-wishers spilled over into the churchyard outside.
Darcy, Bingley and Denny stood together at the altar, waiting for their brides to arrive. Each was finely dressed and well groomed, but their outer appearance did not conceal the nerves which each had brought to the day. Danny fiddled with the handle of his ceremonial sword, buckled at his side as he stood in full dress uniform. Bingley rocked up on to the balls of his feet, and down again, too focussed on the back of the church to notice his own movement. Darcy slowly clenched and unclenched his left hand, equally unaware that the motion revealed his tension to the crowd of onlookers.
And then, there they were. Mr Bennet entered the church with Lydia on one arm and Jane on the other. The two tallest and most classically beautiful Bennet daughters looked like something from a fairy-tale. Jane's calm elegance was complemented by Lydia's bouncing exuberance, and all eyes were on their glowing faces as they proceeded to the front of the church: all eyes but Darcy's, who looked anxiously behind them, searching for the one face he most longed to see.
A muttering went around the church - there had been much speculation about how one father could give away three daughters in a single ceremony. Mr Phillips' quip about needing three arms was but one of the jokes that had been circulating. Now here was the day, and Mr Bennet had escorted his oldest and youngest child down the aisle, but not Elizabeth, the one everyone in Meryton knew to be his favourite. It was typical of Thomas Bennet to keep them in suspense, someone murmured. It would be fine joke if he left his first two daughters standing there while he went out to escort the third, said another. Would Elizabeth - that conceitedly independent child - walk herself down the aisle, asked a third.
But then the door opened as second time and Elizabeth entered on the arm of her Uncle Gardiner. While it was a simpler and less scandalous solution than some had hoped for, it made sense for the nearest male relative to step in to give the third daughter away. Of all those watching, only Darcy and Elizabeth, Mr Bennet and Mr Gardiner knew that this arrangement was at the bride's express request: she had not wanted Mr Bennet to stand up as her father, and she was honoured to walk on her uncle's arm in his stead. She joined her sisters at the altar, and if, during the ceremony, it was Mr Gardiner and not Mr Bennet who placed her hand in that of her new husband, there were few who thought anything of it. Everyone agreed that the day was a spectacular success, and a credit to the loving parents who had brought three such beautiful brides into being, although Mrs Bennet could not help a small regret that there had not been near enough lace on Lydia's gown, and that the hothouse flowers promised by Mrs Goulding had been delivered too late for use in the church. At least she had been able to make use of them at the breakfast. Mr Bennet's regrets remained closeted in that gentleman's head, as there was none who would lend him a sympathetic ear, and none he would trust to understand his disappointment.
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