Elizabeth had sent a letter naming the date and anticipated hour she and the Gardiners would arrive at Longbourn and that date and time found the Bennets and the Gardiner children gathered outside the front door waiting.
Those waiting anticipated the arrival in different ways. The Gardiner children, of course, wished to see their parents, but also wondered what presents they would be receiving. Mr. Bennet looked forward to the arrival of his favourite daughter as he would finally be able to talk with someone with sense. Mrs. Bennet regarded the return of her least favourite daughter with irritation. Jane wanted to talk to Elizabeth about the great conundrum of her life, Mr. Bingley. Mary and Kitty wanted to show off their respective musical and artistic accomplishments. And Lydia was apprehensive – in the almost three weeks since she had returned from Brighton the condemnation that had followed on from her elopement debacle had been, not forgotten, but rather set aside in favour of the steps she was taking towards her redemption – now it would all be dredged up again and she would have to face the disapproval of Lizzy and the Gardiners.
All that anticipation was swept away when they saw not two coaches (the Gardiner's coach and one for their luggage and servants) but four coaches coming up the drive.
And then the coaches had stopped, and after the Gardiners had alighted and had been attacked by their children, Mr. Darcy – Mr. Darcy! - had got out of the grandest of the coaches, and then he had handed out Elizabeth, and some other young lady, and Elizabeth had said something to him, and then taken his arm, and smiled at him, and he had laughed, and they had walked towards the front steps bumping together the way lovers do – well a multitude of exclamation marks could not express the magnitude of the shock the waiting Bennets felt.
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy stopped before the assembled Bennets. Elizabeth gave them a bright smile and Mr. Darcy smiled as well - it would be unfair to say he smirked but certainly his smile seemed self-satisfied. The Bennets could only stare, theirs mouths agape.
The only noise was the Gardiner children speaking over each other as they greeted their parents until Mr. Darcy spoke. "Mr. Bennet, if I could have a moment of your time, I have a request to make of you."
Mr. Bennet stared at Mr. Darcy. In an instant he realized what the request was – it was like he had been punched in the face but the pain had not hit yet – he was losing his favourite daughter to this – this man, whom she hated! He mumbled something, turned, and shambled through the front door. Mr. Darcy followed.
Mrs. Bennet watched her husband and her? – her future son? – and then at her formerly least favourite daughter who was rapidly rising in her estimation. No matter how she added one plus one she got ten thousand – ten thousand a year! - "Good gracious! Lord bless me! only think! dear me! Mr. Darcy! Who would have thought it! And is it really true? Oh! my sweetest Lizzy! how rich and how great you will be! What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have!" she gasped out and then the fluttering in her chest overwhelmed her and she fell backwards and was luckily caught by Mary.
Jane, as would be expected, was the first to congratulate Elizabeth. When Elizabeth protested that nothing was official until their father gave his consent, Jane laughed and told her that there was no need to announce the obvious.
"And what of you?" Elizabeth said. She looked over Jane's shoulder. "Where's Mr. Bingley? After you wrote me that he had rescued Lydia I expected that he'd be spending all his time here basking in your admiration," Elizabeth laughed.
Jane sighed. She could see that her mother had recovered from her attack of euphoria and was advancing on her now most favoured daughter so she said "It is a remarkably short story but I do not have time now to tell it. I will tell you later. Now brace yourself, here's Mama."
Jane backed away from the mother and daughter reunion and noticed the unknown young woman, who had descended from the Darcy's coach after Elizabeth, was still standing by the coach with an older lady, both looking bemused. Casting about Jane saw that Mr. Gardiner, who, as is only natural, had been abandoned by his children in favour of their mother, and called upon him to make the required introductions. Thus, Jane met Miss Darcy and her companion, Mrs. Annesley.
-}{-
Mr. Bennet was disgruntled. He would very much like to send the man sitting opposite him off with a bug in his ear, telling him to never see Elizabeth again. But. But he is the kind of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare refuse anything, which he condescended to ask. And Mr. Darcy had asked for Elizabeth's hand and Mr. Bennet had granted it, subject to her confirmation of the circumstances related by Mr. Darcy.
Mr. Darcy had gone on and on about the circumstances – how during his stay at Netherfield he had been attracted to Elizabeth but, feeling she was beneath him, had fled to London (if only he had fled all the way to India); how on meeting her in Kent (blast Mrs. Collins for inviting her); how he thought he was courting Elizabeth but she had refused his proposal (if only she had shot him); how, by a fortunate stroke of serendipity, he had discovered Elizabeth at Pemberley (blast Gardiners for inviting her); how he courted her anew (how his wealth seduced her no doubt); how Bingley rescuing Miss Lydia had given he and Elizabeth time to plight their troth (blast Mr. Bingley for his interference); and now here they were.
If it had only been about some other protagonists Mr. Bennet would have been quite entertained by this story of the clash between pride and prejudice. But, because it was about his Elizabeth, and his loss of her, he could only be aggravated.
And he was further aggravated when Mr. Darcy produced a draft marriage settlement. It seems that after Elizabeth had accepted his proposal, he had expressed instructions to his solicitor in London to prepare the agreement and the solicitor had delivered the draft to him at their last stop before Longbourn. The presumption of the man!
Mr. Bennet's eyes got large when Mr. Darcy revealed the amounts he had set aside for Elizabeth.
One paragraph caught Mr. Bennet's particular attention. Mr. Darcy seemed to be undertaking to see to the education and proper coming out of any unmarried Bennet daughters. If that was true then he longer needed the services of the infernal Mrs. Longden and her continental accomplices. That might be the only silver lining in this whole marital mess.
Mr. Bennet indicated that the marriage settlement seemed to be in order but he wanted his brother, Phillips, to take a look at it. Mr. Darcy agreed that was entirely reasonable.
Mr. Bennet asked Mr. Darcy to ask Elizabeth to come see him and Mr. Darcy left in search of her.
