When the Gardiners' two coaches disappeared out of sight Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and Jane went into the house. Before Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy could follow Lydia grabbed Elizabeth's hand and said "Lizzy, come and meet Mrs. Longden."
Lydia introduced Mr. Darcy first as was proper. He inclined his head slightly, Mrs. Longden being a servant, and then ignored her, choosing to speak to Mary and Kitty.
As a member of the Ancient Order of Companions with Charges with Marriable Ambition Mrs. Longden was well aware of Mr. Darcy – a member of the first circles of the gentry of the realm - rich, handsome, master of his estate, owner of a townhouse, no living mother for a wife to contend with, a connection to the aristocracy through the Matlocks. Consensus amongst those shepherding young ladies towards matrimony was that he was also dour, severe, stern, and humorless – if he did not want to dance why did he attend balls only to stalk around the edges not dancing but glaring at those who were – but still, he was rich etc. etc. Yet here he was; engaged to an unknown country mouse – had love conquered all?
Then Mrs. Longden was introduced to Elizabeth.
An impartial observer might have thought these were two duelists sizing each other up in the seconds before the handkerchief is dropped and the duel starts.
Elizabeth would never acknowledge the truth of it but she had always considered herself to be the leader of the pack of Bennet sisters - Jane was too passive, Mary too off-putting, Kitty too flighty, and Lydia too young to challenge her, yet. She had not yet been home a full day and she could sense her sisters had changed – Mary was happy, Kitty was focused, and Lydia was proper. Proper! Mrs. Longden must be responsible, who else could it be? She wanted her sisters to rise up, to better themselves, she did not begrudge them that, but now that she was to be a Darcy, and have the means, she wanted to be the one to raise them up. Not this Mrs. Longden. At least Jane was not in the charge of Mrs. Longden. She would save Jane – Jane who was like a porcelain vase teetering on the fireplace mantle threatening to fall and crash on the hearth below. She would save Jane, then the rest; without the services of Mrs. Longden.
Mrs. Longden saw something of Mr. Bennet in Miss Elizabeth but whereas his mental acuity was checked by his indolence Miss Elizabeth's seemed to be alert and active. From what her three charges had said she had quite the wit which she sometimes wielded to wound. Mrs. Longden did not intend to suffer from it. She did not think Miss Elizabeth would join Miss Bennet in taking instruction. She seemed too self confident. Mrs. Longden wondered how Miss Elizabeth had come to capture Mr. Darcy. Her three weeks at Longbourn had been enough for Mrs. Longden to hear the old gossip of how Mrs. Bennet had trapped Mr. Bennet in the parson's mousetrap. Had the apple fallen not far from the tree? She would see.
The two exchanged words of greeting, circumspect words to be sure.
-}{-
The next morning Mr. Bennet attended at the offices of Gardiner and Philips in Meryton. He had stirred himself from the comfort of his bookroom because he wanted his brother Phillips to review the marriage settlement Mr. Darcy had presented to him. While Mr. Phillips read, Mr. Bennet sipped a cup of tea, it being too early in the morning for port even for him, and leafed through Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, Volume One, The Rights of Persons. I could have been a judge he thought. There are few people in England, he supposed, who have a truer sense of justice than myself, or a better natural decisiveness. If I had ever learnt the law, I should have been a great proficient.
Mr. Phillips confirmed Mr. Bennet's self-aggrandizement by agreeing that his interpretation of the marriage settlement was correct: Mr. Darcy was obligated to educate Elizabeth's unmarried sisters and see them through a proper coming out in town.
'Eureka!' Mr. Bennet cried to himself. 'Now I will rid myself of that troublesome companion'. No trace of the exultation he felt crossed Mr. Bennet's face as he asked Mr. Phillips what it was going to cost to dispense with the services of Mrs. Longden.
The exultation Mr. Bennet felt faded away as he sank into the mire of contract law. Mr. Phillips rattled on and on about the elements of oral agreements and consideration and damages for breach of contract and mitigation of those damages and that was just the law; on the other hand, there were the facts themselves which, as there was nothing in writing, depended on credibility (whereupon Mr. Bennet triggered a tangent about perjury by saying 'it's my word against hers and I'll say whatever is necessary') and that bugbear of lawyers everywhere, the sympathy of the court. Long story short, it was going to cost him.
All things considered Mr. Bennet thought it was a good thing indeed that he had never read the law.