Chapter 35
Elizabeth's Bedchamber
The House on Half Moon Street
London
Midnight
Elizabeth tapped an absent finger on the desk, gazing down at her own neat handwriting on a scrap of paper. She was busying herself with making a list of tasks she would need to complete and the order in which she would need to complete them. She would have to purchase wedding clothes, of course. It was also imperative that she spoke with her solicitor soon; the wedding settlements would doubtless be complicated, between her wealth and Mr. Darcy's … that is Fitzwilliam's, she remembered with a little leap of joy in her heart.
She looked back down at her list. She had already made up her mind that she would give Jane a little extra money, so that her beloved older sister would bring a full ten thousand into marriage. Elizabeth was also considering matching that sum for Lydia; the youngest Bennet was already entering her own marriage at a disadvantage, and a sufficient sum to live on would help ease the new couple's burdens.
If she gave Lydia that much, she would settle similar sums on Mary and Kitty. It would be unfair to slight her middle sisters by leaving them out of her beneficence, and a reasonable dwory would provide them an advantage in seeking husbands. But of course she first had to discuss it all with her fiancé, for doubtless he would have his own opinions.
Elizabeth glanced aside at another sheet of blank paper lying nearby. When she finished with her list, she intended to write to Charlotte Collins; how pleased her dear friend would be to hear of Elizabeth's engagement to Darcy!
Indeed, given that she was still wide awake, there was no time like the present. She reached for the blank paper and pulled it closer to her. After she had mended her pen, which was a trifle dull, she began writing. But scarcely had she finished her salutation when there was a cursory scratch on her door, and it opened. Jane slipped inside, wrapped in a pale blue dressing gown over her night gown, curls peeking demurely from beneath her cap and her celestial eyes filled with tears.
"Jane!" Elizabeth exclaimed, setting her letter aside and leaping to her feet. "Whatever is the matter? Do you … are you uncertain about your engagement?"
Jane's blue eyes widened and she shook her head quickly. "No, no, not at all! I love Richard and am entirely confident that he is the right man for me. No, it is merely that I was visiting Lydia a few minutes ago, and she is so very distressed. It is hard enough that Wickham turned out to be an utter beast, but to learn that you and I are both happily engaged now was too much for her fortitude."
Elizabeth was privately of the opinion that Lydia had no fortitude at all, but there was little point in saying it, so she merely stood up and pulled her taller sister into a warm embrace. "I understand her unhappiness, Jane, of course I do, but our engagements will, without a shadow of a doubt, be helpful in concealing her situation. There will be a great deal of talk in society, and we will be going to many parties and balls, and the focus will be on us, not Lydia."
Jane had returned Elizabeth's clasp with fervor, but now she stepped back, and after pulling a handkerchief out of one pocket, applied it to her own eyes. "You are correct, of course, and Richard tells me that Captain Russell is a very good man. I merely hope that Lydia will accept his offer…"
"If she does not, she will be shipped off to Scotland," Elizabeth said coldly.
Jane opened her mouth as if in protest, but Elizabeth spoke more quickly, "Jane, I wished to speak to you about, well, about Richard and, erm, Mr. Bingley. It has not been that long since he departed for Scarborough, and I hope that…"
She stopped, and felt her face flush with discomfort, but Jane merely nodded and gestured toward the two chairs next to the pleasantly built up fire.
The two sisters took their seats, and Jane sat up straight, her hands clasped together, her brow smooth. "I thought I was genuinely in love with Mr. Bingley, Elizabeth, and if he had offered for me last autumn, I would have accepted without hesitation. I am now thankful he did not."
"Truly?" Elizabeth replied in wonder. She well remembered Jane's heartache and sorrow, which had lasted for months on end.
"Truly," Jane said with absolute certainty. "He is a good man, an honorable man, and a kind one as well. But when Caroline Bingley began insulting you after the Damaral Ball, it was Richard who spoke up immediately, not Mr. Bingley. Do you not remember?"
Elizabeth frowned and shook her head. "I do not remember that, no. Mr. Bingley pushed her into the carriage…"
"Yes, he did, after Richard urged him to deal with her, but then Mr. Bingley decided to escort his younger sister to Scarborough and assured me that he would merely accompany her there and then return immediately. Obviously that did not happen."
"That is true," Elizabeth mused. "You think that Miss Bingley convinced him to stay longer?"
Jane allowed herself a rather unladylike scoff. "Of course she did! I think it was the very day of his departure that I concluded we likely did not suit. I need a strong man who is willing to fight for me over the desires of irritable relations, and Mr. Bingley needs a wife who does not crumble and weep when faced with adversity."
Elizabeth shook her head reprovingly. "That does not describe you, dear sister, not at all."
"In truth, it does," Jane returned wryly and then, at the indignation on Elizabeth's face, lifted a staying hand. "Dear sister, I may have displayed a serene countenance to the world, but I cried myself to sleep many times after Mr. Bingley abandoned me last December and then again when Caroline Bingley showed she was a false friend. Richard is a soldier and a fighter, and he will be my safe harbor during times of trouble. We have not known one another long, but this time I am entirely certain that he is my perfect husband. Indeed, when I think of all his attributes, I cannot imagine why he is at all interested in me!"
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East Sitting Room
Darcy House
"Jane is such a wonderful woman," Richard exclaimed, pacing up and down with such vigor that the Madeira sloshed out of his glass onto the thick blue carpet. "I never imagined I would be so fortunate as to win a lady like her – so kind, so gentle, but intelligent, too! She knows far more about the war in the Peninsula than many a London gentleman."
Ordinarily, Darcy would be distressed about wine on the carpet but not today. It would require a tree crashing through the ceiling to upset him unduly today.
"I am exceedingly pleased for you, Cousin," he said, hurrying over to the bottle so that he could prepare his cousin's cup for more excited sloshing.
"To Jane," he said a moment later, and the two men raised their glasses and drank with fervor.
Richard immediately hastened to the bottle and refilled both glasses and lifted his own again, "To Elizabeth!"
Again, they drank, and Darcy, floating in the mists of joy and slight inebriation, felt as if he could fly. After so many weeks of sorrow and anxiety, when he had berated himself for losing the only woman in all of Britain whom he genuinely loved, he was now engaged to his beloved, adored Elizabeth.
Engaged!
"Darcy," Richard said, drawing his attention, "as much as I would like to enjoy a few more bottles to properly celebrate our joy, we have a busy day tomorrow. It would be unwise for us to show up at Half Moon Street with headaches."
Darcy, rudely brought down to earth by such a prosaic statement, could only nod reluctantly in agreement. Yes, they did have a busy day ahead of them. Now that he and Elizabeth were engaged, his own reputation was tied up with the fate of Lydia Bennet.
He and Elizabeth were engaged. She would be his wife. He had never, in all his life, been so happy.
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Longbourn
The Next Morning
Silence reigned in the drawing room at Longbourn. Mrs. Bennet stared distractedly into the fire, dull and listless without her favorite daughter in the house, while Mary sat near the window reading the book of James in the Bible. On the other side of the room, Kitty bent over a bit of penmanship at the writing desk, and Sophia Adler sewed, keeping an eye on both her charges.
The sound of the door opening drew the attention of both the governess and the mistress of the house. The butler entered, bowed slightly and presented the salver. "An express has arrived from the master, Madame."
Mrs. Bennet started, eyes widening, then shrank back, gazing in dismay at the letter reposing innocently enough on its tray, as though she expected it to leap up and attack her.
"Oh, oh, oh! I cannot read it! I cannot! Something dreadful must have happened! Read it, Mary, read it this very minute!"
Mary, who was also concerned, quickly stood up and took the letter, broke the seal, and began to read it rapidly. Within a few seconds, she was smiling broadly, and started reading aloud.
"My dear Mrs. Bennet, I know that an express is generally the hallmark of tragedy, but in this case it is to convey wonderful tidings. Both Jane and Elizabeth are engaged to be married as of yesterday – Jane to Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, second son of the Earl of Matlock, and Elizabeth to Mr. Darcy of Pemberley. I daresay both of these matches are a surprise to you; I was rather surprised myself! But I have had the pleasure of spending time with both young men, and they are very fine, very fine indeed. I have no doubt that our daughters will be genuinely happy.
I cannot quite leave London yet, as there are settlements to be written and the like. The girls are not certain where they will wed, and of course they need to purchase wedding clothes. I do not promise to keep you well informed on the goings on here in London, but I am certain your daughters will!"
With much satisfaction,
Thomas Bennet
P.S. Elizabeth asks that you have Mrs. Thompson make up new gowns for you and Kitty and Mary so that you ladies can wear them to the weddings. I realize that our carriage is here in London; I will send it home by tomorrow.
Mrs. Bennet's countenance had transformed from fearful to bewildered to shocked to surprised to ecstatic, and as soon as Mary had finished reading, she screeched with such enthusiasm that Kitty jumped.
"Jane engaged to an earl's son, Elizabeth to Mr. Darcy! Oh, oh, Heaven be praised! Two daughters well engaged. I will die from happiness! Hill, Hill, do come – oh, there you are! Have you heard the good news? My two eldest girls are both going to be married to fine men, and you shall have a bowl of punch to make merry at their weddings!"
Mrs. Hill immediately began congratulating the matron, and Mary and Sophia Adler exchanged pleased glances. The news of the engagements was wonderful, but even better was that there had been no mention of Lydia's condition. They knew that Jane and Elizabeth would not enter engagements under false pretenses. Given the position of the Matlock and Darcy families in society, it seemed certain that Wickham had been defanged and that Lydia's situation was well in hand.
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Author Note: I hope you are all doing well. I read all of your comments and notes, and YOU are the reason I keep writing. Thank you for joining me on this journey! :-)
