A little later than usual today, since I spontaneously changed quite a bit in the prewritten text, but I managed :)

Have fun!

Also, special thanks to you all and particularly to the guest who made all those bad puns. I loved them.

Jane rose gracefully and extended her hand to him, a happy fluttering in her stomach. Mr Bingley beamed at Jane, rose from the settee they had been sitting on, and took her hand, tucking it firmly into the crook of his arm. She certainly hoped he would never let go.

As Jane and Mr Bingley left, they encountered Mr Bennet who greeted the couple briefly before entering the parlour himself. Not beating around the bush, he addressed his wife and daughter directly. „Lizzy, a word? If you do not currently need her, Fanny?" The last was said with a raised eyebrow and a curious squint in his eye that Lizzy was not entirely sure what to think about.

Mrs Bennet, in a good mood due to Mr Bingley's presence, shook her head and replied „No, that is quite alright, Thomas. I need to ask cook to assemble a plate with Mr Bingley's favourites for tea anyways." Mrs Bennet rose and brushed down her skirt. "He will surely have an appetite once they come back from their stroll!" She bustled from the room busily, while Lizzy followed her father.

When they reached the library, Mr Bennet sat down in his favourite arm chair and eyed his daughter quizzically. „Now Lizzy", he said. „Out with it! What has occurred that suddenly has you, and apparently Mr Darcy, so enamoured with your mother? I take it it has something to do with him sending such glowing regards today?"

Lizzy, who had been expecting something like this from her father for a while, grinned and said flippantly. "He did, didn't he? There are unknown depths to that man! Maybe I'll even have to rethink my opinion of him." She paused, tapping her index finger to her chin thoughtfully, to contemplate this thought. Her lips twitched when she noticed her father's expectant mien.

„No…." she drawled with a sly grin and made herself more comfortable on her seat. „Not yet. We don't know what he wanted to express with his message after all. Maybe he had some strange dream and realized he was, in truth, in love with Mama! And now he has fled the area to escape his doomed feelings. The poor man!"

Mr Bennet grinned at Lizzy in return and interjected. „Oh! But what could have happened to make him realize that love? What is the basis for that dream? Maybe he encountered Fanny when she was upset about you recently, where you both stormed out?"

Feeling quite in her element with the discussion, Lizzy replied animatedly. "Who knows!" Then, waggling her eyebrows and leaning forward intently, she continued. „Maybe he encountered her when she was out visiting the Walker farm later that day to see the new baby. She was still so happy when she came home and you must know how pretty she looks, when she is smiling like that!"

„I do! That certainly would explain a lot!" Mr Bennet exclaimed, slapping his fist in his palm in an exaggerated manner. Then he added „But not, dear Lizzy, why even at lunch that day, you and Mrs Bennet could not look at each other without giggling like Kitty on christmas punch!"

Lizzy in turn grinned broadly. „Well, there could be all kinds of reasons! Non of which you shall ever know, however." She paused briefly and regarded her father with a twinkle. "I'm afraid that I promised Mama I would not tell a soul. You will have to ask her nicely yourself."

Mr Bennet, recognizing that he would not get any more out of his daughter, gave one last try. „Now, now, Lizzy! Won't you give your poor old father even a hint?"

In response, Lizzy just grinned at him. „I will say this much: I got to see a side to Mama that made me understand why you fell in love with her when you were younger!" Then, more seriously, she added „You could try to remember. I believe in essence, Mama has not changed so very much." With that said, Lizzy rose, curtsied to her father with and left him to his thoughts.

The entire family was astonished to find Mr Bennet joining them more often over the next few days, sitting back and watching them silently. None of his usual sardonic comments came over his lips. Instead, after a while, sometimes a small fond smile would cross his face.

Mrs Bennet, who had first been nervous at her husband's unusual behaviour, slowly started to relax in his presence. Lizzy watched it all, feeling very proud of herself - and of her parents.

One evening, after dinner, Mr Bennet stood and cleared his throat. "My dears", he announced and pulled a large, heavy tome out from underneath the table. "I would like to read to you tonight. Something edifying, something that will lift our minds and spirits." His wife and daughters all looked at him with various expressions of surprise. While Mary sat up with a hopeful, almost excited countenance, Kitty and Lydia quickly adopted a mulish expression upon seeing the book.

Mrs Bennet and Elizabeth both, surprisingly, regarded him with a very similar expression, vaguely amused and curious what would come next.

Mr Bennet, observing them all one by one with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, opened the book. With a flourish he pulled out a smaller book from between its pages, and in dramatic voice he announced "The new scandalous sensation in the literary world! The Mysteries of Udolpho!"