Elizabeth Bennet
Longbourn, Hertfordshire
Elizabeth sighed a breath of true relief when Mr. Collins left with Mr. Darcy. She was eternally grateful, and surprised to be feeling such a thing, for Mr. Darcy himself. She'd seen the line of frustration between his brows when Mr. Collins had been speaking so sharply to her and for a moment she thought she might see him rise and take umbrage with the smaller, lesser man.
But instead he had controlled himself, and come up with a reason to have the other man depart with him. Why he had cared as to her feelings, or had worked to spare her from Mr. Collins' and his sharp tongue, Elizabeth had no idea. She was not often caught out, unsure as to the reasons behind a man's actions (was she not the most astute of her sisters in the reading of another person? Did she not navigate their society with great care excepting when her sharp tongue got the better of her?), but Mr. Darcy's behavior had thoroughly upended her opinion of him even further.
"Oh Jane," Mrs. Bennet fluttered as the tea arrived just as the men left. "Mr. Collins seems quite taken with you, and ready to move on from his earlier... disappointment," she said as she glanced at Elizabeth. Lizzy tried not to bristle at the expression on her mother's face.
"Oh yes, his great disappointment," she let herself drawl as Jane sucked in a sharp breath. Elizabeth knew that she was upsetting her sister, but she was past caring. The entire situation was ridiculous - they were being sold off to save Longbourn, to settle old favors... why, they were no better than prize mares or especially well beloved heifers. Anger boiled over in her gut and she stood. "I think I shall take tea in our room instead." She looked to the maid who had just finished laying out the service. "I find a headache has taken hold of me, and I must retire."
With that she swept from the room, her back ram-rod straight and belying any possible headache she might have. She of course, had not a single pain, except the one throbbing in her heart. Her father would do nothing to stop what was happening to Jane. Her mother was practically tossing her daughters at the eligible young gentlemen that were coming to call. Since Elizabeth had turned down Mr. Collins, it was clear that now Mrs. Bennet hoped that Lizzy would snare either Mr. Bingley or Mr. Darcy. A black mood settled over her as she sat in a chair near the window of the room she shared with Jane.
She would not snare any gentleman. She would find love in her own manner, in her own time. The thought of needing to set a trap so she might not be stuck as a burden and an old maid rankled her. She was near boiling over with anger about it. She sat and steamed quietly for many minutes, and not even the view of the gently rolling hills of Longbourn could brighten her dark mood.
It wasn't until Jane arrived, along with a maid bearing the tea service, that she felt her simmering anger begin to abate. She waited until the maid had left before she grasped Jane's hands in her own.
"Mr. Collins intends for you to be his, Jane, and you must say no," Lizzy blurted out before she could stop herself. Jane stared at her and then nodded absently, before breaking down into a flood of tears. Elizabeth immediately embraced her sister, wrapping her up in her arms, for even though Jane was older, Elizabeth was taller by a few scant inches. Such a display of emotion was so unlike Jane as well, that Elizabeth hoped that she could provide a shelter to Jane even as their parents either could not or would not.
"Oh Lizzy," Jane whispered into the offered shoulder on which she cried. "I do not love him, I do not think I could stand to be in his presence for more than a few mere days... it must be my own failing, for never before have I struggled to converse and spend time with anyone as I struggle with him."
Elizabeth hushed her, stroking her sister's delicately pinned curls, taking care not to disturb them greatly.
"It is not you, not in the slightest, please do not think that. He is a terrible little man, intolerable. Mr. Darcy could not stand to hear him speak, and-"
"And yet he invited Mr. Collins to walk to Meryton! An act for which I was most grateful to Mr. Darcy, leaving us in peace and distracting that horrid man. How kind, to remove him from our presence! I cannot fathom for a moment what possessed him to act in such a manner, saving us from more minutes of Mr. Collins' droning on about the qualities he is looking for in a wife all the whilst he glances at me. Do you wonder, perhaps, upon Mr. Darcy's reason in removing Mr Collins?" Jane asked, pulling back to look her sister in the face, examining every inch of Lizzy's expression. Elizabeth made sure to keep any hint of a smile from curving her lips, for the mere memory of Mr. Darcy acting in such a protective manner warmed her heart. No. She must steel herself against such emotions. She would not give her mother what she wanted. She would not give in. She would forge her own path and find her own love.
"I have barely thought upon it, so relieved I am to find myself quite absent from Mr. Collins' sphere of influence for at least a few hours. I intend to enjoy the tea, and the company of my most favorite sister, and perhaps read a verse or two out of that new volume of poetry that Papa acquired," Elizabeth said breezily, getting to her feet to fetch the very volume in question. She felt Jane's eyes on her the entire time. "Tea?" she asked her sister. Jane let out a small noise, rather like a snort.
"Oh you are thinking something, sister of mine, and I shall get you to confess your thoughts at some point or another," Jane said, a smile on her face as Elizabeth poured them both tea.
"Oh-o, really? And what, pray, will assist you in the manner of extracting my confession?" Elizabeth asked archly, serving her sister first. Jane took a delicate sip of tea.
"I recall, as young girls, you were particularly vulnerable if a wise, elder sister were to apply her fingers to your belly," Jane said, her eyebrows arched delicately, and not looking at all as if she had just suggested resorting to tickling her sister. Elizabeth glared, and then laughed.
"We are no longer young girls, Jane, and if I do recall, I am at least an inch taller than you, and much broader in shoulder. Should you choose this method of information-extraction, I would take care that you should not become the victim of the very attack you wish to perpetrate on my person," Elizabeth said with a sip her own tea. The hot liquid soothed her throat and she sighed, relaxing fully for perhaps the first time since she had risen in the morning. Jane let out a soft, happy laugh.
"It pleases me that in our old age we have not lost that which made us the best of friends as children," Jane said with a low sigh, stretching her arms above her head and then relaxing as well. She sipped her tea, eyes closing in satisfaction at the rich flavor. "I do so love this tea. I am grateful that Papa has not reduced the household budget so much as to do away with our afternoon tea. Mama would have a fit of nerves if that were to happen, and nearly did when he suggested it last summer."
Lizzy thought back on the grand argument that had nearly brought Longbourn's roof down around all of their ears. What with the girls coming of age, and so quickly in succession as well, their father was having trouble making Longbourn's income match the expenses that included dressing young ladies as they prepared to enter society. And they hadn't even spent a Season in London! Mama was not the most economical of housewives, spending frivolously on dresses and ribbons for her daughters, whom she hoped to acquire the richest of husbands for one and all. Papa had not appreciated the added costs of all those ribbons, especially as they cut into his own allotted monies that increased his library books.
Woman! I shall sell you at the wife-auction if you do not cease your nattering for more fripperies and lace! The words that their father had yelled still made Lizzy's shoulders shiver. Not that Mr. Bennet had meant the threat, but it had still resonated. Mrs. Bennet, unrepentant but somewhat cowed, had stopped buying so many ribbons and dresses for the daughters already out, and had asked their housekeeper to repurpose some of the older gowns for the younger girls. Lizzy, as the tallest, was secretly grateful to always get new dresses but at the same time felt guilty that her height had caused undue strain on the household budget.
More the reason to find her own love and remove herself from Longbourn's responsibility. She was not on the shelf as of yet, but she was feeling already as if she were a burden to her parents, and limiting the opportunities for her younger sisters as they came out into society.
Still, she would marry for her own love and reasoning, not because her mother had pressured her to do so for the sake of society and finances.
Elizabeth eyed up her sister, who was gazing in a dreamy fashion out the window onto Longbourn's fields.
"What are you thinking of?" she asked, and then her thoughts turned sly. "Is it Mr. Bingley's noble mein that keeps you occupied?" Jane started, her cheeks flushing pink.
"Oh, do not sass me, or you will see how very real my threats of a good tickling are. You may be taller, but I am wiser, and cannier. I shall upend you, upon your bottom, and sit upon you until you cry for mercy," Jane retorted, although the smile on her face took the sting out of her words. "If you must know, I wondered what it would be like to be a great lady, in such a great house, and having such enormous budgets as to almost have no limits to ones' expenses. I cannot imagine spending even one hundred pounds in a year upon myself, not the five hundred pounds that some such women are granted by their husbands for their pin money! Can you even think of it Lizzy? Whatever would I do with such a sum?"
"Oh, but you would laze around upon a divan of the softest velvet, clad in only the finest silks out of Italy and Portugal, eating tea cakes prepared for you by your pastry chef from France as scandalous and unpatriotic as that might be. You might even, as has become the fashion in some circles, indulge yourself in opium cut for you by a particular man from the Orient," Elizabeth teased, and laughed at her sister's horrified and shocked expression.
"Lizzy!I should never hope to see or hear you speak of such excess… such immorality ever again! Opium! A pastry chef from France! No, not for all the pounds in Mr. Bingley's coffers would I descend to such base acts. You are reading Papa's salacious books with all too much regularity, I am afraid, and you have become vulgar, too vulgar for polite company." With that Jane, set down her tea, a certain glint in her eyes as she stood. "An older sister must school the younger in polite, proper behavior," she said, the only warning she gave before launching herself at Elizabeth, fingers outstretched to deliver the aforementioned punishment.
The upper halls of Longbourn rung out with Lizzy's amused, and shocked laughter, the very adult concerns of marriage and husbands put from their minds for the moment.
New chapters uploaded on Fridays, but you may find it in its entirety on Amazon now by searching for 'Nora Kipling - A Required Engagement'.