A Most Attentive Father Chapter 28, a pride and prejudice fanfic

~O~

Compromises

That evening, Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam joined the Bennets for dinner.

Since Elizabeth's sisters had been in the next room and heard the whole argument, Lady Susan told the whole story to the gentlemen, including Bennet who had been out during the visit.

Fitzwilliam was unrestrained in his reaction and was howling with laughter by the time his grandmother finished her tale. Darcy was more restrained but even he had to smile at hearing the well-deserved set-down his aunt had received.

Bennet only shook his head in disbelief as he commented to the cousins, 'I have heard your stories about your aunt, but I could hardly credit them. How is it possible for her to be so very different from the rest of the family?'

Lady Susan offered, 'I have wondered myself. All I can think of is that during her earliest years I did not have much time to spend with her and the nurse we employed at the time may have given her an inflated opinion of herself. When Reggie was two and became too much for her, we hired a new nurse who looked after him and later Anne as well.'

Fitzwilliam commented with a grin, 'I often wondered why she had never become the great proficient if she had only learnt. I had not realised it was because she was lazy, as she was always exceedingly busy and energetic in interfering in everyone's life.'

Darcy's dry comment was, 'And she always commanded me to ensure Georgiana practiced diligently. At least she will now stop telling me that I must marry Anne.' He smiled as he added, 'Since she will never change, I think that an adequate compromise.'

Elizabeth muttered, 'That marriage would only happen over my dead body.' Darcy, who heard her, felt exceedingly happy.

~O~

After dinner the party split into several groups to discuss ideas for the upcoming wedding or simply to chat.

It gave Fitzwilliam the chance for which he had hoped as he managed to speak to Mary privately.

Mary had offered to play for the family who were gathered in the drawing room.

Opening the doors to the adjoining music room, Mary selected the sheet-music she wanted to play. Of course, it was only polite for Fitzwilliam to offer to turn the pages for her when she seated herself at the pianoforte.

Before she could begin playing, Fitzwilliam gathered his courage. In the back of his mind, he idly wondered why this conversation with a lovely lady was more difficult than facing the French army. Yet he did manage to say in a rush, 'Miss Mary, I was hoping to speak to you. I know we have known each other lonely a short time, but I find myself drawn to you. If you think there is a chance that I might suit you, I would like to court you to see if we are as compatible as I think we might be. Would you allow me to court you?'

Richard was pleased to see a becoming colour rising in Mary's cheeks, but she did not lower her eyes. She kept her gaze focused on his as she said quietly enough not to be overheard by the party in the drawing room, 'Perhaps I am being too forward, but I confess that I have hoped you would return my interest. So, yes, I will happily enter a courtship with you.'

Lady Susan and Mrs Bennet noticed their absence and the length of time it took for Mary to start playing. But since the doors were open, they ignored the couple.

Later in the evening, after speaking to Mr Bennet, the couple confirmed that they were now a couple.

~O~

Over the next three weeks, the Bennets were engaged in a flurry of activities.

The ladies were busy planning for Elizabeth's wedding. The guest list which Elizabeth had been working on, became steadily longer.

Mrs Bennet commented, 'At least, since all our neighbours now know about our ballroom, we can use that to host the wedding breakfast.'

Lydia became very excited, wanting to be given charge of the decorations. 'You shall have the most elegant wedding Meryton has ever seen,' she promised her sister.

As she had done a good job for the ball, she received permission but also a strict budget.

Due to the upcoming wedding, Lady Susan had prevailed upon the Bennets to extend her visit until the new year. Not only that, but she informed Mrs Bennet that she had written to her son, who also wanted to attend the wedding.

Since parliament was going into session early in the new year, Lord Matlock had decided to remain in town over Christmas to avoid unnecessary travel in bad weather. As a consequence, after a gentle hint from Lady Susan, Lord and Lady Matlock were invited to spend the festive season at Bennet Hall. They were delighted to accept the invitation.

Lady Matlock was particularly interested in meeting these cousins, since Lady Susan had strongly hinted that the Colonel was interested in Elizabeth's next younger sister.

Because of a comment Lady Susan made, Catherine could not help asking, 'Why have we never met you or your family before?'

'I used to visit occasionally while your grandfather was still alive and I was travelling from Derbyshire to London, or on my return. Although I rarely stayed more than one night. Since then, your father is not enamoured of London and because of your mother I thought it best to stay away. As for the rest of them, the Fitzwilliam clan is rather large, and we generally only see about half of them… usually the half we generally wish would stay away.'

'But Susan and I kept up our correspondence and our friendship,' Mrs Bennet added.

'Which is why I learnt much about all you girls, even though we never met,' Lady Susan explained. She also determined to speak with Mrs Bennet about presenting the younger girls at court when the time came.

~O~

The Bennets not only were busy with their own preparations, they were also flooded with invitations to a variety of functions by their neighbours. Dinners, card parties and musical evenings abounded.

It was only natural that because the Bennet family comprised of six ladies, invitations were also extended to single gentlemen, which included some of the officers of the militia.

Lieutenants Denny and Pratt were excluded since they were restricted to camp. On the other hand, there was no restriction against Lieutenant Wickham. While a visit from Colonel Fitzwilliam to Colonel Forster shortly after the former's arrival had warned the latter of Wickham's history, they were agreed that if the Lieutenant was trying to turn his life around, they would not stand in his way. Therefore, Wickham was often amongst the guests.

Ever since he had learnt about the Bennets' wealth, even though neither he nor their neighbours still did not know the full extent of it, he was most charming and attentive towards Miss Bennet. At least he did not have to lie when he complimented her beauty.

Bennet was concerned when Jane received Wickham's attention with apparent pleasure. 'Jane, are you aware that Mr Wickham has a reputation as a fortune hunter?' he asked one morning after an evening of dancing, where Jane had danced twice with the man.

Jane smiled serenely, but there was a hint of mischief lurking in her eyes. 'Perfectly, papa. But I find his attentiveness amusing.'

'Amusing?'

She coloured as she replied, 'Indeed. While my inclination is to see the best in people, mother trained me to look for the worst. She always went on about how everyone is jealous of my beauty and would do anything to hurt me. I am sad to say that I believed her, which made it difficult for me to interact with the rest of the family until she showed her true colours. Yet, as a result, I can see that Mr Wickham's only interest in me is for what he thinks is my fortune.'

Bennet agreed. 'I would guess that he thinks that since you are the only one of my daughters who has reached her majority, you do not need my permission to marry.'

Jane nodded as she said, 'Also, since I am the oldest daughter, he might assume that I am your heir.' She gave her father a pensive smile. 'I confess that I hope he is wrong. I am quite aware that I have not the talent or the inclination to take on the responsibility for the estate.'

In a change of mood, she grinned as she added, 'I also have no wish to marry, since you assured me that I could have a cosy home of my own without the need for a husband. Therefore, I find it amusing to allow Mr Wickham to try his wiles as I am perfectly immune to hiss charms.'

Bennet returned that grin, but cautioned, 'Just be careful. While you have choices no matter what happens, I have no wish to see you hurt.'

~O~

During those weeks, Bennet had to make a quick trip into London, to make arrangements with his bank to release the funds for Elizabeth's dowry, as with those kind of sums, the bank preferred to deal with the client in person.

When Lady Susan heard about the mission, she invited herself along to arrange for Elizabeth's wedding present. Since that present was her wedding dress, Elizabeth needed to accompany them.

As soon as that was arranged, Darcy added himself to the party. 'I would like to introduce Elizabeth to the family before they come to Hertfordshire.'

'Fitzwilliam, I am perfectly capable of introducing your intended to my son and his family,' protested the lady. 'And I certainly do not want you underfoot at the modiste.'

'Perfect. That will give me time to see my solicitor to finalise the marriage articles and make a new will.' Darcy would not be gainsaid. 'I would also like to see Georgiana and introduce her to Elizabeth.'

The trip was a complete success.

As Georgiana was staying with the Matlocks for company, Darcy and Lady Susan stayed with them as well as it seemed ridiculous to open either, or worse both, their houses for one or two nights.

Bennet and Elizabeth declined the invitation stay at Matlock House, and stayed with the Gardiners, who were delighted to hear about Elizabeth's engagement. But they accepted an invitation to dinner, which included the Gardiners.

Lord Matlock, although a few years older, hit it off immediately with Bennet. It helped that both enjoyed a game of chess and were evenly matched.

Lady Matlock was enchanted with Elizabeth, but also plied her with questions about Mary. What she heard made her eager to meet Elizabeth's sister, as Mary seemed to be the key to extract Richard from the army.

Georgiana, although initially shy, soon warmed to Elizabeth and looked forward to accompanying the Matlocks to Bennet Hall for Christmas and the wedding. When Georgiana had a moment alone with Darcy, she gushed, 'Thank you, brother, for providing me with such a wonderful sister at last.'

Errands to the bank, the modiste and the solicitor were completed, and the following day Bennet and his party returned to Longbourn.

~O~

It was less than a week before Christmas and all the Bennet sisters went into Meryton to finalise their shopping for Christmas.

Their guests, the Gardiners, the Matlocks and Georgiana Darcy, would arrive the following day, curtailing the time the sisters would have available.

They brought the carriage and three footmen to help carry all their purchases. Since Elizabeth and Mary wanted to get presents for the gentlemen, they had declined an offer by Darcy and Fitzwilliam to accompany them.

The sisters split into groups to conduct their purchases. As Jane had few skills to make presents for her sisters, she went off on her own to do her shopping, accompanied only by a footman.

~O~

George Wickham was getting frustrated. He had spent the past two weeks assiduously paying court to Miss Bennet. Yet while she seemed to enjoy his compliments and even dancing with him, she had not noticeably warmed towards him.

He was getting rather desperate to get his hands on some funds as the pay of a Lieutenant was not enough to keep him in the comfort to which he was accustomed.

When he joined the militia, Denny had assured him that it was an easy life, and the merchants in Meryton appeared gullible. Yet within days of his arrival, the merchants had severely limited the amount of credit they were willing to extend and insisted that the debt had to be cleared on payday, or at least the day after.

Initially Wickham had been suspicious that Darcy had warned them about him, but he soon discovered that the whole regiment was affected by the same rules.

Also, having Darcy and then Fitzwilliam in close proximity, meant that Wickham had to be careful about the girls he approached. He could not risk the cousins to become aware that he continued his amorous activities unabated.

But even the girls whom he could approach required a ribbon or two as inducement and without additional funds or the ability to buy on credit he had fewer opportunities do indulge.

It was therefore crucial to melt the ice queen which was Jane Bennet to provide him with the kind of life he was entitled to live.

When he spotted her on the High Street in Meryton without her family surrounding her, he thought all his Christmases had come at once.

~O~

Wickham approached Jane, and her trailing footman, greeting her with all the charm he could muster. When he offered to accompany her on her shopping expedition, after a slight hesitation, Jane accepted his arm.

As the parcel from the second shop was rather bulky, the footman, not expecting any trouble as the officer had behaved impeccably, offered to take it to the carriage.

As they were in public, in full view of everyone on the High Street, Jane gave permission for the man to absent himself briefly from her side.

As they made their way to the next shop, Wickham said with a show of hesitation, 'Miss Bennet, I know that this is not the right setting and that at present I am only a humble soldier, but I have come to care for you greatly. Your beauty and kindness are such that –'

Not being interested in his blandishments, Jane interrupted, 'Please stop, Mr Wickham. While you are handsome and charming, I have not the slightest interest in you, or for that matter in any man. I am planning to be the happiest spinster in the country.'

At that repudiation, Wickham saw his life of ease slip away. He had expected his charm to secure this silly woman. He had not wanted to do this, but the kind of dowry which he was sure Miss Bennet would bring to her marriage was worth it. Especially as she would also be inheriting a large estate.

Wickham roughly grabbed Jane's arm and started to drag her toward the nearest alley. Considering how meek Jane generally appeared, he did not expect much resistance. He was therefore surprised when she dug her heels in and started to struggle to free herself.

'Let go off me,' Jane demanded.

A quick glance showed him that the inhabitants of Meryton were beginning to pay attention to the spectacle.

'Be quiet or the scandal you cause will affect all your family,' he hissed.

'I will not be quiet, no matter what you threaten. Let go off me,' Jane demanded even louder if than before.

He ignored that demand and tightened his grip, only to have his ears assaulted as Jane screamed at the top of her lungs, 'Take your hands off me, you scoundrel. If you think that you can impose yourself on me to force me to marry you, you are gravely mistaken. I would see you in your grave before I would ever consider marrying you.'

Wickham jerked on Jane's arm to pull her the last few feet towards the alley. He was so focused on his victim, he did not notice two shapes approaching at a dead run, coming at him from two sides.

Elizabeth was swinging the satchel containing the books she had collected from the bookshop. Mary was unarmed but as she came to a stop, she grabbed Wickham's arm to steady herself while she kicked him in the ankle. Such was the force of her fury, even his boots were not sufficient to save his ankle. At virtually the same time, the books connected with Wickham's temple, and he collapsed.

Elizabeth and Mary looked down on the unconscious form of Wickham. As they raised their eyes to look at each other, Elizabeth said, 'Oops.'

~O~