by Jann Rowland
“You are already to host me in the spring in London, Jane,” replied Elizabeth. “If I should spend that many months with you, Mr. Bingley would surely grow tired of my presence.”
“You injure my future husband with your supposition.”
Elizabeth chuckled and shook her head. “Yes, I am certain I do, Jane. The fact remains that you are already being so good as to give me a respite from Longbourn in the spring. I appreciate all you and Mr. Bingley have done to see to my comfort. But I am not afraid of staying at Longbourn. It has been the only home I remember, and I find that I am not ready to leave it yet.”
“You speak as if once leaving it, you do not expect to return.”
“Who can know?’ asked Elizabeth, shrugging her shoulders to emphasize the point. “I am now eighteen years of age, Jane, and in July I shall be nineteen. It is time for me to search for a husband, for I shall not be forever in this prime age to marry.”
“And yet you have always wished to marry for love.”
“As have you. You have found that blessing. I hope that I will be as blessed.”
Jane regarded Elizabeth with an even look. “Do you mean to find a husband in London during the season?”
“Stranger things have happened. But no, I do not expect I will depart from London as an engaged woman. On the contrary, as I am unknown, I doubt any man would be so precipitous to propose in a matter of two months.” Elizabeth paused and laughed, saying: “Not everyone can be so rash as Mr. Collins!”
This time Jane chuckled along with Elizabeth, for the matter of Mr. Collins’s rushed courtship with Mary had been a matter of amusement between them ever since the events in question. Given leave of less than a fortnight, Mr. Collins had come to Longbourn in search of a wife, determined to follow his patroness’s suggestion to the letter. Had it been Elizabeth in Mary’s place, he would not have been successful, not even if he had courted her for a year!
“If you are determined not to join us,” said Jane, “I shall not attempt to persuade you. There is one other matter of which I wished to speak. Yesterday Mr. Bingley told me he does not mean to renew the lease on Netherfield or complete the purchase.”
Elizabeth nodded slowly. “That is not a surprise. Netherfield, I should think, is far too near Longbourn for your comfort. Even if Mama would not be a trial, Mr. Collins most certainly would be.”
When Jane did not protest Elizabeth’s characterization, she knew her sister agreed.
“Do you know what he means to do?” asked Elizabeth.
“Charles is uncertain at present. Do you recall that his close friend, Mr. Darcy, will be standing up for him at our wedding?”
Again, Elizabeth could not hold in her laughter. “If I should have forgotten it, I am certain your excellent Mr. Bingley would have reminded me. We have heard so much of the gentleman that I feel I already know him!”
“Mr. Darcy is great friends with my future husband. I am impatient to make his acquaintance.”
“As am I, Jane. If he is even half as good as Mr. Bingley claims, he is an excellent gentleman, to be sure.”
“Yes, well, Charles has some hope that Mr. Darcy will assist him in finding an estate.”
“The gentleman lives in Derbyshire, does he not?”
Jane nodded. “Near to the Peak District, as I recall. It is a beautiful country, or so Charles has always said.”
Elizabeth could not resist rolling her eyes. “As does Miss Bingley. Frequently. Given how much she praises it, speaks of Mr. Darcy and his sister and her intimacy with them, one might almost suspect her of ulterior motives.”
This not even Jane could deny, for the evidence had been plain for as long as they had known Miss Bingley. Though Elizabeth did not know the exact position of the gentleman, she knew by the testimony of her sister’s future family that he was connected to the nobility to some degree and possessed a great estate. Miss Bingley, in particular, often spoke of the gentleman, the fineness of his home, his nobility and character, and boasted of how wonderful it was to have him as a friend.
“Regardless,” said Jane, returning to her previous point, “if all goes according to Charles’s plans, we should be settled in an estate by Michaelmas next year. If that should happen—and even if it is delayed and we must spend the winter in London—I should like you to live with us, Lizzy.”
Though moved to gratitude for this sister she loved so much, Elizabeth tempered her sister’s words with a dose of reality. “Thank you, Jane, for that is a lovely offer. Yet I wonder if it is wise; I presume Miss Bingley shall live with you?”
“That is yet to be determined,” replied Jane. “It is possible Miss Bingley will live with Mrs. Hurst.”
“Possible but not certain,” said Elizabeth. “Miss Bingley and I do not get on at all, you know. I should not wish to impose feuding sisters upon you.”
“I am certain we could come to some accommodation.”
Elizabeth shrugged, remaining noncommittal. While Jane’s offer was a lovely one, Elizabeth remained unconvinced for several reasons. Miss Bingley was a large consideration but there was also the fact that Elizabeth did not know if she felt comfortable pushing the burden of her support onto her new brother. Elizabeth knew she would be more comfortable relying on Mr. Bingley for that support than on Mr. Collins; that did not change her hesitance at all.
“Pray, do not concern yourself for me, Jane,” said Elizabeth, wishing to alleviate her sister’s worries. “Mr. Collins is not the easiest man to endure, but I am certain I shall manage regardless.”
The look Jane directed at her suggested she was not at all misled by Elizabeth’s show of confidence. “The other possibility is, of course, the Gardiners.”
“And yet they have hosted Kitty for more than a year now. Uncle’s finances are not so robust as to support multiple Bennet daughters indefinitely.”
“You know he would be eager to do it, Lizzy,” chided Jane.
“Yes, he would,” replied Elizabeth. “And it might become preferable to spending the next several years with Mr. Collins.”
Jane appeared as if she wished to say something, but Elizabeth decided it was best to end the discussion for now.
“Thank you, Jane, for your concern. It means a great deal to me. For the present, however, I am content to remain at Longbourn. I shall live here until the spring, and then I shall join you and Mr. Bingley in London. As for the future, I believe I shall decide when the time comes. If it is best that I come and live with you or with my uncle, I shall do so with gratitude. At present, however, there is little reason to discuss it, for much may change in the intervening months.”
Knowing Jane as she did, Elizabeth was aware her sister did not wish to drop the subject. As much as Elizabeth knew Jane, however, the reverse was also true, and Jane knew the signs which informed her when Elizabeth would not continue to speak. Now was one of those times.
“Very well,” said Jane with a sigh. “I hope you will consider my offer, Lizzy, for I wish to have you with me if you are not to marry. Furthermore, you should remember that it is much more likely for you to find a husband in the company my husband keeps than among the residents of Meryton.”
“That is the truth,” said Elizabeth with a grimace. “There is a distinct dearth of eligible men here, and those who are eligible do not wish to pay their compliments to a dowerless girl, as you and my older sisters have already discovered.”
“Then let us consider the matter decided, Elizabeth,” replied Jane, her expression and tone lighter than they had been since their discussion began. “It shall be my mission in life to find you a husband. Though I am not a matchmaker on par with our mother, I shall do my best.”
Elizabeth laughed and embraced her sister. “You could not be many degrees worse than our mother. By my count she has not had a hand in marrying any of her daughters to eligible men, though perhaps she might take credit for directing Mr. Collins to Mary. Can you imagine what might have happened if he had turned his attention on Lydia?”
“That does not bear consideration,” replied Jane, shaking her head.
Two days before the wedding the Gardiner family arrived for the celebration. The Gardiners were excellent people, amiable, civil, possessing the best of manners and intelligence. The Bennet family had always been fond of these, their nearest relations, such that there had been congress aplenty between them. Many times, Elizabeth had stayed in London with the Gardiners; those occasions were among her most treasured memories, and she knew all her sisters possessed similar experiences.
Mr. Gardiner was a man of about average height, brown hair graying at the temples, and an air of knowledge and good humor. Though he was Mrs. Bennet’s youngest sibling, no two siblings could be more unalike, for Mrs. Bennet was a silly woman of uncertain temperament, whereas Mr. Gardiner was a man who had built a successful business from a small inheritance from his father. Mrs. Gardiner was a graceful, lovely woman, descended from a line of gentlemen, her father having been a parson in Derbyshire for many years. With her, the Bennet sisters had always shared the closest relationships, though some were closer than others. Jane and Elizabeth fell into that category, and the Gardiners esteemed them above all their relations.
When the carriage drew to a halt in front of Longbourn’s entrance, the family stepped from the conveyance, Kitty among them, sharing a warm reunion with her sisters. Kitty, the next older to Jane, had always been quiet and introspective, though Elizabeth remembered more than a few times when Lydia had drawn Kitty along in some of her escapades. As it had been some months since they had been together, the three sisters remaining at Longbourn clustered about their returned member, sharing affectionate greetings in the manner of those long parted.
“Aunt, Uncle,” said Mary as the mistress of the estate. “We are so happy you could join us for Jane’s fete.”
“Yes, quite,” was Mr. Collins’s unenthusiastic addition.
Of all the times that Mr. Collins’s behavior confused Elizabeth, his obsequious attitude toward Mr. Bingley was the most peculiar. His propensity for bootlicking every man he thought above him in consequence she well understood, for she had ample examples of this in the past. With Mr. Gardiner, however, Mr. Collins’s manners were cool to the edge of rudeness, and Elizabeth could not quite understand why. Mr. Collins’s background before he became a parson, and subsequently a gentleman, had been rather common, from what Elizabeth understood. Why he should look down on a tradesman, especially when that tradesman’s income was perhaps double his own, was beyond her understanding.
Mr. Gardiner, Mr. Collins’s superior in every way except societal standing, regarded the master of the estate, made a perfunctory greeting, and then proceeded to ignore him. That, it appeared, was welcome to Mr. Collins, for he troubled himself to say nothing further to Elizabeth’s uncle.
It was fortunate the Gardiners were to remain at Longbourn until the breakfast and no longer, for the situation would become more uncomfortable the longer they were there. The family sat down to dinner that evening, engaged in lively conversation sprinkled with accounts of their recent doings. The entire time, however, Mr. Collins did not say much other than his pompous nothings, which he seemed to think required on every occasion. For the rest of the meal he watched them all, a slight moue of distaste curling his lips. The rest of the family ignored him—even his wife.
After dinner, the Gardiners retired early, and Elizabeth and Jane went up with them, eager to visit more with their beloved relations. It was there, in the small guest room where the Gardiners stayed when at Longbourn, that Elizabeth heard much the same from her aunt as she had from her elder sister.
“It seems Mr. Collins has not changed to any extent since the last time we saw him,” observed Mrs. Gardiner.
Her husband’s snort told them all what he thought of the gentleman. It was Elizabeth who responded to her aunt’s remark.
“No, he has not. Would you have expected it of him?”
“What I can say on the subject,” said Mr. Gardiner, “is that your father’s words concerning the Collins branch of the family are born out in his heir. I have yet to meet a more objectionable man than William Collins.”
“Nor have I,” said Elizabeth. Jane did not reply, for while she agreed with her uncle’s assessment, she would never say so where anyone could hear.
“You are to visit with Jane in the spring, are you not?” asked her uncle of Elizabeth.
“So I have promised, so I shall,” replied Elizabeth. Jane gave her shoulder a playful swat, but Elizabeth only grinned.
“That is well then,” replied Mr. Gardiner. “In truth, I do not consider William Collins an adequate protector for you girls, and I like you remaining here alone less than I liked you both here.”
“Mama is also here,” protested Jane.
“And your mother is no better suited to being a protector than Mr. Collins,” said Mr. Gardiner. “Mary has a good head on her shoulders, so that at least will provide you with someone you can rely on, Lizzy. Even with Mary’s support, I doubt you shall live here in comfort.”
“Physical comfort, perhaps,” replied Elizabeth with a sigh, not bothering to refute his words. “But you are correct. Mary will not throw us off; but her husband has little desire to support us.”
“Collins is a strange creature, to be certain,” said Mr. Gardiner. “One might forget he was ever a parson, given his propensity toward such opinions.”
“What I do not understand,” said Mrs. Gardiner, “is how little stock he puts in the ties of family.”
“I suspect it has something to do with his upbringing,” said Elizabeth. “Mr. Collins was his father’s only child, and by my father’s testimony, his father was a hamfisted man, mean and miserly, one who did not mingle with others much.”
‘That may be true,” said Mr. Gardiner, “but our society is ruled to a great extent by our connections. I may be only a tradesman, but I am a wealthy enough tradesman that he should not disregard me without consideration, given his status as a minor country gentleman.”
“And yet, he does,” said Elizabeth.
“Aye, he does at that.” Mr. Gardiner paused and then addressed Elizabeth again. “I shall say it again, Lizzy: I do not think you will be comfortable here with your sister gone. It seems best to me that you would make your home elsewhere once the wedding has passed.”
Elizabeth turned and looked at Jane. “If I was not already aware to the contrary, I might almost think you and Uncle have been in contact regarding this matter.”
“It is nothing more than the concern of us all,” said Mrs. Gardiner, replying for Jane. “That Jane espouses the same concerns does not surprise me at all.”
“It is not as if I shall be unsafe remaining here,” said Elizabeth. “Whatever Mr. Collins is, he is not so depraved as to allow something to happen to me or to do something reprehensible himself.”
“And we do not contradict you, Lizzy,” said Uncle Gardiner. “We all know your character, and we are aware of the difficulty you have with Mr. Collins. Fearing for your safety is not the same as fearing for your peace of mind. After the wedding tour, I know you are to visit Jane. At that time, we can take stock. You may live with Jane, or you can move in with us at Gracechurch Street.”
“Are you not already crowded with Kitty in residence?”
“We shall make do, my dear,” replied Aunt Gardiner.
“Then I shall consider it, and I thank you all for your concern. At present, I believe this discussion has run its course.”
They all agreed and moved on to other matters. Inside, Elizabeth felt warmth suffuse her. Being with people who loved her, she knew her future was assured. What the future might hold she did not know, but she was eager to discover it.
Chapter IV
Long-anticipated events, Elizabeth had observed, often failed to equal the imaginations of the heart. Jane’s wedding, however, would not be one of those occasions, at least to the two principal participants.
Elizabeth’s opinion, if
canvassed, would have consisted of some of her father’s wisdom, for she knew that Mr. Bennet, with his mix of quick wit and sardonic outlook on life, would have waxed long and eloquent. Mr. Bingley and Jane were by no means unalike, both so easy of temperament that they would never argue, would always live in harmony, and would raise a gaggle of children to be as mild and obliging as they. How Elizabeth missed her father, longed for his witticisms on the subject!
Jane, Elizabeth knew, had waited patiently for the day to come, and the morning it arrived, she sat in her room, Longbourn’s maid fixing her hair, with Elizabeth nearby to assist. On her face, Elizabeth noted a soft smile of anticipation, though tinged with a healthy measure of complaisance. Jane knew she was marrying a man who adored the very earth under her feet, was confident every happiness would be hers. At that sublime moment, she did not worry for the cares of the long years ahead of her, the heartaches that would inevitably find their way into her life, for at present, everything was perfect.
Most ladies who married for love, Elizabeth thought, did not consider such weighty subjects. Jane, she knew, had no illusions about how hard life could be. And so it should be. Though Elizabeth was not marrying an excellent man herself and her cares flittered about the back of her mind, today they were far away. There would be time enough for such thoughts on the morrow.
“Is it certain this Mr. Darcy has arrived?” asked Elizabeth of her sister. Meeting Mr. Darcy was a matter of much interest to Elizabeth.
“Charles said he was to arrive last night,” replied Jane in that calm voice of hers. “I have no notion why he was delayed, but Mr. Bingley hoped he would arrive in Hertfordshire before our wedding.”
“What shall Mr. Bingley do if he does not come?” fretted Mrs. Bennet. The dowager mistress was fluttering about the room, exclaiming about this and that, interjecting her opinions where least wanted and generally distracting Jane’s maid while she was preparing her for the church.