“Well I shall just have to endure it as best I can.”
“What would you have done if this possibility was not in front of you to be taken advantage of.”
“Nothing. What can I do? There is nothing else for women to do other than secure themselves a suitable provision by way of a husband, or else remain dependent upon relatives. I have often hoped for the opportunity of a marriage, and since it has eluded me so long, I was expecting to be a burden on my family, trying to make myself useful at home as I can. What else is there for a woman to do when she has no fortune. We cannot make our way in the world as you can.”
“Let us suppose you could. What if you had the resources to make your own choice. Would you marry Mr. Collins then?”
“No.”
“What would you do instead.?”
“I should like to open a school.” He saw the enthusiasm in her eyes as she made this statement. “A very useful and sensible sort of a school, where young ladies would acquire a good education, be encouraged to develop their talents without becoming boastful, and also be trained in the way of common sense and practical thinking.”
“I think that you might do better at shaping these young ladies to your taste than Mr. Collins. He is too far gone in the ways of foolishness to be encouraged and trained into common sense and practicality. Unless you have a great longing for the married state, I think you would do better to give up all ideas of marriage and open your school.”
“I think that I have very little inclination toward the married state. I see nothing to recommend it; however, I have not the resources to establish a school.”
“I do and am always looking to support worthwhile ventures. If you truly wish to open the sort of school that will be beneficial to young ladies, then I am willing to fund you.”
“You cannot mean it.”
“I certainly do. I am completely serious, and since it is my recommendation that you take this course instead of marriage, I will also give you my guarantee that your future will be secure. I am willing to provide you with an establishment, cover the expenses of setting up your school, and make a provision for your future. Take a day or two to think it over, and let me know what you decide.”
“I do not need a day or two. I am ready to accept your offer now. Mr. Collins will have to look elsewhere for a useful wife. I believe I can put my talents to better use.”
“Excellent,” he said. “Now if you will excuse me, I wish to claim a partner for the Boulanger before Mr. Collins beats me to it.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he had seen Mr. Collins bearing down on Elizabeth with intent purpose. With a longer stride and more determined purpose, he arrived first, beating Mr. Collins to the prize and bearing his partner away in triumph. The quick turns of the dance gave them little opportunity for conversation, but he did not feel that anything needed to be said, caring most of all for the joy of finishing the evening with the lady whose company he preferred above all else. She was the last to go around the circle, turning with every other gentleman and coming back to him each time, fitting her arm perfectly into his.
The party broke up slowly after that, with the younger people lingering especially, not wishing for a delightful evening to come to an end, but they gradually gave into exhaustion, or the beckoning of parents who could not keep themselves awake any longer. A number of the older people tottered out, perhaps from tiredness, or perhaps because they had imbibed too much of the punch, which had been well praised and enjoyed.
The Bennets were among the last to leave. Mrs. Bingley was happily talking to Mrs. Bennet of new carriages and wedding clothes. Mr. Bingley and Jane were conversing together, and Mr. Darcy had taken Mr. Bennet away to show him something in the library. The others, although they were all yawning their heads off, were content to extend the evening a little by talking over its pleasures while waiting, or in Mr. Collins’s case, by making speeches which nobody heard.”
The carriage arrived at the door just as Lydia gave way to a particularly violent yawn. “Veuillez m’excuser,” she said. “Je suis trés fatiguée.”
Being in a state of extreme tiredness, she gave way to using much-practiced French phrases without really thinking what she did.
“Do you speak French, Miss Lydia?” one of the Bingley cousins asked. “You sound very elegant.”
“I can speak a little,” she replied modestly. “I am nowhere near being proficient, but I do agree with you that it is an elegant language.”
She turned and whispered to Elizabeth, “We shall explain everything tomorrow. At the moment, I am much too fatiguée.”
CHAPTER 20
Mr. Collins chose the next morning for making a declaration to Elizabeth. After leaving the breakfast room, he requested a private interview with her, in which matter Mrs. Bennet was very willing to oblige him. Despite her daughter’s protests, she hastened upstairs, taking only Jane with her, as the others were just putting on their cloaks to go out, but her swift departure gave them an opportunity to intervene.
“Unfortunately, Lizzy cannot speak with you at the moment, Mr. Collins,” Lydia said. “She has an appointment to keep with us. I am sorry, but we must hurry away to Meryton.”
“Then I shall fetch my coat and go with you.”
“I am afraid there will not be time. We really are in a great rush.”
Her point was emphasized by the return of Kitty, who had run upstairs ahead of her mother. Elizabeth was handed her cloak and bustled out of the door before Mr. Collins could do anything to prevent her departure or insist that they wait for him.
“I dare say he would have proposed in the lane,” Mary said.
“He is absurd,” Kitty agreed. “I suppose you will still have to hear him out later, Lizzy, but we really did have a purpose for bringing you with us. There is something we wish to tell you.”
“In matter of fact,” Lydia said, “there is something we wish to show you.”
Once there, Elizabeth was conducted into the school and introduced to Mrs. Pearson, who showed her around and introduced her to all the masters in turn while her sisters started upon their lessons. She saw the arrangements with wonder and heard praise of each of them with great pride. Mr. Darcy appeared just as she was being shown some of Lydia’s paintings, and he found her with tears in her eyes.
“These are beautiful,” she said to him. “There is so much feeling in them, and astonishing ability. If you had not done all of this, Lydia’s talent would have remained undiscovered. Kitty’s and Mary’s as well. I comprehended yesterday that they each had remarkable ability in their favourite subjects, but today I have learned how far those abilities go and how hard they have worked.”
“They have indeed.”
They took tea with the hard-working pupils before leaving, and Elizabeth did her best to convey her admiration, which they accepted graciously while assuring her that their achievements were not wholly remarkable.
“None of us can play the harp very well.” Lydia told her.
“My pronunciation of French and Italian is quite mediocre,” Mary confessed.
Lydia came to her defense. “She understands the grammar best of all us.”
“I have absolutely no talent for drawing,” Kitty said.
“Yet you comprehend famous battles. I am full of admiration.”
“I hope you are not thinking I only learned of them to impress the officers. I was worried it would look that way, and it is true that I began upon the subject because I felt foolish about having exposed my lack of knowledge and understanding, but I truly have found the subject fascinating and desired to know more about it. I was not looking to show off my knowledge either, but yesterday Mr. Sheriden said something about which I knew a great deal and that set off a conversation.”
“I am quite certain your efforts were not to impress,” her sister assured her. “After all, nobody puts that much effort into showing off. What you have all done is obviously out of genuine interest.”
“It has been fo
r the most part,” Lydia said, “but I will confess that one or two of our history lessons have been rather dull. It is very satisfying, however, to know things and not feel silly and foolish.”
After this, the three of them returned to their lessons, but Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy continued speaking.
“How did this all begin?” she asked him. “What Kitty said about exposing herself suggests that she was in some way made aware of it.”
“She was. They all were. I happened to come across your sisters after they had overheard some unpleasant things being said about them by some of the officer’s wives. I did. It was a moment of epiphany, which happened to correspond with my wondering what I could do to make up for the damage I had caused. While I was thinking over my transgressions, I came across them in some distress. Their folly had been revealed to them in a harsh way, and they were eager to change. I offered my assistance impulsively and then became quite carried away in my enthusiasm to help them achieve their aim. I did secure your father’s permission, I will add, although I confess to having been tardy in doing so. I hope you do not think it wrong of me to take so much upon myself.”
“That did not occur to me. I think it was decent of you to help and at no small expense or trouble to yourself. You are paying the lease on this property?”
“Two of them, actually. It was necessary to have a separate building to accommodate the men. Not that I am looking for any additional credit,” he said hastily. “I was merely qualifying that everything is done properly, and I did not mind any expense, especially considering I was gravely at fault. You pointed out that your sisters had become sillier since knowing me. It had to be considered that I was in some part responsible for the dreadful things they heard said about themselves.”
“You were not so much accountable. There were others with greater responsibility.”
“But I played a part and therefore very much wished to be part of the solution. Of course, the greatest credit must go to your sisters. They have made an exceptional effort.”
“They must have worked hard for Kitty and Lydia to have learned to play and sing. It was not a difficult song, but still, it was an admirable achievement in a short time. I feel that I must make more of an effort myself. It has been some time since I have practiced upon the pianoforte, and their reading puts mine to shame.”
This was an introduction which he welcomed. “I do not feel that you need any improvement,” he said. “You know my feelings for you. I regret having spoken of them when it was wrong of me to do so, but they remain the same, and my wishes have not changed. I love you and want nothing more than for you to become my wife. Would you marry me, dearest Elizabeth.”
“I will,” she replied. “I love you too.”
He reached for her hand and they sat quietly in appreciation of deep happiness.
After a time, he said, “I hope you will never again think yourself lacking in accomplishments. I love you exactly as you are.” He smiled. “Besides, can you not recall what I once said of accomplishments? You might remember that it does not take much to gain my approval.”
She smiled. “I do recall, yet I must confess to never having painted a table, covered a screen, or netted a purse
“You do play the pianoforte.”
“I do, but very badly.”
“Have you any other skills?”
“I am very good at arguing,” she said with a smile.
“Then clearly you will be the ideal wife for me.”
Upon returning home, Elizabeth was immediately accosted by her cousin, who was still intent upon having a conversation with her, as her sisters had surmised. He must have been watching out for her arrival, for he was waiting in the hall and immediately pressed her into an unoccupied room. Her insistence that he could have nothing private to say to her was ignored, and she found herself obligated to wait for him to clearly state his purpose so that she could then make an equally clear refusal. It took several sentences for him to come to the point of mentioning marriage, which gave her the opportunity to inform him that it was impossible because she was already engaged.
“How is this?” he asked. “Your mother assured me that you had no attachments.”
“Mothers are not always aware of everything,” she replied, “speaking of which, I must beg you to excuse me so that I may go and communicate this information to her.”
“You are only just engaged this morning?”
“I am.”
“I was intending to speak earlier. If you had not rushed off with your sisters, this sudden engagement of yours would not have been possible. You would have been engaged to me first.”
She nearly laughed at this absurd hint that he had somehow been deprived of his rights and did her best to set him straight. “I am sorry to disappoint you, but I assure you that would not have been the case. There was only one gentleman whom I was prepared to accept, and I have done so this morning.”
“Who would that be?” he demanded to know.
“Mr. Darcy. I am sure you will approve my choice since you are a great admirer of his.”
“My dear cousin, this cannot be! Lady Catherine will not sanction your engagement to her nephew. Aside from the disparity in your rank, which in itself will offend her greatly, there is a significant impediment. She intends Mr. Darcy to marry his cousin Miss Anne de Bourgh.”
“Then she will have to be disappointed. I can vouch for it that Mr. Darcy is intent upon having his own choice. Nor have I any intention of giving him up. Your Lady Catherine may come and order me to do so if she wishes, but that would be a waste of her time. I will not be moved by any protest of hers. Now I really must go and speak to my mother.”
Mrs. Bennet burst into exclamations of delight as soon as Elizabeth told her of having formed an engagement. She did not wait to hear the gentleman’s name. Immediately assuming his identity, she said, “It is a good match for you. Nothing like your sister’s match, of course, but you could never aspire to anything so grand if you must always be arguing with the gentlemen. Mr. Collins has a good income, and we shall never be forced to leave Longbourn.”
“I am not engaged to Mr. Collins,” Elizabeth took great pleasure in saying. “It is Mr. Darcy whom I am going to marry. He likes arguing with me.”
“Mr. Darcy! I was never so astonished. I thought he would have Lydia.”
“Oh, he likes Lydia very well. I believe he is half marrying me so that he can have her as a sister.”
Her mother was not amused by the joke, but she was still happy to be getting a wealthy son-in-law, however it had come about, and he would very likely introduce her other daughters to more wealthy gentlemen, so it was a satisfactory thing that Lizzy had somehow managed to gain his affections.
Her exclamations were heard by Mr. Collins who was pacing the hallway in agony. “Whatever will Lady Catherine think,” he muttered. He soon worked himself into a frenzy that his great patroness would blame him for not having secured his cousin, thus making it impossible for her to accept Mr. Darcy. Coming to the opinion that his engagement to some other lady could constitute his only excuse for that failure, he cast his mind about frantically to think how this could be quickly arranged.
Remembering Miss Lucas’s civil behaviour at the ball and also the location of her home, which his cousins had pointed out on the way to Meryton, he decided that she represented his solution. She was just the sort of person Lady Catherine had recommended him to find: a lady, but at the same time useful and not brought up too high. Her lack of beauty and decidedly advanced age made it impossible that she would turn him down.
With this confidence, he offered his hand and all the glories of Hunsford parsonage, but here was disappointment again.
“I am very conscious of the great honour you do me,” she began; “however, I am unable to accept. Mr. Darcy has already made me an offer I cannot refuse.”
“Impossible,” he cried. “I understand that Mr. Darcy has already offered himself elsewhere.”
“Has he ma
de an offer to Lizzie?” she cried happily. “I was so hoping he would. You misunderstand me, Mr. Collins. The offer Mr. Darcy made me was of a different sort.”
“You cannot mean…” A look of horror came over his face.
“Yes, I know there are many who will think it shocking of me; however, I have decided that my role in this world is to be that of a schoolteacher. I see that you think it an unladylike pursuit, but I hope you can agree that I may do much good by educating young ladies. Mr. Darcy does, and he has generously agreed to provide financial backing for my endeavors.”
Mr. Collins, relieved to find his first idea incorrect, decided that he could be just as generous as Mr. Darcy by offering the lady his best wishes for the success of her school. In wending his solitary way home, however, he grumbled to himself that Mr. Darcy had taken away another one of his prospects.
It is not to be supposed that a man twice times disappointed in one day would dare to risk a third application before the clocks chimed midnight, but in the course of the evening it came upon him that his cousin Mary, who was used to reading Fordyce’s sermons, would be excessively grateful to receive an offer from a parson. This time he could not fail.
After dinner, a meal which he found intolerable since the conversation was almost entirely about Mr. Darcy, he suggested to Mary that she might like to take up her former favourite book and study it with his assistance.
“Thank you, but I cannot perceive any value in the study of that book,” she replied. “I have something much more interesting to get on with. To his disgust, she held up a book with the title A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. He let her sit down with it and considered himself to have had a lucky escape.
For the briefest moment, he turned a speculative eye upon Kitty, but she put him off by asking to borrow her sister’s book once she was finished with it. Even worse, she said that Mr. Darcy had recommended it as an excellent book.
Mr. Darcy Dances: A Pride and Prejudice Variation Page 14