Room for Improvement (Pride and Prejudice Variation)

Chapter 1

It was the last of Colonel Forster’s regiment’s stay in Meryton before departing for an encampment in Brighton, and all the young ladies in the neighbourhood were drooping apace.

The dejection was almost universal. The elder Miss Bennets alone were still able to eat, drink, and sleep, and pursue the usual course of their employments.

To aid the younger girls in saying farewell to their friends, and in keeping up their spirits amid the dismay, their aunt Philips planned a party; Elizabeth did not anticipate it with any degree of pleasure, but as it provided her a means to leave the house, she would go.

First, however, her father requested that she join him in his book-room to review the contents of a letter he had received.

She went to him, surprised to find her mother there. Had it something to do with Mr Darcy’s proposal in Kent? Surely not!

“Sit, Lizzy,” said Mr Bennet. “I think you will need to, once you hear what I have to tell you.”

Elizabeth took the seat next to her mother, unable to discern anything from her expression. “Good news, I hope?”

“I think one must call it extraordinary.” Her father handed her a thick packet of pages, which were, she saw, from an attorney in Middlesex. “You remember your aunt, Agatha Bennet?”

“Of course I remember her.”

Mrs Agatha Bennet was the widow of James Bennet, Mr Bennet’s elder brother who had died long before any of his nieces could know him.

Agatha had remained a childless widow for above two decades, content to live off her own fortune and the very occasional society of her more dutiful nieces—in other words, Elizabeth.

Jane had visited once or twice, although not since she was thirteen, and Elizabeth herself had not been called upon to go to her for some years.

Agatha was a difficult woman, not thought of kindly by the family, but she was Elizabeth’s godmother and as such, Elizabeth had always felt a greater obligation to go when the lady stood in need.

In truth, she had rather enjoyed the company of the cantankerous older woman.

“She died,” Mrs Bennet announced bluntly. “At Christmas! And no one told us! How are we to mourn a person properly if they do not have the decency to inform us when they die?”

“It was exceedingly rude of her to keep her death to herself, Mrs Bennet. You may console yourself in being able to avoid dyeing the bombazine,” said her husband impatiently.

“I am grieved, exceedingly so, to hear that she is gone,” Elizabeth said with feeling. “She cannot have been older than sixty?”

“She was sixty-four,” said Mr Bennet. “It is believed she suffered an apoplexy in her bed. I daresay there are worse ways to die. But your feelings are not misplaced; it appears she was very fond of you as well and has distinguished you accordingly. Do read your letter.”

There was silence in the room while Elizabeth read. Her jaw dropped when the meaning of the words began to sink in. “Does this mean… Should I understand that—”

“That you are now an heiress?” Mr Bennet leant back in his chair, smiling broadly. “It seems you are.”

“You must sell the place immediately,” Mrs Bennet said decisively with a little chopping motion of her hand. “Then the proceeds of the property may be split among your sisters, and you shall all be able to have some little dowry.”

“In fact,” said Mr Bennet, “Agatha has willed that such a scheme is exactly what Lizzy must not do.”

Aunt Bennet had possessed property from her family in Brighton—a house by the sea.

And now it would belong to Elizabeth, along with the funds required to return it to a habitable state.

A sizeable sum had been laid aside, leading her to conclude that the disrepair of the place must be accordingly sizeable.

“How badly dilapidated is it?” she asked her father.

Her mother scowled. “Too badly dilapidated for you to concern yourself,” said Mrs Bennet firmly. “The very notion of it! A young lady cannot undertake such things! It would take an age to see to it all.”

An age? Elizabeth was suddenly very interested in the prospect. Time spent away from Longbourn, or any place where she might encounter gentlemen who wished to expound upon the subject of her inferiority, would be a welcome respite.

The thought gave her pause, for it was uncommonly bitter. Was she still so angry with Mr Darcy? Was it not more truthful to think that he must be disgusted by her—and would forever remain so?

Even more reason to relish ‘an age’ in which no one could reasonably expect her to seek a husband of any kind, for she would be too busy with her house.

Her own house! She bit her lip against the rush of delight in that.

“Your mother has the right of it,” said her father gently.

“It is far too difficult for a young woman to see to such things, to have to speak to the sort of men who make their living pounding and plastering and papering. They would take advantage of you, thinking you too young and silly to know the difference between good work and bad.”

“There are surely funds enough here for me to employ a man to oversee the project,” Elizabeth protested.

“How would that solve anything? You would still need to deal with him,” Mr Bennet replied.

“I think I would be equal to it. I would not be intimidated by any workman whomsoever, and if I were there, every day, I would learn to—”

Mr Bennet shook his head firmly. “My dear, think of it reasonably. Where would you live? Who would stay with you? It is impossible in every regard.”

“And what man would marry you with calluses on your hands and plaster dust in your hair!” Mrs Bennet cried.

“I was not planning to take up the hammer myself, Mama,” Elizabeth said with amusement. “But if I do not see to the repairs, what of the sum that my aunt laid aside for them?”

Mr Bennet gave a little wave of his hand. “I shall write to the solicitor. I am no expert in the matter, but it seems to me that all Agatha has stipulated is that the sum might not be divided, that it is used for your benefit alone.”

“Nonsense!” Mrs Bennet crossed her arms. “It is too unfair. What are your sisters supposed to do?”

“Live in the house with me?” Elizabeth teased.

Her father leant forwards. “It is clearly uninhabitable. I have not seen it, but I should imagine it would fetch a low price, given the apparent neglect. Get what you can out of it; let someone else have the headache of restoration while you enjoy the improved marriage prospects Agatha’s fortune provides.

” To his wife, he added, “Raising Lizzy’s prospects will be of benefit to her sisters as well, if perhaps less directly. ”

Elizabeth pondered that. She remembered thinking it very dreadful that Mr Darcy had denied his father’s wishes for George Wickham.

Of course, that had been all lies, but was she being a hypocrite in even considering denying her aunt’s final directives?

Agatha had clearly wanted her, and no one else, to have the house.

“Should I not go and see the place at least? Mama, should you not like the chance of seeing the officers in their new encampment? I know Kitty and Lydia would not object.”

She experienced a flash of relief to think that Mr Wickham would not also be going thither this summer.

He was due to be seconded to another regiment; Elizabeth knew not where or why, for she had studiously avoided all conversation with and about him since learning the truth of his character from Mr Darcy.

Her mother gave her a pinched look and shook her head.

“Never let it be said that I do not appreciate a man in a uniform, nor a bit of sea air, but I have no desire to travel all that way only to be traipsed around a building site. And I beg you would not put the notion in your sisters’ heads.

Lydia is already beside herself that the regiment is leaving.

I should never be able to drag her away from them a second time. ”

As though summoned by the mention of her name, Lydia appeared in the doorway. “Might we leave now? The party will be over before we get there if we do not make haste!”

Mr Bennet nodded and gestured for Elizabeth and Mrs Bennet to leave and the ladies rose from their seats obligingly. “Yes, yes, off you go. Think long and hard on this, though, Lizzy. You will see that your mother and I are right.”

When her father called her name again, Elizabeth paused at the door and looked back at him. “Yes, Papa?”

“Congratulations, child. It is a great boon, whatever you decide to do with it. Life-changing, really. Agatha could not have bestowed it on a more deserving recipient.”

She thanked him with a sweet smile and left to join her sisters in the carriage.