EPILOGUE
DARCY AND ELIZABETH’S engagement, once annouced, did not pass quietly.
Lady Catherine de Bourgh received the news with astonishment that very quickly gave way to indignation.
From the moment she was informed of the engagement, she protested loudly and without reserve, declaring the match ill-judged, delusive, and wholly unworthy of the dignity she believed her family to possess.
Her reproaches were directed chiefly at Mr Darcy, whom she urged, with increasing severity, to reconsider what she termed a most unfortunate error.
Darcy listened without interruption.
When she at last demanded that he abandon his purpose, he answered her calmly and with unmistakable firmness that his choice was made.
Lady Catherine did not forgive him this steadiness.
From that hour until her departure, she complained ceaselessly, predicting regret, disgrace, and consequences she declined to specify but appeared to relish imagining.
Elizabeth was not spared. She was declared scheming, her family grasping and ungrateful, and her father a man whose levity bespoke a dangerous want of sense.
Mr Bennet received these charges with a composure that could not be shaken, replying with such dry pleasantry that Lady Catherine’s indignation only increased.
The improvement of the weather, confirmed by Jenkins’s assurances, afforded lady catherine the opportunity she desired. The morning after the engagement, she quitted Pemberley in high dudgeon, declaring she would not remain another moment to witness such folly.
Anne de Bourgh departed more quietly with her mother.
Before leaving, she sent Elizabeth a short note, written with evident care, offering her congratulations and sincere good wishes.
She expressed genuine pleasure in seeing her cousin settled in a manner that promised such happiness, and spoke warmly of the affection she had formed for Elizabeth during their time together.
The note, modest and kind, was treasured.
Mr Collins’s departure was conducted in the same vein as his patroness’s, though tempered by repeated assertions of duty and civility. Mrs Collins, however, behaved very differently.
She sought Elizabeth out before their departure, expressing her congratulations with warmth and sincerity.
She spoke with quiet regret of having spent so little time in Elizabeth’s company during their stay, observing that circumstances had not always permitted her to act as she wished.
With some hesitation, she confessed that both Lady Catherine and her husband had cautioned her against being too intimate with Elizabeth because of Lydia’s scandal, and begged Elizabeth’s forgiveness if she had ever appeared distant.
Elizabeth, touched by her frankness, assured her at once that there was nothing to forgive.
Their parting was affectionate, and Elizabeth felt anew the comfort of knowing that, whatever opposition had attended her happiness, it had not been universal.
The following morning brought a happier announcement.
Mr Bingley, who had borne Darcy’s engagement with unfeigned delight, sought Jane at an early hour and secured her consent with a warmth and ease that surprised no one who had observed them.
The news was received with universal pleasure, and Mrs Bennet’s spirits rose to such a height that she could scarcely be prevailed upon to remain seated.
With Lady Catherine gone, the house seemed to breathe more freely.
The Gardiners departed the next day for London, eager to be reunited with their children and to share the extraordinary account of their Christmas confinement at Pemberley.
They left with sincere affection and every expectation of future meetings.
The Bennets, however, remained at Pemberley.
Darcy extended what he termed, with quiet emphasis, his first proper invitation, reminding them with gentle humour that their arrival had been the work of circumstance rather than design.
Mrs Bennet, with two daughters newly engaged, would not hear of refusal.
An invitation to Pemberley, she declared, was a rarity not to be disregarded, while Gracechurch Street could be visited at any time.
Mr Bennet, amused and content, raised no objection, and thus it was settled.
Thus, the Bennets spent the twelve days of Christmas at Pemberley in a manner so cheerful and harmonious that even those most inclined to scepticism were obliged to acknowledge the happiness of the arrangement.
Wedding plans, though approached with propriety and moderation, began quietly to take shape.
The families grew accustomed to one another, distinctions of rank softened by daily familiarity and shared joy.
Elizabeth and Georgiana formed a closer and lasting attachment.
Their affection, founded upon sympathy and esteem, soon ripened into a true sisterly bond.
Jane and Elizabeth shared their happiness without reserve, while Darcy observed with gratitude the ease and warmth that now reigned within his home.
Not all were equally pleased.
Mrs Hurst and Miss Bingley remained at Pemberley, their dissatisfaction thinly veiled and scarcely improved by time. Their long faces and constrained civility betrayed their sentiments, though Mr Bingley, in excellent spirits, bore their displeasure with good humour.
On the third of January, 1813, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Captain Ashford departed to resume their duties with the regiment.
The Colonel expressed genuine delight in both engagements, his pleasure unfeigned and warmly offered.
Captain Ashford likewise conveyed his congratulations with courtesy and good sense; yet there was, to those who observed him closely, a quiet disappointment in his manner.
He bore it with composure and spoke only of his wishes for Elizabeth’s happiness, accepting with dignity what could not be altered.
By the seventh of January, the Bennets returned to Longbourn, leaving Pemberley quieter, though no less happy.
The weeks that followed were passed apart, but not in silence.
Darcy and Bingley did not return to Hertfordshire until the latter part of January, both detained by family and business obligations.
Yet letters passed between the betrothed with gratifying regularity, eagerly anticipated and carefully preserved.
The wedding took place in the first week of March.
Hertfordshire was astounded. That the two gentlemen who had departed the neighbourhood so decisively the previous year—Mr Bingley abandoning Netherfield without explanation, and Mr Darcy appearing to disdain their society altogether—should return to marry two Bennet sisters was an event of such improbability that it supplied Meryton with speculation for weeks.
What none of them knew was that a Christmas snowstorm at Pemberley had confined them all together, forcing truths long avoided to be at last addressed.
What had seemed impossible in November had become inevitable by March.
The ceremony was attended by all the neighbourhood, eager in curiosity and delight.
The Earl of Matlock and his lady were present, their attendance signalling unmistakable approval.
Captain Ashford attended also, offering his congratulations with sincerity.
Even Caroline Bingley and Mrs Hurst were present, though their civility was of the barest description.
Lady Catherine de Bourgh did not attend.
She wrote to insist she would not be party to an alliance she deemed unsuitable and degrading to her family’s dignity.
Anne de Bourgh, however, sent a second note, expressing her happiness for Elizabeth and her regret that she could not attend, her mother having forbidden it. The letter was received with affection.
Mr Collins and his wife were in attendance, though Mr Collins appeared to be present chiefly from a sense of duty to his cousin and propriety toward the occasion.
His manner suggested that civility alone sustained him through the ceremony.
Mrs Collins, however, conducted herself with quiet warmth and seemed genuinely pleased by Elizabeth and Jane’s happiness.
Mrs Phillips likewise graced the event, her satisfaction evident and her spirits high, as she took great pleasure in observing her nieces so advantageously settled.
Mr and Mrs Gardiner attended with their children, who were eager to speak with the Bennet sisters of the Christmas spent at Pemberley, repeating with animation the stories they had heard so often from their parents of that memorable season.
Lydia Wickham also came for the wedding, radiant and entirely untroubled.
According to her account, her husband was prevented from attending by an urgent and confidential mission with his regiment, the particulars of which she declined to share.
None of the Bennet sisters believed this explanation for a moment, though they agreed it was entirely in keeping with Lydia to offer one so grand.
Thus were two unions formed, equally founded upon affection, respect, and understanding. Christmas had altered the course of their lives, though the season itself had long since passed. What began as an unexpected confinement had proved the greatest blessing they might have wished for.
And in that knowledge, Elizabeth and Darcy, Jane and Bingley, entered upon a happiness as lasting as it was well earned.
THE END and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!