Chapter 2
SILENT AFFIRMATION
Mr. Thomas Bennet sat across from his two eldest daughters, his thoughts a mixture of varying sentiments.
The day had been decades in the making. What a stroke of luck for his eldest daughter to be introduced as a prospective bride to the future heir of one of the finest estates in Derbyshire.
What an advantageous prospect for his entire family.
Befriending George Darcy during his days at university had been the wisest thing he had ever done in his life.
Unquestionably, nothing he had done since had been as beneficial.
He had decided early in life that the terms of the entail on his father’s estate were not conducive to a happy situation for his own future family unless he could beget a male child to inherit after him. Thus, Bennet was more than pleased to enter such an arrangement.
The fact that the bargain had been struck after a long night of drinking and lamenting their own woes of being the first-born son, or, as in both gentlemen’s cases, the only sons.
The terms had been loosely defined. Clearly, Bennet held the less risky hand.
Should Darcy’s first-born son and heir to Pemberley, which fortunately was not entailed, remain a single man after comfortably attaining the age of majority, Thomas Bennet would present his eldest daughter, provided she was also unwed, to the young man with considerable hope of a favorable outcome.
Decades had passed with a repetition of that agreement in one form or another in each correspondence.
Bennet was wise enough to know there were no guarantees, especially given the temperament of young people of the day.
Arranged marriages did take place. However, the last thing in the world he planned to do was encourage a marriage if he suspected his daughter and the young man were not a suitable fit.
Tearing his eyes away from all of nature’s magnificence that stretched before him, beautiful Pemberley Woods, he looked at his daughters again. The two of them were as different as night and day, both in countenance as well as in temperament.
The one thing he could say regarding his eldest daughters, Jane and Elizabeth, was that they made his life at Longbourn infinitely more tolerable.
The three daughters who remained behind were by far the silliest girls in all of England.
Unwilling to concede any share of the credit for the younger girls’ behavior, he held firm to his belief: like mother, like daughters.
I do not know how I shall endure life at Longbourn without my Jane and my Lizzy.
Indeed, if he could boast of but one of the girls as being his favorite, it would have to be his second-born, Elizabeth. Were it she that he was presenting to young Mr. Darcy as a future bride, Thomas Bennet could quite easily doubt the possibility of a favorable outcome.
Obstinate, headstrong girl is how his wife of over twenty years often described their second-born.
Indeed, she could be quite stubborn when she chose to be.
However, Elizabeth was also described as the brightest jewel in the country.
Having always favored her with his highest esteem, Mr. Bennet was compelled to agree with this portrayal of his second-born, and it had nothing to do with boasting.
There was a quickness about her that his other daughters lacked. A man whom others regarded as having a sardonic wit with an uncanny ability to laugh at those whom he regarded as being ridiculous, he could rightfully say that he and his second daughter were just alike in said regard.
Truth be told, he was not certain his second eldest daughter would ever find a man who was truly worthy of her.
She absolutely needed to marry a man whom she deemed her superior.
In his estimation, Elizabeth might well become a spinster rather than subject herself to the misery which must surely accompany marriage to a man whom she did not admire and respect.
What a relief that I am not presenting my Lizzy to the young master of Pemberley.
Mr. Bennet drew on his pipe as he continued to reflect on how things had come to be.
He recalled his old friend citing in his letters on more than one occasion that his son, who was more like his aristocratic Fitzwilliam relations than not, might first appear a bit aloof.
Haughty and proud is precisely how the young man had been described.
On the other hand, his friend had also said his son had proven on many occasions to be a most loyal friend, and one who would do anything in the world for those whom he cared about the most.
Pray, my Jane will meet the young man’s approval and pierce his elusive facade, Mr. Bennet silently considered. We are all depending on her. The thought of what life would be like back at Longbourn should this alliance not take place gave him considerable pause.
My dear wife would be beside herself with grief.
Jane’s marriage is meant to put all the other daughters in the path of rich young men who would marry each one of them in their turn, including Lizzy.
With little to no dowries to speak of, such a fate was crucial.
He laughed a little despite himself in recollection of his wife’s favorite antics.
Once again, he took up the task of admiring the beautiful scenery rushing by the carriage window. His wife’s words echoed in his mind: “Surely my Jane cannot be so beautiful for nothing. Young Darcy would have to be a fool not to fall madly in love with her.”
Miss Jane Bennet had her own thoughts on the matter.
The idea of an arranged marriage was certainly not something she was likely to reject out of hand.
If she could change but one thing about the scheme that was evidently planned for her before she was even born, she would have been told of it earlier in life.
At nearly three and twenty, she had all but given up the hope of ever finding a husband.
It was not entirely beyond the range of possibilities that her youngest sister, Lydia, might be married first, Jane often lamented—but only to herself.
Her nature simply would not allow her to do otherwise.
If not Lydia, who was only fifteen, then certainly Catherine, Kitty for short, who was next to her in age, but most likely it would be Lydia who was thought by all who had ever met her to be the first-place contender in the silliest girls in all of England competition.
Jane immediately chastised herself for thinking the way she did.
Proud to be thought of by everyone who knew her best as the most kind-hearted person in the world, who acted — nay existed, mainly to please others, Jane was afraid she had grown a bit cynical over the years.
Jane would be lying if she denied that the possibility of marrying one of the wealthiest gentlemen in all of Derbyshire and one of noble lineage as well did not intrigue her.
Having never seen a likeness of him, she could only imagine what the gentleman must look like.
On the other hand, what did it matter? He might well have warts covering his entire body, and it would not deter her in her quest to garner a marriage proposal.
I shall try my very best to accomplish that which my family expects of me.
The possibility that the gentleman might be a handsome man caused her heart to stir. She smiled a little at this thought. A lady might be just as well suited to marital felicity with an agreeable looking man as a disagreeable-looking man, she silently pondered. I am praying for the former.
Again, such thoughts as these caused Jane to rebuke herself.
I must not entertain any such thoughts like the ones I am wont to think of late.
Jaded or not, this was her chance to be the person everyone praised her as being—the person whom she had aspired to be all her life.
Jane sighed. I know that at any moment I am free to choose how I present myself to the world in general, and at this moment, I choose goodness. I choose warmth. I choose optimism. For that is the very nature of the person I am meant to be.
“Jane,” Elizabeth said, thereby interrupting her sister’s silent affirmation.
“Yes, Lizzy,” Jane replied, hoping that her inattentiveness had not been of a long duration.
“You seem rather pensive—a thousand miles away in fact.”
Jane reached out her hand. “Pray forgive me, dearest Lizzy. I am afraid I am a bit overwhelmed by the splendor of all this.”
Elizabeth laughed a little. Accepting her sister’s hand, she gave it a gentle squeeze. “By the looks of things, prepare yourself for a whirlwind of pleasures.”