Chapter 10 #2
Elizabeth had taken out the smelling salts when her uncle began to explain, and she thrust the vial in front of her mother’s nose without delay.
“Oh, heavens! Have mercy! I know nothing about being a duchess! What will become of me?” Mrs. Bennet wailed pitifully.
“If I can travel in a carriage like this all the time, live in a mansion in Mayfair, have my own maid, and have some handsome footmen following me, carrying my packages while I shop, I can get used to being Lady Lydia, daughter to a duke!” Lydia interjected excitedly.
Mrs. Bennet calmed down substantially on hearing how pleasant her life would soon be. “Lydia, love, you are indeed clever. Being a duchess may be exceedingly agreeable after all.”
Mrs. Bennet then turned to Elizabeth and said, “Lizzy, you are clever in a different way. You must read all those books on how to behave as a duchess and teach it to me. I must become an elegant duchess. I refuse to be made sport of by all the lower-ranked ladies of the ton!” implored Mrs. Bennet.
Then her mood changed suddenly, and she stared at Elizabeth with fire shooting from her eyes.
She scolded fiercely, “After I had sent you to your father’s bookroom, I noticed you seemed to be holding something back.
You have known about this for some time.
How dare you withhold this information from me! ”
Elizabeth was used to her mother’s mercurial moods and ignored the harsh tone of the accusation.
“Mamma, papa decided that Uncle Gardiner ought to break the news to you when you were almost at Northampton House. He worried you might become overwrought with the news and fall ill before we left Longbourn, forcing you to give up the trip. Also, there were too many eyes and ears around Meryton to keep your elevation a secret. We cannot predict what the members of the militia would do when five country girls suddenly become heiresses. You realize Mr. Wickham pursued Miss King because of her inheritance of 10,000 pounds. I am sure there are many more fortune-hunters like him in the militia.”
Again, Lydia interjected, “But none as handsome! Oh, he matters not. I will marry no one less than heir to a dukedom. Dukes are probably too old for me if they are all like papa.”
Mrs. Bennet thought for a moment and said, “Lizzy, you are not wrong. Girls, you should all aim high for a husband. I am very glad that nothing came of Mr. Bingley and Mr. Collins pursuing Jane and you, Lizzy. You must all marry titled gentlemen!”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at her mother exonerating herself so conveniently, forgetting the coercion and threats if Elizabeth refused to accept Mr. Collins.
The ensuing discussions among Mrs. Bennet, Kitty, and Lydia were quite heated. Kitty said she would be happy with a good gentleman from the gentry, but her mother and sister refused to let her have this choice.
Before long, the carriage stopped in front of a majestic house on St. James’s Place.
“We have arrived!” said Mr. Gardiner loudly to be heard above the argument.
All eyes turned toward the grand facade of the house—nine bays of windows, three stories topped by a highly sculptured pediment, and broad steps ascending to tall double doors with intricate carvings. Even the doorknobs looked like works of art.
All five mouths gaped open and jaws dropped, and then they all started talking at once.
“Is this to be my new townhouse? It is larger than Longbourn! So grand! Nine bays!” cried Mrs. Bennet enthusiastically.
“This house reminds me of a Greek temple,” remarked Mary, again reaching back to her history-reading days.
“Yes, Mary. It is in the classical style,” explained Elizabeth.
“Its beauty lies in its perfect symmetry,” sighed Kitty, with her hand touching her heart.
“Look, our house is the largest one here, and also the most handsome. I wonder how many dukes live on this street,” Lydia observed.
Mr. Gardiner interrupted the enthusiastic discussion about the appearance of the house and said, “See! The Duke himself is at the door to welcome his family. There are no mistakes. This is your new house.”
Mrs. Bennet panicked on seeing her husband, the former Mr. Bennet. She asked urgently, “Oh, Brother, how should I address my husband? He is not Mr. Bennet anymore. Should I call him Your Grace?”
“Sister, he is still your husband. You have the privilege of calling him by whatever name you fancy. I shall still call him Bennet. I am certain he prefers it to ‘Your Grace,’” answered Mr. Gardiner with mirth.
The four Bennet sisters looked at one another before the younger two began arguing about the order of descending from the carriage.
“Girls!” Mrs. Bennet turned and said sternly to her daughters, “You shall file out in the order of your ages. Lizzy will follow me. Mind your decorum. Do as Lizzy does. You are daughters of a duke now, not country chits with no manners!”
Lydia said under her breath, “We are walking from the carriage to the door, not entering a ballroom. Why all the fuss?”
Mrs. Bennet stared fiercely at her favorite daughter. “Lydia, if you defy me and shame me with your unladylike antics, I shall know how to act!”
Everyone was shocked speechless at their mother publicly scolding Lydia. Elizabeth felt, for the first time, optimistic that her family’s new life as members of the nobility might yet turn out well.