Chapter 7. Elizabeth and Her Father
Immediately following teatime the next day, Mrs Bennet insisted that Elizabeth accompany her into her father’s library.
“Mr Bennet, I insist that you speak to your daughter! She has been into the woods and torn the hem in her gown. I shall dress her in a gown like the girls on the farms wear if she keeps running about in the fields and woods!”
“But Mamma, I have such a good time–each day is an adventure this summer.”
“Lizzy, girls to not have adventures!” declared Mrs Bennet.
“Why not?”
“I am not understanding your question,” Mrs Bennet replied.
“Why do girls not have adventures?” asked Elizabeth in her most serious tone.
“Girls learn to be ladies,” Mrs Bennet explained to her daughter. “Boys run off to climb trees and throw rocks, but girls do not have adventures.”
Glancing at her father, Elizabeth asked, “But my Aunt Phillips had an adventure this spring. You said so yourself.”
Mr Bennet laughed aloud while Mrs Bennet’s face grew stormy.
“Elizabeth has asked an appropriate question my dear,” Mr Bennet reminded his wife gently. “Mrs Phillips had a visit to London but then Mr Phillips welcomed her home.”
Mrs Bennet caught her husband’s eye and sighed. “My sister’s husband allowed her to visit a friend in town. It was nothing more.”
Mr Bennet inclined his head to accept the polite fiction the ladies of the neighbour shared to accept Mrs Phillips back into their society after she had fled Meryton in the company of a young officer of the local militia and then returned to her husband only a few weeks later.
“But young ladies who take adventures sometimes have unexpected visitors!” Mrs Bennet declared and when Elizabeth’s face showed her confusion at her mother’s statement, Mr Bennet sighed.
“What your mother is trying to tell you Lizzy is that young ladies must remain with their parents or chaperones at all times.”
Elizabeth suddenly understood her mother’s meaning and blushed. “Do you mean like the girl the farm on Netherfield last Christmas? Her mother and father were very angry with her for weeks until she married Mr Thomas on our farm.”
“Yes, Lizzy. And then she had a baby at Easter–she is only seventeen but now she has a house to clean, a baby to tend and a husband to care for,” her father reminded his daughter.
“Mr Bennet, you allow your daughter to hear entirely too much talk from your visitors!”
“My dear Mrs Bennet, all the news of Harriet Jones and her unexpected visitor came from Mrs Lucas in your parlour over tea. You were the one who brought the girl’s plight to my attention, and I secured Mr Thomas as her suitor and husband.
We had to allow the banns to be read for three Sundays before they could wed. ”
Mrs Bennet blushed but nodded in agreement with her husband. She thought the matter had been settled to everyone’s satisfaction.
“Now Elizabeth, your mother is correct in that you are tearing your gowns and bonnets frightfully for a girl of your age. I shall not deny you the woods, but I do require you to diligently apply yourself to the needle.”
He glanced at his wife who nodded and took her daughter by the hand, “Come dear. Jane and I shall teach you how to fix that gown.”
**++**
That evening at the supper table while they waited for the dessert to be served, Elizabeth asked, “Papa, in the different stories of Robin Hood, was there every any mention of a cousin of King Richard?”
Mr Bennet sat down his mug of ale and considered his daughter’s question. “I do not remember the mention of any cousins for the king. Just a brother who became King John.”
“Mr Bennet, will you not read to us tonight before the girls retire?”
“Yes, please Papa,” asked Kitty, Mary and Lydia in succession.
“I should like to hear you read Papa,” Jane commented, and Elizabeth nodded in agreement.
“Very well, my dears. Shall we enjoy the stories about Robin Hood or a story by Shakespeare...?”
“Robin Hood!” all of his daughters exclaimed.
**++**
In the parlour, Mr Bennet sat beside a table with a candelabra providing light from eight tapers as he read of the outlaw robbing from the rich to give to the poor. Mrs Bennet contentedly continued with her sewing as did Jane and even Elizabeth while they listened to the story.
Mary, Kitty and Lydia gathered around their father’s chair listening to him read.
“What happens next, Papa?” asked Kitty as the clock was striking nine.
Mr Bennet closed the book and looked at his young daughter closely.
“Would you really want to know Catherine?”
Nodding carefully, the young girl knew her father was serious when he called her ‘Catherine’ instead of ‘Kitty’.
“Yes, Papa, what happens next?”
“Then tomorrow we shall read the story together in my library and you can read it to everyone tomorrow night.”
Excited, the young girl turned to Lydia. “Papa will read with me tomorrow!”
“But I want to learn to read too Papa!” Lydia exclaimed. “If Kitty...”
“Lydia,” Mrs Bennet called. “Come here dear.”
Mr Bennet was pleased that his wife was taking their youngest in hand–the baby would always remain special to his wife, but she must not be allowed to grow up spoiled.
“Now, off to bed with you,” Mr Bennet told his daughters. “Allow your Mamma and I with a few moments of silence before bed.”
Mrs Bennet watched Jane and Elizabeth guide Kitty, Lydia and even Mary above stairs to undress and tumble into bed while her husband left for his library. He returned in a few minutes with a tray holding two thimbles of sherry and a book.
“I brought you a sherry, my dear.”
“Thank you, Thomas. That was very kind,” Mrs Bennet replied as she lay aside her sewing to take the small glass. Mr Bennet returned to his chair beside the candles and said, “I thought you might enjoy a few of these poems.”
Her face bright with pleasure, Mrs Bennet resumed her sewing as she listened to her husband reading aloud.
**++**
“Lizzy, would you tell us one more story?” begged Mary.
The nursery door opened, and Jane slipped into the familiar room with her sisters.
“May I join you?” she asked. “It is very lonely in my room.”
“I wish I had a room by myself,” Mary sighed but she slid over as all of the sisters gathered on a single bed to hear Elizabeth spin the tale of King Richard’s cousin travelling through Sherwood Forest.
Kitty asked, “Is the cousin as handsome as you say?”
“I thought Maid Marion loved Robin Hood,” Jane observed.
When Mr and Mrs Bennet retired about stairs, they found their daughters all in one bed, the two youngest asleep as the three older ones still talked.
Mr Bennet carefully moved Kitty and Lydia to their own bed while Mrs Bennet tucked Mary into her bed and then allowed Jane to share Elizabeth’s bed.
They extinguished the last candle in the nursery and closed the door leaving five sleepy heads safely tucked into bed for the evening.
**++**