Chapter 4 #3
Embarrassed, Elizabeth turned her head aside to avoid his laughing gaze.
“Forgive me. Of course, I should have known that you and I would likely be of a similar mind, but my mother has grown more insistent in the years since you have gone away, and I am afraid her single-mindedness has been remarked upon, not only by our general acquaintance, but by others as well. It is a subject that brings me no pleasure and has, in fact, occasioned both Jane and me a significant degree of pain and mortification over the past year. I can no longer find humour in it.”
“Hush. I am well acquainted with your mother and her aspirations for you and your sisters. Be not alarmed. I will not fall into her clutches after all these years, though you must realise that no man of any sense would ever consider it a penance to be bound to you in such a way.”
Elizabeth withdrew her hand from his arm and pulled her shawl tightly around her shoulders. “And that, I am afraid, is a matter of opinion. Please, let us speak of something else.”
“As you wish. My uncle informed me there is to be an assembly, Saturday next. Say you will do me the honour of saving a dance for me, Lizzy, or perhaps two if your father denies me the pleasure of standing up with Kitty.”
Elizabeth bit her bottom lip in indecision.
One dance would not raise any untoward expectations amongst their neighbours, but her mother was another matter entirely, and one not so easily dissuaded once she set her cap at something.
Elizabeth considered refusing Mr Ellis’s request but dismissed the idea quickly, for courtesy would then demand that she decline every gentleman who petitioned the same honour.
She was by no means willing to forgo the distraction an evening of dancing would afford her, not even to deflect her mother’s shameless matchmaking.
“Very well. If you insist upon it, I will dance with you, but I must entreat you to take great care with my toes. I do not enjoy being tread upon by gentlemen who are woefully inattentive to the placement of their feet.”
The stable hand arrived then with his horse, and all discourse between them came to an end as Mr Ellis mounted smoothly and tipped his hat to her.
He accepted a lantern from the stable hand and urged his horse forward with a quick flick of the reins.
Elizabeth’s eyes followed him until he passed the pale marking the estate’s entrance and turned onto the road.
The rhythm of his horse’s hooves carried clearly, even as he disappeared from her view.
“Well, that went rather well, I daresay,” Mrs Bennet declared once both gentlemen had departed Longbourn and her two eldest daughters had returned to the house.
“Jonathan Ellis will be a very fitting match for you, Lizzy. I wonder that I never thought of it before. What should be more natural than to see you as mistress of Lucas Lodge, especially after those odious Collinses toss us out into the hedgerows when your father is dead?”
Elizabeth sank onto a sofa and exhaled tiredly.
“Mamma, as you well know, Sir William has several sons of his own, so there is little chance of Mr Ellis inheriting. In any case, I have no interest in him beyond that of friendship, and his intentions towards me are hardly any different. We have known one another since we were in leading strings. Indeed, no romantic attachment exists between us. We are practically brother and sister.”
“Nonsense,” Mrs Bennet insisted, wrinkling her nose.
“You can be very pretty, Lizzy, when you set your mind to it, and though you are not half so handsome as Jane, your figure is ten times more attractive than those of Mrs Long’s nieces.
Mark my words. With a little flattery and a few smiles, Jonathan Ellis will very soon be disposed to favour you above every other lady in the neighbourhood—and you would do well to encourage him!
Lady Lucas informed me he inherited a very tidy sum while he was away, and I am sure it is more than enough to live upon—and quite comfortably, too!
He is young and healthy and so must be in want of a wife.
You cannot very well continue to go around refusing perfectly good marriage proposals from every man who condescends to ask.
You will not retain your bloom forever, you know. ”
Kitty gave Elizabeth a sly glance. “Mr Ellis is far more handsome than I remembered, Lizzy. It would not be so bad to be married to him, would it? After all, he is far more agreeable, both in manners and figure, than Mr Collins.”
Mr Bennet cleared his throat and gave his fourth daughter a disapproving glare over the top of his newspaper.
“Whatever Mr Ellis’s physical advantage over your cousin, I absolutely forbid you to speak of it, Kitty!
You shall continue to comport yourself with some degree of decency or you will forever remain at home while your other, more decorous sisters enjoy themselves at balls and assemblies.
In any case, I doubt Lizzy needs your advice on how to choose her lovers.
She is clever enough to manage them on her own. ”
Blushing, Elizabeth proclaimed with feeling, “I am not interested in forming any attachment with Mr Ellis, and beg you not to speak of such things, especially in front of our neighbours. I could not bear the mortification.”
Mr Bennet raised his brows in amusement while her mother huffed her displeasure. “If you continue to take that attitude, then I do not know what will become of you after your father is dead, for I shall not be able to keep you!”