Epilogue
With the aid of the charity, Meryton entered a time of new prosperity.
The trustees conscientiously found their way, guided by careful evaluation of candidates for their generosity and ironclad contracts drawn up by Mr Philips.
Young men and a few women were able to afford education and apprenticeships, thus able to remain.
Businessmen were attracted to the town by the increasing number of available workers.
Merchants were enriched by their custom.
The old woollen mill was reopened. Encouraged by Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, the Society initiated new endeavours to employ soldiers and sailors as they returned from the wars on the Continent and at sea.
When industry advanced, the Society invested in the future via young inventors and engineers.
Meryton became the centre of a network of railways.
As the engine of this prosperity, Haye-Park thrived.
Mr Philips expanded his business, taking on Henry Lucas as a new clerk. Henry was married to Penelope Harrington shortly thereafter and eventually became a partner.
Unbeknownst to her brother, Miss Darcy already had a particular idea for her own charitable organisation.
She had had a narrow escape from ruin when she was fifteen, and as she recovered from it, she had felt a great sense of gratitude.
Not every young lady was fortunate enough to have an older brother to care for her.
After her marriage to Lionel Fielding, whose estate was near Pemberley, she created a society to care for other young women who had not been so lucky.
Mrs Bennet never lived in the dower house, though she visited it often.
She and her husband lived long and healthy lives, neither of them ever leaving Longbourn.
When Mr Bennet retired as a trustee, his daughter Mary was invited to succeed him.
She carried out her duties with all the sober earnestness that had always defined her.
She was surprised to find an affinity with Mr Galbraith.
They married and with Elizabeth’s approval settled in the dower house.
Kitty had a season in London and discovered what Elizabeth had a few years previous, that a connexion to wealth and rank would attract those who had no true interest in her welfare or her heart.
She returned to Longbourn and cared for her parents until she married Joseph Alcott, who had in the intervening years lost his spots, grown six inches, attended university, and taken over the management of Ashworth, his family’s estate.
After a year, Mrs Worley pronounced Lydia fit to return home. Once back at Longbourn, she found her family loving but much too disorganised, noisy, and chaotic. She wrote to Mrs Worley, begging to return to her orderly household. Mrs Worley took her in and that was where she stayed.
After their lease ended, the Bingleys moved north to be near the Darcys and found an estate to purchase there. The proximity of their two growing families delighted them for many years.
The halls of Pemberley rang with music, laughter, and lively conversation, and over time, the sound of many little feet, thus ensuring that the Darcy line would never die out.
Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy raised their children to have their feet firmly on the ground but to also believe in love, hopes, and dreams.