Chapter 14
An hour later, Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy left Longbourn after revealing no news but with such an expression of heartfelt delight on their faces that Mrs. Bennet almost fainted from anxiety.
As soon as they departed, Mr. Bennet also returned to his library, content and relieved, enjoying the first day of his new life.
His solitude lasted only briefly, as his wife soon joined him. Unlike other times, however, she remained silent, sitting on the couch, looking at him wordlessly.
“Yes, Mrs. Bennet? May I help you in any way?” the gentleman enquired.
“I hope so. I wished to speak to Lizzy but she is with her sisters now…But may I ask?…”
“Please do, since you are here, madam.”
“My dear, Mr. Bennet, did Mr. Darcy come to ask for Lizzy’s hand? Or have I lost my mind?”
“I assure you that your mind is in perfect health, my dear Mrs. Bennet,” he answered with his usual mocking seriousness.
Mrs. Bennet forgot to breathe.
“And Lizzy accepted him?”
“She did. Not forced, but most willingly.”
“Oh dear Lord! Good gracious! Lord bless me! Mr. Darcy! This cannot be! Or can it? I prayed and I prayed but never dared to hope! My dear Mr. Bennet, what did you tell him? You gave him your consent and your blessing, I hope?”
“Of course I did. Even if I disliked him, I should never dare refuse anything for which he condescended to ask. But I truly liked him long before I suspected his inclination towards Lizzy. Besides, since Lizzy has already accepted him, you know too well there is nothing to be done against her wishes.”
Mrs. Bennet threw herself on the settee.
“I do know that. That headstrong girl would never agree to marry a man unless she looked up to her husband as a superior. That is why I was so frightened that she might remain a spinster. I never thought any man would take the burden of such a wild, disobedient wife! I thank the Lord that I was so wrong!”
“I thank the Lord, too, my dear. I confess I did not trust in a happy marriage for Lizzy either, precisely because of her lively talents and witty mind.
I knew her disposition would have surely placed her in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage.
What grief it would have been for me to see her unable to respect her partner in life. "
“Oh, Mr. Bennet, I confess I do not even listen to you anymore! I was about to faint a moment ago, but now I must leave you! We must have a celebration dinner! Two daughters engaged, and to what men! And Mr. Darcy! So tall and so handsome! Oh, I hope he will smile more, now that he is engaged; he is rather disturbing when he stares in silence.”
“I am sure he will smile more,” Mr. Bennet responded, returning to his book and hiding his own smile and tearful eyes behind it. But he was alone already, as Mrs. Bennet had left in a hurry, only to return in haste.
“Mr. Bennet, I never thought that Lizzy’s passion for reading and all the time she used to spend in the library could bring us any good.
But it did! You were so clever to encourage her to read so much!
How fortunate that she ventured to the library in the middle of the night! Dear Lord, I am so very happy!”
“I am glad that reading and the library finally make you so happy, Mrs. Bennet,” he uttered, but he found himself alone again.
In the silence of the library, finally alone after several days of complete turmoil, Mr. Bennet was torn between exhilarating happiness and deep sadness.
He realised that he had lost his beloved daughter precisely over their shared passion: the pleasure of reading.
But his distress was quickly palliated by the thought that he had secured – because of the same passion – a son-in-law very much to his liking and a lifetime invitation to one of the finest and richest libraries in the whole of England.
And that was almost as rewarding as the certainty of Elizabeth’s felicity in marriage.