Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Following the confrontation, Mrs Bennet remained in her room for the rest of the day and only emerged at her husband’s insistence the next morning.
While Kitty and Lydia were working on their lessons with Mrs Martin, she spoke quietly with Jane, who chose to remain at Longbourn to help her mother, despite Elizabeth’s attempts to convince her to stay at the house let by Darcy.
Lydia complained loudly following Elizabeth’s departure, and after listening to her complaints for some time, her father sat down to explain the necessity of sending her to school.
Surprising them both, he apologised for his past inattention and for allowing her to believe her behaviour was appropriate.
“Lydia, you must go to school,” Mr Bennet said in a firm tone his daughters were unused to hearing from him.
“If Lady Lucas did not object to you as a daughter-in-law, you would either be engaged to young Lucas or ruined because of rumours of your improper behaviour. Such rumours would ruin your sisters as well. Sending you to school is necessary as your mother and I have obviously not done our job in ensuring you know how to behave.”
“But I am behaving as Mama has always told us,” Lydia said. “She encourages us to have fun, and kissing boys is fun. It was better when the militia was here, but Ben Lucas ….”
“What do you mean?” Mr Bennet stopped his youngest daughter from running on. “What did you do with the militia officers?”
“Oh, I kissed several on a dare,” she told him. “Maria Lucas and I thought it was a good joke, although Kitty would not join us. In fact, I think Maria was too afraid to actually follow through with it, but at least five officers kissed me.”
“You have allowed five officers to kiss you?” Mr Bennet nearly yelled, seeming to understand finally what a dangerous precipice of respectability his daughter was teetering on.
“What were you thinking, you foolish child? I am astounded that rumours are not circulating throughout town, and your reputation is not already ruined.”
Lydia was nearly in tears as her father had never raised his voice to her before. “What do you mean?” she blubbered.
Mr Bennet calmed himself and attempted to explain how her actions could have impacted her and the rest of his family.
For the first time, he felt shame at how lax he had been with his daughters.
He knew Jane and Elizabeth’s behaviour, and Mary’s to a lesser extent, was due to the influence of the Gardiners.
Kitty and Lydia, however, had not visited them and only had the example of their mother to follow.
Since Mrs Bennet constantly belittled her second daughter, they would not listen when Elizabeth corrected them, and Jane had never attempted it.
His conversation with Lydia preceded a long-overdue conversation with his wife, during which he finally told her in greater detail about the debt he amassed and how the Darcys had saved them, including paying the merchants in Meryton and preventing their family’s near ruin from becoming fodder for the village gossips.
Mrs Bennet was surprised at some of these revelations, especially as they related to her youngest daughter, and was further surprised when her husband followed this confession with a sincere apology for his treatment of her during the years of their marriage.
This conversation lasted well into the evening and left both tired but more content and hopeful than either had been in many years.
So it was when Elizabeth and Darcy arrived for a visit later that morning they found a household more subdued than usual. Lydia remained in her rooms, as Mr Bennet was still unwilling to allow her in company until she understood the damage she had nearly wrought upon the family.
Mrs Bennet received them graciously and was almost civil to her guests.
As the family sat together in the drawing room, Mrs Bennet once again refused to accept Jane’s answers when she repeated her inquisition from the day before: “So, Jane, tell me again of the gentlemen you met at Pemberley with the Darcys.” Although she attempted to be quiet, her voice carried to nearly everyone in the room. “Why are you not yet engaged?”
“There were several single gentlemen at the house party, Mama, but none were interested in me, and I did not wish to know any of them better,” Jane replied, her voice low as she attempted to keep the conversation private.
“Whyever not, Jane? Surely there was at least one single gentleman there who caught your notice,” the matron insisted.
“Now that I have seen something of life in the first circles, at the ball to celebrate Darcy’s marriage and other events we attended, it is not a life that interests me.
I did not encourage any gentlemen at the house party, but I doubt any would have been interested in me regardless,” Jane tried again.
“I do not understand, Jane,” Mrs Bennet demanded, her voice becoming loud and shrill in her excitement.
“Calm yourself, madam,” Mr Bennet hissed at his wife. “Jane said she was not interested in any of the gentlemen, and that is the end of it. She will marry when she finds a gentleman she wishes to marry. There is no reason to push our daughters to make matches they do not desire.”
Mrs Bennet scowled at her husband and then glared at her married daughter before muttering something under her breath. Mr Bennet thought he heard “unfeeling child” but was uncertain which daughter the imprecation was directed toward.
Mr Bennet attempted to turn the conversation.
“So, Lizzy, tell us about Pemberley,” he began.
“You have said much in your letters, but I want to hear more about your new home. It must be magnificent, given how diligent a landlord your husband no doubt is.” His voice was tinged with his obvious resentment and bitterness towards the man who had stepped in to rescue him and was constantly lecturing him on his lackadaisical attitude.
“No, Lizzy,” Kitty interrupted, “tell us of your wedding! On your last visit, you were so distracted in speaking with Papa that we never heard much about it. Jane has said a little, but I would love to hear more.”
“Yes,” Mrs Bennet cried, “tell us of your wedding! Did I understand correctly that you married by special licence? And at the home of an earl? Tell me about your wedding dress.” This shift in the conversation encouraged Bennet to invite Darcy to his study under the guise of discussing estate business, but Darcy was reluctant to leave Elizabeth until she gave him a slight nod.
Truly, Bennet did not want to speak with his son-in-law, but speaking of estate management seems far preferable to hearing of weddings and lace.
Elizabeth hid a grimace, knowing her mother only wanted to boast to her friends about the wedding.
“Yes, Mama, we married from Mr Darcy’s uncle’s home.
I stayed with his aunt and uncle for a day or two when I first arrived in London after the incident with Lady Catherine, although I removed to the Gardiners once they arrived in town. ”
“I never understood why you were sent away from the Collins’ home,” Mrs Bennet interrupted. “Lady Lucas tried to make it out to be some sort of compromise, but when she hinted at it in July, you and your husband accused her of spreading falsehoods.”
“Lady Catherine wanted Mr Darcy to marry her daughter. When he refused, as he had before, she blamed me and decided to ruin me. At her orders, Mr Collins immediately evicted me from the parsonage without any thought or care for me or my reputation. Mr Darcy had prepared for this eventuality and ensured I was not injured. I travelled to London in a hired coach with a maid and a footman and stayed at Matlock House until my Aunt and Uncle Gardiner returned with Jane. Mr Darcy had already asked for a courtship, but he proposed once I was at his family’s home.
He visited Papa the next day and received his consent to our marriage.
Papa sent me a letter recommending we wed soon and in London.
At the time, we believed Lady Catherine had something to do with the need to marry quickly, but we learned later that Papa hoped my husband would give him the money he needed. ”
“Your father approved of your marriage? He knew of it ahead of time?” Mrs Bennet screeched.
“Of course he did,” Elizabeth coolly replied. “We could not have married otherwise as I was not yet of age in April.”
For some time, the room was quiet as each considered these revelations.
When she learned of the wedding in a letter from Mrs Gardiner after they were married, Mrs Bennet was angry and offended.
So upset was she at Elizabeth that she did not realise Mr Bennet must have consented to the marriage and, during her visit in July, had largely ignored her and spoken to her as little as possible.
While she resented Elizabeth for marrying so well while Jane was still unwed, she was, for the first time, angrier at her husband for deliberately preventing her from participating in and witnessing her daughter’s wedding than at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth now understood a small portion of her mother’s recent anger towards her but was extremely frustrated and angry with her father over his selfish thoughtlessness.
She alleviated her mother’s concerns about the sudden wedding as best she could and made a point of acquainting her with Mr Darcy’s good traits, as he had been much maligned in recent months in the Bennet household by Mr Bennet’s bitter complaints about Mr Darcy’s ‘demands’ related to the loan.
Mrs Bennet felt better about her daughter’s marriage and, being less angry with Elizabeth, pressed her repeatedly to allow Lydia to remain at home and to introduce her youngest daughters in town, even as she criticised Elizabeth.