Travel No Evil （Exposition Only） #3
Elizabeth Bennet’s journey did not begin with a marriage, but it shifted its course.
She was very pleased to stand up for her best friend Anne, and felt proud she might have had a beneficial influence on the woman.
She was not so proud as to take all the credit for Anne’s recovery and eventual happiness, but she felt she could claim at least a little.
Anne had been sick and declining before Elizabeth came to visit, and now she was robust and marrying.
In an introspective mood while lying in her bed, listening to the noises coming from Anne’s chambers (noises matching those she had heard before from the servants’ attics), she reflected that she was quite happy with the situation.
Nobody knew if Anne would survive or thrive in her new life.
Elizabeth was not so na?ve as to disbelieve Anne’s assertion that her health had been declining before she met Mr Read, but she thought Anne had as good a chance of happiness as any.
Anne’s husband was satisfied, Anne was satisfied, and Elizabeth even thought that some months hence, when she actually learned of it, both Lady Catherine and even the ever-noisy Miss Abbie must be as well.
Elizabeth of course had no idea that her sister Jane was now Mrs Bingley, and it would be some months before that intelligence might work its way through the war-torn waters of the Atlantic to find her in her confused and ever-changing direction.
After Elizabeth’s startling discovery that she was no longer employed but possessed a settlement, Mr Hopkinson read to her the actual contract Lady Catherine had written, and Elizabeth gasped in astonishment.
How in the world was it possible? The amounts suggested Anne’s illness was hereditary, and her mother insane.
Somehow, Lady Catherine had determined that Elizabeth Bennet was to be Anne’s salvation, and ensured the lady would be taken care of for the rest of her life.
Elizabeth had not the slightest idea how to deal with her new fortune.
She would have to establish several schools to even diminish the sum.
The month following the wedding also brought a physical journey.
It would ordinarily take two to three weeks to travel from New York to Ohio, but since this was also the couple’s wedding journey, and it was the middle of winter, they took six weeks, arriving in the middle of December.
They stayed at the finest inns and were not distressed if they were detained for a week.
There was much to be seen, and they could take the easiest trails if the weather was foul, or the most picturesque trails when not.
One might suppose that the blind would not enjoy scenery, but Elizabeth had long learned to appreciate the atmosphere of a place, to enjoy the stories she could hear from travellers, and even to live a bit vicariously through descriptions from her companions.
There were also the smells of the forests and hills, the sound of waterfalls, the noises of startled animals, and plenty of other things to attract her notice.
Travel through the Appalachian Mountains would sometimes be impossible and might have made the journey even longer, but the mildness of that winter allowed them through a pass with a bit of rough travel that Elizabeth enjoyed much more than Anne.
She had eventually learned to travel inside a coach with only modest distress, but still preferred her old trick of having herself strapped to a footman’s perch or even sitting beside the coachman.
It was the closest she thought she was likely to ever get to her beloved crow’s nest.
The journey, the clean air, the bouncing over every pothole in New York and the Ohio Territory, and her surprisingly candid conversations with the footmen riding with her, all led her to reflect that her life was now her own to do as she chose.
Elizabeth felt as though she had made a clean break with the last dregs of the unhappiness of the past with her untoward letter to Mr Darcy.
He was a good man, and she wished him well, though she thought she might suffer pangs of regret over not seeing him again from time to time.
She was sensible enough not to predict whether she would ever return to England; but it seemed less and less likely, at least in the next few years.
She could not imagine braving a ship by herself through the war-torn Atlantic, nor was she willing to travel overland to the Canadas, so she was quite fixed here at least for the duration of the war.
Their arrival in Ohio sent her onto another journey.
Mr Read, with the permission and encouragement of his wife, started involving her more and more in his business affairs right from the beginning.
At first, he only relied on her uncanny hearing to ferret out associates who might be less than forthright.
He soon discovered she had not only her special abilities, but she also possessed a sensible head on her shoulders.
As he started telling her more and more of his business, he found that she remembered nearly everything and could put together associations between disparate conversations in unexpected ways.
The three would sometimes talk well into the night, and between Elizabeth and Anne, they frequently had much better answers to business matters than he had any right to expect.
The three turned out to be a formidable team, and Elizabeth thought they might very well be quite happy, and very productive and even important in this new territory they were helping to build.
As winter gradually turned to Spring, Elizabeth found a great deal of contentment in her new situation.
She and Anne had immediately set up several schools within a day or two’s journey from their home; she was becoming more and more immersed in their business and their daily life; and she found that with time and practise, her music changed from a chore to a joy, both for herself and for all her companions.
Mr Read found a good master, and she dedicated hour after hour to practise, particularly when the practise ceased to be quite so frustrating, and especially when it started becoming joyful.
As spring advanced, and the fields of the Ohio Territory started to show their early efforts for the next crop, Elizabeth felt true contentment and happiness.
Easter services found Elizabeth thankful for all the bounty life had given her, with not the slightest concern that her loss of sight meant the end of her life.
She might never marry, but she would be content; and if Anne’s frequent attendance to the chamber pot of a morning was of any significance, she thought she might well enjoy the supreme benefits of being an honorary aunt or godmother before the start of winter.
Yes, Elizabeth Bennet’s journey was not at an end per se, but it had delivered her to a place where she was safe, happy, and content. She lived a life entirely free of regrets or vexation.
If, late at night, alone in her bed, she missed the company and conversation of a certain gentleman from Derbyshire, the thought never survived to the light of day… well, almost never.
~~~
Fitzwilliam Darcy found that, having delivered his cousin to the care of Miss Lucas, he was at a loose end; he therefore began a journey of introspection.
At Pemberley, he anxiously read each note from Miss Lucas regarding his cousin’s condition, resolutely resisting the temptation to ride to the lodge and scream at the man or shake him until he understood.
He quietly examined how he might remove the colonel from the joint guardianship of his sister should it be necessary, and attended to the estate business that was his lifeblood.
November brought heavy rainfall, which in turn produced flooding and damaged tenants’ cottages.
This was nothing new; it happened every few years, and each time they tried to prevent a recurrence, so he did not have the same tenants flooding repeatedly.
There were preparations for the care of the fields for winter, ensuring everything was ready for spring planting, and seeing that lingering issues were addressed.
Winter was a time of renewal, rebuilding, and rest before the work of the next season was undertaken.
Darcy also spent time working on his investments.
His forefathers had built Pemberley on years of efficient agricultural management through good and bad times, but it required diligence.
There were a number of formerly profitable estates where the owners—through neglect, changing markets, inattention, or worse, a wastrel heir—had lost their profitability.
In an odd twist, the war on the Continent had driven up agricultural prices; so, while his cousin the colonel suffered pain, death, and war, Darcy reaped record profits.
The irony was not lost on him, but he was aware that hundreds of tenants and villagers depended on his decisions.
The same profits that made him wealthy flowed to ever-increasing prosperity for everyone within his sphere.
He reaped the profits at the top, but all those below depended on his good stewardship.
He was also keenly aware that the war would eventually end, the prices would decline again, and he would need to be poised to handle the change.