Chapter 17 #2
Several heard this as they did not lower their voices as they browsed in the milliner’s shop.
Several of those who overheard this conversation tittered at these machinations, as they were well aware of Elizabeth’s unwillingness to invite her Bennet family, particularly her mother and eldest sister, anywhere.
The residents of Meryton were tired of the matron’s insistence her oldest daughter was the loveliest girl in town and how she always pushed her and her daughter forward whenever anyone new visited the town.
She had frequently slighted all their daughters, and while she might be the wife of the largest landholder in their corner of the county, most of the families in town remembered how Miss Bennet had been born not long after the Bennets’ marriage or how Mrs. Bennet had once been Frannie Gardiner, the biggest flirt in the county.
It had been quite the surprise when Thomas Bennet had married Miss Gardiner not long after her seventeenth birthday and an even greater shock when she had entered her confinement a mere six months later.
However, few were surprised when Jane Bennet was the very image of Frannie Gardiner and did not possess a single feature of Thomas Bennet.
On the other hand, Elizabeth Bennet had taken after her father, and many wondered if that was why her mother had so soundly rejected her long after she should have gotten over her not being a boy.
The fact that the Bennets’ second daughter had resided in the dower house with her grandmother for the first six years of her life had not escaped anyone’s notice.
As the girl grew up and became the kind and generous child she was, no one wanted to injure her family by openly speaking against them.
With Elizabeth married and no longer a Bennet and Mary settled into the Gardiner house in London, this no longer was as much of a concern for the people of Meryton.
As the Bennet ladies grew louder, so did the audience.
Suddenly, the two ladies were surrounded by several women.
“Do you honestly believe Mrs. Darcy will ever invite you into her home or allow you to impose on her new family, given how you have treated her? Mrs. Bennet, you have done little to hide your dislike for your second daughter her entire life. It was only out of respect for the elder Mrs. Bennet first, and then for Miss Elizabeth herself, that we have not cut you and your insipid eldest daughter,” Mrs. Goulding asked, upset at how Mrs. Bennet spoke of using her least favourite daughter’s connections to further her interests.
Another lady spoke up. “Have you never wondered why men call on you once or twice and then stop visiting, Miss Bennet? It is because you have nothing other than your looks to recommend you. You do not play, you do not read, or visit the poor—you have no conversation and only seem to be able to smile at them. And, quite frankly, were any of these gentlemen to hear how you speak of your sister, they would want nothing to do with you.”
Jane was horrified by the idea. “There is nothing wrong with me. Mama has always told me I am far prettier than any girl in Meryton, and I deserve a wealthy man who would care for me and provide for Mama when my father passes. With the estate entailed away from the female line, it was my duty to marry well, and since I am so beautiful, surely a man will offer for me.”
A male voice cut through the crowd. “But few men will marry a woman for her appearance alone. Perhaps it would be enough if you were beautiful and had a fortune, but you have nothing to tempt a man other than your smiles. Once they have sat with you for a half hour, they realise you have nothing else.” The voice belonged to the gentleman who had called on Jane once or twice but had just as quickly stopped.
His name was Andrew Livesay, and he owned a modest estate near the small town of Blackburn in Lancashire County in northwestern England.
“I will make a match much higher than you,” Jane turned to hiss at her former suitor. “My sister may be married to the nephew of an earl, but I will make a far more spectacular match, regardless of what you say.”
“Yes, I heard your sister married Fitzwilliam Darcy,” Mr. Livesay replied.
“He is an extraordinarily good man, and your sister is lovely. Not only is she beautiful, but she is also an excellent conversationalist. They are an ideal match, and I do not doubt he will make quite a success of his estate. Your sister will be the darling of the ton if she can persuade Darcy to remain there long enough to manage it. Fortunately, he did not inherit Pemberley, as he would have hated the attention he would draw as the master of that great estate. It was reported Pemberley earned more than ten thousand pounds a year when his father was alive; I do not doubt he would have made it even greater. He has always had the Midas touch with his investments, and I understand he nearly doubled what he inherited when his father died. And now he has an estate on top of that.”
The more Jane heard, the angrier she grew and the more determined she became to do whatever she could to replace her sister as Mrs. Darcy.
“I was the one who was supposed to save the family by making a spectacular match, not Lizzy,” she inwardly fumed.
“I will find a way to destroy her marriage and take what is hers as my own.”
Jane did not successfully hide these thoughts, as her anger was written across her face.
Mr. Livesay has been a year ahead of Fitzwilliam Darcy at Cambridge.
The two had rarely conversed, but Darcy had quite a studious reputation and had finished school almost a semester earlier than most of his peers.
He had managed to do that by studying when most of his peers had been sowing their wild oats, a pastime neither Darcy nor Livesay had partaken in.
Livesay’s father passed away not long after he finished school, and it had taken him a year or two to learn everything required to run his estate well.
This visit to Netherfield with a friend leasing the estate had been his first time away from his estate since then, and Miss Bennet was the first woman he saw who attracted his interest, at least until he spoke to her.
Mr. Livesay considered it might be a good idea to warn his former schoolmate about this jealous harpy but was uncertain where to address a letter.
He did know a few people to ask, and when he returned to Netherfield, he sent several notes by the next post to see what he could learn.
One of these was Darcy’s cousin and a classmate of Livesay’s, Major Richard Fitzwilliam.
Two nights later, the residents of Netherfield were invited to a dinner at Lucas Lodge.
The Bennets had very noticeably not been invited.
As Mr. Livesay circulated the room, he heard several discussing that family and began a conversation with Miss Lucas, a woman he had not paid attention to before now.
“Miss Lucas, what do you know of the newly married Darcys,” he asked his host’s daughter.
“Darcy was a classmate of mine; well, he was a year behind me, but I knew him by reputation, and we occasionally spoke. I have spent most of the last few years at my estate immersed in business there. I participated in a conversation yesterday in town that worried me. Miss Bennet seemed rather angry, unreasonably so and was vocal in expressing her belief she was entitled to more than her sister. I truly could not understand her attitude, but she seemed so certain. I wrote several letters to friends in London to see what I could discover about where the Darcys might be.”
“They are on their wedding trip, but I do have their direction, or I will soon. Is it important enough to send an express, or do you think the news will keep until they return to their estate? They have yet to select an estate—his grandfather left two for the potential second sons of his children—and they will decide on travelling to the Lake District. After a month at Darcy Cottage, they will return to their estate as neither particularly wants to return to town.”
The two conversed further about the Darcys, with Charlotte revealing more about Elizabeth and Livesay sharing what information he had about Darcy.
Gradually, the conversation transitioned from the Darcys to discussions about themselves.
Before the evening concluded, he requested permission to visit her, and he soon felt regretful that he was obliged to depart for his estate via London, where he had several commitments to attend to as the Season ended.