Chapter Forty-Six
Word spread quickly through the servant’s grapevine that Mr. Bingley’s sister had arrived at Netherfield, and that she was not at all kind. “Too high in the instep,” was Mrs. Hammond’s opinion, and Mr. Braddock only rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“Oh, dear,” Mrs. Bennet said, when Hill told her the news the next morning at breakfast. “Jane, this is not at all good. She is not likely to approve of a match between you and her brother, if she is as condescending as all that.”
Mr. Bennet raised his eyes from his newspaper and said, quite unexpectedly, “Why, that is absurd. She is the daughter of a tradesman, and we are landed gentry. He would be lucky to have you, Jane, and you must never forget it.”
Jane was so surprised at her father’s comment that she dropped her toast into her teacup, and tea spilled over onto the tablecloth. “Oh, no!” she cried, and quickly dabbed her napkin at the tea. Then she looked up. “Thank you, Papa,” she said, softly. “That is very kind of you.”
He reddened and looked down at his own plate. “It is the simple truth, Jane, no more and no less.” Then he looked over at Elizabeth, who was carefully staring at her own plate. “Lizzy, may I see you in my study when you are done breaking your fast?”
She nodded, but did not look at him.
***
Elizabeth dallied as long as she could over her breakfast, but she finally decided it was best to get this visit to her father over and done with. She knocked tentatively on his study door, was bade to enter, and did so. She stood before his desk and said, “You asked to see me.”
“Please sit.”
She hesitated, and then did so.
“I thought you might wish to know how the plan we concocted with Mr. Darcy was proceeding.”
As it happened, she very much wished to know, but refused to give her father the satisfaction of knowing that. So she lifted her shoulders a fraction of an inch and let them drop.
“Yes. Well, the documents of the sale of Longbourn to Mr. Darcy have been signed and notarised by your Uncle Philips. Mr. Darcy sent them off to his solicitor in London.”
Elizabeth nodded.
“He is also researching the legality of Mr. Collins’ claim to the estate.”
“Is there reason to doubt it?” Elizabeth was surprised.
“I never thought there was, but it seems Mr. Darcy likes to be thorough.”
“Commendable.”
“Yes.”
Silence. Then – “Lizzy, I was wrong, completely wrong, to have placed you in such a terrible position when you were a child. I do not blame you for hating me.”
Elizabeth went utterly still. This was the first time her father had directly addressed the chasm between them. In ten years, a full decade, this was the first time. Finally, she stuttered out, “I do not – not – hate – not hate you. Not exactly.”
“What, then?”
Tears choked her throat, and she could not speak. She shook her head and ran from the room.
***
While Elizabeth was in her father’s study, Mrs. Bennet pulled Jane aside. “What is going on with your two youngest sisters?”
“Going on?” Jane repeated. She knew exactly what her mother meant, but very much hoped Lizzy would return and help her with this conversation.
“They have been strangely quiet! I thought they might be sickening with a fever, but their foreheads are cool enough.”
Jane looked behind her one more time.
“Elizabeth is not here; come, Jane, you must know something. What is it?”
Jane took a deep breath. “Well, I suppose you should know. Elizabeth and I told them how men and women…” she trailed off.
“You did! Heavens!” Mrs. Bennet fanned herself rapidly with her hand. “That is my business to do, not yours, Jane.”
“I know that, Mama, but the two of them were flirting madly with Mr. Wickham, and neither had the slightest idea of what he might want with them. They understood that they could not marry him, and thought everyone was just having fun and flirting, but they did not realise…could not understand…Mama, they had to be told!”
Mrs. Bennet stopped fanning herself. “I see,” she said, slowly. “Then you did well, Jane. I do not imagine that it was easy.”
“It was not, and I rather fear that I might have gone too far, as I used Daisy, our mare, and the stud stallion as examples.”
Mrs. Bennet’s face was a picture; she went from outrage and horror to concern and then to amusement. Finally, she burst out laughing. “So they think that human men –“
“I fear so.”
“Too, too funny! Well, if that does not keep them away from officers, I do not know what will! How your Aunt Philips will laugh when she hears this!”
“Mama, there is one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“They asked if Mary knew, and Elizabeth and I shook our heads. Then they said it was doubtless because we thought no man would want her. I do not like that, Mama. I do not like that they even thought to say such a thing, and I particularly do not like that they might be right, that this is what we all thought.”
Mrs. Bennet closed her eyes for a moment; then she opened them and spoke, calmly. “Leave this with me, then, Jane. You and Lizzy have done enough.”
“Are you angry at us?” Jane asked, anxiously.
“No; you and Lizzy did the right thing. I only wish I had thought to do this myself. Though I do not think I would have used quite that same imagery.”