As she watched her eldest daughter marry the man who she loved, Fanny Bennet could not have been more pleased. Her husband sat next to her looking bored with the proceedings. Mary, the Viscount, Kitty, and Lydia sat in the pew on Fanny’s other side. Unlike her husband, they were all paying attention to the ceremony unfolding before them.
Bennet’s hope his wife or one of his younger daughters would expose themselves at the church, had been in vain. He was rather confused why the Viscount was sitting between Mary and Kitty. Surely a man of his rank wanted nothing to do with the daughter of a minor country gentleman. Could it be his entertainment would be provided by Mary being crossed in love? He could not understand how it was the younger Fitzwilliam brother had engaged himself to an impecunious woman like Charlotte Lucas. That at least would give Sir William a new story to tell.
While Jane and Bingley said their vows one to the other, lost in one another’s eyes, their attendants were exchanging surreptitious looks at each other. For Darcy’s part he had never seen Miss Elizabeth look better, and Elizabeth had finally admitted, if only to herself that as unlikely as it had seemed a month or two ago, she had developed tender feelings for Mr Darcy.
Once Mr Pierce declared them man and wife, Darcy escorted Miss Elizabeth, as they followed the newly married couple into the registry to witness the bride’s and groom’s signatures. With that done, they left Mr and Mrs Bingley andpulled the door closed behind them.
From the church, carriages were taken to Netherfield Park where the wedding breakfast was held in the ballroom. After a little less than two hours Jane asked Lizzy to accompany her to the suite she had been assigned by Louisa, where she could change into her travel attire. The latter had expressed much joy at having sisters once again.
As soon as Lord Hilldale saw Jane Bingley leaving the ball room with Lizzy in tow, he decided there was no time like the present. He had seen Mr Bennet make for the sparse library, which is where he found him.
“Mr Bennet, a word please,” Lord Hilldale addressed the man.
“Come to berate me again, have you?” Bennet sneered.
“What I seek is your permission to marry Miss Mary. I proposed to her, she accepted me, and,” he extracted the documents from his pocket, “I have the settlement ready for your signature.”
“As much as I appreciate a good joke, I know you would never offer for…” Bennet began to say, but he stopped when he saw the anger on the Viscount’s countenance. Even he knew you did not push a noble too far.
“It is no joke. Not all of us live to make sport of our friends and neighbours, and laugh at them derisively. I am perfectly serious; otherwise, why would I have this?” The disgusted Viscount dropped the settlement in front of Bennet.
As soon as he began to read, Bennet knew this was no joke. It was a settlement naming his middle daughter and Lord Andrew Fitzwilliam. It was much more generous to Mary, than Bingley had been to Jane. Bennet did the only thing he could, he signed each copy of the document.
Without a word Lord Hilldale took the signed documents. Lizzy’s advice had been sound; there was nothing the useless man could do now to stop the marriage. He joinedthe rest of the well-wishers in the drive. When he saw Mary, he grinned and nodded his head. Mary beamed a smile at him in return.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Even repeating twice that Mary was engaged to a viscount caused no vulgar effusions from his wife, so Bennet gave up and sulked. Why were his wife and younger daughters behaving so well?
“May I meet with you in the study at home?” Elizabeth requested.
“Of course you may,” Bennet agreed. At last! It had taken far too long for Lizzy to come around.
Chapter 32
Bennet was more than pleased that whatever had caused his Lizzy to pull away from him was a thing of the past. He was sure she would have some good ideas for how to cause her mother and youngest sisters to once again act in a way he wanted them to for his own amusement.
“Come in Lizzy,” Bennet called out enthusiastically when he heard her knock on the thick oak door. “We need to plan how to manipulate your mother and youngest sisters so they will return to the way they used to behave. They supply no merriment while they behave as they do now.”
Elizabeth took a seat before the desk and had to school her features not to allow displeasure to show. “Are you saying you do not want Mama, Kitty, and Lydia to behave as they should?” she asked, but then answered her own question. “Of course you do not, how can you feel superior to them if you have nothing over which to mock them?”
All Bennet could do was stare at his second daughter with an open mouth, raised eyebrows, and his glass of port suspended in his hand between the desk and his mouth. “How dare you speak to me in that fashion?” Bennet thundered when he recovered somewhat.
“Does that mean you will be sanguine with my marrying and not being your companion meant to amuse you until the end of your days?” Elizabeth asked calmly. Again, her father looked shocked she had been able to discover his intentions. She continued before he had time to respond. “I must thank you for truly opening my eyes to who you really are when yourefused to act to protect Lydia. That was your final failing which caused me to see you for who you are, it began when you said not a word to Mr Darcy regarding his slight aimed at me, which by the by, he apologised for as soon as I ignored your advice, and allowed him to speak to me.
“It was from that time I began to understand you care for no one except your own selfish needs and your desire to feel superior by denigrating all those around you.” Elizabeth paused and was not put off by the look of fury on her father’s countenance. “The only good which came out of Mr Wickham’s almost perfidy against my sisters and me, was my learning just how wrong I had been about so much. And why would I not be so? You made sure I was formed in your image. I cannot think of the way I used to tease my mother—who is not at all unintelligent—and younger sisters, all at your instigation, without abhorrence.
“I could list every instance of your behaving contrary to your duty as protector of your wife and daughters, and if I thought you were capable of change, I would. I am sure you will find some way to make yourself the victim and claim you have been ill used. In that, you and the convict who tried to ruin us, have something in common: blaming others for their own actions.
“You have failed, Mr Bennet, I willnotbe your companion, as much as you attempted to make me unmarriageable, I will marry one day. If you order me into your study, which is your right as my father, I will obey and sit and not say a word until you release me. However, I will not willingly spend time with you other than at mealtimes. The days of my disrespecting Mama, or failing to treat my sisters and others with kindness and respect merely for your entertainment, orany otherreason, are over. I am sorry to inform youMr Bennetbut your plans for me failed spectacularly and you will never be gratified in them. I also know why, over and aboveyour extreme indolence, you refused to save for dowries for your daughters. For shame, Sir!” Elizabeth remembered something. “When I was young and impressionable you told me the fifth commandment only applies to the father, in that, like so many things, you were wrong.”
“Do not think yourself intelligent, you are nothing but a silly girl like your mother and sisters!” Bennet spat out angrily. “You will regret the day you turned on me in this way!”
The truth of his daughter’s words cut him to the quick, but he would not allow her to see that. How had everything gone so wrong? He had been sure his plans for Lizzy had been realised, only now to discover they were for nought. How on earth did she know why he had not added to the money they would receive from their mother? He knew there was no point commanding her to join him in his study, she would sit there silently as she threatened. She would not entertain him, debate, or play chess. As angry as he was, dispensing corporal punishment, especially to a female, was something far beyond the pale for him. The sad part was he well knew his second daughter was inordinately intelligent; now he would have to mourn what would never be.
“You have said quite enough, Sir. I perfectly comprehend your feelings, and have now only to be ashamed of the way I cooperated with, believed in, and venerated you in the past. May I be excused please?” Elizabeth replied calmly.
“For the way you have spoken to me this day, you will not return to London. I will no longer give you an allowance, and if any man is witless enough to come asking for your hand, he shall be sent away with a flea in his ear. This will be in force for the rest of my days, so enjoy your lonely life, because now you have lost me,” Bennet spat out.
