If anything, rather than subside, Elizabeth cried even harder than she had been before. Jane was at a loss tounderstand what had occurred to make her sister agree to marry the very old man.
If it were her, Jane knew she would not have been able to withstand the pressure from her mother, but Lizzy would never give in to anyone. So why had she now?
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The Drawing room, an hour or so previously
“Talking to me alone will in no way change the fact I will never marry you, no matter what you offer my family as the price for my purchase,” Elizabeth insisted.
“Do you remember I asked if you loved your family?” the Duke questioned.
“I do, unlike you, I am still young enough to remember what was said minutes ago,” Elizabeth riposted.
Rather than get upset as she hoped he would, the Duke and his man, the one she had already grown to hate, Mr. Wickham, only grinned like fools.
“According to Wickham here,” the Duke inclined his head towards his man, “you love your older sister the most and will do anything in your power to protect her, will you not?”
“Who would not do what they could for one they love?” Elizabeth hedged.
“Indeed. If you continue to refuse me, I will tell your mother she is correct, I chose the wrong sister and I will propose to Miss Bennet. We both know she does not have the fortitude you do,” the Duke stated nonchalantly as he flicked some imaginary lint from his oversized waistcoat.
The fact he would never marry one as meek as Jane Bennet was not something the object of his desires needed to know. He had always been good at bluffing—and when needed, cheating—when playing cards.
The instant angry tears began to roll down her cheeks, Lord Archibald Chamberlain knew he had won. She would be the challenge he had wanted and he would take pleasure in bedding her to beget an heir.
“If I am to be forced to marry a vile old man, then I have some terms which are to be added to the wedding settlement…” Elizabeth had laid out a few things without which she would not agree to marry him.
“Agreed. I will have those items written into the marriage settlement,” he confirmed. “You do not want to know how much I will settle on you?”
“I care not.” Elizabeth spat out as she wiped some of her tears of anger from her eyes.
“After we marry, you will be presented at court, and then we will retire to my main estate of Falconwood,” the Duke related.
“Please summon Mr. and Mrs. Bennet back in, the sooner I am out of your company the better,” Elizabeth stated with a hard edge to her voice.
One thing she resolved, as she waited for those who had given her life but were certainly her parents no longer, was that she could not tell Jane why she had agreed to marry the heinous old man. Jane would never recover from the guilt which would plague her if she knew the truth.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Elizabeth stuck to her resolution. She told Jane nothing regarding her reasons for accepting the old man. It was her burden to carry.
Eventually, Jane’s gentle ministrations to her back relaxed Elizabeth to the point she was overtaken by sleep. WhenJane noted the change in her sister’s breathing indicating she was slumbering, she continued to rub her favourite sister’s back.
She could not even imagine the pressure which had been brought to bear on Lizzy to cause her to capitulate.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Philips pulled his brother into his private office, leaving the Duke dictating the terms of the settlement to the law clerk.
“Bennet, you cannot condone my niece’s marriage to a man who is practically of an age to be our fathers!” Philips exclaimed.
“You see the advantages to us aligning with him. The entail, dowries…” Bennet began to answer.
“With conditions,” Philips interjected.
“There are one or two more than I expected, but nothing I am unwilling to agree to.” The guilt of Lizzy marrying this man was already lessening.
The Duke had restricted the money for his daughters as he had said he would, but the interest from the four per cents would most probably be paid out to Bennet. Another four hundred pounds per annum, which Fanny would be unaware of would purchase many books and much port after Lizzy was married.
