“Fanny, as much as it chagrins me to admit to you, I have always held the belief I was better than you. Of the two of us, however, you changed for the better. So much so after the twins that I was envious and refused to allow myself to acknowledge all the ways you had bettered yourself. You stopped boasting and gossiping; you had an air of contentment about you that I could not fathom or emulate, so I suppose I felt if I looked at how you changed then I would have to look at myself. Not being ready to do so, I was so jealous and petty...” she stopped when Fanny locked onto her arm.
“Sarah Lucas, let me stop you there! You have nothing to apologise for. You cannot be held accountable for your thoughts, and as far as I know, you have never slighted me or any in my family. The fact you recognise now that you may need to make changes only points to your inherent goodness and value as a friend.
“Heaven forbid, but you could be another Miss Bingley, and never see your faults, ignore anyone who tried to point you in the right direction, and become very bitter. Sarah, I have known you as far back as I can remember so if there is anything I can ever do to help you as you take steps to become the woman you want to be, I am here for you,” Fanny told her friend lovingly.
“From the bottom of my heart, I thank you, Fanny, but you do not need me when your friends include peers of the realm.” Sarah shook her head, trying to understand why Fanny was bothering with her when she had been so very unkind in her own thoughts.
“Do you think we have ever selected our friends by social standing? What is important to us is genuine friendship, character, and that we enjoy each other’s company. Social standing has nothing to do with it, so please put such thoughts out of your mind now and forever. You have been my friend since I was a little girl holding onto my mama’s apron strings, do you think so little of me that I would cast you off because of wealth or our other friends?” Fanny challenged.
“You became so calm, and you had no more attacks of nerves, they stopped from one day to the next, I could not fathom what had changed. I was so very confused,” Lady Lucas stated with a smile.
At that, both friends giggled like they once had so many years ago when they were schoolgirls. When the comfort of laughing with her friend enveloped her, Sarah knew no matter how wealthy the Bennets were, or who their friends and connections were, the Bennets would never cut the connection to the Lucases as so many others in the same position who rose to higher social circles would have. The Bennets esteemed each person by the content of their character, and Sarah resolved she would always be worthy of Fanny’s friendship.
As Kitty and Georgie were not out yet, they were requested to play some music the party could dance to. The girls acquiesced with alacrity. This was such a big change for Georgiana, as before she had come to stay with the Bennets, she never would have considered playing the pianoforte for anyone outside the immediate family circle, even before Ramsgate.
Now she could not wait to share the experience with her friends, and the joy she took in it made all those who loved her fill with love and gratitude for the Bennet girls who had helped her not only find herself but help her transcend the timid and shy girl she had once been.
Darcy was overjoyed at the transformation he saw in his sister, and almost as much at the changes he had noticed in himself. He knew it was all due to the Bennets and their warm, loving, familial, genteel, kind, and welcoming ways.
The Darcys had been made to feel like long-lost family and were valued for themselves, not their wealth, connections, or standing. It was a whole new experience for him, being amongst personages that not only matched his wealth and moral codes but had so much more in ways he had not considered because their world was more naturally inclusive of others due to so many in the household.
After Georgie had been at Longbourn but a few days, she had felt comfortable enough to share with the Bennet sisters her misadventure from the summer. Darcy remembered the happy tears she had cried when she told him none of the sisters had judged the Darcys generally, or her specifically, for the occurrences that culminated in what they helped her callThe Ramsgate Debacle.
All of their rebukes were for the companion who lied and deceived the Darcys and the Colonel, and the dastardly wicked Wickham who manipulated, lied to, and tried to seduce a fifteen-year-old girl.
That unburdening was the final turning point for Georgie, and when combined with his own discussion sharing all with Bennet before Georgie arrived, he had been able to literally watch the dark fog that had weighted down their mood since Ramsgate lift and fade away.
As soon as Georgie and Kitty sat down at the pianoforte, Darcy approached Elizabeth and was granted a dance, as was Richard with Mary, and Bingley with Jane. Charlotte and Maria, Charlotte’s seventeen-year-old sister who was out, each danced with one of the Captains who had accompanied Colonel Forster.
Unlike the Bennet girls, Maria thought a man in a red coat looked very fine indeed and had always dreamed about marrying an officer in regimentals and him whisking her off to far away and exotic places.
If she knew the reality of the poverty most militia officers under the rank of major suffered, and the fact they never left England’s shores, she might have reconsidered her opinions of militia officers as marriage material.
Chapter 8
There were three very nervous suitors readying themselves to ride the three miles to Longbourn the next morning. Without Caroline Bingley there, the stay at Netherfield Park for both the Colonel and Darcy had become much more pleasant.
There was no more need for military strategy to keep them away from the termagant, nor the need to find things to do before and after visiting hours, not that any of them had actually paid attention to the proper hours of late.
The three single men staying at Netherfield Park had broken their fasts earlier than their wont and were pacing around the drawing room trying to burn off their nervous energy as they waited for an acceptable time to make a call. Richard knew he could have gone to break his fast at Longbourn like he had many times since his parents, brother, and sister had been in residence, but today was not a normal day. Not for him, his cousin, or Bingley.
Richard Fitzwilliam was sure of Mary’s answer as they had long planned for this day. Darcy was not sure, but he felt his entreaty would be welcomed by the lovely Elizabeth Bennet, and Bingley had no idea whether the answer he would receive would be affirmative or negative. Even after the assurances he had received from his friends, he was still worried about his reception.
While they were waiting to leave Richard’s mind drifted back to when he first took an interest in Mary beyond that of a cousin-like family friend, he remembered the exact day.
It was on her fifteenth birthday that I noticed her more than before. We were at Longbourn to celebrate her, and the twins as well as they were to become teenagers.
From thirteen until that birthday Mary had gone through a stage. She had found and diligently started to read that idiot Fordyce’s sermons and had begun to spew inane quotes in her conversation from his tripe. She had worn her hair in a severe style and had worn unflattering dresses that hid her womanly assets.
Father and mother asked the Bennets why they did not correct her, and they said they knew she was intelligent enough to come to the realisation on her own without their interference. They knew what they were about!
When we arrived for that visit, I thought my eyes were deceiving me. Mary was dressed in a very becoming day dress and her hair was not in the severe bun she had taken to wearing; she wore it down, as was appropriate for a girl not out in society. Her green eyes were shining, and she had the same colour hair as Lizzy. There were no more quotes from Fordyce as she allowed her innate intelligence to shine through.
When I asked her what happened, she told me that some months prior she had a long conversation with Longbourn’s rector as she was confused that no one seemed to appreciate her moralistic views. Mr. Hastings had taken the time to explain the difference between living as a Christian and talking as one. She had quickly understood what he was explaining to her, and just as her parents had predicted, she changed her ways on her own.
We started to talk that visit, and the more we talked the more I became fascinated with her and that is when the infatuation started. She was too young for me to do more than talk to, but over the next two years we got closer and closer and whenever the families were together, we found we spent most of our time together. There was never anything outside of the bounds of propriety, we talked, debated, and argued, but never with acrimony.
By the time that she turned seventeen, she was a beauty that matched her older sisters, inside and out. The Bennets were visiting Snowhaven, it was the year William and Georgie were at the Darcy estate in Scotland. Bennet called me in and asked my intentions as he could not help but observe my marked attention to Mary.
