“You sound rather sarcastic, Papa,” Elizabeth answered with reproach as she still considered Jane’s story a tragedy and her tragic love something ideally beautiful.
“Let us say that circumstances have prompted such a response from me. As I said before, I find it sensible that each young lady should encounter love at some point. It is an experience that contributes to the wisdom a lady requires—understanding the nature of love and contemplating whether love should be the sole basis for marriage, particularly when it leads to disappointment and sorrow.”
“No!” Elizabeth exclaimed, disappointed.
“Yes, my daughter!” Mr Bennet smiled.
“So you are not discouraging us from searching for love?” Lydia suddenly asked, causing Elizabeth to regard her with deep suspicion. They were beginning to understand that their father did not view Jane’s situation to be as dire as the rest of the family did.
“You cannot bear to be outdone by Jane for long. Now it is your turn,” he said, looking at each of them. Suddenly, they all smiled, amused, incapable of seeing the advice as a serious proposition coming from their father but merely as a way of making them reflect more on that subject called love.
“Thank you, I shall forgo that honour,” Elizabeth uttered, finally at ease.
“It is your decision,” Mr Bennet conceded, still smiling, “but it is a consolation to think that whatever may befall you in that regard, you have an affectionate mother, who will make the most of it if you decide to fall in love.”
“Poor Mama. The most tragic aspect of this affair is that she fails to recognise her significant role in intimidating Mr Bingley and his family,” Elizabeth said.
“Yes, and that demonstrates that we should not anticipate any change in her behaviour in the future. But, after all, such is my life with five daughters to marry off. I cannot deny that I encouraged you to seek love, yet I never mentioned coupling love with marriage.”
“Papa!” Elizabeth and Mary exclaimed vehemently at the same time.
“So, the liberty you and Mama granted us to find love came from your conviction that love would ultimately disappoint us, leading us to seek a husband based on those other ‘conditions’ you enumerated,” Mary said.
“No, my dear! You must not suspect me of such deceit. I merely wish for you to endure the least amount of heartache and find a husband better suited to your character than to your heart.”
“And what, pray, might that mean?” Elizabeth asked.
“It means that it is all well and good to reject a proposal from Mr Collins or any man of his ilk, but it also means thatyou should not fall inlovebut search for aman. There is a vast distinction between the two endeavours.”
“I am not entirely clear on the distinction,” Mary responded, although they grasped their father’s words.
“I shall not bother explaining something you already comprehend, my dear.”
“No, please explain,” Kitty said unexpectedly. They all looked at her as if they were seeing her for the first time.
“It is simple, Kitty dear. You are talking and talking about love, and I have this feeling that at one moment or another, you forget that love does not exist on its own, but you need a man to experience the feeling. I am telling you to look for the man who will make you happy instead of dreaming about love as an achievement on its own.”
“Oh!” Kitty exclaimed. “You are right… Find a man instead of chasing love.”
“Yet what you have said today might contradict the freedom you and Mama gave us to follow our hearts,” Elizabeth insisted.
“My dear, perhaps your mother uses the term ‘love’ occasionally, but you are all too aware that her primary concern lies in seeing you ‘well married’ rather than in love with your future spouse.”
“I had hoped, at the very least, thatyouchampioned the cause of love,” Elizabeth murmured.
“I would prefer to see you content with your choice. Not in the first weeks of matrimony, perhaps, but after ten or twenty years, as it has been in my experience.”
“Are you content?” Mary asked with courage, which she had never had in her father’s presence.
Mr Bennet looked at her with profound tenderness and answered with much honesty as he considered his daughters to be of an age to have serious discussions about life. “I am a man—I possess other concerns beyond the pursuit of contentment springing from love, a notion seldom used in my time. Yet, speaking earnestly, I appreciate that Lizzy and Jane did not consider Mr Collins as a husband. I hope you will regard the officers you meet in Meryton with suspicion, and I am genuinely pleased that Jane fell in love with a sincere gentleman like Mr Bingley—”
“Papa, how can you say that he is sincere?” Mary asked, her face illuminated by an expression that made her look remarkably similar to Elizabeth, something Mr Bennet observed with much joy as it meant Mary could change and be more like her sister in every aspect of her being.
“Because, my dears, Mr Bingley is honest, and his departure without a word may be attributed to a minor oversight or his inability to confront Jane due to his genuine feelings for her.”
“Then why did he leave?”
“Because he is gentle and kind and puts his family’s wishes or whims above all else. It is no secret that his family did not hold ours in high regard, and your mother’s behaviour did not help in improving our image. In this particular instance, I believe they were two hearts entwined by love yet surrounded by gossip and adversity.”
