“I have to say that I am surprised,” I said. “Because right after it happened, there was so much talk of it, and I thought it would only grow and change and become worse.”
“We were lucky,” said Bennet.
His father laughed softly. “I imagine luck had little to do with it, and it is much more to lay at the feet of James here, who went about telling everyone that poor Lizzy only did it because of Lady Susannah’s edict.”
“What?” said Elizabeth, furrowing her brow. “What did you do, James?”
He sighed, shrugging at me. “Well, it was your husband’s idea to conceal it, and I could not do that, so I cast you as a victim.”
“Iwasa victim,” said Elizabeth. “I was a victim of the lying and conniving Mr. Wickham.”
“No one feels sorry for women who are victims of men,” said Mrs. Bennet. “Everyone knows that women should simply be on their guard, not to be taken in by them.”
“I think that may be true,” said James Bennet. “However, I do think it is rather sad, if so. But at any rate, I went on about how it was that Mr. Darcy went to prevail upon Lady Susannah and this was all anyone could talk about instead, how Lady Susannah had been so very unfair to deny poor Lizzy the chance to marry. And everyone thought it was romantic that Mr. Darcy was so interested, even after everything.”
“They are talking about that?” I said, feeling a bit out of sorts.
“They are,” said James Bennet.
“You cast me as some sort of hero? I would not have expected that from you.”
“I did what I could for my sister,” he said. “Now, you are married and as respectable as anything, and all anyone wishes to talk about is how you managed to marry her and let her keep her inheritance, and how you do not even need it, so it will stay in a trust for Lizzy should she ever be widowed and all of that.”
“I should like to leave Trawlings to one of our daughters, if we have any who are so inclined not to marry,” said Elizabeth brightly.
“A woman not inclined to marry?” I said. “She simply hasn’t met the right man.”
James Bennet glared at me.
Elizabeth did too. “Sometimes, husband, the things that come out of your mouth make me livid.”
I met her gaze. “Do they. Well, how unfortunate for you.”
She smirked at me. “I shall have to have it out with you later, I think.”
I smirked back. “I shall look forward to entertaining your perspective.”
She flushed, looking around the table. “Er, perhaps we must change the subject, do you not think? There must be some other topic we can all talk about.”
We did change the subject and the dinner went on as it did. We had dessert and then coffee, and then we retired to the sitting room, where Elizabeth played for her mother to sing, and James turned the pages and then joined in, and his voice complimented his mother’s rather nicely.
Mr. Bennet, Elizabeth’s father, stood with me, looking on. I did not think I had ever seen him stay in a sitting room while his wife was there.
“She would not like me to say so, but she is rather like her mother,” said Mr. Bennet. “Lizzy, I mean. She is more serious and better informed. She is not concerned with silliness, but she rather has a bit of a temper. I think you may have noticed that. Perhaps if she’d had siblings, she would have learned to tame it better.”
“I do not mind that temper of hers,” I said fondly.
“Perhaps not,” said Mr. Bennet. “There is an appeal to a woman like that, I suppose.”
I turned to look at him. “I suppose you never reveal why you and your wife are at such odds.”
He laughed. “Oh, I don’t know if either of us remember now. It wasn’t the quarrel, it was the way we went after each other afterwards. We both went too far.”
“Too far?”
“I shan’t recount it all. It is indecorous to my wife to reveal some of the things she did, and I am too embarrassed to reveal some of the things that I did. We thought only to hurt each other, and we were quite successful.” He sighed. “That is the thing with volatile passion, you see. It can turn on itself. And she and I,we are so stubborn. Every now and again, one of us will humble ourselves and go to present ourselves to the other, quite contrite, quite apologetic, quite eager to bury the past.” He laughed. “But the other always turns aside and will not accept it. She and I are always at odds. Always.”
I was not sure how I felt about that.
