“If she wrote to you when she was unhappy, then surely she regretted losing you.”
“Yes, she did. She told me so more than once, but by then it no longer had any value for me.”
“How should someone choose whom to marry?” Elizabeth asked.
“I think one must first know the person deeply, though unfortunately that is not always possible. A person may easily conceal vices or even smaller faults capable of destroying a marriage.”
“Such as?”
“Rage, for instance. If someone is easily angered, that is not a good foundation for happiness.”
“Do not blush, my dear,” Thomas said, observing her. “I do not mean fleeting anger but a permanent condition of mind and soul. Some people possess no light within them. Such people ruin lives. It is important to choose someone you know you will still wish to have beside you ten years after the wedding, not merely on the wedding day. Many choose to be happy on the wedding day, but a beautiful bride who becomes morose and bitter ten years later is like a magnificent palace transformed into a prison.”
“She chose the magnificent palace.”
“Yes. I believe the dukedom and the palace influenced her choice to some degree.”
“But she did not know of her future husband’s vices.”
“Unfortunately, she had been given a glimpse of them. The duchess, his mother, told her. She hoped the disclosure would persuade Henrietta to renounce him. She was so eager for him to marry another woman that she even attempted it. She failed, and poor Henrietta convinced herself he would change. But they never do. A vice is forever.”
“But sometimes one simply does not know. Then what is to be done?”
“Then one chooses stability and responsibility over amusement and entertainment. Maturity. Someone who has had a good family, mother and father, for the manner in which a child is raised often shapes the whole of life.”
“Very difficult. The easiest thing is simply to fall in love and trust both him and destiny.”
“Yes, when one falls in love as Jane did, it is simple. But when one must choose, it becomes far more difficult. I like you because you are not impressed by titles or wealth.”
“I am a wealthy heiress,” Elizabeth joked.
“Yes, my dear, you are. So wait and choose the man you truly love. Let your heart guide you.”
“What does my heart know?”
“It is merely a manner of speaking. I mean instinct, valuing signs rather than words. Is he kind to all ladies, or does he possess a disdain for women? Does he love children and animals? Is he tender towards his mother or sisters? Such things…and then again, love.”
Elizabeth reflected long afterwards upon that conversation. She felt deeply sorry for Henrietta, the duchess. The title had not brought her happiness, whilst her uncle had led a remarkable life and did not regret his choices. Elizabeth could not imagine herself in such a position, forced to choose between two lives. She liked Mr Darcy, but she would not hesitate to marry another man if she fell in love with him. After all, there was still only friendship between herself and Darcy, or at least that was what she allowed herself to believe, as though even love might be governed by reason. As Henrietta once believed.
Chapter 17
Jane decided to transform her wedding day into a celebration of Uncle Thomas’s presence amongst them and the changes in their life.
“A grand ball!” Mrs Bennet declared one evening at dinner.
But Jane contradicted her in a sweet voice, “A wedding breakfast with all our family and friends.”
“My dear, perhaps we can also have a dance in the evening,” Charles added, certain to convince his betrothed, as he knew how much she liked to dance.
“Yes, we can also have a dance.”
“A dance in the evening is a ball!” Lydia declared, and everybody laughed.
“Let the bride and groom decide what they want, Mrs Bennet,” Mr Bennet said rather severely, fearful that the precarious peace he had found at Netherfield would be disturbed. At least at Longbourn a grand ball would have been impossible. The thought annoyed him, and for a moment, he regretted his move to the new house.
They had been living at Netherfield for a week, but to Mrs Bennet and her daughters, it was as if they had been living there forever.
∞∞∞
