Page 125 of Twice Chosen

Elizabeth sat. "Is he wrong?"

Mrs. Bennet frowned. "Not entirely. Which is very irritating."

They went through household expenses together. Elizabeth discovered her mother knew far more about prices than Mr. Bennet had ever credited. Mrs. Bennet discovered Elizabeth knew enough about estate households to ask useful questions she could not explain without referencing Pemberley.

"Where did you learn that?" Mrs. Bennet asked after Elizabeth suggested buying candles in larger quantities before winter prices rose.

Elizabeth froze. "Mrs. Gardiner."

Aunt Gardiner became extraordinarily educational in Elizabeth's invented history.

Mrs. Bennet accepted the answer.

By spring the household had trimmed several unnecessary expenses without becoming miserable. Mr. Bennet set the savings aside for his daughters.

It would not produce grand dowries.

It would produce something.

Elizabeth thought that perhaps responsibility often looked disappointingly ordinary from the outside.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Mr. Bennet Tries

Mr. Bennet did not become a different man.

He remained fond of his library. Still teased. Still avoided Mrs. Bennet when her nerves became particularly theatrical. Still found human folly more entertaining than was charitable.

But he tried.

That was enough to change much.

He asked Kitty about drawing.

The first time she assumed he was mocking her.

"Why?" she asked, clutching the sketchbook to her chest.

Mr. Bennet looked genuinely puzzled. "Because I wish to see it."

Kitty narrowed her eyes. "You never wanted to before."

The accusation struck.

Mr. Bennet did not make a joke.

"No," he said. "I did not."

Kitty waited.

"I should have."

Slowly, she handed him the book.

He spent twenty minutes turning the pages.

The next week he commissioned a sketch of Longbourn's front elevation. Kitty worked on it for months.