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Pray, my Jane will meet the young man’s approval and pierce his elusive facade, Mr. Bennet silently considered. We are all depending on her. The thought of what life would be like back at Longbourn should this alliance not take place gave him considerable pause.

My dear wife would be beside herself with grief. Jane’s marriage is meant to put all the other daughters in the path of rich young men who would marry each one of them in their turn, including Lizzy. With little to no dowries to speak of, such a fate was crucial. He laughed a little despite himself in recollection of his wife’s favorite antics.

Once again, he took up the task of admiring the beautiful scenery rushing by the carriage window. His wife’s words echoed in his mind: “Surely my Jane cannot be so beautiful for nothing. Young Darcy would have to be a fool not to fall madly in love with her.”

Miss Jane Bennet had her own thoughts on the matter. The idea of an arranged marriage was certainly not something she was likely to reject out of hand. If she could change but one thing about the scheme that was evidently planned for her before she was even born, she would have been told of it earlier in life. At nearly three and twenty, she had all but given up the hope of ever finding a husband. It was not entirely beyond the range of possibilities that her youngest sister, Lydia, might be married first, Jane often lamented—but only to herself. Her nature simply would not allow her to do otherwise.

If not Lydia, who was only fifteen, then certainly Catherine, Kitty for short, who was next to her in age, but most likely it would be Lydia who was thought by all who had ever met her to be the first-place contender in the silliest girls in all of England competition. Jane immediately chastised herself for thinking the way she did. Proud to be thought of by everyone who knew her best as the most kind-hearted person in the world, who acted — nay existed, mainly to please others, Jane was afraid she had grown a bit cynical over the years.

Jane would be lying if she denied that the possibility of marrying one of the wealthiest gentlemen in all of Derbyshire and one of noble lineage as well did not intrigue her. Having never seen a likeness of him, she could only imagine what the gentleman must look like. On the other hand, what did it matter? He might well have warts covering his entire body, and it would not deter her in her quest to garner a marriage proposal.

I shall try my very best to accomplish that which my family expects of me.

The possibility that the gentleman might be a handsome man caused her heart to stir. She smiled a little at this thought. A lady might be just as well suited to marital felicity with an agreeable looking man as a disagreeable-looking man, she silently pondered. I am praying for the former.

Again, such thoughts as these caused Jane to rebuke herself.

I must not entertain any such thoughts like the ones I am wont to think of late.

Jaded or not, this was her chance to be the person everyone praised her as being—the person whom she had aspired to be all her life.

Jane sighed. I know that at any moment I am free to choose how I present myself to the world in general, and at this moment, I choose goodness. I choose warmth. I choose optimism. For that is the very nature of the person I am meant to be.

“Jane,” Elizabeth said, thereby interrupting her sister’s silent affirmation.

“Yes, Lizzy,” Jane replied, hoping that her inattentiveness had not been of a long duration.

“You seem rather pensive—a thousand miles away in fact.”

Jane reached out her hand. “Pray forgive me, dearest Lizzy. I am afraid I am a bit overwhelmed by the splendor of all this.”

Elizabeth laughed a little. Accepting her sister’s hand, she gave it a gentle squeeze. “By the looks of things, prepare yourself for a whirlwind of pleasures.”

CHAPTER 3

WONDER AND INTRIGUE

Today is everything it ought to be. My Jane shall meet the gentleman whom she very well may marry and with whom she may spend the rest of her life. Elizabeth could not imagine being anywhere but by her sister’s side during such an auspicious occasion, and thus the two of them sat next to each other, arm in arm, as their carriage rounded the bend headed for Pemberley.

Everywhere Elizabeth looked she beheld the estate’s natural beauty. When at last the manor house came into view, she gasped on behalf of her sister as well as herself. There stood a massive stone mansion backed by a ridge of high woody hills. In front of it, flowed a large stream, its banks neither formal nor falsely adorned.

Never have I seen such a place as this, Elizabeth silently reflected. Pemberley. Is there any wonder it is hailed as one of the finest estates in all of Derbyshire?

One glance at her sister and she rather supposed their thoughts must have tended along the exact same lines. Both of their faces overspread with contagious smiles.

“Dearest Jane,” Elizabeth remarked, “how fortunate you are. To be mistress of such a place as this must surely be something. How fortunate you are indeed.”

Jane squeezed Elizabeth’s hand. “Dearest Lizzy, I appreciate your enthusiasm over the prospects for my future life, but truth be told, I feel more overwhelmed than fortunate at this moment. What if the gentleman takes one look at me and concludes he wants nothing to do with me? What a considerable distance to travel to be summarily sent on one’s way.”

“Not like you! Jane, do not be ridiculous. I posit Mr. Darcy will fall madly in love with you the moment he lays eyes on you. How could he not? Unless of course, the gentleman is a fool. But even a fool would fancy himself the wisest and the luckiest man in the world to proclaim himself your future husband.”

“We shall see,” Jane replied in a voice that lacked the joy the moment warranted.

“Jane, I can see you are not as convinced of your unmitigated charms as you ought to be. But you need not worry, for I have enough confidence for the two of us. Mark my words, there will be a wedding here at Pemberley in under three months, or my name is not Elizabeth Bennet.”

“Oh, Lizzy! Where would I be without you?”

“Pray you will never find out.”