He shrugged. “I will take what victories I can.” His smile tensed. “The truth of the matter is that Mr. Collins is bound to live longer than me, and he will eventually inherit my estate. Your mother and sisters remaining at Longbourn, who depend on me for their security, might very well be cast out of their home. Unless some miracle happens, I am bound to fail them.”
Elizabeth sighed. So much for avoiding sad sentiments. “I doubt Mr. Collins will send them to the hedgerows as Mama often worries. Charlotte would never cast her friends out, nor would she insist Mama, Kitty, and Mary leave unless they had somewhere to go.”
Papa dabbed at his eyes, his voice gravelly. “Both of my sensible daughters are leaving me today.” He waved his hand at Elizabeth. “Do not trouble yourself, my dear girl. These are not tears of mourning but of joy.”
Hardly convincing. “Perhaps with fewer daughters underfoot, you will have more time to guide Mary and Kitty. Mary does not suffer from want of sense, only, perhaps, an excess of righteousness. And Kitty is bound to continue to improve without Lydia’s constant influence.”
“I almost wish Lydia was still with us at Longbourn rather than with that scoundrel, Wickham. What kind of life can he give her? He will soon grow impatientwith her … if he has not already.” He sighed deeply, rubbing his hand over his face, seemingly determined to be gloomy on her happiest of days.
Elizabeth leaned forward. “Fitzwilliam would never have insisted they marry if he believed Wickham truly unkind. I daresay they are well enough.” She hoped. Truth be told, Elizabeth tried not to think of her youngest sister too often, for her thoughts never led to anywhere pleasant.
This was not the conversation Elizabeth had meant to have with her father. This melancholy exchange simply would not do. Turning the conversation to a pleasanter topic worthy of the day, she added, “Besides, Mama’s nerves will settle significantly once Jane and I are advantageously married to our gentlemen of fortune.”
Papa chuckled. “Your mother has made such a habit of nervousness, she shall not know how to occupy herself. It is a good thing she found that new footman, so she has someone else to fret over.”
“And you have your bees to keep you busy. They are soon to swarm, are they not?”
Bees always made her father smile, and this mention accomplished no less. “It is the right time of the year. I have done everything to lure them away from their hive in the apple tree to my straw skeps, but I am content to allow them as much time as they decide to take until I can perfect the design.”
Elizabeth settled against the squabs, ready to hearmore about the practices of Polish beekeepers, the brood comb melted and spread over cloths to lure bees to a new dwelling, and the vertical trays another gentleman (she could not remember where he was from) had designed to facilitate the collection of honey without endangering the residents of the skep.
“Is there anything you regret about today, Lizzy?”
She started, taken by surprise at the unexpected question, and startled herself even more when she blurted the truth. “I dearly wish some of Fitzwilliam’s family might have chosen to join us … But I understand his wishes and their reasons … so … while I regret their absence and our hasty departure for London, I would not change it.”
“Do you suspect he is ashamed of us still?” her father asked with a disconcerting grin.
“Not at all! He is merely eager, as I am, to begin our life together.”
“True. For a moment, I forgot he is not deprived of his proper allotment of embarrassing relatives in the form of Her Esteemed Greatness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Who could be embarrassed by us with such a creature as an aunt? A woman with expensive fireplaces who descends upon humble residences to insult the size of their gardens and impose her wishes on a young lady whose courage rises at every attempt to intimidate her?”
Elizabeth laughed. “I ought to thank Her Ladyship. Had she not made the journey to Longbourn to securemy promise that I wasnotengaged to, nor would I ever agree to enter such an agreement with her nephew, Fitzwilliam would not have learned of my change of heart.”
Elizabeth had unwittingly frustrated Lady Catherine’s scheme to marry her nephew to her own daughter. Elizabeth had won Fitzwilliam’s heart … and Lady Catherine’s hatred. Now that Elizabeth gave the matter more consideration, she was grateful Fitzwilliam had not pressed his family to join them. Aside from Georgiana and Colonel Fitzwilliam, she did not know his family at all. What if they resembled Lady Catherine? Elizabeth shivered at the thought and her narrow escape orchestrated thoughtfully by her betrothed to shield her from the disapproval of his relatives.
Papa sighed. “There will always be tensions between our families. It gives us a sense of purpose, a means to ease our consciences by exaggerating the faults of those considered loftier than ourselves, reminding us of their humanity and vindicating our own deficiencies by paltry comparison.”
“How can you say that? Fitzwilliam is a constant man. He is not the sort to unite himself to a family unless he wished to.”
“That only proves the depth of his devotion to you, Lizzy. The rest of us, he will forbear for your sake. However, I hope that with our improved circumstances — after all, we boast a footman now — and Lydia’s departure, we will improve in his sight.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Better his usual nonsense than the melancholy which had plagued him earlier. “If the footman does not sway his opinion more in your favor, then Lydia’s absence is certain to do so.”
“And so it will be. You are a clever girl. As your mother is fond of saying, ‘Jane cannot be so beautiful for nothing.’ Well, I have always thought you could not be born so clever for nothing.”
Elizabeth smiled. She was grateful for her quick mind. She would need all of her wits about her in the days, weeks, months, years to come as the wife of a man of privilege and fortune with an immense household to run and the first circles to win over.
Keeping her tone light, she asked, “Do you have any further words of wisdom to impart to me?” They were only a couple of curves away from the church.
He considered, rubbing his cleanly shaved chin. “Had your courtship been less troubled, I might have more wisdom to impart. However, your attachment was forged in fire and I am convinced you love each other as you ought to.”
“It is a comfort to know the worst is behind us,” she teased. “We may marry and simply be happy.”
“Does there exist a life without trouble?” Papa quipped.
“I suppose not, but I hope to have learned enough from my past mistakes to know better than to repeat them.”
The carriage creaked and dropped.
