He could easily picture her reading a book to two or three children sitting around her. He could imagine her planningmeals and presiding over a small dinner party or just a family dinner. He could imagine her visiting sick tenants and helping them however she could, whether that be helping to clean or minding their children for a spell.
He also knew from experience that he could easily imagine her performing her more personal wifely duties. Though he clamped down on such thoughts during his waking hours to avoid disrespecting her, they had regularly appeared in his dreams.
In short, Mary would be a perfect wife. It only remained to be determined if Alan could be a perfect husband.
That was still very much in question.
Without ever truly coming to an answer, Alan finally managed to find sleep only an hour before dawn.
~~~~~
The day after the assembly, Elizabeth’s closest friend, Charlotte Lucas, visited along with her mother and younger sister, Maria, to discuss all that had happened at the assembly. Usually, Elizabeth enjoyed the chat but wasn’t overly absorbed by it, for her mother and Lady Lucas had a tendency to read too much into basic benign interactions.
Today, however, she was very much interested in everything everyone said simply because she had been too surrounded by her many new and insincere suitors to be able to see much of what happened. Other than the knowledge that Jane had danced the first with Mr. Bingley and that Lydia had danced every dance, she knew nothing whatsoever.
Mary made herself scarce for the duration, as she always did, for she had little tolerance for excessive amounts of gossipand speculation, but the other four Bennet daughters were all prepared to join in the discussion and add any little tidbit the others might have missed.
It didn’t take long for the subject to come around to their new neighbors, and the first to be brought up was, of course, Mr. Bingley. “You know, Mr. Bingley danced the first dance with Jane. As soon as they were introduced, he was so struck by her beauty that he simply couldn’t help himself. He even asked her to dance a second time later in the evening.”
Of course, Elizabeth already knew this since Mama had crowed about it three times on their way home last night. Elizabeth was more interested to note that, instead of looking irritated at their mother’s repetitiveness, Jane had a tiny shy smile on her lips.
The subject didn’t last long, because Lady Lucas quickly grew tired of listening to Mrs. Bennet’s boasts. As early as she could get a word in edgewise, she said, “I noticed that Elizabeth received a great deal of attention.”
Elizabeth winced. She had, indeed, received a great deal of attention, but she wasn’t exactly happy about it.
“They were simply trying to gain my fortune,” she said. “I am certain there was nothing more than that. Once they realize that I have no intention of marrying anyone I’ve known all my life, the furor will die down, and things will go back to normal.”
“So, you won’t be taking advantage of it to finally get married?” cried Lydia. “What a waste. If I had been given a fortune like yours, I would look around our neighborhood and find the handsomest man and convince him to marry me.”
“You don’t need a fortune to pick out the handsomest man,” said Kitty. “You should already know that. It must be Alan Goulding.”
“No, no,” said Lydia. “He is too baby-faced. He still looks like a boy. I would much prefer someone full-grown who is manly and strong. I think Jacob Smith much more handsome than Alan Goulding.”
Elizabeth was relieved that the conversation hadn’t lingered too long over her fortune and the attention she received. While she was grateful for the security her fortune had given her, she couldn’t say that she was pleased with so much insincere attention.
As the conversation shifted once again, she tried to forget her own worries as she became absorbed in all the news that was to be shared.
Chapter 11
The following week was both hectic and boring: hectic because every gentleman who had danced with Elizabeth at the assembly came calling at Longbourn at some point and boring because they said nothing of interest to her and simultaneously prevented her from doing anything that was actually interesting.
By the end of that week, she was ready to scream. She had to take many long walks and some hours of solitude to prevent herself from taking her frustration and annoyance out on her family.
What made it even worse was that the one man she was actually curious to know more of was the one man she did not see: Mr. Darcy. While there had been a couple of parties that week, they were small affairs that the residents of Netherfield hadn’t been invited to.
It wasn’t that she found him fascinating or even handsome. In fact, she didn’t even know exactly what he looked like, since she had only seen him in deep shadow. It was more that he was a very mysterious figure.
The fact that she had spoken with him yet still did not know what he looked like was one thing that contributed to his mysteriousness, but another was the mere existence of her wish. What impact would this man have on her that would make it so that she would frequently wish to know what he was thinking in the future?
Her curiosity was only increased when she heard rumors that he was proud and unfeeling. The way he had caught her and had worried about her didn’t seem unfeeling, but she could hardly defend his character using that example. How could she possibly explain that her information came from his thoughts which she could somehow hear?
She tried not to fret or think on the subject too deeply. If she truly was meant to know him better, she would see him again.
Elizabeth finally did see him again at a party at Lucas Lodge ten days after the assembly. She noticed the moment he walked into the room about ten minutes after her own arrival. He was easy to recognize, after all, simply because he was the only one of his party who was more than six feet tall.
His face was handsome, with sharp features and deep brown eyes. His figure was trim but strong. Elizabeth could well imagine that many ladies would fall for him at first sight, especially if they knew of his fortune ahead of time.
For a fortune he certainly had. Elizabeth felt extremely wealthy with her four thousand pounds per annum, but Mr. Darcy’s income was more than double that. His estate in Derbyshire, Pemberley, was said to earn more than ten thousand per year, and a man of that kind of wealth was certain to have ample investments to bolster such an income.
