“Our discussion is like a river in flood,” Mrs Annesley said. “It seems to wander every which way. I never answered the question about young women, if there was one.”
“I have a question, if you do not mind,” Georgiana said. “What is the most important thing young women lack that might make the difference between success and failure in becoming a proper adult?”
“You wish me to give away all my secrets, so you have no further need of my services?”
“Of course not!”
“There are two things they need—resiliency and imagination.”
Elizabeth leaned forward. “An interesting choice, and I would say sound. My father has many failings, both parents actually, but my father boasted recently that he at least raised 5 resilient daughters. I cannot necessarily fault his reasoning. Whether that is the best attribute to have is debatable, but I hope I have some measure of it.”
“I would like to be half as resilient as you, Lizzy,” Georgiana said.
“Do not fret. You have more than I could boast of at 16. There is no great hurry.”
Georgiana looked ready to argue, but turned back to Mrs Annesley. “What of imagination? Why do you list that so prominently?”
“Because life holds so much that cannot be known. Imagine a child who has barely learnt to count to 5.”
Both her charges nodded.
“That child not only cannot count to 20 or 100; he cannot even conceiveof such a number, nor any possible need to count that high. It is beyond his imagination. He does not have the basic concepts due to lack of experience. In some cases, it can even go beyond childhood. Some explorers find natives who count 1, 2, 3, many. That is all they know, and it is sufficient for their needs.”
“I never thought about it that way,” Elizabeth said, “but it makes sense. I have trouble connecting that to our situation, though.”
“At your age, you must make decisions that will affect your whole lives, but most young women base them on something akin to the child that can only count to 5. There is no way you canunderstand the scope and scale of a lifetime commitment. You cannot imagine what it is like to eat breakfast or share a bed with a man every day for decades.”
Both ladies blushed at the direct reference, but the companion winked. “Consider that training in resiliency.”
They giggled and signalled her to continue.
“At your age, you do not have the experience to know what the future holds. None of us know that, but with more years you can have a better idea. You cannot understand the pain of childbirth unless you stick your hand in a blacksmith’s forge. You cannot understand the unbridled joy of holding a child in your arms for the first time unless you… well, there I cannot even begin to find an analogy. You cannot understand the vicious rows that you will undoubtedly have with your husband unless you have particularly disagreeable siblings. You cannot understand the joy of coming together after such a huge row, unless you… well, that one I cannot think of a good example, and Ishall notbe explicit.”
She paused for breath.
“Returning to your Miss Lucas, you will eventually have to decide how to spend your lives, without knowing all or even most of the facts. Such is life, but at your age, you must make high-stakes decisions. You hope for the best but prepare to do what is necessary. You can get advice from your elders, but you still have to make some effort to project your life forward.”
"I can well agree with you about imagination,” Elizabeth said. “I have an imaginative technique I use that is little different from daydreaming, but useful."
Georgiana and Mrs Annesley waited for her to explain.
“For example, I wanted to determine whether I was unfair to Mr Darcy with my implacable resentment. In other words, I was the child who could only count to 5, but also insisted that 5 mustbe 4 because numbers were stupid, and my numbers were better than yours.”
Georgiana giggled, and Elizabeth continued.
“I tried an experiment Miss Lucas taught me. I imagined a particular scene, a ball at Netherfield, in as much detail as I could, right down to the smell of the candles and taste of dinner. I replaced your brother with my sister, my sister with some poor fool, and so forth. I completely reframed the problem to see it from your brother’s point of view.”
Georgiana asked, “And?”
Elizabeth sighed. "Your brother was mostly absolved, and I wanted to thrash my own family."
Mrs Annesley said, “A very useful technique. Might we try something similar with Miss Darcy?”
Elizabeth expressed all the enthusiasm in the world for the scheme, while Georgiana grudgingly agreed to go along.
Mrs Annesley said, “Miss Darcy, let us try it. Lean back and close your eyes.”
The young lady followed the instruction.
