“I hope your rosy view of things is near the truth,” Elizabeth said. “Are you as optimistic about us?”
“Of course,” Jane said, giving Elizabeth a cheeky wink. “We are in fine looks, we have purchased new clothes and cannot possibly hope to escape more shopping with Mrs. Jennings, andin a few days’ time our Aunt Madeline will join us. Really, Lizzy! You are the only one of the four of us who has not had their heart broken – I cannot think why you should be so churlish.”
Jane so seldom criticized her that Elizabeth’s jaw actually fell open. “I suppose you are right. If I am churlish, it is only because I am cross with those who have wounded my beloved sister and cousins. And….” Elizabeth sighed and shook her head.
“And what?”
Elizabeth chewed her lip, wondering how to explain herself. “Oh, I am not formed for ill humor, but my mind has dwelt the last week on whether perhaps this fortune of ours may be an ill thing.”
“Lizzy! Of course it is not. I am so very grateful to our poor uncle.”
“And I am, as well. But when I saw how Mr. Wickham behaved…. I was far too willing to forgive his pursuit of Mary King, at first, though I knew the reason for it. Then, when Mamma inevitably disobeyed Papa and spread word of our having twenty thousand pounds apiece, I began to resent him for coming back to town and resuming his attentions to me as if nothing had happened – as if nothing had changed. I fear we shall see more of the same if the truth is made known here in London.”
Jane’s look turned pensive. “But is that not the way of things? Why give us a fortune at all if not for the advantage of making a good match?”
“Perhaps,” Elizabeth sighed. “But surely you must have seen the looks that Mr. Bingley’s sisters exchanged whenever Mamma crowed over Mr. Bingley’s fortune. They, too, were repelled by the blatantly mercenary inanities of our mother.”
“Lizzy, that is unkind! I will own itisa conundrum, that one must consider such things, and yet one must not speak ofthem, but after having always feared ending in the hedgerows, I refuse to now think it an ill thing that we shall be more fortunate and have a way to avoid that fate.”
“I am grateful for that, to be sure, but Mamma shall not be satisfied that we should live off the interest of our combined fortunes, which would be greater even than the income of Longbourn. She is perfectly serious in expecting us to return with husbands we have caught by flaunting our… charms.”
Jane gave a tight smile, her gaze drifting as she presumably thought of Mr. Bingley; their mother was certain they would see much of him in London. Elizabeth knew her sister would not wish to win him back merely by possessing a large dowry – certainly she wanted better for Jane. She did not think it likely that the man who had abandoned Jane could ever deserve her, nor did she believe Jane could recover her spirits enough to form any new attachment during the month of their visit.
As for herself, Elizabeth had no wish to form an attachment that might very well end in the same heartbreakher sister and cousins had endured. She had always been resolved to marry only for the deepest love and affection, and now that she possessed such a great sum, she was doomed to doubt the sincerity of anybody who formed any serious designs on her.
Happily, Mrs. Jennings did not notice Elizabeth’s pensive mood as she roused them from their bedrooms and demanded to know if they were pleased by their accommodations, which had once belonged to her own daughters. She promised them a proper tour of the house in the afternoon, but they had arrived in town at an early enough hour to make a few morning calls, and she intended to waste no time in squiring her two charges about London, for she was vastly fond of them already.
Before they could embark on any late morning calls, they were visited by Mrs. Jennings’s daughter, Mrs. Palmer, who was accompanied by Miss Lucy Steele. Mrs. Jennings offered them tea in a very cozy, elegant parlor.
Mrs. Palmer was even sillier than her mother, lacking that lady’s acuity to compliment her often vulgar effusions of nonsense. Still, she was a kind woman who was ready to approve of the Bennet sisters and praise them excessively.
“You are twice as lovely as your cousins the Miss Dashwoods, I am sure! I knew I had to see you both at once, after Mamma wrote to me of the change in her plans. Oh! But you will never believe what Mr. Palmer said! I told him that you are bringing two beautiful heiresses to London with you, Mamma, and that you have promised their mother to return them betrothed. And he scarcely looked away from his paper as he said that he pities them most profoundly! Is my husband not terribly droll, Miss Bennet?”
Jane looked too bewildered to answer, but Elizabeth was ready with a wry smile as she replied, “We must take care not to find my sister such a man, madam.”
“Quite right! Oh, but you are both so lovely, you shall have suitors queuing at the door in a fortnight! Lucy, are they not the most beautiful girls you have ever seen?”
Miss Steele smiled at them. “Oh, yes! But I had heard the same said of your cousins, even before I met them. How interesting that they have chosen to remain in Hertfordshire. I know they have acquaintance in town.”
Elizabeth felt a wave of vexation at the simpering creature, who was the very reason Elinor had not come to London – she could well imagine Miss Steele was quite aware of the fact, and proud of it. Marianne had not exaggerated inspeaking of Miss Steele’s beady eyes, for she had a calculating look about her.
Jane was able to make a serene reply. “Were you not also to travel with your sister, Miss Steele?”
“La! You will never guess!” Mrs. Palmer clapped her hands. “Sir John’s cousin, a lately widowed barrister from Bath, has come to stay at Barton Park, and my sister means to make a match between him and Anne!”
Miss Steele wavered between looking envious of her sister and privately triumphant at her own secret understanding, and Elizabeth despised her for Elinor’s misery. Mrs. Jennings was delighted by the gossip, and hastily assured Miss Steele that she would encounter as many fine beaux in London as Jane and Elizabeth.
Miss Steele was positively smug. “I have only my charms to recommend me, but I am not without some little confidence in making the right connections. And I do hope we shall be friends, Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth.”
“Of course you shall, my dear,” Mrs. Jennings agreed. “I daresay you will find the Miss Bennets just as agreeable as the Miss Dashwoods.”
Jane nodded her agreement, though Elizabeth could read the trepidation in her eyes. “Our cousins have told us much of you.”
“Good things, I hope,” Miss Steele said with a simpering smile.
“I am sure you would think so,” Elizabeth replied. “I feel as though I know you already.”
Miss Steele’s smile faltered for a moment, and she turned from Elizabeth to Jane. “Have you any acquaintance in London, other than your Dashwood cousins?”
