Mrs Bennet smiled. "I do."
"Exactly. Yet he proposed to Lizzy, was refused, and remains here pursuing the matter with an applicatio n which would be admirable in almost any other circumstance."
"He loves her."
"Perhaps."
Mrs Bennet raised an eyebrow.
"That sounded remarkably half-hearted, Thomas."
Mr Bennet sighed.
"Very well. I believe he does. What troubles me is something else entirely."
He watched the sea for a moment. "A man may mean perfectly well and still exert a great deal of pressure without ever intending to. Wealth has a way of persuading the world to accommodate you. People agree. Obstacles move aside. Difficulties become temporary. I suspect Mr Darcy has spent much of his life discovering that persistence generally produces the desired result."
Mrs Bennet considered this. "You think he does not know when to stop."
"I think he may not recognise the difference between perseverance and pressure."
The waves rolled in and retreated again.
Mrs Bennet sat quietly for some moments. "She is not Jane."
"No."
"Nor is she sixteen."
"No."
"She is Lizzy."
Despite himself, Mr Bennet smiled. "That is the strongest argument in her favour."
"I think so too."
They sat together for a while.
Then Mrs Bennet said quietly, "Do you know what I have learned here?"
Mr Bennet immediately looked suspicious. "What?"
"That I cannot arrange happiness for anyone."
He stared at her.
Mrs Bennet laughed at once. "Oh do stop looking at me like that. I am serious," she said after a moment. "I spent years believing that if I worried enough, planned enough and pushed enough, I could somehow guarantee happiness for everyone. Then I discovered I could not even guarantee it for myself."
She looked out towards the horizon. "If Mr Bingley truly cares for Jane, he will find his way to Hertfordshire."
Mr Bennet nodded slowly. "And if he does not?"
"Then keeping Jane in Lyme another month will not alter the outcome."
"And Darcy?"
Mrs Bennet's mouth curved slightly. "If Mr Darcy truly wishes to marry Elizabeth, I do not imagine a journey to Hertfordshire will discourage him."
