Page 53 of Gold and Good Sense

“Perhaps,” said Mary. “Perhaps not.”

“Well, as you said, it is just a thought,” he replied. “When you have a firm plan in mind, I will be happy to listen.”

“Thank you, Papa,” said Mary fervently.

Thomas turned his gaze toward the outside, and the two of them sat there for quite some time, each sharing their thoughts as they occurred but allowing the silence to sit comfortably between them when there was nothing to share.

~~~~~

When Thomas and Esther retired for the night, they spent some time in her sitting room discussing the day before truly retiring.

“How are the wedding preparations coming?” he asked.

“Putting it all together in just two weeks is quite the challenge,” she said. “But it is a challenge I am quite enjoying. Fortunately, Elizabeth doesn’t need an entirely new wardrobe, since she has been gradually building it up over this past year. However, getting her nightgowns, mobcaps, and underthings ready is quite enough work.”

As she mentioned the articles of clothing, Thomas’ attention was drawn toward Esther’s nightgown, which was one of his favorites.

She saw where his gaze had gone, and she playfully slapped his arm. “Not yet, Thomas,” she said. “We still have things to discuss.”

“Pity,” he said. Though he willingly turned his attention back to her face.

“I noticed you talking to Mary,” said Esther.

“Yes, she was wondering about her future,” he replied. “It’s reasonable enough to do so after a failed marriage proposal. She was thinking that she would rather live anywhere but here as long as she can continue her studies. What do you think?”

“Honestly, I believe it would be good for Mary to be in a different society from her sisters,” said Esther. “She is not truly plain. She just believes herself to be so, because she is always being compared to her sisters. Everyone who sees them all together notices Jane’s beauty and Elizabeth’s cheerful prettiness, causing their attention to naturally slide past Mary’s lack of any outstanding feature.”

“I have left it up to her to decide,” said Thomas. “However, I would like to know where you think would be best should she choose to leave.”

“Hmm. Perhaps Bath,” said Esther. “That would be the most obvious choice. Though she might find society more interesting in a place like Brighton or Margate, where the residents are always changing.”

“They all sound like good places to me,” said Thomas. “As long as she has Mrs. Jamison with her and enough footmen for safety, she could be happy in any of those places.”

“And what do you think Jane will want to do?” asked Esther.

“I hadn’t given it much thought,” he said. “I assumed she would be happy to return to London next winter.”

“She wasn’t overly fond of the experience this year,” she said. “She quickly grew tired of the excessive socializing.”

“True, but now that the girls are established there, it should be possible to have a lighter social schedule, allowing her to make more friends that she actually wishes to keep,” he said.

“I think that would likely make her pleased to be there,” said Esther. “It isn’t that she doesn’t like socializing. She was simply not fond of trying to meet so many people at once all while being courted by men she barely knew. Truly, I think that when Jane is ready for thoughts of marriage, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Bingley is the one who wins her hand in the end. He was her clear favorite, after all.”

“They did seem to get along quite well,” said Thomas.

There was silence for a while as Thomas’ attention drifted from thoughts of his daughters to thoughts of his wife. He was pulled out of his reverie when she said, “I was wondering when you would like Lydia to be brought out.”

This thought caused an exclamation to burst from his lips. “Good Lord! How can you even be thinking of such a thing. After what happened to Kitty?”

“Honestly, I believe Kitty is doing rather well,” said Esther.

“How can you say such a thing?” asked Thomas. “She is still the silliest of my daughters. Even Lydia has improved more than Kitty has.”

Esther’s eyes narrowed. “I think that since Kitty no longer lives here, you have not noticed her as much. I did not know her before her marriage, but to me she seems to be a young lady who is learning how to manage a marriage that is not at all what she expected. While she may still be primarily interested in fashion and fun, I can see no evidence that her housekeeping is anything other than what it ought to be. I can also see no evidence that Mr. Goulding is treating her poorly or wasting their money. Though she most definitely made a poor choice, she seems to be turning out quite well.”

Thomas’ immediate thought was to claim all of that to be an illusion and reassert his opinion, but he did not allow such a thing past his lips. He had learned long ago to actually listen when Esther gave an opinion. She had an extraordinary knack for assessing poor marriages or badly behaved gentlemen. Such a thing was only natural after what she had experienced from her first marriage.

“Perhaps…” Thomas hesitated before continuing, since what he was about to say felt strange, “Perhaps it is just barely possible that all of my daughters have turned out well enough.”

Esther laughed and the sound moved through him in a very pleasant sort of way. “Difficult as it may be to admit, Thomas, I believe all of your girls have a great deal of good sense, each in her own way.”

Thomas moved closer to his beautiful, clever, intelligent wife and put his arms around her. “You may be correct,” he said, “but I believe my patience for speaking of others is at an end.”

What followed was merely a repeat of what had happened many times between them, but it never seemed to lose its power to ever more firmly link his life with Esther’s.

Thomas Bennet’s daughters had grown in wisdom a great deal in the past year, but further consideration for their futures could wait until tomorrow. Now was the time for the present.

The End