Page 46 of A Prudent Engagement

She smiled back at her sister. “I assure you that I do not hate Mr. Darcy. Quite the opposite.”

“Oh, but of course you do! Everyone hates him.”

“How could she hate him,” Mrs. Phillips exclaimed, “when he has such a grand carriage!”

Her mother at last spoke. “My dear Lizzy, it is true? Is it really true?”

“Yes, Mama.”

“Really true and certain? You are sure there is no misunderstanding on the matter?”

Elizabeth smiled a little ruefully. “What sort of misunderstanding might there be on such a point? I assure you, matters are settled quite precisely.”

Now her mother closed her eyes and let out a gust of air. “Thank the Lord! We are saved.”

And there was the feeling of guilt that Elizabeth had wished to avoid. Knowing that she would relieve her mother’s anxieties in this way had been why Elizabeth had no choice.

She rose and went to her mama and put her arms around her. “There.”

Mrs. Phillips exclaimed, “Clever girl! I still say that you ought to have married Mr. Collins—the chance that such a success as this would happen had seemed remote. But clever, clever girl. You have earned all the praise after taking such a risk.”

“Thank you, Aunt,” Elizabeth replied with a quirk to her lips, “for not continuing to think me wholly a fool.”

She dearly wished her papa were there to share her amusement at Mrs. Phillips.

“Do not make fun of your aunt,” her mama said. “I can see that look in your eye, just like Mr. Bennet would have when he was delighted by a joke.”

Jane kept looking at Elizabeth, not smiling.

Her sister always seemed to smile. Was she jealous of Elizabeth’s good fortune? After all, it was Jane’s place to marry first, as the eldest, and she had loved Mr. Bingley.

Elizabeth liked to imagine that was the cause of Jane’s unhappiness since it was less painful than the truth: Jane thought she had acted wrongly, and she judged her severely for it.

“Good gracious!” her mama exclaimed suddenly. “Lord bless me! Mr. Darcy! Who would have thought it? Oh, my sweetest Lizzy! How rich and how great you will be! What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have! I am so pleased—so happy. Such a charming man! So handsome! So tall! Oh, if only Mr. Bennet was here to see. What happiness he would feel!”

Elizabeth smiled weakly, rather doubting the conjecture.

That was perhaps the only good point about Mr. Bennet’s death: it wholly relieved Elizabeth of the requirement of explaining her engagement to Mr. Darcy to him.

What would she have told him?

She liked and respected Mr. Darcy. Perhaps she always had, even when she thought she had disliked him completely. When she looked back in her mind, it seemed that her extravagant statements of dislike had chiefly arisen from wounded vanity.

It was sobering to realise how much that vanity had influenced her.

After the astonishment at Elizabeth’s news had died down, she then informed her mama about Mr. Darcy’s offer to rent Longbourn for them.

To Elizabeth’s surprise, her mother responded thoughtfully. “I hardly know—I had come to understand I would leave. It would not be the same, not without Mr. Bennet. I hardly know. I must sleep upon the question.”

“Of course,” Elizabeth said. “It was a notion that Mr. Darcy had—a very kind one, I think. But if you wish for a different scheme, I know that he will put no difficulties in your way.”

As soon as Elizabeth went up to her bed for the evening, she was approached by Jane.

“Lizzy, what are you about?” her sister said as soon as she entered Elizabeth’s room.

“What do you mean?”

Jane did not reply. She looked at Elizabeth with mournfully judging eyes.