Darcys & the Bingleys: Pride and Prejudice continues by Altman Marsha

Author:Altman, Marsha [Altman, Marsha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2008-08-31T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter 3

MR. BENNET’S GRAND PLAN

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, THE Bennet party that arrived at Chatton was rather small. It included only Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Bennet, and Kitty, whose theoretical engagement to a Brighton officer had been negated by his being assigned to France, at which point Mrs. Bennet proclaimed a frustration with this complicated business of marrying officers who were always going to and fro, and perhaps it was better to marry a stable, civilian Englishman.

“I have suspicions of my wife,” Mr. Bennet wrote to Elizabeth afterwards, “that with Mary gone to study on the Continent, she is feeling a bit lonely and is not in such a rush to marry off the only other person in the house capable of raising the ruckus to make Longbourn seem normal.” His own sentiments he did not include in the letter.

Their arrival date had been continually put off by the bad weather as winter approached, but they did eventually arrive carrying many letters from Mary meant for her sisters. Mailing from the Continent was particularly expensive, and she had done it in large packages, all to Longbourn. Mrs. Bennet brought what seemed to be another trunk of baby clothes, most of these meant for her two Derbyshire grandchildren.

Any reservations Mrs. Bennet had for her eldest daughter moving so far away from home, when Netherfield was a decent place, were put out of her mind when she saw the newly renovated Chatton. “Is it not lovely, Mr. Bennet?” she said as they came inside. He assumed the question was rhetorical and did not answer.

Elizabeth greeted them in the hallway and was rushed by Kitty, then properly hugged by her father and mother. “Jane is in the sitting room.”

“Oh dear! Why is she not in her chambers?” Mrs. Bennet said.

“Mama, where she chooses to spend her time in her own house is surely her business!”

“Besides,” said Mr. Bennet, “I have sat in many cushioned chairs in my lifetime and have found them all to do relatively the same job.”

“Mr. Bingley should insist on it!” Mrs. Bennet said.

“Mr. Bingley is in Town,” Elizabeth informed her mother, trying to keep her voice polite. “Miss Bingley is to be engaged and has asked for his consent.”

“And she could not come here? With my poor Jane in confinement! The nerve of that woman . . . but Jane! I must see her at once!”

Maybe it was age or experience or the fact that she was married now and in a different social position, but Elizabeth found her mother not quite so trying and was more than willing to show her to the sitting room. Or maybe it was her mother who did not seem so shrill, who was not actually so shrill now that the time of extreme desperation of the Bennet family was over.

But there was enough to deal with. Jane was in her armchair wrapped in a shawl (she had insisted on it, somewhat embarrassed of her girth), busying herself with some embroidery when her family entered. This situation had been carefully constructed by both sisters.

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