Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price

Author:Tirzah Price [Price, Tirzah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

In Which Lizzie Receives a Shock

JANE WAS EMBROIDERING IN their shared bedchamber when Lizzie returned. She looked up from her stitching as Lizzie came in and said, “Oh, there you are—”

Lizzie checked to make sure the hall was clear, then shut the door with a solid click. “Jane,” she said gravely, “I have good news and horrid news. Which would you like to hear first?”

“Heavens.” Jane set her needlework aside. “You better start with the bad.”

“No, I think I shall start with the good news.” Lizzie removed her spencer and flung herself down on her bed, next to Jane. “The good news is that you don’t have to worry about Collins ever proposing marriage to you.”

“Oh?” Jane asked, not sounding the least bit relieved. Then again, she’d never had to seriously concern herself with the prospect. “And why is that?”

“That’s the horrid news. Because he just proposed. To me. But don’t worry, I refused.”

Jane’s shock was rather satisfying, but not nearly enough to make Lizzie feel better. She kept waiting for the moment when she could laugh the whole strange encounter off, but the humor never came. The mattress ticking dipped as Jane shifted closer. “Lizzie! Does Mama know?”

“No. And she can never know.”

“I don’t know how likely that is,” Jane said. “She can sniff out a proposal in a crowded room from a mile away, and besides, she’s been making preparations for dinner with Collins all morning.”

Lizzie rolled over and buried her head in her pillow.

“Come, sit up. Tell me everything.”

She did so and gave Jane the full story, including Collins’s flirtation with Charlotte, which had gone from horrifying to indecent considering the recent turn of events. Jane, however, did not seem quite as indignant as Lizzie felt.

“Collins has shown us his nature,” she said, as if relaying the afternoon’s weather. “He’s led by the promise of fortune and standing, and an alliance with Charlotte could not give him either of those things. Clearly, she deserves someone who will appreciate her. But I’m worried, Lizzie—what if your rejection has soured Collins’s relationship with the family?”

“Why is that my fault?” Lizzie protested. “Why not blame Collins for proposing when I’ve never given him any indication I was interested? Quite the opposite, in fact!”

“Because that’s not how the world works,” Jane murmured.

“I know.” Men can choose; women may only refuse.

“Mama is going to be so upset,” Jane added.

“You won’t tell her?”

“Of course not. But Lizzie, she’ll find out. Collins shall go to her and Papa to ask them to convince you, or . . . I don’t know. But when have you ever known Collins to keep quiet about anything?”

Lizzie flopped back down on the bed and sighed.

Jane stroked her hair. “Papa won’t make you marry him. Mama will be quite angry for a while, but you can trust Papa.”

Lizzie nodded, but doubt crept in. She knew that he’d always said that he would not force her to marry. However, that was all before she had disobeyed him and he had banished her from Longbourn & Sons.

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