Chapter 34

Longbourn

Four Hours After Noon

Jane sat with Kitty and Mary on the couch, all three of them carefully sitting upright in their dinner dresses. Nearer the fireplace, Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Phillips were standing with their heads together, while Mr. Phillips sat nearby, a glass of Madeira in his hand, his gaze fixed tolerantly on his wife and her sister. Yesterday's rainstorm had finally eased off, and although the roads were still muddy, the Phillips had made the journey to Longbourn for dinner. Jane was relieved. Though Mrs. Bennet was no longer bewailing her eldest's perfidy in refusing Bingley, she had railed at the inclement weather that prevented her spreading the news of Elizabeth's engagement to everyone in Meryton. For now, at least, her eagerness was satiated by sharing a good gossip with her sister.

"You could have knocked me over with a feather when Mr. Darcy told me that he loves Elizabeth and that they are engaged!" Mrs. Bennet told Mrs. Phillips, who, to her credit, looked almost as pleased as her sister.

"It is incredible given that Mr. Darcy said that Elizabeth was not handsome enough to dance with!" Mrs. Phillips exclaimed.

"Yes, and he is very sorry about that, truly! He said he thinks her the most handsome woman in the world. He did say that, did he not, Jane? Oh sister, it does make me so very happy! He is so tall, and handsome, and very rich! I had hoped he could come for dinner tonight, but he and Mr. Bingley are busy with estate business of some kind."

The door opened at this juncture to reveal not the butler announcing dinner, but the maid, Penelope, who looked a trifle flustered as the ladies and gentleman stared at her in surprise.

"Mrs. Bennet, a carriage is making its way down the driveway, and Cook thinks it looks like Miss Lydia is within?"

Within a minute, the drawing room was empty of all except the maid, as Mrs. Bennet rushed out the door followed by her daughters, who were in turn followed more slowly by the Phillipses, and they all hurried toward the stables, where a carriage generously splashed with mud had come to a halt.

By the time the mistress of Longbourn had made her way around to the door of the first carriage, it was open, and an unfamiliar man of some thirty years was holding out his hand to assist Lydia to the ground.

"Lydia!" Mrs. Bennet shrieked. "Oh, my dear darling girl! Oh, how happy I am to see you again!"

"I am delighted to see you too, Mamma," Lydia said, her blue eyes alight with pride and happiness. "Let me introduce you to my husband, Sir Christopher Harding, and my companion, Mrs. Greenfield. Mrs. Greenfield, Christopher, my mother, Mrs. Bennet, my sisters Jane, Mary, and Kitty, and my aunt and uncle Mrs. and Mr. Phillips."

Mrs. Bennet was so shocked that she stood silent, staring at the baronet, which enabled Jane to step forward and hold out her hand. "Sir Christopher, it is an honor to meet you, and many congratulations. Mrs. Greenfield, welcome to Longbourn."

Her other sisters chimed in their own greetings, along with the Phillipses, and then Mrs. Bennet found her voice.

"Sir Christopher? Are you a knight, then?"

"A baronet, Mrs. Bennet," the man said cheerfully. "My family owns an estate in Hampshire."

"Does that mean that my dear Lydia is…?"

"Lady Harding, yes."

She burst into tears of joy and relief and pride and pulled her youngest and tallest daughter into her arms. "I am so proud of you, Lyddy. So very proud!"

"Thank you," Lydia replied with surprising sedateness. "I am happy as well and am most grateful for this opportunity to marry such a wonderful man."

"Indeed. Oh Lydia, a baronet! But come, please do come in! I am certain you are all tired and hungry."

She guided the newlyweds and Mrs. Greenfield toward Longbourn, with her sister and brother-in-law tagging along, leaving the Bennet daughters behind.

"Sir Christopher is not very handsome," Kitty remarked, though softly.

"He is a baronet, though," Mary pointed out. "I am confident that Lydia is most pleased to be Lady Harding."

"More to the point," Jane said, "he is certainly a good man, because Mr. Darcy was involved in choosing him, and he is married to Lydia. That is the most important thing of all."

Kitty brightened at these words. "So we are no longer ruined?"

"Not even a little bit," Jane replied and felt a surge of guilt at the glowing expression of relief on Kitty's face. The fourth Bennet daughter – delicate and weak willed – had obviously been suffering a great deal of anxiety over the unsettled situation at Longbourn.

The sound of another carriage drew their attention, and within a minute, the snorting horses had drawn to a halt. A servant hurried forward to open the door, and Mr. Bennet appeared.

"Father!" Jane cried out, surging ahead.

"Lizzy!" Mary exclaimed a moment later as their father helped his second daughter to the ground.

"Jane, Mary, Kitty!"

Jane was startled when she felt tears slip down her cheeks, even as she pulled Elizabeth into her arms. Oh, how she has missed her Lizzy so very, very much.

"I am so glad you are home," she murmured.

"I am as well," Elizabeth replied and then stepped back with a shy smile. "I have so much to tell you!"

"If it is about your engagement to Mr. Darcy, we already know!" Kitty cried out excitedly. "He came over from Netherfield with Mr. Bingley and told us on Tuesday!"

"Mr. Darcy is at Netherfield?" Elizabeth exclaimed, and Jane, seeing the incandescent joy in her sister's eyes, felt an unaccustomed twist of envy in her heart. She had never imagined that her younger sister, satirical and clever, would fall in love with a man the way Jane had fallen in love with Mr. Bingley.

On the other hand, looking back at the previous year, it occurred to her that she had not really fallen in love with Bingley, but with an idealized version of the man. Moreover, the path to Elizabeth's happiness had been a bumpy and difficult one, with numerous turnings and windings.

Jane had, in fact, been forced to grow up. The world was not an exceedingly happy place, and not all people were good people. She was not perfect, nor was any other man on earth. She would never have a happy marriage if she looked to her husband to be perfect and to never make mistakes.

"Jane, my dear, how are you?"

She jerked in surprise and managed a smile at her father. "I am well enough. I am relieved that Lydia is safely wed."

"We all are," Bennet agreed, though his eyes still seemed puzzled. Jane suspected that her expression was not entirely as expected; she had always worked hard to seem placid and serene, but she was growing tired of doing so.

"Shall we go inside?" Mary asked. "I daresay you wish to refresh yourselves after your journey."

"Indeed," Elizabeth agreed, grasping Mary's arm with one hand and Kitty's with another. "The roads were quite muddy the last ten miles, which was frustrating as I was so eager to arrive!"

"Furthermore, I suspect that Mr. Darcy will be here as soon as he learns that we have returned from Scotland," Bennet remarked.

Elizabeth laughed and said, "I certainly hope so!"

/

Longbourn

An Hour Later

Mr. Darcy quickly trod up the steps to the front door of Longbourn and lifted his hand to the knocker. The door opened before he could knock, and Longbourn's butler, his expression suitably austere save for the welcome crinkling of his eyes, said, "Please come in, sir. The family is in the drawing room."

It was difficult to maintain the butler's slow pace as the two made their way down the corridor to the drawing room, behind the door of which he could hear voices, mostly feminine, talking and laughing.

Mr. Stewart opened the door, entered, and announced him, and Darcy looked around eagerly, his eyes seeking the face of the lady he adored.

"Elizabeth!" he cried out, hurrying forward.

"Fitzwilliam!" she replied, breaking free from a knot of Bennet sisters and rushing over to take his hands in hers.

He accepted those small hands gladly, but it was not enough, not after their separation. He bent down and pulled her closer, and in spite of the crowd of people watching with interest, placed a kiss on those rosy lips.

There were gasps of surprise from their audience, and when he gently released her, he was startled to see tears in her eyes. For a moment, he was afraid, but then he saw the accompanying smile.

"I missed you, Elizabeth," he murmured.

"I missed you as well," she replied and turned toward her parents, sisters, and relations. "You know everyone here, of course, but may I formally introduce Sir Christopher and Lady Harding?"

Darcy stepped forward to shake the hands of both the baronet and his lady, and his smile was a genuine one. He had known already of Lydia's choice, as Captain Scofield had arrived at Netherfield an hour earlier. Darcy had thought for some time that Lydia, soon to be his sister by marriage, was better suited to Sir Christopher than the more diffident Captain Scofield, but he had thought that the captain's red coat and more handsome face would win the day. It seemed Lydia had matured in choosing a man whose temperament was more closely matched to her own.

"It is wonderful to see you today, Mr. Darcy," Mrs. Bennet cried hospitably. "I hope you can join us for dinner?"

Darcy could only nod eagerly. He had initially planned to assist Bingley with some estate business, but now that Elizabeth had returned, he desired nothing more than to spend a few hours with the woman he adored.

/

Jane's Bedchamber

Midnight

There was a soft tap on the door, and Jane, curled up on a small settee by the fire, lifted her head and called, "Come in!"

It was, of course, Elizabeth, and Jane smiled and gestured for her sister to take a place next to her. Elizabeth, who was dressed in her night clothes, hurried over and obediently sat down.

"I know it is very late," she said, "but we have not had a chance to speak much since our arrival here. How are you doing, Jane?"

This was, surely, a most conventional question, but Jane knew that her Lizzy truly wished to know how she was doing and feeling, unlike her mother or her father or any of her friends. Oh, how she had missed Elizabeth and how hard it would be when Elizabeth married and moved away forever!

"I am well enough, I suppose," she said quietly. "I am naturally happy that Lydia is well and safely married. What do you think of Sir Christopher?"

"He is a good man, and of all of her suitors, the most compatible with her. He is quite a bit older, of course, but Lydia needs a husband who combines a cheerful demeanor with enough strength of will to manage her exuberance. I am happy it turned out the way it did. Both Captain Scofield and Commodore Quill are fine men, but I do not think they would have done as well with our youngest sister."

"I am glad," Jane said, and for a full five minutes, the two sisters sat quietly. Both were aware, absolutely, of the upcoming changes, and both were hesitant to bring up the subject.

Jane finally broke the silence. "So, you are engaged to Mr. Darcy?"

"I am."

Silence again. But Jane knew her sister well, and she knew that Elizabeth was incredibly, gloriously happy. Again she felt a throb of envy, and again she beat it back.

"I am happy for you."

"I am too. I know that our initial meeting was dreadful, and our interactions in Kent were a combination of confusion and chaos, but I am confident that he is the best man in the world for me."

"I am happy," Jane repeated.

Elizabeth cast a worried look at her sister. "You do not sound happy. Is something wrong?"

"No, not at all. I am indeed overjoyed for you and Lydia. It is merely that..."

She trailed off with a frown before continuing, "I am still not certain what to do about Mr. Bingley. He still wishes to marry me, you know, and Mamma has been harassing me to accept him, but I have not yet entirely recovered from the debacle of last autumn and winter."

"Then you should not marry him, or at least not yet. There is no hurry, dear sister. Mr. Darcy is very wealthy and will not allow any of you to starve."

"I hardly wish to hang on my sister's sleeve for the rest of my life!"

Elizabeth reached out and grasped her sister's hands tightly in her own. "I think it is unlikely you will. You are the most beautiful woman I know, and you are also amiable, well mannered, intelligent, and kind. It seems to me that you are going through the same sort of thing that I did last spring, when I realized how incredibly wrong I was about Wickham and Fitzwilliam. You are learning about yourself, and that is a terrible time to become engaged. There is plenty of time, Jane."

The eldest Miss Bennet felt her body relax at these very sensible words. "You are correct. There is plenty of time."