Chapter I
“Had you chosen better, I would not be on the verge of losing my home.”
Mrs. Bennet paused with her fork in the air to glare at her second eldest daughter. “And I could spend my time planning this year’s Christmas observance instead of worrying about Mr. Collins evicting me.”
“He will not throw you out of Longbourn,” replied Elizabeth, trying in vain to give her full attention to the meal in front of her. “And Papa claims he is still in good health.”
“He won't live forever,” said her mother, as she had the night before, and the night before that, and every evening since Mr. Bingley's ball two weeks ago. For her, it had been the last peaceful evening before Mr. Collins’s surprising and distasteful marriage proposal.
“What about when Mr. Bennet passes, and I am left alone in this world to fend for myself?” said Mrs. Bennet with a sniff while thrusting the food into her mouth as though it, like her daughter, existed only to disappoint her.
She chewed with vigor, the firm, relentless movement of her jaw a testament to her continued irritation with this unyielding child. “And what,” declared she after swallowing, “will happen when your father passes, and this immoral entail awards Longbourn to Mr. Collins? Do you suppose he can welcome your presence here after you rejected his kind offer? He is more likely to eject you at once, and me with you.”
Mr. Bennet, content until now to observe, cleared his throat, the sound drawing their attention. “I am still alive,” said he, his ever-present smile visible, though somewhat dimmed by the repetitive argument.
“Contrary to your predictions, I have no plans to shuffle off this mortal coil,” continued he, turning his head toward his daughter and rolling his eyes.
The act almost made her laugh, but she kept her mouth closed. To show merriment in the face of her mother’s foul mood would increase the woman’s anger, something she wished to avoid if possible.
“But if you were to die without warning,” replied Mrs. Bennet, as Elizabeth knew she would, “Mr. Collins would evict me as revenge for allowing Lizzy to refuse his marriage offer.”
Mr. Bennet sighed and fixed his wife with an icy stare, a sign of growing frustration with his wife’s incessant harping. In his oft repeated opinion, the man’s departure should have resolved the argument.
“He was smart enough to realize the futility of continuing his pursuit,” replied her father with another smile and a shrug of his shoulders. “Lizzy refused his advances more than once, as I recall. He is gone, so why not let this die a quiet death, instead of raising it at every meal?”
“How can I, when her thoughtlessness will see me on the street, begging for scraps of food from passersby?” cried Mrs. Bennet, a mournful sob following her declaration. "Was the idea of marrying Mr. Collins so dreadful that she didn’t care what would happen to me once you are gone?"
“So it would seem,” answered Mr. Bennet, winking at Elizabeth as he spoke, “and to tell the truth, I don’t blame her. Until the man showed up at our door, she had never met him. How can you expect her to marry a stranger who, you must agree, did not present himself at all well? To be truthful, if I were in Lizzy’s shoes, I would have refused him just as fast, if not faster.”
“But you weren’t,” lamented Mrs. Bennet, her voice rising with her words, “so the decision was not yours, was it?”
She heaved a great sigh that, coming from anyone else, might have meant they acknowledged the facts. This, however, was a woman not known for recognizing the realities of a situation if they disagreed with her preconceived notions.
“I could never marry a man I do not know, Mama,” Elizabeth said, frustrated by her mother's continual refusal to accept her decision against a union not of her choosing.
“With a proper introduction and time to become acquainted, I could have given his proposal honest consideration,” added she, hoping to soothe her mother’s wounded pride. “But to ask for my hand and assume I would say yes at once was something I could not endure. Please try to understand the reasons for my refusal.”
Mrs. Bennet stayed silent, as if lost in thought. When at last she looked up, Elizabeth was relieved to see acceptance in her eyes, the emotion missing from previous conversations. She welcomed the change and accepted it with gratitude, pushing aside her curiosity about this sudden difference in her mother. Agreeing was triumph enough for now, especially if it brought peace to Longbourn.
Relief settled over her and continued for the next month. As time passed, the argument—and the details of their disagreement—faded from her memory. With Christmas drawing near, any lingering memories vanished as she joined her mother and sisters in preparing for the family’s celebration of that most joyous season.
Mrs. Bennet approached the upcoming festivities with more excitement than she had shown in years past. This change in her mood also affected Elizabeth, who welcomed the joyful demeanor that took hold of the woman this December. Her mother made a point of sharing the Christmas plans with her, kindly asking her to handle various tasks to prepare for the cherished day.
The need for a certain spool of ribbon sent her to Meryton with Jane, Kitty, and Lydia, who seized upon the opportunity to go with her. Elizabeth suspected that for her two younger sisters, the request to accompany her had more to do with mild desperation to escape Mrs. Bennet’s musings regarding her hopes for their future, but she did not object to their company.
“Stay with me,” called she when they ran ahead. “I have neither time nor desire to search through crowds for you.”
“Why not let them go?” asked Jane. “They won’t be hard to locate. The town is not large, and all the shops are along this road, so how far can they get? They want to call on friends. What trouble can they cause in the hour we are here?”
Elizabeth shook her head, an involuntary shudder running up her spine and across her shoulders. “Knowing our youngest sister, I don’t need to guess,” said she. “Remember the incident at the milliner’s on our last visit? I won’t suffer that embarrassment again. With her fascination for the opposite sex, it won’t be long before she throws herself at a local boy. I am sure Papa would rather not have to soothe an angry parent or explain her actions to a man who mistakes her flirting for something more.”
“Maybe we should leave them both at Aunt Phillips’s house until you finish,” chuckled Jane as Kitty returned, the other some distance behind.
“Can we not go and visit?” said Lydia, her whining not surprising but still annoying, as her sister possessed an innate compulsion to resist direction. While the practice often freed her from restrictions her mother sought to enforce, Elizabeth demanded that the girl listen and obey.
Lydia had yet to win their battle of wills, but the inevitability of eventual surrender had not convinced her that resistance was time-consuming and futile.
“We shall see,” said she to end the argument and give her sisters a bit of hope they might achieve their wishes. “But it depends on our finding the ribbon we came to purchase and how much of the day we spend arguing about what you can or cannot do.”
