Page 88 of Roses from Pemberley
“I tend to agree,” said Mrs. Bennet quietly.
“Do you not love Lydia anymore, Mamma?” asked Kitty, looking upset.
“Of course, I still love her! I shall always love all of you no matter what you do.” She paused, then smiled sardonically, in a manner that reminded Elizabeth of her father. “Did I not still love Lizzy even when she refused Mr. Collins?”
“Mamma!” said Elizabeth.
“I was only teasing, Lizzy…” said Mrs. Bennet with a laugh, “as a tribute to your father.”
Elizabeth’s mouth hung open while Darcy asked, “Mr. Collins proposed and you refused him?”
“She did,” said Kitty, now smiling.
“Tell us about it,” said Diana.
“There is not much to tell,” said Elizabeth.
“Oh, but there is,” said Kitty. “For he told Lizzy that almost from the moment he set foot at Longbourn, he had singled her out as the companion of his future life!”
“Did he?”
“Oh, yes - even though he initially chose Jane. But Mamma stated that Jane was likely to be soon engaged and hinted that he should turn his attentions to Lizzy.”
“And who was Jane soon to be engaged to?” asked Bingley with a grin.
“Charles!” said Jane. “You are embarrassing me.”
“Sorry, dearest…” said Bingley sheepishly, “but it would just make me happy to know that we were linked somehow…even then.”
Jane smiled. “Well, of course, it was you.”
“But how did you answer him?” Darcy asked Elizabeth.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes merrily. “I refused him of course.”
“Would you mind providing us with some additional details?” asked Diana. “We are family now, you know.”
“Come on, Lizzy, tell us,” said Kitty.
Elizabeth looked at the expectant faces of her family which now included Darcy, Bingley, Georgiana and Diana, and wondered if she could sacrifice a little bit of Mr. Collins’s dignity in order to entertain them.
“You may as well, Lizzy,” said Mr. Gardiner. “Your hesitation just makes us all the more curious, and it would be rude now not to comply.”
“Oh, very well,” said Elizabeth, rolling her eyes. “I thanked him for the honour of his proposal, but stated that it would be impossible for me to accept. I thought he would desist but…”
“Yes?” asked Darcy.
Elizabeth winced. “But he said he was by no means dissuaded because he understood that it was the practice of elegant females to refuse a man a few times whom they secretly mean to accept!”
“The practice of elegant females!” cried Diana.
“Yes, in order to increase the man’s…ardour.”
The room erupted in laughter.
“Oh, Lord!” said Diana. “I can just imagine Mr. Collins saying that. So, then what?”
“So then I told him that I was a rational creature and was certainly not in the habit of playing with a decent man’s affection.”
