Page 25 of A Most Favourable Match

“Lady Catherine wants to marry him?” interrupted Lydia with loud peals of incredulous laughter. “I cannot imagine anyone wanting to marry such a man.”

“Hush, Lydia,” Elizabeth admonished her. “That is not at all what Mr Collins meant, although I must say that he does not always express himself well or clearly.”

“What does he mean, then?” demanded Mrs Bennet. “I daresay I cannot make it out any better than Lydia.”

“You speak truly, Lizzy,” commented Mr Bennet with a smile. “Now, if I may continue, it will put a new complexion on Mr Collins’ previous words, especially for you, Mrs Bennet:

“Conscious as I am of the injury done to your fairdaughters by the mere fact of my existence…”

At such an astonishing turn of phrase, Lydia and Kitty sputtered with laughter again and were silenced with a severe look from their father before he continued.

“…I feel it my duty to come to Longbourn and offer the only recompense I can to your family. I hope that this will meet with the approval of you and Mrs Bennet and that I will be able to rely on your guidance and wise counsel in my addresses.”

The two youngest girls only found this more hilarious than the preceding sentences and fell about all over again. Jane and Elizabeth looked soberly at one another, while Mrs Bennet’s face had grown thoughtful and scheming.

“Does Mr Collins want you to counsel him on marriage, Father?” asked Mary, regarding Lydia and Kitty with disapproval. “I imagined that clergymen themselves performed such an office.”

“Oh, don’t be so obtuse, Mary,” scolded her mother, although Elizabeth thought such discipline would be better meted out to the youngest girls, rather than Mary, who had only misunderstood. “Mr Collins is coming to Longbourn to find a wife from among your father’s daughters. It is perfectly clear to me.”

“I fear you are right, Mrs Bennet,” sighed her husband, folding away his letter and taking up his cutlery once more. “That does sound like his intention.”

Lydia and Kitty had both fallen silent at the announcement of this awful prospect. In the generalpause that followed, Mr Bennet placidly continued to devour his chop with no further attention to his family. Having given his news, he had now apparently washed his hands of the whole matter and would leave it to his very willing wife.

“Jane is engaged to Lord Grantchester, and Lizzy could do better by catching Mr Bingley and his five thousand pounds per year,” Mrs Bennet thought aloud. “One of the younger girls will do well enough for Mr Collins.”

“Well, I’m not going to marry him!” Lydia declared. “I dare say Mr Collins can be nothing besides the officers of the militia.”

“Nor shall I,” Kitty joined her younger sister in defiance. “I prefer officers to clergymen, too. I expect he cannot even dance.”

“If one of you can catch Lord Keeble, that would do very well,” advised their mother, and then sighed regretfully. “Handsome as they are, I do not believe a single officer of that militia has any fortune worth speaking of. No, you must try for Lord Keeble. He seems to like both of you well enough.”

“Yes, but he can’t marry both of us, and then the other one would have to marry Mr Collins,” Kitty complained sulkily. To judge by her attitude, Elizabeth suspected she already assumed that her louder and more outgoing younger sister would triumph in winning Lord Keeble’s heart and hand in the end.

“Oh, let Mary marry him,” Lydia replied to this with a careless wave of her hand. “She is well dull enough to be a clergyman’s wife, don’t you think?”

Instinctively, Mary frowned, but then looked thoughtful, as though seriously considering the prospect.

“As none of these men have yet expressed an interest in marrying any of you, I think you ought to hold off such firm decisions until such time as you receive an offer,” Elizabeth cautioned her sisters.

“Indeed,” agreed Mr Bennet, looking up from his plate again with infuriating amusement. “Did I not say that Mr Collins would occupy the whole family’s attention? Well, he will try his best, at least. Ha!”

Chapter 10

Darcy knew he must act, and soon. If he were not much mistaken, Grantchester sensed his growing determination. His old friend seemed to have been politely avoiding him since they returned to London, but this could not go on forever.

In the drawing room at Darcy House, Darcy listened absently as his younger sister’s deft fingers flew over the pianoforte keyboard in the final movement of a familiar Mozart sonata. His mind was far away from this room, from Georgiana and from Mozart. With a painful confusion of conflicting obligations, Darcy thought yet again of Miss Jane Bennet, an unworldly and unsuspecting young woman contracting a marriage she might well live to regret.

John Tellington, Earl of Grantchester, was not a wicked man, and yet he was leading Jane Bennet down a road with evil consequences. Did he genuinely not see this? Or did he think he could avoid these evils? Might he even think that Miss Bennet’s own innocence could protect her?

The presto movement of the sonata reached a climax and then rushed on still further and higher withall Georgiana’s youthful energy and enthusiasm. The already grim situation had been made worse by Charles Bingley’s infatuation with Jane Bennet. In a worst case scenario, Darcy could even imagine Bingley calling Grantchester out if he ever learned the truth. That could benefit no one.

Dwelling on one sister always brought the other to mind, no matter that Darcy would have preferred to keep Elizabeth Bennet out of his head entirely. With her bright hazel eyes and quick, fearless manner, even the memory of her had the power to rouse and rile him in the most disturbing and disruptive manner.

If only Elizabeth Bennet understood what was at play, her force of personality might better steer her sister from danger than anything Darcy could do. Honour, however, must always prevent him from telling Lord Grantchester’s secrets, even for the best of reasons, and even if it meant that his motives must be so badly misconstrued.

Do you detest marriage in general, Mr Darcy? Or only the match between your friend and my sister?

Recalling that heated conversation in the garden at Belton Manor made his heart race in more ways than one, just as it had done in reality. Elizabeth Bennet showed Darcy no deference whatsoever, and he respected her for it. How tired he had grown of the Miss Bingleys of the world dancing attendance on him, or rather, on his name and fortune. Elizabeth stood in stark contrast to such manipulation. She was honest, always, with a clarity of mind that Darcy could not help but admire.