Page 81 of The Cheapside Runners
“What if one of you wasnotready?” Jasmine asked.
“Good question. In that case, you have a test. Do you discuss it and come to a resolution… ignore it and let it fester… ask someone else to help you? Every relationship has many such tests, and how they resolve them has a significant impact on how well they live.”
“That seems complicated,” Amber observed.
“It is, but so is life.”
They all looked thoughtful, so Elizabeth continued.
“All of thisshouldbe simple, but it is not, because nobody teaches it. We are all left to muddle through and let us just say, the results are mixed.”
“In our house, they are not mixed at all,” Kitty observed to everyone’s surprise. Nobody contradicted her, nor were they confused about how well or poorly things were handled at Longbourn.
“That is correct, Kitty, and that is where things get tricky. These signs and portents are hard enough for the couple—but to make matters worse,they do not happen in isolation!”
All the Bennet ladies let out longs-suffering sighs.
“With a mother like ours, you need not elaborate,” Mary said.
“Yes, all of you except Miss Darcy saw how Mrs Bennet abused poor Jane and Mr Bingley. To be honest, they never had much of a chance. Mr Bingley unwisely came on too strong and too fast. I have no idea whether Jane managed togradually loosen up her general agreeableness enough for him to understand her nature or not, but I doubt he really knew her well enough at the end. Mrs Bennet took his ill-disguised attentions and tried to turn those portents intoexpectationswith brute force. I will be surprised if he returns, but if he does not, I would blame her.”
“Why do you blame her, Lizzy,” Jane asked in a much more serious tone than usual. “Mama would say in a crude and vulgar way that I did not do enough to bring him to the point, but might she be right? What if I did not gradually increase our intimacy as you suggested?”
Elizabeth had not planned to have that discussion publicly, but if Jane was game, she would go along.
“You and your suitor needtime and honest conversationto work those things out. To be frank, I was sometimes tempted to light a fire under you while I doused him with a bucket.”
Everyone burst out laughing, especially since she said it in Mrs Black’s voice.
Elizabeth sighed. “That behaviour is not our parents’ only sin, or even their worst one. The behaviour of the whole family at the ball was horrific, and anyone with half an ear knows the financial impediments to a union with a Bennet. However, none of those placed both of you in a thoroughly untenable situation. He is rich enough that your financial straits need not be the death knell to his ambitions, and he must have learnt about that the first week. Boasting loud and long about your supposedconquest, meant Mr Bingley had todecide. He had to commit or withdraw. He did the latter in a rather cowardly way, but withdrawal was nearly inevitable.”
For a minute, Jane looked like she might be angry, though atwhomwas unclear. Elizabeth let them all stew a moment, but fortunately, Georgiana broke the tableau. “Youdorealize his sisters come with him?”
The whole room burst into laughter and Elizabeth decided to quit picking on poor Jane for the moment. She personally thought Jane had a narrow escape from a weak-willed man but would never say so. There was always a slim chance he would grow up eventually, but when he did, he would likely find himself either in competition, or more likely, too little too late.
Kitty once again surprised everyone by calling them to order. “Is that why you wanted slow and quiet, Lizzy?”
“Exactly! We have known each other a few months, but I never had any hint of his interest, nor did I expect or encourage it. Quite the opposite, if I am honest. We have had perhaps a dozen conversations in total. They were all quite fraught, so we had more signs to work with than usual, but we still do not know each other all that well.”
Darcy chimed in, “I was somewhere between interested and fascinated in Elizabeth back in Netherfield, but had not decided I was interested enough to pursue her over the objections she just outlined… so… Miss Lydia… what should I have done?”
Lydia was not entirely certain Mr Darcy had ever spoken to her before, but she had been the first to put on the boxing gloves, so she was not to be intimidated.
“You should keep it under your hat.”
“Correct… continue.”
She was flummoxed for a minute, but it became clear. “In the ordinary course of business, you would gradually start calling on her, dancing and conversing in company, and so forth.”
“Go on.”
“Before you could do that, you met Mrs Duff and got dragged into a dance where she smote that deserting scoundrel, so you had to do something more precipitate.”
“That is correct. I believe every couple has trouble knowing what they can or cannot say, but at the very least, they owe each other honesty. If I wanted any hope of success, I had to clearlystate my intentions.”
They all nodded in thought, so he continued, “Miss Jasmine, what comes next?”
Jasmine was less startled by being called this time.
