Page 25 of Till Death Us Do Part
Bennet matched her shout for shout. “At the moment, it is a stubborn and selfish daughter!”
Leaning forward in her chair, Elizabeth snapped angrily, “You just love your adjectives. Well, you are welcome to use any or all ofselfish,stubborn,wilful,obstinate,disobedient,pig-headedor any of the other terms you like for any female who does not share enough attributes with a sheep—but I would kindly request you refrain from insinuating that I am stupid, or that I have no understanding of the world. I understand it perfectly. Once again—”
Feeling a need for motion, she jumped up from her chair, grabbed a pencil that was laying on the desk, and marched over to a large map of England on the wall. The map was expensive but otherwise not much to look at, and she needed something to burn her anger out on.
While Bennet stared in horror, she drew a small circle the size of her hand, and then rapidly drew another about a foot and a half in diameter.
“What are you doing?” Bennet yelled, then started to get up from his chair, but Elizabeth spun around, dropped the pencil on the floor, and replied with her finger on the smaller circle.
“The problem, sir,is that you are lazy.Thisis the circle where you allow your daughters to look for husbands.”
The small circle went around Meryton, including Netherfield and the outlying estates, but stopped well short of Hatfield and the other villages within a dozen miles.
She pointed at the larger circle that went through Cambridge, Oxford, Brighton, and Kent, with London near its centre. Somewhat satisfied with the result, she continued relentlessly.
“Thisis the areayou could affordto search but aretoo lazy. You have connexions from Cambridge you could have kept, through Uncle Gardiner to dozens or hundreds of tradesmen in town, through Uncle Philips’ business to men in Brighton and even some in town. You know, or could if you were not so lazy, allthe tradesmen in Meryton, and you could easily have them point out their own connexions.
“There are a hundred ways youcouldbe promoting your children that would be more effective than sitting around waiting to see if the only vacant estate in the neighbourhood gets leased by a suitable man who happens to be single, likes one of your daughters, is rich enough to eschew a dowry, and complaisant enough to ignore the raging improprieties of your family.”
She pounded the wall for emphasis. “There aremillionsof people in this area, and it is all within a one-day carriage ride. Myreputationwould be forgotten within the year, and if not, it would not extend even to Hatfield, let alone London.”
“You forget that your reputation will be tied toMr Darcy’s, which has a much longer reach than your own.”
“Mr Darcy dug his own grave.”
By that point, the two were shouting at each other like angry bulls.
“None of this changes the material fact that both of you are compromised, whether you deserve to be or not. I can assure you, if there was a way to wiggle out of it, he would not have offered for you. Why do you think it took him a week to return?”
“That isnot my problem!”
By then, Bennet had exhausted his meagre store of patience.
“Go to your room until you can be reasonable, Miss Bennet. You will not leave the house unless accompanied by Nathaniel or myself. We may be old, but you will not escape either of us. I should also mention that your room will be locked at night.”
Elizabeth turned without a word and stomped out, up the stairs and into her bedchamber. She saw Jane’s bed and decided she just could not stand another night in her sister’s company, since she hardly recognised her anyway.
With a huff, she took the valise she already had, got a slightly bigger trunk, threw the rest of her clothing into it, and moved it all down the hall into the guest room, most recently occupied by Mr Collins.
It was only right that the room was reserved for the stupidest people in the house, which she seemed to be.
12.Something That You Do
“Bingley, Anne! Welcome!”
“Darcy, good to see you, old fellow.”
“Fitzwilliam, what does the man whowonthe fight look like?”
Darcy raised his eyebrows in surprise at the quip, so Anne continued, “Are you surprised a sense of humour survived my mother’s upbringing?”
Darcy chuckled. “I am surprised anything good survived at Rosings. Rats and cockroaches: yes; sense of humour: no.”
Much to his surprise, Anne laughed openly. It was the first time she had in some time, so he just looked at her in astonishment.
“You know how it was. Mother is like a jackal, just sitting there waiting for me to make a mistake. You could just as well have ended up obliged to me as to Miss Bennet—who I pity, by the way.”
“Pity?PITY?”
