Page 7 of Till Death Us Do Part
Instead of that happy scenario, the entire ball had been a series of debacles piled one atop the other.
First his two youngest got thoroughly tap hackled and ran through the ball like madwomen, which admittedly was amusing in its own way, though hardly conducive to keeping the family in good standing. The middle child spent the evening reading Fordyce’s sermons, and his idiot cousin did his best to cripple the entire female population of Meryton.
Meanwhile, his wife spent the entire evening loudly boasting about how Jane would ‘capture’ the ever-elusive Mr Bingley—loudly, and within hearing of Mr Darcy.
To cap the evening off, his second, and now apparently stubbornest daughter, somehow made an assignation with the man she claimed to despise, who obviously had his own culpability. You would think a man hunted for sport every day of his adult life would have a better sense of self-preservation.
Then the whole night was capped by his wifescreechingabout a compromise, echoed by the rest of her gossipy sheepfriends. All in all, every single member of the Bennet and Darcy families had conspired to destroy his peace permanently.It never occurred to the patriarch to take any of the responsibility for the disaster.
Barely holding his own ire, he snapped, “Elizabeth, you cannot deny that you were in an isolated corner alone with your future husband. If you do not like how it ended, do not blame others.”
Full of righteous fury, Elizabeth screamed, “First off, it was not empty, and secondly, he dragged me there! Look at this!”
With that, she rolled up her sleeve and showed the bruise in the shape of a large handprint that covered her arm just above the wrist.
“It was hardly isolated. There were plenty of people when we arrived. They were perfectly visible, but far enough away to not overhear, which I assume was the so-called gentleman’s goal. He did not consult me on the manoeuvre.”
Bennet looked at the bruise sceptically. “Am I to believe that he physicallydraggedyou from the dance floor hard enough to raise a bruise and you did not make a peep. You were in that corner alone for some time before your mother caught you. Do not try to shift the blame to others.”
Gasping in anger, she repeated yet again, “Mama made the whole thing up out of whole cloth!It is true Mr Darcy was speaking quietly to me, but we had a respectable distance between us, and it is not as if we were in another room. The bruise must have come after Mother’s assault, or else I would have been the one screaming. He probably reacted badly to the screeching, as would anyone.”
“So, you are telling me that you were just talking, and your mother and her cronies just made up the observed kiss, and then Mr Darcy manhandled you hard enough to bruise your arm?You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to believethe truth!”
Bennet felt like he had endured all the bad temper he wanted for the day, so tried to speak reasonably.
“Lizzy, you know how it works.You are compromised.He has made an offer of marriage. Granted, it is the stingiest marriage contract ever written, but you are a clever girl. You will talk him back into good humour eventually. Nobody can stay angry with you forever.”
“I did nothing wrong!I will not be punished for the rest of my life for someone else’s crimes.”
Losing patience himself, Bennet snapped, “Bah! Bah! Boo, hoo, hoo! You think you will be the first wife with a disagreeable husband? Will youpunish all your sisters for your transgressions?Would you prefer Collins?”
“They are notmytransgressions. They are yours, and your wife’s.”
He smashed his fist on the desk. “Nevertheless, if you do not marry him, your sisters will never make a match.”
Equally angry, Elizabeth slammed her own palm on the same desk, and shouted equally loudly, “They could too!It just would not be the match you and mother dreamed would fall out of the sky with no effort on your parts. You could have them all married in a year to honourable farmers, merchants, or tradesmen, if you would set your sights on somethingachievable, and enlisted the help of your only sensiblerelatives. Perhaps our reputation in Meryton is tainted, but it was not exactly pristine to begin with given the behaviour of your wife and younger daughters—and there are no eligible men in this accursed village anyway! There never have been!”
“So, they are supposed to settle for tradesmen or farmers because you are too high in the instep to accept one of the richest men in England and do your duty to your family?”
“YES!My experience thus far says tradesmen on average make better husbands than gentlemen anyway.”
By that point, father and daughter had both stood up from their chairs to lean across the desk and yell at each other from a foot away—both filled with burning anger and neither giving an inch.
Lowering his voice menacingly, Mr Bennet reiterated, “Itis done,Elizabeth! The marriage contractis signed!I will call the first banns onSunday!Youwillmarry that man on the twenty-third of December, and youwillwork out a way to live in harmony with him or else suffer for your own stupidity like the rest of us.”
Elizabeth gasped. “Live in harmony with a man who will not even speak to me? With a man who didthisto me? Who is offering the smallest morsel of support he can legally get away with? He did not even have the grace to ask for my hand, or say anything the least bit polite, after he asked you.”
Elizabeth raised her bruised arm in emphasis.
“Nevertheless, you will marry him. He did not need to ask you. Need I remind you that you are still a minor, and I control your marital status.”
Elizabeth replied furiously. “I will not!”
“I am fatigued with this discussion. Go to your room and stay there until you can comport yourself in a civilised manner.”
With that, he plopped down into his chair, picked up a book, and held it in front of his face high enough to cover his presently most vexing daughter.
