Page 3 of A Quiet Affection

No, he was a gentleman.

And he was a man who in most matters—that is, matters that did not involve the education of his only son—was quite willing to accept that other individuals would make their own decisions and pursue their own happiness, or destruction, intheir own way. He could only surround those he cared for with circumstances that encouraged them to do rightly.

For these reasons, Mr. Darcy brought George with him the next time he stayed with Mr. Bennet—it was his habit to stop at Longbourn for a week while either on the road to London for the season, or when returning. The two children quickly became close friends. It was as though George understood exactly what Mr. Darcy hoped for him to do without being told—it so often seemed that way with George.

Jane Bennet was six years old, while George was eight, almost nine. It was a close enough age for them to strike up an easy friendship.

During these visits, Fitzwilliam chiefly spent his time eagerly listening and soaking in knowledge as Mr. Bennet and Mr. Darcy discoursed upon many diverse topics. Or he read books by himself. Always Mr. Bennet insisted on keeping little Lizzy in the room with him. He doted on the child to a ridiculous extent, and often when she asked ‘why’ he would stop the conversation to explain the matter to her, using different modes of explanation when she asked ‘why’ a second and a third time.

Mr. Darcy approved of this, even though the presence of the little girl disrupted the most serious aspects of their own conversation.

Poor Bennet did not have a son.

It was clear to Mr. Darcy that his friend’s efforts to educate Elizabeth were in the vain hope of filling the aching void in his heart that was impossible to patch without a true heir.

Fitzwilliam rode all the roads around Hertfordshire, climbed all of the hills, and proved himself to be a better shot than any boy his age amongst the young gentry of Meryton.

Mr. Darcy was so terribly proud of Fitzwilliam that sometimes his very soul ached with joy.

He could never say that to him. It would not help the boy to strive, it would not prick the sides of his proper ambition, if he knew how delighted his father already was with him. No, Fitzwilliam must always think that he was not quite what he ought to be, that there was something missing that he must acquire in himself.

Mr. Bennet seemed in no way impressed with George, as the lad was not clever like Fitzwilliam or Elizabeth. But Mr. Darcy did not want his godson to be clever and brilliant—such a person would not need his aid to find a way in life. No, he liked that George was what he was: Friendly, companionable, loyal, mischievous, and always eager to please.

Besides, Jane Bennet also did not display the signs of any excess of cleverness.

Mr. Bennet would put no block in the way of such a connection. Though he clearly had no notion that Mr. Darcy meant to encourage such a thing.

Mr. Darcy perceived that Mrs. Bennet recognized what Mr. Darcy hoped to encourage, and that she thought that the steward’s son was below what she hoped for her daughter. After all, George’s father had the same sort of position in life that her own father had.

The wife of Mr. Bennet was a beautiful woman who had married well, but not exceptionally, for her station and birth. Her father had been of a saving mindset, and the five thousand that was her portion was certainly sufficient that no one would argue about her right to marry an estate of two thousand a year. However, at the same time, Mr. Bennet’s position was decidedly above that held by her father.

Mr. Darcy thought that Mrs. Bennet had too high a notion of herself, and of the desserts of her daughters. They were wellborn and raised as gentlewomen, but in its most fundamental way, the world ran upon money—or rather upon force and threats of force. If it was not for the threat of punishment, men would not pay their taxes and their rents. Why else did they trade paper and metal for things instead of simply taking or having it taken from them? This was why a king was necessary for a happy and well-organized society.

In any case, sensible gentlemen, and also those lacking sense, found it enormously preferable to marry a woman whose breeding was a little inferior to one whose dowry was substantially inferior. Mr. Darcy, as the Darcy of Pemberley, had married a woman who united birth, fortune, and character. But Mr. Bennet’s daughters had modest birth, little fortune, and their most notable connections were a country lawyer and a young fellow still establishing himself in his trade.

Even if Jane Bennet remained a particularly enchanting and appealing creature when she reached womanhood, there would not be a crowd of titled and rich suitors beating down the door for their chance at a portion of thirteen hundred pounds, to be received after the decease of the mother-in-law.

Two years later when Mr. Darcy made his annual descent upon the estate of his friend, it seemed that the birth of afifthdaughter had made Mrs. Bennet aware of the dangers of the situation which faced her family. Now she was eager to support the scheme when Mr. Darcy suggested that he take Jane with him to live in his household for the several months that he would be in London.

Mr. Darcy was delighted to have the girl about his house. He loved the presence of children, and Jane was soft, sweet, andalways correct in her opinions and behaviors. Lady Anne found her husband’s goddaughter as delightful as Mr. Darcy.

For her part, Jane Bennet enjoyed enormously the time spent in the company of her godfather. The house was bigger, the servants more numerous, and the food and entertainments more varied than what she ever experienced in Longbourn.

Jane Bennet was a sweet soul, but it was impossible for her to not to see herself as in some important way more special than her sisters, even Elizabeth. Elizabeth made Jane feel as though she were dull. Even though her sister was almost two years younger than Jane, Elizabeth was far more advanced in French, mathematics, and understanding of the natural sciences. Jane had been made by the tutors when she visited Mr. Darcy’s house to memorize far more history, but the one time she had attempted to claim superiority on the basis of knowing the names of most of the emperors of Rome until Constantine in order, Elizabeth returned two days later with the whole line of them until the fall of the Western Empire memorized, and then a dozen of the Byzantine emperors after Justinian. Elizabeth always talked circles around Jane when they argued, and Elizabeth always was the favorite of her father.

And Jane knew that her mother’s insistence that she was better than Elizabeth, since she was prettier, was a form of superiority that it was not respectable to take too seriously. Jane was a girl who always did what she wassupposedto do (very unlike Elizabeth!), so it was impossible for Jane to develop a strong sense of superiority based onthat.

Butshewas the very great Mr. Darcy’s goddaughter, andshewas the one who was taken away from the family to spend delightful months in London—this was a surer foundation upon which to admire herself.

The pleasure of George Wickham’s company made no small part of the delight that Jane found in the time with her godfather. He participated in all her games and drew her into his. He spent time with her. He made jokes for her benefit, he gave her gifts of ribbons and toys, he provided a partner for her when the dance instructor came around, and he praised every drawing that she made, and the efforts that sheknewwere of little account at the piano.

Mr. Darcy considered Mr. Bennet to be negligent in managing the education of his daughters. Elizabeth would do well enough—she was the sort of clever girl who delighted in reading and whose conversation would always provide entertainment for a certain type of man, and whose wit would give an impression of being well educated, even if the substance was lacking.

But Mr. Bennet made no effort with the other girls, allowing them to wander about and do whatever they wished.

Ridiculous!

Before sending him off to school, Mr. Darcy had ensured that Fitzwilliam rarely had an hour of time free from studies, exercise, and practice. The boy thrived under this regime.