Page 231 of What Change Entails

“Oh, Lizzy,” she whispered loudly, clutching her daughter’s arm. “The staircase!”

“Yes, Mama.”

“And the servants!”

“Yes, Mama.”

“And the windows!”

Darcy, standing nearby, leaned toward Elizabeth. “The windows are pleased to have made a favorable impression.”

She bit the inside of her cheek.

Mr. Bennet disappeared into the library within an hour and did not emerge until dinner. When Elizabeth found him, he stood in the center of the room with a volume open in one hand and reverence upon his face.

“Lizzy,” he said, “I begin to approve of your marriage.”

“Only now?”

“I was reserving judgment until I met the books.”

“I shall inform my husband he has been accepted on the strength of his shelves.”

“Do. It will be good for him.”

Jane and Bingley came as an understood pair, though still unwed. Their engagement was announced before the festive season, after Bingley had spent several months proving that constancy could be practiced as well as promised. They planned to marry in the spring. Bingley kept Netherfield until the lease expired in September and began searching for an estate of his own, though he confessed privately to Darcy that finding one near both Hertfordshire and Derbyshire would require either genius or witchcraft.

“Try patience first,” Darcy advised.

“I dislike patience.”

“You have become better acquainted with it.”

“Yes,” Bingley said, looking across the lawn where Jane stood with Elizabeth and Georgiana. “I have also become grateful for it.”

Each Bennet sister took her turn staying with the Darcys and, later, with the Bingleys. Those visits changed more than society noticed. Mary softened without losing conviction. Kitty gained confidence away from comparison. Lydia became no less spirited, but her spirit found better occupation.

Mary had a season in town before Kitty, to Mrs. Bennet’s astonishment and Mr. Bennet’s secret satisfaction. She married the Reverend Dr. Edmund Ashbourne, a prominent churchman with several livings, a respectable fortune from his grandmother, and a sincere admiration for improving sermons. He found Mary’s seriousness charming, and Mary found his library of theological works nearly irresistible. They settled in Surrey, where she became known for charitable schools, excellent music evenings, and lectures delivered to those who had voluntarily remained in the room.

Kitty attended the season the following year and surprised everyone by marrying Sir Thomas Vale, a good-natured baronet from Shropshire, within the season. He admired her softness, she admired his horses, and neither demanded more gravity from the other than could reasonably be supplied. Elizabeth suspected Kitty’s happiness owed much to having spent enough time with Jane, Georgiana, and Lydia to learn that being agreeable need not mean being directed by louder people.

Lydia and Georgiana came out in town together, under Elizabeth’s eye and Mrs. Annesley’s resigned vigilance.

They were a sensation.

Not because either was outrageous, though Lydia occasionally approached the boundary with curiosity. Georgiana’s fortune and Darcy’s name might have attracted attention in any case, but her sweetness, improved self-possession, and unexpected flashes of humor won genuine admiration. Lydia, with her bright face, ready wit, and alarming candor, became much sought after by gentlemen who enjoyed laughter and much feared by mothers who preferred obedience.

“She will marry by June,” Mrs. Bennet predicted.

Lydia did not.

Nor did Georgiana.

For three seasons they helped half their acquaintance find matches and accepted none for themselves. Lydia claimed husband hunting was far less interesting than matchmaking. Georgiana agreed, though in her case the refusal was expressed with greater delicacy and fewer alarming metaphors.

When Lydia was the last Bennet sister unmarried, she went to Pemberley for an extended stay with Georgiana. By then Georgiana had attracted the admiration of Viscount Meriden, a thoughtful gentleman of good family and better temper, who loved music, disliked arrogance, and addressed Georgiana as if she had opinions worth hearing. That alone recommended him to Darcy, though he pretended to require further persuasion.

Lydia declared him acceptable.