Page 35 of Great Uncle Henry (Pride & Prejudice Vagary)

“Y our recalcitrance is all because of Miss Lizzy,” Fanny accused. She had never known Jane to stand up to her before her eldest had begun to spend more and more time with Uncle Henry and Miss Lizzy at the dower hovel. She could not like it, not one little bit.

“Mama, my refusal to behave in the improper way you suggest has nothing to do with Lizzy or anyone else. Do you not think I have enough sense of propriety and intelligence to be able to think for myself?” Jane responded politely, but firmly.

“But I taught you how to catch a man…” Fanny attempted to assert.

“Mama, your lessons are a recipe for ruin. Have you not noticed that any man you have ever attempted to push towards me has run away in the opposite direction? At the same time, Lizzy, who you say is nothing to me, when she is, in fact, a beauty, is always surrounded by men seeking her company at any assembly. You have said many times that men do not want educated women, yet I have seen that is not true. Why do you think that is?” Jane responded, cutting her mother off before she had been able to complete her thought.

Fanny did not know how to respond. While she had always tried to push these inconvenient facts from her consciousness, she could not ignore what Jane was saying. She would not, could not, allow herself to acknowledge the truth.

“In that case, I will not attempt to help you, and we will see if you ever find a man or if you will become a spinster like Miss Lizzy and her friend Charlotte will be.” Fanny sniffed and waved her eldest, and formerly one of her favourites, from her company.

She had summoned Jane because today was the day the Taylors would be calling on Longbourn, and she had wanted to make sure Jane was prepared to catch the heir’s son.

Instead, the conversation had not gone as she had desired or expected.

In that case, she would promote Lydia. Jane would regret her rejection of Fanny’s help when Lydia was married long before any of her sisters, who were all doomed to become spinsters.

Jane shook her head as she departed her mother’s chambers. Mama had not asked, and Jane had not shared that she had spent time with the Taylors since they had arrived a few days past, and it was obvious that she and Roger would not suit.

Now that her eyes had been opened, Jane could see just how much wrongheaded advice Mama had given her over the years.

The thing Mama had been most wrong about was Uncle Henry.

Rather, opposed to what her mother believed, that their great-uncle wanted to deprive them of their home, he was making sure they would all be secure, even if they did not marry.

If only Mama could see past her baseless prejudices.

The old Jane would not have been able to see her mother was wrong.

This Jane, with her eyes fully opened, could see Mama’s faults clearly.

She still respected Mama, but now Jane was able to do so without believing all of the things her mother had taught her.

Her next three younger sisters were waiting for Jane in her bedchamber.

“Well?” Lizzy asked. “Did Mama instruct you on how to catch Roger?” Elizabeth smiled as she asked the question.

“Indeed, and if I do not try to catch him, she will have Lydia do so. In that case, although she does not know Mr Bingley’s name, I am to make sure I secure a proposal from the man who will take up residence at Netherfield Park in a few months,” Jane reported.

“Unless Roger decides to join the army, Lydia will not look at him twice,” Kitty scoffed.

“I would agree with you, but I am sure the prospect of marrying before any of her older sisters will be enough incentive for Lydia to fall in with Mama’s plans,” Elizabeth opined.

“Our cousins are looking forward to meeting Lydia so that they can be amused. Like me, most of them dearly like to laugh.”

“Now that Sir William called at Purvis Lodge, what say you we ride to Lucas Lodge with the cousins later today or tomorrow so they can meet Charlotte, Maria, and the Lucas brothers?” Mary suggested.

“I am surprised you want to introduce Roger to other ladies in the neighbourhood,” Jane teased.

“Why should I care who Roger meets?” Mary asked as her cheeks bloomed the colour of deep scarlet.

“He is my cousin, no more than that.” Mary noticed the knowing looks on her sisters’ countenances and decided to ignore them.

“I am sure he is not interested in me beyond my being his cousin.” At the moment she said the words, her traitorous heart whispered that she wished for more.

She told herself that she had known Roger for less than a sennight, so Mary tried to convince herself it was nothing but an infatuation she felt for her handsome cousin.

Elizabeth gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head which Jane and Kitty understood was a signal to cease teasing Mary.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Bennet was looking forward to being entertained when the Taylors arrived to meet his family in a short while.

He was sure that besides his wife trying to push Jane and Lydia at one of his cousin’s sons the Taylors would not be well educated.

Having grown up in the wilds of the former colonies and the American frontier, that could not possibly be.

As such, Bennet was waiting in the drive with his wife and daughters when the carriages carrying Uncle Henry, the heir presumptive, and his family stopped before the manor house.

“But Mama, none of them are wearing scarlet coats,” Lydia whinged when she saw who alighted from the conveyances. “You know I want to marry an officer… Ow!”

Fanny tried to school her features when she pinched her daughter. “Do not say another word on the subject, or I will pinch you again, and even harder,” she hissed next to Lydia’s ear. “You will do as I instructed.”

It was surprising Jane was not standing with his wife.

Rather, she stood with her next three younger sisters.

Bennet could not fathom why it was so; he had been positive Fanny would push Jane forward as soon as may be.

Instead, it seemed she would only promote Lydia.

That would be amusing, but not as much as if she had been pushing two daughters at the Taylor sons as possible matrimonial options.

“Is not my Lydia a pretty girl, and so lively…” Fanny began as she pasted a smile on her face.

“Perhaps we may repair indoors so introductions can be made,” Henry suggested as he interjected before his niece could embarrass herself more than she just had.

His uncle had just spoilt his entertainment, but Bennet knew there was no way to not do as Uncle Henry had said.

He nodded and led the way indoors. He could see that his Aunt Felicity looked very much like his late grandmother based on the portrait which hung in the hall.

Bennet could only guess at who the rest were.

He was not well pleased that there had not been more to laugh at before they entered the house.

He was sure the lack of education and intelligence would soon become apparent.

In the drawing room, Henry nodded to Lizzy to make the introductions. Given his limitations with his sight, he felt it was prudent.

Elizabeth did as Uncle Henry requested. She turned to her great-aunt. “Aunt Felicity, what is it like to be back in the home where you were born? After all, it has been more than fifty years since you and your late husband left the shores of England.”

“It is not something I ever thought I would do in my life,” Felicity owned. “I can never repine my leaving with my late Roger, but it is good for my family to see where I was raised.”

“What a pity you left England so that my cousin and his sons were not able to receive a proper education,” Bennet smirked.

“On the contrary, Cousin , like I did, my eldest son graduated from Yale University in the state of Connecticut. Granted, it is not as old as Oxford, which I understand was founded in 1096, or Cambridge in 1209, but Yale began in 1701 and is considered one of the best universities in the United States. We put no less value on education than you do in this country,” Taylor responded evenly.

“Felix is only fifteen, so he was two years away from beginning at Yale. Before we left to come to England, Felix had been enrolled at the Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut. By the by, that school came into existence in 1660.”

‘ Damn !’ Bennet thought. ‘ I had counted on my cousin and his sons not being educated. Where is the sport to be found now ?’ Aloud he just grunted. So all would not be lost; he could only hope that Fanny and Lydia would put on a performance soon enough.

“Would not my Lydia be perfect as a wife for Roger?” Fanny cooed .

“Ma and Pa, why is that lady tryin’ to have a girl younger than me marry Roger?” Felix asked.

“Because she would be perfect…” Fanny tried to say before she was cut off.

“Everything Henry told me about you is true,” Felicity stated firmly. “Why would you think that anyone would take an uneducated, spoilt, uncouth child who should be in the nursery as his wife?”

“She is pretty and lively; what more would anyone need?” Fanny could not understand why no one would agree with her. “Lydia, go greet your intended.”

“Not so hasty, if you please. I am by no means done. To all the objections I have already mentioned, I have still another to add. I am no stranger to the particulars of your youngest daughter’s infamous flirting, which she began when she was barely thirteen.

I know it all; that the only way anyone would marry her would be in a patched-up business, at the expense of your brothers.

And is such a girl to be my grandson’s wife?

Do you imagine we would want someone like her in our family?

Heaven and earth! What are you thinking? ” Felicity interrogated.