“Elizabeth will have no problem finding a husband, and I’m sure he will be an exceedingly good one.”

She gave him a look that showed how strongly she disagreed with him.

“Surely you know I understand men and what they want better than you, Mrs. Bennet, being one myself? Trust me, Elizabeth will be perfectly fine,” assured Mr. Bennet.

Mrs. Bennet huffed and said no more about it, but smoothed her skirts and pursed her lips, swallowing her disagreement whole.

Chapter 4

Charlotte’s father, Sir William Lucas, and her sister Maria, planned to visit her at her new home in Hunsford in early March. Sir William invited Elizabeth to ride with them, but Mr. Bennet did not like to lose her company so soon and convinced his old friend to delay several days by telling him that the roads would be in much better condition once winter was firmly behind them. It was decided that the carriage would drop Jane in London to spend some weeks with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner and enjoy the season, and Mr. Bennet would collect both his daughters on the way to Margate.

Mr. Bennet made his daughters promise to keep up with their studies while they were away. Jane would continue with French and the pianoforte with the assistance of Mrs. Gardiner, and the drawing master had given her several tasks to complete. Elizabeth had no such resources at her disposal, not even a pianoforte, but she was sent with assignments nonetheless. Her music and French master gave her weeks’ worth of daily assignments, and she was given a sketchbook by her drawing master that she was ordered to fill before her father collected her in five weeks’ time. Her father sent her with two histories and a book of poetry; they would continue their discussions through correspondence. Elizabeth sighed but packed the books away with her belongings and promised she would do as she had been directed.

Mr. Bennet did not give Jane as many tasks as Elizabeth because he knew she would do them without being told, as she always had, and secondly because he wanted her to spend her time socializing and hopefully meeting a man she could respect and esteem. He had spoken at length with his brother Gardiner when they were in Hertfordshire over Christmas. He did not share his diagnosis—he had shared it with no one—but he was sure his brother suspected something by the way he looked at him so shrewdly.