Thomas Bennet sat stunned, staring out the window for he knew not how long, wondering what would become of him. Would he go quietly in his sleep? Would he collapse on his horse in a far off field, not to be found until it was too late? And his girls! Five daughters between the ages of fifteen and twenty-one. What would become of them? What of Jane and Lizzy? His two most sensible daughters did not deserve the life that was about to be thrust upon them.

After a poor night’s sleep, Bennet rose early with a new determination.

He may have preferred to ignore the world, but that did not mean he didn’t know how it worked. His wife had a meager portion. Her two brothers would surely assist, and perhaps Collins could be worked on for something, but he couldn’t be sure. His brother Gardiner was successful, true, but his house was not large enough to suddenly fit in six grown women.

No, he knew how it would be. His wife would become even sillier than she already was and would continue to throw his daughters at every possible gentleman that came within a hundred yards of them. Now was the time to think and plan.

He was ever good at thinking; of thinking, he’d had no lack. But what he thought about before his diagnosis and what he thought about now were very different topics indeed. He must now use his considerable powers of mind to find his daughters husbands—good ones. Ones who would look after his widow when he was gone. Failing that, he needed to prepare them to earn their way in the world, if it came to it. He imagined Mrs. Bennet could live with her sister Phillips, and possibly Kitty and Lydia with her, though it would be tight. His three elder daughters could move to London with his brother Gardiner. If only one of them could marry, even moderately well, it would widen their social sphere and show that the girls were marriageable.

In a fit of industry rarely seen in the master of Longbourn, Thomas Bennet went to his desk and withdrew the estate ledgers. He may only have a year or two left, and he wouldn’t be able to save anything significant, he should have started doing that years ago, he knew, but he could do something, surely.