“I believe that is your mother’s purview,” he responded. The shrill sounds of Mrs. Bennet ordering the housekeeper about and giving instructions to the maids rang through the house. “Jane, as your mother is otherwise occupied, I will entrust you with this most important task. You have precedence, after all.” He smiled at his eldest and stood back next to his daughters.

“You want me to choose all the rooms?” He nodded. Jane looked uncertain. “Including yours?”

“It is not far from what you would be doing as mistress of your own home one day. Surely it is a manageable task.”

Jane proceeded to walk into the bedrooms, mentally calculating their size and how many people each room could comfortably hold and the size of the accompanying dressing room or if there even was one. Her sisters watched her curiously from the hall, feeling an odd sense of suspense with this simple task.

Mr. Bennet, as usual, had an ulterior motive in asking his daughter to choose for him. He had no doubt that she would give her mother and father the grandest of the rooms. But as the eldest, she should be the one to receive her own room while her younger sisters shared. It was her right, but she had never been one to put herself forward other than walking at the head of the line when going in to dinner. She knew her place, but she had never been one to exercise it when it could possibly put someone else out. She reprimanded her younger sisters when it was called for, but they rarely listened for more than a moment. In contrast, Elizabeth had once famously dragged Lydia inside by her ear when her younger sister would not heed her command.

Jane had made significant strides in her studies and in her evaluation of human character. She could see more of a person’s true nature than she could before, and she seemed wiser, but she was not any happier. Mr. Bennet knew that she was Jane still. She preferred to see the best in people and would always want things to be simple and clear cut, without mystery or falseness. He only hoped he could guide her long enough for her to see the world as it was, or at least more realistically than she usually did, but also be able to maintain her joy in life. He did want to leave her when he had begun the play but not completed the final act.