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  Saving Jane

  A Variation on Pride and Prejudice

  By: Martin Hunnicutt

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. This story uses British English spellings.

  Saving Jane

  Copyright 2020 by Martin Hunnicutt. All rights reserved.

  Synopsis

  When no young man leases Netherfield Park and her daughters are referred to as ‘wall flowers’ at the Meryton Assembly, Mrs. Bennet becomes even more determined to find them husbands. The family is shocked to discover that Lydia will have an ‘unexpected visitor’ in the spring and to avoid scandal, the youngest daughter is married far from Longbourn. When Mr. Bennet announces the impending visit of his cousin, Mr. Collins, Mrs. Bennet sends Elizabeth to London to stay with the Gardiners. With Elizabeth out of the house, Mrs. Bennet speaks with Jane of her duty to her family.

  When the engagement of Mr. Collins and Miss Jane Bennet is announced, Elizabeth is saddened and seeks solitude in the park across from the Gardiner’s home where she meets a distressed young lady who has been deserted by her lady’s companion. Miss Georgiana Darcy requires a friendly shoulder and an escort home where Elizabeth meets the cold, older brother. When Elizabeth and Georgiana begin a friendship based on books and music, Mr. Darcy pays attention to Miss Elizabeth Bennet and they begin to fall in love. But can Elizabeth and Darcy save Jane from her betrothal to Mr. Collins?

  Contents

  Chapter 1.Mrs. Bennet’s Distress

  Chapter 2.Lydia’s Unexpected Visitor

  Chapter 3.Jane’s News from Longbourn

  Chapter 4.Elizabeth’s Meeting in the Park

  Chapter 5.Mr. Darcy’s Visit to Grace Church Street

  Chapter 6.The Gardiner’s Dinner with the Darcy Family

  Chapter 7.Georgiana’s New Friend

  Chapter 8.Miss Bingley’s Friendly Call

  Chapter 9.Mrs. Annesley’s Interview

  Chapter 10. Mr. Wickham’s Plans

  Chapter 11. Mr. Darcy’s Letter from a Scoundrel

  Chapter 12. Mr. Darcy’s Visit to Prison

  Chapter 13. Elizabeth’s Better Days in London

  Chapter 14. Georgiana’s Plans for Family Dinner

  Chapter 15. Caroline’s Fashionable Arrival

  Chapter 16. Miss Darcy’s Displeasure

  Chapter 17. Mr. Darcy’s Christmas Plans

  Chapter 18. Elizabeth’s First Meeting with Mr. Collins

  Chapter 19. Mrs. Gardiner’s Christmas Arrangements

  Chapter 20. Mr. Bennet’s Letters

  Chapter 21. Jane’s Easter Visit to Hunsford

  Chapter 22. Lady Catherine’s Call on the Parsonage

  Chapter 23. Jane’s Whist Game with Lady Catherine

  Chapter 24. Lady Catherine’s Direction for Walking

  Chapter 25. Miss de Burgh’s Pleasant Picnic

  Chapter 26. Aunt Gardiner’s Tea at the Parsonage

  Chapter 27. Mr. Bingley’s Unexpected Visitor

  Chapter 28. Mr. Darcy’s Visit to the Parsonage

  Chapter 29. Elizabeth’s Walk in the Gardens

  Chapter 30. Lady Catherine’s Trip into Town

  Chapter 31. Jane’s Surprise at Tea Time

  Chapter 32. Mr. Darcy’s Return to Rosings

  Chapter 33. Mr. & Mrs. Collins’ Return

  Chapter 34. Jane Bennet’s Future

  Chapter 1.

  Mrs. Bennet’s Distress

  As the young ladies and gentlemen of Meryton danced to a pleasant tune, the matrons watched the festivities from chairs along the wall, some distance from the dancing. Uncharacteristically quiet as the evening progressed, Mrs. Francis Bennet was flanked by Lady Lucas and Mrs. Goulding. Her friends noted the lady’s unusual behaviour during the evening’s entertainment and after the wonder of Mrs. Bennet’s silence was considered, they determined to speak of it.

  “Do you not think the assembly is a success, Mrs. Bennet?” asked Lady Lucas.

  “It certainly is well attended,” replied Mrs. Goulding. “All of four and twenty families from the neighbourhood are here as well as the tradesmen from the villages.”

  “Yes, Lady Lucas the assembly is well done,” Mrs. Bennet finally replied. “I see every young man and woman in this quarter of Hertfordshire on the dance floor – with all the extra girls standing along the far wall.”

  The three ladies glanced over the floor and noticed that three of Mrs. Bennet’s daughters stood with Lady Lucas’s two daughters without dance partners. Only Kitty and Lydia were dancing this set and they were both with young men who worked in the shops of Meryton.

  “Perhaps it would have been better to keep the younger girls at home until we married off the elder ones,” Lady Lucas mentioned to her friend. “Then our daughters would not be wall flowers.”

  “I fear it does not signify,” Mrs. Bennet sighed as she shivered hearing the terrible term. “What suitable young men are available? Your John is only twenty years – too young to take a wife and fill your home with grandchildren while you still have children at home.”

  “And my Henry is well-married,” Mrs. Goulding inserted into the conversation.

  “I have five daughters and must find husbands for them. Longbourn is lost to them by the entailment.” Mrs. Bennet frowned before she added, “But I am determined – my daughters will have good matches.”

  Lady Lucas and Mrs. Goulding exchanged glances behind Mrs. Bennet’s back – Mrs. Goulding had a spinster sister who lived with them and Lady Lucas despaired of her eldest daughter, Charlotte, ever finding a husband.

  ++**++

  “Mamma, whatever is the matter?” asked Elizabeth during the ride home to Longbourn. “You are too quiet. Do you feel yourself?”

  Mrs. Bennet sighed, “My mind is confused this evening. How can there be an assembly where all the eligible men attend and there is no one suitable for my girls.”

  “But Mamma, Kitty and I had a frightfully good time!” Lydia said before she yawned. “I danced every set with some handsome young man.”

  “And we laughed and sang,” Kitty added.

  Elizabeth noted that something bothered Jane but her eldest sister remained quiet. The third of the five sisters, Mary, who danced with no one at the assembly, turned her head and looked out the window. She had spoken to John Lucas at length about his father’s tenants and plans for a hunting party but he had not asked her to dance.

  Jane squeezed Mary’s hand and whispered, “I believe if you will allow Lizzy and me to style your hair and change your dress that Mr. Lucas will notice you and ask you to dance.”

  “Mamma, why do we need to worry about eligible young men?” Kitty asked. “Papa says we are too young to marry.”

  “You must all marry and marry well,” Mrs. Bennet told her daughters. “Do you want to be wives of shopkeepers or farmers? We must find gentlemen who have fortunes for each of you!”

  “Mamma, I don’t want to marry for money,” Elizabeth said.

  Mrs. Bennet was flanked by Lydia and Kitty with her three eldest daughters sitting across from her. She caught their eyes and held them, “I hope you can have love in your marriage – each of you – but you can love a husband who offers security and money easier than you can love a poor man who makes you work in his shop or in his fields.”

  “Mamma!” Jane exclaimed. “No one has to marry today! Papa is well and Longbourn is secure.”

  “If I had been able to bear a son, Longbourn would be secure. But I failed and Longbourn is only a temporary refuge for you.”

  Shaken by their mother’s words, the three oldest Bennet sisters did not speak again until they were home. When Mr. Hill opened the portal, Mr. Bennet met them at the door and he was surprised
at the sombre crowd. His usually exuberant wife was reticent, the two youngest daughters were sleepy and the three eldest girls were sad.

  “Here, here now,” he said as his ladies returned to their home. “What is this quiet crowd? Did you all dance so long that you are exhausted?”

  “Kitty and Lydia danced every set Papa,” Elizabeth told her father.

  “But Jane only danced once and Lizzy and Mary were not asked to dance at all,” Mrs. Bennet told her husband.

  “Where the young men in attendance insufficient?”

  “There were no suitable young men in attendance, Mr. Bennet,” his wife replied.

  “My dear, do not worry about marriages for our girls,” Mr. Bennet said taking his wife’s hand. “Some young men will come along and you can arrange the pairings as you wish then.”

  He turned to his daughters; while Jane, Elizabeth and Mary waited to be dismissed, Kitty and Lydia were already heading up the stairs to their room. “Let us retire. I have a horse I want to take to the blacksmith for new shoes tomorrow morning.”

  ++**++

  As they prepared for bed, Elizabeth and Jane discussed their mother’s concerns and their father’s attitude.

  “You are our father’s favourite, Lizzy,” Jane said. “Has he ever mentioned our futures?”

  “He has not Jane. I work with him on the accounts and Longbourn is prosperous though there are improvements to several farms we could make and increase the income. But father uses the rents to buy Mamma new gowns and to pay for oats for his horses.”

  “Papa is the only one who rides,” Jane conceded. “We walk everywhere.”

  “But what do you think Mamma meant about ‘marrying well’?” asked Elizabeth. “Is it not important to marry for love?”

  Jane was silent for a long moment but then she came and sat on the bed beside Elizabeth and answered her sister. “I am almost two and twenty and even though Mamma says that I am the loveliest girl in three counties, I have never had an offer of marriage. Our dowries are nothing to attract suitors. I believe we must consider marriage for security and then create love within that security.”

  “Oh Jane, no!” cried Elizabeth. “An arranged marriage?”

  “Elizabeth, do not carry on so,” Jane said. “I am saying that I must consider such a thing. I do not want to end up on the shelf like Charlotte Lucas.”

  “One of us must marry well – to secure the future for our sisters and Mamma when Papa passes away. As the eldest, it is my responsibility.”

  Elizabeth frowned and considered her next words carefully. “I shall do everything I can to assist you. Perhaps I can find a suitable husband too.”

  ++**++

  As the family gathered in the dining room to break their fast late the next morning, Mr. Bennet was buried in his newspaper and Mrs. Bennet was again distracted with the lack of suitable men in the neighbourhood for her daughters.

  “Lydia, eat something. You have not eaten any morning this week.”

  “I am not hungry in the morning Mamma,” her youngest daughter replied. “My stomach always feels as though I drank too much punch the previous night.”

  “It was a fine gathering at Lucas Lodge last evening,” Jane said to change the subject. “I think everyone had an enjoyable time.”

  “Papa, did Mr. Taylor shoe your horse this morning?”

  “Yes, Lizzy. My mare has new shoes and I shall ride her to the fox hunt at Lucas Lodge next week. Sir William and young John have found the den of foxes that are raiding the hen coops and we shall deal with them.”

  “John Lucas is a fine young man,” Mrs. Bennet said, glancing over her daughters. Lydia and Kitty both rolled their eyes at their mother’s comment but Mary blushed and looked down at her plate.

  “Mary, I believe you and I shall go to Meryton today. There is some pretty blue material at one shop that may compliment your complexion very well.”

  “Mamma, I want a new gown!” Lydia complained. “I need one because I am growing so tall!”

  “If you need a new gown, we can take one of Jane’s and re-work it for you,” Mrs. Bennet replied. “It is time for Mary to have the new gown.”

  “Lizzy, when you finish your tea, come to my study,” Mr. Bennet said. “I have several things to decide for the farms and I need you to write out the orders.”

  “Yes Papa,” Elizabeth replied.

  ++**++

  “And I want another delivery of oats before November,” Mr. Bennet told his daughter. “Johnson had a good harvest – he’ll have ample feed to sell.”

  “Yes Papa,” Elizabeth replied making the notation in her journal.

  “The tenant families have done well this fall – your idea of goats for milk at each farm has worked well.”

  “The children have milk and the goats do not eat as much as cows,” Elizabeth replied. “I think our dairyman fears we will do away with some of the cows now.”

  Mr. Bennet shook his head. “He and his wife can make more butter and cheese – we’ll all eat well this winter and have some to sell.”

  Elizabeth nodded. “I have thought we could provide some cheese to our tenants as well.”

  Mr. Bennet smiled, “Always thinking of the tenants Lizzy? Longbourn has a good name among the tenants in the county already. Sir William is too tight fisted with his tenants – several of them have roofs that leak.”

  “Mary spoke to Mr. Lucas about the roofs last night. He promised to look into the situation today,” Elizabeth told her father.

  His eyebrows rising, Thomas Bennet looked at his dependable daughter with surprise. “Mary?”

  “Yes, Mary spoke to Mr. Lucas last night.”

  “But he did not ask her to dance?”

  “No.”

  “Does your mother know this?”

  Elizabeth shrugged and Mr. Bennet grinned. “I had thought Mr. Lucas might do for you Lizzy. It would be nice to keep you close by.”

  “Mamma knows that Mary has a high regard for Mr. Lucas,” Elizabeth informed her father.

  Now he remembered the conversation at the dining table that morning. “Your Mamma is going to dress Mary in a new gown to catch Mr. Lucas’s eye.”

  “And Jane and I shall style her hair in a different manner.”

  Mr. Bennet grinned again, “Now if I can find some reason to make Lydia and Kitty remain at home, Mary can work her magic upon Mr. Lucas after the fox hunt and be engaged before Christmas.”

  “Papa! I think she does admire him. Would there be anything wrong with her attachment to him?”

  “No, but I believe Sir William is not ready to make the match yet. Young men cannot bring young wives into households where there is limited room and a large number of brothers and sisters. Lucas Lodge is not as large as Longbourn.”

  “Now take your notes and write my business letters,” he told his daughter. “I shall sign them at tea and post them this afternoon.”

  ++**++

  Dismissed, Elizabeth found her way into the parlour where Jane sewed a hem for Lydia while Kitty and Lydia pretended to refresh a bonnet while talking of the young men from the assembly.

  “Where are Mamma and Mary?” she asked as she opened the writing desk for paper, pen and ink.

  “They took the carriage into Meryton to shop for material to sew a new gown for Mary,” Jane informed her sisters.

  Hearing her eldest sister speak of their mother’s attention to the middle sister, Lydia complained, “A new gown on Mary? That will be like hanging curtains in the stable!”

  “Lydia!” Elizabeth exclaimed. Putting down her writing materials, she walked over to the table and took Lydia by the shoulders. “Mary is your sister. She gave you that green ribbon you wear in your hair today! Why would you say something so unkind?”

  “It is true enough,” Lydia said. “A new dress is not going to make John Lucas notice plain Mary Bennet. She will not smile or flirt with any of the men.”

  “Where you and Maria Lucas flirt with every man and kiss them when
you think no one is watching,” Jane said from the other side of the room.

  “Kiss?” Elizabeth asked with great astonishment. She released Lydia and saw her youngest sister grin.

  “What is the concern if I kiss some boys? Maria and I think it is fun.”

  “Are you engaged?” Elizabeth asked but Lydia only laughed.

  “Oh engaged! La! I want to have fun and kissing boys is a great deal of fun!” Lydia replied. “And Kitty, if you would drink more punch, you would kiss the boys too but you are always worried about what others think. That is why I have become such good friends with Maria – she enjoys the punch and we think a party without you would be much more fun.”

  The sisters sat in silence for a time as Elizabeth returned to the desk to quickly write the two business letters for her father. As she finished the last one, she looked up and noticed that Jane had stopped sewing to watch Kitty and Lydia who were conducting a silent conversation across the table mouthing their words and snickering at each other.

  Setting the letters to the side to dry, Elizabeth returned the ink, pens and unused paper to their proper locations in the desk. Rising from her chair, she watched as Jane dropped the gown she had been hemming on top of the bonnet in front of Lydia.

  “I do not think I shall finish this hem for you Lydia. If you wish to wear a new gown, you can finish the hem yourself.”

  Turning to Elizabeth, Jane asked, “Shall we take a turn through the gardens? The sun is out and the ground is dry.”

  “But I hate to sew!” Lydia whined. “Your stitches are the best!”

  “I shall save my stitches for Mary’s new gown.”

  “Kitty, finish my hem for me,” Lydia pleaded.

  Glancing at Jane and Elizabeth, Kitty stood up from the table. “I believe I shall walk with Jane and Lizzy. If I am not good enough for your company at a party, you do not need my stitching in the parlour.”

  “But Lizzy! Jane! Kitty! I cannot do it myself!”

  ++**++

  “Lydia, whatever did you do to this gown?” Mrs. Bennet fussed that evening. “These last stitches are horrible!”