Page 9 of The Sole Love

“Let us just say that I dream of the same extraordinary love. Yet marriage is a lifelong relationship, and it is more than the blissful weeks before marriage and the wedding day. It is the day-by-day companionship that a woman and a man build with respect and benevolence.”

“And love!”

“We all dream of perfect love, but I wonder whether all of us will have the good fortune to find it and marry that man. Remember Carole Cavendish?” Elizabeth tried to make her see that life did not always accommodate even the most reasonable hopes.

“Yes, the lady who lived at Arlington Park.”

“Exactly. We played together when we were little girls while Mr Cavendish and Papa went fishing.”

Jane nodded. She remembered, though in recent years they had received no news of the family.

“I remember her parents died, but what happened to her?” Jane asked uncertainly.

“Yes, dear, both her parents died, and in less than a month she had to leave her home.”

“How do you know this?”

“I heard a conversation at Mr Phillips’s house. He was her solicitor. Their property was entailed and inherited by a cousin.”

“Like Mr Collins,” Jane said, beginning to understand Elizabeth’s meaning.

“Yes, dear, like Mr Collins, who will come to take Longbourn the day after Papa…”

But not even Elizabeth could name that dreadful event.

“Stop, Lizzy, please!” Jane cried, covering her ears as she had when they were little.

However, Elizabeth decided to continue. “Carole is a governess here in London.”

Jane’s eyes filled with tears. “Why did you not tell me?”

“For the same reason I hesitated to tell you the truth about Mr Bingley. I hate to see you disappointed by the world. You are right to see the beauty in it.”

“You are wrong, Lizzy. I am strong, and even if Mr Bingley has almost destroyed the way I once saw the world, it does not mean that I live in the clouds, as you say. If we do not marry, Carole’s destiny could be ours.”

“Yes. We have to think of marriage…and perhaps hope that happiness will come with it.”

As Jane nodded, Elizabeth realised that she was giving her sister advice she herself had not followed. She had had the opportunity to marry an honourable man who loved her, and yet she too was waiting for love.

“At our age, Mama had two children,” Jane said.

Elizabeth merely caressed her hand.

Chapter 5

The next morning, Jane’s expression told Mrs Gardiner the whole story: Elizabeth had tried to make her accept that Mr Bingley would not gallop to her rescue on a white horse. Yet Mrs Gardiner was pleased. Nobody in the family had managed to make Jane face the truth, and it was time for her to do so.

“So, Uncle,” Elizabeth said, looking at Jane, “you promised to take us to balls.”

Jane stared at the plate in front of her, hardly eating; but, in a considerable improvement, she did not protest.

“Certainly!” Mr Gardiner replied with obvious enthusiasm. “After the theatre last night, we shall be assaulted by invitations.”

And indeed, only a few days later, the first arrived, stating that “Mr and Mrs Grandville had the honour to invite Mr and Mrs Gardiner and the Miss Bennets” to their end-of-Season ball. Mr Grandville was a wealthy merchant who, some twenty years earlier, had had the good fortune to marry the daughter of an earl and enter, through his wife’s connexions, some exclusive circles of London society. He was a jovial and unpretentious man who had never forgotten the friends of his youth and remained close to them. It was to be his first ball since his election to the House of Commons a year earlier.

Mr Gardiner joined his family in the parlour with the invitation in his hand, his face reflecting such joy that Mrs Gardiner’s heart filled with excitement.

“This is what I was talking about, my dears! I knew that your beauty and excellent manners would open many doors for you…and for us.”