A Match for Mary Bennet Read Online Free PDF

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    Not until the following day did Mrs. Philips relay to Mrs. Bennet what she had learned from Mrs. Long about Grantley and Mary. Mrs. Bennet called Mary to ask the nature of their conversation, but Mary could recall little. “He just criticized young ladies who dance, as if they all were setting their caps for a husband.” Even as Mary remembered it, she realized that his conjecture fit the young ladies’ mothers more than them, but of course, she did not say this.
    â€œWhat an odious man! He comes to assemblies to talk of government and pass judgement on dancers, does he? Well, he ought to follow Mr. Bennet’s example and stay home if he feels that way. Why punish himself and the rest of us by deliberately coming to watch what he abhors?”
    Mary had no answer but that did not keep Mrs. Bennet from going on about it for twenty minutes.

Chapter 4
    Colonel Fitzwilliam left the next morning for Derbyshire, bearing Mr. Bennet’s letter for Elizabeth, Mrs. Bennet’s note for Jane, the assurance that the Bennets meant to be in Derbyshire for Elizabeth’s lying-in, and a certainty concerning his own plans. He hoped the news he carried from Hertfordshire would soften the blow of what he supposed he carried from Kent. Within his hearing, Lady Catherine had never spoken a kind word about “that upstart girl who stole Darcy from my Anne,” and he feared that the note he carried to Elizabeth Darcy would bring her little joy. He mused on the possibility that the same formidable lady may soon feel equal rancour toward Miss Caroline Bingley, assuming that Miss Bingley accepted him. Mary Bennet’s fortunate advice had settled his hopes on Miss Bingley who, he immediately realized, would welcome his attentions more readily than would Georgiana Darcy, who perhaps still thought of him as a guardian.
    As he travelled, he wondered how the stylish Caroline would like his modest Norfolk village, and they her. But he firmly believed that she would welcome having a home of her own, no matter where. Could any woman really fancy dependence on a brother or her married sister for a lifetime? Better for Caroline, he trusted she would feel, to have her own home and family than to be attached to a brother, be he ever so amiable. As for the younger Georgiana, she would have many suitors, especially if she grew out of her shyness; and even if none were found suitable for her, Pemberley could supply the needs of many family members with little loss to anyone’s privacy.
    When he had mentioned Elizabeth’s condition to Lady Catherine, he wondered if she had thought, as he did, of Anne de Bourgh’s frailty. Could she ever endure or survive a pregnancy? More likely, a husband to Anne might well be little more than caretaker of his wife and of her property. Of course, he assured Lady Catherine that he and Darcy would always do whatever they could for Anne, thinking seriously that she might be better off by forgoing marriage entirely.
    At Lambton he left the post house and found Billum, the horse Darcy had promised to leave at the livery stable in time for his return. Mounting, he raced to Pemberley, the hour being late. Almost as soon as he arrived, he was greeted by Georgiana, who had waited up hoping he would come. Upon his enquiry, she assured him that Elizabeth was fine. “There is no sign that the baby will come early. The doctor reckoned it will come by Martinmas or a little earlier but surely no sooner than late October,” she said as she led him to the small parlour.
    â€œYou will be happy to know,” said the Colonel, depositing his packet on a low table, “that you need no longer refer to the child as ‘it.’ Lady Catherine has pronounced it a boy.” He tried to imitate the dowager’s regal tones. “The Darcys always had a boy first.”
    Georgiana laughed. “Lady Catherine has decreed: a boy it must be.” Then she posed the serious question