Posted on 2009-03-04

Mrs. Bennet heard the words leave her daughter's mouth and almost instantly discounted them. One look at Elizabeth's face, however, assured her that her daughter told the truth.

Born the daughter of a tradesman, Mrs. Bennet had always been well aware of how far above her station she married. Neither her connections nor her dowry were great. Growing up, marrying a gentleman was a dream she knew could never be realized. She came from trade and would remain in trade. Her family just didn't possess the riches to allow her, or any of her siblings, to rise above that sphere.

Still, somehow, she managed to escape her circle and rise to that of the landed gentry, a coup for which she had never, truly, been able to account.

Even as a gentleman's wife, though, she always knew her station, knew where they stood in local society as well as in the more general spheres. She had, after all, spent too much time in London not to know.

In this local sphere of people, she fit. Other ladies of the neighborhood shared her background in trade, so they were equals. Those who were born to the gentry and remained in it were open enough to accept those who weren't.

When Mr. Bingley arrived in the neighborhood, Mrs. Bennet knew he would be the only chance for one of her daughters to rise even higher. His riches were almost unimaginable, but they came from trade. He needed to marry into the gentry to even begin to gain acceptance there.

Oh, she knew he was well beyond their reach, but, then, hadn't her own husband been beyond hers? Perhaps Jane's beauty would win him, would secure their future and finally ease her fears.

But, Mr. Darcy?

Not even in her most ambitious thoughts had she considered him for one of her daughters and certainly not Lizzy. If Mr. Bingley's position seemed so far above them socially that marriage to him could only be a dream, marriage to Mr. Darcy could only be a vain imagining.

These things did not happen, not to her, not to girls who grew up playing in warehouses and learning trade.

Had Lizzy announced her engagement to the Prince himself, she could not have been more stunned. Mr. Darcy moved in the first circles, far, far beyond their reach. His selecting someone so far below him seemed as impossible as the thought of someone walking on the moon. It could never happen, should never happen.

What could this mean?

The life Lizzy would experience would be something Mrs. Bennet could never understand, something for which she had been unable to prepare her daughter. All her daughters understood the role of a gentleman's wife, had been taught how to run a household, but this? She had no idea how to prepare her daughter for the society she would meet, nor how to handle her vast responsibilities.

She worried that Lizzy would be lost in such a role, crushed by such responsibilities, left feeling inadequate, much as she, Miss Gardiner had been when she became Mrs. Bennet.

Looking at her daughter once more, Mrs. Bennet saw the concern written in Lizzy's eyes and shook off her thoughts. Lizzy looked distressed and that would never do. Her daughter needed the security of her mother acting as expected.

Needing to provide what comfort she could, Mrs. Bennet pushed aside her more serious thoughts and uttered the words she knew Lizzy expected and needed to hear.