| |
IT IS A TRUTH UNIVERSALLY acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of good fortune, must be in want of a husband. Similarly, young men of meager means, such as the Bennet brothers, must be desperate to find a wife.
The disinterest of Elisander Phineas Bennet made him something of an enigma. He had no desire to find a wife, rich or otherwise. Unlike his stoic older brother and insufferably silly youngest brother, matrimony was rarely a thought on his mind. For the sake of his sanity, he tried to block out his father's squawking.
“My dear Mrs. Bennet.” His father cleared his throat as he addressed his favorite lady. “Have you heard that Netherfield Park is to let at last?”
A bored Mrs. Bennet gave her husband the tersest possible reply. “No.” She flicked open her copy of the Londinium Post and buried her nose in its pages.
“But it is!” Mr. Bennet exclaimed. “Mr. Long has just been here, and he told me all about it!”
Mrs. Bennet gave no answer.
With an impatient snort, Mr. Bennet cried, “Do you not want to know who has taken it?”
Mrs. Bennet sneered at her husband over the top of the newspaper. “You're going to tell me whether I am interested or not, I take it?”
“My dear...” Mr. Bennet flashed a sly smile in the direction of his eldest son as he sat on the settee across from his wife. “Mr. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young woman of large fortune from Northern Asia. She arrived by airship last Monday and was so delighted by the sight of it, she quickly surrendered the necessary coin.”
Mrs. Bennet feigned interest. “What is the young lady's name?”
“Bin Li.”
“Is she married or single?”
“Single, my dear, single!” As Mr. Bennet shared the good news, he clasped a hand over his overjoyed heart. His business in life was to see his sons married, and his only thrill was daily gossip. “Would not such a woman make a fine wife for one of our boys?”
“Hmm...” Mrs. Bennet barely pored it over as she turned her newspaper's page. “Perhaps.”
“You must go and make her acquaintance, Mrs. Bennet! Welcome her to the neighborhood, make our family known to her, and do tell her about our five handsome sons!”
“Some are handsomer than others...” Mrs. Bennet murmured under her breath. She sent a disappointed glance in the direction of Kier, the middle son. The bookish Kier had such an odd face, she doubted his ability to attract a pauper, let alone, a wealthy woman like Bin Li. His eyes were small and black, his mouth was wide and duck-like, and his nose was a bit too large for his face.
“Who do you think would be an appropriate match for Miss Li?” Mr. Bennet mused. “I would say Joseph, as he is undoubtedly the most beautiful, but... at six and twenty, is he not getting a bit... old?”
“He will need to find a wife this year, and not a day later,” Mrs. Bennet shared her opinion. “Every women wants youth in a husband. It won't matter how beautiful he is if he's lost all traces of his boyish face.”
Elisander could feel his nose puckering as he listened to his parents belittle his favorite brother.
“I suggest we introduce the lady to Elisander,” Mrs. Bennet went on. “If any of our sons is going to snag a wealthy wife, I suspect it will be him. He has the handsome face and the youth.”
“But Elisander is so defiant!” Mr. Bennet complained. “Look at him! Even now, he's smirking and plotting and thinking about how little this means to him.”
Elisander gave his father an affirmative nod, then he turned his attention back to the window. Gazing through the pane was one of his favorite hobbies. He always hoped to catch a glimpse of an airship drifting overhead. Nothing thrilled him more than the sight of a galleon soaring close to the ground, its sails whipped by wind.
“Elisander has more sense than the others,” Mrs. Bennet suddenly declared. Kier glanced up from his novel and frowned at his mother. “I daresay my Elisander is the only one with sense.”
“Your Elisander?” Mr. Bennet gasped.
“Yes. Elisander is the only one I care to claim,” said a chuckling Mrs. Bennet. “The others are too silly or too serious. Matthew, in particular, has attics to let, and Lachlan is positively hopeless.”
Once again, Mr. Bennet's hand was clutching his heart. “My dear, how dare you share such low opinions of our sons! How can you abuse them in such a way? You take delight in vexing me, I swear! Have you no concern for my poor nerves?”
Elisander, who had grown tired of his parents' conversation long ago, rose from the sofa and exited the drawing room without a word. He decided to share the news with his elder brother. Elisander bounded up the stairs in a very ungentlemanly way and tapped on Joseph's door.
“Come in?” Joseph's response was tinged with hesitation, as if he wasn't quite sure he was willing to accept a visitor. However, his shoulders relaxed at the sight of Elisander's face. Had it been one of his other brothers, Joseph might not have been so apt to receive them. “Hello, Elisander. You look a bit... despondent,” the eldest Bennet brother observed. “Is there some reason for your melancholy?”
“Indeed.” Elisander visibly rolled his eyes as he approached his brother's bed. Joseph had apparently been reading a book, which was part of the reason why he didn't want to be disturbed. “Father is attempting to meddle in our lives again.”
“That's hardly surprising,” Joseph responded with a sigh. “And what, dare I ask, is his latest scheme?”
“He wants one of us to marry the new lady of Netherfield,” Elisander reported. “Apparently, she's young and rich and quite unattached.”
One of Joseph's blond eyebrows was raised by the news. “Someone moved into Netherfield?”
“Apparently so. Her name is Bin Li, and she hails from across the sea.”
“The Americas?” Joseph asked.
“No. Asia.” As Elisander corrected him, he stood in front of the looking glass and dragged a hand through his honey brown hair. Elisander had an affinity for his hair, though he would never admit it. It was thick, wavy, and brightened by sunshine. He spent more time outdoors than most young men of his age. Nearly every day, he and the Bennets' groom, Shar Lucas, would ride out on horseback in search of airships. Flying ships, powered by steam, were still a rarity, so they were difficult to spot.
“So... Father thinks one of us should marry Miss Li?”
His brother gave him a nod. “Indeed.”
“And which one of us will be lucky enough to get tossed into the fire?” Joseph asked. “I assume it won't be Lachlan. He's only fifteen, after all. However... he has become increasingly interested in the fair sex.”
“And I doubt it will be Kier,” Elisander decided. “Both Mother and Father seem to possess some rather... scathing opinions of him.”
Joseph was eager to know more. “What have they been saying about Kier?”
“Mother thinks he's plain, Father thinks he's a bore.” Elisander hitched a shoulder. “Poor Kier.”
“Well, I doubt they would ask me to romance Miss Li,” said Joseph, who closed his book with a sigh. “Last week, Father said I was a spinsir.”
“Spinsir.” Elisander repeated the word with an ungentlemanly snort. “I hate that word. If a man doesn't marry, why must he be labeled?”
“It's a cruel world we live in,” Joseph sighed. “A man is expected to idle away and do absolutely nothing... except find a wife.”
“And if he doesn't find a wife, he is nothing,” added Elisander. He stood near his brother's window, which overlooked the Bennets' modest garden. A bright blue butterfly flitted near the glass. “Unfortunately for me, I have no interest in marriage.”
“Unfortunately for you...” Joseph's lips were raised by a grin, “you will probably be the one they expect to woo Miss Li.”
“Unfortunately for me...” Elisander's face was solemn as he accepted his fate, “you are probably correct.”