An Unexpected Ally

Part 7

Once welcomed into Longbourn, Richard strolled quickly down the corridor towards the parlour but before he reached it, he turned left, knocking once on the door to a different room and opening it at the sound of a quick, quiet, "yes".

"Jane!" He smiled to see her standing, silhouetted in the firelight that made the small library dance with shadows. "You got my note?"

Jane nodded, reaching for him and they embraced. Parting, Richard offered her his arm.

"Shall we go now? Your father will be in his study, I suppose?"

Jane nodded.

"I made sure of it." She bit her lip, and Richard frowned, concerned to see her mood slip from happiness so soon. "Do you think it is right to tell him now? Like this?"

"You would prefer I made a formal speech at dinner?" Richard chuckled. "Present my petition to a panel including your mother and each of your sisters in turn. I see, I am to earn my prize."

"No!" Jane elbowed him sharply in the side and he feigned agony before a mock-severe look from his fiancée forced him into seriousness. "But if Father does not approve..."

"You think he won't approve?" Richard's voice was bright, still, warm and teasing, but he could not quite conceal the fear that turned his stomach at the thought of Mr Bennet refusing his suit. What right had he to ask for Jane Bennet's hand? He had a small fortune - very small, if he was honest - and whilst his family was old and established and tenuously connected to older and more established families yet, that did not mean a great deal where the promise of a future home was concerned. He straightened, swallowing against a lump in his throat and reached for the door. "Let us ask him, Jane. His response is out of our control, and we have waited long enough."

I have waited long enough was what he truly wished to say. He had wanted to speak of their engagement long before this evening, but the timing was never right. Jane wished to keep the secret a fraction longer. As had been Richard's fear, the secret was ill-kept, and it occurred to him, with Darcy's arrival and apparent foreknowledge of the event, that they ran the very real risk of Mr Bennet hearing of the match from lips other than his own, which would do more damage than even the meanest of suits.

"Very well," Jane whispered, and they exchanged one last kiss - for luck - before venturing back along the quiet corridor and knocking gently on the door to Mr Bennet's study.

"Come!" called the familiar voice of the Bennet patriarch, who looked up from his desk and beamed when he saw his visitor. "Richard! You have come early!" His eyes twinkled behind his spectacles. "Think we can sneak in a chess match before dinner? A fine plan! Very fine! I ought to have considered it myself. Ah, Jane! How pretty you look this evening..." He trailed off, seeing how closely the pair stood together and making sense of the tableau even without the need for any further explanation. "Ah." His brow furrowed as he saw the chances of a chess game slipping away, and he leaned back in his chair, gesturing to the two to join him.

"Mr Bennet," Richard began, unwilling and unable to wait any longer before finding out whether the future he had begun to dream of, to prize and value amongst all others, would be allowed to him or not. "I am sure you have already guessed what I - what we - have come to speak to you about, but I will make this brief." He smiled. "I confess I am incapable of making grand speeches."

"And I am not generally in favour of hearing them." Mr Bennet affixed a patient expression to his features, although the twinkle had not entirely gone from his eyes, from which Richard took some encouragement. "Proceed."

"I wish to marry your daughter, sir. Jane and I have come to know each other a little over the past few weeks and I think - that is, we think - that we should like very much to spend the rest of our lives together. I have a little fortune, far smaller, I confess, than I should like to offer, but I am gainfully employed." He grimaced. "And am assured of there being a continued need for me in His Majestys Regiment as long as I am willing to serve." He paused. "And I am willing. I can provide a home for Jane and I assure you that it would be the happiest home imaginable, for it would be filled with love and friendship..."

There was a long moment of silence and Richard racked his brains, wondering what else he could say that might better plead his case.

"And space enough to welcome guests?" Mr Bennet asked, at last. "For I assure you, if you and Jane set up home somewhere - anywhere - my wife will insist upon us visiting two, three, four times a year. She may well want to move us there permanently."

It took Richard a moment to recognise, from the twinkle in Mr Bennet's eyes and the low rumble in his throat that this was an attempt at humour, and, partly out of relief, he laughed, nodding enthusiastically as he caught Jane's eye and laughed louder.

"Yes, there will be space to welcome guests for as long as they care to come. You may even help us choose the house, to ensure it is to your liking."

"My dear Richard, I should not dream of saying such a thing within my wife's hearing, for fear of her taking you up on it." Mr Bennet's gaze slid from Richard to Jane, his smile dimming just a fraction. "Well, Jane? Is this what you wish for your future? You know that to be married to a colonel of such reputation will not necessarily be an easy road to tread."

Richard felt Jane's hand flinch a little in the crook of his elbow and he covered it with his free hand, a swift, silent encouragement. I am going nowhere, the gesture told her. Have no fear. You will never lose me.

"Yes," Jane whispered, nodding once, twice in quick succession. "Yes, this is what I want."

"Then who am I to stand in the way of it?" Mr Bennet exclaimed, standing up and sending more than one pile of papers cascading to the floor in his enthusiasm to gather his eldest daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law into a warm embrace. "We must celebrate! Ah! I hear the door. That must be our other guest arriving. Come, come! Do not let's hide away the evening in here. There must be a toast, and my wife must be told." He winced, looking longingly towards his desk before shaking his head. "And I suppose I must be there to hear her delighted squeals." Drawing a fortifying breath, he urged the pair to precede him out into the corridor. "Come, come. Let us announce it at once, and let the celebrations begin!"