Page 2 of Companions of Their Youth
Gardiner laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “Come, man, if you must be dragged out into the world, at least suffer it in good company. Tell me, how goes it at Longbourn?”
“As well as can be expected. Nothing has burned down, flooded, or been stolen. I count that a success.”
“A low bar, but sensible,” Gardiner said, grinning. “Now if only my Edward were here to tease you himself.”
“How is your boy doing in London?”
Gardiner’s face lit up with paternal pride. “Thriving, thank you. That business he purchased is doing better than I dared hope. And he has met a young lady—a gentleman’s daughter from up north. Talks of marriage have been floated about.”
Mr. Bennet raised an eyebrow. “At twenty-three? Seems rather early to me.”
“Yes, I quite agree. But you know my boy—once his mind is made up, wild horses could not deter him.” Gardiner laughed and shook his head. “Still, he has good sense. Better than I had at his age.”
“I can attest to that!” Mr. Bennet held his glass up in a mock toast. “It is good for young men to know what they want and then work hard for it.”
“I only wish his stubbornness had taken a turn towards the law. It would be good to pass my practice on to a son.”
Pointing to the dance floor where Mr. Philips, Gardiner’s clerk, was twirling twenty-year-old Agatha Gardiner, Mr. Bennet said, “Well, if those two make a match of it, you will have the next best thing to a son who can inherit.”
Gardiner chuckled. “It would save me a good deal of worry. And having one daughter married would mean I only need to focus on getting Fanny settled.”
“What? Is she old enough already to be thinking of marriage?”
As if to answer his question, a fresh burst of laughter and energy approached them in the form of Miss Fanny Gardiner, Gardiner’s youngest daughter, newly sixteen and glowing with the excitement of her first assembly.
“Oh, Papa!” she cried, clutching his arm affectionately. “Thank you again for letting me come tonight! It is ever so wonderful!”
Gardiner smiled fondly. “It is your coming-out year, my dear. Where better to begin?”
Miss Fanny turned a bright, enthusiastic gaze on Mr. Bennet. “And have you heard? There is to be a regiment posted in Meryton soon! Officers, Papa! Dozens of them!” She fairly bounced on her toes.
Mr. Bennet, who had known Fanny since she was in pinafores, regarded her with bemused fondness, much as a man might regard a particularly lively spaniel.
“I do not know how you can be so delighted at the prospect of more people, Miss Fanny,” he said. “Were I in your place, I should think I had quite exhausted the entertainment of humanity already.”
“Oh, Mr. Bennet, how can you say so?” she cried, laughing. “There is always someone new to meet! And they have such splendid red coats!”
With that, she gave a delighted squeal and skipped off to join a cluster of other young ladies deep in animated conversation.
Mr. Bennet watched her go, shaking his head in wry amusement. “How do they find the energy?” he mused aloud.
Gardiner laughed. “Youth, my friend. It is wasted on the young.”
Mr. Bennet chuckled, then took another sip of his wine.Only forty-three minutes until I can politely leave.
∞∞∞
Two months later…
Mr. Bennet attended the wedding breakfast for Miss Gardiner and Mr. Philips. It was just as crowded as he had feared and rather more colorful than he had anticipated.
The room—draped in garlands and glowing with the late morning sun—was filled to the brim with neighbors, family, and, most notably, officers. Their red coats caught the light in such a way that it seemed they were meant to serve as decorative highlights to the celebration.
Miss Fanny Gardiner—now simply Miss Gardiner, since her elder sister had become Mrs. Phillips not two hours ago—flitted among them with all the energy of a young lady newly “out” and newly empowered by her social success.
Mr. Bennet stood near the sideboard with a modest cup of tea—he had refused Mr. Gardiner’s whispered offer to slip him something stronger—observing the crowd with his usual half-amused detachment.
He caught sight of the bride and groom, flushed and beaming at the head of the room, caught in a sea of congratulations and well-wishers. Young Mr. Phillips looked slightly overwhelmed but elated; Agatha, her new ring glinting in the candlelight, seemed to glow from within.
