Chapter 59: Much Ado About Fat Stacks of Cash
That night, Elizabeth reveals to Jane that she is engaged to Mr. Darcy, because good-natured Jane is pretty much the only person she knows who never formed a terrible opinion of the man. Despite this, even Jane finds it hard to believe Elizabeth would fall for the person she used to loathe, which really solidifies in Elizabeth's mind just how difficult it's going to be to tell everybody else. It takes some convincing, but Elizabeth manages to bring her sister around without having to resort to clobbering her with a pillow this time.
When Bingley and Darcy come by again the next morning, Mrs. Bennet complains that Mr. Darcy is visiting again, and suggests they go on another walk to get him out of the house. Since Kitty is still out lost in the woods or whatever, and Jane and Mr. Bingley are surely going to run off for more snogging, Mrs. Bennet apologizes to Elizabeth since she's getting stuck accompanying Mr. Darcy. On the plus side, Mrs. Bennet suggests, Darcy doesn't talk very much, so Elizabeth would only really need to endure a few hours of awkward silence. Elizabeth, of course, is inwardly laughing at all of this.
This walk is less eventful, but they do resolve to just rip off the band-aid and tell Elizabeth's parents about the engagement. That night, Mr. Darcy leaves the room to go talk to Mr. Bennet in private; and then a few minutes later, Darcy comes back, telling Elizabeth that her father wants to see her.
Mr. Bennet asks Elizabeth, are you out of your goddamn mind? We're talking about Mr. Darcy here. I mean, if this is what you want, then like, fine, but I really expected better from you.
But after Elizabeth explains that this isn't a whim, and that it's taken months for her to understand that he's actually a good guy, Mr. Bennet relents and earnestly accepts her decision, adding that he would have hated to give his favorite daughter up to a man who didn't deserve her. Then, as he sends her out, he adds, hey, if anybody else is out there waiting to wed one my daughters, just send them in, I'm marrying them off left and right over here.
Then Elizabeth has the even harder task of telling her mother, who is already determined to think the worst of Darcy. Upon hearing the news, Mrs. Bennet is dumbfounded for a good fifteen minutes. But she recovers gracefully; and by that, I mean she can pretty much only think about how rich Elizabeth is going to be and not much else. While this is probably the best outcome we could have hoped for... way to keep it real, ma.