Miss Bennet & Mr Bingley (25 page)

When she returned home, to her
delight, there was a letter from Lizzy waiting for her.
Eagerly she opened it and scanned the contents.

My dearest Jane,

I must tell you that I am well
settled here in the vicarage with Charlotte and Mr Collins. Although the house
is small it is well appointed and has a great air of comfort throughout. It
would seem to me that Charlotte is content with her marriage but even happier
when Mr Collins is absent. He is often a way at Rosings visiting with his
patron, Lady Catherine, and I believe that this lady is talked of far more than
his work with the church.

I have come to the conclusion
that Lady Catherine is more conceited and proud than her nephew Darcy. I know
you will laugh at this, for no one could be more haughty then he. We are
obliged to visit almost daily, and are treated to as great a display of incivility
as any I observed at Netherfield.

Since I began this letter you
will never guess, my dear Jane, who is visiting at Rosings. Mr Darcy himself!
For some reason he is forever visiting the vicarage and putting himself out to
be pleasant. I much prefer Colonel Fitzwilliam, who, I believe, has joint
guardianship of Georgiana Darcy…

Jane replied immediately. She regaled Elizabeth with an amusing account
of her visit to the Tower, glad that she had something to enthuse about, and
give her sister no reason to suppose that she was not feeling in good spirits.

But in reality she was now counting the days till May which would herald
the return of her sister and Maria. It would be a full four months by the time
she returned to Longbourn. The noise and press of people in town had become
more oppressive as the weeks passed by. She longed for the
tranquillity
of the countryside, to be able to
walk or ride freely, to visit with friends and
neighbours and be
in no danger of being accosted or
having to take a footman or maid every time you left the house. She loved her
aunt and uncle dearly, they could not have treated her with more affection had
she been their own daughter, however, since her unfortunate experience with Mr
Fox, she no longer felt comfortable in town.

Charles did not allow himself to be persuaded to accompany Darcy and the
others to Pemberley after Easter, he remained in town and kept himself fully
occupied with visits to his club and other masculine entertainments. Despite
telling his sister to the contrary he had not attended any of the events to
which he had been sent invitations. He found such occasions flat, the conversation
insipid and none of the young ladies half as pretty as Jane.

 
* * * *

When Elizabeth eventually arrived in Cheapside Jane detected a certain
reserve in her sister. Several times she appeared about to tell her something
important, but then could not quite bring herself to do so. The four days they
spent gallivanting around town passed in a flash and before Jane knew it they
set out together from Gracechurch Street for a small town in Hertfordshire.
Here they were to meet Mr Bennet’s carriage, transfer their trunks and
belongings, then complete the journey allowing Mr Gardiner’s vehicle to return
to town in good time.

It was Elizabeth who pointed out Lydia and Kitty waving from an upstairs
window at the inn. ‘Look, Jane, the girls are here before us. I do wish Papa
had not allowed them to come on their own. I shudder to think what they might
have been doing to disgrace themselves whilst they have waited for us to
arrive.’

They made their way upstairs where Lydia and Kitty proudly displayed a
table set out with such cold meat as an inn larder usually affords.

Kitty exclaimed. ‘Look, is this not
nice? Is not this an agreeable surprise?’

‘And we mean to treat you all,’ added Lydia, ‘ but you must lend us the
money, for we have just spent ours at the shops out there.’

In and amongst her talk of bonnets,
Lydia told them that Miss King had been sent away and so Wickham was still
single. Jane looked at Lizzy to see what effect the news had on her sister, but
to her surprise she did not look pleased. Jane had thought that Lizzy had had a
tendre for him but perhaps she was mistaken. To this news, Lydia added that the
regiment were removing to Brighton and that she longed to go. Jane exchanged
glances with her sister. Lydia in Brighton did not bear thinking about

‘Have you seen any pleasant men? Have you had any flirting? I was in
great hopes that one of you would have got a husband before you came back. Jane
will be quite an old maid soon, I declare. She is almost three and twenty!’

Jane thought of her experiences with
Mr Fox and thought she would rather die an old maid than marry for the sake of
it.

Their reception at home was most kind. Mrs Bennet rejoiced at seeing
Jane in undiminished beauty; and more than once during dinner did Mr Bennet say
voluntarily to Elizabeth. ‘I am glad you have come back, Lizzy.’

After supper that evening she was eventually alone with Elizabeth in
their sitting room. Jane turned to her sister with a smile. ‘Lizzy, you must
talk to me. I have known since we met at Gracechurch Street that there is
something very particular you wish to tell me and have not had the opportunity
to do so.’

‘Not tonight, I shall tell you tomorrow, when my head is clear.’

With that Jane had to be content. The following morning she was dressed
and ready in their parlour to hear what her sister had to say.

‘Jane, you had better be seated before I begin, for I am sure that you
shall not believe what I am going to reveal.’

Jane sat and waited expectantly. What her sister then told her did
indeed astonish.

‘You well know, for I mentioned it in my letters to you, that Mr Darcy
was frequently with me whilst I was at Hunsford. What I did not tell you was
that the day before he left he proposed to me.’

‘Lizzy, I am astounded. How did this come about, I thought that the
gentleman did not admire you?’

‘I shall tell you. I was never so angry in my life. I shall try and
remember exactly how he phrased it. Yes, I have it.
“In vain have I
struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me
to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.’’
There! What do you think
of that?’

‘Good gracious! That is hardly a romantic proposal, I cannot understand
it, Lizzy. Why should he have to struggle against his feelings for you? You are
everything that is good, and as intelligent as you are lovely. You are his
equal in everything apart from fortune.’

‘You have not heard the best of it. He went on to tell me that in spite
of my inferiority, and the family obstacles caused by having relations that
were not to his liking, he had eventually decided that he loved me sufficiently
to ignore these drawbacks.’

Jane was scandalized. ‘What did you reply?’

Her sister became so agitated she jumped to her feet. ‘I told him that I
should
feel gratified by his proposal, but I was not in any way pleased. I
said that I had neither desired nor sought his good opinion and that I was
sorry to hurt his feelings.’ Elizabeth moved around the room whilst she
gathered her thoughts. ‘I also said that as he had fought so hard against his
feelings for me I was sure that it would not be long before he was able to
forget.’

‘Lizzy, to have turned down such a man as that! He being so sure of
succeeding was wrong; but consider how much it must increase his
disappointment.’

‘Indeed, I am heartily sorry for him; but he has other things which will
probably soon drive away his regard for me. You do not blame me, however, for
refusing him?’

‘Blame you! Oh, no!’

‘But you do blame me for having spoken so warmly of Wickham.’

‘No - and I do not know that you were wrong in saying what you did.’

‘But you
will
know it, when I have told you what happened the
very next day.’

When Jane heard of the perfidy of Mr Wickham she was most distressed.
‘To think that Darcy treated Mr Wickham well, gave him the value of the living
instead of the living itself. And for that young man then to have attempted to
elope with Georgiana Darcy; well I can hardly credit it. How could someone be
so wicked? And he appears such an amiable person.’

They sat in silence for a while whilst Jane digested this unpleasant
information. ‘Is there not some possibility of error? I am pleased that Mr
Darcy has been vindicated, I always believed him to be an honest man, as you
know. But Mr Wickham such a villain? It cannot be true.’

‘This will not do,’ said Elizabeth. ‘You never will be able to make both
good for anything. Take your choice, but you must be satisfied with only one.
There is such a quantity of merit between them; just enough to make one good
sort of man; and of late it has been shifting about pretty much. On my part, I
am inclined to believe it all Mr Darcy’s, but you shall do as you choose.’

Jane did not know how her sister could view the matter so
lightheartedly. ‘I do not know when I have been more shocked. Wickham so very
bad! It is almost past belief. And poor Mr Darcy! Dear Lizzy, only consider
what he must have suffered? Such a disappointment. And to know that you think
so ill of him too. And imagine having to relate such a thing about his sister;
it is really too distressing. I am sure that you must feel it so.’

‘Oh, no, my regret and compassion are all done away by seeing you so
full of both. I know you will do him such ample justice, that I am growing
every moment more unconcerned and indifferent. Your profusion makes me
sanguine; and if you lament over him much longer, my heart shall be as light as
a feather.’

‘Lizzy, you must not make a jest of this. Poor Wickham! To think there
is such an expression of goodness in his countenance, such an openness and gentleness
in this manner, and it is all a sham.’

‘I wish I had not been so vehement in my support of him. But Darcy had
all the appearance of being a villain and Wickham the innocent party.’

‘Lizzy, when you first read that letter, I am sure you could not treat
the matter as you do now.’

‘Indeed, I could not. I was uncomfortable enough. I was
very
uncomfortable,
I may say and unhappy. With no one to speak to of what I felt, no Jane to
comfort me and say that I had not been so very weak and vain and nonsensical as
I knew I had. Oh! How I wanted you.’

‘How unfortunate that you should have used such very strong expressions
when speaking of Wickham to Mr Darcy, for now they
do
appear wholly
undeserved.’

‘Certainly. But the misfortune of speaking thus, is the most natural
consequence of the prejudices I had been encouraging. There is one point, on
which I want your advice. I want to be told whether I ought or ought not to
make our acquaintance in general understand Wickham’s character.’

Jane pondered for a moment before answering. ‘Surely there can be no
occasion for exposing him so dreadfully. What is your own opinion?’

‘That it ought not to be attempted.’

What exciting times they had both
had, thought Jane.

 
* * * *

The first week of Jane’s return to Longbourn was soon gone and the
second begun. She rather believed her sister and herself were with the only
females in the vicinity not sunk into deepest dejection at the imminent
departure of the regiment from Meryton. Lydia and Kitty were inconsolable and
neither girl could comprehend how anyone with any sensibility could continue to
eat and drink as normal.

‘Good heavens! What is to become of us! What are we to do?’ Lydia
frequently exclaimed. ‘How can you be smiling, Lizzy?’

Their affectionate mother shared all their grief; she remembered what
she had herself endured on a similar occasion, five and twenty years ago. There
were constant lamentations about not being able to visit Brighton and Mr Bennet
remained firmly in his library.

‘If I was not so ashamed of their behaviour, Jane, I should be able to
find all this amusing. I am beginning to believe that Mr Darcy was right to
object to the behaviour of our family.’

‘It is never right to criticize one’s
own
family; however I
believe it must be difficult for someone from such a superior background to
understand that there is no malice intended in the silliness. If Papa could
only take more interest in Lydia and Kitty, I am sure they would not behave in
this way.’

‘Dear Jane, you are so right. A great deal of the blame must rest on our
parents.’

‘I do not intend to lay blame upon anybody’s shoulders, Lizzy. Now, let
us go outside and forget about the fuss.’

They returned from their promenade to discover that events had changed in
their absence. Lydia had received an invitation from Mrs Forster to accompany
her to Brighton. Jane turned to Elizabeth in surprise when she heard this news.

‘How can this be? Why should Lydia be invited by the new wife of Colonel
Forster? She is younger than Kitty, surely
she
should have received the
invitation?’

‘It would seem that Lydia has become an invaluable friend to Mrs Forster
and although they have only known each other for three months they have been
intimate for two.’