Miss Bennet & Mr Bingley

by Fenella J Miller

The trip to the Tower with four children, the nursemaid, and her aunt, was declared a resounding success by all who attended. The lions were fearsome, the ravens large and black, and the Tower itself a salutary reminder of times past.

  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.

  Chapter Fifteen

  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.’

  ‘Poor Kitty! She will be inconsolable, it is a great shame that Mrs Forster could not invite both of them to accompany her to Brighton.’

  ‘It is a great shame, Jane, that either of them are allowed to go. Can you imagine how Lydia will behave when she is away from Longbourn? I shall speak to Papa, implore him to stop her from going. Can you imagine the great disadvantage for us all, which must arise from the public notice of Lydia’s unguarded and imprudent manner; nay, which has already risen from it?’

  ‘You are no doubt considering Mr Darcy’s feelings when you say that, are you not? Do you regret it, Lizzy, refusing him?’

  ‘No. But all the same I do not wish our sister to disgrace us any further.’

  Jane watched her sister leave to speak to their father and although she would not like to see Lydia disappointed, she was certain a visit to Brighton by someone of Lydia’s disposition was not a sound idea. Unfortunately, their father did not see it that way.

  ‘Papa refuses to become involved,’ said Lizzy with a sigh. ‘He says that Lydia, Kitty and Mary are all very silly and that we shall have no peace at Longbourn if Lydia is not allowed to go to Brighton. He insists that Colonel Forster is a sensible man and will keep her out of any real mischief.’

  Much relieved by her sister’s reassurance Jane was able to enjoy the walk and felt ready to face Lydia’s overexcitement and Kitty’s excessive complaints. At least all the noise and fuss involved with Lydia’s departure meant she had less time to think of what she had lost. Time had not lessened her grief over the departure of Bingley from her life. She had thought on her return that things would be as they were before she had met him. The opposite had been the case, she could not stop thinking about him. Everywhere she went she was reminded of past happiness.

  Jane rather believed that her four months in London had aggravated her loss and not alleviated it in any way. She wished she could forget him as he had obviously forgotten all about her, he had known she was in town and could easily have visited her if he had so desired. There could be no other explanation for his absence; like his sisters, he had put her to one side when he had left Hertfordshire.

  Her mother’s preoccupation with Brighton meant she no longer referred to him and Netherfield so frequently, and as she had not mentioned meeting Mr Fox again, at least her mother could not plague her about that episode of her life which was now, thankfully, closed.

  ‘Lizzy, shall we walk in the shrubbery? I need to get away from all this talk about the military.’

  ‘It is tiresome listening to Kitty wailing and Lydia screeching, I should much rather converse with you.’

  ‘We do not need to bother to go upstairs to find our bonnets, Lizzy, the sun is almost set.’ Jane linked her arm through her sister’s and they exited through a side door not wishing to alert their mother of their intended escape.

  ‘It is strange to see Lydia so set on her course to find a husband, do you feel the need to do so?’

  ‘You know that I do not, Jane. It is a great pity that we have not an independent income, then we could set up in o
ur own establishment, two old maids together.’

  ‘One thing is for certain, I shall not do as Charlotte has. I would rather remain single than tie myself to a man I could not love with all my heart.’ She sighed. ‘I fear I shall never meet another man like Mr Bingley so I am destined to be a spinster all my life.’

  ‘You would not marry in order to leave Longbourn? Can you imagine spending the remainder of her days here? And what when Papa dies? Do we ask Mr Collins to take us in?’

  ‘Pray, do not even consider a situation such as that. One of us will marry for love and must promise to take care of the other.’ Jane knew she would never be the one to wed, so she must rely on Lizzy to find someone she could love well enough to share her life.

  On the very last day of the regiment’s remaining in Meryton, Mr Wickham and some other officers, were invited to dine at Longbourn. Jane still found it hard to credit that this charming young man had behaved so badly; she sincerely hoped that Elizabeth was able to contain her disgust and not reveal to the assembled company that Wickham was no longer a favourite of theirs.

  She saw them talking together earnestly and something Elizabeth said made him appear alarmed and agitated and his complexion was heightened somewhat. For a few minutes he remained silent, then he appeared to shake off his embarrassment and turned back to her sister to speak to her quietly.

  When they were preparing for bed that evening Jane asked her sister what Wickham had told her. ‘We discussed Lady Catherine and I told him that I had spent three weeks in the company of Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr Darcy.’

  ‘Oh dear, Lizzy, I hope he did not speak of what you had been told in confidence.’

  ‘Of course I did not, I merely hinted to him that I saw through him and knew him for the charlatan he was. He is not a stupid man, he understood to what I was referring.’

  ‘It will be a relief, Lizzy, when the regiment has left and we can forget all about Mr Wickham.’

  The house was quiet after Lydia’s departure. She had promised to write frequently but letters were always long expected and always very short. Her correspondence with Kitty was longer, but was so full of intimate revelations that Kitty was not prepared to share them with the rest of the family.