Mr. Bingley himself appeared, and he looked at Jane with unmistakable delight. “Miss Bennet! Miss Elizabeth! You are staying in London? I am so glad to see you both.” He came forward and bowed to the sisters, then ushered them into the drawing room. “Pray, sit down, sit down. You must take tea and tell me all about your visit.”
He turned to his butler. “Jamison, refreshments, if you please.” Then he took Jane by the elbow and guided her to the most comfortable chair, placing himself close beside her and leaning forward to catch every word she spoke in answer to his eager questions.
“How fares your family, Miss Bennet? And your health? And what brings you to town? How long will you remain? I hope we shall see much of you.”
Jane, coloring, answered softly. “My family is well, sir. We have been staying with my Uncle Gardiner. We expect to remain for some weeks yet.”
“I am glad of it!” he cried. “London can be a dreary place, yet your presence transforms it completely.”
Jane’s eyes dropped, but there was a smile upon her lips. Their conversation was easy, and Elizabeth observed that, in watching the two lovers, none would ever have guessed that any abandonment had occurred. Her sister was so changed in his presence, the recipient of his interest and attentions.
At length, Jane rose. “Sir, we have outstayed our welcome. It has been thirty minutes.”
Bingley protested. “Not at all! What is time between friends? I wish you could stay the entire day, but as that is not possible, would you and your sister join me and my party at the theatre tonight? I have taken a box and could not hope to enjoy myself fully without your presence in it.”
Bingley paused and then added, “Mr. and Miss Darcy are to dine here with us and then go on to the play. Perhaps you might join us at dinner, and accompany us after?”
Jane glanced at Elizabeth, who gave an encouraging nod. “We have no other engagements, sir,” she said, her voice gentle but clear. “We should be delighted to join you.”
Bingley’s face lit with satisfaction. “Excellent! It is all settled, and I may be certain of your company. I will send my second carriage to convey you here to my house this evening. And I insist on conveying you home now, for a hackney is no conveyance for you, my dear Miss Bennet.”
The sisters remained in the drawing room with their host until the butler announced the carriage was ready. Then Mr. Bingley escorted them out, handed them up, and said, “Until this evening, when I shall have the happiness of seeing you again.”
Once the carriage began to move through the London streets, Jane clasped Elizabeth’s hands tightly in her own and started to weep tears of happy release.
“Tell me, Lizzy, tell me I am not dreaming! Does Charles seem as he did in Hertfordshire? Does he still?” She broke off, her eyes brimming.
Elizabeth’s own eyes glistened as she smiled at her sister. “Yes, dearest Jane. He is as besotted with you as ever. I think we have done a very good day’s work.”
Chapter 19: The Theater
The two sisters stood upstairs eagerly looking down onto the street, and at the appointed hour, Mr. Bingley’s carriage drew up to Gracechurch Street. As they descended the stairs, Jane looked at her sister and said, “Lizzy, I scarcely dare to breathe, for fear that this is all a dream.” When they arrived, the house was glowing with candlelight, and they could hear the sound of voices, laughter, and music from a pianoforte drifting down from the drawing room above. Both women then turned as Mr. Bingley himself met them at the door. The smile on his face was so radiant that Jane trembled, wondering at the sudden change in her life.
“Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, welcome! You do me infinite honor.” He bowed, then offered his arm to Jane, and he led the two women upstairs, treating Jane with such tender solicitude that Elizabeth released all doubts she had held against him.
In the drawing room, Elizabeth saw Mrs. Hurst reclining on a sofa, while her husband stood near the fire conversing with Mr. Darcy. Georgiana, who sat at the pianoforte, smiled and rose as soon as she saw Elizabeth. Caroline Bingley also stood to greet the sisters, but she did not smile. Her civility sounded forced as she said, “Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth. What a surprise to see you in town.”
Elizabeth returned the greeting politely but said nothing more. Jane, however, offered her thanks with warmth, and she took Caroline’s hand in both her own, looking as if she were pleased to see the woman. When Mr. Bingley placed Jane beside him on the sofa, treating her as the guest of honor, Caroline grimaced briefly before turning toward Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth saw the lookthat passed between them and became more certain than ever that they were responsible for the rift between her sister and her sister’s beau.
Georgiana crossed the room to Elizabeth and embraced her briefly. “I am so glad to see you again, Elizabeth. I had not expected such a pleasure this evening.”
The girl’s unaffected sweetness touched Elizabeth. “Come, sit with me and tell me what you thought of my last letter. Was it not fortunate for all of us Bennet sisters that Mr. Collins fell in love with the very sister who most wished to marry him?”
Georgiana giggled. “It was fortunate, Elizabeth. What would you have done had he fallen in love with you?”
Elizabeth laughed, and the two young women fell into easy conversation. From across the room, Mr. Darcy bowed toward the two Bennet ladies and offered a polite greeting, but he did not draw very near, for Miss Bingley had moved to his side and begun to whisper in his ear.
Dinner was announced, and Mr. Bingley offered his arm to Jane. Caroline seized possession of Mr. Darcy’s arm and sent a smug look at Elizabeth, as if to say,he belongs to me.The company descended to the dining parlor, where Elizabeth was impressed by a table richly laid with various dishes, the sparkling crystal and silver gleaming in the candlelight. Mr. Bingley spoke often to Jane, and he looked at her with unconcealed admiration. Mr. Darcy was silent as he listened to Elizabeth and his sister discussing Mary Bennet’s recent wedding. He smiled to see how entranced his sister was with the telling of the tale, and with the storyteller herself.
Caroline observed how closely Mr. Darcy attended to Elizabeth. He stared at the woman all through dinner. Sheattempted to secure Mr. Darcy’s attention for herself, recalling entertainments they had attended and acquaintances they had met in recent weeks, all the while casting sly glances at Elizabeth. Still, he made no answer, and Elizabeth did not see the sly looks, so absorbed was she in her own recitations.
Caroline’s hand fluttered upon his arm to claim his notice or to lend emphasis to her words. At one point, she even laid her hand boldly upon his wrist while recounting an anecdote from a recent play. Darcy disengaged himself at once; the next time it occurred, he drew his arm away, and on the third occasion, he brushed her hand aside. Yet she either did not, or would not, take the hint. Resolute in her delusion, she was determined to display her supposed possession of him and to warn Elizabeth, emphatically, to keep away fromherman.
When dinner concluded, the party removed to their carriages for the drive to Drury Lane. Caroline was livid. Left alone in the carriage with the Hursts, she could no longer restrain herself.
“Charles told me to expect two additional guests at dinner, and I was certain he meant Mr. Sinclair and Sir Gareth Stewart. He has been attempting to shackle me to one or the other of his friends for months. Imagine my astonishment when the Bennet sisters appeared instead!”
Mrs. Hurst raised her brows and gave a languid shrug. “Caroline, you give it too much meaning. The Bennets are simple country girls who will no doubt scurry back to their little village in Hertfordshire within a week or two, and you will be spared their company. Until that happens, you must endure it with as much grace as you can contrive, because railing against the inevitable will not make them vanish, however much you might wish it.”
