“Is that so?” asked Darcy in surprise. This was new. Georgiana was not asking permission to select her own companion. She was announcing her intention to invite Miss Bates quite of her own accord.
“I like her very much, Brother,” answered his sister. “Perhaps she is a bit silly, but she is genuine and she is kind. All I truly need just now is someone to keep me company, someone I can trust, and I trust her very well. Later perhaps, someone might be found to go out into society with me when I come out, or perhaps if you get married, we will need to hire no one. But for now, I believe she suits me very well.”
“Who is this person?” demanded their aunt. “I insist upon having my share of the information!”
“Miss Bates is an impoverished spinster whose mother recently died, and she has been left quite alone. She is perhaps nearing fifty. As Georgie states, sheisrather silly, and talks a great deal out of excitement, but my sister’s company seems to calm her a bit, and sheisan exceptionally kind woman, and very genteel. I can understand why Georgie trusts her,” Darcy explained.
“I had an unpleasant experience with my last companion, Aunt,” Georgiana confessed, as her brother raised his eyebrows in warning. Georgiana understood. “I will not bore you with the details, but the woman did not have my best interests at heart. I am barely worth a portion of Anne’s fortune, but I share her vulnerability to persons with mercenary intent. Miss Bates might be poor, but she is not untrustworthy. That is what I require at this time — company I can trust.”
“Just because she is poor does not mean she will consent to take a position, Georgie,” warned her brother. “Miss Bates might prefer to cling to her gentility, no matter how impoverished she might be.”
“If I were to invite her to join our family as an extended guest, we could give her an allowance, could we not?” asked Georgiana. “My friend from school did that. The lady they wished for did not wish to be known to take a position, so she was invited to live with the familyas a friend, and they provided her with a proper London wardrobe and an allowance. It was more costly, but Miss Chatman was very happy with her choice.”
“Such arrangementsaremore costly, but you are in the privileged position of being able to afford such eccentricities, Sister,” Darcy said, smiling. Georgiana was growing up so fast, and he was very impressed by her sense.
Their aunt seemed to be in agreement. “Your logic is sound, Niece,” she said. “I shall go with you tomorrow morning to call upon this Miss Bates before I leave. I am interested to meet her. Darcy, If that Bingley woman has prepared a room for me, I would like to go there now. I am fatigued from my journey, and I will take a tray tonight in my room.”
CHAPTER 10
Early the next morning, Darcy considered the situation. His aunt had obliged him by dining in her room in order to avoid becoming too intimately acquainted with Darcy’slow-born hosts,but would be down in an hour or two. He held no affection or even very much respect for the sister of his friend, but it was time he decided how he would allow the matter of her behaviour in the presence of his aunt to proceed. Miss Bingley would, of course, court Lady Catherine's approval assiduously when his aunt appeared, and if she laid it on thick enough, his aunt would allow her attentions. If Caroline did a good enough job of flattering her, Lady Catherine might even invite her to Rosings to help her find a husband, mostly just to ensure she never married Darcy. A number of bachelor gentlemen, barons, and knights graced the company in Kent, and his aunt enjoyed being of assistance in matters such as these, in which she considered herself to be an expert.
That tolerance would vanish in an instant the moment Lady Catherine realised Miss Bingley's marital aims. He knew his aunt meant it. He might – if she did not revert back to her earlier demands of him marrying Anne – get away with marrying a gentleman’s daughter, but no less, not that Darcy was planning to look any lower.It was time for Darcy to decide if he should warn Miss Bingley, or allow her to be humiliated when Lady Catherine denounced her publicly, as she was bound to do. As much as he did not care to have a conversation with the young woman, it appeared that he must. She would obviously never listen to her brother. As much as he would relish seeing her taken down several pegs, it would harm Bingley's reputation in town, and Darcy had no desire to see that happen.
He must do it soon. Most of the household was at breakfast, but his aunt would be down eventually, since she was not an early riser. As they stood from the breakfast table he took a deep breath and said, "Miss Bingley, would you care to take a stroll in the garden?"
Everyone in the room was speechless. Bingley gaped at Darcy in astonishment as Caroline accepted with alacrity, her eyes sparkling with hope and excitement, believing her moment had come. Darcy felt a pang of guilt for the pain he would soon cause her when she realised they were not to have the conversation of her dreams, but he hoped that she would be reasonable enough for them to come out understanding one another better.
As they walked and reached a location where Darcy felt they could converse without being overheard, he looked down to see Miss Bingley staring up at him with her eyes shining and said sympathetically, "Miss Bingley, It pains me to know you will be disappointed that we are not about to have the conversation that you have long hoped for, but I feel that a very different one must be had, for both our sakes."
Miss Bingley was crestfallen, and immediately appeared near tears; Darcy felt even worse. Perhaps she had never taken a hint, but he took no pleasure in devastating any woman's hopes so thoroughly.
"I wonder that you asked me here then, sir,” she said bitterly. “But now that you have brought up that conversation, can you not tell me why? I have done everything that I can think of to show you that I would be the perfect mistress of your homes. I have waited for years for you to see that I would be the best possible wife and hostess for you. What do you require that I do not have?"
"Miss Bingley, you say that you would be the perfect wife for mebut you see only an ideal. You have never taken the time to know my character well enough to understand we would never suit. You believe you are the perfect wife for the man you think I ought to be. You have no idea what my needs in a wife are, because I have never been the man of your imagination.
"If you were to marry me, you would be miserable. When you see me standing at the side of the room at parties, I am not disdaining my company. Somehow you have misunderstood my reserve. I do not avoid company for those reasons. I am quite unhappy in town, and among the society you aspire to enter. I am most happy in the country, and among people I know well and trust. My home has been too quiet for too long. I long to see Pemberley come to life once more. When I marry, I will retire to Pemberley with my wife, and I will move in a country society only slightly more distinguished than this one, though rather more varied. Although we might entertain in Derbyshire extensively, much like the locals here, there would be few balls and parties in London, and I highly doubt we would attend the season very often until it was time for our children to marry. You would not be happy with such a life, Miss Bingley, but I believe that you are correct about your skills. You would make some man an excellent hostess, and your talents would be wasted if you married me. There are important men who prefer to live in the city."
"Why would you not wish to take your place in society, Mr Darcy? You are an important man. And why are you telling me all of this now?" Miss Bingley asked unhappily.
"I do what I must to maintain my reputation, but I have little regard for society, Miss Bingley," Darcy said seriously. "I am a boring, stuffy, reserved country farmer at heart, like my father before me. This is why I value my friendship with your brother so much. His ebullience brings much needed light and levity to my life. When I marry, I expect I shall hope to find a similar levity in a country gentlewoman who seeks the same life that I do. In answer to your other question. The reason that I am telling you this now is because my aunt is here.
"Miss Bingley, this is truly a private matter that I hope you willkeep in confidence, but you will be pulled into it when my aunt notices your interest in me. To put it plainly, my aunt has always wished me to marry my cousin. There is no binding engagement; it is merely an idle wish of hers and my mother's. My cousin and I have agreed we do not consider ourselves bound to it. I may have persuaded my aunt yesterday that she should not expect me to fulfil those hopes, but she will not see me married to a tradesman’s daughter. Her pride for my mother’s credit would never allow it, regardless of what my mother herself might have thought about the matter. The fact that I have told her I will not marry my cousin will not prevent my aunt from ruining you if you give even the slightest hint of your hopes in her presence." He allowed this information to sink in before he continued, "Miss Bingley, my aunt can be a vicious and ruthless woman. Your humiliation would be quite complete. I have no desire to see you and your brother so mortified."
"I suppose we must be grateful indeed then, for your warning, sir," Miss Bingley said resentfully, appearing near tears. "How generous you are to caution us."
"Miss Bingley, I have never wished to marry you, but I take no pleasure in causing you pain." Darcy replied kindly. "I would be happy indeed to see you married to a man of consequence and enjoying society to the fullest. May I give you a piece of advice? My aunt likes to be of help. She is an officious woman who dearly enjoys giving advice and meddling in the affairs of others; she knows many people in Kent and in town. She has been a great deal of help to several young ladies in want of a husband. She also adores being paid court to. If you were to flatter her and gain her good opinion, she would likely see you married to someone with connections. Someone with interests more to your tastes than mine. There are a number of bachelor landowners in Kent, and it is near enough to town to suit you. But if you show even the slightest interest in me as a prospective husband in her presence, she will eviscerate you publicly."
"I suppose I would be foolish to turn down such an opportunity. You are right, Mr Darcy, I would be despondent in the life you describe. I am still disappointed, but I do not wish to spend so muchof my life away from town. It would be miserable indeed, even in such settings as Pemberley. If you do not mind, I would like to return to the house. I need some time to compose myself, and then I shall court your aunt in the hopes that she will take an interest in helping me find a husband. I thank you for the suggestion. As bitter as I feel just now, I cannot deny that you have been very kind," said Miss Bingley quietly.
"Miss Bingley, it is my hope that now that we have settled this matter between us, that we may be at ease in each other's company in the future, and that whomever the future Mrs Darcy turns out to be, that we shall count you among our friends," returned Darcy generously.
Miss Bingley chewed on her lip for a moment, considering her next question. “Mr Darcy, do I behave like Miss Woodhouse?”
“What do you mean, Miss Bingley?” he asked curiously.
“I have always disdained those I think beneath me, or those Ihopewill one day be beneath me, because that is what the girls at my school did,” she answered. “But I see Miss Woodhouse doing it, and it is so unattractive upon her. Is that how I appear to others? Is that how I behave?”
Darcy considered, not wishing to hurt his friend's sister further, but finally deciding that this was his chance to be of real help to the young woman. “Miss Bingley, you behave a great deal worse than Miss Woodhouse, because you are often purposely unkind to others. Miss Woodhouse only wishes to avoid those who she thinks beneath her, whereas you are actively spiteful. For example, I believe Miss Woodhouse’s unkind remark to Miss Bates at Donwell Abbey was said in a thoughtless moment that she immediately regretted. I have observed you, on the other hand, make many cruel remarks to other ladies in an attempt to intentionally cause pain and mortification.”
