“It is good to see you, Darcy,” Bingley extended his hand as soon as his friend stood on the gravel of the drive.
“And you Bingley,” Darcy returned as he shook his friend’s hand.
Bingley smiled when he saw his friend looking around to see where Caroline would jump out from. “I have taken your advice and am checking my younger sister. Whether she will comply is a different story. However, she is aware if her behaviour towards you is out of bounds, she will feel it in her reticule.”
Not wanting to sound condescending, Darcy said nothing but he was proud his younger friend was finally stiffening his backbone and would not allow Miss Bingley to ride roughshod over him any longer. All he could hope for was his friend’s resolve would not crack when his sister attempted to manipulate him.
While Carstens supervised the removal of his master’s trunk from the coach, Darcy followed Bingley up the stairs and into the house. “Would you prefer to make for your suite so you may wash and change, or stop in the drawing room first?” Bingley enquired. He was sure he knew what Darcy’s preference was. The longer he had before seeing Caroline, the better. The housekeeper was waiting off to the side in case she needed to show the guest to his suite.
“As a gentleman arriving at another’s home, I must greetthe rest of your family before I take care of my ablutions,” Darcy stated.
“Darcy, this is my housekeeper, Mrs Nichols, she will wait to show you to your chambers,” Bingley indicated the lady standing in the background. “Come let us go to the drawing room.”
“Why Mr Darcy…” Miss Bingley began to stand so she could go claim his arm when she saw the look on her brother’s face and remembered his threat.
“Welcome to Netherfield Park,” Mrs Hurst interjected before the youngest Bingley could embarrass herself and the rest of her family. “I trust your journey hither was comfortable.”
“It was, thank you, Mrs Hurst,” Darcy averred, grateful that Mrs Hurst had cut her sister off. “Hurst,” Darcy inclined his head. “Miss Bingley.” Again he inclined his head. “If you will all excuse me I will retire to my chambers to wash and change.” Darcy gave a bow to the room. In the hallway the housekeeper was waiting for him and showed him up to his suite.
“Did you not notice how upset Mr Darcy was that he was not welcomed as is his due?” Miss Bingley cried as soon as the man exited the drawing room.
“He was not at all upset,” Bingley contradicted. “To the contrary, he appreciated being greeted as he should be and not having a limpet attach herself to his arm.”
Miss Bingley sniffed disdainfully, raised her nose in the air, and looked anywhere except at her family members.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Lady Lucas was crowing about Sir William being the first to call on Mr Bingley, allowing him to invite the gentleman and his party to the assembly,” Fanny lamented as they sat at the dinner table. “Now our daughters will die as old maids in the hedgerows because you refused to call on our new neighbour. They will never meet him, so Mr Bingley can gohang!”
“Are you saying I should not have called on him this morning? Should I send a note telling him not to return my call?” Bennet stated with a deadpanned expression.
“You called on Mr Bingley! What a good father you have girls, he did his duty and now Mr Bingley can marry Jane,” Fanny gushed as her lace bordered handkerchief flapped as if in a strong wind. “Oh my, how you enjoy vexing me Mr Bennet.”
“I care not a whit for this Mr Bingley unless he wears the scarlet coat of an officer,” Lydia insisted. “Only an officer will do for me!”
“For me too,” Kitty, as she always did, agreed with her younger sister.
“Mama, far be it for me to speak out of turn, but does Mr Bingley not have a say in who he marries before the decision is made for him?” Elizabeth asked while fighting to keep a straight face. “It is sad for the man that just because he is a single man in possession of a good fortune, it is assumed he must be in want of a wife on his first entering our neighbourhood. To me it seems the idea is so well fixed in the minds of this and other surrounding families, before he is known, he is considered the rightful property of a young lady in the area. Do not his feelings or views on said subject need to be canvassed?”
Jane shot her younger sister an accusatory look and was not fooled by Lizzy’s look of innocence. Her look conveyed ‘what of your promise?’
Elizabeth who was anything but obtuse, shrugged her shoulders as if she knew not what Jane was trying to tell her. She looked to her father who smiled approvingly at her ability to make sport of his wife without her being any the wiser.
“What do you know, Miss Lizzy,” Fanny bit back. “Just because you are a wilful hoyden and nothing to Jane in beauty,and no man will ever find you attractive, does not mean it will be so for my most beautiful daughter. Jane could not be so beautiful for no reason.”
Although she made like her mother’s words rolled off her like water off a duck’s back, they did not. Each time her mother denigrated her looks, it eroded some of her confidence to the point Elizabeth began to believe her mother’s words. She looked to her father for some support, but as was his wont, he said or did nothing except showing his amusement at the antics of his family.
“I have work waiting for me in the study,” Bennet informed his family as he stood. “Lizzy, I need you to look something over if you will join me soon.”
What Bennet meant is he wanted his daughter to play chess against him. She was the only one he had taught the game as he considered the remaining four too silly to learn. His second daughter had begun winning more games than she lost, which made Bennet desire to play more as the challenge thrilled him. Lizzy was the only one he could tolerate for any length of time. It was not just that they had similar humour. She enjoyed reading almost as much as he did, loved to debate, and was proficient in the modern languages. Add to that she understood, could translate, and read books in Latin and Greek. When he was not engrossed in a book, Lizzy made a good substitute.
“I will be there shortly, Papa,” Elizabeth averred.
“Go spend more time with your father, Miss Lizzy, and become more of a bluestocking,” Fanny jibed as soon as she heard the door to the study close.
The truth was Fanny resented the fact that rather than demonstrate affection for her, Thomas gave all of his attention and time—when he was not locked in the study on his own—to her second daughter. Yes, she had wanted to marry one of the primary landowners in the neighbourhood, but Fannyhad loved Thomas Bennet and thought they would have a felicitous marriage. It did not take long before it was anything but. Unlike what her husband and his protégé thought, she knew when they were amusing themselves at her expense. She had simply learnt to live with it.
Fanny was fully cognisant herso callednervous complaints were not real, but she knew not what else to do to get her husband to bestir himself and fight for his family’s future security. Yes, she worried for her own future, even though she would have the interest on her five thousand pounds after Thomas’s passing. With help from Edward, she would survive, but there was nothing for any unmarried daughters other than fifty pounds per annum for a few years after his death.
