She could see that although Jane had accepted that the supercilious sisters were not her friends, she was not yet willing to think about Mr Bingley critically. “That is a conundrum for another time,” Maddie deflected. As Jane had not asked her opinion of that man,Maddie did not offer it. She did not want to overload Jane too much. It had been a good first step to begin to show Jane the world as it was, but there was yet a long road to travel. Only Jane could decide when it was time to take the next step.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
By the time the sisters were announced at the Gardiners’ home, it was the middle of the fourth week after Jane had called on them.
Maddie did not miss that Mrs Hurst looked uncomfortable, Miss Bingley was sneering, her nose up, her silk square just under it as if there was a bad smell she was attempting to stop invading her senses. Maddie looked across at Jane and was pleased to see she still looked serene.
“Welcome, Mrs Hurst, Miss Bingley,” Maddie stated. “Let me ring for tea and refreshments.”
“Do not bother,” Miss Bingley interjected. “We will not be here that long. As hard as it is to lower ourselves and visit the home of a tradesman, it will be the one and only time we do. Miss Bennet, I came today to carry my point and make sure you understand that we will never be at home to you if you ever dare to visit those so far above you again. My brother knows you are in London and was amused you were such a fortune hunter and social climber to pursue him to Town after, as he had requested of me, I made it clear that all connection between us was broken.”
Jane was not ready for the viciousness Miss Bingley displayed and sat with her mouth hanging open.
Unlike her niece, Maddie was not cowed. As Miss Bingley spoke, she had been watching the older sister intently. Each time Miss Bingley dissembled, it showed on Mrs Hurst’s face.
“As you are the daughter of a tradesman, I am surprised you are uncomfortable in the house of one who makes hismoney like your father made his. My niece is the daughter of a gentleman, something you cannot claim. As such, she is above you in society, your pretentions notwithstanding. Also, Miss Bingley, why would my niece not try and further her connection with you, someone she erroneously believed was her friend, when you specifically invited her to do so in that letter you wrote when you left Hertfordshire? I somehow doubt that your brother is aware of Miss Bennet’s presence in London or that she called on you. Given the way Jane described him to me, I doubt he would have asked you to write a letter with the specific aim to hurt.” Each time she accused Miss Bingley of something underhanded, her older sister’s reaction confirmed the veracity of her words. “It is time for you two to leave, and please do not darken my doorstep again.”
As Aunt Maddie spoke, Jane watched in awe. Her aunt was doing what she was unable to do. She was speaking plainly to Miss Bingley, and when that lady’s roots had been mentioned, Jane was worried Caroline’s head was about to explode.
Miss Bingley had expected Jane Bennet to react as she had, but she had not anticipated the tradesman’s wife responding to her so forcefully and calling her out for her lies in such a direct way. “I have never been thusly insulted,” she screeched as she stood and marched out of the room, her nose in the air. Her sister stood and had the decency to look embarrassed when she followed her younger sister.
Aunt and niece waited until they heard the carriage begin to move before they spoke. “Miss Bingley is not nice, is she?” Jane verified.
“Not at all. She would not recognise the truth if it was a dog nipping at her heels. Did you notice that she only claimed she was insulted, not that anything I said was inaccurate?” Maddie pointed out. “How I would love to be in that conveyance to hear what they haveto say as it returns the sisters to Hurst House.”
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“How dare that woman speak to me in that fashion? She is even more impertinent than that hoyden, Eliza Bennet,” Miss Bingley bit out as soon as the Hurst coach began to move.
“Caroline, I hate to point this out, but nothing Mrs Gardiner said was wrong. I read the missive you sent to Miss Bennet before we vacated Netherfield Park. You did, in fact, invite her both to correspond with you and call on you if she were ever in London,” Mrs Hurst stated.
“Well, I never meant it!” Miss Bingley screeched.
“Caro, be reasonable; how was Miss Bennet to know that? You are well aware the lady believes the best in people. Like me, you also know she loves Charles but holds by the propriety of not showing her true feelings until the man speaks,” Mrs Hurst added.
“She is not for Charles! She will do nothing to raise my standing, and if I allowed Charles to marry her, then my Mr Darcy would be in contact with Eliza and herfine eyesagain. I will not permit that!”
Knowing that she had pushed her younger sister as far as she was able, Mrs Hurst said nothing further, such as warning her what a perilous position Caroline would be in if Mr Darcy ever came by the letter she had written claiming an unofficial courtship between Miss Darcy and Charles. The words about Caroline soon to be engaged to Mr Darcy would not please him either. Louisa Hurst was under none of her younger sister’s delusions about Mr Darcy offering for her. She had not told Caroline this because it would have led to a giant tantrum—the same reason Charles had not said anything—but her husband had related that he had heard Mr Darcy state more than once he would never offer for Caroline, not even if shewent as low as to compromise him.
Thankfully for Mrs Hurst, her younger sister did not see the need to fill the silence with more chatter about any subject.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Over the next few days Jane kept to herself, deep in thought. As much as she loved being with the Gardiners, on the day she knew Sir William would be conveying Lizzy and Maria to Hunsford, she felt envious.
For a few moments, she thought that she would be much happier had she not learnt how duplicitous Miss Bingley had been and how Lizzy had been correct about her. As she looked within, other uncomfortable thoughts surfaced. They were things which began to call her whole personal philosophy into question. She did not enjoy what she was beginning to see, so when on the eighteenth of March, a missive arrived from Lizzy, Jane read it right away to hopefully give herself a respite from the troubling thoughts she had been having. She took a seat in the empty drawing room and broke the seal before she smoothed the pages and began to read.
17 March 1812
The Parsonage
Hunsford
Dearest Jane,
I am so sorry that after almost a month Mrs Hurst and Miss Bingley have not returned your call. I would be dissembling if I said that their behaviour was a surprise to me. Enough about them; I need to cheer you up, not remind you of those who have caused your heartache.
As you can imagine, the carriage ride with Sir William and Maria was amusing. The latter was in awe of her brother-in-law’s patroness before she ever met the ‘great’ lady. The former is in great anticipation of meeting a peer, because that is how Mr Collins describes her. I am afraid Sir William does not realise that as Lady Catherine is the daughter of an earl who was married to a knight, she is no more a peer of the realm than Sir William is himself.
