“Did you hear?” Lydia interrupted eagerly. “The regiment is coming!”
Elizabeth made no attempt to recapture her family’s attention, and they were all soon engrossed in a myriad of overlapping conversations. Kitty and Lydia eagerly insisted that they needed new ribbons for the upcoming assembly, and their mother agreed that they could all use new things. Mary pointed out that new ribbons were a vanity, to her younger sisters’ dismay, and Mr Bennet took every opportunity to poke fun.
“Are you well, Lizzy?” Jane asked her suddenly. “You are being uncharacteristically quiet this evening.”
“Not at all. I am simply enjoying listening to the rest of my family chatter so gaily. Why? Do I seem taciturn?”
“No,” Jane said slowly. “Pensive, perhaps.”
Elizabeth shrugged. “I finished an especially good book this afternoon. It was about a young woman who finds herself trapped in a tower, the captive of a man who has made a bargain with the devil.”
“And what is this bargain?” Mr Bennet asked.
Elizabeth replied eagerly, grateful that they had turned the conversation. “The man must make the woman fall in love with him in a month, or he will be turned into a red stag, doomed to roam the earth for centuries all alone. It left me thinking about the lengths we go through for love.” She sighed. “I wonderwhat it would be like to have a love like that, someone who would give up everything to win your heart.”
Jane laughed. “It sounds to me like your hero only wanted to be saved from being turned into a wild stag.”
“Perhaps you are right, at that. It was quite an intriguing story. I believe the author was pointing out the similarities between husband hunting and hunting animals for sport.” Elizabeth said. She glanced at her mother, but Mrs Bennet did not seem to realise that the remark could have any personal application. “I will have you know he did get himself turned into a red stag, but he was able to find the true meaning of love by the end. Thus, he was able to break the curse and be reunited with his true love.”
Jane gave an understanding smile. “Well, I am glad you enjoyed it.”
Shortly after the second course had been brought to the table, Mr Bennet gave the conversation a sudden turn. “I think you will all be pleased to know that I have called on a new tenant that has let Netherfield Park today, a Mr Bingley.” The room was completely silent, no doubt in a state of shock. “I wish to know how many weeks it will take before Mr Bingley marries one of our fine daughters, Mrs Bennet.”
For another moment of frozen shock, the silence continued. And then, pandemonium was unleashed.
“You called on the mysterious man that we have been hearing about? Mr Bingley,” Mrs Bennet mused, trying the name out on her lips. Elizabeth suspected that her mother was silently pairing the name with another. Jane Bingley…it did have a fine sound to it. Mrs Bennets’s face brightened. “I had no idea. What is the meaning of this, Mr Bennet? The very idea of keeping thisnews from me for so long, until supper, when nothing can be done until the morrow!”
Elizabeth laughed and sent her father a knowing look. Mrs Bennet would be in a tizzy until she could make a call on the gentleman and introduce all of her daughters to him. With any luck, her mother no doubt thought, he would fall madly in love and all their troubles would be solved.
“You will all be very happy to know that Mr Bingley means to bring his sister and a gentleman friend to the assembly next month,” her father went on.
Her mother shrieked with delight and began discussing everything that would need to be done to prepare themselves to meet Mr Bingley. “But we cannot be expected to wait the better part of a month to meet him. We must go around to Netherfield Park, all of us, and pay a visit to him.”
“Why must I go?” her father asked.
Her mother gave a huff of frustration. “You know we cannot call on him without you. You must introduce us!” Mrs Bennet exclaimed.
“I see no reason to bother him while he is busy trying to settle into the house. It has been vacant for so long, I am sure there will be no end of work to do. I would say about a month would give him just enough time to ensure the house is put back in order.”
Elizabeth caught her father’s eye and raised one eyebrow. How he delighted in teasing her mother! It was a merciless game he played, preying on her “nervous disorder,” for such was what Mrs Bennet called her propensity to think herself nervous whenever she was discontented. But for whatever reason, itbrought him great joy to torment her for a little while — though he always seemed to give in to Mrs Bennet’s every whim in the end.
“I will dance with him first,” Lydia said, placing a hand demurely on her breast. “I have practiced the dances the most out of all of us.”
“No, I will dance with him first. I am older than you!” Kitty pouted.
Mary shook her head in obvious disapproval. “I think we should think rather less about marriage and more about our immortal souls.” To this remark, her family must have been at a loss for a response, for no one acknowledged it.
When everyone had quieted, Jane finally spoke. “Thank you, Papa, for welcoming Mr Bingley to the neighbourhood. I am certain he was very grateful.” She looked around the table and gave a sweet smile. “We must do our best to ensure he has a pleasant stay here in Meryton. I do hope he will be an affable neighbour.”
“An affable neighbour! To judge by your mother’s interest in the man, I expect to have an affable new son-in-law by the new year,” Mr Bennet jested. “Which of you shall it be, girls? Perhaps you, Jane, as you are the eldest.”
“And the prettiest and sweetest-tempered,” Elizabeth chimed in, mischievously smiling at Jane’s blush. The compliments were entirely well-deserved, even if Jane would not admit it.
“Well, with five thousand a year, your mother will surely do her best to make sure one of you is the new Mrs Bingley,” MrBennet said with a smirk, knowing full well it would fluster their mother.
And he was correct. But Mrs Bennet had no sooner finished scolding him than she began making plans to contrive a meeting between Mr Bingley and the girls, especially Jane. “We shall introduce them at the Assembly. You are sure that he will be in attendance?” she demanded of Mr Bennet. But before he could answer, she was on to the next task. “We must all of us be prepared. I shall have to tell Betsy to have all of our best gowns laundered. It is a pity we cannot have new dresses made…”
Mr Bingley was all anyone could talk about for the remainder of the meal. Elizabeth and Jane spoke little, for the festive air that their father’s announcement had wrought was rather tiring. When they retired to the drawing room after supper, their mother settled onto the settee with a sigh. “I know our Jane will be the one to catch his eye. I knew you could not be so beautiful for nothing,” she said.
