“Yes, I remember he said so when I toured the estate earlier this year,” Bingley owned.
“Are some of your daughters very young?” Louisa asked.
“No, indeed. My youngest was fifteen in June. The eldestis two and twenty; that is Jane, who acts as my hostess so we are able to entertain…occasionally. I am not misanthropic, but I do not relish very much society,” Bennet admitted. “The woman I was married to was lost in childbirth with my youngest.”
“Please pardon me if my question brought you any pain,” Louisa apologised.
“You caused me no pain, Miss Bingley. Before you hear the local gossip, I will tell you that I was compromised by my wife, and I made the error of marrying her,” Bennet related. “Good did come from it, because I have the best daughters a man could want. If you do not have the time to call at Longbourn before the assembly, you will meet some of my daughters there. If any of you enjoy playing chess, then I invite you to call when you will. Some of my girls and I are rather proficient at the game.” Bennet paused. “I hope, Miss Bingley that in our little neighbourhood, you have not encountered too much ignorance over your port-wine stain.”
“No more or less than anywhere else,” Louisa replied. She was rather shocked that Mr Bennet had spoken so plainly. However, she appreciated it. “Charles plays chess, but it is not something in which he excels. His friend, Mr Darcy, who arrives on the morrow, is a former chess champion at Cambridge, and I play too.”
“In fairness, I need to warn you that my youngest, Lydia, is a chess prodigy. Even when she removes her queen and a bishop, she defeats us mere mortals,” Bennet revealed.
“It will be good to test my skill against Miss Lydia,” Louisa stated.
“I was about to order tea. Mr Bennet, will you remain and partake with us?” Hildebrand asked. Inside, she was beaming that their neighbour had treated Lulu like anyone else and had never reacted to her birthmark.
“As much as I would enjoy that, I have overstayed the time for a polite call, and I am needed on my estate,” Bennet refused politely.
Bingley walked his neighbour to the entrance hall, where Nichols assisted him into his greatcoat and handed him his gloves, riding crop, and hat. After the two men shook hands, he watched as his caller mounted a bay stallion, a fine-looking animal, and rode down the drive. He was very pleased that Lulu would be welcome at Longbourn and not as a curiosity to be stared at.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
When Bennet arrived home, after he had divested himself of his outerwear and riding boots, he made his way into the drawing room where his daughters and their companions were taking tea.
As much as all five wanted to pepper him with questions, they were too well-behaved to fire off a barrage of questions before Papa had taken his tea and a teacake.
Bennet knew how inquisitive his girls were, so he took his time making a show of savouring every crumb of his little cake. He had teased them enough. He sat back in his favourite chair. “What do you want to know?”
“How many are there in the party? There are rumours about twelve men and seventeen ladies,” Jane enquired.
“The Bingley family party is four in number…” Bennet related his impressions of each of those he had met. “I did not meet the younger sister; she was busy with some activity or another. There is one more, a friend of Mr Bingley’s who will be arriving on the morrow, but five will be the whole of the party; three ladies and two gentlemen.” Bennet paused for a moment as he cogitated about what he wanted to say and how to do so. “Miss Bingley, the sister, not the aunt, has a large birthmark on her left cheek. You have read about port-wine stains, have you not?”
“We have, but what of it?” Elizabeth queried. “Unlike some ignorant people, we are all well aware it is just that, a birthmark, and not the mark of evil or some sort of mental deficiency. I remember exactly what the book said about it.”
“That is nothing special; you remember everything you have seen, read, or heard,” Mary teased.
“I hope there is not much ignorance in the neighbourhood,” Jane interjected. “If we have the pleasure of meeting Miss Bingley, we will welcome her as should be, with kindness and courtesy.”
“And she plays chess,” Bennet added.
“A new victim…I mean opponent,” Lydia said with a glint in her eye. Her dearest wish was to be seriously challenged across the chessboard. She would like nothing more than if an opponent beat her at the game.
“Mr Bingley mentioned that his friend, a Mr Darcy, was a champion at Cambridge,” Bennet recalled.
“So were you, Papa,” Lydia returned pertly.
“Will the Bingleys attend the assembly, Papa?” Kate asked. She had turned seventeen in September past and had less than a year until she came out. “Do you know if any of the ladies are interested in sketching and painting?”
“Sorry, Kate dear, art was not a subject we canvassed. And yes, according to Mr Bingley, they will attend the assembly. He said they would all be there, so I assume that means the younger Miss Bingley as well. I suppose we will all meet the youngest Bingley at the same time,” Bennet responded. He never allowed his girls to attend any public event without his attendance.
“I called on Charlotte and Uncle Frank yester-afternoon.She thinks that her new babe will come into the world this month,” Elizabeth related.
Bennet stood. “Speaking of Phillips reminds me that I have put something off long enough. I received a letter from the heir presumptive this morning before I rode for Netherfield Park. I need to go to my study and read it,” he told his daughters.
“Why would that man write to you now?” Mary wondered.
“The only way I will know that, Mary dear, is to read the drivel he writes.” Bennet did not miss the reproving looks from his daughters. “It is not an empty insult; I have seen his letters before. I am basing what I said on those.”
