A Mutual Accord

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

M iss Bennet refused to let Bingley sit out with her. She insisted that she sat out to give other ladies a chance to dance, and it would give her great pleasure to see him stand up with Miss Goulding. It was indeed an uncommonly kind practice. Darcy could hear Mrs Bennet chastising her soundly for it as he and his friend went their separate ways. Bingley approached another local lady, Miss Goulding, presumably, and Darcy returned to standing at the edge of the room.

I am a stupid ass , he thought to himself. He hoped that it was not too late to redeem his character in the eyes of the neighbourhood. He truly did not have the disposition for dancing unless he knew his partner very well, and was comfortable in their company. He would start with Bingley’s sisters, then find someone else who did not appear too terrifying.

Later, when Darcy had danced with Bingley’s sisters, he stood in a quiet corner considering which local lady he would approach for a dance, when he overheard two matrons talking from their chairs nearby.

“Such an elegant gentleman! What a fine thing for our girls, Mrs Long, to have such an engaging man come to reside in the neighbourhood!” said Mrs Bennet. For all her progeny’s uncommon kindness to their friends, Mrs Bennet seemed like an ill-bred woman with far too many daughters.

“I should think you would wish Miss Bennet to catch the other one,” the other woman said. “The one that everyone says owns the deplorable half of Derbyshire.”

That was a new one. Darcy thought with a smirk. The deplorable half of Derbyshire .

“For all my prayers to see my daughters well settled, Mrs Long, I hope you do not think me completely insensitive to their happiness. My Jane is too gentle and kind-hearted to be wasted on some proud, arrogant man who is above his company, and far too stern. Jane deserves a happy fellow who will see to her contentment. Make no mistake, they all must marry , Mrs Long. My portion will not support them, but there is little point in pushing my Jane at a disagreeable man who is certainly not at all likely to pay her any respectable attention anyway.”

Mrs Bennet gave a long sigh. “If I could have but one of my girls happily settled at Netherfield, and all of the others equally well married, I should have nothing to wish for the rest of my days. I am certain that must be the hope of all mothers and even guardians. I know that your worry for your nieces must nearly match my own for my girls, though I hope that you will allow that with five daughters, and under the threat of entailment, that my worries are heavy indeed. How is your Loretta? Is she still visiting her friend in Bath? Did anything ever come from that gentleman in Shropshire?”

The other matron replied that the young lady in question was still in Bath, and being courted by a young man from Shropshire with no estate of his own, being a second son, but having been left enough by his mother’s uncle to live the life of a comfortable gentleman. He had a genteel house in a charming village, and about eight hundred a year.

“I would not object to seeing any of my girls in such an establishment, myself,” mused Mrs Bennet. “My sister manages quite well on such an income, and I know she has never regretted accepting my brother Phillips.”

“If I may say so, Fanny, if you would see them accept such a match, you ought to give them some more household instruction,” advised the older woman.

“They are perfectly well educated!”

“I do not criticise, my friend, but I mean instruction in the kitchens,” her friend told her gently. “It is well known that while you are the finest hostess in the county, and your daughters have all been raised to help on the estate as a gentlewoman should, they have had nothing to do with that sort of work.”

“Nor should they!” exclaimed Mrs Bennet.

“But if you do not mind them living in smaller households, you should educate them to such a life. The wives of such men often find themselves helping here and there in the house. I assure you, I find it no burden to help with the kneading on baking day,” explained her friend. “And what if one of them marries into the clergy? They have even fewer servants than I keep.”

“Perhaps you are right,” Mrs Bennet answered. “I shall speak to Mr Bennet.”

Darcy thought about what he had heard as he watched the dancing. He had immediately taken Mrs Bennet to be a fortune hunter when he met her, but it seemed that she only wished for her daughters to be happy and safe. This was a much more wholesome sentiment than most matrons in town, who mostly hunted for connections and fortune for their daughters on the marriage mart. The sheer number of young women each year wedded without regard to their feelings or future happiness to lechers, rakes, and bounders for the sake of connections alone was appalling.

Mrs Bennet had immediately dismissed him as too unattainable, too proud, too disagreeable for her daughter’s disposition. He did not think he had ever met a mother who had expressed such a sentiment. As a matter of fact, he had often placed himself just close enough to Bingley’s angels to see how they and their mothers would react to him, and Bingley had found himself well rid of several fortune hunters in this manner. Miss Bennet had not spared Darcy a second glance once introduced to his friend – and her mother – of all people – seemed to have even less interest in his matrimonial concerns.

Darcy could agree with Mrs Bennet on another matter too, he knew from experience that any parent or guardian of a young girl ought to hope against hope that their charges might make a secure and happy match. As the guardian of his young sister, he wished the same thing, fervently. Mrs Bennet might be loud and coarse, but she had true affection for her daughters, and a regard for their welfare that was very endearing. It was obvious that the Bennets were a fine country family. He would think more kindly of Mrs Bennet in the future.

His own father had similar sentiments, and so did his mother. Neither the Darcys nor the Fitzwilliams had been in the habit of marrying down. No Darcy had done so for generations, and George Darcy had been profoundly affected by the misery of his parents. He was genuinely grateful that the woman who completed him had also met his father’s requirements.

Lady Anne had fought hard for her family to accept her choice. Thankfully, her brother was on her side, because once their sister Catherine had failed to turn George Darcy’s attention to herself, she had turned against him entirely, and had fought against her sister marrying the man. The only reason Anne Fitzwilliam had been permitted to accept was because her father had died, and her brother approved the match. His concession for his sister’s happiness had caused a break in the family. The Dowager Lady Matlock had moved to their estate in Scotland, and Catherine did not speak to him nor Anne for some years. Not until she had borne a daughter, and her husband and her mother had died, did she seek reconciliation.

George Darcy and Lady Anne had found great happiness in their match, and always expressed their hopes that their children would do so as well. In fact, Darcy’s father had promoted his match to a local gentleman’s daughter shortly before he died. Darcy had not been in love with the young woman, but he had liked her very well. His ailing father had expressed a desire to see him wed to a charming girl before he passed, and Darcy might have sacrificed his happiness to see his father content and asked her, but the young lady had caught scarlet fever and died. Her father had not been poor, but nor had he been rich. The man was a salt of the earth gentleman farmer of perhaps about three thousand a year, just like hundreds of others like him who were the pillars of many local societies throughout England.

It was true that Darcy’s disposition was ruined. Being hunted by the cold and often conniving fortune hunters of the ton had jaded him. He never spoke to unmarried ladies or their mamas, he rarely danced, and he never placed himself in any position that could be even slightly compromising. On a dance floor, a lady might pretend to trip and fall, a loose seam might be torn, and one might be compromised in plain sight. Instead Darcy never left the ballroom, though he was rarely caught close to the dance floor. Instead, he remained in plain sight, but leaned up against a wall by himself, where he could not be drawn into trouble. He chastised himself now. This was not a London ballroom. Certainly one might be compromised in the country, but there was far less danger amongst the people here. He cursed himself for his behaviour. If he never engaged with society, then he would never fulfil his parents’ dream, and he would never find a partner for himself, nor a friendly and warm confidant for his sister.

He asked Miss Lucas to dance, and then Miss Edwina Long, who seemed petrified of him. At the end, he asked Miss Elizabeth Bennet for the last, which she declined, and then sat out. He was perplexed. The lady had sat out two dances already, and did not look at all like a wilting violet. Acquiring him as a partner for the last dance must be a feather in her cap, yet she did not seem at all enamoured of the idea.

Bingley did dance the last, again with Miss Bennet, distinguishing her amongst her companions by selecting only her for a second set. As Bingley led her to the floor, she was quiet. She had been quiet during their first dance, but this seemed different. She seemed embarrassed. When Bingley inquired if he had done anything to cause her discomfort, she said, “Oh no! I am sorry if I made you feel that way… Only… I should not like you to think that my mother is at all disdainful of Miss Lucas. Her words tonight did not show her to advantage; she did not express herself well. I am certain that my mother meant to convey concern for my friend, rather than any scorn for her looks. Charlotte is very dear to all of us.”

“Your friend is everything that is intelligent and amusing. I am certain that her eventual match will be all that is delightful, and she will be no less happy for having waited for it,” Bingley assured her. “I am acquainted with matchmaking mamas. My own mama’s concern for the daughters of her friends was no less than that she held for my sisters.”

“Charlotte will make a delightful match someday, I am certain of it,” breathed Jane in relief that the man did not hold her mother in disdain. “I doubt that I ever shall, but I do wish it very much for my friend.”

“Why Miss Bennet! Whyever should you not marry?” gasped Bingley in shock.

“It does not behove me to point out my mother’s behaviour, but you must see that she is desperate. Her intentions are good, and she wishes for all of us to be happy, but her fear of the entail on my father’s estate is strong indeed. She tends to drive gentlemen away rather than the opposite,” Jane said diplomatically.

“Believe it or not, we have something in common,” said Bingley. “My sisters believe that they must approve my match so that it brings them the connections they want. The sort of woman they wish me to wed is exactly the sort of woman I run from, but they frighten away every lady that I even suspect might suit me.”

“Imagine if your mother sat in the corner, declaring to all that she expects the gentleman that you only just met will marry you within a fortnight, and then throw your sisters into the paths of other rich men!” Jane exclaimed in laughter.

“Imagine if your sisters interrogated every person you danced with, and then told them falsehoods about you being nearly engaged to another woman!” Bingley returned insistently.

“Oh dear. I do hope my sisters and mother would not stoop to falsehoods,” Jane said, turning serious.

“Do not fear, Miss Bennet. I watched you sit out two dances tonight when you could have been enjoying yourself, merely to see your friends enjoy the same. Some gentleman will surely recognize your kindness and goodness, and make you his wife even sooner than the fortnight that your mother dreams of,” Bingley assured her.

Jane frowned. “I do hope not. I would prefer a much longer courtship. I would like to know my husband well before I even consider marriage. I have always hoped for a marriage of true affection.”

“As have I,” Bingley agreed. “You know, these ladies and gentlemen that have fled from our families are terribly short-sighted. There is no need for difficult relations to be an impediment if two people like one another well enough. For of course, unless you marry a local man, you will not be staying in the vicinity, you will go to live with your husband. And my sister Caroline will eventually marry and leave me as well, and when Hurst comes into his inheritance, I suspect I shall see a great deal less of my elder sister. Why should such a temporary situation prevent one’s happiness?”

“I do love my family, though. I should not like to go away and see them no more,” said Jane.

“Nor I, to be sure, but once one is settled at a safe distance, one may choose how often they see their relations, and for how long,” answered Bingley. “And I am certain one would enjoy their visits all the better for it.”

“I have never considered it like that, but you are right,” said Jane. “It is too bad that I may never meet a gentleman with such foresight who has an interest in me.”

“Do not be too certain about that, Miss Bennet,” smiled Charles Bingley, hoping against hope that maybe this time, this courtship, if one indeed progressed, might be different from all those before it.