Mrs. Bingley’s Sister (The Austen Novels)

Chapter 31

June 1817

Netherfield park

Hertfordshire

Jane was met in her mistress's chambers by Elizabeth, who seemed very distressed.

"Lizzy?" she asked, "What ever is the matter?"

"Oh, Jane, I've done it, I've encouraged him without even my own realization," Elizabeth said with a mortified expression on her face. Jane frowned.

"You've what? Who?"

"Mr. Ellison!"

"Mr. Ellison?"

"He proposed to me!"

Jane gasped a little. Why, Bingley had been right! But she had dismissed her husband when he tried to mention it. She reached out and laid a hand on Elizabeth's arm.

"And what did you say?"

Elizabeth looked at her, with a face that looked as if she were about to cry. "I refused him."

Jane closed her eyes and opened them again. She prepared herself for the revelation that Elizabeth was less than kind in her refusal—after all, that was what she had been most bereft about after Darcy's rejection so many years ago.

"What was your demeanor?" Jane asked slowly, adding, "Were you gentle on him?"

Elizabeth nodded and sighed. "I did not get angry, if that is what you are asking. It was not like Hunsford..."

Jane and Elizabeth paused while the direct reference to Darcy's proposal hung in the air, then Jane took a breath and said, "Lizzy, please. Sit. Tell me all."

So she did. It turned out, Mr. Ellison, in sharing his love for poetry and writing with Elizabeth, had somehow fallen in love with her, and these past three months, since March, he had been trying to court her properly, hence the regular visits and the walks and the shared books. Elizabeth, on the other hand, had little inclination of the attachment on his side.

"He is a grieving widower, Jane!" she exclaimed in disbelief, "how was I to know he was looking at me in such a way? I truly believed we were merely friends and nothing more."

Jane nodded in understanding. "Well, that is all very disappointing for him, I am sure. But do not grieve yourself. You did nothing wrong. Why, he did not even ask you for a formal courtship. How were you supposed to know?"

At this Elizabeth caught a strange grin upon her face for a mere moment before saying, "Indeed—it just like Darcy was ' courting ' me, with his frequent calling on the parsonage and his constantly walking with me in the gardens, yet I had very little idea of his design—" but she broke off, reddening, and then said, "Well, I suppose we will not be seeing much more of Mr. Ellison after this. He shall retreat to Purvis Lodge and lick his wounds, though I feel horrible, as if I am abandoning a friend in need. Truly, I truly did not realize he would even be ready to marry another, as we have frequently talked about the kind of lady Mrs. Ellison was."

Jane nodded in some understanding. She wondered, too, what this meant about Mr. Darcy. Had Elizabeth become more endeared to the man as time wore on?

"Lizzy, do you not love Mr. Ellison because your heart lies...elsewhere?"

Jane watched her sister pause before finally saying, "No. I am merely friends with Mr. Ellison. That is why I cannot accept him. You know how I feel, Jane. I feel I can only marry for the deepest of loves, and I doubt I shall ever find that. Thus, in all likelihood, I shall never marry, but that is a fate I have accepted. Being here, being apart of the Bingley household, why, it has given me such fulfillment. I cannot want to leave here unless I find love—and at my age, nearing six and twenty, those chances seem smaller and smaller as time passes."

"I was three and twenty when Mr. Bingley and I married, and you saw Charlotte marry at an even older age."

Elizabeth smiled at Jane and said with an absurd laugh, "I could never marry for the reasons Charlotte had! But you, Jane, you have married for love, and I am grateful for it every day. I, however, cannot expect to be so lucky. And I am resolved to that, truly, I am."

Jane stared ruefully at her sister until she stood to depart.

"Please, dear sister, worry not for my sake," Elizabeth said, as she left the room. Jane didn't answer; she merely watched Elizabeth exit.

Jane had felt a distance growing between the two of them, for some time now. She hoped that someday, Elizabeth would trust her enough to reveal whatever it was she was hiding. Hearing little Jack cry, however, brought Jane back to her senses, and she went to see her son.

Soon, other than a cursory mention of the refused proposal to Mr. Bingley later, the whole of the debacle was forgotten, lost in the day-to-day, wear-and-tear of domestic life.