Chapter 4
Mr. Thomas Bennet, the largest landholder in the area, rode to Netherfield Park mounted on a fine piece of horseflesh, his stallion Apollo. He intended to be there to welcome the Bingleys and Hursts to the neighbourhood when they arrived this afternoon.
The Bingleys were not aware Netherfield Park belonged to the Bennets, although Thomas Bennet intended to disclose that fact to him soon.
After he was welcomed into the drawing room by Mr. Bingley, he saw Bingley’s brother-in-law, Harold Hurst, snoring on a chaise, and his sisters with their noses in the air.
Bennet smiled to himself, realising Lizzy had aptly named them the superior sisters, even though they were anything but superior.
After waking his brother-in-law, Bingley shook Bennet’s hand.
“My friend, Mr. Darcy, will arrive later today. His sister, Miss Georgiana Darcy, and his cousin, the Honourable Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, will join us on Monday.” Bingley offered a genuine, easy smile.
“Richard is a Colonel in the regulars and the son of Lord Matlock,” he disclosed affably.
“Yes, I know Richard, the Earl, Reginald Fitzwilliam, and the rest of his family well. Reggie and I were at school together. He is one of my best friends, as is his family to mine. My wife and Elaine Fitzwilliam correspond regularly,” Bennet related as he inclined his head.
Miss Bingley had never learnt, and likely never would, given her age, that when angered she was not wise. She often lacked any sense or decorum and never understood the only person she injured with her rude and cutting comments was herself.
She was already in a bad mood because her brother had refused to persuade Mr. Darcy to ride with them to Netherfield Park. She spoke snidely to their guest, not bothering to offer him the courtesy due a gentleman, regardless of what she thought of his means.
“How dare you refer to an earl and his countess so familiarly? We are close to the family and know he would never allow an insignificant country nobody of no fortune or standing to address him so,” Miss Bingley stated in her grating voice.
She conveniently ignored the fact Lord Matlock and his family had steadfastly refused to be in her company or to be introduced to her. She believed they were merely waiting for Mr. Darcy to propose to her before they did so.
“The pretentions you have, claiming a connection with Lord and Lady Matlock and their family!” Miss Bingley added in a derisive and mocking tone, “What grasping, insignificant people you are. I cannot believe your temerity or your blatant attempt at social climbing. You should be aware you are in company with your betters,” Miss Bingley sneered.
“Caroline,” Bingley chastised her in a slightly elevated tone due to company in the room. He was about to say more when Mr. Bennet raised his hand to stop him.
Bingley and Mr. and Mrs. Hurst were mortified, but after Mr. Bennet’s sign for them to be silent for now, they did not say anything to the shrew.
“So, Miss Bingley,” Bennet stood and faced her calmly, “you, a tradesman’s daughter, thinks she knows who my friends are and how I am allowed to address them?
Just when did the spawn of a tradesman become higher than a landed gentleman?
” he asked as easily as he would ask his daughters for a cup of coffee.
He enjoyed watching the shrew change colours, in a pallet of reds and purples.
Without guilt, he continued his line of conversation.
“Mayhap you can tell me, with your superior knowledge, how many times you have been hosted at one of the Earl and Countess’s residences?
How many times they have stayed at your estate?
You did not grow up on an estate, did you?
Your reputation as a social-climbing shrew has preceded you, Miss Bingley.
I see that, in the flesh, you do not disappoint. ” Bennet then waited calmly.
“How dare you speak to your betters in such a way you…” she screeched, not only ignoring the fact Bennet was above her as a landed gentleman but was her brother’s guest. “You, you, worthless nobody! I myself have twenty thousand pounds, which is more than an insignificant owner of an unheard-of estate will see in his lifetime!” The enraged women spat out.
As she finished her diatribe, Miss Bingley, whose face had turned almost purple with rage, looked for support in the room.
She found none, not even from her sister who was looking on in mortification.
She spat some expletives that would be harsh even to the ears of sailors and sashayed from the room.
“Mr. Bingley, I beseech you to accept my apology. I should have held my tongue, but having someone denigrate me and mine without knowing anything about me and my family, and assuming they know better than I about the oldest friendship I have, did not allow me to remain silent.” Bennet looked at Bingley contritely.
“Mr. Bennet, if there is an apology to be made it is on behalf of my sister’s unfounded comments, and it will come from me.
Please do not judge the rest of us based on her actions.
If she had any sense, she would know a guest should never have been treated so.
I am ashamed for her most unladylike outburst.” Bingley winced visibly as he faced the elder gentleman.
“I will not hold it against you, Mr. Bingley, but I suggest you make sure both of your sisters understand,” he stated while looking directly at Louisa, “that if there is a repeat of this kind of behaviour, it will not be good for their future in society.
One word from me to Elaine—Lady Matlock to you—and her daughter Marie—Lady Hilldale to you—and anyone who dares to behave in this manner will be irrevocably ruined in society.
“This is not a threat I make lightly. I will not abide your sisters harming any of my children or my neighbours, either physically or emotionally. Based on what I have seen here, Miss Bingley needs serious counselling, not to mention a reminder of her duties as a hostess and what her own roots are,” Bennet stated with the ease of a gentleman with an understanding of life, with all its disappointments and joys.
After Mr. Bennet admonished Bingley about his sister Caroline, Bingley’s mind drifted back to when she was a sweet, considerate girl.
Their father began as a modest tradesman but built a substantial fortune with his carriage works. As their fortune grew, Bingley saw his formerly-amiable sisters take on airs and graces, thinking themselves above the people in their circle.
Their parents did not encourage this behaviour, but neither did they discourage it. They indulged and spoilt their daughters, especially Caroline. Louisa was the first to be sent to an exclusive seminary in London, followed a year later by Caroline.
There the sisters were snubbed for being a tradesman’s daughters.
Being snubbed by daughters of the gentry, who made up the majority of the school’s students, changed both sisters—especially Caroline.
They began to emulate the haughty attitudes displayed by those students; somehow, Caroline had convinced herself they should be considered as members of the Ton, not merely a tradesman’s daughters.
Louisa went along with her to keep the peace.
When Louisa was nineteen, their father arranged her marriage to Harold Hurst, whose family had a small estate in Yorkshire and was willing to allow their son and heir to marry a girl with roots in trade.
They had needed the infusion of funds that Louisa’s dowry of twenty thousand pounds would bring to them.
After a short courtship and engagement, Louisa married Mr. Hurst, a gentlemen, even though his family was not from the first circles. Caroline was disgusted Louisa had settled for a gentleman from such a low circle, ignoring the fact the match had been arranged by their father.
Miss Bingley vowed to marry a gentleman from the first circles, the wealthier the better. If he had a title, so much the better. By now, she had deluded herself into believing a man of that circle would lower himself to marry the daughter of a tradesman.
Some men might, but only if they were in dire financial straits. Even then, they would be able to find better options than a woman with the stench of trade still so fresh.
Bingley became friends with Darcy after he protected Bingley from a group of bullies attacking him for being a tradesman’s son during his first year at Cambridge. He was two years behind Darcy, and they were opposites in status and outlooks on life.
Darcy was serious, stoic, and taciturn; Bingley was ebullient and outgoing.
Despite that, or mayhap because of it, they became fast friends.
The scion of many generations of landed gentlemen and the son of a tradesman had become best friends almost instantly.
Bingley was invited to Pemberley for the summer break one year; the invitation had been extended to his family as well, so to Pemberley the Hursts and Bingleys went.
After seeing Pemberley and meeting his friend Darcy, Caroline immediately set her cap for his friend, or more accurately for his wealth and social position. Her behaviour on that first visit had almost caused her to be sent away from the estate after two days.
Darcy had endured her behaviour out of politeness, but Bingley knew his friend hated the excessive praise of his estate, his sister, and himself.
After that, there were no more invitations to Pemberley that included his family; all subsequent invitations expressly stated they were for himself alone.
As Bingley’s consciousness returned to the present, he looked at his new neighbour and nodded. “You have my promise, Mr. Bennet, that my sister will behave, or she will be sent to Scarborough for a long—or permanent—sojourn with our spinster aunt,” he vowed.