Chapter 2
“So, what do you think, Louisa? And you, Caroline?” Charles Bingley asked his two sisters as they finished their first tour of the house at Netherfield Park, returning to the spacious hallway with its light stone pillars and vases of fragrant flowers from the gardens. “Isn’t it marvellous?”
As pleased as Punch, the young man gestured around to the neat staircase, sunlit windows, and light oak doors of the rooms they had already inspected together, his fair, curly hair bouncing a little from his excitement.
Meanwhile, Fitzwilliam Darcy stood back with folded arms, regarding his friend indulgently.
Bingley had something of a half-grown golden retriever about him, all bright eyes, good-nature, and enthusiasm.
He was quite capable of sincerely finding Netherfield Park marvellous, where Darcy found it merely well-situated, in good condition, and more than adequate to its intended size and scale of household and entertainment.
Satisfied with Netherfield Park, rather than impressed, Darcy had advised Bingley to take the place after they visited together with the owner’s land agent.
In fairness to Netherfield Park, Darcy had to admit that impressing him was no easy task.
Having grown up at Pemberley, one of the finest estates in England, and having been master of the place since his father died five years earlier, his standards were high.
By contrast, Bingley had been raised between various London mansions and rented country houses. A country house of his own, even leased, was a novelty, and his excitement not to be wondered at.
“The setting seems very…rural to me,” answered Louisa Hurst with a doubtful smile. “I suppose there will be good shooting for you gentlemen, but I am not sure yet how we ladies will entertain ourselves.”
“The house is rather rural too,” put in Caroline Bingley, turning up her well-shaped nose and making an expression of mild disdain. “Some of the curtains and carpets… Well, no hostess in London would have them.”
“We are not in London now, Miss Bingley,” Darcy pointed out, feeling this observation a little silly and unfair but keeping his tone neutral. “I dare say the decorations are suited to the setting.”
“How true, Mr Darcy,” she acknowledged with a sigh. “We are not in London nor likely to be for above six months, if my brother has his way.”
“You might always visit Mr Hurst and me at Grosvenor Street in London, Caroline,” her older sister offered sympathetically. “You will need new gowns for both winter and spring, and I doubt you will find anything to your taste in Hertfordshire.”
The two ladies shared a knowing laugh, as if no clothes could be bought outside of London, or at least no clothes suited to a rich and fashionable young lady like Miss Caroline Bingley.
“Will you be spending very much time in London in the coming months, Mr Darcy?” Miss Bingley fished, rather than immediately responding to Mrs Hurst’s offer. “Your sister Georgiana would no doubt welcome your company.”
Darcy swallowed a sigh of impatience, irritated by the very implication that Miss Bingley might in any way base her movements on his.
“I plan to stay here with Bingley as long as my presence is useful,” he answered cautiously, wary of encouraging Miss Bingley’s unwanted interest. “I dare say I shall see Georgiana regularly. London is not so very far away.”
“I am glad to hear that, Darcy,” remarked Bingley, still cheerful but with a little of the wind taken out of his sails.
“Especially since it seems my sisters plan to desert me for London before long. I had hoped that Caroline would be my hostess and help me meet some of the families in the district. A single man alone is not well placed to find congenial society.”
“Of course I will support you, Charles,” Caroline Bingley told him with a rather tight smile. “I simply don’t understand what has possessed you to move here. You have been talking of wanting a house, and eventually an estate, for so long that I no longer expected you to act on it.”
“Well, Grantchester seemed so pleased with the place and the people that I felt I had to come out and take a look for myself,” Bingley defended himself amiably. “What I saw I liked, and Darcy approved too.”
“Yes, don’t forget, Caroline, that Lord Grantchester and Lord Keeble will be staying often at Belton Manor,” Louisa Hurst reminded her. “We shall have some civilised company out here, at least.”
The ladies shared a smile in obvious fondness for the company of both gentlemen, who were, after all, rich, titled, and well-connected around the ton.
“Very much so, Louisa, although I confess I was surprised to hear of their countryside adventure. I thought them very much a pair of town mice, rather than country mice. Anyway, Lord Grantchester has his own estate, and several other country houses besides. I do wonder what is so special about Belton Manor.”
“I dare say that Lord Grantchester was as taken with Belton Manor as I was with Netherfield Park,” Bingley declared. “We are much alike in temper, he and I, don’t you think?”
At this, Caroline Bingley laughed aloud, causing her brother to regard her with some puzzlement. Louisa Hurst shook her head at her younger sister as though to discourage comment.
“You were at university with Lord Grantchester, were you not, Mr Darcy?” Mrs Hurst asked pleasantly, turning aside from whatever joke she and her sister had found in Charles Bingley’s words.
“Yes, I was. We have been good friends for many years,” Darcy confirmed, hoping that they were not about to begin asking him personal questions about his old friend. “Bingley has only known Grantchester for a year or two, through me.”
“We knew Lord Grantchester slightly before that, of course,” added Miss Bingley with a little smile. “He is such a popular escort for suppers and balls during the Season, and he dances divinely.”
“Yes, I sometimes think that the Season would collapse if Grantchester and Keeble were not in London to offer their services,” Bingley joked. “Not an accusation anyone could level at you, eh, Darcy?”
“As you know, I prefer not to dance with strangers,” Darcy returned, keeping his voice neutral.
“I completely understand that,” Miss Bingley gave him her unwanted assurance, accompanied by some light batting of the eyelashes, all of which Darcy ignored. “I too far prefer to dance with a partner I know and respect.”
“Anyway, we shall have at least the occasional company of Grantchester and Keeble in Hertfordshire, I understand,” Darcy said. “I trust you ladies will find enough society to entertain yourselves.”
“That reminds me. Did I tell you that I saw Keeble in Meryton this morning?” Bingley offered. “I rode out before breakfast and he was there watering his horse outside the inn and making friends with local characters.”
“No, you did not, Charles,” responded Miss Bingley, with an expression of mild boredom that conveyed that she did not find this information particularly interesting.
“I hope Lord Keeble was well and that they are finding Belton Manor to their liking. Do invite them over to Netherfield Park for supper one evening.”
“Indeed, they are both settling well, although they return to London on Wednesday and a supper might prove difficult. However, they plan to be in attendance at the Meryton assembly on Tuesday. I told Keeble that we would join them there.”
Instinctively, Darcy winced. There was little he felt less inclined to do than attend a country assembly likely to be loud, crowded, and in poor taste.
Worse still, it would likely be filled with intolerably shrill and fawning young ladies and their ambitious mothers, for whom all single men of fortune were targets.
Seeing Darcy’s reaction, Miss Bingley tutted. “You ought to have consulted us all first,” she chided her brother. “What if Mr Darcy does not wish to attend the Meryton Assembly?”
“Of course he does,” insisted Bingley stoutly. “Darcy is a model gentleman and would not deprive my sisters of the pleasures of local society, regardless of his own feelings about public dances. Is that not so, Darcy?”
Darcy made a slight inclination of his head in agreement of limited enthusiasm.
“My fear is that local society might be no pleasure to any of us,” Louisa Hurst said lightly. “Anyone might be there, Charles. I am not sure that Mr Hurst would enjoy such an assembly. Do you even know who the local families are, and whether they are of any real account?”
Resisting the temptation to observe that Mr Hurst was bound to enjoy any occasion where strong drink was freely available, Darcy spoke up to more purpose.
“With Lord Grantchester and Lord Keeble in attendance, I am sure that you will be provided with the best of society, no matter who else is in attendance, Mrs Hurst. Have we not all just been praising their social accomplishments?”
“I suppose you are right, Mr Darcy,” Louisa Hurst was forced to agree. “Yes, it is always good to see Lord Grantchester and Lord Keeble.”
“I dare say the local families will be very agreeable too,” Bingley ventured optimistically.
“Grantchester has certainly mentioned the Bennets several times, if you remember, Darcy. Apparently the two eldest daughters were in London this summer, although I didn’t meet them myself, and they are reputed to be the beauties of the neighbourhood.
There are three younger sisters besides. ”
“A whole herd of Bennets,” Caroline Bingley remarked, a little snidely. “I did meet the elder Bennet sisters this summer, although I barely remember them now. It surprises me to hear them spoken of as local beauties, but then I suppose standards are very different here than in London.”
She finished her sentence with a little laugh that made Mrs Hurst smile too.
“What did you think of the elder Bennet sisters, Mr Darcy?” Miss Bingley then asked. “I’m sure you must have come across them in London. Do they deserve the honour accorded to their names?”
“I had the good fortune to meet the eldest Miss Bennet once or twice,” Darcy answered levelly, after a short pause for thought.
“She is indeed very pretty, by any standard, although I understand her family possesses little fortune and few connections. I did not meet the other sister and know little of the Bennets beyond what Grantchester has told us.”
“Ah yes, I recall now, Mr Darcy,” said Miss Bingley, with a touch of magnanimity apparently sparked by Darcy’s comments.
“Miss Bennet is very pretty, and a sweet, well-mannered girl besides, but her prospects cannot be good. I shall be happy to know her better in Hertfordshire, if you have no objection, Brother?”
Bingley laughed and shook his head. “Why should I have any objection? I wish us to meet all the local families of note and make friends as soon as possible. I’m sure they are all excellent people, and we shall feel at home here before we know it.”
“Your incorrigible optimism is both a credit to your good nature and a character flaw to guard against,” Darcy told his friend.
“Do not forget that you and I will be targets for all the local fortune-hunting mothers with unmarried daughters. It would be unfortunate to get into any undesirable entanglements.”
“Why must you always be so set on doomsaying and misery, Darcy?” Bingley chuckled, waving away the criticism. “Have you warned Grantchester and Keeble in the same way?”
“They are well able to take care of themselves,” Darcy returned acerbically.
“And I am not? Ha, a fine thing to say to a friend. You know, I should not be at all put out if a pretty local girl or two did take a fancy to me. Why not? I shall be assured of a steady stream of comely dance partners and enjoyable conversation at the Meryton Assembly. Come, let us all now take a walk in the gardens.”
Still amused, Bingley led the way towards the front door, his sisters pleading that they must stay on the paths due to their light footwear.
A stream of unwanted dance partners and mindless chatter? Bingley’s hopes for the Meryton Assembly sounded dreadful to Darcy’s ears, even without considering the necessary polite ritual of maintaining a careful but respectful distance from Caroline Bingley.
Well, he would grit his teeth and endure it at least once, hoping that with Lord Grantchester and Lord Keeble present, he might at least get some sensible conversation.