Chapter 5 #2
“He is dreadful, is he not, Mother?” laughed Kitty. “May we ignore Mr Darcy too, if we see him again at the next assembly or out walking?”
“Of course you may, my ducks. He deserves nothing of our attention,” answered their mother thoughtlessly.
“A small curtsy or nod will suffice, Kitty,” Elizabeth added. “We must not be as rude as Mr Darcy.”
“I would not dance with Mr Darcy if he were the only man at the assembly,” Lydia declared. “I would much rather dance with Lord Keeble.”
“Lord Keeble likes dancing and games just as much as we do,” Kitty put in. “You like him, don’t you, Mother?”
“Lord Keeble would be a fine match for any of you,” Mrs Bennet answered approvingly. “Mr Darcy, we shall waste no more time on. Mr Bingley would make a good husband too, if Elizabeth would only stir herself to catch him.”
“I shall not be stirring myself to catch anyone,” Elizabeth replied pointedly. “One wedding in the family is enough for this year, it seems to me. Can you not at least pause your matchmaking efforts long enough to get Jane to the altar, Mother?”
“Jane’s wedding isn’t for another year,” Mrs Bennet objected. “That’s plenty of time for an ordinary wedding or two.”
“I shall go out for a walk,” Jane announced abruptly, rising from her seat and walking to the door. “I need some fresh air.”
“Ah, you shall walk out to the lane near Belton Manor, I suppose,” speculated Mrs Bennet, her face creasing back into a sentimental smile. “No doubt you are hoping to catch a glimpse of your handsome earl, or even bring him home for luncheon with us.”
“Mother, you know that Lord Grantchester and Lord Keeble were returning to London this morning,” Elizabeth reminded her mother. “Do not get Jane’s hopes up unnecessarily.”
“Well, they might have been delayed, might they not?” Mrs Bennet defended herself. “Or maybe Jane only wants to look at the house where he lives?”
“I think I shall walk out on the path towards Netherfield,” Jane told them both. “Perhaps I might meet Miss Bingley or Mrs Hurst. I knew them both a little in London and would like to see them.”
“May I come with you?” Elizabeth asked her sister.
Though she had not enjoyed the superior attitude of Charles Bingley’s sisters and did not particularly wish to encounter either of them, a walk was always pleasant, and would now have the added benefit of bearing Jane company.
Elizabeth could not like the sad look in her sister’s eyes, and rather wished she had not said even as much as she had of what had passed at the assembly.
If there were a chance of meeting Miss Bingley or Mrs Hurst near Netherfield Park, there would also be a chance of meeting the ill-mannered Mr Darcy, and if that happened, Elizabeth did not want her quiet, gentle older sister to be alone.
If Mr Darcy dared to slight or snub Jane, Elizabeth would take him to task far more sternly than Mr Bingley had done.
“Of course you may,” Jane replied with a soft smile. “I will just go upstairs to tidy myself up first. I shall meet you in the hall.”
“What a good idea, Lizzy,” Mrs Bennet observed happily. “You might run into Mr Bingley, mightn’t you? Now that would be a good start to a courtship, meeting by chance on the road with your sister…”
With a withering look back which made her younger sisters laugh but had no effect whatsoever on her marriage-minded mother, Elizabeth left the room after Jane.
∞∞∞
“I wish Mother would stop trying to marry me off so persistently,” Elizabeth said with some frustration as she and Jane strolled away from Longbourn a few minutes later.
“I do not discount ever meeting someone I can love and respect, but if that does not happen… Well, I would really rather be an old maid than marry a fool or a knave.”
“You will meet someone,” Jane assured her with a smile, taking Elizabeth’s arm in hers. “I have no doubt.”
“I have many doubts. You and Lord Grantchester will let me live in your attic and be the maiden aunt who teaches your daughters to knit and play pianoforte rather badly, won’t you?” joked Elizabeth. “That is what I am really counting on.”
“Wherever I am, there is a place for you, Lizzy,” Jane replied sincerely but vaguely.
“Will you live at Grantchester Abbey after you are married?” enquired Elizabeth. “There would be room enough there for anyone you wished.”
“I do not know,” Jane admitted. “We have not really discussed that yet, although I know that Lord Grantchester’s mother still lives there, and his sisters did too until they married. The wedding still seems so very far off at the moment. We have scarcely spoken at all about our future.”
Elizabeth frowned slightly, but then shook her head. She had always imagined that engaged couples talked of little else but their shared future and aspirations, but what did she really know of being engaged?
“Oh well, I am sure you will come to that in time,” she said noncommittally. “Just keep a room in the attic for me, whichever of Lord Grantchester’s estates you settle on.”
Jane smiled vaguely, and they continued on their way in comparable silence for a time.
“What about Mr Bingley, though?” Jane asked at last. “He seems a most amiable and good-hearted gentleman, and I should hate you to discount him only because of Mother’s haranguing. Might you not like him better when you know him?”
Elizabeth laughed and shook her head decisively.
“I think I already like him well enough to know that I could never love him. Mr Bingley is far too simple and good-natured for someone as contrary and stubborn as myself, Jane. I also suspect that I would have no chance of capturing his heart, even if I wished to.”
“You are very pretty, Lizzy, and twice as clever as most other young ladies of our acquaintance,” Jane protested. “Why should Mr Bingley not fall for you?”
Smiling, Elizabeth shook her head again.
“Do not ask me questions, Jane, but at the assembly, Mr Bingley spent the entire night looking at one particular lady and talking of her to his friends in terms both complimentary and respectful. At least for now, I am sure that his heart is already taken.”
“In that case, I can only hope that this lady returns his affections,” sighed Jane. “He is a fine and decent young man, and with such happy manners!”
Elizabeth nodded agreement with a touch of chagrin. Knowing the identity of the young lady presently in Charles Bingley’s heart, she could not echo Jane’s hopes.
Jane was to marry Lord Grantchester; Mr Bingley would have to forget her.
Still, their acquaintance had been short, and his affection for Jane could not be that strong, could it?
For everyone’s sake, she hoped his interest in Jane would prove merely a passing fancy and not something that would break his heart.
“He is a fine young man,” Elizabeth agreed. “Let us wish him well.”