Chapter 12 #2
“Yes, I fear a great many beautiful leaves were blown off the trees,” Jane said, just as Bingley and the three ladies entered the drawing room, where the four ladies of the house were waiting.
After greetings were made, and curtseys exchanged, the visitors took seats near the fire, and Miss Bingley said, with enthusiasm, “It is so very good to see you again, my friends. I hope you are all well?”
“We are well,” Jane said with her usual cheer. “Thank you.”
“Please,” Mr. Bingley said to the eldest Miss Bennet, “will you not sit down on this couch here by the fire?”
Jane did so obediently, and her host sat down next to her.
Elizabeth happened to glance at Miss Bingley and was startled to observe a frown on that lady’s countenance.
A moment later, her hostess’s eyes met Elizabeth’s, and Miss Bingley smiled abruptly and said, “Have you made any more plans about your upcoming Season?”
“Yes,” Elizabeth replied. “We visited the dressmaker and milliner in Meryton on Tuesday, and Jane and I were fitted for a number of garments. We know there is plenty of time still before the Season begins, but we would rather not rush.”
“Yes, it is understandable that you would be very excited. And what of you, Miss Mary?” Miss Bingley asked, turning toward the third Miss Bennet. “Do you plan to come out the year after next, perhaps?”
Mary’s skin flushed, and she said softly, “I am not certain. At the moment, I am not particularly excited about the prospect of having a Season.”
“Oh, what a pity,” Miss Bingley cooed. “I am confident that you would be quite a success, Miss Mary, with your lovely red-gold hair. Do you not think Miss Mary’s hair is particularly lovely, Charles?”
Mr. Bingley’s gaze was fixed on Jane, but at these words, he turned a rather blank look on Mary.
“Erm, yes?” he said meekly.
Elizabeth frowned at this exchange. Was Miss Bingley pushing her brother toward Mary instead of Jane, and if so, why?
“What of you, Miss Darcy?” Jane asked kindly. “Will you be purchasing your attire in London?”
Serena Darcy managed a slight smile and said, “Yes. I understand that the current plan is for us to return to London in January, and we will make arrangements there.”
“With Madame Lanchet, I believe,” Miss Bingley said and turned a knowing and superior look on her guests. “She is an émigré, you know, and so gifted! I am grateful that Madame Lanchet was available when I was preparing for my first Season. She creates such exquisite gowns!”
Elizabeth, noting Miss Darcy’s withdrawn expression, said, “She sounds wonderful. Miss Darcy, Miss Georgiana, does your family have a house in London?”
“We do,” Miss Georgiana said softly, “in Berkeley Square.”
“I know Mr. Darcy is very fond of books,” Elizabeth persevered. “Is the house in London also blessed with a good library?”
Miss Darcy perked up noticeably and said, “Oh yes, there are a great many books at Darcy House, though the library at Pemberley is far larger, as one might expect. By the by, my brother told us that your father’s library is a delight.”
“I am glad he thinks so!” Elizabeth said. “We are all grateful for plenty of reading material at hand, though of course we also enjoy the local lending library.”
“What books do you particularly like?” Mrs. Hurst asked. “I finished Robinson Crusoe only recently and found it great fun. Have you read it?”
“I have,” Elizabeth said, a trifle surprised. Robinson Crusoe was not the sort of book she had imagined Mrs. Hurst, of all people, liking.
“Naturally I would not appreciate being shipwrecked on a desert island,” Mrs. Hurst said, “but reading about it was fascinating.”
“I quite agree,” Serena Darcy said. “How very strange it would be to live completely alone, to be forced to forage for food…”
Elizabeth glanced around and noted that Mary had started a conversation with Miss Georgiana about music, while Miss Bingley and Mr. Bingley were speaking with Jane.
Her sisters seemed at ease, so she turned her attention back on the other two ladies and said, “It would be difficult. The part about the wheat growing was particularly interesting to me. At first, he thought it a miracle, and then he concluded it was but happenstance, and yet in its own way, it was a miracle. For seeds to happen to fall in such fertile soil…”
The conversation continued for another ten minutes when the door opened to reveal two maids with tea service, followed closely by Mr. Darcy.
Miss Bingley leaped to her feet at the sight of the master of Pemberley and said, “Mr. Darcy, sit down, sit down! You work so hard on business letters and the like. I am certain that you would enjoy some tea to refresh yourself.”
Mr. Darcy was not an easy man to read, but Elizabeth thought she saw his nostrils flare a trifle at this unctuous civility.
However, he took a seat next to his sister, Serena, and within a few minutes, everyone was drinking tea and chatting.
The conversation regarding Robinson Crusoe continued for a few more minutes, and then shifted to a wide-ranging discussion of the book’s author, Daniel Defoe, who had not only been a writer, but a spy for the king, a journalist who had written a powerful book on the Great Storm of 1703, a writer of inflammatory pamphlets, as well as a man who had spent some time in debtors’ prison.
“It seems unfortunate,” Serena Darcy said, a trifle wistfully, “that such a gifted man could not live off his earnings as a writer.”
“I believe he did earn substantial sums from his novels,” Mr. Darcy said, “but he spent even more quickly.”
“My mother,” Elizabeth said, “has said many a time that one can always spend more, always, regardless of one’s income
“That is true enough,” Mr. Darcy agreed with an approving look at the young lady. “Many a wealthy family has fallen due to spending lavishly, and of course gambling is its own supreme danger.”
“Do you disapprove of all gambling, Mr. Darcy?” Mrs. Hurst asked in a surprised tone. “Surely it is thought perfectly reasonable to gamble during parties?”
Elizabeth turned a curious gaze on the gentleman, who opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and then said carefully, “I suspect there are many individuals who can safely play card games for small stakes and merely have a pleasant time. There are those who cannot seem to restrain themselves from spending too much, however, and fall into trouble on account of it.”
“I think of it rather like I do alcohol,” Elizabeth said. “The Bible instructs us ‘And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit’. There is no danger in having a glass for dinner, but too often both gentlemen and ladies have acted foolishly by over imbibing.”
“I entirely agree,” Darcy said.
It was at this point that Elizabeth glanced to her right and observed Georgiana Darcy and Mary Bennet standing side by side but a few feet away from the group.
“Ladies, Brother,” Miss Georgiana said, “Miss Mary and I would like to take turns playing on the pianoforte. Would you mind that?”
“Oh, we would be delighted!” cooed Miss Bingley from her seat near her own brother and Jane. “You are such a wonderful player, Miss Georgiana!”
Mary looked a trifle doubtful at this statement, and Elizabeth smiled at her reassuringly. Mary practiced diligently on the instrument, and that, combined with access to a truly excellent music master in Mr. Calthrop, had resulted in her being able to perform pleasingly indeed.
The two young ladies made their way to the corner of the room and after another desultory five minutes of chatter between the others, Miss Georgiana began to play with Mary turning the pages.
Elizabeth, watching Mary’s face, felt her chest warm.
Mary was the quietest of the Bennet ladies and the most devoted to intellectual pursuits and musical excellence.
Elizabeth, while she also played and sang, was not nearly as faithful in practicing, and thus her younger sister had passed her up in skill several years previously.
It was pleasant to see those two heads side by side, one red, one blonde. The intensity on the countenances of both young faces was charming, to be sure. Miss Georgiana was, it seemed, as enthusiastic about playing as Mary, and that was definitely a gift for the sober middle Bennet daughter.
Yes, all in all, the arrival of the Netherfield party to Meryton was proving a pleasant boon. Elizabeth still did not think much of Miss Bingley, but even Mrs. Hurst had improved on acquaintance in her exuberant discussion of a book they both had enjoyed.