Chapter 40 #2
“I do not love Mr. Bingley,” she finally said, “and I want to love the man I choose to marry. Mr. Bingley is an excellent man, but I now understand that my enthusiasm for him last autumn was mostly because he was the first eligible man to pay me any attention in my entire life. I have a fortune of ten thousand pounds, so even if I never marry, I will not be impoverished. That gives me the luxury of being careful before entering a marriage, and right now, at least, I do not feel drawn to any particular man, not enough to wed him, at any rate.”
The younger girls exchanged solemn glances, and Mary said, “That is wise, Jane. Far better to be cautious than to enter a marriage in haste and regret it later.”
“We will have to see if you follow that advice as well, Mary,” Lydia said saucily, and Jane turned a startled look on the third Miss Bennet, who promptly blushed.
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“Mary has a suitor,” Kitty said with a grin. “Lieutenant Wickham.”
Jane frowned a little. Mr. Wickham, according to Elizabeth, had a checkered past.
“Does Father know?” she asked worriedly.
“Certainly he does,” Mary said indignantly.
“That is to say, he is aware that Mr. Wickham, along with his fellow officers, visits us regularly. Mr. Wickham has also told me about his penchant for overspending and gambling in the past, but he has changed his ways. He meets with Mr. Allen every week, and he sits with us at church every Sunday.”
Jane turned to look at Miss Trent, who smiled and said, “I understand your concerns, my dear, but I think rather well of Mr. Wickham. It is a difficult thing to confess one’s past failures and to work to improve oneself. Moreover, Mary is always carefully chaperoned.”
Jane relaxed. She trusted the family governess entirely.
“The militia regiment will move on to another town at some point, presumably?” she remarked, reaching over to the tea pot to pour more tea for herself.
“The regiment will be moving on to Brighton next month, but Mr. Wickham is going to leave his position as lieutenant and become a clerk for our uncle Phillips.”
Jane blinked and tilted her head. “He must care for you very much, Mary.”
Mary’s cheeks grew rosier still. “I believe he does, though our relationship is still in its early stages, but it is more than that, Jane. The regiment provides constant temptation for him, as there is a great deal of idle time for the officers, and most of them play cards and gamble constantly. Mr. Wickham has managed to stay away from playing, but it is not easy, as his friends continually encourage him to join them. Our uncle is in need of a clerk, and Mr. Wickham is well educated. This will provide a small income, and he eventually will be a solicitor himself.”
Jane wrinkled her brow and said, “That is all very admirable, but it sounds like it will be difficult for him to support a wife.”
“I have not thought that far ahead,” Mary said. “As I said, we do not know one another particularly well yet. But come, enough of that. Are you happy about Elizabeth’s engagement to Mr. Darcy?”
“Oh, yes,” Jane cried out. “He is the perfect man for our sister…”
***
Hyde Park
The Next Morning
When the Bennets had chosen a rented house close to Hyde Park, Jane had agreed because she wanted Elizabeth, who was paying for her Season, to be happy.
After all, Jane was not in the habit of walking for the sake of walking back in Meryton, and she had expected she would be content to stay indoors most of the time.
Now she found herself extremely grateful for a large park so close at hand. She and Elizabeth and various suitors walked or rode here frequently, and the fresh air, and soft perfume emanating from the flower beds, and the sight of the glittering Serpentine made every visit a pleasure.
“It is a lovely day, is it not, Miss Bennet?”
She looked up at Mr. Bingley, who had arrived at their rented house an hour previously at nearly the same time as Colonel Fitzwilliam.
The two gentlemen had agreed to escort four of the five Bennet ladies to Hyde Park.
Colonel Fitzwilliam had silently and kindly decided to oversee the younger Bennet ladies, while Mr. Bingley and Jane lagged behind them, with her hand on his arm.
Elizabeth, amusingly enough, was the only Bennet daughter left behind, but she and Mr. Darcy were sequestered with Mr. Bennet in the study, nailing down the details of the marriage settlements.
“It is absolutely lovely,” Jane agreed, smiling up at her companion. “We have been fortunate that most days in April this spring have not been overly wet, though…”
She trailed off and cast a suspicious glance at the sky. It was mostly cloudy, and to her eye, some of the clouds were tinging an ominous gray.
“I hope it does not rain,” she remarked uneasily, glancing behind her. It was quite a long way back to the house if it did indeed start pouring.
“It will not rain,” Mr. Bingley said decidedly.
She grinned up at him and said, “That is a very confident statement on your part. Are you a weather prophet, perhaps?”
Bingley grinned back and said, “I am not, but my coachman is. He assures me it will not rain today.”
“Coachman Jack at Longbourn is the same way,” Jane said. “He always knows what the weather will be. It is wonderful.”
“It is,” Bingley agreed.
Jane glanced ahead to be certain that her sisters were well, and concluding that they were, she turned her attention to a bed of tulips ranging in color from red to orange to yellow.
“They are so beautiful, are they not?” she remarked, coming to a halt.
“They are,” Mr. Bingley said. There was, she realized, a rather odd tone in his voice, and she looked up to find him staring at her with an anxious expression.
“Is something wrong?” she asked in a puzzled tone.
Charles Bingley hesitated and then brushed his hair away from his eyes.
“Nothing is wrong, exactly,” he said carefully and then went on more quickly, “I merely wished to know, well, I admire you so very much, and I wondered if you are considering marriage in the near future, and if so, whether…”
Bewilderment gave way to sympathetic and uncomfortable understanding.
She hesitated for a moment, and then said kindly, “Mr. Bingley, I am greatly enjoying my Season here in London as a single woman. I have no intention of wedding any time in the near future.”
His face fell for just a moment, and then he straightened his back and said, “I understand completely, Miss Bennet. Shall we continue onward?”
“Thank you, yes,” Jane said.