Chapter 19
“I would have thought that Mr. Bingley would be a little more cheerful now that you have decided on a wedding date.” Elizabeth commented as she plaited her hair for bed.
She and Jane had always had the habit of getting ready for bed together and then they would chat until one of them fell asleep.
“You did decide on a date, did you not?” She asked when Jane did not respond.
“Lizzy, do you remember when we were kids and attended the wedding of the Long brothers?”
“Of course, I was so fascinated by the idea of siblings marrying in the same ceremony.” Elizabeth exclaimed and then suddenly realised what that meant.
“Jane! You did not? It was a fantasy of a seven-year-old. You cannot keep Mr. Bingley waiting.”
Jane got up and hugged Elizabeth from behind as she sat in front of the mirror.
Placing her chin upon Elizabeth's head as they looked at each other in the mirror, she said.
“I am not so selfless as to wait forever for both of you to come to the point but now that you are engaged to Mr. Darcy-” Seeing Lizzy open her mouth to argue she immediately quietened her.
“Lizzy, you are engaged, no matter what Papa may say. I have known you better than anyone else, and I know how stubborn my sister can be when she wants something. You and Mr. Darcy will marry sooner rather than later, and I am sure Papa will come around. Mr. Darcy is a very honourable and admirable man and if he can win you over, Papa would hardly stand a chance.”
Elizabeth finally got up, turned around and hugged Jane fiercely.
It meant a lot to her that Jane remembered her childhood fantasy.
She had been thinking about it from the time Jane had met Mr. Bingley last year.
Secretly she had been dreading Jane marrying and moving away even if it was only three miles to Netherfield.
They would no longer have the closeness they had always shared.
She knew that it was the passage of life for a woman to marry and move forward.
She had always prayed that they would marry together for then she would also have a new life to look ahead to.
The idea of staying at Longbourn without Jane had been daunting but she had never outwardly expressed any of her reservations.
When Mr. Bingley had abandoned Jane, Elizabeth could not help but feel a little guilty.
But now it seemed like she may after all get her dream fulfilled and in a most unexpected way.
Two sisters marrying two best friends. She had been worried about Bingley’s petulant attitude and coldness towards Darcy and felt that this would be the best way to restore their friendship.
The sisters spent another hour discussing their future and how they would always remain the best of friends.
As Lizzy fell asleep, she could see herself waiting eagerly for Jane who was to arrive at Pemberley while she, as its mistress made sure that everything was perfectly arranged.
They would walk in the rose garden sharing confidences as they had always done and discussing those small things that married women always seemed to find annoying but adorable in their husbands.
“Jane, you should convince Mr. Bingley to buy an estate in Derbyshire so that we may visit each other frequently.” She whispered as sleep finally claimed her.
******
Bingley was restless from the time he had returned from Longbourn.
He had retired right after he came back hoping to avoid Darcy, but the man was as firmly fixed in his head as he was in his house.
No matter what he did it seemed that he could never be better than him.
Now Jane wanted to put their wedding on hold just for his appeasement.
Darcy, who had been the cause of all her heartache, was now the recipient of her sympathy while he was again left to pine away.
He was tired of living in Darcy’s great shadow.
What was next, would he have to wait for Darcy to have children before he could have his own and maybe then the next generation of Bingleys would live in the shadow of their great Darcy cousins.
In his internal rant, he completely ignored the salient point that Jane was being the compassionate creature that she had always been.
How could the gentle, sweet lady he had considered as ethereal in her grace and politeness, abandon her own sister?
A sister who though younger had always been her support.
But angry people are hardly ever rational, and Bingley’s temper rose the more he paced.
He had decided to have a glass of brandy to ease himself but after one glass soon another followed.
It was to his surprise that he soon found the decanter empty.
Deciding not to bother the servants, he went down to his study.
Darcy had been behind with replying to Georgiana.
She had sent him two letters since his last one and the recent one had a quite teasing note to it.
Apparently, Elizabeth had become a better correspondent than her once doting brother, but she completely approved this lack of attention if the said brother would soon get her the perfect sister.
Darcy had been pleasantly surprised; his sister had normally found it too difficult to gainsay him even in mundane matters.
He genuinely welcomed this change and had expressed his gratitude to Elizabeth.
He was sure this was the result of her influence and had hoped that she would help Georgiana lose more of her timidity as she came out.
Once he had realised that Bingley would not be coming down that evening, he decided to use the study to finally write to his sister.
His letter Inadvertently was full of Elizabeth and the more he wrote the more he thought about her.
Soon the letter lay forgotten as he sat just staring ahead with a soft smile thinking of all their recent conversations.
He had been hopeful when they had accidentally met at Pemberley, and she had been so friendly, but this was more than he had ever thought possible.
He was sure that she was burning to argue with her father on his behalf.
It was not the six months' wait that bothered her but the injustice in his character assessment of Darcy.
She had been completely honest with him that she would have preferred a longer engagement as they came to know each other better.
“What more do you need to know? I am sure we know much more about each other than most married couples.” He had asked with a frown worried that she could still change her mind.
“Well when it comes to our characters and defining traits, we do know each other very well. But what about the day-to-day things? The small irritants and the little quirks. I still have no idea if you prefer town or country. Do you like to travel or are you happy to spend months together at one place?”
He had finally caught on her teasing and had responded in the same tone.
“I have always enjoyed town with all the busy social engagements. My favourites are the balls that last till the morning. I can stand by the window and glower at all kinds of people.” He had been proud of the laugh it had elicited from her and more so about the fact that she seemed to hold on to his arm with a little more firmness after that.
It was with a loud bang that he was rudely brought back to the present.
He looked up to see a livid Bingley glaring at him with shards of glass all around.
“Whatever happened?” he asked as he got up from behind the desk.
“Whatever happened! You are what happened, Darcy,” shouted Bingley as he knocked the books from the nearby shelf in an uncontrolled fury.
“You have taken over my whole life. My sisters prefer you, half the people in town would choose you over me in a heartbeat and the other half are just too lowly to expect to be recognised by you. You are the better man, who always has the solution to everything. You are destined to have everything anyone has ever wanted. You are rich as Croesus and have the most impeccable lineage and if that was not enough you are tall and good looking. You could probably ask a duke’s daughter for her hand in marriage, and he would feel obliged.
You have the perfect sister and a perfect cousin and if that was not enough, you already are a master of your fortune.
The mighty master of Pemberley who everyone bows to. ”
“You think that I am lucky to lose my father so young in life and to be the master of Pemberley. I had thought you would have more compassion seeing that you had lost your own parents.” Darcy responded in a steely whisper.
“You are not the lowly human that I am. You do not have to face consequences like the rest of us. You were the cause of Jane's misery but now she wants to wait for God knows how long so that we can marry in the same ceremony as the great Darcy.”
“So, this is what all this is about. Has it occurred to you that Jane may want to support her sister as Elizabeth supported her when she was heartbroken.”
“That is just it. Elizabeth, the one lady who could not stand your presence now worships your every word in a way that would make Caroline look subtle.”
“Bingley, you may insult me as much as you desire but I will not hear a word against Elizabeth.”
“So now comparing someone to my sister is an insult, is it? Well, you know, I will say whatever I wish in my home and if you are that offended why do you not leave.”
“You are not thinking straight. We will talk in the morning. I do not want you to say something that you will end up regretting.”
“Of course, I will say something that I will regret as I never seem to know my own mind without your guidance. If there is one thing, I know it is that I want you out of my property. I want you gone Darcy at this very moment.”
Darcy just turned, picked up his letter from the table and calmly walked out.
With measured steps he climbed the stairs to his bedchamber and rang for his valet.
As he prepared to depart a great weight seemed to settle in his stomach.
He and Elizabeth would once again be separated till she came of age.
He could not stay at the inn in Meryton and court Elizabeth; it would cause gossip all over town.
With Bingley engaged to Jane it would probably make Mr. Bennet resent him even more.
While he would not conceal anything from Elizabeth, he knew she would gladly suffer the separation rather than cause any grief to Jane.
The truth of the matter was in the past months he had come to appreciate Jane and had felt a sense of protectiveness towards her just as he did for Georgiana.
He would never willingly do anything to hurt her, thus he prepared himself for another four months’ separation from his beloved.
The one thing that Darcy did not realise was that Jane Bennet loved her sister with the same fierceness that he loved Georgiana and could never be happy when Elizabeth was miserable.