Chapter 31
Caroline Bingley received the news of Darcy and Elizabeth’s engagement in a letter from one of her friends in London.
The announcement had appeared in the papers a week after the settlement was signed, once Lady Catherine had firmly settled back in Kent.
The whole of London society had been abuzz with the news and more than one of Miss Bingley’s acquaintances had remembered her pursuit of the gentleman.
Since the future Mrs. Darcy was from Hertfordshire and from all accounts a neighbour to the Bingleys, it caused enough whispering in the London drawing rooms, making her friends curious enough to write to her at the Hursts’ estate.
Miss Bingley was a practical woman and had understood when she departed Pemberley that Elizabeth Bennet had beaten her in her pursuit of Mr. Darcy.
Her only comfort had been that with Charles marrying Miss Bennet, she would always have access to Pemberley.
Now when the blasted engagement had taken place, there was no news of Charles and Jane.
She made sure to get as many London gossip sheets as she could manage, so far in the north, but none of them mentioned Charles.
She would have considered that Charles and Jane were preparing for their wedding in Herefordshire except that Jane had been frequently mentioned by the gossip columns, mostly being escorted by Mr. Darcy’s cousin the Viscount.
She was worried that Jane had abandoned her brother after her beauty was so well received in town.
As the sister to the future Mrs. Darcy, Jane may aim higher than a man with antecedents in trade.
Charles had not written to her but that was not surprising considering his anger with her when they had departed from Pemberley.
Thinking that going to Netherfield might give her some answers, she convinced her sister and brother-in-law to make the journey south.
Louisa, who was already feeling stifled under her mother-in-law's strictures, was quick to agree and did also manage to convince Mr. Hurst.
While Miss Bingley was planning to travel south, Bingley was making plans to leave Netherfield.
After Jane had withdrawn from their engagement, Bingley had not called at Longbourn.
He had even stayed away from Meryton society hoping to avoid uncomfortable questions.
It had only been through society pages and some letters from curious acquaintances that he had known of Jane and Elizabeth’s removal to town.
He had then accepted a few invitations to understand what was happening.
It seemed that Meryton had finally caught up on Darcy’s interest in Elizabeth.
He had been besieged with requests for details every time he was out in society which again made him reluctant to accept invitations.
With Jane no longer in Hertfordshire he had lost all hopes of reconciliation.
Alone at Netherfield, he had finally ruminated on his recent behaviour and had been filled with guilt.
The fact was that he did not want to be blamed for Jane’s heartache and hence had blamed Darcy for all his failures.
He had resented the happiness of his friend, who had always stood with him and he had tried to disrupt that friend's whole life. He still remembered Jane’s face when she had declared she could not be in the same room with him.
In his rush to destroy Darcy he had genuinely hurt Miss Elizabeth who had always been a good friend to him.
He had stayed in Netherfield in the hopes of convincing Jane to take him back but with her now in London he had no reason to prolong his stay.
He could not in good conscience expect forgiveness after all the vitriol he had spread.
Thus, he decided that leaving Netherfield would be for the best. As he was finally planning to depart that a method of atonement for some of his behaviour towards Darcy came to him.
He immediately sent an express to his man of business and decided to wait until the reply came.
Once everything was finalised, he wrote a letter for Darcy and gave clear instructions to his solicitor for the communication and then departed from Netherfield.
Darcy was about to leave for Matlock House to call on Elizabeth, like he had done every morning since her arrival in town when he received a package from Bingley's solicitor.
Curious and a little wary because of Bingley's recent behaviour, he immediately opened it and went through the documents and an accompanying letter. The whole thing was too surprising for him to make much sense and he immediately decided to speak to Elizabeth.
“Fitzwilliam,” Elizabeth greeted him as she entered the library, “Georgiana told me that you wanted to speak to me urgently. Is something the matter?”
Without a word, Darcy passed her the letter that he had received from Bingley's solicitor.
“Oh! There was no other letter before this to explain Mr. Bingley's actions. Did he not write to you before this at all?”
“No, this is the first time I have received any correspondence from him since my arrival in London.”
“Do you mean to accept this?" Elizabeth questioned.
“There is no ‘me’, Elizabeth. Either ‘we’ accept it or not at all,” he said with a faint smile, much to Elizabeth’s delight.
“It will make things much easier, for I do wish to marry from Longbourn, and neither the estate nor its mistress is capable of hosting your august relations,” she answered with an impertinent smile.
“I would be happy to go back to the country. I am very much done with all the social obligations of town, at least until we are married. Maybe you should speak to Miss Bennet? I would not like her to be uncomfortable.”
With a gasp Elizabeth responded, “You are correct, I should have thought of it. In my felicity, I have forgotten Jane’s heartache.”
“Does she still pine for Bingley?” Darcy asked with a frown knowing full well that she had been the one to end the engagement.
“Jane loves deeply and would forgive easily but she was uncomfortable with Mr. Bingley’s desire to escape responsibility. Both Jane and I have always had this inherent fear that we will be stuck in a marriage similar to our parents.”
“You and Jane are far too sensible for that, dearest.” Then taking her hands in his he continued. “Elizabeth, I have waited too long for you. No matter what you and Jane decide, can we fix a wedding date?”
“I would like that, but I think it will have to depend on where we are planning the ceremony. Can you accompany me to the Gardiners? We can talk to Jane directly and then to Papa?”
In the end Lady Matlock also decided to accompany them, for she also needed to prepare for the wedding. The whole party arrived at Gracechurch Street within the hour and was shown to the drawing room.
While everyone was having refreshments, Elizabeth took Jane aside and mentioned the letter Darcy had received.
“Mr. Bingley has transferred the lease of Netherfield to Fitzwilliam and encouraged him to make use of it in any manner he might need for our courtship and wedding. He means to make amends for his past behaviour,” she told Jane as gently as possible.
“Has he then come to London?” Jane softly inquired.
“Not that anyone is aware of. He had mentioned a desire to withdraw from society for a while. He means to spend some time in solitude and ruminate on his choices. It seems he has finally realised his mistakes and wants to reflect on his character flaws. His letter to Mr. Darcy was full of guilt and regret regarding his past behaviour. He genuinely seems to have understood that he needs to start taking responsibility for his actions,” Elizabeth explained.
“I think the offer of Netherfield is sensible. Has Mr. Darcy accepted the offer of the lease?” Jane asked, changing the subject from Bingley.
“That is what he asked me to inquire of you. If it makes you even slightly uncomfortable, we could as easily get married in town.” Elizabeth said, reaching out for Jane’s hand.
“Why should it? I would hardly be required to stay there except for a couple of dinner invitations.”
“Jane, you will not have to set foot into the house if you do not wish. I doubt there will be much time for dinner parties and such, for we mean to marry as soon as can be arranged.”
“Lizzy, I assure you that all I feel is a great happiness whenever I see you and Mr. Darcy together.” Jane replied as she hugged her sister, and then they made their way back to the others.
Elizabeth quickly signalled to Darcy with the nod of her head about Jane’s acceptance and Darcy informed the whole party of Bingley’s offer.
“I think it is a fine idea. Every bride deserves to be married from her home, if possible,” Lady Matlock commented.
With the countess's approval to the plan the discussion soon shifted to wedding dates and after some consideration a date of the end of February was decided.
It gave them all a little over a month for preparations.
Once Mr. Bennet had granted his approval to the match, Elizabeth and Darcy had already started their preparation and as such could easily complete everything within the month.
Mr. Bennet and Jane were to travel back to Longbourn in two days' time, where he had offered to oversee any preparation that might be needed at Netherfield.
Jane promised to her sister that she would curb her mother from making any outrageous plans for the ceremony and the breakfast. The rest of the party would then arrive two weeks before the wedding after Elizabeth had completed all her purchases for her trousseau and Mr. Darcy was done with the renovations of his house.
Multiple expresses had been sent to Hertfordshire, for both Mrs. Gardiner and Jane had written to Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Darcy to the Netherfield housekeeper.
Mrs. Bennet had been both euphoric and perturbed at the same time.
She could not believe that her second daughter was making such an advantageous match.
She was finally sanguine with Mr. Bingley’s departure for she reasoned that with Elizabeth's marriage to such a well-connected man, Jane was sure to find many other prospects.
Mrs. Nicholls had accepted the erratic nature of her master and was not surprised when he informed her of his decision to quit Netherfield again, apparently for good this time.
She was to await the instructions of Mr. Darcy for he would be the new leaseholder.
She had welcomed the news for that gentleman had always been much more ordered and considerate than Mr. Bingley, though of a much more exacting nature.
True to his character he had sent an express with clear instructions of his arrival and expectations within a day of Mr. Bingley’s departure.
Thus, it was to her great astonishment when a carriage bearing Miss Bingley and Mr. and Mrs. Hurst arrived at Netherfield the very next day after Mr. Darcy’s express.