CHAPTER 10 #2
Mrs. Bennet had meanwhile risen entirely from her chair and now moved restlessly about the breakfast parlour with all the animated consequence of a general preparing not merely for company, but for a campaign upon whose success the fortunes of an entire household might reasonably depend.
“Jane must certainly wear the blue muslin tomorrow; though perhaps the sprigged one would appear more elegant in daylight. Lizzy, my dear, you must endeavour not to provoke Mr. Darcy excessively at the first meeting here. Kitty, pray moderate your laughter. Lydia, if you speak of officers every five minutes, I shall positively despair of you.”
“My dear,” Mr. Bennet replied with tranquil amusement, “you appear already to have settled Mr. Bingley at Netherfield, married him to Jane, assigned Mr. Darcy to Elizabeth, and reorganized the entire domestic future of Hertfordshire before either gentleman has yet crossed the borders of the county.”
Mrs. Bennet paused only long enough to answer with complete conviction:
“And it is exceedingly fortunate for everyone connected with this family that somebody amongst us possesses foresight enough to prepare for events before they actually arrive.”
***
The remainder of the morning at Longbourn passed in a state of expectation which, though differently expressed by each member of the household, was nowhere entirely absent.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Bennet moved restlessly from room to room under various domestic pretences, now inspecting the arrangement of flowers in the parlour, now reproving a maid for imagined negligence, now returning to the windows with an impatience which no occupation proved capable of soothing for longer than five minutes together.
Lydia and Kitty disputed repeatedly over which gowns might best recommend themselves to wealthy strangers; Mary endeavoured, with limited success, to preserve the superiority of a mind supposedly indifferent to appearances; while Jane and Elizabeth alone maintained anything approaching composure.
Even their tranquillity, however, was not entirely proof against curiosity.
The afternoon had already advanced considerably when the sound of wheels upon the gravel at last interrupted the uneasy quiet of the house. Mrs. Bennet started so violently from her seat near the window that her workbasket overturned altogether upon the carpet.
“There! There they are at last! Hill—Kitty—somebody look alive!”
Mr. Bennet’s carriage soon appeared before the house; and scarcely had the horses fully stopped before Lydia, who had established herself at the hall door long beforehand under pretence of requiring fresh air, announced with triumphant certainty: “Two gentlemen indeed! And one of them exceedingly handsome.”
Mrs. Bennet required no second invitation. By the time the gentlemen entered the hall, she had already advanced nearly halfway across the parlour with an eagerness which only long habit prevented from becoming wholly disorderly.
Mr. Bennet entered first with the composed air of a gentleman returning from a tolerably successful day’s business; behind him came two strangers whose appearance instantly justified, in Mrs. Bennet’s estimation, the whole agitation of the preceding fortnight.
“As mistress of the house, Mrs. Bennet,” Mr. Bennet said with composed civility as he entered the parlour, “allow me to present Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy—gentlemen whom you have been so eager to meet.”
The slight emphasis with which he concluded the sentence produced in his wife an expression hovering delicately between dignity and reproach; yet her attention was too entirely engaged elsewhere to permit any serious resentment.
Advancing immediately with all the propriety the occasion demanded, Mrs. Bennet received the gentlemen with gracious civility; though beneath the correctness of her curtsey and the warmth of her welcome there existed an attention infinitely more vigilant than ceremonial.
Now that Mr. Bennet had distinguished one gentleman from the other, her curiosity arranged itself with much greater precision.
Her eyes turned first, and very naturally, toward Mr. Bingley, whom she already considered inseparably connected with Netherfield and therefore with the future happiness of at least one branch of her family.
Mr. Bingley was precisely the sort of young man calculated to recommend himself immediately wherever he appeared.
His countenance possessed an openness and good humour which seemed incapable either of reserve or arrogance; and though his dress and manners sufficiently announced a gentleman of fortune, there was in his whole address a degree of ease and cheerfulness which rendered superiority agreeable rather than imposing.
His features, though perhaps not strikingly handsome in the severe style admired by some, were animated by such unaffected liveliness that Mrs. Bennet, before he had spoken six sentences, privately pronounced him delightful.
Mr. Darcy produced a different impression.
Taller, graver, and infinitely more reserved in manner, he entered the room with a composure which appeared entirely unconscious of observation, though by no means incapable of sustaining it.
Mrs. Bennet, who had prepared herself to dislike any nephew of Lady Catherine de Bourgh possessing excessive pride, found herself reluctantly disconcerted by the dignity of his appearance and the correctness of his behaviour.
If he spoke less readily than his friend, he listened with greater steadiness; and there was in his manners none of that negligent hauteur she had expected from Elizabeth’s earlier descriptions.
They then proceeded together into the parlour, where the young ladies, who had risen immediately upon the gentlemen’s entrance, awaited the formal introductions with all the composure they could command under circumstances of such considerable interest. The first civilities having been properly exchanged, the presentations were soon completed with the ease and brevity customary upon such occasions.
“Mr. Bingley—Mr. Darcy—my daughters,” Mr. Bennet said with easy brevity. “You will find at Longbourn rather more noise than ceremony, though occasionally less nonsense than appearances may first suggest.”
“I am convinced already,” Bingley replied warmly, “that no house in Hertfordshire could have received us more kindly.”
This speech, delivered with unaffected sincerity and accompanied by a look directed almost involuntarily toward Jane, established him instantly in Mrs. Bennet’s highest favour.
Jane, whose gentleness never appeared more attractive than when receiving admiration unconsciously, answered him with such modest sweetness that Bingley’s attention, once engaged, seemed unable afterward to wander very far from her.
Elizabeth, observing this almost immediately, found herself divided between amusement and relief.
Meanwhile Darcy, after paying his compliments with proper gravity to the ladies generally, allowed his gaze to rest for one brief moment upon Elizabeth with an expression more thoughtful than she remembered having seen at Rosings.
The look vanished almost instantly beneath habitual composure; yet she felt nevertheless that his presence at Longbourn differed materially from his former appearances in Rosings.
Mrs. Bennet, recovering gradually from the first disorder of satisfaction, now directed her energies toward securing the comfort and prolonged residence of her guests.
“And how did Netherfield appear to you, Mr. Bingley?” she inquired with animated interest. “I hope you found nothing seriously amiss with the house.”
“Nothing which could diminish my admiration of it,” Bingley answered readily.
“Indeed, I consider myself extremely fortunate. Mr. Morris has represented the estate very fairly; and after concluding matters this morning at Mr. Phillips’s office, I hardly know whether I ought to think more highly of the house itself or of the neighbourhood surrounding it. ”
“My brother Phillips will be gratified to hear himself so favourably connected with Netherfield,” Mrs. Bennet declared.
“He has conducted the business with great exactness,” Mr. Darcy observed quietly.
Mr. Bennet meanwhile seated himself with an air of settled satisfaction.
“I daresay, my dear, Mr. Bingley has now committed himself too thoroughly to escape us,” he said. “The contracts are signed, the keys delivered, and Netherfield surrendered entirely into his possession.”
“At least for the present,” Bingley replied with cheerful good humour. “Though I confess the place already pleases me enough to make longer residence exceedingly probable.”
Mrs. Bennet’s delight at this declaration became so visible that even Kitty began smiling toward Jane with undisguised triumph.
“There remain only a few small improvements,” Mr. Bennet continued. “Some repairs in the eastern wing, a little new furnishing, and the ordinary confusion inseparable from a gentleman establishing himself in a previously neglected house.”
“Precisely the sort of confusion I am least qualified to govern,” Bingley admitted laughing. “I already begin to suspect that taking possession of an estate is considerably easier than managing one properly afterward.”
“In that case,” Mr. Bennet returned, “you must permit Hertfordshire to assist you. My advice would be to remain in Meryton another fortnight before withdrawing entirely to Netherfield, and I shall undertake to help you procure respectable workmen, suitable servants, and any local knowledge necessary to preserve you from nonsensical expenditures.”
“You are exceedingly obliging, sir,” Bingley said, smiling with sincere gratitude.
“The arrangement would also carry another advantage,” Mr. Bennet continued. “A Meryton assembly is expected about the middle of October. No gentleman newly arrived in the county can pretend to understand Hertfordshire society until he has survived at least one public ball within it.”