Chapter 5. Miss Bingley’s Misfortune
Before the passage of a fortnight, Caroline Bingley was distraught; the invitation to casual family dinners at the Darcy house in Mayfair was rescinded. Charles did not understand his sister’s agitation and addressed her one evening while seated in the parlour with Mr and Mrs Hurst.
“Caroline, I see Darcy at our club in afternoons, and we conduct our business there where only other gentlemen can hear us. I thought you would be pleased to not have to listen to business matters,” Charles explained.
“Then invite Mr Darcy for dinner here at the Hurst home!” Caroline insisted. Louisa knew without looking at her husband that he would not issue any such invitation. Geoffrey Hurst tolerated Caroline on her good days and refused to redecorate the house as his sister-in-law continued to insist.
Caroline turned and asked, “Louisa, can we invite Mr Darcy?”
“I do not believe that would be prudent,” Louisa replied. “You complain about Cook, her meals, the cutlery, and the porcelain every time we sit at table.”
“If Caroline wishes to pay for new cutlery and dishes, I might be willing to issue an invitation,” Geoffrey Hurst replied. “I see in the paper where Gentry’s Mercantile has several new sets of fine porcelain available.”
Angry to be thwarted by her family, Caroline stormed from the room while Charles chuckled.
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The next morning, Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst attempted to call on Miss Darcy at the imposing house in Mayfair. They stood at the door for almost two minutes while knocking every few seconds. When the door finally opened to the ‘ground’ floor, the imposing butler blocked entry into the house.
“Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst to see Miss Darcy,” Caroline announced when the man did not open the door and allow them entrance.
“Miss Darcy does not receive callers, miss,” the man says in a cold voice. “No one in the family is home for callers.”
“What?” Caroline cries. “We have called on Miss Darcy many times this spring.”
“I am afraid you are mistaken, madam. Miss Darcy never receives callers. When Mr Bingley called on Mr Darcy, the master may have included Miss Darcy, but she was never ‘called on’,” explained Mr Banks as though educating a child.
“Then let me leave my card,” Caroline stated.
“Miss Bingley, ladies do not leave calling cards for children. Perhaps your sister or brother can give you the necessary instruction,” stated the butler.
“How dare…” Caroline began to declare but the door was shut in her face.
“Come, Caroline. Let us return home,” Louisa begged from behind her sister.
“No, Mr Darcy cannot allow a servant to speak to me in such a manner,” Caroline declared as she stepped back and surveyed the front of the great house.
Leaving Louisa on the front steps, Caroline walked to the corner of the house where another street passed.
There were two entrances to the house along this side of the street; the first door opened into Mr Darcy’s office where he met with businessmen and other gentlemen, and a second door led to the kitchens.
Glancing around for only a moment, Caroline headed toward the door that led to Mr Darcy’s office without hesitation.
Behind her, Louisa motioned for her footman to follow as she attempted to stop her sister invading Mr Darcy’s home uninvited.
Not heeding her sister’s pleas, Caroline proceeded to knock on the door for almost two minutes before it opened.
Refusing to allow another servant to block her entrance, the moment the door began to open, Caroline pushed her way inside.
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This hallway was narrow but lighted by a large window over the door.
The man who opened the front door minutes before now lay on the floor where the heavy door left him after knocking him back.
Caroline quickly looked about and seeing the door leading to Mr Darcy’s office closed, she stepped over the man and reached the door handle just as it opened.
Today, Lord Robert Hastings visited Darcy at his home in Mayfair for business.
Mr Darcy and Lord Hastings would each contribute monies and land to construct a new grain mill on their adjoining estates in Kent.
The two men completed their meeting with the architect and a recommended builder with plans to break ground in the next month and build the structure before cooler weather arrived.
The millstones would be procured and installed next spring in time to grind flour next summer after the corn harvest.
The three other men in Darcy’s office stared as Lord Hastings opened the door to the hallway and a woman fell forward into his arms. Holding Miss Bingley haphazardly, just to keep her from falling to the floor, Lord Robert stated in a serious manner, “Really Miss Bingley, I heard you were ambitious to make a good marriage, but I cannot compromise you…my lady wife would never allow me a second wife.”
The architect and builder smirked but remained silent.
Aghast to see his friend’s sister act in this manner, Darcy froze for only a moment but then he noticed his butler rising from the floor with blood streaming from his nose.
Darcy moved around Hastings and Miss Bingley to help Banks to his feet and into a chair while the builder stepped down the hall to summon footmen.
While the men were focused on the butler, Louisa Hurst slipped through the doorway, grabbed her sister and dragged her from the house.
Once on the street, with the assistance of the footman, Mrs Hurst forced her sister back to the main street and into the carriage.
“He assaulted me! He compromised me!” Caroline declared before the carriage had gone far but the coachman ignored any commands from Miss Bingley and returned the carriage to the Hurst household.
At the Darcy home in Mayfair, Mrs Banks fussed over her husband while Darcy thanked the three men for their time and assured them of the success of their future business venture.
Each man was offered a drink before leaving and as a result of the excitement they accepted Darcy’s offer.
The builder and architect would share the tale with their families but otherwise did not speak of the matter again.
However, Lord Hastings left for his club with a tale about the nouveau riche to share.
Charles Bingley would have several doors closed in his face after this.
Lady Hastings was incensed and promised to ‘cut’ Miss Bingley if the woman was ever invited to another public event in London.
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The next evening at their club, Charles was perplexed that the tale Mr Darcy shared varied so greatly from Caroline’s story of being compromised in Mr Darcy’s house.
“I am abjectly sorry, Darcy,” Charles managed to say while trying not to laugh.
Fitzwilliam Darcy shook his head and said, “Charles, you must stand up to Caroline. She will ruin you if you do not take her in hand.”
The newspapers made much of the scandal for three days only because the Darcy name was attached to the brutal assault. Fortunately, the elopement by a young lord with his housekeeper’s daughter pushed the Darcy name from the gossip columns.
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There were more Persian carpets found among the treasures in the ballroom and Miss Gardiner sent for Mr Darcy to view them.
“Miss Gardiner, your note said there were carpets,” the tall man said as he entered the room.
“Yes, Mr Darcy, please come this way,” the young woman said as she led him to a corner where the carpets were stacked. “We found these carpets and they are of such quality; I wanted you to see them before they went to the warehouse.”
“I do not know of any…” he replied before noticing the quality and colours of the many rugs. “Perhaps we should ask Mr and Mrs Banks if they plan to replace any carpets in the near future.”
“And your house in Derbyshire?” Elizabeth mentioned casually.
He nodded and said, “Give me a list of the rugs, sizes, and colours. I shall send it to Mrs Reynolds at Pemberley, and she can advise me if any new carpets are needed.”
He read the list from Elizabeth and compared it to the rugs before thanking her for taking the initiative to consult with him.
“You are welcome, Mr Darcy,” Miss Gardiner replied. “And there is a long list of furniture. Lady Anne purchased three different styles of dining room chairs that do not match the set in your dining room here or at Pemberley.”
With a quizzical look upon his face, Mr Darcy began to ask Miss Gardiner how she knew the style of dining room chairs here and in Derbyshire, when the young woman anticipated his question saying, “Miss Darcy and I examined the chairs here in the ballroom, and she took me to your dining room where we found them to not be complimentary at all. Miss Darcy then drew a detailed sketch of one of the chairs from Pemberley.”
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The next time Elizabeth made an interesting discovery, it was a cache of original prints by an engraver named Hogarth.
Mr Darcy was less impressed with the prints, but Miss Gardiner provided a reference to a gallery in the City and to the British Museum where the curators would purchase the prints.
This discovery spurred a long conversation between the man and woman about the past exhibits they had seen at the museum, including paintings and statues.
Miss Darcy brought her brother to the ballroom the next day where the three of them had a discussion on music; Lady Anne had stored two trunks filled with sheet music among her treasures.
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On a Saturday afternoon when Elizabeth was free of duties at the Darcy house in Mayfair, Uncle Edward took her into his small library to discuss a new purchase.
“Lizzy, you know that your aunt and I need your opinion on an important matter. My warehouses are close to the house and Gracechurch Street is perfectly situated to allow me to come and go so easily. But we have run out of rooms; Andrew, Rebecca, Margaret and Hannah require a classroom and bedrooms, and the servants are packed into the kitchen and attics.”
For a moment, Elizabeth thought she would be exiled to Longbourn, but Uncle Edward relieved that fear with his next statement, “My business continues to grow and do well, so I have purchased the house next door. I shall make my new office on the ground floor in the dining room and front parlour will be where my clerk works and gentlemen and merchants wait. The best tradesmen I know are coming on Monday to cut doorways on the first floor and on the third between the houses.”
Shortly, the family gathered to explore the new house.
Mr and Mrs Gardiner with Elizabeth and their children walked out the front door and then up the steps to the next house and entered.
The layout of the house was the same as their current house.
After finding the appropriate areas on the first and third floors for the connecting doors, Mrs Gardiner mentioned with great interest that they should have an additional door to connect the two kitchens, and Elizabeth suggested that her uncle have the staircase from the ground floor to the first floor enclosed with a door at the bottom of the stairs.
“Men who come to your office for business cannot slip away and enter our house if this staircase is closed and the door locked,” she explained to her uncle and aunt.
After hearing her niece’s idea, Mrs Gardiner declared that additional locks would be added to the door leading to the kitchen and back staircase.
Mr Gardiner agreed to all their ideas, and he suggested that Mrs Gardiner discuss hiring an additional girl in the kitchen and consult with their footman about his promotion to the position of butler and hiring another man to the household staff.
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At the Darcy home, Elizabeth noticed Miss Darcy’s mood was darker for a few days but did not mention it. Eventually the young woman asked, “Miss Gardiner, did you ever have a lady’s companion?”
Watching the workmen for only a moment before replying, ‘Miss Gardiner’ replied, “My sisters and I never had a nanny. There are five daughters in my family and our housekeeper helped Mamma correct our behaviour whenever necessary. My father is an educated man, and he taught us to read and do sums. I love reading and spent many happy hours lost in books from our library.”
Miss Darcy nodded once and continued, “Early this year, my brother hired a lady to be my companion, but she was let go quickly–Mrs Young created false references and plotted with a rake to get close to me.”
“Truly? False references? And a ‘rake’?” Miss Gardiner asked. “Miss Darcy things such as that happen in novels but never to anyone I knew. Were you much affected?”
“I was scared for several days but Fitzwilliam made certain that Mr Banks locked the doors at night and that I had the key to my room.”
“Now I understand why Mr Banks and the footmen are so vigilant at the doors,” Elizabeth nodded in understanding. “I think it perfectly natural.”
“My brother selected Mrs Annesley to be my lady’s companion and Mrs Banks approved of this one.”
Endorsing the statement, Elizabeth said, “Mrs Banks is a very smart woman who understands people very well. And where is Mrs Annesley this morning?”
“She has a cold and keeps to her bed today.”
The younger woman sighed, “Mrs Annesley and I disagree on the value of studying Shakespeare’s sonnets. She thinks they are lovely, but I find them harder to fathom than the plays.”
“The sonnets are more about emotion,” Miss Gardiner replied immediately. “They talk about love and loss.”
“I do not understand love and I do not remember my parents, so it is hard to relate to loss.” Georgiana’s next question surprized Elizabeth, “Why do men believe women cannot think? Why are we thought to be stupid?”
Elizabeth’s quill stopped moving over her notes and again, she glanced at the workmen who were on the other side of the room. Then she whispered, “I do not understand men, Miss Darcy. I think women spend their entire lives trying to understand them.”
Miss Darcy frowned but turned toward the painting of her mother, “My mother and father were married for seventeen years but no one speaks of them being happy. But my brother tells me that my mother was happy that I was coming, and she loved me.”
“It shows in the painting Miss Darcy,” Elizabeth assured the girl. “The artist may not have completed the background but anyone looking at your mother’s portrait can see that she was happy.”
“Mrs Annesley will be better tomorrow, and we shall continue our study of the sonnets. May we come and discuss them with you?”
“I should like that very much,” Elizabeth agreed. “We can try to discuss them in French.”
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