Chapter 11 #4
The Darcys awaited them at the foot of a grand set of stairs at the front of the house.
Elizabeth had a hand raised to shield her eyes from the sun and was peering towards the carriage.
Jane waved, and her sister broke into her customary, broad smile that was all the more welcome for the three weeks Jane had spent visiting strangers.
For a moment, Elizabeth was Lizzy again, and nothing else mattered—’til the horses stopped and Bingley sprang from the carriage, issuing typically effusive greetings and leaving a footman to hand Jane and Caroline down.
“I am very glad you are come, Jane,” Elizabeth said to her after they had embraced. “It is wonderful to see you.”
Her feelings in disarray, it was all Jane could do to smile at her.
“Welcome to Pemberley,” came Mr Darcy’s sonorous greeting.
Jane felt a small frisson of alarm upon meeting his gaze. He regarded her with peculiar intensity, his expression not cold precisely but with little of the welcome his words professed.
“Thank you,” she replied, thoroughly disconcerted.
“I trust your journey was agreeable?”
“Perfectly so, I thank you.”
“You say so only because you were able to sleep, Jane dearest,” Caroline interrupted. “I shall not be so obedient, Mr Darcy, but shall declare that it was a perfectly horrid journey, too hot and too long by half. We are all excessively fatigued.”
“I am sorry to hear that, Miss Bingley.”
Elizabeth assured them there was plenty of time to rest before dinner and ushered them all into the house. The hall into which they walked was magnificent—and as large as Longbourn. Jane could not help but gape at the grandeur.
“How do you like Pemberley then, Jane?” Bingley enquired, loudly enough that everybody was included in awaiting her answer.
“It is a very fine house, though I have not seen much of it yet.”
“Should you like a tour before dinner?” Elizabeth enquired. “I shall endeavour not to get us lost.”
“An excellent idea!” Bingley answered for them all. “May I join you?”
“Of course! Though I cannot imagine I will be able to tell you any more than you have already heard from Mrs Reynolds.”
“Sshh!” Bingley implored dramatically. “Say no more, lest my impertinence be found out!”
Oh. Her sister and husband had a private joke. How wonderful.
“Too late, Bingley, you are already discovered,” Mr Darcy said.
Bingley clutched at his heart with both hands. “Lizzy! You have betrayed me! How could you?”
“It could not be avoided, I am afraid. I am allowed no secrets,” Elizabeth replied, glancing coyly at her husband before indicating they should all follow her upstairs.
Bingley frowned between them both but nonetheless shrugged and came towards Jane. “Shall we?”
Jane smiled wearily and took his proffered arm.
“Here we are then,” he said, quietly this time. “It is quite something, is it not?”
“It certainly is.”
“You will like it here, I think. I hope. It is much more comfortable, much grander than…well, that is, I know Caroline has disdained our accommodation on this trip. I apologise if you have been disappointed. I procured the finest lodgings available with your comfort in mind.”
“Oh, that is very thoughtful. And they were! Fine, that is. Thank you.”
“But of course! Nothing but the best for Mrs Bingley.”
Such solicitude was of vast comfort to Jane’s distrustful heart. When he leant closer, it fluttered in anticipation of what further assurances of his esteem he might bestow.
“Do you think your sister looks a little pale?”
It was extremely fortunate Caroline had made such a show of declaring them all fatigued, for it excused Jane from any curiosity as to the peculiarly lengthy amount of time she took to overcome her pique at this remark.
She eventually left her room so late there was time enough for only a truncated tour of the principal rooms before dinner.
Through seven courses, she then listened to everybody’s raptures for the proposed round of picnics, phaeton rides, fishing, hunting, luncheons, cards, music and more that Elizabeth had planned.
None of it persuaded Jane the week ahead would not feel an eternity to her.
Saturday 5 September 1812, Derbyshire
Elizabeth was true to her word. There was scarcely a moment over the next three days that was not taken up with some entertainment or other.
Saturday heralded the first idle morning of Jane’s visit, and she and Caroline were enjoying the balmy summer air in a room whose French windows opened onto a pretty lawn.
The gentlemen had taken themselves off for a spot of shooting, and later that afternoon, the ladies, joined by some others from the neighbourhood, planned to picnic by the lake.
Ever somewhat anxious of meeting new people, Jane enquired of her sister whether she was acquainted with any of those due to attend.
Caroline replied that she had met Mrs Castleton, but not her daughter, whom she did not believe was yet out.
“Yes, that is as Lizzy said. She hopes Miss Castleton and Miss Darcy will become better acquainted now they have both finished school and will be in the country more often.”
“It must be a relief to know there are some families in the neighbourhood willing to overlook how far beneath his sphere Mr Darcy has married.”
At that moment, the door opened, and Elizabeth herself joined them.
Jane glanced at Caroline in alarm lest they had been overheard, but Elizabeth exhibited no sign of it.
She was occupied ushering somebody into the room—a young girl in scruffy apparel with a mane of unkempt hair around her unwashed face.
The child’s expression was one of utter disbelief as she looked about the room.
Caroline’s, Jane noticed, was not much different as she looked at the child.
“This is my sister, Mrs Bingley. And this is Miss Bingley,” Elizabeth said, pointing to each of them in turn. “Bess is one of our tenants. She got separated from her brothers coming back from Lambton this morning. I found her wandering near the kitchen gardens, quite lost.”
“So…you brought her inside?” Caroline said incredulously.
Elizabeth pressed her lips together and remained silent for a moment longer than was polite.
“She is but five years old, Miss Bingley, and frightened. And since it was my ambushing her from behind the lavender that reduced the poor girl to tears, it was the least I could do to offer her some comfort.” To Bess, she added, “We are to have some chocolate to cheer you up, are we not?”
The little girl nodded but still did not smile. Indeed, to Jane’s eye, she looked veritably terrified, no doubt as undesirous of being above stairs as Caroline was to have her there.
“Lizzy, I see that you mean well, but might it not be better to have Bess attended to in the servant’s quarters?”
Elizabeth looked at her sharply.
“Allow me to recommend you heed your sister’s advice,” Caroline cut in. “Your…generosity, far from being viewed with the appreciation for which I am sure you are striving, will much more likely scandalise the entire household.”
“You must not concern yourself for my household, madam,” Elizabeth replied and looked as though she might have said more had the entrance of servants with refreshments not forestalled it.
The little girl’s eyes could not have opened any wider when she beheld the selection of cakes set before her.
Jane found the length of time she took to choose one, assessing each with close scrutiny, remarkably endearing.
At Elizabeth’s request, the child gabbled an animated account of how she had come to be lost, spraying crumbs everywhither as she spoke.
Jane could not help but smile despite Caroline’s indignant disgust.
Before very long, however, Elizabeth remarked that the child’s family must be worried and that it was time for her to return home.
“But I don’t know the way,” the girl whimpered.
“I shall not send you off alone,” Elizabeth assured her. After peering briefly from the window, she added, “Indeed, I shall see you back myself. A walk would be delightful in this weather. Will either of you join us?” she enquired, looking at Jane and Caroline.
There was a pause; then Caroline answered very slowly as though speaking to a simpleton. “You wish us to accompany you on foot to what I can only presume is a farmyard?”
“Pardon me,” Elizabeth replied, her tone even but her eyes flinty. “I recall now you are not fond of walking. Of course, you must not feel obliged. Jane, will you come? Bullscroft is but a few miles away.”
“Well…” Jane faltered when Caroline rolled her eyes. “Think you it is quite proper, Lizzy? Ought you not to send her with a footman?”
“I assume your answer is no,” Elizabeth replied coldly.
Jane could think of nothing to say that would not displease one of her sisters; thus, she said nothing. Elizabeth stood and beckoned for the child to do likewise. “Then I shall leave you both in peace.”
“I suppose we ought to be grateful she did not decide to bring the little wretch to the picnic,” Caroline said after they were gone. “I doubt Mr Darcy’s neighbours would be quite that forbearing.”
Jane shivered, though whether from the gust of wind that blew in from the garden or the vague and unwelcome sense of guilt, she could not be sure.
She asked a servant to close the doors and excused herself from further conversation to read a book.
After four chapters, she began to wish she had joined Elizabeth on her walk, but she was saved from her ennui when Miss Darcy arrived, looking for her sister.
“She walked out,” Miss Bingley informed her. “She ought to be back soon, for she must have left an hour ago, and we all know what an excellent walker she is.”