Chapter XIV #2
“That does not harm you in my eyes,” said Mr. Darcy, catching and raising her hand to his lips. “The situation at Netherfield is not comfortable, and Miss Bingley will be a problem.”
“You are taking precautions?” teased Elizabeth.
“I am, and Snell, my manservant, is like a gatekeeper, denying access to anyone he deems unworthy.” Mr. Darcy offered her a wry smile. “You need have no fear of her entering my rooms at night, for Snell has everything well in hand.”
“Then what do you propose?”
“A courtship,” said Mr. Darcy. “It would formalize our relationship but would not bind you to anything before you are ready.”
Before Elizabeth could respond, Miss Bingley, apparently unable to sit by any longer, confronted them. “Mr. Darcy!” cried she, her tone approaching desperation. “How good of you to pay such attention to Miss Eliza.”
Miss Bingley turned a poisonous leer on Elizabeth. “I see you are making a spectacle of yourself again. Perhaps you should join your sisters and not impose upon Mr. Darcy.”
“Standing in a sitting-room and speaking with a gentleman?” asked Elizabeth coolly. “That is an interesting definition of the word spectacle.”
“I could have left at any time of my choosing, Miss Bingley,” added Mr. Darcy.
Then he turned to Elizabeth. “What say you, Miss Elizabeth? Have I your agreement?”
It was a breach of propriety to speak of a subject to which one of their number was not privy, but a minor one. Miss Bingley looked on with suspicion and opened her mouth to speak, but Elizabeth replied before she could unleash her vitriol.
Elizabeth gazed into Mr. Darcy’s eyes, then decided she had no desire to deny him. “Very well, Mr. Darcy. You may make it official at any time of your choosing.”
The grin that spread over his handsome face suited him well. “Then, if you will excuse me.”
Mr. Darcy stepped away and approached Mrs. Hill, who had entered the room with a tray of cakes from Longbourn’s kitchens.
When the gentleman spoke in a low tone, she listened, then a smile spread over her face, her eyes flicking to Elizabeth.
Mrs. Hill had always considered the Bennet sisters akin to her own daughters, of whom there were three. Assenting, she led him from the room.
The moment he was gone, Miss Bingley turned her displeasure on Elizabeth. “You have a singular talent for discouraging men of consequence, Miss Eliza. Perhaps you should have married Mr. Collins—since you have declined, I cannot imagine any other fate but that of an old maid awaits you.”
Though laughter hovered on the tip of Elizabeth’s tongue, she refrained from releasing it.
Miss Bingley already suspected what had taken Mr. Darcy from the room, but her pride and conceit had led her to a mean-spirited attack instead of retreat.
As Elizabeth cared nothing for her opinion, there was no reason to belabor this conversation.
“It may be as you say, Miss Bingley. Then again, perhaps you do not know all you believe.”
With that, Elizabeth withdrew to sit near Georgiana and Mary, who were engaged in a discussion of music.
For several moments, Elizabeth sat nearby, venturing a comment when necessary, watching Miss Bingley for signs of misbehavior.
The moment Elizabeth left her, she had taken herself to her sister’s side, where they sat engaged in a quiet but heated discussion.
Then Mr. Darcy returned, following Mr. Bennet.
“Lizzy, come here,” said her father, extending his hand.
Elizabeth rose and approached, taking her father’s hand and allowing him to kiss her cheek in a rare show of affection. Then he looked into her eyes and addressed her in a low voice.
“Are you certain you want this, my dear?”
“It is a mere courtship, Papa. Mr. Darcy gave me good reasons. I do not love him yet, but he is growing in my esteem.”
Mr. Bennet nodded, then turned to address the room. “Mrs. Bennet, there appears to be romance in the air. Not only is your eldest daughter now engaged, but Darcy here accosted me in my study not five minutes ago and requested my permission for a courtship with your second daughter.”
“A courtship?” Mrs. Bennet and Miss Bingley said together; from the former it was a demand, while from the latter it was nothing less than a gasp.
“Yes, a courtship,” replied Mr. Bennet, enjoying himself.
“This will allow them greater leniency and the ability to learn more about each other as you well know. If Darcy had asked for an engagement at this time, I would not have agreed, and Elizabeth would have rejected it. So, a courtship is a reasonable compromise.”
“Oh, Elizabeth!” exclaimed Georgiana, rising to her feet and throwing herself in Elizabeth’s arms. “I am so happy! I shall have a sister!”
“We are not engaged yet, dearest,” said Mr. Darcy to his exuberant sister.
No one missed the significance of the word “yet.”
Mrs. Bennet appeared to believe this was a step in the right direction; she rose and exclaimed her approbation, embracing Elizabeth while her sisters congregated around her.
Mr. Bingley voiced his enthusiastic approval, and even Mr. Hurst offered his gruff felicitations, though Elizabeth noted the sly expression he directed at his sister-in-law.
Miss Bingley appeared frozen in place, her dumbfounded expression turning to fury, while Mrs. Hurst watched her with apprehension. Elizabeth, however, did not care for Miss Bingley’s opinion. Her happiness and that of her family were what mattered.
And Mr. Darcy’s happiness of course. The gentleman took the congratulations in stride, staying close to Elizabeth. The rest all fell away. Elizabeth did not know how it would all end, but she was beginning to think that he might succeed.
NO ONE AT ALL ACQUAINTED with Miss Bingley could suppose she would confess defeat so easily.
The woman remained at Netherfield, determined to make her case and to display to Mr. Darcy her superiority over Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
How long she might have persisted was unknown to all but her, for even after Mr. Darcy proposed and Elizabeth accepted, she did not cease her campaign; if anything, she intensified her efforts. That was when Mr. Bingley stepped in.
“Caroline, that is quite enough,” said he one morning a few days after the engagement became official. “You have made your appeal, and Darcy has remained unmoved. It is time to allow this doomed pursuit to rest.”
“This is all your fault,” spat she. “If you hadn’t returned to this speck of a town, none of this would have happened.”
“To my detriment.” Bingley glared at his sister. “Do not suppose that I have forgotten your actions, Caroline. What you overlook in your ambition to climb society’s ladder is that we must all choose our course. Darcy possesses this right as much as I do, regardless of your wishes.”
“You have ruined our family in society,” accused Caroline. “We shall never be what we could have been had you only chosen properly.”
Bingley shook his head. “Your opinion matters little. Now, Caroline, you will cease this objectionable behavior toward Darcy—I shall not tolerate it any longer.”
When she fixed him with a mulish glare, Bingley returned it with interest. “Remember, Sister dearest, that I control your dowry and you live in my house at my sufferance. At any time of my choosing, I can set up an establishment for you, funded with your money. Furthermore, remember that Darcy can cut all acquaintance with you whenever he wishes.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It is a reminder of the realities of your situation. If you persist in this futile attempt to draw Darcy away from Miss Elizabeth, you will discover the consequences in a manner you will not like. Choose wisely and do it soon, for I am losing patience with you.”
Perhaps it was a surprise when Miss Bingley opted to desist, though she did it without displaying any of the grace she pretended to possess.
It was not long after the confrontation with her brother that Miss Bingley declared her unwillingness to stay at Netherfield any longer and returned to town with the Hursts.
No one in Hertfordshire was sad to see her go, for she had become surly, snapping at perceived slights and treating all with disdain.
“She is determined to make a match in London even higher than what I could have given her,” said Mr. Darcy when they discussed it.
Elizabeth grinned at her fiancée. “How likely is she to achieve that end?”
“Considering her reputation as a fortune hunter and her attempts with me, I would say so small as to be nonexistent.”
“Poor Miss Bingley.”
The extent of Miss Bingley’s success shall be left to the reader’s imagination, except to say that she remained aloof from her brother forever after.
When she married, she maintained ties with Mrs. Hurst, but they were not close.
As the distance between her husband’s estate and Mr. Hurst’s was substantial, she was not often in her company.
After their season of courtship and engagement, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet met at the church and were joined in matrimony.
In this, Elizabeth followed her elder sister in marriage—the Bingleys were joined several months earlier, in the same church near Longbourn.
The Bingleys relocated to the north, purchasing an estate not ten miles from Pemberley with Mr. Darcy’s assistance.
When their children arrived, they grew up with each other, becoming almost as close as siblings.
Mrs. Bennet, having achieved her dream of seeing her daughters settled in marriage, forever after boasted of Mrs. Darcy and Mrs. Bingley, until the other matrons in the neighborhood had heard quite enough of her two successful daughters.
That did not prevent her from continuing to scheme, for she still had three other daughters who needed husbands.
In this, her husband—quite sensibly in his own mind—suggested their other daughters’ best interests might be served in mingling with those elements of society to which their husbands had access.
Thus, the three younger Bennet sisters all made matches with little fuss or bother on their father’s part, though Mrs. Bennet insisted on being part of the process.
It was fortunate for their standing that Mrs. Bennet heeded her sons-in-law’s warnings and comported herself with restraint, though she remained invariably silly.
In a world that prized restraint, silliness could be tolerated.
Mrs. Bennet’s awe for the sight of high society in its glory might have had something to do with her silence.
As for Georgiana, she followed her new sister’s example and learned more confidence, though she remained shier and less likely to draw attention to herself. In time, Georgiana also drew the attention of a worthy man and followed her brother’s example in making a match with a man she loved.
Mr. Wickham, Georgiana’s former tormentor, was never seen again in England.
What happened to him, Elizabeth was never to know—Mr. Darcy might have had some knowledge, but he never spoke of his childhood adversary again, content to leave him in the past. After he was taken from Meryton, Mr. Wickham was transferred to the regulars and sent to fight in Spain, and that was the last they heard from him.
Mr. and Mrs. Darcy lived in felicity ever after, and they attributed their happy state to Mr. Bingley, who, by returning to Hertfordshire, made their reunion possible.
That Miss Bingley also played a role in reuniting them was not lost on either, but as the lady in question would not appreciate the reminder, they kept their own counsel.
Through the years, they learned to understand each other and resolve any misunderstandings, knowing that each had misjudged the other’s intentions.
In this, they learned contentment, support, love, and happiness that they might not have found had they persisted to think the worst of each other.
The End