Chapter 13
Jane and Elizabeth fell into one another’s arms in a reunion full of emotion and tears.
On the very day the Bingleys returned from Bath, the happy couple came to dine with the Gardiners, where Elizabeth had been impatiently waiting for them.
They arrived late in the afternoon, and Mr Gardiner led the delighted bridegroom away from the parlour, where the ladies wished to hear Jane’s account of her honeymoon.
Happiness brightened her beautiful face. Looking at her, Elizabeth perceived the subtle change that had taken place. Womanhood seemed to emanate from her whole person as a testimony to her contentment.
“I wrote to Mama and Papa, and they agreed that you, Kitty, and Lydia should stay with us for at least two weeks, until we all leave together for home.” Jane blushed with pleasure, remembering that “home” now meant the beautiful estate so near Longbourn.
“I am sorry to see Elizabeth go,” Mrs Gardiner said, “but I hope she will have the opportunity of meeting people of her own age.”
“Of course she will!” exclaimed Kitty. “In Bath, I was astonished by how many friends Mr Bingley has. I hope we shall see them here in London as well.”
She began to tell them of events, balls, and parties, and of the Royal Crescent, where residents and visitors walked out to see and be seen.
“Yes, Kitty is quite right. You should see the imposing sweep of houses and the broad promenade of flagstones before them. We walked there every day for at least an hour,” Jane continued.
“And Bath Street,” Lydia cried eagerly, “the shopping street. Imagine—there are colonnades on both sides, sheltering the sedan chairs that carry visitors between the baths!”
As Mrs Gardiner tried to follow Kitty’s and Lydia’s enthusiastic accounts, she observed Elizabeth from time to time.
It might not be prudent for her niece to move into the Bingleys’ house.
Mr Darcy’s silence and his absence from Jane’s wedding spoke more plainly than any direct explanation.
He clearly did not wish to see her, and yet a meeting would be almost unavoidable under Bingley’s roof.
There would be frequent dinners and visits between friends.
As no one knew of the failed proposal, Jane and Charles might very well invite Darcy while Elizabeth was staying with them.
And that might lead only to a fresh calamity.
“Do you truly wish to go?” Mrs Gardiner asked her quietly.
“Yes, I do,” Elizabeth whispered, and Mrs Gardiner could not help but feel sorry for her. Despite all evidence, her niece still hoped that a meeting with Mr Darcy might alter everything.
During the previous fortnight, Elizabeth had appeared better.
She had even accepted an invitation to dine with the Bingley sisters.
Louisa and Caroline acted exactly as their brother had instructed them, for once in a manner impossible to misunderstand.
If they did not establish a peaceful relationship with the whole Bennet family, he would put an end to any close intercourse with his sisters.
He had almost commanded that, during his absence, Louisa must invite Elizabeth and the Gardiners either to dinner or to a morning visit.
They had understood that the wisest course was to fulfil Charles’s wishes.
The dinner, if not pleasant, would at least be civil.
Elizabeth had agreed to go only in the hope of hearing some news of Mr Darcy. Yet, to her surprise, the two sisters knew very little of him. As they had few other topics of conversation, it was not long before they mentioned Darcy.
“Mrs Maria Townshend told us that she saw Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr Darcy at Lady Axton’s on the last Thursday of the Season,” Caroline said, in a tone that seemed to imply she knew much more.
“Who is Lady Axton?” Elizabeth asked.
Louisa and Caroline exchanged a brief glance, as though wondering how anyone could fail to know so important a lady.
“Lady Axton’s Thursday party is one of the most fashionable events in London.
She has a beautiful house where she invites the most influential people in town during the Season,” Louisa explained; and, to Mrs Gardiner’s satisfaction, there was not the least trace of superiority in either her tone or manner.
The same could not be said of Caroline, who continued the explanation. “Charles was also invited there last winter. It is only for high society,” she said, looking pointedly at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth behaved as though she had not noticed Caroline’s tone. It was evident they were not concealing any information from her, but with their brother away, the two sisters had no source of news about his friend. And it seemed that London itself knew nothing.
This lack of news about Darcy deepened her suffering. It seemed that he wished to hide, while whenever she closed her eyes, he filled her mind with the image of himself as she had last seen him at the parsonage.
She longed to see him with all her heart.
It was a truth she could no longer conceal from herself: she needed to meet him once more, face to face.
Not through letters or messages, not through scraps of intelligence gleaned by a gossip-hungry London, but they themselves, together, to speak of their difficulties and perhaps to clarify them.
Once the Bingleys had returned, she hoped Darcy would visit his friend.
Mrs Gardiner had been right: after weeks of despair, she had found a new hope.
∞∞∞
It did not take long for Elizabeth to move to the Bingleys’ town house.
She packed her things in an almost cheerful mood.
Early in the afternoon, Mr and Mrs Gardiner accompanied her to Jane’s new home—not without regret.
It had been pleasant to have Elizabeth with them.
She was always ready to help her young cousins or assist Mrs Gardiner with her daily tasks.
Their evenings had often passed in agreeable conversation, as aunt and uncle commented upon the news circulating through London.
With evident pride, Jane led Elizabeth to her apartments, which included a cosy sitting-room where Elizabeth discovered a pretty writing-desk.
“I do not want you ever to feel anxious about your own future or that of our family. Charles is a wonderful man, and he will take care of all of us. But I am certain that, before long, you too will find a good husband. You cannot imagine how happy I am to have you in my house in London.”
Jane continued to speak, unconscious of her sister’s silence.
She supposed everyone must be happy, since she herself was.
Elizabeth was tempted to tell her of Darcy and Hunsford, but then she thought better of it.
It was safer that Jane should know nothing.
She would speak to Bingley, and if too many people knew the secret, it might create difficulties for Darcy—or for herself.
Then Jane’s voice seemed to come from a distance, telling her how wonderful marriage was.
“You need not be afraid of becoming a wife…a woman…” she whispered, though no one else could hear them.
Jane was blushing, but she felt it important to speak, since with Kitty or Lydia she never referred to such matters. “I never imagined that I should enjoy every moment I spend with my husband…you know…”
Elizabeth nodded. At another time, she would have been eager to hear everything that related to married life. But lately, with her own chance of being Darcy’s wife so diminished, she found no pleasure in the details Jane wished to confide.
“I do not know whether my husband is extraordinary, but all the things other women told us were quite false. It is pleasant—and at times even blissful.”
She stopped again and looked at her sister. “You know, I may be…with child.” And in sharing that confidence, her happiness seemed to increase still more.
Perhaps for the first time in their lives, Elizabeth did not wish to hear Jane’s secrets.
In the past, to spend time alone with her had always been the happiest part of the day; but now too much had changed.
She rejoiced in her sister’s happiness, but in joy as in sorrow, Jane could sometimes be overwhelming.
She seemed always to require undivided attention and continual sympathy.
Elizabeth returned to the parlour with a sense of relief, but unfortunately, it did not last.
Scarcely had she taken her seat beside her aunt when Bingley began to speak, in that cheerful voice he had not been able to govern since his marriage. To him, all news appeared good news.
“It seems that the mystery of Darcy’s absence from our wedding is at last explained.”
Elizabeth looked at him, her heart beating wildly as she tried to still her trembling hands.
“My friend is going to be married!”
Around the room there were many exclamations, but Mrs Gardiner attended only to the effect of those words upon Elizabeth. Her face lost all colour, and she sat perfectly still.
“What excellent news indeed!” cried Mr Gardiner, entirely unaware of the pain those words had produced.
“Yes, most unexpected,” Bingley continued. “I think our happiness gave him the idea.”
He laughed, looking at his wife. They were rarely able to conceal their feelings and spoke openly to one another, no matter who might be present. But they were always easily forgiven.
“And whom is he to marry?” Elizabeth asked. Her voice was so altered that it made her aunt tremble; fortunately, only she perceived the change.
“You would never guess.” Bingley prolonged Elizabeth’s suspense. “His cousin—Anne de Bourgh!”
And Elizabeth let her head sink back against the sofa cushions.
It was impossible. She tried to remember Anne de Bourgh, but she had more recollections of her companion, Mrs Jenkinson.