11. 14 November 1811
DARCY
After visiting the Marshalls and the Garretts, Darcy and Bingley were able to speak with two more tenant families that morning. There were no dramatic problems revealed, although a roof repair would be needed soon on the Robinsons’ cottage.
After they left the Brewers’ cottage, Darcy asked Bingley, “What did you notice about Mrs Brewer?”
“Ahh…I suppose that she might be increasing,” Bingley suggested.
“Do you have any ideas about what should be done regarding the possibility?”
“Well, I suppose that I could ask if they need anyone such as a wet nurse or…someone to help with the birth? But would she not be embarrassed if I asked such a thing?”
“I agree that she might be. So…what might you do?”
Bingley was silent for a short time, and they rode up a rise before he answered, “I suppose I could ask Mrs Nicholls to send a woman, a maid or possibly a resident of Meryton who knows of such things, just to make certain that there are no problems in the offing, and to suggest that they immediately reach out if a problem emerges.”
“Well conceived, Bingley. As I told you before, your interest and care for people will be useful in becoming a very, very good master.”
As soon as they returned to the manor house and cleaned up, Bingley met with Mrs Nicholls while Darcy knocked on Miss Bennet’s door.
Miss Elizabeth answered promptly and gave a good report, but he heard quite a lot of coughing during the short time they spoke. “I suppose,” he hazarded, “that you are giving your sister hot tea with honey to suppress the cough?”
“I am. The maids are urging me to give Jane laudanum, but I feel that there is some danger with that medicine, and she seems to be steadily improving.”
Darcy shook his head. “I cannot abide laudanum, myself. I commend you for avoiding it.”
“I will see you at dinner, I suppose?”
Darcy was pleased to see that Miss Elizabeth looked hopeful as she asked.
“You will.”
Darcy was supervising Bingley’s audit of the past year’s worth of records for Netherfield when there was a knock on the study door. “Come,” Bingley said.
Mr Evans stepped in, bowed, and said, “This note was delivered from Longbourn, sir.”
Bingley said, “Wait a moment, Mr Evans—let me see….” He swiftly opened the sealed note, read it, and addressed his butler once more. “Please send in Mrs Nicholls. Is there someone waiting for an answer?”
“Yes, sir. I have sent the servant to the kitchens, although his ride was short.”
“Very good.”
When Mrs Nicholls appeared, Bingley asked her to take the note up to the Bennet sisters.
He explained to Darcy that the note was from the ladies’ mother, asking if Miss Bennet was well enough to come downstairs for a visit.
“Come downstairs?” Darcy asked. “Surely she knows that she could visit her daughter in her room.”
“I was not certain what to make of the note, either, Darcy.”
It was not long before Mrs Nicholls returned and said, “Miss Elizabeth sends word that this is not a good time for a visit up or downstairs. She wrote a return note, sir, and I will be giving it to the messenger.”
“Thank you, Mrs Nicholls. Obviously, any of Miss Bennet’s family is welcome at any time, but do tell Mr Evans to let me know if someone comes, so that I might greet them.”
“I will, sir. Very good, sir.” Mrs Nicholls scurried off.
Darcy glanced down at the ledgers, feeling as if he could not care less about the lesson he and Bingley had been absorbed with just a few minutes before.
He asked his friend, “Can you tell me about Longbourn? Is there some reason Miss Bennet’s mother would not come visit her daughter in her sick room? ”
Bingley stood from his desk and paced before the fireplace.
“Longbourn is quite chaotic in a way. As I told you before, there are five daughters. What I did not tell you is that Mrs Bennet is inclined to shriek and fret and exclaim her every emotion, whether positive or negative. Sitting in the parlour and attempting to speak on polite topics is definitely not the quiet, sedate experience that calling elsewhere typically is.”
Darcy nodded. He did not relish the sound of that. But he knew for certain that he would put up with it in order to further his relationship with Elizabeth once she left Netherfield…if she consented to his calls.
A part of him hoped that Miss Bennet’s cough would linger for days, and that the two sisters might stay at Netherfield for the duration.
“As to Mr Bennet,” Bingley went on, “he strikes me as highly intelligent, but he is quite sarcastic. Honestly, he puzzles me. His wife seems desperate to marry off her daughters, in part because of the entail on the estate, but Mr Bennet seems to find the notion of men calling on, courting, and marrying his daughters both absurd—as if there was something lacking in the ladies—and also unfortunate—as if he cannot stand to see them leave home. His expressions and words and actions puzzle me, to be honest, since they seem inconsistent.”
“Lovely,” Darcy muttered. “You claim Miss Bennet has wonderful manners, and although Miss Elizabeth can speak very decidedly for someone her age, I marvel at the fact that she can maintain courtesy under…provocation.” He sent a fierce look to his friend, remembering that it was Bingley’s ill-mannered sister who had provided the provocation.
Bingley blushed. Darcy felt guilty—Bingley was, after all, attempting to help Darcy with his newly-found emotions.
“At any rate,” Darcy continued, “I wonder how Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth have developed civility if their parents have ill manners. Are the youngest three Bennet daughters as courteous and kind as the elder two?”
“No, they are not…. Both elder sisters speak of their aunt and uncle in London as their models for behaviour, and from what I have heard, they are the only two who have visited London. The younger girls only see those relations on their rare visits to Longbourn.”
Darcy excused himself, claiming a need for a walk and then a rest before changing for dinner.
“Mr Darcy!”
Happiness bloomed in Darcy’s chest as he heard a familiar voice, and he turned a bit to see that Miss Elizabeth was approaching on a branching path.
“Miss Elizabeth. May I enquire as to the health of your sister?”
“I thank you. She is coughing a bit less although she is still in the throes of several uncomfortable symptoms. Right now she is sleeping, so I wished to walk a while.”
“May I join you?”
“Please do.”
Darcy hesitated to bring up the recent exchange of notes, but he decided to take the plunge. “I saw that your mother requested to visit your sister downstairs. I hope you know that Bingley will try to do everything for your comfort, including hosting your parents and other sisters.”
“Thank you, sir, but Jane will do better not seeing our parents.”
Her voice was strained, and Darcy could think of nothing else to say in response.
After a minute or so, she spoke again. “I apologise for sounding so vexed, but you confided in me some of your family troubles this morning, and I have to admit that my own family has an entirely different assortment of problems, although ours are self-inflicted.”
“No family is perfect. Even our host has a family member or two who could…behave better.”
Miss Elizabeth laughed. “You say could behave better, but I am not so certain it is possible. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that at least one Bingley ought to behave better.”
Shaking his head, Darcy laughed ruefully.
Miss Elizabeth changed the subject, saying, “Mr Bingley mentioned that you were able to tour parts of the continent. Can you tell me some of what you saw?”
“I love speaking of it—you shall have to alert me when you have had quite enough, Miss Elizabeth. First, my bear-leader and I crossed to Ostend, in Belgium….”
Darcy enjoyed the wandering talk about his tour. Elizabeth asked intelligent questions and evinced continued curiosity and striking previous knowledge of places and sights—all garnered through reading.
“I dearly hope I can see some of those sights someday,” she said with a sigh.
“As long as the little despot is finally vanquished, I am certain you will.”
Elizabeth shot him an ironic smile. “Certain? I do not think you are apprised of my very limited future prospects, sir.”
Deciding that he had to begin showing Elizabeth his feelings and wishes, Darcy said, “I am positive that, if you wish it, there is at least one future prospect.”
She was silent. The long pause as they strode the paths of Netherfield began to worry Darcy, although he often enjoyed silence. He worried that he had rushed things and desperately hoped he had not ruined any chance he may have had.
Elizabeth’s voice, when she finally spoke, was steady. “I feel it is safe to say that you need more time to discover my flaws and foibles, to see for yourself my…imperfect family and to weigh my character, before you should state any sort of opinion about my future prospects.”
Feeling relieved that she did not seem to be closing doors—that, instead, she seemed to think that there was a future for the two of them, when he might see more of her and her family, Darcy smiled. “Again, you display wisdom uncommon for one so young.”
“Might I say that you display recklessness unusual for one so…aged?” Laughter bubbled out to soften the insult into a tease.
“No one—no one—has ever accused me of recklessness before.” Darcy grinned. “I am not entirely certain I mind.”
The long loop of the garden path had led them back to an entrance to the house, and Elizabeth stated that she must hasten back to her sister. In a moment, she was gone.