Chapter Nine
Look, Lizzy,” Mrs. Bennet said. “I spent a good amount of time last night altering Jane’s dress to fit you.”
“Mama, this is one of Jane’s favourite gowns!” Elizabeth protested at once.
“No matter; the Gardiners have given her new clothing, you recall. What is important right now is for you to make the best possible impression on Mr. Bingley! And you, Mary, are to wear that brown thing that you got two seasons ago.”
“It hardly fits me now, Mama,” Mary said.
“No matter. The worse you look, the better Lizzy looks beside you, do you not see?”
“Mama,” Elizabeth began, her voice hard.
“It is all right; I do not mind,” Mary said, quietly, tugging on Elizabeth’s hand.
***
“Miss Bennet, Miss Mary Bennet,” Mr. Howard intoned. He winked at the Bennet girls, both of whom he had known for most of their lives, as he announced them to Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley, who sat stiffly in the drawing room.
Mrs. Hurst introduced the Bennets to her sister, who rose, executed a brief curtsey and sat back down.
“Thank you for coming,” Mrs. Hurst said, doing her best to sound sincere.
Charles would not wish for her to alienate their new neighbours and Caroline would not be at all helpful in this regard, so it was up to her.
“As you know, my family has never owned an estate, and so we are not at all certain as to our responsibilities. We are grateful that you are willing to share your own experience with us. Are we not, Caroline?” She shot a hard look at her sister.
“Grateful, indeed,” Miss Bingley said. Her tone was caustic.
Elizabeth immediately understood Miss Bingley to be an enemy to her campaign to marry Mr. Bingley, and thus determined to do her best to win the woman over. “Miss Bingley, we were sorry not to see you at Longbourn last week; I hope you are finding Netherfield Park to your liking?”
“The country is dirty,” Miss Bingley replied, flicking her skirts as if shaking out dust.
Mary shot an astonished glance at her sister, but Elizabeth nodded at Miss Bingley, saying, “It is, indeed. I am not at all surprised that a young woman of refinement, such as yourself, is unhappy to find herself in such circumstances. But we women must do our best to accommodate the men in our lives, must we not?”
“It seems so,” Miss Bingley replied, thawing ever so slightly.
“At least Netherfield has a lovely pianoforte! I believe your sister mentioned that you play.”
“I have had the benefit of London’s best masters!” Miss Bingley said, straightening her shoulders.
Mary, who had by now caught on to Elizabeth’s stratagem, said, “How I envy you, Miss Bingley! I play a little, but I am certain my playing could not possibly compare with yours. How I long to hear you play!”
“Well, I shall certainly play for you one day,” Miss Bingley replied, with something that might have been a smile on her face.
“Oh! You are here! Louisa, I thought you would let me know when the Bennet ladies arrived!” Mr. Bingley walked into the drawing room.
“They have just now done so, Charles,” Mrs. Hurst said.
Mr. Bingley bowed to Elizabeth and Mary, asked after their health, and then seated himself as near to Elizabeth as the furniture arrangement permitted.
“We are just getting to know your youngest sister a bit, Mr. Bingley,” Elizabeth said. “I understand that she is a superior performer, and Mary and I both long to hear her play.”
“She is,” Mr. Bingley said. “Though I was very much charmed by your own performance, Miss Mary, and by the enchanting sound of Miss Bennet’s alto!” He grinned widely at them.
Elizabeth was aware of the danger of allowing Miss Bingley to hear too much praise of her abilities, so she turned the conversation at once. “May we discuss the tenants of your estate?”
“By all means,” Mrs. Hurst said. “I have writing materials at hand.”
“Very well.” Elizabeth took a deep breath before continuing. “Netherfield Park has twenty tenant farms. There is room for another five, but the absence of a landlord in residence has made it difficult to rent them out.”
“Why is that?” Mr. Bingley asked, leaning forward.
“Because when there is no permanent estate owner, there is no guarantee of support from the estate. We girls were able to bring food, clothing, and what medicines we can make ourselves, but we do not have the funds to repair roofs, raise fences, or do anything that requires actual money. So you can understand that tenant farmers will not wish to move into a tenancy that will not include such repairs.”
Mr. Bingley turned to his sisters. “Darcy is always talking about roofs, adding on rooms, and the like.”
“Darcy?” Elizabeth asked.
Miss Bingley took it upon herself to answer. “Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy is a very dear friend of ours. He owns an enormous estate in Derbyshire called Pemberley. I suppose you have never heard of it.”
“No, I have not,” Elizabeth said. “I have never been to Derbyshire.”
“We have been invited to Pemberley twice, and it is little short of a palace!” Miss Bingley was now clearly in raptures. “Yes, a palace! Hundreds of servants, attending to one’s every need!”
“Doubtless he has a good many tenants as well,” Elizabeth said, dryly.
“I know that he does,” Mr. Bingley said, earnestly. “And I also know that he takes his responsibilities very seriously.”
Mrs. Hurst put in, “And would doubtless expect his wife to do the same.” She shot a quick glance at her younger sister as she spoke.
Elizabeth did not miss that glance. Ah, so that is the way the wind blows, she thought. Miss Bingley has set her cap for this Mr. Darcy! Well, good luck to them both; it was no concern of hers.
“But you and your sister tend to Longbourn’s tenants? Not your mother?” Mrs. Hurst asked.
“Our mother certainly did so when we were younger, but such responsibilities were put into our hands as soon as we were old enough to execute them, as part of our training,” Mary said.
“So tell us, then – what, precisely, is involved?” Mr. Bingley asked.
Elizabeth began, “The tenants are dependent on the harvests for their economic success. If the harvest is good, then they generally have enough to eat, but if the harvest is poor, for any reason, it falls to the estate owner to provide food for the tenant family.”
Mary said, “The women can sew clothing, of course, but the fabric for that clothing is not always within their means. Also, if there are a good many children, the women are often too busy tending them to have the time to sit and sew. My sisters and I spend a good deal of our time sewing for the tenants and the children.”
Mr. Bingley, leaning forward, said, “Darcy sends food baskets to the tenants with some regularity.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Food baskets containing items that the tenants cannot grow for themselves are highly prized. It is nothing for the big house to put up jars of jam in the pantry, but such jars would be considered great treats to a tenant. Toys for children are highly prized luxuries, and are usually included in the tenants’ Christmas boxes. ”
“Christmas boxes?” Mrs. Hurst asked.
“Well, you give gifts to your servants at Christmas time, do you not?” Mary asked.
Mr. Bingley and Mrs. Hurst nodded; Miss Bingley flushed and looked away.
Mary went on, “It is the same idea; the estate owner gives – well, it is usually baskets, not boxes, but in any case, each tenant is given an assortment of items particular to his own situation. A tenant family with a good many children would receive more in the way of toys and sweets, whereas a family with fewer children might receive fewer toys and sweets, but perhaps more in the way of ordinary foodstuffs and dress material.”
“The estate house also generally has a stillroom with various herbal remedies. The estate owner sees to it that these remedies are made available to the tenants as needed,” Elizabeth added. “I enjoy working with herbs, so I run the stillroom at Longbourn.”
“And in the absence of a landlord here at Netherfield, you have been doing all this for our tenants?” Mr. Bingley asked in amazement.
“We have done our best,” Elizabeth said, biting her lip. “It has been difficult, I will admit.”
“I can only imagine!” Mr. Bingley exclaimed. “Well, as of this moment, the responsibility for the Netherfield tenants is ours, not yours.” He shot hard looks at his sisters.
“We would be grateful,” Mary said, sincerely.
“Mr. Bingley, if I may make so bold as to suggest, you should consider riding out to the farms and telling the tenants who to ask for at Netherfield when there is a particular need. And then make it a point to tour the farms at least twice a month to check on everyone’s well-being. ”
“I shall, yes! Thank you both! Why, this has been near as good as having Darcy here!” Mr. Bingley laughed. “He was to come and teach me how to run an estate, but he has been delayed.”
“Delayed?!” Miss Bingley leaned forward. “You had not told me that, Charles.” She sounded quite cross.
“I forgot,” Mr. Bingley said, cheerfully. “Yes, some sort of illness amongst Pemberley’s tenants. We can only hope that someone had the stillroom stocked!”