Chapter 25. Miss de Bourgh’s Pleasant Picnic
In the early light of the following morning, Elizabeth and Jane made their way along the path from the parsonage toward the gardens of the manor house.
The sisters were silent, enjoying the songs of the birds and the distant calls of animals moving from barns to fields.
Stepping around a wall that outlined a formal garden, Elizabeth and Jane found Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley approaching from the house.
“Good morning, Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth,” Darcy greeted the ladies. “If you have no objection, Mr Bingley and I thought we should join in your walk this morning.”
Glancing first at Jane who nodded, Elizabeth replied, “You are welcome to accompany us on our walk, sir.”
Darcy walked beside Elizabeth while Mr Bingley and Jane followed behind.
“The gardens are certainly lovely,” Elizabeth commented. “Rosings Park has some ancient plantings.”
“I believe the de Bourgh family purchased the estate a century ago and rebuilt the house only fifty years ago. There has been an estate here for several centuries.”
“The gardens are very extensive,” Elizabeth observed. “I have spoken to six different gardeners and seen others at work.”
“Lady Catherine expends funds she does not have to maintain gardens and the house in the manner she does. If she entertained the king or any of the royal princes, I would understand the expense, but my aunt does not even step out into the gardens herself and the only regular guests at Rosings are myself and Colonel Fitzwilliam. This year I brought Mr Bingley and my sister instead of my cousin.”
“Where is the colonel this year?”
Darcy looked away for a moment before answering, “He is serving with the army in Spain. They intend to drive the French back to the Pyrenees this summer.”
“And your attendance helps in what way?” Elizabeth asked as they entered the formal garden with trimmed hedges and gravel paths.
A smile twitched on Mr Darcy’s lips for a moment as he explained. “I come to reassure the steward that his services are valued, attempt to limit my aunt’s interference with the tenants, and encourage my cousin to assert herself with her mother.”
“Miss de Bourgh?”
Darcy nodded. “Anne is five-and-twenty, and she could take control of Rosings if she wanted. However, she has been content to allow her mother to continue to be mistress from year to year.”
“And your aunt’s insistence that you marry her daughter?” Elizabeth blushed, “I apologize, sir. My mother frequently reminds me that I speak what is on my mind too freely.”
“My aunt speaks of the marriage frequently though I remind her every year that such an event will not occur. My cousin and I are not suited for one another in any way,” Mr Darcy assured his companion.
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“Miss Darcy speaks kindly of you and your sister, Miss Bennet,” Mr Bingley told his lovely companion. “She has blossomed and become more confident since knowing Miss Elizabeth.”
“Elizabeth insists that Miss Darcy is an intelligent young woman who only needed encouragement and confidence to become sure of herself. I understand that Mr Darcy wants his sister to become a self-assured woman.”
Mr Bingley sighed, “Sisters are confusing creatures at the very best of times.”
Jane laughed, causing Mr Bingley to smile. “Mr Bingley, I have four sisters and can only echo your sentiments. I attempt to direct my younger sisters but find their natures often lead them into different endeavours.”
“Four? I have only heard you mention two others besides Miss Elizabeth.”
Jane looked away for a moment but then explained, “Our youngest sister, Lydia has already married and left home last autumn.”
Mr Bingley recognized that the situation with the youngest sister might be painful for Miss Bennet to discuss so he changed the subject.
“My eldest sister, Mrs Hurst is expecting her first child this spring. My younger sister Caroline attends her at the Hurst home in London.”
“And will you enjoy being an uncle, Mr Bingley?”
“I believe I shall,” replied he. “Children are lovely and fun!”
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Elizabeth bent over to smell the fragrance of a daffodil in a formal bed and Mr Darcy stepped around to her side. “May I pick a few for you Miss Elizabeth?”
“Thank you, no. I shall pick some of the wild ones along the path back to the parsonage to place in the parlour, but I would not disturb this perfect garden by removing any blooms.”
“My home, Pemberley, has an extensive rose garden and the gardeners provide stems for the house most days in the summer.”
“But roses do well when they are pruned appropriately,” Elizabeth explained. “A daffodil must wait the year complete before another flower can bloom.”
Darcy smiled. “And do you care for roses at your home?”
“I do,” Elizabeth said as she turned and smiled at Mr Darcy before they continued through a gate in the wall.
Darcy was pleasantly engaged imaging another scene where Elizabeth Bennet would say ‘I do’ before she continued with him down a lane with Mr Bingley and Miss Bennet following behind.
‘I am lost to this wonderful woman,’ he admitted to himself at that moment. ‘And nothing else matters but to gain her hand.’
“Miss Elizabeth,” he said offering his arm. “May I escort you back to the parsonage?”
Looking up with surprise at the gentleman’s request, she took his arm and agreed. “Of course, Mr Darcy.”
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“It appears that we are to have a picnic,” Jane announced at dinner one evening, reading a note that had been delivered by a footman from Rosings just before the meal began.
“Really Miss Bennet, a picnic would be entirely too rustic for my tastes,” Mr Collins replied. “It would require the servants to venture...”
“Mr Collins!” Jane interrupted the parson with a bright smile.
“Miss de Bourgh has decided on the picnic, and she invites us to attend her on the morrow in the meadow beyond the first farm. They have not allowed the cattle into the field this spring and the meadow is smooth as silk this week according to the steward.”
“Miss de Bourgh has invited us to a picnic?” Mr Collins now exclaimed. “How beneficent of the lady to turn her attentions upon our humble parsonage.”
He glanced at Mrs Gardiner before asking Jane, “Did Miss de Bourgh mention the young Gardiners?”
Mrs Gardiner kept her face calm though Elizabeth smirked openly–Mr Collins found the noise of three children to be trying.
“Her note mentions that she will send kites and flags for the children to enjoy in a picnic in the garden here at Hunsford tomorrow,” Jane said sharing the letter with her aunt and then sister.
“Miss de Bourgh is very kind,” Mrs Gardiner agreed. “I shall send a note of thanks on the following day.”
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Early the next morning, Jane and Elizabeth watched three wagons with tables, chairs, hampers and servants roll pass the parsonage heading toward the meadow.
“I expect our definition of the necessary items for a picnic will change after today, Jane,” the younger sister confided as they gathered a few daffodils from the roadside for the parsonage again.
When the hour to venture into the meadow arrived, they heard a commotion outside the parsonage and hurried to find horses and carts aplenty in the lane.
Miss de Bourgh smiled as she held the reins of the horse pulling her phaeton, Georgiana laughed and waved carefully as she held the reins of a pony cart, and the two gentlemen from Rosings on horseback, smiling.
“Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth are to ride with me!” Georgiana announced as Darcy and Charles dismounted to assist the Bennet sisters into the pony cart.
“Mr Collins, would you be kind enough to attend me as my escort?” Miss de Bourgh asked.
Thunderstruck and speechless, Mr Collins stood rooted just outside the door of the parsonage until Mr Darcy prompted him to approach the phaeton.
Miss de Bourgh slipped over, giving Mr Collins room on the small seat.
After securing the door of the pony cart behind Jane and Elizabeth, the gentlemen mounted their horses once more and everyone heard Mr Darcy warn his sister and his cousin both to hold their horses to safe speeds.
“My brother fears that my cousin and I plan to race to the meadow,” Georgiana confided to her two passengers.
There were moments of excitement on the road–Bingley and Darcy took several fences and once the two men were off the road, Georgiana encouraged the two ponies to faster speed, and they drew close to the phaeton though Miss de Bourgh smiled at her cousin before she spoke to her horse and pulled ahead comfortably.
Mr Collins kept one hand securely on the railing of the phaeton and the other held his hat upon his head.
“I must invite Anne to visit at Pemberley–my ponies there cannot be beaten!” Georgiana exclaimed.
“I am certain if your ponies did not have three passengers to pull today, they would have kept pace with Miss de Bourgh’s horse,” Elizabeth said.
Upon reaching the meadow, Elizabeth was astounded to find the servants had transformed the natural meadow into a formal garden with three large tents, tables, chairs, and sideboards.
The footmen were dressed in their standard uniforms from Rosings, and they escorted the gentle folk to their seats around the table for tea followed by archery and croquet before the luncheon of roasted quail, cheese, breads and small beer.
Elizabeth and Jane exchanged laughs to be served tea in fine porcelain teacups while cattle stood at the nearby fence and calves cavorted about the pasture.
After the fine luncheon, Miss de Bourgh captivated Mr Collins once again and led him to the croquet wickets to improve their skills with ball and mallet.
“Miss Bennet, do you care to join Mr Collins?” Mr Bingley asked.
Glancing first at Mr Collins and then back to Mr Bingley, Jane smiled indulgently. “Thank you, no, Mr Bingley. He entertains our hostess admirably. Shall we discuss fences and cattle?”
Bingley laughed and offered his arm. Jane welcomed his attentions, and they strolled around the meadow in private conversation that certainly did not involve more than one or two comments on the fences and cattle grazing in the next pasture.
Under a tree, with a blanket spread on the grass, Darcy and Elizabeth discussed poetry and books with Georgiana.
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Late in the afternoon, Mrs Gardiner asked her nieces about the picnic when Mr Collins retired to his study to work on his sermon for the approaching Sunday.
“Aunt, I was surprised at the linen tablecloths on dining room furniture in the middle of the meadow,” Jane admitted. “But it prepared me when the footman brought out Lady Catherine’s best porcelain.”
“What was the repast?” Mrs Gardiner asked noticing that Elizabeth remained lost in her thoughts.
As Jane detailed the three different courses laid before them at the picnic luncheon, Mrs Gardiner kept her eye on Elizabeth and watched her niece smile and gaze into the distance before tilting her head to the side and then sighing.
‘Elizabeth in love! I never thought to see the day,’ Mrs Gardiner realized with great pleasure.
When Jane went into the kitchen to see about supper, Mrs Gardiner moved to sit beside her younger niece and asked for more details on the activities at the picnic.
“Mr Collins was faithfully attendant to Miss de Bourgh throughout the day. Mr Darcy and Miss Darcy were most agreeable with our discussion of poetry underneath the great oak that anchored the fences,” she sighed. “And Mr Bingley entertained Jane the whole of the afternoon.”
“Jane and Mr Bingley? Did Mr Collins speak with your sister at all?”
Elizabeth looked up with a start. “Miss de Bourgh commanded all of Mr Collin’s attention–she made him ride with her in the phaeton to and from the meadow.”
Now Mrs Gardiner grew silent, and Elizabeth reached over to take her aunt’s hand.
“It was a lovely day, aunt. We created wonderful memories,” Elizabeth assured her.
But Mrs Gardiner surprised her niece by asking, “What would happen if Mr Collins fell in love with Miss de Bourgh and married her?”
Elizabeth’s eyes grew large before she answered thusly, “He would break the marriage settlement with our father and Jane would be free.”
“What of the entailment?”
“Mr Darcy explained to me that if Mr Collins broke the agreement, Jane could sue him and take the entailment for herself.”
“Did Mr Darcy explain this to you?”
Elizabeth blushed but nodded. Mrs Gardiner took Lizzy’s hand and observed, “Mr Darcy has been very dour in Kent. What has caused this change in his behaviour?”
“Lady Catherine is the cause; his aunt has been very difficult. Since his arrival at Rosings this spring, Mr Darcy discovered that his aunt has mortgaged some properties and placed Miss de Bourgh’s inheritance at great risk.
He demands economies but Lady Catherine simply suggests that he marry Miss de Bourgh and solve their financial difficulties. ”
“The nobility has need of money as much as any merchant or tradesman. It would seem they should not condemn men who work for a living, does it not?” Mrs Gardiner asked.
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