Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
The ladies all exchanged a look of distaste. They had agreed not to openly disparage his sister in Mr. Bingley’s presence, but there were limits to the ladies’ forbearance. “You need not let her have all the fun,” Elizabeth told him. “Can you not make some other plans?”
“I believe I must! Darcy tells me there is a very charming little lake at the back of the property where he likes to walk; perhaps we might obtain some little boats and make up a sailing party.”
Charlotte met Elizabeth’s eye with wicked glee, and the two friends shared a silent vision of Miss Bingley inevitably being doused in the lake. “Excellent,” Charlotte said.
After Mr. Bingley had rhapsodized about this new scheme for a while, and had been sufficiently praised by his lady, he inquired after Miss Bates.
“I confess, I like her very much,” he said with a smile.
“It did not escape my notice how well she got on with Mr. Bennet last evening. I am sorry my sister was cross – and very sorry that she wished to leave the party so early. But still, I am sure I never saw her and Mr. Bennet speaking so merrily together. I mean no offense to your guardian, Miss Bennet, but my sister often looks bored when speaking with him, or even impatient. I cannot think they have much in common at all.”
“Hmm,” Charlotte mused. “My mother once advised me that happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance – that if the dispositions of the parties are well known to each other beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least, for they always continue to grow unlike afterwards. I daresay it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life.”
Elizabeth knew – or at least hoped – her friend to be in jest, and she gave Emma a saucy smile.
“Well, what do you say to that? You have the advantage over Miss Bingley, for your engagement had been of a shorter duration than hers. But I must consider it a blessing for my guardian that he has had ample time to see Miss Bingley’s defects – forgive me, Mr. Bingley – perhaps I ought to call it their unsuitability.
I believe she begins to comprehend his defects, the chief of them being his evident tendre for Miss Bates. ”
“I am sure I have every advantage over Miss Bingley,” Emma sniffed before playfully asking Miss Chief for confirmation, which came in the form of an excited bark.
Mr. Bingley laughed. “I have known my sister to be quite competitive at times, but then she has always insisted she could never love a man who preferred another – and I am sure she would call that a defect, indeed! But Miss Woodhouse and I have every advantage, being entirely without defects ourselves.”
Jane roused herself from a moment of wretched looking reverie and shook her head; Elizabeth could see her sister struggling to affect a playful tone. “I credit your confidence, sir, far more than Charlotte’s counsel – I am sure you would never act that way yourself!”
“Well, I hope none of us shall,” Elizabeth said, trying not to single Jane out as she spoke. “Besides, we have so many grand plans for the coming weeks that it shall be impossible for anybody to be unaware of anyone else’s defects, foibles, or fancies.”
They spent a very merry hour panting together as they expounded on their plans, and Mr. Bingley was quite in his element.
When the ladies dismissed their paintings, their collection of the principal figures of Highbury was finally complete.
Emma declared that she would host a great unveiling the day after next, with a picnic luncheon.
When she lamented that it was a pity their pictures should not be framed, Mr. Bingley demanded the honor of satisfying her wish, and declared he would ride to London that very afternoon to have all of their paintings – more than a dozen in total – framed for their unveiling.
Elizabeth was glad to see Emma so well-pleased, and before they all made their way back to Milton Hall, she singled her friend out to tease her.
“My dear Emma, I believe you will enjoy an exceedingly indulgent husband! You have discovered his defect, just as Charlotte advised, and it appears to be a weakness for gratifying your every whim!”
Emma blushed and shook her head. “I knew you would say something like that; I saw the evil gleam in your eye last evening when I spoke of wedding arrangements, though I only wished to vex his sister – can you imagine, a tradesman’s daughter unwilling to be married along with a governess?”
“I must observe that you have not denied my assertion, but only changed the subject,” Elizabeth said with a laugh.
She turned her gaze toward Mr. Bingley, who was attempting to teach the puppy a trick, arcing his finger in circles above her until she hopped up on her hind paws and spun about in an enchanting twirl of brown and white fluff.
Emma looked on with a sad smile. “I am sure I might have been quite enamored with him, despite his origins, if he had not been forced upon me.”
“Is that your only objection?” Elizabeth tapped her chin thoughtfully; she must bring this information to Mr. Darcy, and see what might be done to overcome her friend’s scruples.
Emma arched an eyebrow at Elizabeth. “Say any more about it, Lizzy, and I shall tease you mercilessly about Mr. Darcy! I am sure you must be pining for your return to Milton Park. No doubt he has not joined us today to heighten your love by suspense.”
Elizabeth snorted with laughter; after hearing of Emma soundly rejecting Mr. Elton, Elizabeth had repeated every word of her cousin Collins’s odious proposal, and together the ladies had forsworn clergymen forever.
“Do you never wonder what it would be like to kiss him?”
Emma flushed bright red before she hastily turned her face away. “You are scandalous, Lizzy!”
“Oh, indeed I am, for I have been kissed before, and though I was very cross about it, I shall not deny it was a pleasant experience. In fact, I shall tell you, before I bid you adieu, that Mr. Darcy kissed my forehead last night, and at such a moment I wished I held my chin as high as Miss Bingley!”
Emma’s mouth fell open before she gave Elizabeth a bright smile, and hopped on her toes with excitement.
But Elizabeth had already espied Jane and Charlotte beckoning her to depart, and so she dipped into a supremely sarcastic curtsey before flouncing away.
Emma was left sputtering a demand for more details, but Elizabeth only waved farewell before hastening after the others as they walked off through the garden.
Back at Milton Park, Elizabeth found her father in the drawing room, reading a book while the superior sisters gossiped and Mr. Hurst snored on a sofa.
Jane had accompanied Elizabeth with the intention of speaking privately with their father about Miss Bates, but despite her sense of purpose, Elizabeth was still disappointed not to find Mr. Darcy amongst her companions.
Jane went directly to the pianoforte and Charlotte followed her to turn the pages, while Elizabeth sat down on the window seat with one of Mr. Bingley’s newly purchased volumes of poetry.
She perused it idly, attending absently to the conversation in the hope of some chance to detach her father from the others.
Mr. Bingley made ready at once to ride to London and have the pictures framed, and he was eager to boast of his intentions.
Miss Bingley sniffed and shook her head at her brother. “What a pity Miss Woodhouse’s beau Mr. Churchill is gone away, or he might have spared you the effort and expense.”
Jane fumbled over the keys of the instrument for a moment, but Charlotte laid a hand on her shoulder, and Jane recovered herself.
She cast a look of displeasure at Miss Bingley, who continued her lament.
“And what an expense, indeed! Have a care, brother, that your lady does not take advantage of you.”
“Quite right,” Charlotte drawled, giving Mr. Bingley a little smirk. “It would be positively insupportable if any lady subjected you to such ill-use.”
Mr. Bennet coughed and looked up from his book. “First the puppy, and now this? You certainly know how to woo a lady, sir. Perhaps I ought to be taking notes.”
“Nonsense, my dear,” Miss Bingley said, giving his arm a languid pat. “It is not your way, and that is just what I like about you. Miss Woodhouse is a spoilt creature, and it would do her some good to have her beau grumble at her whims as you do mine.”
Mr. Bingley looked horrified. “I cannot abide you speaking of her in such a way – she is soon to be your sister! And by the by, I need to go to London, anyhow, for I mean to retrieve our mother’s ring.”
“Charles, I am sure she wanted me to have it,” Miss Bingley protested.
“She told me to bestow it upon a woman just like Emma, and that is what I mean to do,” Mr. Bingley said firmly.
Mr. Darcy entered the parlor at that moment, and he raised his brows at his friend's assertive demeanor.
Then he looked about the room for Elizabeth, who sat up a little straighter and set aside her book as she stared back at him.
He held a bouquet of wildflowers in his hand, and he crossed the room to present it to her directly, seeming entirely unaware of their companions.
“I picked these for you, Miss Bennet, to thank you for your counsel. I have acted on your advice, and I feel wonderfully relieved.”
Elizabeth accepted the flowers and took in a deep breath of the fragrant scent. “They are beautiful, thank you. I believe I have seen these growing in the grove, by the lake.”
“Yes,” he said with a smile that conveyed he understood exactly what that place meant to her – the place where he had kissed her.