Chapter Thirty-One
The next morning at half ten, the whole party set off for Box Hill together, some on horseback and some in a caravan of open barouches.
Elizabeth had made sure that their parents were amongst those riding, and Mr. Bingley was happy to lend Miss Bates a horse and give her the encouragement she required to ride again after so many years.
Mr. Bennet rode alongside her, leaving Miss Bingley to a phaeton pulled by a pair of the slowest and most ungovernable beasts at her brother’s disposal.
Jane rode alongside Mr. Knightley as they set out, but she was soon overtaken by Frank, who had managed to escape his aunt’s clutches to join the outing.
Frank was ready to be praised for his attendance and congratulated himself at length for having won a day of freedom.
Jane’s sympathy was stirred as she considered his struggle, which he had overcome as a compliment to her.
Her feelings were short-lived, however. When they reached the summit of Box Hill and agreed upon a well-shaded spot that afforded them a fine vista of the scenery beyond, Frank could no longer be content with only Jane’s undivided attention.
He flitted about, determined to be the loudest voice in determining where all the picnic blankets were to be placed, where the provisions they brought along were to be set out, and how the thirteen companions were all to be arranged.
Even Miss Bingley was not so officious in commanding the half-dozen servants that attended them, and Jane could not like his interference.
She and Elizabeth still managed to contrive for their parents to be near them as they settled together on a large blanket beneath a sprawling oak.
Mrs. Hurst had remained at Milton Hall with a feminine complaint to keep her in bed, and her indolent husband was likely in his usual state of stupor – they were not missed by anybody but Miss Bingley, who, since Isabella Knightley had returned to London, was paid little attention by anyone but Frank.
He tried first to ply Emma with his flirtation, which was just what it had been before he went away, but when Emma rebuffed him in favor of Mr. Bingley’s company, Frank was obliged to pay his rakish addresses to Miss Bingley, the only other member of their party with whom nobody was inclined to speak.
Mr. Weston was too distracted by Miss Taylor to notice his son’s increasing desperation for attention as they sat about together taking in the scenery and enjoying their refreshments, but Jane thought it so obvious that she was a little mortified on his behalf.
Jane had not shunned him when they arrived at their destination, but Frank was still loath to publicly show her any preference, and he was clearly irritated that he could no longer use Emma as an unwitting distraction.
Charlotte had never spoken much with Frank, and whenever she saw him looking about for a lady to assault with his charm, she assiduously devoted herself to fawning over Emma’s puppy, Miss Chief.
Elizabeth managed to divide her attention between her devoted admirer and her parents; she, too, had only managed to be barely civil to Frank.
Jane was perfectly willing, at the beginning of their little picnic, to sit and converse with Frank, but instead he selected Miss Bingley as his object, and Jane was seated just near enough to him that she could hear Frank cajoling with Miss Bingley at how they were neglected by their friends.
Mr. Bennet had a perfect excuse for choosing Miss Bates’s company over Miss Bingley’s, for Elizabeth had brought along a little chess set, which folded neatly to store the pieces, and was ideal for using outdoors.
Jane was delighted to see her father so impressed at her mother’s progress in learning to play, and yet seemingly unaware that she had done it for him .
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were about a game of their own, teasing one another with increasing hilarity as she advised her mother in making the best moves, while Mr. Darcy did likewise for Mr. Bennet, rousing a competitive spirit in all four of them.
Jane sat between Charlotte and Mr. Knightley, and might have been perfectly at ease if not for Frank’s presence. He did not often look her way, but when he did, it was with something completely unlike the affection he had once shown her, and she could not bear the confusion it stirred in her heart.
They were too large a group to all converse together; they broke into smaller pockets of conversation until at last Frank claimed the attention of everybody.
“Well, now that we are finally here, I fear we have grown rather stupid – no matter, for I am ordered by Miss Bingley to say that she desires to know what you are all thinking.”
Jane gave no answer, and neither did Mr. Knightley, though as he sat at her side in quiet ease, she very much wished to know what he was thinking.
Her mother gave a lengthy and good-humored reply; Elizabeth bristled and grimaced, and Mr. Bennet replied he was being so soundly thrashed at chess that he hardly knew what he was thinking.
Mr. Weston and Miss Taylor made a few civil remarks to indulge Frank’s whimsy, Charlotte speculated on what the spaniel might be thinking, and Emma declared she was quite lost to her own perfect contentment.
This seemed to please Mr. Bingley very well.
He looked at Frank not with the wary, sulking expression he had worn when his rival had enjoyed Emma’s preference, but with a far more confident sort of disdain.
It was as if Mr. Bingley suspected he had won and wished Frank to know it.
“Is my sister sure that she would like to know what we are all thinking?”
“No, indeed,” Miss Bingley cried with affected laughter.
“Upon no account in the world. It is the very last thing I would stand the brunt of just now. Let me hear anything rather than what you are all thinking of. I will not say quite all. If dear Isabella had not gone back to London, I should not be afraid of knowing her thoughts, or those of my poor sister. I daresay I should be pleased to hear Miss Woodhouse’s thoughts, as I can see they are all for my happy brother.
And my dear Mr. Bennet, how droll you are, for I know you must be thinking something far too clever for us all! ”
“I think he was speaking perfectly in earnest in declaring he had lost his wits,” Elizabeth said, looking between Mr. Bennet and Miss Bates with a bold grin. Jane smiled, too, for surely the twins were past any need to conceal what they were scheming at.
Charlotte leaned back on her hands, her legs outstretched before her and crossed at the ankle. “It is the sort of thing which I should not have thought myself privileged to inquire into. I admire your remarkable want of hesitation.”
“Very true, my friend,” Emma agreed. “Perhaps we had better call it a better attempt at levity than we have treated our friends to, for we have been about our own schemes for pleasure, and perhaps some might feel neglected.”
Mr. Bingley lay on his back with his head in Emma’s lap, eliciting a laugh of surprise from her. “We have all grown so easy together in your absence, Mr. Churchill, that we are quite past mere idle chatter.” Smiling up at his lady, he added, “I came here for the view.”
“It will not do,” Frank said loudly, though he pretended to whisper to Miss Bingley, who gave him a saucy smile.
“They are most of them affronted. I will attack them with more address. Ladies and gentlemen, I am ordered by Miss Bingley to say that she waives her right of knowing exactly what you may all be thinking of, and only requires something very entertaining from each of you, in a general way. Here are a dozen of you, besides myself – whom she is pleased to call very entertaining already – and she only demands from each of you either one thing very clever, two things moderately clever, or three things very dull indeed.”
“Oh, very well,” exclaimed Miss Bates. “I will not be made uneasy. ‘Three things very dull indeed.’ That will just do for me, you know. I shall be sure to say three dull things as soon as ever I open my mouth, shan’t I, Thomas?”
“Or perhaps you might gloat over your imminent victory,” Elizabeth said, pointing to the rook on the chessboard, and a move that would accomplish checkmate, as Mr. Bennet assured Miss Bates that she could never be dull.
Mr. Knightley smiled and leaned closer to Jane as he observed, “I cannot think when all of Highbury was last so far from dull – Mr. Churchill does not comprehend us at all.”
Frank’s lips twisted into a cruel smile as his eyes landed on Jane, and then he addressed Miss Bates. “Ah! But ma’am, there may be a difficulty for you. Pardon me, but you will be limited as to number – only three dull things at once.”
Miss Bates appeared briefly deceived by the mock ceremony of his manner, but when his meaning struck her, her shoulders sagged and she furrowed her brows, looking between Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet in want of assurance.
Mr. Weston began to indulge his son by contriving some little riddle, but Mr. Bennet cut him off.
“I daresay we came all this way to amuse ourselves in some other fashion than we could have done in somebody’s drawing – I have been soundly defeated in chess, and it has given me a strong inclination to take in the scenery.
Will you walk with me, Fanny? You have a great many very clever things to say of Miss Fairfax and Miss Bennet, which I should be glad to hear.
” Mr. Bennet stood and offered his hand to Miss Bates, helping her to her feet before leading her away to walk about the hillside.
Elizabeth also stood and looked at Jane before hesitating. “I should like a change of scenery, but you appear uncommonly comfortable, Sister.”