Chapter 7
Netherfield Hall
Drawing Room
Lucas Lodge
A Week Later
24th October, 1811
A warm fire crackled in the effective but outmoded grate in the Netherfield drawing room, fighting the chill of the outdoors that leached in around the windows.
Louisa had claimed the chair closest to the hearth, conniving creature, and promptly picked up her needlework.
Caroline had graciously ceded the better seat to her sister and sat in a chair adjacent to Miss Jane Bennet, whom the sisters had prevailed upon to come and visit them on the grounds that two women alone could not but disagree.
The gentlemen were attending a dinner engagement with the militia officers, safely in Meryton, where Charles could not be further enchanted by the charms of the lovely Jane Bennet.
Caroline had not been at all certain that Miss Bennet would even come today.
The day was not overly unpleasant, but it was cool and overcast and uninviting, and the ground was muddy from that morning's rains.
Caroline had been delighted when she heard carriage wheels outside on the drive and observed the Bennet carriage dispensing the eldest daughter of Longbourn like a butterfly from its chrysalis.
Miss Bennet was easily the most charming woman in this entire backwater, kind and soft-spoken, and a remarkable conversationalist compared to the rest of the local bumpkins, along with being truly gorgeous.
It was really little wonder that Charles's head was so turned by her, but though Miss Bennet was amusing enough as a friend, Caroline had no intention of allowing her brother to make a fool of himself by offering for a simple country miss, no matter how kind or sweet a girl she might be.
But with Charles and Mr. Darcy safely engaged in dining with Colonel Forster and his fellow militia officers, it was quite reasonable for Miss Bennet to spend the day and entertain the ladies of Netherfield.
She had been at Netherfield for two hours already, and the carriage would be arriving soon to bear her home before the gentlemen returned.
The door into the drawing room opened, and Caroline looked up in surprise, which was quickly followed by a grimace as her brother and Mr. Darcy entered the room far earlier than expected.
She rose to her feet and said, “Charles, whatever are you doing here? I thought you were having dinner with the officers!”
“We were,” Bingley said, turning a smiling face on Jane, “but there was some sort of emergency with two privates fighting in one of the local pubs, and the colonel was forced to reschedule our dinner. Miss Bennet! I had no idea you would be visiting today. Good afternoon!”
Miss Bennet rose to her feet and smiled gloriously. “Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley were kind enough to invite me for the day. We have just been speaking of music and plays.”
Bingley smiled back, his eyes glowing, and said, “I do not pretend to be a great expert on such matters, but I am certainly interested in your experiences. Caroline, might we possibly have some tea?”
Caroline compressed her lips, nodded, and managed a saccharine smile. “Of course, Charles, Mr. Darcy.”
She rose gracefully to her feet and left the room in search of a maid, and by the time she had returned, Charles and Jane were seated side by side on a settee by the fire, while Mr. Darcy was sitting on a couch across from the pair, his expression grave.
Caroline understood his dismay very well, and came to the reluctant conclusion that she was to blame for the current situation.
Yes, the local society was dreadfully dull, and Miss Bennet was by far the most charming woman in the area, but she really ought to have endured boredom instead of risking Charles’s unexpected early return.
She seated herself on the couch next to Mr. Darcy and cast him an apologetic glance, but he was not looking at her, but was rather gazing intently at the couple across from him.
She followed his stare and began listening, intent on doing whatever she could to dampen her brother’s enthusiasm for their guest.
“I confess I do not like the Shakespearean tragedies very much,” Charles said with a grin. “I know they are supposed to be thought-provoking, but I far prefer a happy ending to one where the principals all die.”
“I agree entirely,” Miss Bennet replied, her eyes dancing. “I saw Macbeth two years ago, and oh my, how very grim it all was! I tend to favor lighter fare such as As You Like it, or Twelfth Night.”
“My dear Miss Bennet,” Caroline interposed. “I daresay you would enjoy a tragedy better if you had the honor of attending a play with truly excellent actors and costumes!”
“I think not,” her guest said with a smile. “I had the privilege of seeing Sarah Siddons perform Lady Macbeth at Covent Garden, and I was well aware that I was observing true greatness, but I still did not particularly enjoy myself.”
Caroline blinked in surprise. She had vaguely assumed that the Bennets, as mere country folks, did not go to London, but it appeared that she was wrong.
“That must have been a most interesting experience, though,” Charles said, just as two maids entered with tea service.
Caroline gestured for the servants to place the trays on a table near her, and then made rather a point of pouring tea and clinking cups and doing everything in her power to draw attention to herself.
At some point, the Bennet carriage would return and bear Miss Bennet home, and the sooner the better in her opinion.
“Miss Bennet,” Darcy asked once everyone had been served, “I hope you do not mind my asking about your father. I understand that he is currently living by the sea?”
“Yes,” the lady replied and took a sip of her tea. “He is living on Emerald Island, which is off the coast of Essex, along with my younger sister, Mary.”
“Is he sickly?” Charles asked in a sympathetic tone.
“Thankfully, no,” Miss Bennet replied. “No, he and Mary stay on the island for most of the year because they are fascinated by astronomy.”
“Astronomy?” Caroline demanded in astonishment.
“Yes,” Jane replied concisely.
Caroline latched onto this new information like a leech to human flesh.
“With telescopes, you mean?” she cried out dramatically. “How absolutely extraordinary!”
Jane Bennet flushed a trifle and said, “It is rather unusual, yes, but my father has been interested in the heavens since his time at Cambridge, and Mary is equally enthusiastic.”
“How very … interesting,” Caroline said in a doubtful tone. “Does he actually stare through a telescope, or…”
“Yes, for hours every clear night,” her visitor replied in a reserved tone.
At this moment, the butler entered the room and said, “Miss Bennet, your carriage has arrived.”
Their guest looked startled and glanced outside. “Oh, already? Thank you, but…”
“I understand that the clouds are gathering for another storm, Miss Bennet, and your family was worried that you would not return safely to Longbourn,” the butler explained.
The lady stood up and said, “I daresay it is Coachman Jack who is concerned, and he has a marvelous feel for the weather. I must go. Miss Bingley, Mrs. Hurst, many thanks for your invitation today. Mr. Bingley, Mr. Darcy, good day.”
Charles leaped to his feet, and he said, “Allow me to walk you out, Miss Bennet.”
“Thank you.”
Caroline watched the pair leave the room, arm in arm, and waited only for the door to close behind them before she said, in a disapproving tone, “Astronomy? How very eccentric!”
“Indeed it is,” Louisa declared, shaking her head. “Sir Thomas must be a most peculiar man. He obviously is a gentleman given that he is master of Longbourn, but he is also assuredly very strange.”
“Nor does it seem at all appropriate for a lady to be involved in scientific matters,” Caroline agreed with a toss of her head. “I had not even known that there was another Bennet sister! How extraordinary to have five daughters and no sons at all!”
“Unfortunate and regrettable,” Louisa said with a smirk. “Did you know that Longbourn is entailed away from the female line?”
Caroline did know, but she wished to be absolutely certain that Mr. Darcy was equally aware of the Bennets lamentable situation.
“I did not know that,” she cried. “Does Sir Thomas have a brother or something of the sort?”
“I believe not,” Louisa said with a deep sigh. “I think that Lady Lucas mentioned that the Bennet heir is a distant cousin, and the Bennet ladies will lose their home when the patriarch dies.”
“What a pity,” Caroline remarked, casting a quick glance at Darcy, whose brow was now noticeably furrowed, while his mouth was set in a thin line.
It was a relief to know that Darcy was on their side in thinking the Bennets peculiar and ineligible.
Charles did not always accept the advice of his sisters, but he always listened to his closest friend, the master of Pemberley.