Chapter 7
“My dear Mr. Bennet, have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?” Mrs. Bennet asked, sure that her husband was unaware of this news.
The family was all gathered in the drawing-room, having tea. It was the middle of September and Elizabeth had been at home for almost a week. After leaving Pemberley, she had stayed in London for only two nights, and then she had returned to Longbourn, as she had been missing her family deeply.
With a cup of tea in her hands, she watched her beloved family.
Jane was sitting next to her, as always; her father was holding his book; Mary was sitting silently next to their mother; while Kitty and Lydia had found something to argue over, barely paying attention to the others.
However, the subject caught all the girls’ interest.
“No, I have not heard. How could I have received such news, since I have not left Longbourn since Lizzy returned?”
“Ah yes, I know Lizzy has always been your favourite and we are happy to have her home finally. But while she has had her fair share of entertainment for almost half a year, we should think of our other daughters too, should we not?”
As had been previously established, only Mr. Bennet and Jane were aware of Elizabeth’s employment at Pemberley and knew of her significant help to the family’s finances.
Everyone else was under the assumption that she had been in London all that time and consequently they envied her for all the parties and balls she must have attended meanwhile.
“I do think of my other daughters, my dear,” Mr. Bennet said. “But I cannot see what this news has to do with them.”
“Well, as soon as I tell you what Mrs. Long just told me, you will see for yourself! Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to open the house this week,” the lady explained enthusiastically, waiting for her for husband’s reaction.
Mr. Bennet seemed to think carefully for a few moments, a frown of preoccupation between his eyebrows, and then he shrugged.
“No; I definitely cannot see what it has to do with our girls. Since we have clarified this matter, may I return to my library now?”
“My dear Mr. Bennet, how can you be so tiresome and think of only your library? You must know that I am hoping he might marry one of them!”
“Ahhh… Now I see it. Is that his design in settling here? And do you happen to know his marital situation, by any chance? He could well be married, which might lower your hopes significantly.”
Elizabeth barely hid her laughter at her father’s jesting, although she could easily sympathise with her mother’s distress. For Mrs. Bennet, there was no other goal in life except to see her daughters well married and in the shortest possible time.
“He is single, to be sure! And we all know that that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife! Five thousand a year, my dear! How fortunate for us if he would fall in love with one of our girls! You must visit him as soon as he comes.”
Mr. Bennet rolled his eyes disdainfully.
“I see no occasion for that. But if such an opportunity arises, I shall certainly not reject it.”
“Indeed you must go, for it will be impossible for us to visit him if you do not. And Sir William will certainly go, hoping to secure him for his daughter Charlotte. How can they imagine that Charlotte, who is almost a spinster and so very plain, could be compared with our daughters?”
“So is there a competition between our girls and Charlotte Lucas? I do not believe that,” Mr. Bennet said with apparent puzzlement.
This time Elizabeth laughed loudly, much to her mother’s vexation.
“You may laugh, Lizzy, but you will not be so amused when your father dies and that hideous cousin of his takes over Longbourn and throws us out of the house!”
“Mama, please do not distress yourself so. Papa is only joking. And I have great hopes that he will not die for many, many years, so I do not worry at all,” Elizabeth tried to comfort her mother. But Mrs. Bennet would not have it.
“Well, he might not die in the next few years, but if you do not marry soon, nobody will take you when you are too old! Jane is the prettiest and Lydia is the best humoured! But you, Lizzy, are outspoken and a little too wild and I am afraid nobody will marry you under those circumstances!”
“I beg to differ, madam,” Mr. Bennet interjected.
“None of our daughters has much to recommend them, they are all silly and ignorant, like other girls, but Lizzy has something more of a quickness than her sisters and many others. Brother Gardiner spoke very highly of Lizzy and praised her exceedingly. And you know that I trust his judgment.”
“Mr. Bennet, how can you criticise your own children in such a way? And if my brother praises Lizzy for being clever, it is surely of little help. He would have done better to find her a suitor in those six months she stayed in town. I am sure London is full of young wealthy men in need of a wife!”
“I will send your brother your intense displeasure in my next letter to him, my dear. Now you must excuse me, I really need to return to my library. By the way, what is the name of this man that has already troubled my peace?”
“Mr. Bingley!” his wife replied, then he left and she remained to unduly complain about her nerves.
***
Elizabeth struggled to regain her usual self, and almost a month after her return she was still meeting with little success. Her mind was full of recollections from Pemberley and her thoughts travelled back to Derbyshire too often, wondering where a certain person had been lately.
With the money earned by Elizabeth, Mr. Bennet covered the most urgent due expenses of Longbourn and was even left with a little extra. Despite all this, he was still incredulous of the good fortune that had shone on his financial troubles.
Worried and doubtful, he asked his favourite daughter for all the details of her employment, about the Master of Pemberley who had paid her so unbelievably generously, about her responsibilities and about how she was treated there.
She told him about the beauty of Pemberley, about the master’s proficiency in business and generosity to everyone around him, about the wonderful people she had met there and about her close and quite unexpected friendship with the master’s sister.
Mr. Bennet’s curiosity seemed to increase after each conversation, as he kept enquiring further, as though he could not believe her stories.
“Well, my dear, I hope you stole some of this Mr. Darcy’s knowledge of managing an estate, as I could really use some improvement in my very poor skills.”
“Not quite, Papa. I mean, not from Mr. Darcy. I rarely spoke to him in person, but I did learn a lot about how his household was managed from what the housekeeper Mrs. Reynolds and the butler Mr. Farrell told me.”
“I am glad to hear that. If you have any suggestions or ideas that may be worth applying to Longbourn, please feel free to tell me.”
“I certainly will, Papa.”
“My child, joking aside, I hope you know that you have saved your poor father from shame and your sisters and mother from likely poverty. I admire your strength and I am very grateful for your hard work.”
Elizabeth embraced him affectionately. “Papa, I hope you know I would do anything for you and for our family! As for my effort, knowing how much I enjoyed my time at Pemberley, I would have gladly gone there and offered my assistance without any payment.”
“How lovely. I have rarely heard you speaking so animatedly about an estate or a house, as rich and impressive as it was, Lizzy.”
“It is not just an estate or a house, Papa. And it was not just rich or impressive. It is truly the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Really.”
“I hope you did not grow too attached to it, Lizzy,” Mr. Bennet said. “Surely you know that, as well as they treated you as an employee, your situation in life would not allow you to be true friends with that family.”
“I am well aware of my situation in life compared with theirs, Papa,” Elizabeth answered, with a pain in her heart that she tried to conceal from her father’s scrutiny.
However, with regards to Miss Darcy, she had no reason for concern. Georgiana had written to Elizabeth twice and she had responded each time, without delay.
In her first letter, the girl had conveyed her best regards from everyone, assured Elizabeth that she was missed and told her about how beautiful Pemberley was in the autumn.
In the second letter, Miss Darcy informed her that her brother had found her a new companion, a Mrs. Annesley, with whom they were exceedingly pleased.
She also mentioned that she would be staying in London for the winter, together with her new companion, in her own townhouse and asked Elizabeth if she believed she could come to visit her sometimes, as her special guest, perhaps bringing along her sister Jane too.
The friendly and affectionate letter, instead of delighting her, tormented Elizabeth exceedingly.
She was tempted to immediately ask for her father’s permission, and that deeply frightened her, as she knew the reason behind her excitement was not entirely due to Miss Darcy, and therefore not entirely proper or wise either.
So she fought against her wishes and wrote back with genuine gratitude, assuring her friend that she must stay with her family for the time being, but that she missed her dearly.
In the middle of her own torment, with little she could say about it to her sister Jane or to her father, Elizabeth found no peace and had scarce interest in the new proprietor of Netherfield, of whom everybody spoke.
To the reports of Netherfield’s new tenant was added the happy news that an assembly would be hosted in Meryton on October 18th, raising everyone’s excitement, especially that of the ladies.