CHAPTER SEVEN
A Tenant Answered
Bingley's letter reached Sir Thomas at Brook Street the following morning.
It contained neither ornament nor excuse.
Bingley admitted that he had left Hertfordshire intending to return, allowed other people to prolong his absence, accepted Darcy's doubt about Jane's feelings, and remained ignorant of her presence in London because Caroline concealed it.
He blamed neither friend nor sister for choices he had made.
He asked permission to call upon Sir Thomas and, if Jane wished it, to apologize to her at Gracechurch Street.
Sir Thomas read the letter twice, then sent a reply requiring Bingley's presence at eleven.
Bingley arrived at Brook Street twelve minutes early and spent eleven of them walking beneath the windows. Sir Thomas let him in at the appointed hour.
"You displayed affection toward my daughter before an entire neighborhood," Sir Thomas said once the library door closed. "Then you vanished and left your sister to explain your intentions. Do you understand what that did to Jane?"
Bingley held Sir Thomas's gaze. "It made my regard appear like entertainment and her trust appear foolish. Neither was true, but both were my doing."
"Mr Darcy advised you."
"He did. I chose to obey him because doubt frightened me more than leaving frightened Jane."
"Miss Bingley deceived you."
"She did. I made deception easy by asking everyone except Jane what Jane felt."
The unqualified answer checked some of Sir Thomas's anger, though not enough to spare Bingley the remainder of the interview. He questioned him about Longbourn, the winter absence, Caroline's conduct, and the difference between seeking counsel and surrendering judgment.
At last Bingley said, "I do not ask you to forgive me on Jane's behalf. I ask only that you discover whether she will permit me to call. If she refuses, I shall return to Longbourn and trouble her no further."
"You will return to Longbourn regardless. An estate does not cease requiring its tenant because the tenant has made himself unhappy."
"Yes, sir."
Sir Thomas allowed the silence to stand. Bingley did not fill it with promises.
"I shall ask my daughter what she wants," Sir Thomas said. "You will hear from me afterward."
At Gracechurch Street that afternoon, Sir Thomas gave Jane the letter. He remained beside the fire while she read it; Mrs Gardiner sat near the window, mending one of her son's cuffs.
Jane lowered the page. "He wrote to you first."
"As he ought."
"Did you frighten him?"
"I attempted clarity. Fright may have assisted."
Jane read the letter again. Bingley had confessed persuasion without pretending powerlessness. He had not asked Sir Thomas to command an interview or used love as a reason she must receive him.
"I will see him," she said. "Here, with Aunt Gardiner present. But I do not wish him to propose. Not yet."
Sir Thomas folded his hands over his walking stick. "Then he will be told precisely that."
Bingley's first call took place the next afternoon. Mrs Gardiner poured tea; Sir Thomas remained with Mr Gardiner near the hearth; Elizabeth occupied the window seat with sewing she did not complete.
Bingley entered pale, carefully dressed, and without Caroline. Hope moved across his face when Jane greeted him, but he did not mistake courtesy for pardon.
"I am sorry," he said when Jane invited him to speak beside the window. "I made my affection visible enough to encourage expectation and then treated it as something another man might judge for me. You deserved a question before I accepted an answer."
Jane met his eyes. "Did you believe I felt nothing?"
"Darcy believed it. I feared it. I preferred his certainty to the risk of discovering the truth."
"And what will you do when Mr Darcy doubts me again? Or your sister? Or someone whose opinion appears wiser than mine?"
"Bring the doubt to you," Bingley answered. "Not as an accusation, and not after I have acted upon it. I will ask. Then I will listen."
Jane's composure trembled, but she did not rescue him from discomfort. They spoke for another quarter hour about his departure and Caroline's concealment. When the call ended, Bingley asked only whether he might come again.
"In two days," Jane said. "If Aunt Gardiner agrees."
The second call was less painful and therefore more revealing.
Mrs Gardiner escorted them through Russell Square with Elizabeth beside her, close enough for propriety and far enough to allow conversation.
Bingley described his return to Longbourn, the frozen pipes, and the work neglected during his absence.
"I thought purchasing another estate would prove I was settled," he said. "Now I think remaining where I gave my word may prove it better."
"Longbourn is not a punishment," Jane replied.
"No. It is a responsibility I nearly abandoned because London made indecision comfortable."
Jane asked what he intended to do about Caroline. Bingley did not boast that he could reform his sister. He said Caroline would apologize before entering Jane's home again and that Jane would decide whether the apology earned anything beyond civility.
On his third call, he brought no flowers and made no speech. He carried a packet of estate accounts Sir Thomas had requested and spent half an hour with Mr Gardiner discussing investments before joining the ladies. Jane noticed the effort because it was useful rather than theatrical.
They spoke of ordinary married life: where they might live, how often family would visit, what obligations came with Longbourn, and whether Bingley's friendliness sometimes became agreement before thought.
Jane admitted that her serenity could hide opinions she expected others to discover without being told.
"Then we must both become plainer," she said.
"I shall require practice," Bingley answered. "But I would rather practice with you than appear agreeable without being trustworthy."
Twelve days after the first call, Bingley asked Sir Thomas for permission to address Jane. Sir Thomas questioned him about income, settlements, Longbourn's lease, and the obligations of a husband whose sister had injured his intended wife. Bingley answered without evasion.
"I consent because Jane has chosen to receive you again," Sir Thomas said. "Do not turn her courage into proof that the injury was small."
"I will remember it was large enough to require her courage," Bingley replied.
The proposal took place the following afternoon in the Gardiners' back parlor. Mrs Gardiner developed a determined interest in the shelves while Jane and Bingley stood near the window.
Bingley began too quickly, stopped, and tried again. "Jane, I loved you before I understood that love without steadiness can wound as surely as indifference. I cannot promise never to be foolish. I can promise never again to make another person the judge of what I owe you. Will you marry me?"
Jane laughed through tears. "Yes. I believe you have begun to understand the difference."
He took both her hands and waited until she closed the distance between them.
Sir Thomas sent a note to Brook Street. Lady Bennet arrived before the messenger could reasonably have returned, having already ordered the carriage on the strength of her husband's expression at breakfast. She embraced Bingley, then Jane, then Bingley again.
"I knew it from the first dance," she declared. "Though I did not know it last week, naturally, when I believed him faithless."
Jane smiled against her mother's shoulder. "He came back properly, Mama."
Sir Thomas stood beside Elizabeth. "Your mother has completed the settlement. My solicitor may retire."
Elizabeth smiled, but her attention moved toward the door. Darcy did not come. He sent Bingley a short letter of congratulation and departed London for Pemberley the next morning.
Elizabeth told herself his absence made the celebration easier. The lie no longer convinced her.
* * *
Mr Collins had returned to Hunsford three days after the Longbourn ball. Before departing, he called at Lucas Lodge, took formal leave of Charlotte in the presence of her parents, and promised to write once Lady Catherine had approved the wedding date.
His letters had been long, but they had arrived when promised.
In February he travelled back to Hertfordshire with the settlement signed and Lady Catherine's written instructions for Charlotte's poultry yard.
He and Charlotte married in Meryton church before family and neighbors, breakfasted at Lucas Lodge, and left for Hunsford the following morning.
Mr Collins counted their trunks twice. Charlotte remembered to thank him for placing the warm brick at her feet before the carriage started.
* * *
Mary's presentation gown weighed more than Lydia had at birth.
"That cannot be true," Mary said as Hill settled the train across the bed.
"Your mother has never permitted facts to injure a comparison," Sir Thomas replied from the doorway.
Lady Bennet turned. "You should not be here. The girls are dressing."
"They appear clothed. Extensively."
Elizabeth stood near the mirror in ivory silk, silver embroidery tracing the hem.
Three white feathers rose from her hair, anchored by a small diamond ornament the Queen had sent for Jane's presentation and later instructed the family to use again.
Mary wore pale blue with seed pearls. Her spectacles had been removed; without them, the room beyond several feet softened into color.
"I cannot see," she whispered to Elizabeth.
"You need see only the person before you. I shall be beside you until the final approach."
"And if I forget the curtsy?"
"Bend before the Queen. Do not sit upon the floor. Everything between is ornament."
Mary made a sound halfway between laughter and panic.
Sir Thomas crossed to her. "Look at me."
She did.
"You are not entering that room to prove yourself worthy of it. You are entering because the Queen invited you. Courtesy is required. Perfection is not."
"What if everyone stares?"