Chapter 7 #2
Mrs Bennet was not about to lose the opportunity of putting her eldest in Mr Bingley’s path, however, and upon noting some promising clouds, she insisted that Jane go to Netherfield on horseback, hoping that a storm might keep her there overnight.
Elizabeth protested, but Mr Bennet would not check his wife, and Jane was sent off on Nellie less than a quarter hour before the rain began to fall.
On receiving in the morning a note from Jane advising the family that she had contracted a fever from getting wet through the previous day, Elizabeth resolved to go to Netherfield Park and attend her.
Accordingly, she set out through Meryton and thence across the fields, heedless of the mud which spattered her hems and sucked at her boots.
Her appearance in the breakfast parlour at Netherfield caused some consternation among the ladies within; Mr Bingley’s sisters could not imagine what she meant by coming.
Their brother, however, was delighted to see her; Mr Darcy greeted her with grave courtesy, and the colonel, with warmth.
Mrs Nichols was swiftly summoned, and within a few minutes of entering the house she was shown into her sister’s room.
Jane was unwell, to be sure, though not gravely so.
She was feverish and had slept poorly as a consequence, but her mind was not addled, and her appetite was fair.
Thinking that Jane would benefit from a healing tonic, she asked Mrs Nichols if Mr Jones, the apothecary, might be summoned, and was pleased to hear that Mr Bingley had given his housekeeper authority to call upon anyone who might assist Miss Bennet.
Jane was too weary for much conversation, so Elizabeth attended her with cool cloths for her brow and such little comments as might cheer her.
After breakfast, Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst visited.
Though Elizabeth was certain they did not wish for their brother to become further enamoured of her, they were all kindness to her face, and Elizabeth thought a little better of them for it.
Mr Jones soon arrived and pronounced the affliction a violent cold, which he had seen about the area, and sternly warned that Jane must rest, lest she risk its growing very much worse.
He left her with some draughts; his warning was soon proved correct when her fever rose and her headache increased as the day wore on.
Miss Bingley most reluctantly invited Elizabeth to remain at Netherfield when it became clear that they could expect no significant improvement in Jane’s condition that day.
A servant arrived from Longbourn with a trunk for Jane and Elizabeth, just in time for Elizabeth to ready herself for dinner.
She noted with some exasperation that Jane’s best day and evening gowns had been included; how her mother imagined they might be put to use with Jane confined to bed, she could not say.
The moment she descended for dinner, Mr Bingley was before her, earnestly enquiring as to her sister’s well-being.
He was dismayed to hear that she was no better, and pleased to learn that Mr Jones had been called; he averred that anything or anyone of benefit to Miss Bennet would be sought at Elizabeth’s slightest suggestion.
Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst spoke carelessly of how shocking it was to be ill and how intensely they disliked it.
When Jane was not before them, they seemed to have little care for her.
Mr Darcy and his cousin showed their good breeding by expressing their own concern for Jane, albeit less intently than their host, while Mr Hurst’s attention could not be drawn from his glass long enough to partake in any conversation about her illness.
Once they were all seated at the table, Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst made it their business to claim the whole of Mr Darcy’s attention, while Mr Hurst addressed his energies solely to his meal, leaving Elizabeth to be entertained by Mr Bingley and Colonel Fitzwilliam, an arrangement which suited her perfectly well.
She had released her former dislike of Mr Darcy, though she remained too uncertain of his character and disposition to feel a real warmth for him, but she had no desire to interact with the ladies beyond what civility demanded of her as their guest. Her host and the colonel she knew to be excellent company, and throughout the whole of the three courses, they conducted a lively, wide-ranging conversation, pausing only for food and laughter.
Mr Darcy, she noted through a series of discreet glances, seemed far less entertained by his devoted companions.
He answered them with a word or a nod whenever he could, his gaze often drifting to the more energetic trio.
His expression was too inscrutable for her to determine whether he looked because he wished he might join in with their talk, or simply because their animation drew his notice.
Immediately after the meal, Elizabeth left them to return to Jane.
She did not move quickly enough, however, to fail to hear Miss Bingley pronounce her manners to be ‘very bad indeed’.
She shook her head; the irony of the woman—her hostess!
—who had said not a single word to her over the meal claiming that another’s manners were faulty was not lost on her.
She would bear the ladies when she must, for her family’s credit, her sister’s happiness, and the gentlemen’s comfort, but she did not envision a future in which she would learn to really like them.