Ten
Hertfordshire
Elizabeth
The Bennets were at breakfast on the first Saturday in November when a note arrived from Netherfield, addressed to Jane. She broke the seal, read it through, and looked up with a mixture of pleasure and a hint of uneasiness.
"It is from Miss Bingley," she said. "She invites me to dine with her and Mrs. Hurst today. The gentlemen are engaged elsewhere for the afternoon."
"There!" Mrs. Bennet set down her cup with an air of triumph. "Did I not tell you the invitation would come? I have wondered this fortnight why the ladies had not yet called properly with their brother, whatever excuse Mr. Bingley may have offered."
"I should like to go, if you do not object, Papa." Jane folded the note before looking toward Elizabeth with a hesitation that spoke more plainly than her words. "Lizzy, will you come with me?"
Elizabeth smiled faintly. "I was not invited, Jane."
"You were not invited because Miss Bingley did not think to ask you, which is quite different from your being unwelcome." Jane's voice remained gentle, though there was more firmness in it than Elizabeth was accustomed to hearing. "I would rather not go alone. Please."
Kitty and Lydia made no secret of their disappointment at not being invited. Neither had yet visited Netherfield, and both were eager to make the acquaintance of the fashionable ladies from Town.
Elizabeth had already half resolved to accompany her before Jane had finished speaking. She had little desire to leave her sister alone in the society of two ladies whose attentions she had never found entirely easy to understand.
Aside from the assembly, she had encountered the Bingley sisters only once, near the modiste's in Meryton.
They had been all attention to Jane, though Elizabeth had never quite decided whether that attention arose from genuine regard or simple politeness.
Toward herself they had scarcely been civil.
"Then I shall go, if Papa can spare the carriage."
"Only one horse is available since the others are employed upon the farm this morning," Mrs. Bennet objected. "Besides, Miss Bingley invited Jane, not both of you. Why should Lizzy accompany her?"
"One horse will not carry us both, Mama," Jane replied. "If I go, I should much rather have Lizzy with me."
Mr. Bennet buttered another piece of toast without appearing to heed the conversation. Only when both his wife and Jane had finished speaking did he look up from beneath the spectacles resting low upon his nose.
"If Lizzy wishes to accompany her sister, then I shall send for the horses. I believe they may be spared today."
The matter was settled, though Mrs. Bennet looked far from satisfied.
Elizabeth suspected her mother would greatly have preferred Jane to go alone.
The weather threatened rain, and if it came on, Jane might easily be prevailed upon to remain at Netherfield until the following day, an arrangement Mrs. Bennet had long considered desirable.
Elizabeth saw little necessity for such contrivance when Mr. Bingley's partiality toward Jane had already become apparent to everyone who cared to observe it.
Within the hour they set out for Netherfield. The November air was sharp enough to colour their cheeks, though the morning remained fair, and they arrived in good time.
Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst received them in the drawing room.
"Miss Bennet. How very good of you to come." Miss Bingley's eyes moved, briefly and without much attempt at concealment, to Elizabeth before returning to Jane. "And Miss Eliza as well. We had not expected the pleasure of your company."
"I hope I do not intrude." Elizabeth said it with perfect civility, and watched the small, quickly smoothed flicker that crossed Miss Bingley's face in answer, confirming what the tone of the greeting had already half suggested.
"Not in the least," Miss Bingley replied smoothly.
"The more company, the better." Mrs. Hurst offered this with rather less conviction than the sentiment required.
Elizabeth acknowledged the civility with equal politeness, though she could not help noticing how readily both ladies turned their attention once more to Jane.
The visit proceeded much as she had expected.
Jane was drawn into conversation almost immediately.
Questions concerning Longbourn, her family, her connexions, and the neighbourhood followed one another with studied ease, each put delicately enough to resemble friendly interest while revealing rather more curiosity than warmth.
Elizabeth, meanwhile, was left chiefly to her own observations, a circumstance she found far from disagreeable.
Tea had only just been served when the conversation turned once more to family and acquaintance.
Miss Bingley spoke readily of the many families they knew in Town, mentioning one distinguished connexion after another with a satisfaction Elizabeth could not mistake.
It seemed less a conversation than a gentle reminder of the superiority Miss Bingley believed those connexions conferred.
"Your brother has indeed been fortunate in his connexions," Jane observed with a smile. "To number Mr. Darcy among them must surely be a testament to the esteem in which your family is held."
Elizabeth had not expected the conversation to take such a turn. Jane's innocent compliment had afforded Miss Bingley an opportunity to speak freely of Mr. Darcy, and Elizabeth found herself curious to hear what opinion a lady of his own acquaintance would express.
Miss Bingley smiled with quiet satisfaction. "Mr. Darcy has been a valued friend of my brother's for many years. There was certainly a time when his acquaintance was thought quite a distinction. Society, however, is ever in search of something new to occupy its attention."
"Indeed," Mrs. Hurst agreed. "One scarcely hears his name mentioned now without some fresh report attached to it."
"You cannot altogether blame society," Miss Bingley replied. "When one misfortune succeeds another, even the most charitable begin to wonder. Such a succession of unfortunate events can scarcely fail to provoke speculation."
Elizabeth remained silent.
Only a few days earlier she had heard the history of Mr. Darcy from his own lips. She knew enough to distinguish idle gossip from truth, and enough besides to understand how little either lady truly knew of the gentleman whose affairs they discussed so carelessly over their tea.
Before long the conversation returned to Jane. Miss Bingley resumed her quiet enquiries with undiminished interest, while Elizabeth found herself once more almost forgotten.
By the time the visit drew to its close, she had reached a conclusion from which she could not easily retreat.
Jane had not been invited to Netherfield merely for the pleasure of their company.
She had been invited to be observed. Her own unexpected presence had interrupted whatever private assessment Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst had intended to make.
Neither lady had spoken so plainly, yet Elizabeth required no confession.
It was evident in every careful question addressed to Jane, and in every polite neglect directed toward herself.
As the carriage rolled away from Netherfield, Elizabeth found herself surprised that, of everything said that afternoon, it was Miss Bingley's remarks concerning Mr. Darcy that lingered longest in her thoughts.
~
4th November, 1811
Oakham Mount
Elizabeth did not see Mr. Darcy the following morning, it being Sunday. On Monday, however, she set out upon her customary walk and found him already waiting at Oakham Mount, much as she had expected.
Rather than continuing along the path as they generally did, he indicated a fallen log beneath the broad branches of an ancient oak.
Though it afforded little warmth, it sheltered them from the worst of the wind, and they seated themselves there.
For some minutes they spoke only of indifferent matters.
Darcy mentioned that Bingley had told him of Jane and Elizabeth's visit to Netherfield on Saturday, and explained that he himself had not been present to receive them, having ridden out that morning with Bingley and Mr. Hurst to call upon Colonel Forster, whose acquaintance Bingley had lately formed and seemed eager to cultivate owing to the Colonel's connexion with the militia quartered at Meryton.
"Colonel Forster is known to my cousin Fitzwilliam," Darcy said. "They served together for several years, and as I had met him once or twice through my cousin, I thought it uncivil to refuse the invitation. So I accompanied Bingley and Mr. Hurst."
Elizabeth wondered why he should feel any necessity to account for his absence to her, yet before she could dwell upon it, the conversation drifted naturally to their usual subjects.
When these lesser topics had been exhausted, Elizabeth judged it only proper to relate what had passed at Netherfield in his absence.
She repeated Miss Bingley's remarks, together with those of Mrs. Hurst, as faithfully as memory allowed, taking care neither to exaggerate their words nor to repeat them in a spirit of idle gossip.
Darcy remained silent for a few moments after she had finished. At length he drew a quiet breath, though his countenance betrayed no real surprise.
"I cannot say I fault Miss Bingley for thinking as she does, however much I might wish otherwise. I first perceived the alteration in her manner during my last visit to Town in August. Mrs. Hurst, however, has only lately adopted the same opinion."
"But why should either lady think so?" Elizabeth asked. "You have been Mr. Bingley's friend these many years. Why should they give greater credit to rumour than to the evidence of their own acquaintance?"
A smile, touched with genuine amusement, softened his features.
"We have not been friends so very long. Barely five years, in fact."
Elizabeth looked at him in astonishment. "Only five years? I had imagined you must have known one another since childhood."