Bingley shook his head, wondering why anyone would prefer Elizabeth when her sister was a blond goddess, but he was thankful that it might mean he could have more than one dance with Jane.
True to her word, when the dance of completed, Charlotte led Bingley over to the Bennet women, but by the time they reached them, Elizabeth had already been approached by John Lucas for the next dance. Thus, they were leaving as Bingley and Charlotte arrived.
“Jane, may I present your new neighbor, Mr. Charles Bingley. Mr. Bingley, this is Miss Jane Bennet, the mistress of Longbourn.”
Jane curtsied. “Mr. Bingley, we are happy to meet you and welcome you to the neighborhood. May I introduce you to my sisters? This is Mary, the third eldest and this is Catherine, fourth eldest. The second eldest has already been taken away by a young man to dance. I am sure you can meet her later.”
Mr. Bingley bowed to each and each returned a curtsy. “I have been looking forward to meeting all of you, since my visit with Mr. Bennet and his description of his family.” He then stepped back to Jane and said, “Miss Bennet, may I request your first available set?”
“You may, sir. However, it is the set which is about to begin.”
“Excellent. Excellent. May I offer you my arm?”
She nodded her head and then nodding to her sisters, they headed toward the dance floor, where they found a place next to John Lucas and Elizabeth. “Mr. Bingley, since we have a moment, may I introduce you to my sister, Elizabeth?”
“Thank you. Miss Elizabeth, I have been looking forward to meeting you since Mrs. North and Mr. Langston told us about you. They are quite appreciative of all you do for them.”
“Thank you, Mr. Bingley. And I have looked forward to meeting you. As for my help at Netherfield, I have been happy to be of service. Please feel free to call on me any time if you would like to know more about your tenants and their needs.”
Before he could respond, the music started, and the dance began. Bingley felt a thrill every time he took Jane’s hand and found it difficult to concentrate on the dance, he was so enthralled with watching her. Knowing he wanted to dance with her again, he asked, “Miss Bennet, I am quite enjoying this dance. Is there a possibility you might have another set available which you would be willing to dance with me?”
“I have several sets available, Mr. Bingley. Since there are so many more women at these dances wishing to dance than there are men who wish to dance, few women have their cards filled. In fact, I suspect it is only my sister Elizabeth who would have a full card if she wished.”
He shook his head, still not being able to understand why men would prefer Miss Elizabeth to Miss Bennet, but he was thankful it was so. “Then may I have a set four or five sets after this one?”
Thus, it was arranged, and that small bit of conversation broke the silence between them. They had quite an enjoyable exchange during the remainder of the dance. After the set was over, Bingley escorted Jane back to Mary, who was speaking with a gentleman who was dressed in clothes fit for a man of high society. When Bingley saw who it was, he was amazed. “Farrington, I certainly did not expect to see you here.”
“Hello, Bingley. I do not think I have seen you for over a year. I was surprised when Mr. Bennet told me you had leased Netherfield Park. I knew you and Darcy had been looking for an estate, but I did not know you had decided on one. As to why I am here, I called on Miss Elizabeth this afternoon, and she informed me of the assembly this evening; therefore, I thought I would attend long enough to have a dance with her and Miss Bennet.”
He looked beyond Bingley and saw Elizabeth approaching of the arm of John Lucas. “In fact, here she is, and she has promised me the next dance.”
He bowed to Mary. “Excuse me, Miss Mary, but I believe my partner has just arrived. Thank you for speaking with me.”
“Mr. Farrington, I am always happy to speak with you. Enjoy your dance with Lizzy.”
“I am sure I will.” He then turned to Elizabeth. “Miss Elizabeth, I have been waiting with bated breath. Are you ready to dance?”
“I am, sir. I did not know you knew Mr. Bingley.”
“Oh yes. Bingley’s mentor, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, is one of my best friends and has been mentoring Bingley in Bingley’s attempt to become a gentleman and a member of the ton. I met Bingley through Darcy perhaps two years ago.” He then turned to Bingley. “Is he perhaps intending to visit you here, Bingley?”
“As a matter of fact, he is to spend several weeks here. He arrived a few hours ago from London, and I asked him to attend the assembly, but he decided he did not feel well enough to attend. If you are staying overnight, I am sure he would be pleased to see you.”
“I am staying at the Inn, but I intend to leave rather early in the morning. Please tell him I said hello.”
He then offered his arm to Elizabeth, and they headed for the dance floor.
As they were waiting for the dance to begin, Mr. Farrington asked, “Have you met Darcy yet, Miss Elizabeth?”
“Not face to face, but we did talk briefly. However, I will not tell how it came to be that we met but did not meet face to face. Suffice it to say, he was out for a ride when Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley first came to look at Netherfield, and I was out on one of my afternoon walks. I did not want him to see me in the condition I was in, so we spoke from locations where we could not see each other, and I assured him that Netherfield Park was in excellent condition, which I assume he conveyed to Mr. Bingley. I did not know he was Mr. Bingley’s mentor.”
Farrington chuckled. “Miss Elizabeth, you continue to intrigue me. Only you could meet someone like Darcy and yet not meet him. As for Darcy and Bingley, Darcy met Bingley four or five years ago at a meeting of Cambridge alumni and took a liking to him. Most of us thought he was foolish, taking on the job of mentoring Bingley, whose father was a mill owner. However, he seems to be enjoying the role, and he and Bingley have become quite good friends. I believe you will like Bingley, but I must warn you about his sister, Caroline. She is the epitome of a merchant-class woman trying too hard to become an upper-class gentlewoman. If she is acting as mistress of his estate, Bingley’s image in this area may suffer.”
The music began, and they became caught up in the dance, which gave them little opportunity to continue their discussion. Elizabeth had hoped to find out more about Mr. Bingley, because it was apparent to her that Jane had been quite taken with him, but during the break between dances of the set, Farrington went on to other topics and did not give her another chance to question him further about Darcy and Bingley.
Once the set was over, as Farrington escorted Elizabeth back to Mary and Kitty. “I am returning to London tomorrow. As I said this afternoon, I will send your father a note to confirm the time I will visit you next month.”
“Mr. Farrington, I have been thinking about your next visit and must admit, I am concerned that if you continue to call on me at Longbourn, which is so far from your home, it would greatly raise expectations within the local community – expectations I am not sure either of us is yet ready to confront. To be frank, I continue to believe, in the end, you cannot seriously consider a courtship with a woman of my status and lack of wealth. You have already told me your parents would not approve, and I do not wish to be the cause of unhappiness within your family. Furthermore, I am rather certain your friends would not consider me a suitable mate for one such as you, particularly if something should happen to your brother.”
Farrington was silent for a moment. “What must I do to convince you of how serious I am? Perhaps it is necessary for you to meet my parents. Would you agree to do so?”
She laughed softly. “Mr. Farrington, I believe you taking me to visit your parents would lead to even more speculation about our relationship than you calling on me here. Would it not be better for us to wait until we are both in London? I believe a call on me there would not be so noticed, and I could keep it from my father until our relationship is better defined.”
He shook his
head and chuckled. “You do recall I am the son of an Earl and quite wealthy, do you not?”
“Of course, I do, and I feel greatly honored that you are interested in furthering your acquaintance with me, but I want to proceed in a manner which will not lead my father to worry about our relationship. Remember, I am helping him manage the estate until he is more fit to do so. I do not want to put any more stress on him than he already suffers.”
“But you will probably be leaving some day. Surely, the fact that he allowed me to call on you here today means he is preparing himself for the inevitable.”
“Perhaps, but I know he has expected that I will be here for another year or two, in which time the doctor believes he will improve physically to the point that he will be better able to manage the estate by himself. If you were a local gentleman whose estate was near, I could assure him I would still help him manage until he feels able to do so. However, your estate is over a day away by carriage.”
“I can assure you, if you were my wife, I would do whatever is necessary to assure Longbourn continues to be managed well. We could visit often or hire a manager to help him. Therefore, back to the question as to when I will call on you next. Unless you are adamant that I should not call on you here next month, I would prefer to stay with the original plan.”
As he was saying that, a young man approached them to claim her for the next dance. Before she let him lead her away, she whispered to Farrington, “Very well, send your note to my father, if you truly wish to come next month. However, I do believe it would be best to wait until I am in London next spring.”
Chapter 4: After the Assembly
Darcy had gone to bed with a headache not long after the Bingley party left for the assembly and was thankful that he was able, with the help of a cold cloth on his head, to calm his headache and sleep a few hours. However, once he awoke at eleven o’clock, he could not go back to sleep, so was sitting in the library at Netherfield, petting Polegra and reading a book, when Bingley, who had just returned from the assembly, walked in.
“Hello, Bingley. What are you doing here? I heard you come in but expected you to go immediately to bed.”
“I had intended to do so, but I saw the light in here under the door, so I thought I would tell you about it. It was such an exhilarating experience, I do not think I will be able to go to sleep for hours.”
Darcy shook his head. “May I assume you met another angel and did she happen to be one of the Bennet girls Mr. Canfield mentioned?”
“I did, and she was. She is the elder, Miss Jane Bennet – a woman of such beauty as I have never beheld and possessing the sweetest disposition I have ever experienced. I danced three sets with her, despite the warning she and Miss Elizabeth gave me about how the locals may interpret my attention. But I did not care. She is perfect. I know I have said that about a woman before, but this time it is different, which I know I have also said before, but this time I am more certain than I ever was. She has not the self-assurance and sophistication of those I have met in London, but she is gentle and sweet and gorgeous and … I could go on, but just suffice it to say I believe in my heart she is going to be the one. I fully intend to court her and if she will marry me, I will buy Netherfield Park. I no longer care if I belong to the ton or not. That was my father’s dream, but not mine. I will become a gentleman, as he wished, but just a simple country gentleman who will live a life of happiness I do not believe I could find in London.”
Darcy shook his head and smiled at his friend. He had to admit, this was more excited than he had ever seen him. “Bingley, I am happy to hear you have finally admitted to yourself that being a part of the ton is probably not best for you. I came to that same conclusion some time ago but was reluctant to tell you until something happened to open your eyes. Even if you do not marry Miss Bennet or buy Netherfield, I am happy this experience has been able to open your eyes to that fact. What are your plans related to Miss Bennet?”
“I am going to call on her tomorrow morning and every morning thereafter, if she and her father will allow it. I cannot express to you how excited I am and how sure I am that she is the one. As you can imagine, my attention to Miss Bennet greatly distressed Caroline, and she berated me about my behavior all the way home from the dance, but this time, I did not let it pass. For the first time, I told her to be quiet and accept that I was going to court Miss Bennet, and if she did not like it, she could leave, and Louisa could act as mistress. And when she started to berate me again, I told her if she said one more thing, I would give her dowry to her and she could leave, never to receive any additional allowance from me at all. That shut her up.”
“Good heavens, Bingley. That is certainly proof to me that Miss Bennet must be different in your mind. I congratulate you for that. Your unwillingness to control your sister has always been a source of great concern to me. I am not sure whether you know it or not, but one reason Georgiana never comes with me to visit you or absents herself from our company when you visit us, is that she cannot stand your sister and her inappropriate treatment of both her and me. In fact, if Caroline continues to act inappropriately toward me this stay, as she often does by constantly taking my arm when I do not offer it or speaking familiarly with me, when it is not appropriate, I intend to verbally put her in her place. And be assured, if she even hints she expects to marry me, I will tell her that she is the last woman in the world I would ever marry.”
As Darcy was saying this, Polegra, stood and started walking toward the door with her ears perked forward. What the gentlemen did not know was that Caroline had also seen the light under the library door, and concluding that Darcy must be in there, had hurried to her room, put on her flimsiest nightgown and robe and returned to the library to try to put Darcy in a compromising situation. She reached the door, just as Bingley made his statement about her, followed by Darcy’s statement.
She was devastated and did not know what to do. She had never heard such damning criticisms of herself or, in fact, any other woman, by her brother or Darcy. She did not know whether to cry, which she refused to do, or slam open the door and give them both a piece of her mind. Fortunately, somehow, she was able to collect herself and do neither, but hurried back to her room, thinking to herself that she had been completely mistreated and undeserving of such criticism. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. “So, he thinks he would not marry me, does he. What will he do if he wakes up tonight and finds me naked, beside him in his bed? He will not escape me. He is mine.”
******
Meanwhile, back in the library, wondering what Polegra had sensed in the hall, Darcy arose and said, “I think Polegra senses someone or something in the hall outside. Let me see what it is.”
He walked over to the door and opened it, stepping out into the hall to look around, but could see or hear nothing. By the time he arrived, Caroline was already up the stairs and in the hall leading to her room. Because she was in her bare feet, she made no noise, and Darcy could not hear her movement.
He returned to the library and closed the door, shaking his head. “I could see or hear nothing. It may just have been a servant passing by who briefly stopped to try to determine who was in here, but from Polegra’s behavior, I must believe someone was there. Is there anything else you want to tell me about the assembly?”
“Yes, there is. One of the main reasons I came in was to tell you that you missed meeting another one of the most beautiful young women I have ever met, her beauty exceeded only by her elder sister. Miss Elizabeth was there in all her splendor and is apparently the toast of the town. Her dance card was completely full and during the break for the orchestra, when some of the local talent performed, she was the last to perform. She sang a song accompanied by her next oldest sister, Mary, and then sang an unaccompanied song that had all the women and some of the men wiping their eyes. And to top it off, Harold Farrington was there to dance with her. He had called on her this afternoon, and according to Jane, planned to call on her again nex
t month. Evidently, he met her at a ball in London held at the Savoy Hotel which was primarily for members of the upper middle-class. I assume you know his sister is married to a solicitor in London, but what you may not know is that he occasionally goes to such balls with her and her husband. Miss Elizabeth was there this last May with her Uncle and Aunt Gardiner, whom, I believe, you know.”
“Indeed, I do. Miss Elizabeth must be quite special, if Farrington is willing to call on her. I wonder if his mother knows. She has always been adamant that he should marry a woman of substance.”
“I asked him about her suitability, and he said he no longer worried about his Mother’s opinion. Apparently, Coldstone now belongs only to him. His father essentially forced his mother to sign her portion of it over to him. Thus, he is determined to marry whoever he wishes, regardless of his parents’ desires.”
“Good for him.”
“According to him, Miss Elizabeth is far more desirable than anyone he has yet to meet in your circle. He has been trying to convince her to allow him to court her, assuring her that her lack of wealth and status do not deter him, because he has all the status and wealth she and he would ever need.”
“I am amazed she has refused him. It would be a most advantageous marriage for her. I am surprised her father has not put pressure on her to accept.”
“According to Jane, she is her father’s favorite and manages Longbourn while her father is physically incapacitated. He is not anxious to lose her and would never force her to accept someone she did not want to marry.”
“I wonder what is keeping her from accepting his offer.”
“Jane thinks Miss Elizabeth does not consider him one who would be comfortable with her nonconformity or level of education.”
“Is she highly educated?”
“Apparently, Mr. Bennet, who was once a Scholar at Cambridge, chose to educate her as if she was his son. Jane could not recall all the things she has studied but does know her father has taught her Latin and helped her learn Greek, and she has studied other topics, including other languages, on her own. She is also, in Jane’s words, a voracious reader.”
The Lady of the Mount and Patience Rewarded: Two Stories of Darcy and Elizabeth Page 3
