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Chapter 3: To Meryton and back

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After breakfast the next day, the Bennet girls walked to Meryton to inquire if Mr. Wickham were returned, and to lament over his absence from the Netherfield ball.

Jane and Elizabeth planned their courses of action for the anticipated visit to their aunt’s house. They concurred that it would be best for Jane to give Mrs. Phillips the details of Mr. Collins’s failed marriage proposal, thus sparing Elizabeth the censure that she would surely receive from their aunt, who had been so pleased with Mr. Collins’s manners on their previous visit. Elizabeth, then, would be free to talk with Mr. Wickham, if they saw him.

Upon entering the town they did indeed see Wickham, who attended them to their aunt’s where his regret and vexation, and the concern of everybody, was well talked over.

Jane quickly placed herself at her aunt’s side. Their conversation was exactly what she would have predicted. The rebuke of Elizabeth was stern, as was the warning that she ought to think less about her own fancy and more about her situation in life and the needs of her family. Next was the prediction that Lizzy would soon find herself an old maid, at which time she ought not think that she would have her aunt’s shoulder to cry on. Thankfully, she moved on from these pronouncements to friendly and eager inquiries toward Jane about Mr. Bingley’s latest attentions to her and about his trip to London, then wishes that Bingley would leave that insufferable Mr. Darcy in Town and return to Hertfordshire alone, and, finally, rapturous descriptions of the splendor of Jane’s certain future as mistress of Netherfield.

Jane held up her end of the conversation decently well while surreptitiously watching Elizabeth talk with Mr. Wickham on the other side of the room. The penetrating look in her sister’s eyes, and the hint of unease on Wickham’s face suggested that they were having a more interesting discourse than the one Jane was involved in.

After the visit was over, Jane wondered whether Mr. Wickham would offer to walk with them back to Longbourn, but he did not, and Lydia and Kitty were chattering away between themselves, which left Jane and Elizabeth free to quietly confer with each other on the way home.

“Wickham confirmed,” Elizabeth stated, “that Mr. Darcy was the primary reason that he chose not to attend the ball. But I was more interested to hear about Georgiana Darcy. And on that subject I think I may have made him uncomfortable.”

“Oh?”

“I asked him to tell me more about Miss Darcy’s nature and how it came to be that she would turn entirely cold to him after once being so deeply fond of him. Could pride alone account for such a complete reversal in feelings toward a lifelong friend?”

“His response?”

“Rather than giving an answer, he turned to questioning me. Why did I want to know? Do I know Miss Darcy? My reply”, she smiled, “was that I’m ever trying to sketch people’s characters, and I found his description of her change of heart mystifying. It’s hard to imagine that simple pride would induce a person to give up the pleasure of an established friendship.”

“It appeared to me,” Jane interjected, “that he began to look uncomfortable as he continued to speak with you.”

“Indeed. He asked me again if I had met Miss Darcy, and I said I had not. He then asked if I planned or expected to meet her, and I told him that I did not know. He then said that it would be unseemly and disrespectful for him to reveal any more about Miss Darcy’s character to someone with whom she is not acquainted. After that he seemed determined to shift the conversation in another direction.”

“He wishes, then, to be fair to her, even though they may not get along well.”

Elizabeth grimaced. “Or perhaps he feared to say anything that would be proven untrue if I ever meet Miss Darcy myself. I certainly hope that she does begin to write to you, for I am burning to find out who is telling the truth about her.”

~ooOOoo~

Soon after their return home, a letter was delivered to Miss Bennet from Miss Bingley. Even though she knew that Caroline was perhaps not to be trusted completely, she could not help feeling disquieted by the letter’s contents. After reading it through once, Jane invited Elizabeth to follow her upstairs. Once they were alone, she read it aloud.

The first sentence comprised the information of their having just resolved to follow their brother to town directly, and of their meaning to dine in Grosvenor Street, where Mr. Hurst had a house. The next was in these words:

“I do not pretend to regret anything I shall leave in Hertfordshire, except your society, my dearest friend; but we will hope, at some future period, to enjoy many returns of that delightful intercourse we have known, and in the meanwhile may lessen the pain of separation by a very frequent and most unreserved correspondence. I depend on you for that.

“When my brother left us yesterday, he imagined that the business which took him to London might be concluded in three or four days; but as we are certain it cannot be so, and at the same time convinced that when Charles gets to town he will be in no hurry to leave it again, we have determined on following him thither, that he may not be obliged to spend his vacant hours in a comfortless hotel. Many of my acquaintances are already there for the winter; I wish that I could hear that you, my dearest friend, had any intention of making one of the crowd—but of that I despair. I sincerely hope your Christmas in Hertfordshire may abound in the gaieties which that season generally brings, and that your beaux will be so numerous as to prevent your feeling the loss of the three of whom we shall deprive you.”

“So, Mr. Darcy was correct,” Elizabeth observed. “They went with their brother to London and wish to keep him there.”

“So it seems. It is so hard for me to think that Caroline would actually lie. Perhaps she truly believes, or wishes to believe, that Mr. Bingley will change his own mind about returning to Hertfordshire.”

“I doubt that she is so deluded.”

“Here is the last part of her letter.” Jane’s voice shook slightly as she read on:

“Mr. Darcy is impatient to see his sister; and, to confess the truth, we are scarcely less eager to meet her again. I really do not think Georgiana Darcy has her equal for beauty, elegance, and accomplishments; and the affection she inspires in Louisa and myself is heightened into something still more interesting, from the hope we dare entertain of her being hereafter our sister. I do not know whether I ever before mentioned to you my feelings on this subject; but I will not leave the country without confiding them, and I trust you will not esteem them unreasonable. My brother admires her greatly already; he will have frequent opportunity now of seeing her on the most intimate footing; her relations all wish the connection as much as his own; and a sister’s partiality is not misleading me, I think, when I call Charles most capable of engaging any woman’s heart. With all these circumstances to favour an attachment, and nothing to prevent it, am I wrong, my dearest Jane, in indulging the hope of an event which will secure the happiness of so many?”

“You know that what she says is not true, Jane. You must know how partial Mr. Bingley is toward you.”

“I believe that he likes me very much. But the letter does not say that he already loves Miss Darcy, only that Caroline expects that they will come to love each other. Even if Caroline is speaking only from her own desires, how can I know what will happen when Miss Darcy and Mr. Bingley are together so closely and so often? If she is truly as accomplished and as amiable as everyone claims that she is . . .”

“Mr. Darcy said that he would not help Bingley’s sisters in any attempt to influence Mr. Bingley away from his interest in you.”

“True, but if a partiality toward Miss Darcy were to develop on its own, Mr. Darcy would not oppose that, either. In fact, he would probably welcome it. He said himself that reason would dictate that the best choice for Mr. Bingley would be a woman who can elevate him. Miss Darcy can do that; I cannot.”

“Bingley’s heart belongs to you. Nothing can interfere with that.”

Jane smiled forlornly. “Are you saying that you are certain?”

Elizabeth sighed. “If his heart turns to someone else, then he was not worth having.”

They agreed that Mrs. Bennet should only hear of the departure of the family, but even this partial communication gave her a great deal of concern, and she bewailed it as exceedingly unlucky that the ladies should happen to go away just as they were all getting so intimate together. After lamenting it, however, at some length, she had the consolation that Mr. Bingley would be soon down again and soon dining at Longbourn, and the conclusion of all was the comfortable declaration, that though he had been invited only to a family dinner, she would take care to have two full courses.

For the rest of the day, Jane’s thoughts turned often to the time she had spent with Mr. Bingley. In every remembered smile and compliment, she sought assurance that he would not forget her. But every comment that had been made about Miss Darcy’s beauty, talent, and good nature came back to her remembrance as well.

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