Page 31 of Such Low Connections

Seeing that Jane found it easier to believe that Mr Bingley did not really care for her, rather than think him and his sister discourteous, Elizabeth let the matter drop.

Still, as she returned the letter to the dressing table and offered to brush Jane’s hair, Elizabeth remained convinced that there must be something extraordinary behind the Bingley party’s departure.

∞∞∞

Lacking Elizabeth’s sensitivity or tact, Mrs Bennet was still grumbling about Mr Bingley’s precipitate departure at supper.

“Well, Mr Hill has cut that joint in three. Still, we shall have nothing but beef for weeks,” she observed with a huff of indignation as Mr Bennet carved the meat.

“Truly, such hardships are a trial,” observed her husband with a straight face and amused eyes. “Beef for weeks. How will we manage, eh, Lizzy?”

Elizabeth smiled but shook her head slightly, hoping that Mrs Bennet might drop the topic if not encouraged. Immune both to her husband’s teasing and her daughters’ lack of enthusiasm, however, her mother continued on the same theme.

“My hope is for Mr Bingley’s speedy return, ideally without his unpleasant friend,” Mrs Bennet pronounced. “Thinking it over, I am quite convinced that this sudden removal from Netherfield was all Mr Darcy’s doing. Mr Bingley had no reason for it, did he?”

“You can’t know that, Mama,” Jane protested. “We cannot guess at his private business.”

“There, there, Jane,” her mother clucked. “I make no criticism of your Mr Bingley. I blame only Mr Darcy.”

“How so, Madam?” enquired Mr Bennet cheerfully, to Elizabeth and Jane’s dismay at the prolonging of the conversation. “I should be very interested to hear how you deduced so much from so short a message. A more likely construction is that Mr Bingley’s bank required his signature on some unexceptional but important document, but no doubt you are wiser than I.”

“I believe that Mr Darcy could no longer bear the gossip about his birth and therefore removed the whole party to London for his own selfish reasons,” Mrs Bennet replied triumphantly. “Mr Bingley would doubtless rather have remained near to Jane, unless he were persuaded by someone else.”

At these assertions from her unthinking parent, Jane had begun to look quite ill. Elizabeth attempted to catch her mother’s eye, but Mrs Bennet could not be turned from her course.

“A true gentleman would not be so self-serving and rude, would he?” the older woman continued. “The rumours about Mr Darcy seem increasingly likely to me, given his behaviour. Did you know, the latest thing I heard from Mrs King was that he was really the son of a gypsy who once called at Pemberley?”

“No!” Jane burst out with uncharacteristic vigour, her cheeks flaming with distress. “Mr Bingley himself has assured me that all the rumours circulating about Mr Darcy are a vicious, spiteful, and false campaign by an unknown enemy. Mr Bingley is a trustworthy man who knows the Darcy family well, and I will take his word over that of Mary King’s aunt!”

Elizabeth nodded in solidarity with her sister, while Mr Bennet chuckled loudly at this righteous eruption.

“Well said, Jane! Yes, the bank is the more likely explanation, I believe.”

His wife looked daggers at him and at both of her elder daughters, indignant at being scolded in such a fashion, but then her face softened.

“No doubt Mr Bingley has his reasons for supporting his friend, Jane. I am only glad to know there is such a confidence between you two, that Mr Bingley can give such reassurances. Let us hope he proves his trustworthiness with a speedy return to Netherfield Park.”

Before Jane could protest any further, Lydia gave a theatrical groan and put down her knife and fork.

“Mr Bingley, Mr Darcy — ugh! Why must we always talk so much of these gentlemen at the table? There are so many handsome officers now at Meryton. I should much rather talk of them instead, especially Lieutenant Wickham,” complained the youngest Bennet daughter, to sympathetic noises from Kitty beside her. “I am sure even Lizzy agrees with me!”

“Yes, I do,” Elizabeth answered with a nod, for once glad that Lydia and Kitty were interested only in frivolous subjects. “Is Aunt Philips going to be holding another open house for the officers next week?”

“Oh yes, she promised,” Kitty piped up at once, to sighs of resignation from Mr Bennet. “There will be cards and dancing again. Denny has said that all the officers will be there, including Wickham, whatever day it might be…”

As Lydia and Kitty sailed away on a steady tide of red coats, handsome faces and dancing skills, Elizabeth felt great relief and even a little genuine interest.

She had regretted George Wickham’s absence from the Netherfield Park ball and supposed he had thought better of coming face to face with Mr Darcy. She could not blame him for that, having seen how the latter’s face changed at any mention of Mr Wickham. Whatever had happened between the two men, the enmity it had created could not be doubted.

“…and Sir William Lucas has promised a dance after Christmas too,” Lydia added, after having exhausted the social opportunities offered by Mrs Philips. “Mrs Forster was most delighted and made Colonel Forster swear that all the officers might attend.”

“I do hope Mr Bingley is back at Netherfield Park by Christmas,” remarked Mrs Bennet, her mind returning to her original unwelcome topic of conversation and her speculative eye returning to Jane. “I dare say they would have some kind of party for the neighbourhood, or at least for their greatest friends…”

Under the table, Elizabeth squeezed Jane’s hand.

∞∞∞

“I swear I am as stuffed as our goose!” Lydia declared, throwing herself down on the smaller of the two sofas in the parlour in a most undignified fashion after the family had finished their Christmas supper. “How uncomfortable I am.”