Page 17 of A Life Diverted
L ess than a fortnight after Mr Bingley and the other men viewed Netherfield Park, Frank Phillips delivered the investigator’s report received from Gardiner to Bennet.
The brothers-in-law were seated in Bennet’s expanded study.
Being a bibliophile, every spare space along the walls of the study used to be covered with bookcases, each shelf groaning under the weight of the tomes thereon.
Fanny and Bennet had decided to expand the house using the additional funds available.
The extra was generated by the income from the added land, meaning more tenants, which had increased Longbourn’s income significantly.
That was before Netherfield Park’s earnings was added.
Their savings, Fanny’s dowry, and Bennet’s legacy were growing apace thanks to Gardiner’s investment skills.
The money was over and above that which had been set aside for the Bennet sisters’ dowries.
Hence, the study only had a few bookshelves in it, and a formal library had been built.
There was a new door in the study which led into the added space.
It was not only Bennet who appreciated that there was four or five times the room to store books.
Fanny and all of his children had a deep appreciation for the written word.
Taking that into consideration, the library was one of the most used rooms in the house.
While Phillips sipped a cup of tea, Bennet perused the report.
“Do we want one as mercurial as this says Mr Bingley is?” Bennet looked above his reading spectacles at his brother-in-law.
“I am not sure I like this part about how he chases after girls who look like Janie, and then, when his honour should be engaged, he loses interest.” Bennet paused and read further.
“Based on what they could find, the investigators concluded he is not a rake, just immature. I am not sure which is worse. Is he that selfish that he does not understand how his actions affect others? I suppose he is.”
“That he was not his own man yet was my opinion of Mr Bingley when I met with him at Netherfield Park,” Phillips agreed.
“I understand that of the three men who were with him, Messrs Fitzwilliam and Darcy will join him at Netherfield Park if you award Mr Bingley the lease. I gather that Mr Wendell tolerates Bingley but only in small doses. All three men seemed to be responsible and intelligent men. Both men who will accompany him are older than him; the former has a large estate in Kent and the latter, a larger one in Derbyshire. They are to teach him how to manage an estate. As far as Jane goes, you and Fanny have more than educated her and the rest of your offspring to see the truth of someone. Jane may look serene, but as you well know, she has a backbone of steel, intensely dislikes being judged on her looks only, and will not allow anyone to pull the wool over her eyes. Besides, Lizzy would run any man who hurt her sister out of the county. With five thousand a year, he can certainly afford the cost of the lease.”
After nodding his agreement to Phillips’s last statement, Bennet raised his eyebrows when he read what had been reported about the sisters.
“The younger sister thinks she is a duchess when she is merely the daughter of a tradesman, and the older one, like the brother, will not check her. She rules the roost. Not to mention she has rather violent tantrums when she does not get her own way and is an inveterate social climber and fortune hunter,” Bennet summarised.
“Let us not mention how vulgar she is, as she always finds ways to mention the amount of her dowry, her brother’s income and fortune, and the income of his friends. What a harpy! ”
“When will you make a decision?” Phillips enquired.
“I will not be missish regarding a possible tenant. After all, for what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn? Hence, I am leaning towards allowing Mr Bingley to have a one year lease, but no longer than that. In fact, if Fanny agrees, offer him a six month term as well as an option for one year. It will be amusing to see if they are as badly behaved as reported. However, I am sure I will tire of them rather soon.” Bennet removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I will let you know by the morrow.”
Phillips drained the last of his tea, replaced the cup on the saucer, and stood. He extended his hand to his brother-in-law. Once they had shaken, Phillips took his leave.
“You rang, Master,” Hill intoned as he bowed.
“Yes, Hill, please have Mrs Bennet, Miss Bennet, and Miss Lizzy join me,” Bennet requested.
Hill bowed again and left the study.
Not many minutes later, Fanny and their two eldest daughters entered the room. Except by blood, Lizzy was as much his daughter as any of her three sisters. She had been a pretty little girl when she had been found in the carriage, but as she had matured, she had turned into a beauty.
“You asked to see us?” Fanny queried.
“Please, if you will take a seat on the sofa. Janie and Lizzy take a seat on either side of your mama. I have the report on the possible new tenant of Netherfield Park, and I would like your opinions before we make a final decision,” Bennet stated.
The three sat, Jane to her mother’s left and Elizabeth on her right.
Bennet handed Fanny the report. He sat in one of the wingback chairs facing the sofa, which was situated between the two floor to ceiling windows.
The windows offered a clear view of part of the park.
Since the books had been moved into the library, there had been far more room for furniture in the study.
“This man will be very changeable, will he not, Thomas?” Fanny observed.
Bennet told his wife and eldest daughters what Phillips had shared about the men who would help guide Mr Bingley.
“That is not a man in whom I could ever be interested,” Jane observed as she read further.
“You know how much I dislike being judged purely on my physical looks. Also, I could never esteem a man who raises and then dashes expectations as Mr Bingley seems to do. The fact he does so because of callowness does not make his actions more palatable. I would rather remain single than marry a man such as that, regardless of the size of his fortune.”
“Brava, Janie,” Fanny said. “This is not a man I would like to see any of you tied to in marriage. He could have ten thousand a year and that would not change my mind. We cannot let the sisters, especially the younger one know that we own Netherfield Park. We need no false friends.”
“She seems like a lady who would not be worth knowing,” Elizabeth remarked.
“Goodness knows, we do not disdain those in trade: after all, we love our uncles no matter how they earn their money. How hypocritical of her to deride anyone in trade when her much vaunted dowry and her brother’s fortune are the result of her late father’s sweat and blood in commerce. ”
“If you want to allow Mr Bingley the lease, I will not oppose you, Thomas,” Fanny stated.
“However, I want a few additional clauses added to cover the shrew’s tendency to destroy things.
I think five times the cost will be an apt punishment.
Also, have Frank add something about rake-like behaviour voiding the lease with no option of a refund.
I will not tolerate Mr Bingley trying his behaviour on Jane, or any other in the area, no matter the reason for the way he acts. ”
Bennet agreed and wrote out the additional terms and the agreement to accept Mr Bingley before having one of his grooms ride it over to Phillips’s office.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Per the reply he had received from Darcy, Bingley arrived at Darcy House on his own, without his sister in tow.
Bingley would have hidden the fact he was going to his friend’s house from his sister, as he needed Darcy and Fitzwilliam’s advice more than he needed to appease Caroline at that moment.
Thankfully, his sisters had decided to leave the house to call on Miss Grantly, so the Darcy House messenger and his departure from the house on Curzon Street had not been noted by Caroline Bingley.
Killion showed Mr Bingley into the study, as the master had left two sets of instructions. If his friend arrived with his sister, they were not to be admitted; if he arrived alone, then Mr Bingley was to be allowed to enter the house.
“Darcy and Fitzwilliam, thank you for seeing me,” Bingley said as he walked into the study. “Would it have been so bad had Caroline joined me?”
“Yes, it would have. We,” Darcy inclined his head to his cousin, “will tolerate Miss Bingley if you take that estate, but as you have been told, not a few times before, the way your sister behaves does you no favours. You do not make things better by never standing up to her.”
“Before we broach the subject of the request to see us,” Richard added, “I will repeat something I know William has told you and which I am sure you have not told your younger sister yet. If she attempts to compromise either of us when we are your guests, if and when you take the lease, she will ruin herself only. Neither of us will gratify an attempt to entrap us, and if you support her in her claim, it will cause an irrevocable break between us. Unlike William here,” Richard inclined his head towards his cousin, who was nodding his agreement, “I do not claim implacable resentment against one who offends me, but if, after all the times we have both told you that we will never offer for your sister, you dare try and demand we marry her because you were not able to check her, my refusal to know you again will be as definite as William’s. ”
After all the times either or both cousins had told him this, Bingley had always been sure they would not allow his sister to ruin herself. For the first time, he was not so certain any longer. Like he did with most difficult decisions, he deferred thinking about it.