Page 7 of Longbourn’s Son (Pride and Prejudice Variation #22)
The five Bennet daughters were sitting in what had once been the nursery, but was now a shabby, comfortable room where the women painted and drew, and sewed and knitted, and read quietly according to their various interests.
Mary, who found entertaining visitors exhausting, was deeply immersed in Robinson Crusoe , her favorite novel, and Jane, who enjoyed sewing, was putting another set of patches on the knees of Luke’s favorite work trousers.
“What do you think of Mr. Bingley, Jane?” Kitty asked.
“He seems very pleasant,” Jane responded, smoothing a patch and firmly pinning it in place.
“Only pleasant?” Elizabeth inquired slyly. She was sketching Mary, who usually looked preternaturally solemn but was now smiling slightly as she read a favorite section of her book.
“It is a pleasant thing to be pleasant,” Jane retorted with a smile.
“I believe Mr. Bingley finds you far more than pleasant,” Elizabeth commented, carefully drawing Mary’s left ear. “He could hardly take his eyes off of you today.”
“Would you like to marry Mr. Bingley, Jane,” Lydia asked worriedly from the floor, where she was curled up near the fire. “He is rich.”
“I have no intention of marrying a man because he is rich, Lydia,” Jane, setting aside her work and looking gravely at her youngest sister. “I will either stay single or marry a man whom I respect and admire.”
Lydia sat up. “Do you not admire Mr. Bingley?”
Jane shrugged and turned back to her work.
“I admire his person, his conversation, and his manners, certainly, but I am concerned that he has not provided appropriate guidance to Miss Bingley. She was snobbish and unpleasant at the Meryton assembly, and disdainful and rude to us today. Mr. Bingley has apparently done nothing to address her poor behavior.”
“But surely,” Kitty said with a furrowed brow, “Mr. Bingley could not rebuke her in public without causing great embarrassment.”
“Perhaps not, but the fact that Miss Bingley is so arrogant and unpleasant in company means that either she is incorrigible or Mr. Bingley has not bothered to rein her in. If the former, I would not care to marry into such a family and acquire a shrew for a sister, and if the latter, I do not wish for a husband who lacks the will and determination to oversee his household.”
Elizabeth, whose pencil had stilled during this discussion, turned to gaze on her elder sister in surprise. “You feel very strongly about this, Jane!”
“I do,” Miss Bennet declared stoutly. “You know that Mother and Father were not well matched during her lifetime, and I have no desire for similar domestic strife in my own home.”
“It is not as if Miss Bingley will always live with her brother,” Mary pointed out, laying aside her book. “She is handsome and well dowered; she will marry someone eventually, and move away.”
Jane thrust her needle into the trousers and said, “That is true enough, but I know myself well. I dislike conflict and am thus inclined to give in to stronger willed individuals. Based on my limited interactions with Mr. Bingley, I believe that he has a similar character to my own and neither of us has the fortitude to manage difficult people with the necessary firmness. But perhaps I am wronging Netherfield’s new master; we do not know one another well, after all. ”
“Perhaps you will pursue Mr. Darcy, Jane?” Lydia asked with an impish smile, provoking embarrassed gasps from her other sisters. “He seems a determined sort of man.”
Jane was amused instead of flustered. “I suppose any man who can insult my sister publicly must have a delightful indifference to social condemnation. But in terms of personality, I think not. Mr. Darcy is a fine gentleman, but far too intelligent for me. He might suit Lizzy.”
To her surprise, Elizabeth found herself blushing a little. “I am quite certain he would not dream of marrying a Bennet of Longbourn,” she pointed out. “He is well connected and exceedingly wealthy.”
“Very likely he will not,” Jane agreed placidly. “I have no intention of worrying about my potential marriage, and I hope none of you do either. If Luke wishes us to leave Longbourn, we have Mother’s settlement...”
“He would never do such a thing,” Kitty interrupted stoutly. “He loves us all dearly.”
Jane Bennet teared up a little as she put another set of stitches in place.
With Mrs. Bennet dead and gone these four years, Jane was more mother than sister to her youngest siblings.
She would not leap hastily into marriage and leave them alone.
Indeed, she loved Longbourn so much that she was hesitant to leave at all.
/
“Do you like the Bennets, Georgiana?” Darcy asked.
Georgiana was curled up on a comfortable chair in her sitting room, her gaze fixed on the frolicking flames in the fireplace, but this question caused her to turn her head lazily toward her beloved brother.
“I like them well enough,” she said sleepily. It had been a long and fatiguing day and she longed for her bed, but she longed even more for time alone with her brother, so she smiled at him and added, “I found Miss Elizabeth very welcoming, and Miss Bennet is lovely.”
“What think you of Miss Elizabeth’s performance on the pianoforte?”
“Miss Elizabeth is not greatly skilled, and she admits she does not practice enough to be an expert; on the other hand, she does not put on airs and she plays with verve and vigor. I enjoyed watching and listening to her play. I admire her willingness to play in front of strangers, especially given that her performance is not perfect.”
This was, Darcy thought, a long speech for his timid sister. “Would you care to spend more time with them, my dear, or do you find so many young ladies overwhelming?”
“Oh, I would be delighted to see them again. They are a comfortable family, do you not think? I feel at ease with them as I do not feel comfortable among the members of so-called high society. Do you like them, Fitzwilliam?”
Darcy realized, with some astonishment that yes, he did like the Bennets.
He did not truly like most people, many people bored him, and even more people annoyed him by adulating him for his wealth and position in society.
Mr. Bennet was an odd personage, but he played a good game of chess, and the Bennet ladies, one and all, treated him with delightful indifference.
He had not felt like a gentleman sheep among matrimonially-inclined wolves at Longbourn, and that was a rare treat.
“I do like them, Georgiana. I like them very much.”
/
“We simply must convince Charles to leave Netherfield and move back to Town, Louisa,” Caroline Bingley insisted. “Meryton is full of persons of little wealth and no beauty, connections or refinement! We must find our way into more polished society or all will be lost!”
Louisa Hurst was knitting a sock for her son and she cast an anxious glance toward the door which led to the small room where her baby lay asleep.
“Take care not to wake Christopher, Caroline,” she advised quietly.
Her sister turned slightly purple at this warning and snarled, “Are you even listening to me, or are you too caught up in the needs of your mewling infant to care about your only sister?”
“If you insist on discussing this loudly, let us move to your sitting room, Caroline. I do not wish for Christopher to be awakened early, and I know you find his crying tiresome.”
Caroline could not argue with the latter and was determined to recruit her sister as an ally in her resolution to leave Netherfield.
The trip to visit the Bennets had been a disaster; Miss Bennet was far too beautiful for her own good, and Caroline recognized the budding signs of nascent love in her brother’s guileless eyes.
Of course, Charles had been ‘in love’ before and had always avoided the parson’s noose, but country folk were a conniving, scheming lot.
She could imagine Mr. Bennet insisting that Charles had raised expectations and must marry Miss Bennet, and no doubt the lady was yearning for just such an outcome. No, they must leave for London quickly!
Once the sisters had relocated to Caroline’s own sitting room and Louisa had picked up her knitting again, Caroline poured out her extensive, rabid thoughts on the matter, finishing with, “So you see, Louisa, we simply must encourage Charles to leave for London as soon as possible! Or perhaps we can generate some need for him to interact with his man of business, and follow him up to Town. That might be better, actually…”
“What of Mr. and Miss Darcy?” Louisa inquired drily. “It would be discourteous for our brother to race away to town when Charles invited Mr. Darcy to enjoy hunting here at Netherfield.”
Caroline shrugged pettishly. “I am sure it does not matter to Mr. Darcy; he must prefer his house in Town to being here, and poor Miss Darcy is no doubt bored to tears. No, we will rise early tomorrow and speak to Charles…”
“You may rise if you wish, but I will not. I am very happy here at Netherfield. The country air agrees with me and my son, and London is often foggy and noxious this time of year.”
Caroline stared at Mrs. Hurst with a sense of unreality. “Why must you argue with me about everything?” she demanded in frustration. “You seem to take a great delight in vexing me, in denying me happiness!”
“Not at all,” her sister returned calmly, though she moved her knitting needles with slightly more vigor than usual.
“The truth is that before I was married, I followed your lead because my own will was insufficient to stand firm against your stronger one. But I spent my three years of marriage living under the obnoxious thumb of my husband’s mother, and I have decided that I will never permit myself to be browbeaten in such a manner again.
My concern is for my son and myself, and your marital and societal ambitions are of no particular concern to me. ”
Tears of fury sprang into Miss Bingley’s eyes. “You dare compare me to Mrs. Hurst? She is but a frumpy country matron with little beauty and no fashion at all. I am nothing like her!”
“In looks and temperament, you are quite right. But you and my mother by marriage share a deep and abiding selfishness. Mrs. Hurst rules her husband and household by whining and giving way to vapors whenever someone seeks to break free from her desires. That is why I left Hurst’s estate and took refuge with Charles after my husband died.
But you, Caroline, use your sharp tongue and snide remarks in an attempt to control all those around you.
Fortunately for me, you have five and twenty fewer years of experience in such things, and thus you are a mere novice in getting your own way compared to Mrs. Hurst.”
Caroline Bingley was so taken aback, so shocked, so incredulous at these words, that she gaped like a bewildered goldfish for a full fifteen seconds. Finally, she sputtered out, “I am not selfish!”
“Of course you are,” her sister answered, finishing another row of the baby sock and rising to her feet.
“All you care about is your own advancement in society, and thus you seek to force Charles into finding and wedding a woman who will elevate you. You have no interest in his happiness in marriage, or my struggles as a widow.”
Caroline was so outraged she felt like spitting. “Louisa, how can you say such a thing?”
“I hear Christopher crying and must feed him,” Mrs. Hurst declared, and swept out of the room, leaving a furious Miss Bingley behind her.