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“Everyone here–men and women–dress no better than the chimney sweeps in London.” Caroline sneered, “Put a frock on a sow and let it run back and forth across the floor a few times, and the locals will name her the belle of the ball.”

Louisa frowned and said, “Sister! We must be polite! Charles wants to be welcomed here as a member of the gentry.”

“The gentry! They are farmers grubbing in the dirt!” the blonde sister replied.

Turning to Charles, she scornfully asked, “Will you compare blisters with the gentlemen from Meryton who spent the day behind the plough before throwing a coat over their mud-speckled trousers to stomp on the floorboards tonight?”

“Caroline! Stop!” Charles insisted. “If you are in the mood to insult everyone tonight, why did you not remain at Netherfield?”

“There is no one there to speak with; no one to visit,” Caroline stated. “I thought Mr Darcy would attend us in the countryside, and now he has abandoned us. He knows better than to venture into the wild lands here about.”

“Darcy was delayed by some important matter. He will join us in a few days.”

Looking out the carriage window at the dark countryside, the young woman said, “I shall not believe it until I see him darken the door of your farmhouse.”

“Farmhouse?” asked Charles. “Netherfield is an estate with thirty farms. I shall work with the steward, but with good weather, it should return three thousand…”

“Stop! I do not wish to hear more stories regarding farms, cows, or corn again!” Caroline insisted. “All my life, Father and Mother discussed business. Now they are dead, and what did it gain them?”

“Their efforts lifted us to the gentry, Caroline. Mother insisted on finishing school for you and Louisa, and Father sent me to university. We have the manners and speech of the gentry,” Charles reminded his sister. “You have a rich dowry because of their efforts.”

“My dowry brings notice in London! Hereabouts, the people do not have manners or graces.”

Geoffrey Hurst shook his head and interrupted his wife’s sister, “Caroline, there are louts and cads in London. Every society reception last year included gentlemen who staggered about and offended ladies with delicate sensibilities. Even the Crown Prince has been known to appear in public while in his cups and make vulgar pronouncements concerning a lady’s attributes. ”

Dismissing Hurst’s statements, Caroline said, “Brother, you do not understand the first circles of refined society.”

“Nor do you. And your twenty thousand pounds is not likely to purchase your entry to those rarefied airs.” Geoffrey replied. “For instance, Mr Darcy…”

“What about Mr Darcy?” the younger sister asked waspishly.

Geoffrey was merciless when he replied, “Mr Darcy’s bride will need at least fifty thousand pounds to capture and hold his attention.”

“And I suppose I should settle for a country gentleman such as yourself?”

Louisa defended her husband and situation, “Caroline, my husband and I are very happy together.”

“Then why do you cling to Charles and his household? You are limpets who depend on his generosity for food and house room this autumn.”

“Caroline! Stop!” Charles insisted. “Geoffrey and Louisa remain with us to help you find a husband!”

“And you must marry soon,” Geoffrey reminded Caroline, determined to defend his wife. “How many times is it that you have turned two-and-twenty? This autumn will be three times, I believe.”

“You are vulgar, Mr Hurst,” Caroline growled.

Hurst retorted, “The stinging words of an old maid about to be placed onto a shelf and forgotten.”

The smile on Charles Bingley’s face vanished during the last mile of the road into Meryton as he considered his youngest sister’s ambitions.

‘Caroline wishes entry into the first circles, and I have arranged introductions and invitations to parties and dinners. She refuses every man’s attention to flirt with Darcy. But my friend has no interest in her.’

Charles remembered one night after family dinner at the Darcy home, where Caroline spoke of her accomplishments, including planning dinner menus and arranging seating charts around the table.

Over a brandy, Darcy confided, “Charles, your sister will not gain my attention. Tell her I already have a competent housekeeper and do not need a lady to arrange the chairs around the dining room table.”

‘Perhaps an idea will present itself tonight,’ Charles prayed after wishing he had never introduced his sister to his friend from university.

~~~

Thomas Bennet pretended that he did not enjoy the assembly held each autumn.

For many years he arranged his accounts to appear less successful after each harvest, and he budgeted sufficient monies for taxes and essentials, if not for excessive luxuries.

He saved monies every year to secure the future of his widow and any unmarried daughters but had never told Frannie.

If she knew about the money, she would demand to spend the funds for a season in London to match their daughters to rich lords.

‘This autumn, I shall sell a hunter. I do not need two horses for chasing foxes when I am the only one who rides in my household,’ he told himself.

Glancing around the hall, he found his six ladies–his wife who remained lovely in her fourth decade, and her five beautiful flowers–Jane, lovely as spring; Lizzy, bright as a bonfire; Mary, studious but beginning to blossom, and there were Kitty and Lydia.

He frowned slightly, thinking, ‘They should still be in the nursery. Frannie wanted to move them out too soon, and I allowed it. Well, that horse is off down the road, and I shall not close the barn door now. But what are we to do with them?’

He looked around the hall again and found one friend, Sir William Lucas, in deep conversation with an unfamiliar young man with a blond head, in the cut of clothes worn by businessmen in London.

Looking around and not finding any red coats in the hall, he thought, ‘None of the officers are present tonight. Frannie, Kitty, and Lydia will be disappointed.’

While his attention was on the others, Sir William stole a march and approached Thomas with the stranger at his side.

The gentleman declared, “Bennet, good evening.”

“Good evening, Lucas. How are you tonight?”

“I am well! Mr Chester from London appeared at Lucas Lodge and purchased the steers I had for sale. He paid top price for the pasture-fed stock and drove them off to market yesterday,” boasted Sir William.

“Congratulations. My dairy only produced heifers this year, and I hope Chester will return to purchase one or two before we slaughter them this autumn.”

“Yes…well,” the loquacious gentleman said, eyeing his companions. “Thomas Bennet, allow me to introduce you to Mr George Wickham, a prosperous businessman who has come to Meryton. Bennet is master of Longbourn, an estate of good size here in Meryton.”

“Business in Meryton?” asked Thomas. “Horses, sheep, geese, oats, and barley are the items most often for sale in Meryton, sir. Which do you purchase?”

“None, sir. However, I am glad to make your acquaintance. I visit for a short time with acquaintances in the militia; Captain Denny and I have been friends for several years.”

After the introduction, there followed ten minutes of platitudes and careful questions to elicit the state of the strongbox at Longbourn.

After this conversation, Mr Wickham asked for an introduction to another of the neighbours, and Thomas took the visitor to Winston Goulding.

Thomas noticed that Wickham and Goulding talked for almost twenty minutes.

Only then did Goulding take the gentleman to meet Allan Rushing and William Saunders.

~~~

After the dancing had begun and everyone was engaged in conversation, games, drinking, or the thunderous march of heels of boots and shoes on the floorboards, there was a sudden call to attention and for quiet.

The assembly halted when the doors opened to permit the entry of the much-anticipated gentleman–Mr Charles Bingley.

‘The man is tall and slender. Red hair and pale complexion,’ Thomas thought as Sir William took Bingley around the room, introducing the gentlemen, their ladies and daughters.

‘The man smiles to excess,’ Mr Bennet decided while observing Mr Bingley.

‘The sisters are in fashionable gowns–one is very displeased to be in Meryton tonight. The other–with her husband no doubt–is greeting the ladies,’ Thomas observed. ‘ I believe the Bingley family will find welcome in our homes.’

“Bennet! Attend me,” Lucas said, approaching with the second introduction of the evening. “Allow me to introduce Mr Charles Bingley. He is our new neighbour who has taken the lease for Netherfield.”

Bennet and Bingley greeted each other while Lucas retreated; after three minutes discussing the assembly, Thomas Bennet decided that Mr Wickham’s conversation was more interesting.

But Charles Bingley proved gregarious, and to detach the man from his side, Thomas took him to his wife, where Frannie made much of the handsome man before introducing him to Jane, their eldest daughter.

That introduction quickly led to Bingley taking Jane onto the dance floor, where they danced and talked. When Bennet noticed Bingley again during the evening, the young man was dancing with one or another of the young ladies from the other families or his own.

During the first part of the evening, his five daughters all danced with Mr Bingley.

And after the interval when the performers took their rest, Mr Wickham joined the young men in leading ladies onto the dance floor.

Thomas noticed that his daughters were not asked to dance by Mr Wickham though Lydia imposed herself on the man when Bingley danced with Kitty.

The scowls on the faces of several matrons were matched by the frown on his wife’s face, and Thomas hoped Frannie would do something about their youngest daughter’s behaviour.