“Do you think Mr Bingley will return?”
“Where do you think he could have gone?”
“Does Miss Bingley not have the finest dresses and lace you have ever seen?”
“He must have been delayed with business, and he will return as soon as it is finished.”
“I cannot wait to see Mr Bingley again. I am certain you shall be mistress by spring.”
“Mr Bingley’s manners must be the finest I ever encountered.”
“Oh, Jane… I cannot wait. You cannot have been so beautiful for nothing.”
Three weeks of gentle dissuasion, strident dissuasion, begging, pleading, and intervention by her sisters could not divert Mrs Bennet for any length of time, until Jane finally reached her absolute limit.
“Enough, I say!Enough, and more than enough; doubly, trebly, quadruply more than enough.Do you understand?”
“Oh, Jane, what are you rattling about. Mr Bingley will—”
“EEEEENOUGH!”
The second shout, and Jane’s fist against the table finally gained the family’s silence and undivided attention.
“There is a new rule in this house. The nameBingleyshallnever againbe spoken in my presence—ever!”
Everyone stared in shock—except Lizzy and Mary, of course. They wondered which point in the ballistic curve they were currently observing. Were they nearing the apex[xi], whence she might soon descend from her madness, or would the cannonball continue to rise until it brought on Ragnarök[xii]?
“That man will not return!Get that through your thick head.He will not return. Not now. Not ever!”
Mrs Bennet recovered her indignation. “How do you know—”
Jane interrupted her by slapping the table, though with the flat of her hand, partly because it was slightly more decorous, but mostly because her two earlier outbursts hadhurt.She spoke in a voice so menacing that even her sisters stilled.
“Listen well, madam. Listen without interruption, or so help me, you will regret it.Do you really want to know?”
Mrs Bennet stared at this incarnation of her most compliant daughter in shock; her father took up the office. “Jane, it seemsyou have been learning from your younger sisters. Good girl. I hoped to see some fire from you. Pray, enlighten us.”
“Very well, I shall, but do not interrupt with prattle. I will entertainintelligentquestions only.”
The half-hidden smirk in Bennet’s countenance displeased Jane as much as her mother’s endless prattling. Her father was enjoying his sport at her expense, and she was fed up.It was time to wipe that smirk from his face.
She took a deep breath. “First things first—it has been three weeks without a word, except for the letter from his sister on the day they left.”
Mrs Bennet gasped. “What letter? If they sent you a letter, it means—”
Jane slapped the table again, because it had worked before and nothing else had ever silenced her mother.
“That letter ismy business.That man,whose name will not be spoken within my hearing again, will not be back—and if he did return, I would set the dogs on him. That is non-negotiable.”
Mrs Bennet sat up like a snake ready to strike. “I shall not be dictated to in my own home.”
Jane replied icily, “Very well—have it your way, but pray understand the consequences. I will return to town with the Gardiners after Christmas.If, however,I hear that name even once before that, I keep a valise packed. I will leave within the hour, walk to Meryton, and take the next post-chaise, never to return. As I said, this is not negotiable; this is your final warning.”
Mrs Bennet gasped theatrically. “You do not set the rules in this house.”
Jane matched mulish for mulish. “Agreed, but if I hear that name, I will no longer be a resident of this house. If you cannotrespect me enough to follow my wishes for a few weeks, I will marry from Gracechurch Street without your involvement, or even your knowledge.”
Bennet weighed the matter with his usual regard for his own ease. “You are of age, Jane, so you may do as you please.”
