Mr. Bingley was completely shocked. “Mrs. Bennet? Dead? Why, I can scarcely believe it! Oh, Miss Bennet, Jane, I am so very sorry! And me not here to comfort you! I shall never forgive myself!”
Jane looked away, but not before he saw tears pooling in her eyes.
It was Mary who said what they were all thinking. “That is very good of you, Mr. Bingley, but I do not think you were forced away from Netherfield, were you? You have been gone a good long time. You were last seen here – let me think – in October of last year, and it is now August. Is that not right?”
Mr. Bingley turned red. “Your timekeeping is quite accurate, Miss Mary.”
“So you have had ten months to return to Netherfield, and you have not done so. That being the case, I wish you would not speak of comforting my sister, and you should certainly not use her Christian name. She has had rather enough of raised and unmet expectations.”
Jane could bear no more; she rose, dropped a small curtsey with her eyes down, and left the room without a word.
Elizabeth began, “Mary, that is quite enough –“
Mr. Bingley interrupted her. “No, Miss Mary is quite right. I have hardly played the gentleman in all this. Miss Mary, I beg you to believe me. I thought your sister indifferent to me, and I took myself away to let my own heart heal.”
“Jane, indifferent to you?” Mary’s eyes betrayed her scorn. “Are you blind, sir? And why are you here now?”
“I have learnt that I was quite wrong, that she was not indifferent, and I have come in the hopes of proving myself to her. I did not expect – I did not know – “
“That our mother had passed?”
“Yes; I am so very, very sorry.” He looked at each of the sisters in turn, his genuine distress evident on his face.
“I thought I recognised your voice, Mr. Bingley.” All eyes turned to Mr. Bennet standing in the doorway. “Come back to break more hearts, have you?”
“No! Not at all!” Mr. Bingley was horrified at having been so addressed.
“Papa, he thought Jane indifferent to him,” Kitty explained.
“Has he not eyes in his head?” Mr. Bennet snapped. “She was hardly indifferent! I have watched my eldest daughter suffer enough; I have a good mind to forbid you the house, Mr. Bingley.”
“No, no! Please, Mr. Bennet, may we speak in private?” Mr. Bingley was in anguish; he could not allow his hopes to be dashed so soon,
“Very well, but you shall not find me easy to convince.” Mr. Bennet led the way to his library, where he motioned Mr. Bingley to a chair and closed the door. “What have you to say for yourself, sir?”
Mr. Bingley cleared his throat. “My sister – and Mr. Darcy – everyone – persuaded me that she did not care for me, and that if she accepted me, it would be because her mother –“ Realising that he could hardly speak ill of the dead woman in front of her husband, his mouth snapped shut.
“Because her mother had forced her to do so; is that what you wished to say?” Mr. Bennet’s voice was hard.
Mr. Bingley could not, in good conscience, reply.
“Mrs. Bennet was certainly interested in having her girls marry well, as do all mothers, but in this case, I can tell you that Jane loved you deeply. She would have married you without your fortune, though I cannot deny that your wealth made Mrs.Bennet very happy. You know about the entail on Longbourn, of course; it is hardly a secret.”
“Darcy explained it to me.”
“Ah, yes, the estimable Mr. Darcy. What a friend he has been to my family,” Mr. Bennet murmured, his tone laden with sarcasm. “I am glad that we have seen the last ofhim, in any case.”
Despite his discomfort, Mr. Bingley spared a thought for his friend; Darcy would have a difficult time courting Miss Elizabeth, given Mr. Bennet’s opinion of him.
“And now? What has you scurrying back here?”
Mr. Bingley leant forward and spoke earnestly. “I could not forget her, Mr. Bennet. I tried; I went to balls in London and danced with young ladies, I drank brandy until all hours of the night, I spent days and nights at my club, but nothing helped! I saw her face every morning and every night, and every hour in-between, and then – and then! – I was told that she did care for me after all!”
“And who told you that?”
“Darcy.”
“Darcy again! And how did Mr. Darcy know that?”
