He rushed to respond. “Miss Bennet – Jane – I missed you terribly. I missed your kindness, your beautiful smile, your grace when you move, everything! Listening to you tell me how things were for you after I left makes me hate myself. I have never hated myself before, but I do now. I should have trustedmyself, trusted what I thought we had together. But instead I trusted my sisters. I was utterly, completely wrong.”
“And Mr. Darcy; let us not forget his interference!”
“Yes; but it was Mr. Darcy who told me that he had been wrong and that you had feelings for me! And it was when Mr. Darcy took me to visit Miss Elizabeth in Lambton that your aunt told me that you had been in London and had called upon my sisters.”
Jane laughed bitterly. “And then I waited three weeks before your sisters returned my call. They made it very clear that they had no interest in continuing the relationship.”
“Miss Bennet, I shall do everything in my power to force my sisters to be kinder to you.”
She stopped walking. “How do you expect to accomplish that?”
“If you become my wife, Caroline and the Hursts must mend their behaviour towards you, or they will live elsewhere.”
She stared at him. “But where?”
“That need not concern you; the point is that you will never have to put up with their bad manners again.”
Jane was not certain that she understood. “Are you proposing to me, Mr. Bingley?” Jane whispered at last.
“I shall, eventually, if you permit it. But not yet. This is not the place, nor the time.”
“I am ready to go back into the house,” Jane said, not looking at Mr. Bingley. In silence, they turned about and returned to Longbourn, Elizabeth trailing behind them.
***
It was not until bedtime that Elizabeth had an opportunity to speak with her sister privately. “Was he rude, Jane?”
“Not at all,” Jane replied, not looking at her sister.
“Did he say something to upset you?”
“He says he wants to marry me.”
“I am not surprised,” Elizabeth said, smiling. But her smile faded when she saw her sister’s face. “But you do not seem pleased, Jane.”
“I am not yet ready to trust again, I suppose,” Jane said. “I thought he was about to propose to me last winter and it came to nothing.”
Elizabeth was silent for a long time, until finally Jane prompted her. “Your thoughts, Lizzy?”
“If I am honest, I envy you your second chance with Mr. Bingley, and I hope with all my heart that you do not waste it. I wish – oh, how I wish! – that I had another chance with Mr. Darcy.”
“Oh, Lizzy! I am thoughtless; I am so sorry!“
“No apology necessary, Jane; you asked what I was thinking, and I told you.”
“You think I should encourage Mr. Bingley, then?” Jane sounded doubtful.
“I think you should follow your heart, nothing more and nothing less.”
“I believe I am following my heart in being careful!”
“No, I do not think you are. I believe that you are being unduly influenced by hurt pride, and you may live to regret it. I speak from my own mistake, Jane, and I sincerely hope that you learn from that mistake, rather than repeat it.”
It was Jane’s turn to be silent. At last, she said, “You are right, sister. My pride was hurt, and badly. I am punishing Mr. Bingley as a result.”
“I believe that is the right of it, Jane.”
Jane sighed. “I must also admit that I was rather enjoying having him so apologetic. Hearing him begging for my favour was quite gratifying.”
