"I am not sure they have made me any calmer."
"No," said Jane gently. "Because you wish for certainty."
Jane reached across and squeezed her hand.
"I do not mean that unkindly. Only that you wish to know exactly what will happen before you allow yourself to trust in it."
"And you do not?"
"I think I have found something in Mr Bingley which is very precious to me. I believe he has found something similar in me. Whether it takes a month or a year, whether there are obstacles or inconveniences or misunderstandings, I trust that what we have discovered will eventually bring us together again."
A faint colour rose in her cheeks."And if I am right, we shall be happier than we have any right to be."
???
The matter remained unresolved until the morning on which Netherfield ceased to be an empty house.
Mr Bennet unfolded a letter one morning at breakfast. Elizabeth had waited two weeks for a letter from Darcy and felt the same ache as she had in the previous days when nothing had arrived for her attention.
Mr Bennet coughed and announced quietly, "Netherfield is let."
The effect upon the rest of the family was immediate.
Questions arrived from every direction. Who had taken it? When would they arrive? Were they married? Had they children? Were they wealthy?
Mr Bennet endured the interrogation with studied calm. Having allowed the excitement to build for a few moments, he glanced down at the letter once more.
"I cannot answer most of those questions with any sort of certainty, but the gentleman's name is Mr Binkley."
Elizabeth looked up. "Mr Binkley?"
"So it says."
Lydia frowned. "What sort of name is Binkley?"
"A perfectly respectable one, I daresay," said Mr Bennet. "Though it sounds faintly invented."
Mrs Bennet peered at the letter herself."He must be a young gentleman of good fortune."
"Is he handsome?" asked Kitty.
The question was ignored.
"I wonder if he is acquainted with Mr Bingley," said Jane.
The observation was made so innocently that Elizabeth laughed.
"Because their names are similar?"
"I shouldn't think so," said Lydia. "There are hundreds of people with similar names."
"It does seem strange," said Mary thoughtfully. "Particularly when one considers that there cannot be many wealthy younggentlemen in England whose names differ by only a single syllable."
"I hope they are not acquainted," said Mrs Bennet. "It would save a great deal of confusion."
Elizabeth smiled, but her eyes had already drifted towards Jane.
Her sister appeared amused rather than disappointed. Indeed, she looked almost entirely untroubled by the news.
