Page 145 of What Change Entails

Mrs. Gardiner regarded her over the rim of her cup. “A dangerous administrative principle.”

“Very popular, I expect,” her husband said.

Miss Bingley smiled without amusement. “It is fortunate, then, that managing a great household requires rather more than a fondness for cake.”

Lydia brightened. “Does it? How disappointing. I had supposed cake a principal qualification.” Did Miss Bingley think her completely devoid of sense?

The lady sniffed delicately. “It is not among the accomplishments generally valued in a mistress of consequence.”

“Then society has been poorly arranged.” Not even a few minutes and her virtuousness was gone.

Georgiana bent over her plate. Mr. Darcy devoted remarkable attention to the footman’s note. Miss Bingley’s color rose just enough to please Lydia. The morning passed in a confusion of ordinary amusements. Georgiana practiced for half an hour, though she chose her own music and shut the pianoforte before Miss Bingley could recommend another piece. Lydia counted this as a victory. Mrs. Gardiner wrote letters. Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Darcy disappeared to discuss something involving timber, drainage, or tenants, all of which sounded very improving and therefore not to be sought. Bingley wandered in and out of rooms with cheerful restlessness, speaking to everyone and asking after Jane twice in a manner so clumsy even Lydia pitied him.

By noon, Miss Bingley had corrected Lydia’s posture—or rather, tried to—Georgiana’s choice of ribbon, and the placement of a vase in the small drawing room. The vase had been perfectly content where it was.

Lydia grew tired of her. “Come,” she whispered to Georgiana when Miss Bingley went to speak with Mrs. Hurst. “If we remain here, I shall be improved to death.”

Georgiana’s gaze flickered toward the window. “Where shall we go?”

“Anywhere Miss Bingley is not.”

“That is not a place.” Georgiana was as ready to flee as Lydia.

“It is the best place.”

They escaped by way of the music room, then the back corridor, then a passage Lydia had not used before and therefore approved. Georgiana, who had lived in the house all her life, allowed herself to be led through it with the guilty pleasure of a girl committing rebellion under supervision.

They ended in the older part of the house near a narrow sitting room overlooking the west lawn. The door stood half open. Voices came from within.

Lydia stopped.

Miss Bingley. How had the lady come to be in this part of the house so quickly? There was most certainly a more direct route than Lydia had taken.

Mrs. Hurst answered her sister, lower and more indolent, but quite unmistakable.

Georgiana would have drawn back. Lydia raised one finger to her lips and leaned nearer.

Eavesdropping was not virtuous. Lydia knew that. She also knew Miss Bingley rarely said anything worth hearing in public, which suggested private speech might be more informative.

Mrs. Hurst sighed. “Caroline, you make yourself miserable for no purpose.”

“For no purpose?” Miss Bingley’s voice was smooth, but something sharp lay beneath it. “You cannot be serious. Have you not observed what is occurring before our eyes?”

“I have observed that Darcy is attentive to his guests.”

“Do not be absurd, Louisa. He is attentive to her.”

The word reached Lydia’s ear like a slap. Georgiana’s hand hardened on her sleeve.

Mrs. Hurst made a weary sound. “Miss Eliza Bennet is a pretty enough girl. Men have been known to admire pretty eyes without losing all judgment.”

“Mr. Darcy is not other men.”

“No. He is far more obstinate.”

Miss Bingley walked across the room; Lydia could hear the shift of her skirts. “She has contrived to appear natural in this house. That is her skill. She laughs with Georgiana, speaks with Mrs. Reynolds as if a housekeeper’s opinion were a jewel, flatters tenants by remembering their names, and pretends not to care whether Mr. Darcy attends her. It is all very artful.”

Lydia nearly burst through the door at that. Artful? Pretence? Lizzy? Lizzy could not pretend admiration for a hat she disliked, let alone contrive herself into Pemberley.