Page 65 of Dear Friend

Elizabeth

Netherfield was much as Elizabeth had imagined it. She had seen the house often enough from without, and had known something of its former occupants before it stood shut up and empty for more than three years, but she had never once crossed its threshold. The hall alone spoke plainly enough of Mr. Bingley's fortune, with its lofty ceiling, handsome staircase of dark polished wood, and several pieces of fine furniture which had plainly belonged to the house long before he did. Elizabeth privately doubted that a gentleman so cheerfully indifferent to his own library had bestowed much thought upon the placing of a single chair.

Whatever curiosity she might have indulged in examining the house lasted only until the Bingley sisters had conducted their guests into the drawing room. Before the door had properly closed behind them, Elizabeth had already begun to suspect that she and Jane had not been invited for the pleasure of their company alone.

They were being examined.

Mrs. Hurst, at least, extended towards Jane something which might almost have been called warmth, and at moments her attention appeared sincere enough. Toward Elizabeth, however, and even toward Jane whenever either sister forgot herself, their true opinion showed beneath the sweetness of their smiles and the studied civility of their questions. Neither seemed quite so successful in concealing her contempt as she evidently supposed.

Once tea had been served, the conversation assumed a character considerably less easy than ordinary visiting. Miss Bingley wished to know a surprising amount of the Bennets' connexions, who their relations were, where they lived, whether they possessed much acquaintance in town. Mrs. Hurst enquired after the society of Meryton with the politeness of a woman already persuaded of its inferiority, and both sisters found frequent occasion to mention some entertainment lately enjoyed in London, some fashion not yet reached Hertfordshire, or some acquaintance of such consequence that the neighbourhood could hardly hope to produce an equal.

“You must find it excessively quiet here after town, Miss Elizabeth,” Miss Bingley said, setting down her cup with particular care. “I confess I cannot imagine passing an entire season without a single ball worth speaking of, nor any company beyond the same dozen families one has known from infancy.”

“We contrive to amuse ourselves tolerably well, Miss Bingley, though I grant our resources are somewhat less extensive than London's.” Elizabeth kept her tone light, unwilling to give the observation more consequence than it deserved. “A smaller society has its advantages. One comes to know people rather better than a season of introductions generally allows.”

“How charitable of you to discover an advantage in it.” Mrs. Hurst exchanged a brief glance with her sister. “I daresay country manners answer very well in country society. It is only when the two are brought together that difficulties sometimes arise.”

“I cannot think there need be any great difficulty, provided both parties are willing to be pleased.” Elizabeth met the observation with a smile. “Though I grant it may require some effort from a lady accustomed to town to discover that country ladies are not entirely without conversation of their own.”

The visit continued without much events though Elizabeth wished desperately that they may leave soon, but the rain had started heavily forcing them to remain indoors.

Elizabeth endured what remained of the afternoon watching Jane attempt, with admirable patience, to explain why she preferred the quiet pleasures of Hertfordshire to her visits to London, to an audience Elizabeth suspected had already judged such a preference beneath its understanding. Miss Bingley listened with an attentiveness that deceived no one, nodding at proper intervals and offering, whenever Jane finished, some gentle agreement which somehow contrived to diminish everything Jane had just said.

At one point Miss Bingley surprised Elizabeth by mentioning that she had heard of a young woman who had once been thought to resemble her remarkably, and asking what had become of her; Elizabeth, unaccustomed to hearing Julia spoken of by anyone outside her own circle, answered only that she had left the neighbourhood some months ago.

It was nearly four before the rain began to lessen. Not long afterwards, Elizabeth, who had found herself more interested in the view from the window than in Mrs. Hurst's latest account of London society, saw a carriage turn into the drive, its wheels sending a fine spray from the sodden gravel.

She breathed a quiet sigh of relief when three gentlemen descended and hurried towards the house beneath the remains of the rain. Mr. Bingley came first, laughing at something as he mounted the steps, followed by Mr. Hurst and then Mr. Darcy, who paused briefly to speak to the coachman before following the others inside.

They entered the drawing room a few minutes later, and the temper of the room altered almost at once. Mr. Bingley's cheerful greetings did more to restore ease in five minutes than his sisters' determined civility had managed throughout the afternoon.

“You are quite wet, Charles,” Miss Bingley observed. “I hope Colonel Forster's table was worth the state of your boots.”

“Entirely worth it, though I grant the journey home was rather more adventurous than the journey there.” Bingley went directly to the fire. “The lane beyond the mill has become something very like a river. I cannot imagine how Simmonds brought us through without leaving a wheel behind.”

“He managed it very well,” Darcy said. Having exchanged the necessary greetings, he took the empty chair nearest Elizabeth with a composure suggesting that the state of the roads had disturbed him considerably less than it had his friend. “Though once we had passed the worst of it, I asked whether he considered the remaining ground safe. He assured me he had driven through worse.”

“Simmonds would say as much if the road disappeared beneath him entirely,” Miss Bingley said with a laugh. “I do not believe weather has ever prevented that carriage from reaching wherever it was ordered to go.”

“Speaking of the road,” Bingley said, glancing towards the window, where the last grey light was already beginning to fade, “I hope you ladies do not mean to delay your return much longer. With the condition of the road beyond the mill, I should not like you to attempt it after dark.”

“If Simmonds managed the road, I am sure Longbourn's coachman may do the same,” Miss Bingley said smoothly. “We should not wish to keep Jane and Miss Elizabeth from their family longer than necessary.”

Darcy's gaze went briefly to the window and then to Elizabeth. “Simmonds knows that lane well. I would place greater confidence in sending them with a man who knows where the road is worst, particularly with the light failing.”

“How very cautious of you,” Miss Bingley said, with a smile that did little to soften the observation. “But you forget that the Bennets and their coachman have lived in Hertfordshire considerably longer than any of us, Simmonds included. I daresay he knows the roads quite as well.”

“I would rather be thought cautious than see Miss Bennet's carriage overturned in a ditch.”

There was enough quiet finality in Darcy's answer that Miss Bingley did not immediately reply.

Miss Bennet's carriage. Yet his eyes, Elizabeth noticed, had rested upon her rather than Jane as he spoke. From the slight alteration in Miss Bingley's expression, she suspected the distinction had not escaped her either.

“However,” Darcy said, turning back to Caroline, “I see the justice of your point. I hope Miss Bennet will forgive me for suggesting only that they should not delay their departure until full dark.”

“On that point, at least, I agree with Darcy,” Bingley said cheerfully. “You must stay until the rain has eased, but no longer. I should never forgive myself if we kept you here until the roads became more troublesome than they already are.”

“You are very kind, Mr. Bingley,” Jane said. “I am sure our coachman will tell us if he thinks the road unsafe.”