Page 39

“Mary’s words not mine.”

“Yes well, I am not sure it is wise to repeat them. How is Mary herself, she is hardly mentioned in Mama’s letter.”

“No surprise there!”

Jane ignored the provocative gibe.

“Her letter is unusual in that it is a bit all over the place. The tenant visits are taking up a lot of her time, she acknowledges how much you and I did that she was unaware of. Kitty is helping her which is how she is able to manage. There has been no assistance from either parent. Her lessons are becoming less frequent, all the fine words of Mrs. Bennet have been as reliable as expected. And then there is this Mr. Bingley. He is perfectly polite but the rest of the party appear to be dragging him down.”

“Dragging him down?”

“There are five in the party. Mr. Bingley has two sisters, one of whom is married, and all three of them are accompanying him. The husband is a bit of a sot, never far from a wine glass. The two sisters have made no secret of their contempt for the neighbourhood, hardly a smart idea when their brother is trying to establish himself as a gentleman. But the worst has been a friend staying with Mr. Bingley. He owns an estate and is there to assist Mr. Bingley in getting established. But there was a scene at the Michaelmas Assembly. The friend appears to have insulted Miss Goulding. Mary writes that she broke down in a flood of tears and ran to her mother. Mary does not know the resolution but it cannot have helped Mr. Bingley.”

“Oh my, that is a lot of drama for sleepy Meryton.”

Elizabeth nodded in agreement.

“I suspect Mary’s next letter will have more detail. Did Mrs. Bennet not write of it?”

“No, the letter was sent before the dance. Her next letter will be full of details I am sure, you know how she likes to gossip.”

They put their letters away and focused on life in London, not Hertfordshire.

“Did you enjoy yourself on Tuesday night?”

Elizabeth had joined Jane and her husband at a dinner party. It had been an interesting dinner, as fine and refined as any in town, but none of the guests were not gentle-born, except for Jane and Elizabeth. It was predominantly bankers and merchants, often much richer than any so-called gentleman, but without the breeding.

“I had an interesting evening. There was a lot of things talked about of which I knew little. Often, I will chat away quite happily, indeed I worry that I talk too much. But that night I sat back and listened to the different conversations around me.”

“What were they talking about that was interesting?”

“Commerce, banking, trading, all things that I had heard of but not in any detail. Dinner parties out in Hertfordshire always talk about the weather since it is so vital to the crops. And the conversations are all about agriculture, be it arable or animals. It was different.”

“Did anyone catch your eye?”

“No. The one thing that did strike me was that no one made much of an effort to include me in the conversation. I was out of my depth and would have been able to add nothing to the discussion but it did stand out that no one made the effort.”

“I am sorry.”

“It is not your fault. But it is perhaps an example of my lack of worth as a bride.”

“Lizzie, do not say that, lack of worth indeed!”

“Jane, you know what I say is true. I do not have your beauty or even temper. None of us have a dowry and so to a gentleman what do I bring to a marriage? Dinner on Tuesday reminded me of my own lack of consequence, which when I think on it is a slightly kinder word than worth. Yes, I am the daughter of a landed gentleman but that is all I have going for me. There is no title in the family, even the estate is entailed away to a cousin none of us have ever met, and we have no dowry. Nothing at all. Even Mr. Gardiner, the father of Mrs. Bennet and Uncle Edward, managed to save £10,000 for his two younger children and left his business to the husband of his eldest.”

It was impossible to rationalise away the neglect of the Bennet parents. There was always another book or a piece of lace to be bought.