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“Oh, dear, Jane, I am so sorry. I am afraid that Mr Bingley is under the thumb of his sisters, who are looking for him to make an advantageous match. I know it may not seem so now, but perhaps it is for the best that you have finally seen...” Lizzy was about to say ‘his inconstancy’ but she thought better of it and said instead, “that his sisters rule him.”

Jane shook her head.

“Do you not see, you are no match for them? You are too gentle and they will be forever interfering between the two of you because he is their younger brother. The only woman for him is someone the Bingley sisters will be in total awe of, or a manipulative woman who can beat them at their own game.”

Outside in the hall, Mrs Gardiner had returned from settling the children only to find the parlour door closed. Immediately becoming suspicious that confidences were being exchanged that might throw some light on the situation between Lizzy and Mr Darcy, she paused to listen.

“That is not all,” said Jane, looking forlorn. “This morning as I was dressing for church, Cherise came in to tell me that Mr Bingley was waiting in the lane for me. She pulled back the curtain and pointed him out, standing in the shadow of a portico across the street. When I said that he was probably waiting for her, Cherise replied he would not skulk in doorways to do that. She asked me to be careful, that if her mother saw us, I would be instantly dismissed.”

“I could hardly think she was right, but I dressed quickly so that I might be well out of the gate before the Garths’ carriage left. Mick had not yet turned up, but I told Frederick, the Garths’ footman, that it would be all right. I pretended to be adjusting my gloves as I went out the gate and set off at a brisk pace towards the church. I had not gone far when Mr Bingley caught up with me and apologised for the night before. He said he still loved me but that his sisters had people watching him all the time. You will not believe what happened.”

“Go on.”

“I got angry with him and asked him if he would elope to Gretna Green with me. He was quite shocked by that and said he could never do anything so base. I said it would be courageous and that seemed to shock him even more. He said it was outside the bounds of propriety. I would have said more angry things to him but then Mick arrived and Mr Bingley was forced to go away. I told Mick he was merely asking directions.”

“You did just as you ought, Jane, and now you have exposed him, for he is very willing to love you when it is easy, but as soon as someone casts a rub in his way he subsides. Can you not see what a fragile existence you would lead with him? He is not steadfast. You would not be mistress of your own home.”

Jane acknowledged this wisdom, but could not say more, fearful she would break down entirely. The sisters sat together in gloomy silence for some time until Jane finally mastered herself with: “I am so selfish. I never understood how selfish when we were at Longbourn. While I had everything, I wanted nothing, but now it is taken away, all I think about is myself. Why did you not tell me you were working for Mr Darcy? Was it because I was so wrapped up in my own concerns?”

“Not at all. For many reasons, but not that. I took the job not knowing who I was working for at first; just so glad to get my first position. I registered under mother’s name. I wanted to tell you that because I thought it a splendid joke at the time. But it was because I saw the Bingley sisters in Bond Street, you see. I could not bear for it to get back to them that ‘Eliza’ Bennet had gone into service.”

“I understand. I was so glad that Caroline and Louisa were not at the subscription ball to see me discomfited. Apparently, they got an invitation to a private ball at a nobleman’s house.”

“I knew it would only have given you pain if I told you that just the sight of them preening themselves in Bond Street had discomposed me. Of course, once I discovered Mr Darcy was my employer, I was shocked. Mostly because he looked so ill and was blind.”

“Indeed! What happened to him? Did he fall from his horse again?”

“No! He went to Vienna with the Bingleys and fell ill there with a brain fever.”

“Oh! Mr Bingley did say he had been touring the Continent with Mr Darcy when he came to the Garths’ box at the opera, but he said nothing of any illness. What did you do when you discovered Mr Darcy was your employer, Lizzy?”

“I knew I shouldn’t stay there, not after mother’s embarrassing letter. I immediately disguised my voice, so that he might not know it was me. I resolved to leave as soon as the session was over. I read to him all afternoon, til his doctor turned up, in Spanish, Latin and Greek!”

“Oh, Lizzy! You are so smart!”

“Unfortunately, not smart enough. I knew I should not go back to his house, but his sister and cousin entreated me so to stay! And to be honest, it was exactly the job that I had hoped to find! I thought: ‘I will stay one week, just til this fellow from Oxford turns up. Then I will walk away with a good reference from his cousin, with Mr Darcy none the wiser’.”

“You are very bold, Lizzy! I should have cracked under the strain!”

“I do not think so, Jane. You have done very well in your position at the Garths’ in your own quiet way.”

Jane shook her head.

“Well, things began to go wrong straight away,” continued Lizzy. “First, Mr Bingley turned up...”

“Mr Bingley!?”

“...and I had to hide under the bed.”

“Under the bed!”

“Will you stop repeating what I say? It is unnerving. Now you know why I did not say anything about Mr Bingley last week. He told his friend that his sisters want him to court a banker’s daughter, and three of them are coming out this season.”

“Oh! But why did you not tell me? Perhaps I would not have made a fool of myself on Wednesday!”

“I did not like to pre-empt him. What if he had a change of heart and told his sisters they could go to Jericho? And then you would have been scowling at him at the ball, with him not knowing what he had done to offend you!”

“But he left Netherfield without so much as a goodbye!”