Page 36 of Knowing Mr. Darcy
“You must come with us when we go, and spend some time in London,” said Mrs. Gardiner. “A change of scene is exactly what you need, I think.”
Elizabeth was cheered immediately by this idea.
“Now, of course, you mustn’t think that you will have any chance of interacting with Mr. Bingley. We live such in a different part of town and we have such different connections. I don’t offer this as some scheme to get back into his affections.”
“No, no,” agreed Elizabeth. “Besides, I think the Bingleys would rather be caught dead than set foot on Gracechurch Street, such is their opinion of it.”
“Oh my,” said her aunt. “Perhaps you have been spared, then. What sort of prejudice is all that!”
“It is the influence of Mr. Darcy, undoubtedly.”
Mrs. Gardiner had grown up in Lambton, and she had seen Pemberley. She knew of the elder Mr. Darcy by reputation and had conversed with the elder Mr. Wickham, the steward, on at least a few occasions. Of the younger boys, she knew little, though she said that it was hardly a surprise that the younger Darcy was a proud and ill-behaved lad and that she thought it not out of the bounds of reason for a man like that to deny advancement to Mr. Wickham.
Jane had spoken with Mr. Wickham on a number of other occasions since the Bingleys had departed the area, and she seemed even more convinced of the rightness of Mr. Wickham’s position and the wrongness of Mr. Darcy’s.
Jane dwelt often on the incident when Mr. Darcy had proclaimed loudly that he had no intention of ever marrying Miss Bingley, and when Elizabeth recounted the things Mr. Darcy had said about her, the things that were not entirely complimentary, these were all added together, and Jane decided that they must heap the blame for it all on Mr. Darcy.
He had likely schemed to get Mr. Bingley to quit Netherfield for good, and he had turned Mr. Bingley against Elizabeth. Likely, Elizabeth’s accusations had made Mr.Darcy angry and he had thought to keep all of the Bingleys away from Mr. Wickham.
Elizabeth listened to everything that Jane said. She tried to school herself never to think any hopeful sorts of thoughts regarding the entire situation. Elizabeth tried to assure herself that it would be just as her aunt had said.
She would not see any of the Bingleys in town.
She would not rekindle any romance with Mr. Bingley.
She would simply go away and have some time to distract herself from the entire affair.
But she could not help but have some hope of a different outcome, no matter how she tried to smother the thought. It was possible that she could reunite with Mr. Bingley. It was possible he might still feel things for her. It was possible that they might stand close again, with his fingers brushing against hers now and again and sending little thrills all through her.
CHAPTER NINE
ELIZABETH SENT Aletter to Caroline, saying that she was in town, but she felt trepidation when she did it, for she did not think that Caroline would stoop to calling at Gracechurch Street, and she felt rather certain that instead, Caroline would pretend not to have received the letter.
However, upon leaving Netherfield, Caroline had hinted in her missive that Elizabeth should contrive to be in London, had she not? Elizabeth had done so.
Elizabeth was stunned, therefore, when Caroline appeared immediately, with Mrs. Hurst in tow, during morning calling hours. The two both rushed inside, seemingly not willing to tarry outside, but Elizabeth thought this foolish. No one they knew would be on Gracechurch Street, so they were quite safe if they were worried about being seen.
Upon admission, Elizabeth had to inform them that the lady of the house, her aunt Mrs. Gardiner, was away for an hour or so. Mrs. Hurst waved this away, saying it was not their intention to stay long at all. Indeed, she would not even relinquish her bonnet or pelisse to the servant who asked for them, though Caroline was quite eager to make herself at home and commented excessively about the butteriness of the biscuits.
Mrs. Hurst sat down gingerly, making faces all the time.
Caroline munched on a biscuit and complained about Mr.Darcy. “My brother is closer to him than ever, I must say, and it isentirelythe doing of Mr. Darcy that we left Netherfield. What did you say to Charles that night after the ball?”
Elizabeth recounted it with much chagrin, peppering the entire thing with apologies, saying that she should not have brought up gossip and that Mr. Bingley must have decided at that point that he was not pleased with her.
Caroline dismissed all this. “Oh, no, I think not. He’s been enamored with women who have gossiped constantly. He likes gossip.” She turned to her sister. “Everyone likes gossip, don’t they, Louisa?”
Mrs. Hurst said, “I think we must be mindful of the fact that we have engagements today, Caroline. We cannot stay overlong.”
Caroline rolled her eyes and turned back to Elizabeth. “I remain convinced that a connection to Mr. Darcy is going to ruin our family. There is more to the story, and I think it concerns Miss Darcy.”
“Oh, Caroline, this again?” Mrs. Hurst nearly groaned.
“I shall recount the tale to Miss Bennet,” said Caroline, gesturing with the biscuit and glaring at her sister. “We shall see howsheinterprets it.”
Elizabeth was very confused. She knew very little about Mr. Darcy’s sister, having only heard from Jane vaguely that Miss Darcy had been once oft praised by Miss Bingley herself.
Mrs. Hurst sighed. “Perhaps I shall have some tea after all,” she muttered. “This might take some time.”
