Page 8 of Knowing Mr. Darcy
But Jane said nothing. Elizabeth did not know it, but her sister was contemplating whether it made any sense at all to explain that she might have preferred the look of Mr. Bingley or that Mr. Darcy seemed to suit Lizzy in some intangible way. That perhaps the sisters were mismatched, each with the wrong man.
Because it did not matter, did it? The men were in charge of these things and pursued where they saw fit. The sisters were not exactly beggars, she supposed, but close enough to beggars that they still could not be choosers.
The men chose.
The women accepted.
It was the way of things.
AFTER THE MERYTONball, nearly a month passed by. Various activities ensued. Though a dinner invitation from the Bennets to the Bingley estate was demurred on account of busyness, the Bingley sisters called for tea one day, and the Bennets called a week later at Netherfield.
The Bingley sisters consisted of Mrs. Hurst, the elder sister, married, and Miss Bingley, the younger sister, unmarried. The sisters were not the least bit impressed by the Bennet family, though they found Jane Bennet’s manners tolerable. Elizabeth, they found shocking and horrifying, and they were not the least bit shy about telling their brother that he must leave off his pursuit of such a girl. It was not that Elizabeth was outwardly improper, they supposed, but thethingsthat came out of her mouth from time to time. It was as if she were secretly making fun of everyone.
Mrs. Bennet thought the Bingley women were positively lovely, and Jane had a high opinion of them too. The younger Bennet sisters also found them charming—with their pretty dresses and their soft voices and their faint,dainty smiles.
Elizabeth found them insufferable.
Oh, they were exactly the sort of women she could not bear, the sort of women who cared everything for appearances and nothing for anything of substance. Elizabeth could hardly manage a conversation with them. All they seemed to wish to speak of were rules of proper behavior and how to accomplish meeting said standards. Their other favorite topic of conversation was to list all the people they had met at balls in town.
Oh, yes, when we were guests of the Duchess of Igton, we saw such a darling tea setting,Miss Bingley might say.
The point of the statement was not the tea setting but the name dropping, which Elizabeth was quite aware of. She refused to perform the requisite gushing over being guests of a duchess, but her sisters and mother were easily led, like lemmings.
Every tea with the Bingley sisters left Elizabeth with a headache.
She saw Mr. Bingley again on one occasion, which was a gathering at Lucas Lodge.
Mr. Bingley interrupted her in an exchange with Mr. Darcy, who had been standing at the edge of the conversation, saying nothing, his handsome face severe, as if he were very, very angry.
She tolerated it as long as she could, but then could not keep from bursting out that Mr. Darcy must be horrified by the music, since it might induce savagery on the part of the gathered, if they might begin dancing.
“Savagery?” said Mr. Darcy, blinking at her with an expression on his face as if she must be particularly stupid.
She glared at him, nostrils flaring. “Oh, yes, Mr. Bingley informed me that you have a low opinion of dancing.”
“I never… what?” Mr. Darcy blinked, very confused.
At this point, Mr. Bingley appeared. “Miss Elizabeth, there you are. I do hope you will honor me by joining me to dance?”
“Bingley, when have I ever told you I had a low opinionof dancing?” said Mr. Darcy.
“You said it was the activity of savages,” said Mr. Bingley. “You remember.”
Mr. Darcy scoffed. “That was not the meaning of my statement. I was trying to say that people of all levels of civilization enjoy dancing, so therefore it is not some marker of superiority. One cannot say that because we enjoy dancing in our society that elevates us above the savages. All one can say is that humans seem to enjoy dancing, no matter their class or race or level of civilization.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Oh, yes, I see what you mean.”
“Look, there is no real reason to assume that savages even are savage,” said Mr. Darcy. “Aren’t we always discovering that they truly have their own very complex cultures and languages and customs? It’s really our narrow-minded view of the world that allows us to approach them as if we are so high and mighty.”
“You’re the highest and mightiest person I know,” said Bingley.
“Yes, well, it’s different when one is observing a group of people with every opportunity to better themselves, but who choose instead to play endless hands of vingt-un,” said Darcy, irritated.
Elizabeth’s lips parted. She had never agreed so wholeheartedly with a statement that had fallen from anyone’s mouth.
“Oh, you are a wretch,” said Mr. Bingley. “Miss Elizabeth?”
She refocused on Mr. Bingley. “A dance, yes,” she said. “Of course.”
