Page 13 of The Cheapside Runners
Miss Bingley’s exit was followed a minute or two later by the entrance of Miss Elizabeth, leaving most at the table wonderingif she heard the discussion, and if so, what she thought about it. Given the abrasiveness of Miss Bingley’s voice, Darcy suspected the dogs probably heard it in the kennels, but a lady would be unlikely to comment.
She spoke brightly, “I apologise for my tardiness. Jane’s fever increased over the night, so I could not get away earlier. I hope you are all having a lovely day.”
With that, she went to the sideboard for her meal and returned to sit next to Mrs Hurst on the opposite end but the same side as Darcy.
“Is there anything I can do for your sister’s comfort,” Bingley asked nervously. “I shall be happy to call for Mr Jones again or my physician from town.”
“Neither are necessary,” she replied placatingly. “This seems more a minor setback than a relapse. Let us see how she does the rest of the day.”
With that, she tucked in, so the table resumed their discussion of generalities, with the attitude being easier than in the presence of Miss Bingley, but slightly tenser than before Miss Elizabeth arrived.
Darcy decided to try again. “Miss Elizabeth, I found your description of an accomplished woman… interesting, despite its apparent contentiousness on certain fronts.”
“I hope I did not distress anyone, as that was not my intention,” she said with a smile, though she still said it more generally to the table than to Darcy specifically.
Hurst laughed. “I suspect your intention was to distract us from our cards.”
“If that be the case, I should hardly be the one to admit it. I assure you any dispute was unintentionally done.”
Darcy doubted the veracity of that statement, and it left him wondering about Miss Elizabeth’s strategy (if she had one). If her elder sister was forming an attachment to Bingley, theobvious and smart play would be to keep her head down and not cause trouble. Given how thoroughly she ignored him without giving offence, he did not doubt she could ignore everyone else in the house just as easily. She seemed clever enough to comprehend that cleaning out the Netherfield residents while subtly lecturing them on deportment was unlikely to advance her elder sister’s suit, so why did she do it? Even though she appeared to join in a fit of pique, Darcy’s instinct told him that was more of a deliberate strategy than succumbing to temper.
Putting Miss Bingley in her place, regardless of how gently and politely it was done, was also a strategy not likely to improve Miss Bennet’s chances of—how had she put it?—catching the poor man. If she cared about her sister, why sabotage her? It made no sense. It seemed possible, though unlikely, that she wastestingBingley somehow, but he did not see how it could be.
It was all very confusing, but he supposed he did not know everything. Mrs Bennet was as big a matchmaker as he had ever seen, but with five daughters she could not afford to be lax, so he did not necessarily hold it against her (as long as she did her machinations out of his hearing, and against someone else).
While Darcy had been ruminating, Bingley was acting more Bingley than usual. “I cannot believe any such ill intent!”
Hurst laughed, apparently having the time of his life. “Who says distracting us to fleece us is ill intent? I say that is just ordinary gambling, and those who cannot keep their wits about them have no business bringing their stakes to the table.”
Bingley laughed. “Regardless, it was jolly good fun—that is all I have to say.”
Mrs Hurst had thus far said little, but never quite worked her way up to an opinion.
“What do you think, Mrs Hurst?” Elizabeth asked curiously.
She stuttered a bit before answering. “If your intent was to distract us, I should say your pile of guineas at the end provedthe strategy a success. If your intent was to enlighten us… well, I do believe at least some of us have something new to think about.”
“I could not agree more,” Bingley replied jovially. “I had not thought of half those items, but they do make a good deal of sense. Pray forgive me if I overstep, but do all of your sisters ascribe to your thinking?”
Everyone was silent as Elizabeth buttered a scone slowly and pensively. “We do, for the most part. Our mother has not masteredallof those skills, but she does well enough. Jane, Mary, and I areau faitwith the concept, though Jane is the best of us. My two youngest sisters are… very young.”
Darcy read the last to mean young, silly, and not likely to ever meet either definition of accomplished but said nothing for obvious reasons.
He wondered if he was thinking about her strategy all wrong. For all he knew, the entire evening had been designed just to set her up to tell Bingley that her sister was the best of them. Of course, it was equally likely that she had no strategy at all and was just doing whatever seemed right in the moment.
He finally decided to try once again to engage her. “I find your definition of the requirements for the wife of a gentleman farmer to be very sensible. I am a bit surprised at the sheer number of women you know who meet both definitions, though.”
He attempted to keep scepticism out of his voice but was mostly unsuccessful.
She looked at him like an entomologist examining a particularly interesting insect and finally answered evenly. “Do you doubt the numbers?”
“Not in the least. I am just surprised, given the size of this neighbourhood.”
“Ah… you presume I never leave Meryton?”
Darcy shook his head, “I presume nothing. I am simply trying to understand.”
She shrugged. “Jane and I spend time with relatives in town, myself more than her. Some of both types of accomplished women are in Hertfordshire, some are in London, and I occasionally travel with my relatives and have met a number of people. My numbers were neither exact nor definitive… just who I could remember off the top of my head.”
