Page 26 of Miss Gardiner
“Mr Bingley and Miss Bingley,” the butler announced from the door as Charles Bingley led his sister into the Darcy parlour. Elizabeth noted the gentlemen was dressed appropriately for morning call, but the lady was dressed in silks with feathers in her bonnet, an outfit that the magazines described as ‘suitable for an elegant dinner with the nobility’.
“Good morning, Darcy,” Bingley greeted. “We were thinking of attending the exhibition at the museum and hoped you were free to join us.”
“Yes, Mr Darcy, there are reportedly several new statues of Roman origin on display,” Miss Bingley added. “Your superior knowledge of such things would make you an excellent addition to our excursion.”
Elizabeth managed not to laugh as Miss Bingley batted her eyes at their host.
“Ah, tea,” she exclaimed. “Allow me to serve you a cup, sir.”
“I already have…”
“Nonsense, what man knows how to fix a cup of tea?”
Mr Bingley noticed the guests in the room at that time and so while Caroline fussed over the teacups, Mr Darcy made the introductions.
“Mr Edward Gardiner, do you remember Mr Charles Bingley? I introduced him yesterday afternoon.”
“Yes, I remember,” Bingley said congenially.
“And the young lady is hisniece, Miss Beth Gardiner,” Darcy said.
“Miss Gardiner,” Bingley said with a cheerful smile and a bow.
“Mr Bingley,” Elizabeth replied with a curtsey.
“And this is Mr Bingley’s sister, Miss Caroline Bingley,” Darcy said but as he turned, Miss Bingley thrust a cup of tea at Mr Darcy and his elbow knocked the cup from her hand, spilling the contents along the length of his forearm. The hot liquid made Mr Darcy quickly shed his coat while Miss Bingley sputtered apologies.
“Excuse me,” Darcy said as he quickly left the room, handing his coat to a footman while Mr Banks pulled the door closed.
Mr Gardiner and his niece faced the Bingley siblings, and it took less than a minute for Miss Bingley to ask, “And who exactly are you?”
Elizabeth’s mouth became tight, but she replied, “Mr Darcy introduced us just moments before you…your accident left him with hot tea poured down his arm.”
“How… I never…” sputtered Miss Bingley.
Charles intervened saying, “Come Caroline, sit over here and we shall wait until Darcy returns to make your apologies.”
“Apologies? If the girl had not been in his way, Mr Darcy would not have slipped and knocked against me,” argued Caroline.
Elizabeth managed to stifle her giggle upon hearing that fiction.
“Yes, Beth, shall we sit and wait for Mr Darcy to return?” suggested Mr Gardiner. “We would not want anyone to have an improper impression of what occurred here this morning.”
Frowning but finding no support from her brother, Miss Bingley attempted to solicit information from the ‘tradesmen’ across from her.
“Where is your shop, Mr Garden? Is it in the fashionable part of London?”
Mr Gardiner nodded politely at Miss Bingley’s question with the incorrect name, “I am certain you have never been in my establishment, Miss Bangley.”
“Bingley!” she corrected him. “Our name is Bingley!”
Uncle Gardiner turned to Elizabeth for a moment with a look of wonder on his face and a wink, before he exclaimed, “Bingley? Did you know Horace Bingley from Scarborough? He was a respectable tradesman that many men here in London knew. Honest and fair, hardworking and as I understood it, very successful.”
Mr Bingley nodded and spoke up, “Yes, we hail from Scarborough and Horace Bingley was our father. He inherited his business from his father and then from our mother’s father when he died. Left us quite well off too.”
“Yes…well,” Miss Bingley said as she blushed. “We are settled in London now and will join the gentry…”
“I thought the gentry were in the countryside?” asked Miss Gardiner. “Landowners and their families I believe.”
