Page 56 of Saving Jane
“Really Miss Bennet, a picnic would be entirely too rustic for my tastes,” Mr Collins replied. “It would require the servants to venture...”
“Mr Collins!” Jane interrupted the parson with a bright smile. “Miss de Bourgh has decided on the picnic, and she invites us to attend her on the morrow in the meadow beyond the first farm. They have not allowed the cattle into the field this spring and the meadow is smooth as silk this week according to the steward.”
“Miss de Bourgh has invited us to a picnic?” Mr Collins now exclaimed. “How beneficent of the lady to turn her attentions upon our humble parsonage.”
He glanced at Mrs Gardiner before asking Jane, “Did Miss de Bourgh mention the young Gardiners?”
Mrs Gardiner kept her face calm though Elizabeth smirked openly–Mr Collins found the noise of three children to be trying.
“Her note mentions that she will send kites and flags for the children to enjoy in a picnic in the garden here at Hunsford tomorrow,” Jane said sharing the letter with her aunt and then sister.
“Miss de Bourgh is very kind,” Mrs Gardiner agreed. “Ishall send a note of thanks on the following day.”
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Early the next morning, Jane and Elizabeth watched three wagons with tables, chairs, hampers and servants roll pass the parsonage heading toward the meadow.
“I expect our definition of the necessary items for a picnic will change after today, Jane,” the younger sister confided as they gathered a few daffodils from the roadside for the parsonage again.
When the hour to venture into the meadow arrived, they heard a commotion outside the parsonage and hurried to find horses and carts aplenty in the lane. Miss de Bourgh smiled as she held the reins of the horse pulling her phaeton, Georgiana laughed and waved carefully as she held the reins of a pony cart, and the two gentlemen from Rosings on horseback, smiling.
“Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth are to ride with me!” Georgiana announced as Darcy and Charles dismounted to assist the Bennet sisters into the pony cart.
“Mr Collins, would you be kind enough to attend me as my escort?” Miss de Bourgh asked. Thunderstruck and speechless, Mr Collins stood rooted just outside the door of the parsonage until Mr Darcy prompted him to approach the phaeton. Miss de Bourgh slipped over, giving Mr Collins room on the small seat.
After securing the door of the pony cart behind Jane and Elizabeth, the gentlemen mounted their horses once more and everyone heard Mr Darcy warn his sister and his cousin both to hold their horses to safe speeds.
“My brother fears that my cousin and I plan to race to the meadow,” Georgiana confided to her two passengers.
There were moments of excitement on the road–Bingley and Darcy took several fences and once the two men were off the road, Georgiana encouraged the two ponies to faster speed, and they drew close to the phaeton though Miss de Bourgh smiled at her cousin before she spoke to her horse and pulled ahead comfortably. Mr Collins kept one hand securely on the railing of the phaeton and the other held his hat upon his head.
“I must invite Anne to visit at Pemberley–my ponies there cannot be beaten!” Georgiana exclaimed.
“I am certain if your ponies did not have three passengers to pull today, they would have kept pace with Miss de Bourgh’s horse,” Elizabeth said.
Upon reaching the meadow, Elizabeth was astounded to find the servants had transformed the natural meadow into a formal garden with three large tents, tables, chairs, and sideboards. The footmenwere dressed in their standard uniforms from Rosings, and they escorted the gentle folk to their seats around the table for tea followed by archery and croquet before the luncheon of roasted quail, cheese, breads and small beer.
Elizabeth and Jane exchanged laughs to be served tea in fine porcelain teacups while cattle stood at the nearby fence and calves cavorted about the pasture. After the fine luncheon, Miss de Bourgh captivated Mr Collins once again and led him to the croquet wickets to improve their skills with ball and mallet.
“Miss Bennet, do you care to join Mr Collins?” Mr Bingley asked.
Glancing first at Mr Collins and then back to Mr Bingley, Jane smiled indulgently. “Thank you, no, Mr Bingley. He entertains our hostess admirably. Shall we discuss fences and cattle?”
Bingley laughed and offered his arm. Jane welcomed his attentions, and they strolled around the meadow in private conversation that certainly did not involve more than one or two comments on the fences and cattle grazing in the next pasture.
Under a tree, with a blanket spread on the grass, Darcy and Elizabeth discussed poetry and books with Georgiana.
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Late in the afternoon, Mrs Gardiner asked her nieces about the picnic when Mr Collins retired to his study to work on his sermon for the approaching Sunday.
“Aunt, I was surprised at the linen tablecloths on dining room furniture in the middle of the meadow,” Jane admitted. “But it prepared me when the footman brought out Lady Catherine’s best porcelain.”
“What was the repast?” Mrs Gardiner asked noticing that Elizabeth remained lost in her thoughts. As Jane detailed the three different courses laid before them at the picnic luncheon, Mrs Gardiner kept her eye on Elizabeth and watched her niece smile and gaze into the distance before tilting her head to the side and then sighing.
‘Elizabeth in love! I never thought to see the day,’Mrs Gardiner realized with great pleasure.
When Jane went into the kitchen to see about supper, Mrs Gardiner moved to sit beside her younger niece and asked for more details on the activities at the picnic.
