Part VIII.
Two days passed in much the same fashion as the ones before her mother's visit had. Jane continued to improve, the superior sisters continued to visit with their caring facade and the ladies of the Darcy family attended both Bennet sisters with their usual sincerity, kindness and generosity.
On the evening of the second when the ladies departed to dress for dinner, Elizabeth ran up to her sister's, and, seeing her well guarded from cold, attended her into the drawing room. There Jane was welcomed by many declarations of pleasure, as Elizabeth witnessed Mrs Hurst and Miss Bingley at their most agreeable. They could describe an entertainment with accuracy, relate an anecdote with humour, and laugh at their acquaintance with spirit.
When the gentlemen entered however, Jane was the first object no longer. Miss Bingley immediately seized upon Mr Darcy, addressing him with a comment. Brushing her aside Darcy politely paid Miss Bennet a congratulation; Mr Hurst made the same to a lesser degree, leaving their host to deliver diffuseness and warmth.
Mr Bingley was full of joy at her part return to health. The first half hour was spent piling up the fire, lest she should suffer from a change in climate, and then he remained seated by her and talked only to her for the rest of the evening. Elizabeth, from her seat across the room, could not help but triumph at seeing it.
After tea Mr Hurst made a request for cards but was denied, causing him to stretch out upon the nearest sofa and go to sleep. Mr Bingley and Jane continued to converse, while Elizabeth engaged herself in a discussion with Anne and Miss Darcy.
Mr Darcy took up a book, Miss Bingley did the same and Mrs Hurst involved herself with playing with her adornments and bracelets, occasionally joining in the conversations of either her brother and Jane, or the Darcys and Lizzy, for her seat was in the middle of them.
Both book readers soon found great difficulty in keeping their attention focused on the volumes in their hands. Miss Bingley, who had only picked up a second volume of Mr Darcy's, was continually trying to gain his view or opinion upon the first and occasionally resorting to leaning over to read a page or two, an attempt which instantly failed, for Darcy always seemed to have reached the end of a page or found he needed to adjust the book's position.
As for his attention, despite having chose the book by interest rather than imitation, it was constantly drifting to his wife's lively converse with Miss Elizabeth and the lady's comments and opinions that she expressed. He longed to join in, but found himself unable to summon the courage to do so; his unease in social gatherings winning through.
Instead he found himself almost the constant listener, for to observe would instantly give him away. As a result he again found himself admiring yet another of Elizabeth's virtues. Her opinions were always well-informed and brilliantly expressed, often with a quote or two which bespoke a varied education.
Often he found himself silently agreeing with most them, and if he did not, he saw her point, thus causing him to view many of his own opinions with fresh perspective and with a view to adjust them to include parts of hers.
Miss Bingley, having soon tired of not being the centre of attention, laid down her book with a loud sigh, and glanced around the room. Fixing upon her brother she instantly interrupted him with, "by the by Charles, are you really serious in meditating a dance at Netherfield?"
"Indeed I am," Mr Bingley replied. The plans had been in discussion for some days now, brought on by Lydia's question during her visit. "Why do you ask?"
"I believe there are some here who would find it more of a punishment than a pleasure. I myself should like balls infinitely better if they were carried on in a different manner; but there is something insufferably tedious in the usual process of such a meeting. It would surely be more rational if conversation instead of dancing made the order of the day."
"Much more rational, my dear Caroline, I dare say but it would not be near so much like a ball," her brother replied, causing the majority of the room to turn away and hide their smiles, and Miss Bingley no other option but to retreat into her book.
Darcy was glad of the return to the relative silence that had existed before Caroline's speech. He risked a glance at Miss Elizabeth before returning to his book, trying to awake within him all the criticisms of his youth, of his views before Ramsgate; trying to convince himself that she was beneath him in every respect.
It was the only argument he had left, the only tool he had yet to use in his mental battle against his attraction to her. Since her arrival at Netherfield he had felt the danger of paying her too much attention. The longer he tried to resist that inclination, the better hope he had of none discovering him.
The next day, as a consequence of an agreement between sisters, Elizabeth wrote a note to her mother, requesting that the carriage was made available for their return to Longbourn during the day.
Their mother however, had a very different idea of when they should return, and sent reply that she could not possibly send it until Tuesday, a duration which would make Jane's stay at Netherfield a full week, adding in postscript that if their host wished them to stay even longer, she could well spare them.
Elizabeth, wild to be home, persuaded Jane to speak to Mr Bingley, who after many entreaties that they should stay, that it was too early after Miss Bennet's recovery to depart, sadly donated them use of his own carriage.
To all but him, Mrs and Miss Darcy, their departure was welcome. Miss Bingley's dislike of one sister exceeded much her affection for the other, and thus was quite pleased to learn Jane's view of being firm where her desires lay.
Thus after services Elizabeth and Jane were seen to the carriage, where the former witnessed a fond parting display between Mr Bingley and her sister, causing her to awake the hope that Jane would soon be happily settled for life.
From the first floor his friend watched the carriage leave the grounds silently, feeling relief that Elizabeth was no longer a guest at the house. This distance would serve, he hoped to strengthen his determination to fight her allure, an notion that Darcy was now firmly resolved to succeed in.
The moment the drive was empty, he turned from the window and involved himself wholly in the tedious conversation of Miss Bingley, closing a door in his mind upon Elizabeth and all that he felt for her and turning the key in the lock.
