When Georgiana returned to Pemberley, she found the occupants in an uproar; at least that was the situation with the Hursts and Caroline. They were in the drawing room arguing very loudly, but the loudest voice was obviously Caroline's. Georgiana carefully avoided going near that drawing room but went to find her brother. He was in his office, just hiding, it seemed. Richard was nowhere to be found; she assumed that he was hiding somewhere as well.
"Fitzwilliam, what is going on? It sounds as if Miss Bingley is not happy with her brother."
"No, she is not. When I returned here, I told Bingley that I learned that Miss Jane Bennet was very sorry when he left Netherfield as she had developed a deep regard for him. He immediately decided to reopen the estate so he could go back there to see if she would allow him to court her properly. He told his sisters that they had to continue on the trip to their relatives in the north without him. Miss Bingley does not want him to reconnect with Miss Bennet, but he is firm in his decision. I admit this is a different Bingley from the one I have known in the past. If he stays firm, they will all be leaving in two days. I will lend him one of our carriages for him to use to return to Hertfordshire as his sisters will need to continue to use his."
"Fitzwilliam, I have to say that this surprises me as well. Usually Mr. Bingley is so easy-going! I hope you will not be upset if I say that I will not be sorry to lose Miss Bingley's company?"
"No, I understand; her company can be a bit trying. There is one other part of Bingley's decision that may affect us. Georgiana, I would like to ask Miss Elizabeth if she would allow me to see her after they leave here, but she will be leaving with the Gardiners very soon. I will not have an opportunity to be with her unless I go to Hertfordshire. If Bingley reopens Netherfield, that will give me a reason to go there as well so I will be able to be in her company. I will have to find a chance to get her alone to ask if she would welcome my attentions. I hope that she will be agreeable to this."
"Fitzwilliam, if you go to Hertfordshire, I would like to go as well. I want to get to know Elizabeth better. We have already become good friends. With her saving me from Wickham, I feel a special bond with her, but I now know that she is one of the most intelligent and interesting ladies that I have ever met. She is so different from all the other ladies that I have met in town. We talked about my visiting her at her home and she said that I would be welcome to stay with her at Longbourn. She said that with five sisters living there, one more lady would barely be noticed. So, if you go there, will you allow me to go with you, and to stay with her?"
"Actually, I think that is a great idea as it will give me a good reason to visit her more often. Of course, Miss Elizabeth would need to obtain permission from her parents for you to stay there, but I imagine that would not be too difficult as the Bennets are quite hospitable. I warn you that you will find the youngest sisters very lively, to say the least. I just hope that they will not have a bad influence on you; more likely you will be a good influence on them. I hope that you will be able to talk to her tonight when they come for dinner to tell her that I agree with your plans."
"Elizabeth told me that her youngest sister is not home this summer as she is visiting friends in Brighton. She also said that Miss Lydia is the liveliest so their home is quieter now with her not there."
Darcy was pleased with his conversation with his sister. "It is just about time to dress for dinner. I want to be ready when our guests arrive. I will go see if Bingley is finished with his sisters. I sure hope so as I do not want to get in the middle of that discussion."
They left the office and Darcy went to the drawing room where the noise level had reduced to normalcy. He found that Bingley was there with the Hursts, but Miss Bingley was not to be seen. "Darcy!" Bingley exclaimed, "you missed an exciting discussion, but, as it involved only our family, this was for the best. Our plans are decided and the Hursts and Caroline will be continuing to the north while I go south to Hertfordshire. We will all be leaving the day after tomorrow. It took some convincing, but it is decided."
Darcy was very pleased to hear this but he had to be careful what he said. "That is interesting. Now I came to say that it is time to dress for dinner. Our guests will be here soon and we should all be ready." As Bingley left the drawing room before the Hursts, Darcy had a chance to talk to him alone.
"Bingley, I believe that I may accept your offer to stay at Netherfield with you, but I am still not certain. I will let you know after I have spoken to our other guests." Bingley understood that he really meant after he had talked to Miss Elizabeth. They then all parted to go to dress for dinner.
When the Gardiners and Elizabeth arrived, Richard was the first to go out to greet them. He assisted Mrs. Gardiner and Elizabeth from the carriage and escorted them in.
Dinner turned out to quite pleasant for some but not for others. It was obvious that Caroline was not happy with her brother as she did not say one word to him. Darcy was also not happy as Elizabeth's attention was virtually monopolized by Richard. Whenever Darcy tried to say anything to Elizabeth, either Richard or Miss Bingley interrupted him. Finally, he just gave up in his attempts and talked mainly to the Gardiners. After dinner, when the gentlemen had rejoined the ladies, Caroline immediately went to Darcy and stayed close to him for the whole evening. This prevented Darcy from having any chance to talk to Elizabeth about his hopes and possible plans for going to Hertfordshire.
Georgiana saw what Caroline was doing, but her clinging to Darcy meant that the Colonel had plenty of opportunity to talk to Elizabeth. He continued to impress her with his easy conversation and good manners. Finally, he went to speak to Darcy about something, giving Georgiana time to have a quiet chat with Elizabeth. "Lizzy, do you think that Miss Bingley is deliberately staying close to Fitzwilliam so he will not be able to talk to you? He would not have had much chance in any case as Richard talked to you all during dinner and again he has been with you all evening.
"I wanted to talk to you about visiting your home. My brother said that he thought this was a good idea. He told me that he wants to go to stay with Mr. Bingley when he goes to reopen Netherfield. I should not be telling you this, but he hopes that you will agree to his visiting you at your home. My being there will give him an excuse for him to visit us so you will have time to get to know him better."
"Georgie, he has not said anything to me about this, but I can see that he has not had a chance." Elizabeth finally knew that his intentions to her were serious. Until now, she had been quite uncertain about his plans.
"I know that he had planned to talk to you tonight or tomorrow, but with Miss Bingley clinging to him and Richard being with you all evening, he has not yet had a chance. I hope I have not spoken out of turn."
"I will not let on when he does talk to me. I am not sure if he will be able to find a chance to get me alone because of Miss Bingley and your cousin. I know that my Aunt wants me to be with her all day tomorrow as she wants to introduce me to more of her former friends in Lambton. I promised her that I would go with her as that is our last day. I know that we have been invited to dine with some of her friends in Lambton tomorrow. He may not be able to find me alone tomorrow either. In any case, if he is not able to talk to me before we leave, perhaps you might mention to him that I will certainly welcome you to come to stay at Longbourn for as long as you want. I cannot ask you to tell him what my feelings are, but you might suggest that I mentioned that I looked forward to see him and Mr. Bingley in Hertfordshire.
"Would it be asking too much of you to do this for me if he cannot talk to me before I leave?" Elizabeth did not really want to put this burden on Georgiana, but she had to let him know that he would be welcome to visit her at Longbourn.
Georgiana was very pleased to hear this. "I will gladly suggest this to him and I will not say too much. You know that I want to see you two together, but it has to be up to him to approach you. In any case, you might expect us to be there in about two weeks. Will that give you enough time to return home and get settled?" Elizabeth told her that this timing should be acceptable.
"What are you going to do about Richard? I believe that he will talk to you about the future when you are at Matlock Manor."
"Georgie, the Colonel is very amiable and a good person, but I now know that your brother is a real gentleman as well. I am not sure if the Colonel will try to talk to me or what I will say to him if he does. If he does talk to me, I certainly would not want to make him unhappy."
Georgiana was not pleased with this reply as Lizzy seemed to be suggesting that she considered her brother and Richard to be quite similar in their suitability for her. She realized that Elizabeth thought that they would both make good husbands. She actually understood Lizzy's position as she would also not want to discourage an acceptable suitor too strongly while waiting for another one to decide what he would do. She decided that she just had to make her brother realize that he had better make a decision soon or lose his chance with her.
Richard then returned to Elizabeth and stayed close to her until the Gardiners were ready to leave. He even pre-empted Darcy's attempt to hand her into the carriage, making sure that his rival had no chance to say anything to her.
The next morning, Darcy went down early with a plan to eat a quick breakfast, then ride to Lambton before Mrs. Gardiner began her visits. However, when he entered the breakfast room, he found that both Richard and Miss Bingley were already there. They both smirked at him and Richard said, "Well, Darcy, you are up early. Were you planning on an early ride? If you are, I will join you. Miss Bingley was just saying that she would not mind a ride as well."
Darcy knew that his plans to see Miss Elizabeth alone this morning were just not possible as these two seemed to have anticipated him. He said, "No, no. I just hoped to get an early start on some estate work that I want to get done today. Please do not let my work interfere with your plans. It looks like a beautiful day to go for a ride. Miss Bingley, I have a very gentle mare that you will find to be a good mount for a lady. I will have him saddled for you. Just let me know when you want to go. Richard brought his own horse when he rode here. One of the grooms or Richard's batman can go with you for propriety."
Richard saw that Darcy hoped they would leave soon so he would have time to ride to Lambton alone before the Gardiners went out. "Miss Bingley, I would not mind going for a ride with you. However, if Darcy is not planning to join us, there is something about our Aunt's estate of Rosings that I should discuss with him. We both help her with her estate and there is a problem there. That should take only an hour or so, if that is acceptable to you?"
Miss Bingley saw that this timing would frustrate Darcy's desire to ride to Lambton early. "Colonel, that is fine with me. I will see you in about an hour."
Darcy was very annoyed at this obvious scheme, but knew that there was nothing that he could do about it. He spent the next hour after breakfast discussing what he considered to be a minor problem at Rosings with Richard. Richard then left him to join Miss Bingley at the stables.
When Richard and Miss Bingley were out on their horses, followed at a distance by a groom, he said, "Miss Bingley, I believe that our objectives are the same at the moment. Neither of us wants to see Darcy have a chance to talk to Miss Elizabeth before she leaves. We just have to make sure that he has no chance today, as I will be leaving early in the morning to accompany the Gardiners and Miss Elizabeth to my parent's estate. Mrs. Gardiner had planned to keep her company all day today to visit friends, so we have to make sure we know where Darcy is all day. I suggest that we have only a short ride so we can get back to him before he has a chance to sneak out."
Miss Bingley quickly agreed with this, so they soon cut their ride short to return to Pemberley. They spent the rest of that day keeping Darcy company whenever he left his office. They continued this all day and right until they all went up to retire for the night. This scheme pleased both of them, especially Miss Bingley as she had not given up on her plans to become Mrs. Darcy.
