When they arrived back in Meryton, both Bingley and Elizabeth were quickly immersed in the harvests that were already being brought in. Both estates saw good results as the investments they had both made in their lands were paying off. To reward the tenants of both estates, Elizabeth and Mary talked to Bingley and Jane about holding harvest festivals for all tenants and staff. Rather than hold two separate parties, they decided they would sponsor a joint one and that it should be held on Netherfield's lawns as they were larger than those at Longbourn.
They became quite excited with their planning and decided that every tenant and all staff members would be included. To accomplish this, they would hire temporary staff from the village and anyone else who would be available to help for the occasion. The party would be quite simple, with plenty of ale and food, separate games for the children, and dancing for the adults. They picked a date and began to line up the temporary help. Word soon spread of the party and excitement was high. They decided to invite the most important families from Meryton to join them, even though they had no direct connections with either estate. They set up a separate tent for this group so they would not dampen the spirits of the workers who were the reason for hosting the party.
The day of the party arrived and the weather co-operated, being warm and dry. Large tents had been borrowed and erected on the lawns. The staff from both Netherfield and Longbourn had necessarily been involved in the preparations and cooking, but they were given their freedom at noon when the temporary staff took over. The ale flowed and the happy noises grew. The musicians did their best to cater to their audience and played only music suitable for country dancing. The other invited guests enjoyed watching the frolicking and dancing from the safety of their special tent. Rather than ale, they mainly drank wine, but they all ate the same food, which was not as elaborate as what they were used to eating.
When the sun set, torches were lit so the merriment could continue. One of Elizabeth's main concerns was that the darkness and plentiful ale might encourage too much improper behaviour. From her sighting of several couples disappearing into the darkness, she hoped that only marriages rather than fighting might be the result. However, with the darkness, many families with small children began to leave for home after coming to either Bingley or Elizabeth to thank them for such a great harvest party. It was not long before only the older folk were left and the noise became much less. The invited guests from Meryton all came to their hosts and congratulated them for such a good party. They could easily see the amount of goodwill that their tenants and staff had toward their employers. The temporary staff began to clean up so there would not be so much work for the permanent staff in the morning.
Elizabeth had asked Mary to take Tommy home when he became sleepy, but she decided that she had to stay to make sure that the final partygoers did not feel abandoned and that the cleanup went well. Jane had taken Anna up to her bed as well, leaving one of the local girls to look after him. Bingley was in his element for the whole party and his outgoing personality was perfectly suited to act as host. He seemed to be continuously in motion, moving from group to group, making everyone feel quite comfortable. He was one of the very last people to leave the tents, even helping with the cleanup. Finally, everyone had gone and the only remnants were the tents, tables, and chairs. Only then did he go in to his bed.
The next morning, almost everyone slept later than was normal. Even Elizabeth had found that she was unusually tired from all the work she had undertaken over the past several days. When she did get up, she found that Tommy's nurse was looking after him and that Mary was having her breakfast. After they had eaten, Elizabeth and Mary went in the dog cart to Netherfield to see what help they needed for the final cleanup. They found that Bingley had things under control and was supervising the taking down of the tents and tables. They went in to find Jane was with Anna and that she also needed no extra help. They did not stay long but soon returned to Longbourn.
Late fall, after the harvest, things were fairly quiet on both estates. Bingley joined some of the local gentlemen to go shooting while the women relaxed at their normal pursuits. It was early, but the three sisters began to plan for Christmas activities as they felt so confident after the success of their harvest party.
"Jane," Elizabeth said, "I have been thinking of where our guests should be housed. I would like to have the Gardiners stay at Longbourn as they normally do. Do you think that Kitty and Lydia might be happier here? I know that Mr. Carter seemed to get along very well with Mr. Bingley. I am sure that Kitty and Lydia would like to have as much time together as possible. Have you heard from Mother?"
"Lizzy, I have been thinking the same as you. I am sure that Charles would like to have Mr. Carter here and that Kitty might like a break from the Gardiners. Of course, we will all be together most of the time. No, I have not heard from Mother, but expect to quite soon.
"What are your plans? I would like to see you go to visit Aunt Gardiner now. Lizzy, you need to get away and to see more of society. I know that they will take you to some of the entertainments that will be beginning now at the beginning of the season." Jane decided that she would write to their Aunt Gardiner to suggest that Lizzy be invited to go to London for a week or two so she could get away.
Their aunt quickly responded with an invitation, which Elizabeth accepted at Jane's urging. She dropped Tommy and his nurse off at Netherfield and took her carriage to London. Even though it had only been a couple of months since she had seen Kitty, they greeted each other very warmly. Of course, her Gardiner cousins were pleased to see her as well. She was impressed by how much they seemed to have grown since she had seen them last.
The Gardiners took Elizabeth and Kitty to several public entertainments, which they all enjoyed tremendously. Several times, when they were not going out, they invited guests to dinner. Both sisters noticed that there always seemed to be unmarried young men among the guests, making it obvious that their aunt and uncle were trying to match them both up with men who might make suitable husbands for them. Kitty was more interested in these men than Elizabeth. Most of them were strictly from families in trade, as this is who their uncle mainly met in his work.
When Elizabeth considered each of these young men as potential suitors, she found them all lacking in one way or another. Either their manners were not quite up to a certain standard or their conversation was limited or they did not have the qualities that she believed that a gentleman should have. When she looked at them, not one of them seemed to tall enough or handsome enough to tempt her. When she appreciated that her ideal suitor must have certain physical attributes, she blushed when she realized that her vision of the perfect gentleman was someone she had not seen since Hunsford. Not one of them came anywhere near matching this ideal. Her next thought was wondering how he could still be in her mind as the model of what a gentleman should be like, even thought she had not consciously thought of this particular gentleman in many months. She last saw him in April 1812 and here it was November 1814, with not one word heard about him in all that time. She knew that the Gardiners did not move in anywhere near the same social circles as Darcy, but her eyes keep wandering whenever they were out and she saw a man who was tall and dark-haired.
Elizabeth saw that Kitty was quite interested in one man in particular, a Mr. Frederick Roper. He was reasonably handsome and personable and spoke to Kitty whenever he could. Mr. Roper was the son of a business associate of their Uncle Gardiner and his parents appeared to try to further his interest in Kitty, likely for business reasons. Elizabeth could see that her Uncle Gardiner appeared to approve of this match, perhaps also for business reasons, but perhaps to ensure that Kitty's future would not be reliant on his support. Elizabeth assumed that her uncle would not put a man forward who would not make a good husband, so that potential concern for Kitty was alleviated substantially.
Before she returned to Longbourn, Elizabeth found an opportunity to be alone with Kitty. "Kitty, it is obvious that Mr. Roper is interested in you. What are your feelings about him?"
"Lizzy, from what I have seen of him, I quite like him. He is very nice and his appearance does not displease me. His future appears to be good as he is his father's oldest son and he is already heavily involved in the family business. You know that I cannot expect to rely on our relatives for very long, so I must take advantage of any opportunity to be independent of them. I cannot be too particular about who I accept, but Mr. Roper seems to be about as good a suitor as I could expect.
"Lizzy, if he does offer for me, my dowry will be a consideration. I know that we each had only about one thousand pounds from Mama's original portion, but you found money to give Lydia something on top of that. What might I expect now? Is Longbourn earning enough to give us each a larger dowry?"
"Kitty, that is an important question. Longbourn has been returning quite a bit more than when Father was managing it and I have been saving as much as I could, even though I have invested funds in improvements to the estate for Tommy's future benefit. We have also reduced expenses as Mama, Jane, and Lydia are no longer supported by Longbourn funds. I have spoken to both our uncles as they are the trustees of the estate until Tommy reaches maturity, and they both agree that the dowries of the three of us unmarried sisters should be double what they were originally. Your Uncle Gardiner will tell Mr. Roper, if he asks, that you will bring two thousand with you. That might be important for their business."
"Lizzy! That is wonderful news. You have obviously done a very good job in running Longbourn; much better than Father, but I doubt that you have received the credit that you should for this. Tommy will be very lucky. But what about you? Surely you will not be tied to Longbourn until he takes over? What about your future? Lizzy, you need to find a husband. It is obvious that the Gardiners have tried to introduce us to suitable men who might be attracted to us. Have you seen anyone who might interest you?"
"No. Even though I have also realized what the Gardiners are trying to do for the both of us, not one of them has appealed to me. As I used to say jokingly, I will likely end up as the old maiden aunt teaching my nieces and nephews to play the piano very badly. Someone has to care for Tommy as our Mother is not interested in him. I am pleased to see that she is happy with her new husband, but I am sorry for Tommy. I am all that he has."
"No, Lizzy, that is not true. I know that Jane has said she would very willingly look after him. You know that Mr. Bingley is such a good man that he would be a good father figure for him. Tommy will need a man as a role model when he is growing up. Lizzy, please do not give up yet. I know there are men out there who would make you happy. As for looking after Longbourn, I am sure that our uncles would not object to the hiring of a steward. It should not be strictly up to you to manage the estate." Elizabeth did not dare mention that not one man that she had met came anywhere near measuring up to her ideal image of the perfect gentleman.
After this talk with Kitty, her Aunt Gardiner found a quiet moment to speak to Elizabeth. "Lizzy, your Uncle and I have been talking about you and Mary and Longbourn. We have not said anything about you two living there with no man in residence as we thought it would only be temporary. However, it has been almost a year since your Mother married and left. Have you heard any comments about the impropriety of this arrangement?"
"We have not, at least not directly. Mary and I have thought about this, but we also believe it is only temporary until we marry. At least we have Mr. Hill living in the house, so we are not completely alone. If it does become a problem, I suppose that Jane and Charles would let us live with them for a while. I hope that you and Uncle are not worried about us as we have not had any problems at all. However, I will keep your comments in mind."
She returned to Longbourn and collected Tommy from Netherfield. The love she felt for her brother was more like that of a mother to her child. She was not sure how she could give him up if she ever married, but that event seemed unlikely, at least for the foreseeable future.