Turnabout Chapter 4, a pride and prejudice fanfic

I hope you enjoy…

~~DGH~~

Impressions

As soon as Bingley had departed Longbourn and there was no chance of him overhearing the ladies, the younger girls all started to tease Jane.

'Oh, Miss Bennet, you are a veritable angel descended from heaven,' Mary declared with her most pious expression.

'Oh, Miss Bennet, I have never seen a lady to equal you in beauty,' gushed Elizabeth, while holding her clasped hands to her chin and looking towards the ceiling. A moment later she dropped her hands and eyes and asked with an impish grin, 'I wonder how many ladies he has met who exceed you in beauty?'

Jane burst into long suppressed laughter. 'I suspect he has met many such ladies, but his memory is perhaps selective.'

Before Kitty and Lydia had a chance to contribute to the hilarity, Mrs Bennet chided them. 'Girls, you are being unkind to a perfectly kind gentleman. I thought that he was everything charming and handsome.'

'Mama, I agree, he is all of that, but I also confess that papa may have the right of it as well. He seemed quite young and ah…' Jane trailed off, reluctant to say anything negative about their visitor.

'Immature. Puppyish even,' supplied Elizabeth who had no such scruples.

Mrs Bennet gave her second daughter a pinched look. As much as she loved all her daughters, Elizabeth's sharp wit and even sharper tongue irritated her. But after a moment she relaxed and sighed. 'As much as I hate to agree with you, Lizzy, Mr Bingley did seem rather… ah… enthusiastic.'

'I think it would be adorable to have a man trail after me like a puppy. I could tell him to sit and stay, or fetch me whatever I desired at the time,' Lydia managed to catch her breath long enough to say.

'At least I do not feel like he is undressing me with his eyes,' murmured Jane, too soft for anyone but Elizabeth to hear.

~~DGH~~

An invitation to tea was duly received at Longbourn since Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst wanted to see at first hand why their brother was in such raptures over a country nobody.

Mrs Hurst, who was better at getting information from the servants, discovered that the Bennets were what she considered to be poor and that they had relatives in trade. Both circumstances made the sisters predisposed to object to their brother's latest infatuation.

Punctually at the suggested time, Mrs Bennet and her three oldest daughters arrived at Netherfield, where they were cordially greeted by Mr Bingley who introduced the ladies to his family.

Even though Miss Bingley hoped that her brother would leave the ladies to get acquainted after making the introductions, Bingley was determined to enjoy the company of the exquisite Miss Bennet.

Jane smiled politely although internally she sighed. She had hoped for the opportunity to converse with everyone, but Mr Bingley did not give her a chance. Admittedly he was charming and his conversation pleasing but he was relentless in his attentions to her.

Miss Bingley, having been thwarted from speaking to her brother's latest angel, set herself to confirm the information they had gathered as much as she could from Mrs Bennet and the other young women. Sporting a pleasant, if somewhat haughty expression, she began her inquisition of the ladies who were much as she had expected… country mushrooms with no sense of style or sophistication.

Mrs Bennet thought that their hostess and Mrs Hurst were indeed most elegant and was anxious to ensure that the visitors to their county should feel welcome. 'I hope that you will enjoy your stay in the country. I am sure that you will discover that our neighbours are most pleasant and welcoming to people from all walks of life,' Mrs Bennet declared with a pleased smile. 'But it is such a pity that you did not arrive a week earlier. You just missed our monthly assembly, where you could have met us all at once.'

Caroline felt that this speech was an intentional slight about her antecedents. In an attempt to shift the focus to the low connections of their visitors she asked Mrs Bennet, 'Is it true that your brother is a solicitor?'

'He is indeed. If your brother has any need for legal advice, I can highly recommend him.' Mrs Bennet preened a little as she was very fond and proud of her sister's husband.

'Is not Mr Bingley already aware of this since my Uncle Phillips deals with the lease of this estate?' asked Elizabeth, who, unlike her mother, had perceived Miss Bingley's intent.

'In that case you are fortunate indeed that your neighbours do not hold your connection to a tradesman against you,' said Miss Bingley, glad to be able to put down her visitors.

Instead of responding directly to this slur, Elizabeth smiled and said, 'Pardon me for correcting you, but being a solicitor is a gentleman's occupation, quite the same as a clergyman or an officer in his Majesty's army. All of which are acceptable occupations for the younger sons of the nobility. Naturally, they rank beneath the landed gentry, but they are still classed above tradesmen.'

Mrs Hurst's enquiry about the Bennets amongst the servants had discovered another connection. 'But your other uncle is unquestionably a tradesman.'

'Certainly. And he is very proud of that fact.' Elizabeth paused for a moment before she added with a bland smile, 'Much of his success is due to the investments by many members of the nobility.'

'Well, we have no need to invest in trade I am relieved to say,' Miss Bingley said, irritated that this chit had an answer for everything. Before any of the Bennets could raise the fact that the Bingley fortune had been made in trade, she changed the subject. 'Do you go much to town?'

Mrs Bennet answered, 'Personally, I prefer to remain at home, but my girls frequently visit. They love the entertainment available in town.'

For the rest of the visit, the ladies were content to canvas this safer subject.

~~DGH~~

As soon as the Bennet ladies departed Netherfield, Miss Bingley was in full voice disparaging their neighbours.

'My dear,' she addressed her sister. 'Did you see how dreadfully unfashionable they were. I swear that their dresses were at least two seasons out of date. And those colours, how insipid. No lady in town would be caught dead wearing such rags.'

Before Mrs Hurst had a chance to respond in a similar vein, Mr Bingley interjected. 'I thought the ladies were rather elegant. At least it did not hurt my eyes to look at them. And I thought that they were quite charming.'

'Surely you cannot be serious. Did you not hear. They are proud of the fact that they dine with four and twenty families. Four and twenty! We see that many people in a day when we are in town. Yet they think that there is a cachet in having such a limited number of friends,' Miss Bingley refuted her brother.

'At least those local friends are gentry, but those Bennets are related to tradesmen.' Mrs Hurst at last had an opportunity to add her opinion. 'Would you believe that Mrs Bennet's brother leaves in Cheapside.'

'If they had enough relations to fill Cheapside, Miss Bennet could not be any less charming.'

'I am sure hers is a most practiced charm, designed to ensnare any man who can offer her a comfortable living. Did you not see that mother, examining everything as if she was judging its value.

~~DGH~~

Mrs Bennet had indeed examined the ensembles which Miss Bingley and her sister wore with the greatest of interest and with an eye to the potential cost.

But Miss Bingley was wrong in her assumption that it was for any mercenary reason. She had wondered if those colours and styles, would suit her daughters and how much of her pin money it would take to purchase the latest fashions for her daughters when they went to London.

But before she decided which daughters to send to London, she needed to discover if any of them wished to stay at home to further their acquaintance with their new neighbour. 'Is Mr Bingley starting to grow on you?' she asked Jane.

Jane sighed in frustration. 'Indeed, he is. But I am sorry to say that he is growing on me like mould… very clinging and just as hard to get rid of.'

'Jane Bennet, that is the most unforgiving thing I have ever heard you say,' exclaimed Elizabeth. She pretended shock as she stifled her laughter at Jane's witticism.

Jane blushed. 'I should not have said that. It was most unkind and ill done.' She sighed again. 'I just find him exceedingly exasperating. He will not take a hint that his attentions are unwelcome, and civility prevents me from speaking directly.'

Mrs Bennet patted her hand in a comforting manner. 'Do not take it too much to heart, dearest. It is less than a month before you shall remove to London and in the meantime, I am sure he will be busy with the estate and some of our other neighbours. Perhaps Charlotte Lucas would care to take him in hand?'

Elizabeth looked perturbed as she said, 'While Charlotte is all that is sensible and lovely, I have the feeling that Mr Bingley values outward beauty above all else and no one in our neighbourhood can equal Jane in that regard.'

A small chuckle escaped Mary. 'Perhaps Reverend Fordyce has the right of it after all when he bemoans that physical beauty is a curse which distracts gentlemen from the importance of the beauty of a gentle and submissive spirit.'

'Surely he did not say that!'

'Not exactly but I am convinced that is what he meant.'

'Pshaw, even sweet and gentle Jane would cavil at the idea of a man who expected her to be submissive to all his wishes.'

'If I did not, I would find it less onerous to tolerate Mr Bingley.'

~~DGH~~

While Mr Bingley was popular with the residents of Meryton and its environs, his sisters did not make such a favourable impression.

The gentlemen thought Mr Bingley to be pleasant, eager to join in any activity and he did not give himself any airs and graces. Fathers with daughters of marriageable age were not so pleased when it became obvious that Jane Bennet had caught his fancy, but they could not fault his taste.

Mr Thompson, the Netherfield steward had mixed feelings about Bingley. While he was pleased that his new employer respected his abilities, he was unhappy that because of that respect, Mr Bingley was content to let him do the work without paying any attention to the duties the master of the estate usually fulfilled. In Mr Thompson's less charitable moments he was heard to mutter, 'What is the point of having a dog if you have to bark yourself?'

The ladies in the community thought Miss Bingle and her sister extremely fashionable but also unapproachable. All friendly overtures for the ladies to join in the activities to improve the lot of the tenants and their children were ignored with a haughty disdain. Miss Bingley certainly was not about to lower herself and deal with the tenants.

The servants of Netherfield soon developed a considerable dislike, not to say hatred, for Miss Bingley, who was demanding and inconsistent, and she always blamed the staff for her own lapses. She also did not seem to understand that in the country one did not send a servant just down the street to purchase some delicacy for which she developed a sudden fancy.

All in all, the residents of Netherfield were not a great success.

~~DGH~~

Mr Phillips watched the developments with concern.

Apart from Mr Bingley's sporting prowess as attested by the gentlemen of Meryton, he seemed to be incapable of any useful endeavour.

Even his potential matrimonial prospects were poor, since Mr Phillips had it on good authority – his wife – that Jane had not the slightest interest in the man.

While Mr Thompson reported Mr Bingley's lack of involvement with the running of the estate, at least he was not negatively interfering. Although there was hope on that front. Mr Bingley had mentioned that he was expecting the company of a friend who was experienced in the administration of an estate and who had offered to teach Mr Bingley what he needed to know.

For the moment Mr Phillips decided to wait and see if the situation improved by the end of the month.

~~DGH~~