Turnabout Chapter 3, a pride and prejudice fanfic

Thanks for your comments.

I appreciate the feedback of where I have to tweak the story. The girls will all have strength and weaknesses. I should warn you – Elizabeth still hates to practice the piano – no governess will ever change that. 😊

Mr Bingley is about to make an entrance – I'm afraid I have taken some liberties with his character which will gradually become more obvious.

~~DGH~~

Netherfield Park is let

Shortly after Mary's birthday, Netherfield Park had a new tenant. The news of the gentleman who had taken on the lease spread by the fastest means possible in the neighbourhood. Mrs Phillips was the bearer of the glad tidings at Longbourn.

'Fanny, I have the most wonderful news. Netherfield Park has been let to a young man of great fortune and he will arrive with his family within a week,' the lady exclaimed as soon as she burst into the parlour where Mrs Bennet sat with her daughters.

'A young man you say? That is delightful news. I am sure that we could all be diverted by some new faces. But what of his family? Will he be accompanied by his wife and children?'

'No, indeed. His family are his sisters and brother-in-law. Mr Bingley is a single man and must surely be in want of a wife. I am certain that he will become enchanted with your daughters.'

Mrs Bennet beamed at this intelligence and turned to her oldest daughter. 'Jane did you hear? Perhaps this Mr Bingley will be more to your taste than Mr Proust. I was so very grateful when he did not extend his lease, him being such an unpleasant sort of man. I cannot understand how he could have got it in his head that he could just snap his fingers and you would fall at his feet.'

While Mrs Bennet was not in fear of the future, like any good mother she was hoping to see all her daughters well settled into felicitous marriages, but she had abhorred the grasping, not to say lecherous and disrespectful, attitude of Mr Proust.

Now she was torn because the prospect of having an eligible gentleman living next door to Longbourn was enticing, but there was only one of him and she had three daughters of marriageable age, and she had arranged for the girls to spend the autumn in London. Perhaps if Mr Bingley arrived early enough, they could take his measure and if it seemed likely that one of the girls might make a match with him, she could still send the other two to her brother.

'It would be quite agreeable to have some pleasant company,' Jane answered noncommittally with a sweet smile. 'And I would hope that I will not need Lizzy's assistance in keeping our new neighbour at bay, as she was forced to do with Mr Proust.'

'I confess that I was never more grateful that he found my appearance wanting. Otherwise, I might have been forced to have a footman accompany me on my rambles,' Elizabeth added her condemnation of the previous tenant. Apart from books and esoteric debates with her father, she liked nothing better than going for long walks and enjoying nature. Mrs Bennet considered those occupations to be unladylike and they caused the lady to become vexed with her second daughter.

'It would be most unfortunate if we had yet another unsuitable tenant at Netherfield,' mourned Mrs Phillips, who loved her nieces and wanted them to have an opportunity to meet potential suitors as men were scarce in their small community where ladies significantly outnumbered the available gentlemen.

Unbeknownst to her, her husband had selected tenants for the estate with a view of furthering his nieces' chances at making a good match. Mr Proust had presented well amongst gentlemen, keeping his poor attitude towards ladies concealed. Having learnt his lesson from this situation, Mr Phillips had determined to include a clause in any further leases which stated that the lease could be terminated by the owner or the agent if complaints against the residents of Netherfield were raised.

Mr Phillips hoped that Mr Bingley would be as amiable towards ladies as he was amongst gentlemen.

~~DGH~~

Mr Bingley was indeed everything for which the ladies could have hoped. He was amiable and sociable as well as having respectful and happy manners towards all. To complete the picture of an eligible gentleman, he was also quite handsome.

Bingley was the son of a wealthy tradesman who hoped to raise his family to the station of gentry by the purchase of an estate. On the advice of his friend, Mr Darcy, who was to join him within a month, Bingley was playing it safe by leasing Netherfield before committing to a purchase to ensure that the lifestyle would suit him.

Within days of their arrival at Netherfield, the leading gentlemen of the community called on the family to welcome them to the area.

~~DGH~~

Mr Bennet, after some coaxing from his wife, was one of the first gentlemen to call on Mr Bingley.

Over dinner, after his return from Netherfield, Mr Bennet regaled his family with his impression of the gentleman.

'I am sorry Mrs Bennet, but I believe that if you wish for Mr Bingley as your son-in-law, you will have to wait a few years.' In response to questions for the reason of this statement, he explained, 'The young man is all that is amiable, but I would be surprised if he was more than a year or two older than Jane. I sincerely doubt that he will be ready to marry any time soon.'

'Surely, when he meets someone as beautiful and kind as Jane, he will want to form an attachment,' protested Mrs Bennet.

'I am certain that he will fall head over heels in love with Jane's beauty,' said Mr Bennet, watching his wife brighten at the statement until he added. 'But I suspect that he will lose interest just as quickly.'

'What about his family?' Jane enquired in the hopes of making new friends.

'He has two sisters. His younger sister, who I believe is of similar age to you, is acting as his hostess. His older sister and her husband are staying with them as they find the air in town too bad at this time of year.'

'What are they like?' enquired Elizabeth.

'They seem very fashionable, judging by the ladies' attire. Although I believe that they think rather too highly of themselves considering that they are but the daughters of a tradesman.'

'They are not responsible for their ancestry,' Jane defended the ladies.

Elizabeth gave her sister a dubious look but conceded, 'I shall suspend judgement until I meet them. If they are pleasant company, I shall be delighted to enjoy the conversation of new acquaintances.'

~~DGH~~

'Charles, how could you drag us to this unsophisticated backwater,' complained Miss Caroline Bingley, Mr Bingley's younger sister during their own dinner at Netherfield. Unlike her brother, the lady had aspirations to become a member of the highest circles and was determined that Bingley should marry a lady who could advance her own ambitions.

'Are you not the one who always wishes to improve her status in society?' her brother retorted with a sigh.

As many people had commented, he was an amiable young man, but his patience and tolerance were being severely tested by his sisters. While his older sister Louisa had married a gentleman three years earlier, she still supported her younger sister in arguments with their brother. Louisa's husband, Phillip Hurst, rolled his eyes and gestured for the footman to refill his wineglass. Since Hurst's parents were still alive, the couple took advantage of Bingley's largesse by living with Bingley. The price they had to pay for this arrangement was to tolerate the presence of Caroline.

'Of course, I want us to improve our standing in society, but you cannot possibly call the people in this area society. They have no sophistication or fashion.'

Bingley held onto his temper by an extreme force of will. 'Caroline, how often do I have to tell you that to become a member of the landed gentry, I have to buy an estate which produces an income. Estates by the nature of things are always located in the country. Ergo, we will have to live in the country to be counted gentry.'

'That is where you are wrong. Many of our acquaintances have estates in the country but they live in town.'

'So, I have observed. But according to Darcy, those estates are either extremely large and will produce enough of an income even with an absentee landlord, or as is the more usual situation, most estates which are neglected by their owners generally will suffer and go to wrack and ruin. In those cases, the owners will have to cut back on their expenses or end up severely in debt. At which point, some of them are prepared to marry a wealthy Cit for her dowry.'

'But I do not like the country.'

'In that case, you had better stop chasing Darcy. Since you have a problem with an estate a mere four hours from London, you are obviously ignoring the fact that Pemberley is in Derbyshire which is three days travel from town.'

'That does not matter. As you said, Pemberley is a large and prosperous estate which will easily provide sufficient income to allow Mr Darcy to live in London permanently.' Caroline said with a satisfied expression since she was certain that she had made her point.

Bingley was getting tired of his sister's insistence on only seeing things how she wanted them to be and was determined to make Caroline face reality. 'You are correct… in theory.' Caroline's face lit up. 'Pemberley is large enough and rich enough.' He paused to drive home his point. 'But that is due to Darcy's careful management… a responsibility which he will never abdicate, especially since he likes living in the country and abhors being in town.'

'Surely he will want to please his wife.'

'I suspect he will, but you will never be that wife since I expect that he will choose a wife who enjoys living in the country.'

'But –'

'No, Caroline. Think about it. You have known Darcy for five years and in all that time he has not shown the slightest inclination towards you, no matter how much you cling to him every time you see him.'

Bingley shook his head. 'He is also extremely conscious of his family's expectations. You seem to ignore the fact that he has the pick of the ladies of all but the very highest circles. Do you truly believe that he would marry the daughter of a tradesman?'

'But you are his friend…'

'True… but he and I do not wish to marry,' Bingley replied with a straight face.

The comment was rewarded with a snort followed by coughing as Hurst was caught mid-swallow. When he had recovered, he gave Bingley a disgusted look. 'You could have warned me,' he protested.

'My apologies, Hurst,' Bingley said while suppressing a grin. It would not do to take away from the seriousness of the current discussion. 'What I was trying to say, Darcy is my friend, but he only tolerates you. If it were not for the fact that you are my sister, he would avoid you like the plague.'

Caroline drew her brows together and pursed her lips while taking a deep breath. When she had her temper under marginal control she said, 'Charles, you are only arguing with me to vex me. You will see that when Mr Darcy joins us, he will see what an excellent hostess I am and will wish to make me mistress of Pemberley.'

Miss Bingley was fortunate that she was too focused on her argument with her brother and did not hear Hurst mutter, 'The best you can hope for is to be his mistress at Pemberley… perhaps in one of his cottages, and that only if he goes deaf or you become mute. He would never be fool enough to marry you and make you the mistress of his home.'

As Caroline was miffed and Hurst was more interested in his dinner, conversation continued in a desultory fashions between Mrs Hurst and Bingley who hoped that Caroline would see the light. He hated confrontations.

~~DGH~~

Two days later, Bingley returned the call on Mr Bennet, who was tempted to keep the young man in suspense by preventing him from meeting the ladies of the house but had not counted on his wife's determination.

Mrs Bennet had gone into the garden on the pretext to cut a few flowers for the dinner table and returned into the house at Mrs Hill's signal to accidentally encounter Mr Bingley in the foyer. Being a good hostess, she of course had to offer refreshments to the gentleman, who accepted with alacrity when the lady mentioned her daughters.

Mr Bingley was delighted when Mrs Bennet introduced her daughters and was immediately smitten with Jane's beauty. 'I had heard that Longbourn was the home of the jewels of the county, but I must declare that they were wrong. Surely you must be the jewel of the entire country,' he asserted.

He was civil enough to the other ladies present but struggled to focus on anyone other than Jane.

Lydia and Kitty put their heads together as they giggled behind their hands, highly amused by their observations.

While Elizabeth and Mary tried to give them quelling looks, they were hampered by their own amusement at Mr Bingley's reaction.

As soon as Bingley finished drinking his tea, Jane not so subtly suggested, 'I am sure that you must have many other calls to make. As much as I enjoyed your visit, I cannot in good conscience deprive our neighbours of an equal pleasure.'

Bingley started at the comment. 'Good heavens, I had not realised that I had been here as long as all that. You must be an enchantress to make time disappear in the blink of an eye.' Although he hated to part from his latest angel, good manners asserted themselves and he took his leave while promising that his sisters would extend an invitation to the ladies.

~~DGH~~