The next day, being sunny and relatively mild, all five Bennet sisters walked to Meryton and encountered Mr. Wickham, who seemed to be loitering on the street; he almost appeared to be waiting for them. After he greeted them quite effusively, Elizabeth commented on his missing the Netherfield ball. He justified his trip to town by saying that he thought that he should not embarrass his hosts by causing an unpleasant scene if he met a certain gentleman. Elizabeth wondered about this excuse, but did not challenge him. After what Mr. Darcy had told her about him, her respect for this officer fell even further. She decided she would speak to her Uncle Philips about what Mr. Darcy had warned her about this person. She was quite sure that her uncle would listen to her as he trusted her judgement. As he had many dealings with most businesses in Meryton, she knew he would warn them about allowing any of Mr. Wickham's debts to build up. She was able to do this when they stopped in at the Philips house.
The next day, several officers were visiting Longbourn, including Mr. Wickham. He spent all him time talking only to Elizabeth in spite of her responding to him in the most limited manner that she could while maintaining the appearance of civility. She certainly noticed that his questions were almost improper as they bordered on the amount of control she had over Longbourn and its earnings. He was also effusive in his compliments to her, which began to annoy her. She could not help but compare his attentions with those of another officer who had seemed to be interested in the same topics, although not nearly so blatantly.
While the officers were visiting, Jane received a letter from Miss Bingley. The envelope contained a sheet of elegant, hot-pressed paper, well covered with a lady's fair, flowing hand. Elizabeth saw her sister's countenance change as she read it, and saw her dwelling intently on some particular passages. Jane quickly recollected herself, and putting the letter away, tried to join with her usual cheerfulness in the general conversation. However, Elizabeth felt an anxiety about her sister's demeanor which drew her attention even from Wickham, whom she had been watching closely. No sooner had he and his companions taken leave, a glance from Jane invited her to follow her up the stairs.
When they had gained their own room, Jane, taking out the letter, said, "This is from Caroline Bingley; what it contains surprised me a great deal. The whole party has left Netherfield by this time and are on their way to town—and without any intention of coming back again. You shall hear what she says."
She then read the first sentence aloud, which comprised the information of their having just resolved to follow their brother to town directly and of their intentions to dine in Grosvenor Street, where Mr. Hurst had a house, that very night. The next words were disturbing, "I do not pretend to regret anything I shall leave in Hertfordshire except your society, my dearest friend, but we will hope, at some future period, to enjoy many returns of those delightful conversations we have had in Hertfordshire. In the meanwhile we may lessen the pain of our separation by a very frequent and most unreserved correspondence. I depend on you for that."
To these high-flown expressions Elizabeth listened with all the insensibility of distrust, and though the suddenness of their removal surprised her, she saw nothing in it really to lament. It was not to be supposed that their absence from Netherfield would prevent Mr. Bingley's returning there, and as to the loss of their society, she was persuaded that Jane must cease to regard it in the enjoyment of his when he returned.
"It is unlucky," said Elizabeth, after a short pause, "that you should not be able to see your friends before they left the country, but may we not hope that the period of future happiness to which Miss Bingley looks forward may arrive earlier than she is aware? I hope that the delightful intercourse you have known as friends will be renewed with yet greater satisfaction as sisters. Surely Mr. Bingley will not be detained in London by them."
"Caroline decidedly says that none of the party will return into Hertfordshire this winter. I will read it to you. "When my brother left us yesterday, he imagined that the business which took him to London might be concluded in three or four days, but we are certain it cannot be so. At the same time we are convinced that when Charles gets to town he will be in no hurry to leave it again, so we have determined on following him thither. We do not want that he be obliged to spend his vacant hours in a comfortless hotel. Many of my acquaintances are already there for the winter; I wish that I could hear that you, my dearest friend, had any intention of making one of the crowd, but of that I despair. I sincerely hope your Christmas in Hertfordshire may abound in the gaieties which that season generally brings, and that your beaux will be so numerous as to prevent your feeling the loss of the three of whom we shall deprive you."
"It is evident by this," added Jane, "that he comes back no more this winter, even though he assured me that he would be gone for only a week or so."
"It is only evident that Miss Bingley does not mean that he should."
"Why will you think so? It must be his own doing. He is his own master. But you do not know all. I will read you the passage which particularly hurts me. I will have no secrets from you.
"Mr. Darcy is impatient to see his sister, and to confess the truth, we are scarcely less eager to meet her again. I really do not think Georgiana Darcy has her equal for beauty, elegance, and accomplishments. The affection she inspires in Louisa and me is heightened into something still more interesting from the hope we dare entertain of her being hereafter our sister. I do not know whether I ever before mentioned to you my feelings on this subject, but I will not leave the country without confiding them and I trust you will not esteem them unreasonable. My brother admires her greatly already; he will have frequent opportunity now of seeing her on the most intimate footing. Her relations all wish the connection as much as his own. A sister's partiality is not misleading me, I think, when I call Charles most capable of engaging any woman's heart. With all these circumstances to favour an attachment and nothing to prevent it, am I wrong, my dearest Jane, in indulging the hope of an event which will secure the happiness of so many?"
These words horrified Elizabeth as she thought that they were deliberately intended to hurt her sister.
"What do you think of that sentence, my dear Lizzy?" said Jane as she finished it. "Is it not clear enough? Does it not expressly declare that Caroline neither expects nor wishes me to be her sister, that she is perfectly convinced of her brother's indifference and that if she suspects the nature of my feelings for him, she means (most kindly!) to put me on my guard? Can there be any other opinion on the subject?"
"Yes, there can, for mine is totally different. Will you hear it?"
"Most willingly."
"You shall have it in a few words. Miss Bingley sees that her brother is in love with you, and wants him to marry Miss Darcy. She follows him to town in hope of keeping him there, and tries to persuade you that he does not care about you." Elizabeth was quite sure of this as Mr. Darcy had never once mentioned anything about a possible match between his sister and his friend. He had only said how young she was and how he worried that he might not be providing proper guidance for her.
Jane shook her head in disagreement.
"Indeed, Jane, you ought to believe me. No one who has ever seen you together can doubt his affection. Miss Bingley, I am sure, cannot. She is not such a simpleton. Could she have seen half as much love in Mr. Darcy for herself, she would have ordered her wedding clothes. But the case is this—we are not rich enough or grand enough for them. She is anxious to get Miss Darcy for her brother from the notion that when there has been one intermarriage, she may have less trouble in achieving a second. There is certainly some ingenuity in this plan and I dare say it would succeed if Miss de Bourgh were out of the way. But, my dearest Jane, you cannot seriously imagine that because Miss Bingley tells you her brother greatly admires Miss Darcy, he is in the smallest degree less sensible of your merit than when he took leave of you on Tuesday, or that it will be in her power to persuade him that, instead of being in love with you, he is very much in love with her friend."
In spite of her arguments, she could see that Jane was not convinced. She wondered if her sister knew something about Mr. Bingley that she had not shared. If this was the case, was he worthy of her favourite sister?
Nothing was heard from the Netherfield party over the next few weeks before Christmas. Mr. Bingley did not return when he said he would. The only change that Elizabeth noticed was that Mr. Wickham did not appear to be as cheerful as he had been before she talked to her Uncle Philips. She suspected that her uncle had acted on her warning about this officer and had spoken to the shopkeepers about the risk of his and other militiamen not paying their debts. What she also noticed was that Mr. Wickham kept asking, albeit very indirectly, about her control of Longbourn's income. She wondered if his not having access to credit with the shopkeepers resulted in his seeking another source of funding. If he had no source of income other than his militia pay, he would not be able to live in the style that he appeared to favour. This thought made her much more circumspect in her dealings with him as the last thing she wanted was another husband she could not respect.
Then her mind once again connected the two officers who had shown interest in her—Lieutenant Wickham and Colonel Fitzwilliam. She began to wonder if they both thought of her only as a source of income, as neither, especially Mr. Wickham, had sufficient income of their own to support any reasonable lifestyle. It disgusted her to be thought of only for her financial assets and not for her personal attributes. This led her to realize that Mr. Darcy may have been in the same position as she was; did his aloofness result from being continually pursued for the same reasons? She could certainly sympathize with him now. Then she thought that if Mr. Bingley did not somehow reconnect with Jane, she would likely never see either of these gentlemen again.
After these thoughts, she was even more careful with her youngest sisters and never allowed them to walk into Meryton without an escort, in spite of her mother's protests that it would be quite safe for them to do so. As Elizabeth and Mr. Philips controlled the finances of Longbourn, their pin money was under their total control. The threat of withholding these funds was almost always sufficient to make her sisters listen to her. Even her mother knew that her brother would listen to Elizabeth instead of her, so she did not oppose her daughter too vigorously in anything.
The most exciting occurrence during this time was the arrival of the Gardiners with their four children who customarily celebrated the Christmas season at Longbourn. Lizzy's son was especially excited to see his cousins as they got along very well and gave him playmates who kept him amused whenever they were together. The youngest Gardiner was less than a year older than he was, so they shared the same interests and kept each other busy, much to the consternation of their nurses.
Lizzy could see that Jane's spirits were not as cheerful as they normally were, which she expected was a result of Mr. Bingley's continuing absence. He was the first gentleman that she had ever begun to regard with any serious interest, so his failure to return when he said he would was particularly difficult for her to accept. Elizabeth thought that if he did not come back to her sister, then Jane should go to town to try to meet with him. She spoke to her Aunt Gardiner about taking Jane back to town with them, ostensibly so she could help her with the children, but really so she could have the opportunity of seeing Mr. Bingley again. Her aunt was quite sympathetic to this request after Elizabeth explained how interested this gentleman had been to Jane while he had been at Netherfield, so she agreed to help in any way that she could.
Elizabeth also spoke to her Uncle Philips about this whole situation and he agreed with all of her thoughts and plans. They decided to give Jane extra money so she could buy new outfits that would be more suitable for town outings than what she normally wore in Meryton. Jane was not unwilling to make this attempt, so she returned to London with the Gardiners shortly after Christmas. She had not been there often in the past several years as she was busy helping Lizzy with her infant son. Four years before, she had spent six months in Gracechurch Street helping with her young cousins when her aunt was expecting her fourth child. During this visit, she had missed all the drama that occurred at Longbourn when her father died and the Collinses arrived to take over the estate. Her Uncle Gardiner had been astute enough to keep her there to protect her from them, even though she had desperately wanted to go home, if only to help their mother and sisters at such a critical time.