She was engaged one day as she walked, in perusing her sisters' last letter, and dwelling on some passages which proved that Jane was trying to find excuses for the meddlesome Miss Bingley and Mr. Darcy, when, instead of being again surprised by said gentleman, she saw on looking up that Colonel Fitzwilliam was meeting her. Putting away the letter immediately and forcing a smile, she said:
"I did not know before that you ever walked this way."
"I have been making the tour of the park," he replied, "as I generally do every year, and intend to close it with a call at the Parsonage. Are you going much farther?"
"No, I should have turned in a moment."
And accordingly she did turn, and they walked towards the Parsonage together.
She kept their exchange on inconsequential topics, not being in the mood to pay too much attention to her companion.
"Do you certainly leave Kent on Saturday?" She would have liked to be sure, but her companion's answer did not bring any clarification. The good colonel was at his cousin's beck and call and Mr. Darcy arranged matters however it suited him.
"I imagine your cousin brought you down with him chiefly for the sake of having someone at his disposal. I wonder he does not marry, to secure a lasting convenience of that kind. But, perhaps, his sister does as well for the present, and, as she is under his sole care, he may do what he likes with her."
"No," said Colonel Fitzwilliam, "that is an advantage which he must divide with me. I am joined with him in the guardianship of Miss Darcy."
"Are you indeed? She is a very great favourite with some ladies of my acquaintance, Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley. I think I have heard you say that you know them."
"I know them a little. Their brother is a pleasant gentlemanlike man—he was a great friend of Darcy's."
"Mr. Darcy does not look like someone in need of friends, he likes too much to have his own way."
The colonel laughed and was about to reply when she continued: "I confess I am curious if something happened to sour their friendship or Mr. Bingley simply grew tired of Mr. Darcy's ways."
"Perhaps it was my cousin who grew tired of Mr. Bingley's ways."
"It is indeed possible, Colonel. I do not mean to cast aspersions on your relation."
"Darcy was always unlucky in his friendships. When he was very young, a boy still, he had a very good friend. They well-nigh grew up together, you see."
"Really?"
"To be sure; but then the companion of his boyhood turned out to be a scoundrel, taking advantage of Darcy's father's goodness in a most callous fashion. Recently he chose the wrong townfolk to work his wiles on and was caught stealing."
"Not a good man then."
"No indeed; and that's the least I can say about him, that would be fit for a lady's ears."
Elizabeth was taken aback. The colonel was earnest in his pronouncements and for the first time she wondered if Wickham, for it had to be him they were talking about, had indeed seduced a number of young women in and around Meryton. She nodded, but said nothing more. Her conversational gambit did not pay off in the way she intended and she needed some time to find something else they could safely discuss.
"And take Bingley too."
"Mr. Bingley?"
"Darcy arranged to save him from a most imprudent marriage."
"Did he?"
"He tried. You see, there were strong objections against the lady in question. And do you know what happened?"
"I cannot begin to imagine," Elizabeth replied through clenched teeth, but the colonel was so absorbed in his story that he never noticed anything amiss.
"The lady followed him to London! You can imagine her purpose, can you not?"
"Certainly, Colonel! She wanted to avail herself of the amusements of the city and very likely buy finer dresses than could be had in a small town in the country!" Elizabeth answered and batted her eyelashes in the most exaggerated fashion she could.
Colonel Fitzwilliam laughed aloud. She was everything charming and he meant to enjoy her charms, even if only for a half hour's walk around Rosings.
"I bow to your superior knowledge, madam, but in this case you simply must be in error."
"Me? In error? How so?"
"Long story short, one day Bingley took my cousin to task for his role in separating him from his lady and declared he wanted to have nothing to do with him anymore. She must be a schemer of the highest caliber."
"I suppose it is possible they were in love, is it not?"
"Of course, of course, but I'm inclined to trust my cousin's judgment. If he deemed her unsuitable, then he was most likely right. You must admit that her following Bingley to London speaks of design."
"Mr. Darcy is rich, is he not? How many more women have designs on him? Yet here he is, still unmarried."
"Very true, madam."
"And Mr. Bingley, surely he is of an age where he could decline to continue the acquaintance with the young woman in question, if that was what he wanted. Your cousin's conduct does not suit my feelings. Why was he to be the judge?"
"You are rather disposed to call his interference officious?"
"I might have to agree with you, Colonel," she said with a smile. They were almost at the Parsonage gate and she took her leave with as much haste as she could. She's had enough of Darcys, Fitzwilliams, and de Bourgs to last her a lifetime!
-`o´-
Elizabeth was in such turmoil following her afternoon encounter with Colonel Fitzwilliam that she felt unequal to company in the evening.
The agitation which the subject occasioned, brought on a headache; and it grew so much worse towards the evening, that, added to her unwillingness to see Mr. Darcy, it determined her not to attend her cousins to Rosings, where they were engaged to drink tea.
When they were gone, Elizabeth, as if intending to exasperate herself as much as possible against Mr. Darcy, chose for her employment the examination of all the letters which Jane had written to her since her being in Kent.
Mr. Darcy's shameful boast of what misery he had been trying to inflict, gave her a keener sense of what her sister's sufferings could have been.
She was suddenly roused by the sound of the door-bell, when, to her utter amazement, she saw Mr. Darcy walk into the room. In an hurried manner he immediately began an enquiry after her health, imputing his visit to a wish of hearing that she were better. She answered him with cold civility. He sat down for a few moments, and then getting up, walked about the room. Elizabeth was surprised, but said not a word. After a silence of several minutes, he came towards her in an agitated manner, and thus began:
"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."
Elizabeth's astonishment was beyond expression. She stared, coloured, doubted, and was silent. This he considered sufficient encouragement; and the avowal of all that he felt, and had long felt for her, immediately followed. He spoke well; but there were feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed; and he was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride. His sense of her inferiority—of its being a degradation—of the family obstacles which had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his suit.
He spoke of apprehension and anxiety, but his countenance expressed real security. Such a circumstance could only exasperate farther, and, when he ceased, the colour rose into her cheeks, and she said:
"No."
Mr. Darcy looked at her in shock. After a few moments, when it was clear that Elizabeth would not say anything more, he shook himself and addressed her again.
"After all our time together, madam? I thought we had an understanding and while my reasons for hesitating were reasonable and just, I do not see what you gain from this play."
"I have never given you any encouragement, sir! Why is it that every time a man is rejected he would believe the woman a coquette rather than trusting her to know her own mind?"
Darcy frowned and looked intently at her, not really able to keep up with her discourse. Every time a man is rejected? How many did she reject before him?
"I am a rational creature and I demand to be treated as such. I have never given you any encouragement, sir."
"What about all the walks you have invited me on?"
"I never did! Not once!"
"You told me yourself, more than once, when you were likely to take your daily walks. Do not pretend you do not remember."
"I have told you so you could avoid me!"
"Impossible!"
"Mr. Darcy, I am a woman who agreed that you do not give yourself the trouble to behave like a gentleman, when your cousin made the point at Rosings, I also accused you of hating everybody. I did not jest! I had no intention of drawing you in.
I did not think it possible, but everybody who had an opinion about your behaviour was right: I thought you despised me, and you must do, for having a family like mine, Mrs. Croft thought you were curious about me, and my friend Mrs. Collins thought you might be in love with me.
I confess I did not know how it would be possible to reconcile such different opinions."
"And this is all the reply which I am to have the honour of expecting!"
"Mr. Darcy, I do not perhaps appreciate the honour of your proposal as I should. But then few would, sir, when faced with such insults." He flinched and it spurred her on. "Mrs. Croft, our companion," Elizabeth continued and Darcy tried to remember the woman. He did not recall a companion.
"... explained to us that you are exactly the kind of man me and my sisters need to marry: one well able to take care of us in the event of my father's death. However, she also said that we should contract such a marriage only if the gentleman was honourable and principled. You, sir, are neither!"
It was too much! The only thing he wanted was to run as fast as he could as far as he could. Alas, she was not done.
"Had not my feelings decided against you—had they been indifferent, or had they even been favourable, do you think that any consideration would tempt me to accept the man who has endeavoured to ruin the happiness of a most beloved sister?"
"It is true, I did everything in my power to separate my friend from your sister. Towards him I have been kinder than towards myself."
"Ah, but you see, sir, you have not quite succeeded. Mr. Bingley proposed to my sister and I would not injure him by accepting the man he no longer counts among his friends. And I will not renounce my family - my sisters! - for you!"
"Even though they embarrass you constantly? I have seen you trying to curb the worst of your sisters' indiscretions and your mother's crassness."
That was not something she could deny. Yet her family were not all bad. Her sisters, under the kind and firm supervision of Mrs. Croft at Longbourn and Mrs. Gardiner in London, were becoming worthy young women. She had a fleeting thought and a twinge of guilt: Mr. Darcy, after all, only ever saw her sisters at their worst.
"It matters not. They are my family and I will not listen to your abuse of them."
"It matters to me, madam. Your mother was crowing about catching a wealthy husband for her daughter forgetting that my friend was not even courting Miss Bennet!"
"Lady Catherine has been telling us you are as good as married to Miss de Bourgh, sir, that you have been engaged from birth. Is this true?"
"No! I am bound to my cousin neither by honour nor by inclination."
"And yet your esteemed aunt talked of nothing else before your arrival here. It is indeed possible that mothers of daughters are so eager to see their children married to good men that they become excited and declare the match all but accomplished, even when the young people are only beginning to show their regard to one another."
"I have never courted my cousin, Miss Bennet. I reject the implication that I have led her on in any way."
"Very well, sir" Elizabeth replied, "have it your way: my mother declared Jane all but married to a man who paid her marked attentions and Lady Catherine did the same, ignoring your objections."
It was exactly the kind of sally he came to love so much coming from her, although this time her wit afforded him no pleasure. She cut him to the quick and seemed completely unaffected by his suffering and it enraged him.
"Your protestations might have been suppressed, had I, with greater policy, concealed my struggles, and flattered you into the belief of my being impelled by unqualified, unalloyed inclination; by reason, by reflection, by everything. But disguise of every sort is my abhorrence. Nor am I ashamed of the feelings I related. They were natural and just."
"You are mistaken, Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner."
She saw him start at this, but he said nothing, and she continued:
"You could not have made the offer of your hand in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it."
Again his astonishment was obvious; and he looked at her with an expression of mingled incredulity and mortification.
"You have said quite enough, madam. I perfectly comprehend your feelings, and have now only to be ashamed of what my own have been. Forgive me for having taken up so much of your time, and accept my best wishes for your health and happiness."
And with these words he hastily left the room, and Elizabeth heard him the next moment open the front door and quit the house.
-`o´-
Author note:
Thank you for your comments, they are wonderful!
Also: whew! Really hard to write that :)
Guest who asked what kind of property Bingley could buy with his inheritance:
The regular calculation was that a property was valued at 20 times the annual lease value.
So you had a house you leased for 400 pounds a year, then its selling price would be 8000 pounds.
However, in the case of properties close to London, the prices were correspondingly higher.
The same type of house, with the same type of improvements would go for 400 a year in Manchester and 600+ in London.
If it was in a good location in London it could have been valued at even more than that.
If the house was a leasehold and the land lease was long, at least 60 years, preferably over 80 years, then that would also add to its value.
Now about estates.
The value of an estate was calculated in the same manner: 20 times the annual yields.
But here too there are caveats: if the property was near London (with 60 miles of London), then it would be worth more. 30 times the annual yields, maybe even 40 times.
Also, a property like Netherfield would be even more expensive.
For the sake of simplicity, let's say the estate itself was bringing in 2000 a year. Just the estate, not the house. Let's say the house was leased at 400 pounds a year.
Netherfield is near London so this adds to its valuation.
If the owners would sell, then it would be something like: 30 years x 2000 per year for the land + 30 years x 400 per year for the house = 72000
Bingley looked rich only on paper. Once you got down to it, his 100K pounds was not that much.
In the novel he buys an estate somewhere in the vicinity of Pemberley. What a fine thing for Jane and Elizabeth!
Well, yes, but also what a fine thing for Bingley. An estate that yielded 2000 a year would go for 40K pounds in that area of the country. Maybe even less if it was in a remote area or needed a lot of work.
Guest who liked the story and the notes:
Thank you! I hope you'll continue to enjoy it.
Guest who partly agreed with twilight reader too:
It was not exactly true that money did not determine rank. That was a period of great societal upheaval.
Obviously the best thing was to have both: your family to belong to landed gentry and have loads and loads of money.
However, upwards mobility of people who had money, but not land, was already a thing.
Just across the water in France the landed nobility tried to keep their privileges and lost their heads for it. The lessons had been heard loud and clear all across Europe.
About the Hursts and Bingleys: you contend that "The only connection they had to higher society was their association with Darcy." It is indeed possible.
In my reading of the text I would say that because Bingley already had a sister well married and was part of the society Darcy moved in, then he (Darcy) didn't find it awkward to have Bingley for a friend. The age difference between them was too great for them to have been friends for a long time.
Old Mr. Darcy intended to gift Wickham a valuable living. Once he got it, Wickham would have been considered a gentleman. Any officer was also a gentleman.
Historical research shows a society more nuanced than it's usually depicted in fanfiction.
If you also read Emma, think about Miss Hawkins, who had an enormous dowry from trade and married Mr. Elton. Elton himself didn't have money, but his status as a gentleman allowed him to aim high (he first wanted to marry Emma) or at least marry into fortune.
This possibility of lightning fast social advancement was what old Mr. Darcy was offering Wickham.
You also say: "However, if they were already part of higher society, why would Caroline pursue Darcy so much to gain entry into that society she is already a part of."
I don't see this in the original novel. I don't see any indication that Caroline was suffering from social rejection.
She was chasing Darcy, but why not. Lady Catherine was chasing Darcy too, and her daughter was arguably higher than Darcy, socially speaking - daughter of a knight.
Darcy was rich, handsome, and socially powerful. Why wouldn't they chase him?
Guest who said Caroline and Louisa wanted Bingley to purchase an estate to raise their status:
I've already written a rather long reply, just before, which touches on some of the points you raised.
Having a house in London, in Grosvenor Street was different from just having a house in town. This is why Caroline is name dropping the address, to suggest to Jane that they were nothing like the Gardiners who also had a house in town, except that it was in Gracechurch Street.
Guest who said that the Darcy family rarely came to Lambton:
True, but please do read that chapter again (chapter 25, the last 3 paragraphs). The whole scene is rather long to quote here in full, but it is very important to establish Wickham's character as a practiced deceiver.
One phrase is especially important: "Mrs. Gardiner had seen Pemberley, and known the late Mr. Darcy by character perfectly well."
Guest who said that Jane never considered Collins:
Nobody but Mary and Charlotte considered Collins seriously :)
There are three instances in the novel when Elizabeth needs support: first when Collins proposes and the best Jane can do is to not interfere at all; the second when Elizabeth tells her of Darcy's proposal and of being ashamed of how she defended Wickham and the best Jane can do is to feel sorry for Darcy and very gently upbraid Elizabeth; the third is when Darcy proposed the second time and the best Jane can do is to reluctantly let hers be convinced that it's the real deal before offering her congratulations.
Most of the time I cannot stand the character of Jane Bennet.
That said, my understanding is that Jane Austen intended to show us a truly good Jane Bennet and this is how I'm writing her in my story.
The best bet of Caroline and Louisa about Bingley's future wife was that Georgiana Darcy would fall madly in love with her brother's friend and Darcy wouldn't say no because of their friendship.
The second best bet was to find the daughter of some impoverished peer and convince Charles to become her husband.
Guest who said the review thread is amazing:
It is amazing!
75% of writing a fanfiction story is reading the reviews and answering :)
I am very lucky that so many people have taken an interest in the story and are willing to review. It expands my understanding.
Guest Otho:
Ha! That's Pride and Prejudice in a nutshell: Elizabeth and Darcy deserve one another :)
Guest Fede:
Thank you!
The movies and the series are not bad, they brought PP to so many people. On the other hand, JA's own brand of humour and insight into human nature is a bit lost in an adaptation, isn't it?
And yes, I understand and fully appreciate that I'm writing yet another twist :)
Guest who agrees about the Gardiners being rather blind to Wickham's deceit:
Yes, absolutely.
That scene doesn't look like much on first pass, but if you come back to it and read it with the benefit of knowing how it all unfolded, it's amazing how well it is executed. I am in awe of JA's insight into human nature.
He is nudging her to conjure false memories and she does.
I've said this in a message in reply to another review, but it should be here as well, because it explains some things: the poverty line was about 50 pounds per adult.
The Bennet women - all 6 of them - were going to have to live off the interest from 5000 pounds. The funds yielded between 3% and 5% interest. So they were looking at 150 - 250 pounds per year to live. They would have been very poor.
Gardiner knows this better than most and yes, his plan was to marry off as many of the girls as possible as quickly as possible.
Guest Colleen S:
I'm so glad you are reading along!