The next morning …

The Bennets and the Gardiners, having finished their breakfast, were milling about waiting for Gardiners' coaches to be readied for their trip to London. Mr. Gardiner, being now close to his warehouses after an absence of six weeks, was impatient to be off but certain departure observances delayed him. His sister, Fanny, had a long list of things she wanted him to provide, gratis she made clear, to enhance the utter gloriousness of Lizzy's wedding to (he could almost hear a drum roll) Mr. Darcy!, which she pressed on him, and wanted him to recite back to her 'so he would not forget!" He was rescued by Miss Darcy, who distracted Fanny, not by shouting 'look, there's a squirrel', but by wondering, with such a look of puzzled curiosity, 'whether lace was really appropriate at a wedding.' While his sister was taking a very deep breath, for it would be a long-involved explanation, with many examples, Miss Darcy winked at him. And then he was told that his sons had decided to farewell the stableman's dog and cat, if they could be found (certainly the dog would be, likely not the cat, who had had quite enough of being mauled by young, clumsy, and often sticky, hands) – Kitty and Lydia were sent to retrieve them and he could only hope that no squirrels would be seen before the four returned.

Suspended in the aggravation of departure limbo Mr. Gardiner was happy to see his wife beckoning him. She was the oil on his troubled waters. She was standing with their daughter, Susan, their niece, Mary, and an unknown lady, who was introduced by Mary as Mrs. Longden. While Susan preened, Mrs. Longden used those adjectives describing her which parents love to hear: intelligent, well mannered, musically talented, artistic; a credit to her upbringing. While Mr. Gardiner beamed, Mrs. Gardiner laughed and put her hands over her daughter's ears lest Susan's head get too big.

With the permission of her parents Mrs. Longden gave Susan a small cloth bag filled with sweetmeats to share with her brothers on the trip to town. "If they don't show up soon, they won't be getting any treats" grumbled Mr. Gardiner.

-}{-

Elizabeth waited for Mr. Darcy by the stable. She worried that she might have been a trifle hard on him the day before, blaming him for misunderstanding the message he was supposed to give to Mr. Bingley, when she might, possibly, have been a little too subtle in conveying it to him. They had kissed and made up before he had left for Netherfield last night but she wanted to confirm that there were no lingering resentments on his part. Certainly, she had forgiven him his trespasses.

While she waited Elizabeth watched a little drama play out, which she titled in her mind 'Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow.' Sam Gardiner was telling Rex, the stableman's dog, how much he was going to miss him. Rex was giving Sam his undivided attention, or to be exact, Rex was giving the half-eaten muffin, which Sam was holding in his right hand and waving about as he emoted, his undivided attention. Edward Gardiner came out of the stable crying that he couldn't find Moggie, the stable cat, and that distracted Sam to the point where he stopped waving his hand which allowed Rex, with the greatest delicacy, to grab the muffin. Edward wanted Rex to tell Moggie goodbye on their behalf but to Elizabeth's mind Rex looked remarkedly noncommittal. She was distracted from the denouement of the play, which appeared to cast Kitty and Lydia as fairies come to sweep the boys away, by the arrival of her lover on horseback.

Before Mr. Darcy had a chance to dismount, she asked "Did you speak to Mr. Bingley again?"

Mr. Darcy dismounted and gave the reins to the stable boy who had come running up. He did not answer until his horse had been led away. "No, last night he was asleep before I got back to Netherfield; this morning he was up, breakfasted, and gone to work in the fields, before I got up. According to Mrs. Nichols, Bingley is up at dawn, works all day in the fields, comes back after dusk, eats, and goes to bed. If I am going to speak to him, I am going to have to track him down again in whatever field he is working in."

"Well then, you should do that and tell him that …"

Mr. Darcy put his hand up. "No, I am no longer going to act as an intermediary. If, notwithstanding her express words, Miss Bennet wants to be more than an indifferent acquaintance of Bingley's then she is going to have to tell him herself. And before she does, she should know that he has changed."

"What do you mean?"

"Last November, the Bingley you met was jovial, with easy, unaffected manners. Someone who was unkind might say he was a happy-go-lucky puppy who was easily lead. Now – he is harder; both in body, likely because of all the farm labour he is doing, although working all day in the sun has done his colour no favours – and in spirit; he no longer smiles. I found him to be terse, abrupt, brusque. I do not know whether he still considers me to be a friend although he accommodated my request to stay at Netherfield easily enough."

Elizabeth waved off his concern. "He'll get over it as soon as he and Jane are reunited."

"I do not think so. I think the change is permanent. I will give you an example - you will recall, from when you and Miss Bennet were staying at Netherfield, how he bragged about how lackadaisical he was with respect to his thoughts and his handwriting. Yesterday, when I asked to stay at Netherfield, he gave me a note to give to Mrs. Nichols. The note was clear, concise, and written in a very legible hand. If I had not seen him write it out, I would have denied that it was written by him. He has changed; whether for the better I do not know."

"Pshaw! I …"

"Mr. Darcy, Lizzy."

Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth turned to see Jane standing behind them.

"The Gardiners are leaving. If you want to farewell them you had best come," said Jane.

"Jane! How much did you hear?" asked Elizabeth.

"Enough to thank you both for your assistance on behalf of me and Mr. Bingley, and to ask that neither of you extend any such assistance in the future. Mr. Bingley and I will work out things between us without your assistance. Now excuse me, I do not want to miss saying goodbye to aunt and uncle and our cousins."

Jane turned and headed back to the house. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth looked at each other, they did not say anything, the look was enough, and then they followed Jane.