There are situations when a person has to make a difficult choice, and it is hard to anticipate the potential outcomes of the chosen course of action. Such was Bingley's situation when he came face-to-face with Jane Smith again.
Months ago, when he decided to stop seeing Jane, he initially felt sad and constantly thought of her, but as time went by, those thoughts became less and less frequent. Without a doubt, he was physically attracted to her. She was a beautiful woman who paid attention to him and always smiled. But was being attracted to a woman reason enough to abandon the promise he had made to his father on his deathbed?
If someone had asked him that same question a few minutes ago, his answer would have been that it was not enough, and he had put Jane Smith behind him, but seeing her in front of him, he doubted the resolution he had made.
That night, Jane had taken pains to look beautiful. At her mother's suggestion, she dressed in a very tight, low-cut gown that accentuated the curves of her body. Besides, her mother had said, she should be much bolder in her displays of affection so Mr. Bingley would once and for all decide to court her. According to her mother, men tended to act on impulse when they were face-to-face with a beautiful woman.
Therefore, after greeting Mr. Bingley effusively and politely but distantly to Miss Bingley and Mr. Darcy, she engaged in conversation exclusively with Mr. Bingley, trying to show her interest. Mr. Barton came to fetch Elizabeth to dance the next set, leaving only Caroline and Darcy with Bingley and Jane. Caroline looked at Jane with annoyance and disdain while Darcy watched them and listened to the conversation indifferently.
Although Jane made an effort to flirt with Bingley and commented that she really liked to dance, Bingley did not ask her. Ironically, what disappointed Bingley was not Caroline's annoyed face or Darcy's utter indifference, but seeing her in such a low-cut gown, flirting with him, and completely ignoring the others. Such behaviour was contrary to what he thought was Jane's character, and he honestly did not like what he saw! One of the things he liked most about Jane was her sweetness and naivety, but the woman in front of him was showing the opposite of those qualities. At that moment, he concluded that she had been trying to deceive him since they last met.
After several unsuccessful minutes, Jane realized that she was wasting her time because Bingley was not interested enough in her. She excused herself and went to speak with her Aunt Phillips. She would never find out that Mr. Bingley's loss of interest was due to her acting so contrary to her character, on her mother's advice.
Minutes later, while Bingley went to get refreshments and sandwiches, Caroline walked around the ballroom on Darcy's arm, speaking in a relatively loud voice about Jane Smith in not-too-friendly terms: "She's one of the worst gold diggers I've ever had the misfortune to meet. A virtuous woman should never wear such a gown! But what else can you expect from her? Just look at her mother. Furthermore, she is a soldier's daughter with no dowry, connections, or education. In short, she is an insipid, insignificant, and apparently shameless woman. I hope she stops chasing my brother once and for all and realizes he wants nothing to do with her. Do you not think, Mr. Darcy, that such women should be avoided at all costs?"
Darcy nodded, not wanting to talk about a young woman he did not know, and replied, "Indeed, you are right."
Unfortunately, Jane overheard that part of the conversation. She felt like crying at Miss Bingley's cruel description of her. It was a horrible experience that opened her eyes to the cruelty of some women and English society in general.
She went out onto the balcony to calm down and stayed there until the set was over. Upon entering the room, she saw that the Bingleys were with Mr. Darcy, talking animatedly with Elizabeth and Miss Holmes. She also saw when Mr. Bingley asked Miss Holmes to dance, Mr. Darcy asked Elizabeth, and Mr. Lucas asked Caroline.
In another part of the ballroom, Lydia and Kitty laughed uproariously and shamelessly flirted with three officers while her mother and Mr. Stevens were at the other end of the room, chatting animatedly with the Phillipses.
She felt out of place. She sadly realized that she did not belong there anymore, and it was not her style to be flirtatious and bold either. She had made a grave mistake in returning to Hertfordshire. She would write to the Gardiners to return to London as soon as possible.