This was going to continue with Jane, but then when I started writing it, it was clear that it needed to be from Mr. Bingley's POV. Sorry Jane!

Mr. Bingley's POV

51. Fleeing Meryton

After Miss Bennet, kind woman that she was, accepted my offer of a courtship, after taking a few moments away from them to wipe off such dust as I could with a pine-tree branch I broke off a tree at the edge of a cemetery (hoping all the while that no one would be offended by my action), we immediately proceeded to the Phillips home with me between the two sisters. I was most anxious to promptly secure Miss Bennet's uncle's blessing as I had pledged to do. We would meet the other Bennets there as Mrs. Bennet had promised that between her and Mrs. Phillips that they would see to determining which staff should be hired so that I could open up Netherfield, given that there was no room at the inn.

Although I felt awkward walking through Meryton while Miss Mary carried the baby. I reveled in the light touch of Miss Bennet's gloved hand on my arm. My heart exulted: She will be my wife! I was all but certain this would soon come to pass.

Mr. Phillips greeted me himself and I asked, "Might we have a word?"

We went into a small room with just two wingback chairs and round table betwixt them, and before I could even state the purpose of my visit, he was pouring some Scotch into two glasses for us. "So, I take it I am to congratulate you, and wish you both happy. When will you have the wedding? Will you get a common license like your friend? I think it best that you marry as soon as can be, for while I suppose I should not be in a hurry to lose another niece, you are a fine man and the less association you have with Lydia, the better."

"You mistake me." I told him. "I have requested a courtship, so it is not a done thing yet, although if I could but marry her tomorrow, I would gladly have at it."

"Well, then get on with it. Propose and take her to wife."

I shook my head. "It is clear to me that Miss Bennet is not ready for such a step, not after I failed her before. She does not know if she can trust in me, and now with her sister settled as Mrs. Darcy, it is not as if she shall suffer any privation. Indeed, she has no need to marry."

Mr. Phillips shook his head. "In that you are wrong. She suffers daily humiliation being in Lydia's company, what with her taking that baby who has a lick of the tarbrush, everywhere. Only marriage shall ever make Jane acceptable again. For the first few weeks of their disgrace, I would not even let Mrs. Phillips let any of them through the door. But that was too cruel by half. Still, no good deed goes unpunished for I have lost half my clients for it. They would rather spend half the day traveling to the next town than consult with me."

"Perhaps things will be better when they remove to Bath? Mrs. Bennet told me it has all been arranged, though she does not like that being done."

"And would you follow them to Bath to court Jane?"

"I would follow Miss Bennet anywhere!" I declared and meant it.

"It might be better there," Mr. Phillips conceded, but then dashed my hopes by adding "if there were any true hope that Lydia would stay properly secluded with her son as a proper widow should, if she could but marry, most anyone. But mark my words, she shall flaunt her son and get herself in further trouble one way or another, for she has learned naught from all that has befallen her. Her knowledge of men has not tempered her in the least. If anything, she is bolder by half than she was before. Those that should have learned the most from Lydia's folly, that girl and her mother, have learned the least. But then Lydia always did have trouble learning things and I suppose my sister is simply willfully blind."

"Be that as it may, I cannot ask Miss Bennet before she is ready, for I could not bear it if she would refuse."

"She will not, she will not. But if that's what you have decided on, then I suppose there is nothing more to say."

We toasted and sipped our libation, and then went to rejoin the women.

It was clear that Mrs. Bennet did not notice us right away, for she and Mrs. Phillips were twittering about who should be hired for Netherfield. But Miss Bennet and Miss Mary clearly noted our arrival. As for Miss Catherine, she was sitting next to her mother but seemed to not be attending, for her head was tilted down toward the sleeping baby on her lap, which she held securely. With her face mild, for the first time I saw how much she resembled Miss Bennet. Miss Lydia was lounging on the settee, a biscuit in her hand.

"What about Amy Jones for an upstairs maid?" asked Mrs. Phillips. "She is a hard worker."

"No," Mrs. Bennet shook her head with vigor. "She would not do at all, what do I care that she is a hard worker? Mr. Bingley can fund plenty of workers when he opens up Netherfield, so not all need be so diligent. She is too pretty by half, and I will not have Mr. Bingley's head turned by anyone but Jane."

I saw that Jane colored with those words. I could only imagine she was mortified.

"What's this about opening Netherfield?" Mr. Phillips asked.

"I must have a place to stay, and the inn is full," I replied.

"Oh, no, my boy. There is no reason to open up a whole house for a single man. And you are practically family now, given that you are courting."

The hullabaloo this announcement generated took several minutes to settle, with Mrs. Bennet exclaiming again and again, "I knew it would be so!"

When that finally died down, Mr. Phillips added. "Although our home may be humble, how much better if you would remain with us. Please do."

Mrs. Phillips added her own invitation, "Yes, yes, you certainly must stay with us, Mr. Bingley. How grand it would be for Mr. Phillips to have the company of another man, and we can easily chaperone your time with Jane."

I thought this a fine solution and said so.

Mrs. Bennet got a crafty look in her eye then and said, "If you are not to stay in Netherfield, perhaps you can open it up for your new family?" It was not quite said as a question.

Miss Mary looked horrified at her mother's suggestion, and although Miss Bennet's expression was more constrained, I thought her reaction was similar to her sister's. Miss Catherine appeared confused and mumbled "Why would he do that?"

Miss Lydia in contrast had gained her feet, her discarded biscuit left upon the settee. She was dancing with joy. "La, that would be splendid." She ticked off on her fingers, "I shall need a wet nurse, two nursery maids, a personal maid, a large chamber-"

Mrs. Bennet talked over Miss Lydia and exclaimed, "Oh, how impressed all the neighbors would be should we gain a home that was even better than Longbourn, oh the balls we could host! How much better it shall all be than Bath!"

"No," I said. It was not a thought-out thing, simply a reaction to all the avarice displayed.

"Why ever not?" Miss Lydia grasped my arm, swung her chest at me and licked her lips suggestively. "We would be most grateful."

I reared back, horrified. Was she really suggesting . . . and with me hoping to marry her sister!

"Lydia!" Miss Mary reprimanded.

Miss Lydia snapped her head in her sister's direction and whined. "What have I done?" In that moment, she seemed but a spoilt child.

Miss Mary shook her head and crossed her arms, apparently unwilling to name her sister's specific sin, to speak such horrible words as would make what I believed Miss Lydia was offering be a solid, undeniable thing.

Miss Lydia turned back toward me and reached out a hand (while fluttering her eyelashes) as she took a step toward me. "Please!"

I took another step backwards. "I . . . I have been precipitous. For you see, I find that I cannot remain in Meryton. At least not yet."

I turned to Miss Bennet. I hoped she had seen what her sister was about and understood that I was doing what I had to do. For I could not let such a wanton young woman live in my home even if I lived elsewhere, and indeed had no desire to be under the same roof with Miss Lydia ever again.

Miss Bennet's expression was resigned but did not otherwise reveal what she was thinking.

"I very much still wish to court you, Miss Bennet, but as I recall I still need to gain Mr. Gardiner's blessing and I should not want to interfere with your family's plans to remove to Bath. Perhaps, perhaps you might remain with your aunt when they remove, and then I might return and stay at the Meryton Inn?" I looked to the Phillips to see if they might be amenable to this solution.

"Yes, certainly, Jane might stay with us here." Mrs. Phillips responded.

"Yes, indeed," added Mr. Phillips. His eyes told me, Didn't I warn you that you should simply marry Jane?

"No!" exclaimed Mrs. Bennet. "They will court under my auspices and no other. It is my right, for Jane is my daughter. I did not get to plan Lizzy's wedding, but I shall certainly plan Jane's."

"Thank you, Aunt, Uncle." Miss Bennet replied, ignoring her mother. Then looking at me she added, "If you must for town, I wish you Godspeed."

"I must," I was determined, "but I shall write, if Mr. Phillips would be so kind as to let me correspond through him."

"Yes, indeed," Mr. Phillips. He nodded his head and stroked his corporation.

It struck me then that Mr. Phillips was definitely thinner than when I had last seen him (his corporation was splendid still, but diminished perhaps by half) and Mrs. Phillips was hardly stout anymore. I had noted before that Miss Bennet was quite spare, and glancing about saw that Miss Mary was thin, too, Miss Catherine thinner, but less-so, but that Mrs. Bennet was the same as she had ever been, and Lydia was rather thicker and had more womanly attributes than she had before. Of course, that was to be expected, given that she had borne a child and was apparently feeding him herself. It struck me then that Miss Bennet and her other sisters had likely been going without to better support their mother and sister, and the Phillips must have been suffering from the drop in his income, as well. I longed to make it up to them all, but reminded myself that it was not my place when I was not even affianced to Miss Bennet yet. I contented myself with the reminder that Darcy was certainly looking out for them now.

Mr. Phillips added, "But abide for a few moments and I shall write out my brother's direction so that you might call upon him."

In this anxious interval, Mrs. Bennet was imploring me to stay, while the woman who I had much rather have do that, held back and said nothing. When I finally had the direction in hand (and had pressed some coins into Mr. Phillips's hand for the postage), it was Miss Bennet's eyes that I sought. "I shall be true, my lady," I told her. "We shall see each other again soon."

She gave the barest of nods. It was enough. I would prove myself. I needed to, I must.

I had not the energy or daylight to make it back to London that day, and so found lodging in an inn two towns away. From there, I wrote my first letter to Miss Bennet via Mr. Phillips. In it, I tried my best to write slowly and without blots, but at the end it was quite a mess, and I was obliged to copy it down again, an effort I had hardly ever engaged in before. After the usual greetings and inquiries, which could hardly be necessary having just seen her that day, I wrote as follows:

Darling girl, I did not like to leave you precipitously, would much rather bask in your light as if you were the sun. I hope you understand that this changes nothing. I shall be true, shall never falter in my object again. Please forgive me for how I failed you before, and even now may seem to be failing you again. My desires are the same as I spoke at your father's gravesite.

Giving into them, letting your family stay at Netherfield would not truly be for their benefit. Please understand, I did not want my presence to frustrate the plans which Mr. Darcy has already made for the benefit of your family.

While I shall accept all the Bennets as my family, I cannot remain in the company of your youngest sister as an unmarried man. It is not what she has done, for she is young, and every young person may stumble, may make a foolish decision with grave consequences. It is her current behavior. I am unsure if you saw exactly what she was about at your uncle's home, but I believe Miss Mary understood it all too well. I know it is impossible for you to do anything to curb her without your mother's assistance, and as that does not appear to be forthcoming, the best outcome would be that Miss Lydia be taken far away from you, from you and the rest of your sisters in fact. I am worried she shall shame you again, and while nothing shall dissuade me, it shall not be well for the rest of you should this happen.

How much I wish to marry you and take you away from all of this and give you everything. If you would but be willing to say "yes" I would gladly ask and marry you as soon as you might want. Please know that I shall be glad to host Miss Mary and Miss Catherine after such a blessed event.

You have only to send word through Mr. Phillips if ever you are ready for me to ask, or if there is anything you need, anything at all. Should you summon me, I shall return the same day as I receive word.

I should like to resume my courting of you in person and not merely through correspondence as soon as can be. It occurs to me, perhaps, just perhaps you could stay with the Gardiners again. Would it be presumptuous of me to ask this of them? I do not want to overstep my bounds, it is just every day away from you is a torture I can hardly bear, not again, never again for very long. If I become too desperate, it may be that I shall even bear the company of those who I would rather not simply to be near you.

I remain yours,

Charles Bingley

A/N: What do you think? Do you want to get to more of the Bingley-Jane courting, or return to Darcy-Elizabeth, and just get snippets of Bingley-Jane through them?