August - October 1811

For several days, the mood at Pemberley had been festive due to Georgiana Darcy's much-anticipated engagement to one of her brother's best friends, Mr. Charles Bingley.

Bingley met Darcy six years ago at Cambridge. Despite being three years younger than Darcy, they had become good friends. Charles was the only son of a wealthy tradesman who had worked very hard and saved a fortune of over £100,000. Charles was the first Bingley to have access to an expensive gentleman's education. On his deathbed, Charles's father tasked his son with buying an estate and leaving his past in trade behind forever.

Both friends were honest, intelligent, and hard-working men but were very different in temperament. Darcy was serious, pessimistic, and usually spoke little, while Bingley was naturally happy, optimistic, as well as talkative.

Bingley had two sisters: Louisa and Caroline. Louisa was the eldest sibling; she was married to a gentleman who would inherit a small estate when his father died. Caroline was two years younger than her brother, and at 23, she was still single.

Three years ago, Bingley and his sister Caroline visited Pemberley for the first time. On that first visit, Charles was captivated by his friend's still-too-young sister, while Caroline was very impressed with Pemberley and, to a lesser extent, its handsome owner.

As soon as Georgiana turned 18 and entered society, Bingley immediately asked permission to court her, and she gladly accepted. The courtship was very brief since both had been in love for a long time. A couple of months later, Bingley formally asked her to be his wife, and to everyone's delight, she accepted. Darcy unsurprisingly had no qualms about giving his blessing.

Since Bingley had not yet fulfilled his father's last dream of being a landowner, he decided to lease an estate for a year to have his first experience. He would live there with Georgiana at least for the first year of their marriage. After discussing and visiting a few estates with Darcy, he decided to lease Netherfield Park in Hertfordshire. The estate had an income of £5,000 a year and had the great advantage of being close to London.

In early October, the Darcys, along with Lady Maria, arrived at Netherfield, where Charles and Caroline Bingley were eagerly waiting for them.

Lady Maria was the youngest sister of Darcy's mother. She was widowed, and she had no children. Her marriage had been arranged by her parents only for money and connections. Her husband was an abusive and mean man; he used to drink too much and mistreated her. Additionally, he had several mistresses. He died relatively young when very drunk during a horse race, he fell from his horse.

For this reason, Lady Maria was totally against - financial means permitting - women to be forced to marry simply for political and/or economic reasons. Ever since Georgiana turned eighteen and entered society, Lady Maria had taken on the role of "mother" to the young lady. She had accepted the invitation to visit Netherfield Park to chaperone her niece since, in her opinion, it didn't seem right for Charles and Georgiana to be with only Darcy and Caroline in the house.

Although Lady Maria liked Charles Bingley very much, she could not say the same of his sister, and she believed that the feeling of antipathy and mistrust was mutual.

After not seeing his beloved Georgiana for more than a week, Bingley was thrilled when the young lady finally arrived at Netherfield. As soon as the carriage stopped, Bingley assisted Georgiana to climb out, and then he assisted Lady Maria.

Enthusiastically, Bingley greeted them, "Welcome to Netherfield Park. I am so happy you arrived today" Before his guests could reply, he looked adoringly at his fiancée and added, "I hope you are not too tired because one of our leading neighbors, Sir William, invited us to an Assembly for this evening. I have already accepted the invitation on behalf of all of us."

Georgiana's eyes lit up, and replied, "Excellent news! An assembly is a great opportunity to meet my future neighbors."

Caroline looked at Darcy, and seeing that he was frowning at the news, she quickly added, "Mr. Darcy, I know you don't like to dance, so if you wish, you can stay at Netherfield."

Darcy shook his head and politely replied, "Thank you, Miss Bingley for the offer. I agree with Georgiana that it is important for her to meet her future neighbors, and I want to meet them too."

"I want to meet them, too!" Exclaimed Lady Maria, looking at Bingley earnestly. Then she asked, "What time is the assembly?"

"It starts at 7:00 PM, and I would like to arrive early to introduce you to Sir William and my other main neighbors."

"Very well; so, we should be leaving Netherfield at 6:30 PM. We have a few hours to rest before preparing for the assembly." Looking at Caroline, Lady Maria said, "Miss Bingley, if you would be so kind, I would like to freshen up and rest."

Caroline smiled politely and led Lady Maria and Georgina to their respective bedchambers.

Darcy and Bingley stayed behind to discuss Bingley's doubts and questions about Netherfield's administration.