~O~

Differing Opinions

On the way home, the Bennets shared the carriage.

Fanny Bennet was in an ebullient mood. 'Did you notice, Mr Bennet, my beautiful Jane quite won Mr Bingley's heart. He danced two sets with her. She was the only one whom he honoured in this fashion. Not only that, but she also had partners for every set.' She sent dismissive glances towards the other two girls, who were but indistinct shapes in the darkness.

Jane was grateful for the darkness as it hid her blush. While she had no particular affinity for these two sisters, she felt uncomfortable when her mother sniped at them. In her two and twenty years she had learnt enough to know that neither Elizabeth nor Mary had any choice about their sex, no matter how much her mother complained.

She thought about protesting but she did not want to alienate the only person in the family with whom she was close and who did not expect her to expend efforts towards things which held no interest for her.

Jane was saved from having to speak as Mr Bennet answered. 'I shall be delighted if your efforts at matchmaking will bear fruit, as long as it makes Jane happy.'

Mr Bennet's wish for her happiness startled Jane into speech. 'I thought that Mr Bingley was a most delightful acquaintance. He seems sensible, good-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners.'

'Then for your sake I hope he thinks you are just what a young lady ought to be,' Elizabeth commented. While she had stopped trying to involve Jane in their education, since her sister still resisted such attempts, she nonetheless hoped that Jane would find happiness in her own way.

'How could he not,' exclaimed Fanny with asperity. 'Jane could not be so beautiful for nothing, and I am certain that she will save us from the hedgerows.'

'Why do you persist calling the dower house the hedgerows? No matter what happens, you will have a cozy roof over your heads and sufficient funds to be comfortable,' Bennet growled, frustrated with his wife's continuing silliness and perhaps because he was tired, and tired of the same ridiculous argument, he added, 'But if I hear you mention the hedgerows even one more time, I will banish you to the dower house.'

Fanny huffed and would have complained further, but fortunately, as it was only a mile to Longbourn, they arrived just then, and Bennet was able to hand the ladies out of their conveyance.

Bennet escorted his younger daughters to his private sitting room to enjoy a nightcap, while the others went to their own suite. He poured four glasses and was not disappointed as his mother came to join them and hear their stories about the evening's entertainment.

Once they were settled by the fire, Mr Bennet asked, 'Well, Lizzy, what do you now think of Mr Darcy?'

'He improves on further acquaintance,' Elizabeth replied with a laugh.

That comment required further explanation for Mrs Bennet which her companions were happy to supply.

'How rude of the man,' Mrs Bennet exclaimed upon hearing the tale.

Mary soothed her grandmother, when she informed her, 'I did notice that immediately upon their arrival Sir William introduced the party from Netherfield to his family who were still chatting to Mrs Bennet and Jane. While I did not hear what she said, I did notice that Mr Darcy looked disgusted. As that was his first impression of the company, it is not surprising that he felt wary afterwards.'

'Let me guess, Fanny was promoting Jane.'

Bennet shrugged and said, 'That would be my guess. Later in the evening when we had a chance to speak, Mr Darcy seemed surprised that we were part of the same family, although he tried to be diplomatic about it.'

Mrs Bennet accepted the explanation and repeated her son's earlier question, 'What do you think of Mr Darcy now?'

'As I said, he improves on further acquaintance but for the moment I shall reserve judgment. I am still concerned that he could speak in such a way without thinking,' Elizabeth replied.

Bennet noted that she had spoken without heat, so he confined his reply to, 'I am pleased to know that you would never do such a thing,' causing his daughter to blush.

~O~

Jane snuggled under the covers and thought about the evening.

It seemed that her mother was correct after all. Jane had begun to doubt whether beauty was the deciding factor to gain a gentleman's attention. It had been four years since she had come out, but she was still single.

Grandmother Bennet, Mrs Taylor and even Charlotte Lucas had claimed that men usually wanted more than just a pretty face. But if intelligence was the deciding factor, why was Charlotte still unmarried?

She supposed that the lack of eligible gentlemen was part of the problem, but several of her acquaintances had married in the last four years, even though none of them were as beautiful as Jane.

During those years, Jane had been concerned when first Elizabeth and then Mary had come out, that they would catch the interest of one of their neighbours. It had been a great relief that they were as unsuccessful at capturing a husband as she was, and she did not have to endure her mother's lamentations.

But tonight, Mr Bingley had danced with her twice, the only lady he had favoured in such a way. She wondered if she would be the first of her sisters to be married.

~O~

All night, Charles Bingley was thinking about the perfect angel he had met at the assembly.

His happiness lasted until the morning since by the time the party had returned to Netherfield, Caroline Bingley had gone to bed, although she had thought that her absence would be a punishment to her brother and Mr Darcy for leaving her behind.

The peace was too good to last and at breakfast, Miss Bingley was ready to face her brother. 'Charles, how dare you leave without me.'

'You have only yourself to blame. I informed you of the time we would be leaving. As you were not ready, I assumed you had no wish to attend the assembly.'

'You assumed incorrectly. I should have been with you to protect you from those savages.'

'Savages?' Bingley asked and turned to his friend. 'Darcy, did you see any savages last night?'

Darcy suppressed a grin and answered as blandly as he could, 'I found most of your neighbours to be perfectly civil.'

'Surely not all were models of propriety.'

'I did not meet all of the neighbours.'

'Mr Darcy, you cannot possibly have found enjoyment in such company.'

'You assume incorrectly, Miss Bingley. I had a most pleasurable evening.'

'I cannot imagine how that came about.'

Bingley thought it would be better to take the focus of Darcy and answered in his stead. 'I believe the reason for our enjoyment was that we arrived on time and were able to meet some of our neighbours before the dancing began.'

'Charles you were most inconsiderate not waiting for me so that Mr Darcy could have partaken of the dancing as well.'

Darcy suppressed a smile as he said, 'Do not trouble yourself, Miss Bingley. I was able to find several most congenial and able dance partners.'

Caroline sniffed. 'I am sure that all the ladies were only too happy to throw themselves at you. As I cannot imagine that they have ever encountered anyone as wealthy as you. I can just imagine all those grasping fortune hunters were only to eager to get their claws into you and my brother.'

'As it happens, for the first time in ages, not a single person mentioned my income. I cannot help but be grateful that for once no one present saw fit to inform everyone of my personal business.'

'Are you accusing me of impropriety?'

'I did not. But since you mention it, I cannot help but wonder.' Not wanting to continue this discussion, Darcy put down his cutlery, as he finished eating. 'Now, if you will excuse me, I need to attend to some correspondence.'

After Darcy's departure, Caroline turned her attention back on her brother. 'Charles, we must replace the staff.'

'Why would I want to do that? The service appears perfectly acceptable.'

'Last night, after you left, they treated me with the greatest disrespect. None of them would obey my orders.'

'Why would you expect them to obey your orders?'

'It is incumbent on them to obey the mistress of this house,' Caroline argued, ignoring that the footman had informed her of the change in authority.

Bingley turned to Mrs Hurst. 'Louisa, have you had any issues with the staff not obeying you?'

'I have no complaints.'

Turning back to a frowning Caroline, Bingley said placidly, 'Since Louisa is the mistress of my home and she has no problems with the staff, you will just have to live with it.'

Caroline fought a rearguard action. 'You made me the mistress of this house.'

'It did so on the condition that you behaved in a manner appropriate to the mistress.' Bingley shrugged casually. 'You have proven that you are incapable of being on time and I refuse to tolerate your tardiness any longer. Therefore, as of last night Louisa is in charge.'

'How can you do this to me? How can you humiliate me like this? How can I prove to Mr Darcy that I would be the perfect mistress for his homes?'

'Caroline, let me be quite rightly understood. You were never in contention for that role.'

'Why not?'

'He expects to marry a lady, not a spoiled child.'

Caroline jumped to her feet to better stomp her foot as she cried, 'How dare you.'

Bingley replied mildly, 'You just proved my point.'

Miss Bingley threw her serviette on the table and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

'She must be growing up,' commented Hurst with an ironic smile. 'She did not throw any crockery.'

'I think the prospect of having to pay for any damages out of her allowance might have something to do with her restraint,' Louisa corrected him with a placid but satisfied smile.

~O~

The day after an assembly, it was customary for the Bennet ladies to welcome Lady Lucas and her daughter to discuss the evening in great detail.

On this day, the ladies of the Lucas family were partly disappointed as Fanny Bennet had decided to take Jane visiting to crow about her daughter's success in gaining Mr Bingley's interest.

Under the circumstances, Lady Lucas was content to chat with the elder Mrs Bennet while Charlotte spoke to the younger Bennet sisters.

For several years, Charlotte had been friendly with Elizabeth and Mary, once she discovered that both were intelligent and nowhere near as fearsome as she had gathered from Jane's descriptions.

'What did you make of the company last night?' Charlotte asked while they were sipping tea on the far side of the room from their elders.

'Mr and Mrs Hurst were quite delightful company,' opined Mary with an innocent smile.

'That is not what I was asking, and you know it,' Charlotte huffed.

Mary looked towards her sister, encouraging her to speak. 'I believe that once Mr Darcy was reassured that he would not be set upon by marriage hungry savages, he was an intelligent conversationalist.' Elizabeth grinned. 'But you were the one who danced with both Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley. What did you think of them?'

'I thought that Mr Bingley was charming, but while he danced with me, his eyes were often drawn towards Jane.' Charlotte gave a rueful smile. 'Since my father issued the invitation to the assembly, I am certain that he considered it his duty to dance with me ffirst. Jane on the other hand captured his attention. I did notice he danced a second set with her.'

'I just hope that her mother does not drive away yet another potential beau.' Elizabeth huffed in exasperation. While she and Jane were not close, she had come to feel pity for her sister who had to endure her mother's fussing all her life.

Charlotte commented, 'She is your mother too.'

'Even if you lived in this house, you would never know it by the attention she pays to the rest of us. Did you know that for the whole of my life, she never stepped foot in the family wing? I am sorry, Charlotte. I know that you are still trying to build bridges, but you are wasting your efforts. That woman is who she is. I cannot understand her, and I can see no reason to bother. I am just sorry that Jane is so much under her thumb.'

It was Mary who added, 'Charlotte, we are sorry that Jane was not allowed to be a sister to us, but we gave her numerous chances, yet she did not take them. We wish her to be happy, but as Lizzy said, you are wasting your effort trying to change her or us.'

'I just wish I could openly be friends with you. Yet I cannot abandon Jane who has no one other than her mother and she needs a friend more than anyone I know.' Charlotte made a gesture indicating her feeling of helplessness. She made one more try. 'Perhaps if Mr Bingley marries Jane, her mother will relax and realise she has more than one daughter.'

'After a lifetime of being ignored by that woman, I have no wish to spend time with her and listen to her ridiculous ideas about a woman's role.' Elizabeth was emphatic and Mary nodded in agreement.

To change the mood to one less fraught, Mary asked, 'But you did not tell us what you thought of Mr Darcy. How was your dance with that gentleman?'

The question caused Charlotte to chuckle. 'It was rather disappointing.' Responding to the puzzled looks by her friends, she said, 'He was most curious about two ladies of my acquaintance, although he apologised quite prettily for his disinterest in my meagre charms.'

'Surely he did not say that!' exclaimed Elizabeth.

'No, indeed,' Charlotte laughed. 'But he was definitely more interested in you than me. What did you do to that man?'

Elizabeth grinned. 'We insulted him until he apologised.'

Charlotte gaped until she found her voice again. 'Only you,' she gasped with a chuckle.

~O~

Btw in the previous chapter Ancient Greek was not mentioned – only Greek. I simply had to get in the silly joke about girls learning Greek. 😊

If you are curious, check out "Ancient Greek" in Wikipedia, where I got the following:

"Despite those changes, much of the language has remarkably survived intact through the centuries. There is a community near Trabzon, Turkey, that speaks a dialect that is closer to Ancient Greek than to Standard Modern Greek."

Also – there seems to be a revival of the language. From my research it is a compulsory subject in many European universities and people are trying to learn how to speak it.

~O~

A Most Attentive Father (working title) by Sydney Salier, Copyright © 2024