Page 15 of A Most Favourable Match

“I don’t like you talking like this about the Bennets,” Bingley announced to his sisters with uncharacteristic anger, just as Darcy was reflecting on his friend’s too-amenable personality. “They seem a goodly familyto me, and have been nothing other than friendly and welcoming to any of us.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Charles,” sniffed Caroline Bingley, rolling her eyes at him. “You know what we mean.”

“I do not,” Bingley persisted. “Nor do I see how you can simultaneously congratulate Lord Grantchester on marrying Jane Bennett but mock the idea of your own brother marrying into the Bennet family. Of course, I hardly know them, and have no mind to, but if I liked a lady well enough, and she was free, then…Well, I should.”

He spoke so strongly and with such feeling that his sisters fell silent and looked at one another with raised eyebrows. Darcy looked hard at his friend, also taken aback by the force of his defence of the Bennets. How badly smitten was he with Jane Bennet?

After a short pause, Mrs Hurst laughed more kindly. “You misunderstand us, Charles,” she explained more patiently. “By virtue of her beauty and sweetness of nature, Jane Bennet is the only Bennet daughter worthy of attention from any man of sense and fortune. You must see that her sisters cannot rival her excellent qualities. That was the core of our joke. We will not make it again if it upsets you.”

“No one could rival Miss Bennet,” Bingley muttered, largely to himself, before his voice rose again slightly. “But I will hear nothing against her sisters. Do you understand?”

“Of course we do, Charles,” agreed Caroline Bingleymore soothingly now, as if speaking to a young child. “There is no need to be agitated.”

No need to be agitated?! Good God! Darcy threw his napkin onto the table rather than utter such oaths aloud. There was every need to be agitated, whether on Jane Bennet’s account, Lord Grantchester’s account, and now Charles Bingley’s account, too.

“As your sister suggested earlier, you can return to London any time you wish, Bingley. I would be happy to accompany you. Personally, I have neither reason nor desire to linger in this district.”

In London, he hoped Bingley could more easily put Jane Bennet from his mind. Darcy could also find a good time to speak to Lord Grantchester. It was not a conversation to be postponed too long.

“Exactly, Mr Darcy. You put the case so much more clearly than I did,” Miss Bingley simpered.

“Mr Hurst and I do wish to be back before the Coverton House ball next week,” Mrs Hurst came in behind her sister. “We could all travel together. None of us really wants to spend the entire summer buried in the Hertfordshire countryside, do we?”

For some minutes, Bingley appeared to be giving this idea serious consideration and almost began to nod, before hesitating and then shaking his head. “Not yet. I do wish to stay a little longer in the Hertfordshire countryside, and I hope you will all have patience with me. I shall think about what you say, though, Darcy.”

Caroline Bingley gave a huff of impatience and sought Darcy’s eye. Avoiding her gaze, he set down histeacup and rose from his seat.

Grantchester and Keeble would be back at Belton Manor again in another week, and Darcy might grasp the nettle of speaking to Grantchester then. As for Bingley’s plight, he could not make all his friend’s decisions for him and would not seek to exert any influence — not yet.

“In that case, shall we shoot today, Bingley?” Darcy said to his friend. “Weather looks good for it.”

Chapter 7

“Welcome to my humble abode,” announced Lord Grantchester with a broad smile as he met the Bennet family at the gate of Belton Manor, shaking Mr Bennet’s hand, bowing to the ladies, and then offering Jane his arm. “Come, follow me. All the staff are in the kitchens preparing food and drink or in the back gardens serving it. I shall be my own butler today.”

Jane placed a gloved hand lightly on her fiancé’s arm and smiled at him with her usual shy good manners.

“All the staff?” queried Elizabeth with interest, having wondered how the two bachelors planned to throw a successful garden party with the assistance of only the aged and arthritic Mr Yates and Mrs Yates, a former gardener and housekeeper, respectively. “Last week, Belton Manor had only an elderly caretaker and his wife.”

“I’ve brought my cook and half of my servants from London, too,” Lord Grantchester answered airily, with the ease of a man whose name and wealth effortlessly unlocked all doors and solved all problems. “Plenty of good furniture, too. Mr and Mrs Yates arehaving a well-deserved holiday by the seaside while I let this place.”

“I must warn you that you are making your abode sound considerably less humble,” Elizabeth remarked with amusement. Lord Grantchester and Jane both joined her in chuckling at the mild witticism.

“I suppose Belton Manor must be humble compared to Grantchester Abbey,” Mrs Bennet now put in with a happy laugh as they all walked together through the green and pleasant front gardens, shielded from the road by a series of well-grown horse chestnut trees and holly bushes. “Belton is lovely and sheltered though, isn’t it? You have such privacy in this garden.”

“Yes, Keeble can stroll the front lawn in his dressing gown here without shocking passers-by on the road,” chuckled Lord Grantchester. “Grantchester Abbey is also very large. Too large for a party like this, for example. I’m content to leave the place to my mother for now.”

“But when you are married,” Mrs Bennet began, making Jane look strained at the direction of the conversation. “Surely then things will be quite different.”

Elizabeth sighed for her sister. With the lengthy betrothal, there would be a whole year of such personal enquiring and probing. She hoped that Jane’s nerves would stand up to it. If poor Jane still had not even discussed their future family residence with Lord Grantchester, there were likely many other undecided questions too, and Mrs Bennet would have no sensitivity about trampling all over them.

“Do you not think it would be more suitable?” Mrs Bennet pressed. “To be sure, Grantchester Abbey —”

“Belton Manor is around the same size as Longbourn,” interjected Mr Bennet, polishing his glasses as he interrupted his wife with apparent obliviousness. “I distinctly remember having several very involved discussions on the subject with Lady Furness years ago. She insisted that her wine cellars were more extensive, although I never tested the claim. Do you find the wine cellars extensive, Lord Grantchester?”

Lord Grantchester grinned and shrugged, obviously appreciating Mr Bennet’s humour and seeming to understand the diversion of the conversation, too. He would fit in well with their family, Elizabeth thought with satisfaction.

“I found the cellars to be empty, dusty, and full of spiders, but you may tour them if you wish, Mr Bennet, and satisfy your curiosity. I’ve had cases of wine sent down from London so the emptiness of the cellars need not worry us for this afternoon’s garden party.”