Page 6 of A Most Favourable Match

“I suppose I am only worried by the thought that you might marry a man you do not love, only to please your family. Still, I suppose a year’s betrothal is enough to wipe away any foolish doubts of mine.”

Elizabeth had spoken frankly and openly, but she regretted it as soon as she saw Jane’s face fall. Her older sister sat up in bed and turned to Elizabeth with eyes full of emotion.

“Oh, do not say that, Lizzy! I could not bear to think that you weren’t pleased with my choice. I so wanted to make my whole family happy with this marriage, including you.”

“I am sorry, Jane,” Elizabeth apologised swiftly. “Forgive me. I should not have spoken my mind so freely when my thoughts are still so unformed. I wish you both joy, truly I do.”

At least partly mollified, Jane lay back down again, and Elizabeth blew out the candle.

“You must ignore me sometimes, Jane,” Elizabeth added humorously. “As you know, my judgement is too influenced by my own intention that nothing but the most ardent and passionate love should tempt me into matrimony. We shall see how it will answer in the end. You will be very happy with Lord Grantchester and I am bound to die an old maid.”

“Don’t be silly,” Jane laughed in return. “There will be someone out there for you too. I know it.”

“You always have been the dreamer of the two of us, haven’t you?” replied Elizabeth with a light laugh.

Dear Jane really was the sweetest, most guileless and well-intentioned person. If anyone deserved to find happiness, it was Jane, and Elizabeth would do everything in her power to promote it, including accepting her choice of husband.

“You will be happy, and I will be happy for you,” she whispered, kissing Jane on the cheek and then turning over to sleep.

Chapter 2

“So, what do you think, Louisa? And you, Caroline?” Charles Bingley asked his two sisters as they finished their first tour of the house at Netherfield Park, returning to the spacious hallway with its light stone pillars and vases of fragrant flowers from the gardens. “Isn’t it marvellous?”

As pleased as Punch, the young man gestured around to the neat staircase, sunlit windows, and light oak doors of the rooms they had already inspected together, his fair, curly hair bouncing a little from his excitement.

Meanwhile, Fitzwilliam Darcy stood back with folded arms, regarding his friend indulgently. Bingley had something of a half-grown golden retriever about him, all bright eyes, good-nature, and enthusiasm. He was quite capable of sincerely finding Netherfield Park marvellous, where Darcy found it merely well-situated, in good condition, and more than adequate to its intended size and scale of household and entertainment.

Satisfied with Netherfield Park, rather than impressed, Darcy had advised Bingley to take the place after they visited together with the owner’s land agent.In fairness to Netherfield Park, Darcy had to admit that impressing him was no easy task. Having grown up at Pemberley, one of the finest estates in England, and having been master of the place since his father died five years earlier, his standards were high.

By contrast, Bingley had been raised between various London mansions and rented country houses. A country house of his own, even leased, was a novelty, and his excitement not to be wondered at.

“The setting seems very…rural to me,” answered Louisa Hurst with a doubtful smile. “I suppose there will be good shooting for you gentlemen, but I am not sure yet how we ladies will entertain ourselves.”

“The house is rather rural too,” put in Caroline Bingley, turning up her well-shaped nose and making an expression of mild disdain. “Some of the curtains and carpets… Well, no hostess in London would have them.”

“We are not in London now, Miss Bingley,” Darcy pointed out, feeling this observation a little silly and unfair but keeping his tone neutral. “I dare say the decorations are suited to the setting.”

“How true, Mr Darcy,” she acknowledged with a sigh. “We are not in London nor likely to be for above six months, if my brother has his way.”

“You might always visit Mr Hurst and me at Grosvenor Street in London, Caroline,” her older sister offered sympathetically. “You will need new gowns for both winter and spring, and I doubt you will find anything to your taste in Hertfordshire.”

The two ladies shared a knowing laugh, as if no clothes could be bought outside of London, or at least no clothes suited to a rich and fashionable young lady like Miss Caroline Bingley.

“Will you be spending very much time in London in the coming months, Mr Darcy?” Miss Bingley fished, rather than immediately responding to Mrs Hurst’s offer. “Your sister Georgiana would no doubt welcome your company.”

Darcy swallowed a sigh of impatience, irritated by the very implication that Miss Bingley might in any way base her movements on his. “I plan to stay here with Bingley as long as my presence is useful,” he answered cautiously, wary of encouraging Miss Bingley’s unwanted interest. “I dare say I shall see Georgiana regularly. London is not so very far away.”

“I am glad to hear that, Darcy,” remarked Bingley, still cheerful but with a little of the wind taken out of his sails. “Especially since it seems my sisters plan to desert me for London before long. I had hoped that Caroline would be my hostess and help me meet some of the families in the district. A single man alone is not well placed to find congenial society.”

“Of course I will support you, Charles,” Caroline Bingley told him with a rather tight smile. “I simply don’t understand what has possessed you to move here. You have been talking of wanting a house, and eventually an estate, for so long that I no longer expected you to act on it.”

“Well, Grantchester seemed so pleased with the place and the people that I felt I had to come out andtake a look for myself,” Bingley defended himself amiably. “What I saw I liked, and Darcy approved too.”

“Yes, don’t forget, Caroline, that Lord Grantchester and Lord Keeble will be staying often at Belton Manor,” Louisa Hurst reminded her. “We shall have some civilised company out here, at least.”

The ladies shared a smile in obvious fondness for the company of both gentlemen, who were, after all, rich, titled, and well-connected around theton.

“Very much so, Louisa, although I confess I was surprised to hear of their countryside adventure. I thought them very much a pair of town mice, rather than country mice. Anyway, Lord Grantchester has his own estate, and several other country houses besides. I do wonder what is so special about Belton Manor.”