Page 41 of The Crown’s Gift

"Mary has not laughed so with a new acquaintance in years. Thank you for bringing them together." Darcy bowed his head. "The credit is theirs."

CHAPTER SEVEN

A Tenant Answered

Bingley's letter reached Sir Thomas at Brook Street the following morning.

It contained neither ornament nor excuse. Bingley admitted that he had left Hertfordshire intending to return, allowed other people to prolong his absence, accepted Darcy's doubt about Jane's feelings, and remained ignorant of her presence in London because Caroline concealed it. He blamed neither friend nor sister for choices he had made. He asked permission to call upon Sir Thomas and, if Jane wished it, to apologize to her at Gracechurch Street.

Sir Thomas read the letter twice, then sent a reply requiring Bingley's presence at eleven.

Bingley arrived at Brook Street twelve minutes early and spent eleven of them walking beneath the windows. Sir Thomas let him in at the appointed hour.

"You displayed affection toward my daughter before an entire neighborhood," Sir Thomas said once the library door closed. "Then you vanished and left your sister to explain your intentions. Do you understand what that did to Jane?"

Bingley held Sir Thomas's gaze. "It made my regard appear like entertainment and her trust appear foolish. Neither was true, but both were my doing."

"Mr Darcy advised you."

"He did. I chose to obey him because doubt frightened me more than leaving frightened Jane."

"Miss Bingley deceived you."

"She did. I made deception easy by asking everyone except Jane what Jane felt."

The unqualified answer checked some of Sir Thomas's anger, though not enough to spare Bingley the remainder of the interview. He questioned him about Longbourn, the winter absence, Caroline's conduct, and the difference between seeking counsel and surrendering judgment.

At last Bingley said, "I do not ask you to forgive me on Jane's behalf. I ask only that you discover whether she will permit me to call. If she refuses, I shall return to Longbourn and trouble her no further."

"You will return to Longbourn regardless. An estate does not cease requiring its tenant because the tenant has made himself unhappy."

"Yes, sir."

Sir Thomas allowed the silence to stand. Bingley did not fill it with promises.

"I shall ask my daughter what she wants," Sir Thomas said. "You will hear from me afterward."

At Gracechurch Street that afternoon, Sir Thomas gave Jane the letter. He remained beside the fire while she read it; Mrs Gardiner sat near the window, mending one of her son's cuffs.

Jane lowered the page. "He wrote to you first."

"As he ought."

"Did you frighten him?"

"I attempted clarity. Fright may have assisted."

Jane read the letter again. Bingley had confessed persuasion without pretending powerlessness. He had not asked Sir Thomas to command an interview or used love as a reason she must receive him.

"I will see him," she said. "Here, with Aunt Gardiner present. But I do not wish him to propose. Not yet."

Sir Thomas folded his hands over his walking stick. "Then he will be told precisely that."

Bingley's first call took place the next afternoon. Mrs Gardiner poured tea; Sir Thomas remained with Mr Gardiner near the hearth; Elizabeth occupied the window seat with sewing she did not complete.

Bingley entered pale, carefully dressed, and without Caroline. Hope moved across his face when Jane greeted him, but he did not mistake courtesy for pardon.

"I am sorry," he said when Jane invited him to speak beside the window. "I made my affection visible enough to encourage expectation and then treated it as something another man might judge for me. You deserved a question before I accepted an answer."