Netherfield Park, Hertfordshire,
November 16
Dear Mama,
You will be pleased to hear that Jane is now so much recovered that she is ready to come home, and I am writing to ask you if you will send the carriage for us this afternoon. We have already trespassed on Mr Bingley’s hospitality far longer than we intended and I am sure he must be wishing us gone. His sister, I know, will not be sorry to see us leave. She is impatient for the day when she can have Mr Darcy all to herself again.
Your affectionate daughter,
Lizzy
Mrs Bennet to Miss Elizabeth Bennet
Longbourn, Hertfordshire,
November 16
Dear Lizzy,
You are quite wrong when you say that Mr Bingley is wishing you gone, for I never saw anything more promising than his attitude towards Jane when I called at Netherfield. Another few days will do the trick, you mark my words. I always intended Jane to stay at Netherfield for a week, and as the week will not be up until Tuesday, you may have the carriage then.
Your loving Mama
P.S. If Mr Bingley presses you to stay beyond Tuesday, then you must accept, for I can very well spare you for as long as he wishes.
Miss Elizabeth Bennet to Miss Susan Sotherton
Netherfield Park, Hertfordshire,
November 16
Dear Susan,
I owe you a letter. I would have written to you sooner but I have been busy looking after Jane, who was taken ill when she dined with the Bingleys at Netherfield some days ago. She was too ill to be moved—do not fear, it is only a cold, but she is very poorly with it—and so I came to look after her, for there is nothing so miserable as being among strangers when one is indisposed.
And that, you see, is why my letter comes to you from Netherfield Park. In fact, I am writing to you from your old room.
It seems very strange to be here without you. The company was much better when you were here, for, apart from Mr Bingley, there is not one person I wish to see again, and I am glad that we will be leaving this very day. Mr Bingley’s sisters have been kind to Jane, to be sure—who could not be kind to someone so good?—but they have done everything in their power to make me feel unwelcome. They laughed at my taste and despised my occupations. But despite this, Miss Bingley fears me, I think. She sees me as a rival for Mr Darcy’s attention.
Why she should have such an absurd notion I cannot imagine, for he never looks at me but to find fault. And yet she asked me to take a turn about the room with her one evening in order to try and catch his attention; then, once it had been caught, she did everything possible to keep his attention on herself.
He saw through her at once, however, and refused her when she invited him to walk with us. I suggested we tease him when she wanted to punish him for it, but Mr Darcy, arrogant, conceited man that he is, agreed with Miss Bingley that he was impossible to tease since he has no faults—except, perhaps, that his good opinion, once lost, was lost forever, but that is not a fault I could laugh at, and I said so.
He merely gave a superior smile, and Miss Bingley, tired of his attentions to me, suggested we have some music.
She need not have worried. As if realising that he had been too agreeable—agreeable by his own standards, though not by anyone else’s—Mr Darcy relapsed into a hostile silence, which he has preserved ever since.
We are now waiting only for Mr Bingley’s carriage to be brought round to take us home, and I hear it below. I will write some more when we are back at Longbourn.
Lizzy
Miss Susan Sotherton to Miss Elizabeth Bennet
Bath, November 17
Dearest Elizabeth,
I have been hearing so much about Netherfield from you and Charlotte that I feel almost as though I had never left. I am very glad that Mr Bingley is such an agreeable gentleman—and already halfway in love with Jane, Charlotte says. I think Charlotte is right, Lizzy: if Jane likes him, she should encourage him. Jane has always been of a calm and equable temper and, not knowing her as we do, he might mistake her gentleness for indifference. It would be a good match for her and I would be happy to see her so well settled in life.
What a pity that all young men cannot be as pleasant as Mr Bingley, for I hear nothing but bad reports about Mr Darcy. However, I know you will tolerate him, for Jane’s sake. Perhaps he will return to town, leaving Mr Bingley behind. That would be better for everyone.
We have our own share of conceited company here. There are two titled people in Bath, and they expect the rest of us to give way to them in all things. Luckily, we do not see them very often, for it is tiresome to be always having to bow and scrape to those who have nothing to recommend them but their illustrious name.
There are some interesting people here, too, however, and we meet them regularly at the assemblies and concerts. Mama and Papa do not particularly enjoy going out, but Mama makes sure we attend all the entertainments because she is hoping that my sisters and I will find wealthy husbands and so relieve her of our keep. It is for this reason that she thinks the expense of all our outings worth it.
I am sure I would like to find a wealthy husband as well as the next person, as long as he should happen to be young, handsome and agreeable as well. Alas, the young men in Bath are poor and the wealthy men are disagreeable, so much so that the thought of dwindling into an old maid seems positively welcome next to the thought of marrying any of them. But we are expecting an influx of new visitors next week and must hope that some of them are more inspiring.
Do not forget what I have said: tell Jane to encourage Mr Bingley. If anything could reconcile me to the loss of Netherfield Park, it would be knowing that my dear friend was living there.
Your friend,
Susan
Miss Mary Bennet to Miss Lucy Sotherton
Longbourn, Hertfordshire,
November 18
Most noble Friend,
Our family circle has been much improved by the arrival of Mr Collins, one of Papa’s cousins and the heir to the Longbourn estate. He has made clear his intention of marrying one of us, in order not to deprive us of our home when Papa dies. Jane must be his first choice, she being the eldest, though she is perhaps as good as betrothed to Mr Bingley. Elizabeth must be his next choice, but she is unsuited in every way to being a clergyman’s wife. Were it not for the fact that I have foresworn the nuptial veil, I might be prevailed upon to marry him. He is a man of taste, refinement and solid worth, as evidenced by his company and his letter to Papa. His ideas were well expressed, if all of them were not new, and I have used them, as well as my brief knowledge of him, to make a thorough analysis of his character.
He is a clergyman with a pleasing gallantry not unbecoming to a man of his profession; indeed, his comment that he did not doubt of seeing us all well disposed of in marriage in due time was delicately expressed, for he could not be expected to know that I have foresworn the state of matrimony.
He is a man of some ability, for he has won the patronage of a very great lady, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. She is a woman of sound understanding and intelligence, as Mr Collins himself has said. She is thought proud by many who know her, but Mr Collins has found her to be all affability—no doubt because she appreciates his superior powers.
He is a man of foresight, for he prepares elegant compliments with which to compliment Lady Catherine and her daughter, Anne, when the chance arises.