Pray forgive me if I have been very presuming; or at least do not punish me so far as to exclude me from P. I shall never be quite happy till I have been all round the park. A low phaeton, with a nice little pair of ponies, would be the very thing.
But I must write no more. The children have been wanting me this half hour.
Yours, very sincerely,
M. Gardiner
Miss Lucy Sotherton to Miss Mary Bennet
Bath, September 14
Hail!
I am not surprised at your father’s behaviour, nor your mother’s, for I see such things all about me in Bath. There are but a handful of Learned Women in the whole of England, dear Mary, and you and I are two of them. Nor does it surprise me that there are vile seducers everywhere. Men are slaves to their evil lusts and we must be ever on our guard, for they will assail our virtue if we give them any encouragement.
One such gentleman is returning to Netherfield Park, no doubt with the intention of seducing your sister Jane. Yes, Mr Bingley is to once again take up residence. I know this because Papa, hearing of Mr Bingley’s absence, hoped we might be able to let the property to another tenant, whilst at the same time keeping Mr Bingley’s payment. Such are the low standards I live amongst! But Mr Bingley replied that he will be taking up residence once again on the seventeenth of this month. Your sister must take care. Let her walk nowhere unchaperoned. Having had an opportunity to propose to her in the usual manner last autumn, he did not do it, no doubt because he has designs on her virtue. We are not so very far from Italy after all.
My sister Susan has succumbed to worldly lures and is now married to Mr Wainwright. She has not written to us yet, and I must hope it is because the post is slow and not because she and her husband have been slain in the mountains and eaten by wolves or banditti (eaten by the wolves and slain by the banditti, I mean; even the worst of the banditti do not, to my knowledge, eat their victims, although nothing would surprise me about the inhabitants of the Pyrenees).
Your dear friend,
Lucy
Miss Mary Bennet to Miss Lucy Sotherton
Longbourn, Hertfordshire,
September 21
Most noble Friend,
Mr Bingley has indeed returned to the neighbourhood. He called on us yesterday with his friend Mr Darcy, though, as Mama says, she does not know why Mr Darcy called, for no one wants him here. He said very little, only asked after my aunt and uncle Gardiner, though he made no enquiries after our cousin Mr Collins and his wife, Charlotte Collins. I did think at one time that Charlotte might have become a Learned Woman, since she showed no sign of frivolity and occasionally opened a book, but she was lost to us when she succumbed to the lure of Mr Collins’s masculine charms and walked along the bridal path with him as her chosen mate.
Mama believes that Mr Bingley means to make Jane an offer, and in an endeavour to hasten the courtship she remarked that when Mr Bingley has killed all his own birds he must come and kill Papa’s. But I believe it will take more than an invitation to deal out death to our wingèd friends to ensnare Mr Bingley, who is a slippery customer: as I said to Mr Shackleton, we have been down this path before. I only hope that Jane is not too disappointed when Mr Bingley disappears again.
Mary King has also returned to the neighbourhood. She was taken away by her relatives when Mr Wickham began to court her, having been alerted to his infamy by their cousin, Mark Haydock, who, as the rector of Kympton, knew something of Mr Wickham’s past. But now that Mr Wickham is married to my poor sister Lydia, Mary King is safe and so she has taken up residence here again.
Perhaps she might be persuaded to join our select circle.
Your vestal sister in humility,
Mary
Miss Elizabeth Bennet to Mrs Susan Wainwright
Longbourn, Hertfordshire,
September 22
Dear Susan,
By now you will have returned from your bridal tour. I hope it was everything you wished for, but I am glad, selfishly so, that you are back at home—that is to say, your new home—because I need someone to turn to, and only you will do.
Everything is in turmoil here. Mr Bingley has returned to the neighbourhood and I believe he is as much in love with Jane as ever. He called on us the day before yesterday, bringing Mr Darcy with him, and I think he is waiting only for his friend’s approval before proposing.
Jane, of course, says that he is just being friendly and that she expects nothing from him. She declares that, now the first meeting is over, she will never be embarrassed by his coming here again, and says that she is glad he is to dine here tomorrow, so that everyone can see that they meet only as common and indifferent acquaintances.
So common and indifferent that I believe he will propose to her before very long, even if he does not have Mr Darcy’s approval!
I hope he does, for I cannot bear to see Jane unhappy and I wish Mr Bingley would put her out of her misery sooner rather than later, for there is no denying that his company is very uncomfortable for her whilst the situation is unresolved between them. It would not be apparent to anyone who does not know her well, but I can see that she is anxious and uneasy, whatever she might say. And small wonder, when everything she longs for in life is so near and yet so far away.
Mama increased her misery by fawning over Mr Bingley in the most embarrassing manner, and increased mine by treating Mr Darcy with the scantest civility. If she only knew what she owed him, for it was he who forced Wickham to marry Lydia, and without his influence I dread to think what would have happened to Lydia. But all Mama does is to revile him, saying she hates the very sight of him; whereas I find myself longing to speak to him, so that I can thank him for his kindness.
Susan, I do not know what to think. When Mr Darcy came to Longbourn, I found myself hoping against hope that his affection was unshaken and that, despite everything, he still loved me. But he did not speak to me, not even about commonplace things; in fact he scarcely opened his mouth. I was so embarrassed I buried myself in my needlework, but I could not resist glancing at him from time to time; however, his eyes were fixed on Jane more often than on me. On seeing this, I was overwhelmed with disappointment, and then was angry with myself for feeling that way, for how could I expect him to love a woman who had rejected him, and in so vehement a fashion?
And so I determined to treat him like any other guest. I summoned the courage to ask about his sister, but once he had told me that she was well, he lapsed into silence again, and at length both he and Mr Bingley went away.
Why, if he wished to see me, did he not speak to me? And why, if he did not wish to speak to me, did he come?
Did you ever have such moments with Mr Wainwright? Did you ever feel so painfully embarrassed that you wished never to see him again, whilst hoping with all your heart that you would?
Tell me, Susan, what do you think he is about? For I cannot live with this uncertainty.
Your dear friend,
Lizzy
Mr Darcy to Colonel Fitzwilliam
Darcy House, London,
September 25
Henry, I am sorry it has taken me so long to reply to your last but I have been in Hertfordshire, making amends for the wrong I did Charles in deceiving him about Miss Bennet. As soon as I told him that I suspected she had feelings for him, and that she had been in London earlier in the year without his knowledge, he returned to Netherfield Park at once. He paid a call at Longbourn straightaway, where he was warmly welcomed by Mrs Bennet. She is as vulgar as ever, but I believe he would tolerate ten such Mrs Bennets for the chance of marrying his beloved Jane; as I would gladly tolerate a hundred Mrs Bennets if I thought that Elizabeth might marry me.