Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

ELIZABETH COULD NOT call upon a gentleman, though a gentleman could call upon her. A gentleman calling upon a lady, however, tended to denote certain intentions on his part. If she were an unmarried lady, he was likely calling because he was interested in marrying her. Gentleman might call upon the entire household with less outward appearances of such intentions, however.

Since an unmarried lady could never be left alone with a gentleman (unless he was proposing marriage) this meant that when a gentleman did call, it was often ambiguous. He would spend his time in a sitting room with mixed company, not simply with the lady in question, and whether he was there to see everyone or just her was often up to interpretation.

Elizabeth may have been introduced to a number of men at the ball, many of whom might know Lady Benlolk, but she could not call upon them.

Now, when she’d been introduced to these men, she’d often been introduced to women who were connected to them, sisters and mothers and wives. Elizabeth might call on one of these people, of course.

However, she really thought her best chance of getting someone to do her a favor in this manner was to prey upon the desires of these fortune-hunting men. They were the ones who might have a reason to cater to her. The mothers and sisters likely didn’t.

Even so, it was the only avenue open to her.

So, she and Charlotte (sometimes accompanied by Jane or Mary or both) embarked upon days and days of calling upon various women in town.

More often than not, they were told that the house was being shut down except for essential servants, as the family had retired to the country.

Slightly less often, they were told that the woman in question “was not at home,” which was an ambiguous sort of thing that might mean that she really wasn’t at home and might mean that she simply did not wish to see them.

After three days, they came home to find that Caroline Bingley had left her card, because she had called and been informed that they were not at home.

Elizabeth got a great deal of joy out of that, Caroline wondering if the Bennets, of all people, were snubbing her.

Jane said they must return Caroline’s call for the sake of politeness, and Elizabeth saw this as an opportunity to see Mr. Bingley and to attempt to ascertain his feelings about Jane, so she agreed.

The next day, then, they did not attempt to make any connections that would hopefully lead to Lady Benlolk, but instead went to the Bingley house.

When they arrived, they were greeted at the door and the servant there told them to wait while he went to see if the lady of the house was at home.

Though this was standard, it jangled Elizabeth’s nerves, because if Caroline thought to snub them in return, Elizabeth felt strongly that she would be ignited with incandescent rage.

Luckily, the servant came back to show them to a sitting room.

There, waiting, was both Caroline and her brother Mr. Bingley. He got to his feet as they entered the room, agog at the sight of Jane, shaking his head as a smile wreathed his features. “My sister had assured me you and your entire family had retired to the country! I am all astonishment to find this isn’t the case. Caroline, what a happy surprise!”

“Yes,” said Caroline in a voice that was very bright, though her expression was a bit pinched. “A happy, happy surprise.” She pulled her lips into a tight smile. “But pardon my brother for his behavior. He has skipped right past greeting you properly.”

“Oh, indeed!” Mr. Bingley laughed, crossing the room to all of them. He reached out to Jane, as if to shake her hand, but then realized this was not the appropriate way to greet a lady, and fumbled about, face going red.

Jane offered her hand, also blushing.

He took it, bowing his head, then lifting his gaze to hers.

Jane smiled a smile unlike one Elizabeth had seen upon her sister’s face in some time. It made Elizabeth’s eyes sting to see it. Oh, how unhappy her sister had been! And it was the fault of Mr. Darcy and Caroline. Inwardly, she felt that incandescent rage begin to light up, and it stole away the prickle from her eyes.

“Apologies,” said Mr. Bingley, still holding Jane’s hand. “I am wretched, truly, for any slight my behavior may indicate. Please understand that it, in no way, indicates my regard for you, Miss Bennet.”

“Think nothing of it,” said Jane, still smiling. “Please, you need not be so formal with us. We have all stayed under the same roof, have we not?” She glanced at Mary and Charlotte. “Well, not all of us, but I do remember your kind charity when I was ill at Netherfield. Certainly, we have an intimacy borne of such things that means that we do not stand on ceremony with each other.”

“No, we do not,” said Mr. Bingley. He let go of her hand and took a step back, openly gazing at her. “Miss Bennet, it is ever so good to see you again, I must say. Had I known you were still in London, I should have been to visit you already.”

Caroline made a tsk -ing noise. “How are you all? Is your family in good health? Please sit down. Would you care for some tea?” All of these pleasantries were delivered in an iron voice, as she attempted to get the visit back on a track of propriety.

Mr. Bingley laughed. “Yes, yes, of course. Do sit down.” He went over to the tea service. “I seem to remember that Miss Bennet takes two lumps of sugar and just a bit of milk, is that right? Pray allow me.”

“Mr. Bingley!” said Caroline. “ I am the hostess here, and I shall prepare the tea. Sit down. Heavens.”

Mr. Bingley quite collapsed into a chair and laughed, blushing even more deeply. “I seem to be a bit out of sorts,” he said, but he looked quite happy, the happiest Elizabeth could perhaps remember ever seeing him.

They all sat down and the tea was poured and the necessary comments were made about the weather, the health of everyone’s extended relatives, and the butteriness of the biscuits.

“It is quite astonishing that you are here,” Caroline finally said. “When last I visited, it seemed decided that you would all go to the country.”

“Well, yes,” said Elizabeth, “but our father decided he would rather stay behind. My mother is hosting a houseful of guests and he likes the quiet.”

Mr. Bingley chuckled. “Oh, that sounds like him. I do miss your father, truly. He is quite a character. I am surprised anything moved him from Longbourn. I thought he might have put down roots there.”

“Your father’s predilection to be away from your mother notwithstanding,” said Caroline—a barb if Elizabeth ever heard one— “it still does not explain how all of you happen to be here, and Mrs. Collins besides.”

“We could not leave him alone,” said Elizabeth. “In all truth, I was meant to go along, but I came down with the most dreadful illness on the day we were meant to travel. I cannot make the journey alone, of course, more’s the pity, so I have been stuck here, in the August heat.”

“Oh, I do hope you’re feeling better, Miss Elizabeth,” said Caroline, but there was something pointed to her tone.

“Quite,” said Elizabeth.

“And the eldest Miss Bennet, why did you stay?” said Caroline.

Jane shrugged, staring at Mr. Bingley. “I had hope, I suppose. Hope for various eventualities, though I daresay, I wonder how foolish that hope makes me.”

“Not foolish,” said Mr. Bingley quickly. “Not foolish at all, Miss Bennet. You must understand that when you were in town in the late winter, I had no notion. Had I known—”

“Mr. Bingley,” interrupted Caroline, “whatever vague hope Miss Bennet speaks of, I rather think you’re interpreting it wrongly.”

“No,” said Elizabeth with a smile. “I don’t think he is.”

Caroline blinked at her. Her nostrils flared.

“Thank heaven for your hope,” said Mr. Bingley. “Thank heaven, because without it, without your having come to call here—”

“Miss Bingley, if you were so certain that we were in the country,” said Elizabeth to Caroline, because this had just occurred to her, “why did you call at our house yesterday?”

Mr. Bingley turned to his sister, wounded. “What? That is where you and Louisa went yesterday?”

“As to that,” said Caroline, “I might ask you why it is that you are gallivanting all over, calling upon everyone, asking for admittance like beggars? It looks bad, and I had thought to simply explain to you, since perhaps you are not aware of the way things are done in London, that your behavior seems pushy and desperate, and people talk. You do realize this?”

Elizabeth grimaced. “Realize that people talk? Well, yes, I suppose I had an inkling. I didn’t think they communicated through a vast array of complicated hand signals.”

Mr. Bingley burst out laughing and so did Mary.

Caroline glowered.

Charlotte spoke up. “We have perhaps been a bit overzealous in the way we’ve gone about all of that, and I do see that now.”

“The assumption,” said Caroline tartly, “is that Miss Bennet has stayed in town to secure a marriage proposal, and that you are pursuing every eligible bachelor to whom she has been introduced. It reeks of desperation, you see, and I only had your best interests in heart by calling upon you. I would not see you all embarrassed, you see? Furthermore, my connection to you all means that I am vulnerable if your behavior is seen badly, and—”

“Caroline,” cut in Mr. Bingley, “you are freely admitting that you knew they were here, and you never spoke a word of it to me, even though you are very aware that I would have wished to know.”

She tilted her head to one side, regarding her brother. “Yes, well, I was protecting you, brother dear. If Miss Bennet was, indeed, single-mindedly pursuing other prospects, I did not wish to see you heartbroken. Again.”

“Again?” said Mr. Bingley. “By no means am I saying that I was brokenhearted.” He cleared his throat, turning red yet again. “But even so, you are the means by which I was separated from Miss Bennet in the first place.”

Caroline sniffed.

“Our calling around town has absolutely nothing to do with Miss Bennet,” said Charlotte. “Elizabeth, you see, is anxious to be introduced to Lady Benlolk, and we thought that one of the men who admire her might be swayed to intercede on her behalf.”

Elizabeth glared at her friend. She and Charlotte must have a conversation about what should be revealed to people like Caroline Bingley and what should be kept to themselves.

“Lady Benlolk?” Caroline drew back. “But why would you wish that?”

Elizabeth fumed silently. She tried to think of some way to get this conversation away from this subject entirely.

But Charlotte was speaking again. “It only seems that the untoward rumors that are being spread about the late earl would have an effect upon her, and that she might feel quite similarly to the Bennet family about them. Together, Elizabeth thought that there might be some way to lessen them, perhaps. Gossip will happen, of course, but in this case, especially when it is all so unfounded and so untrue, we hoped the countess might be an ally.”

“Ah,” said Mr. Bingley, “that is quite intelligent, Miss Elizabeth. We do not know Lady Benlolk well, I’m afraid. We have been introduced, but the association is not close enough that we might be of service. However, I do perhaps know a chap or two who might be. Allow me to see what I can do, if you would. I can tell you that I, too, should like the wretched rumors quieted. And I can only imagine, Miss Bennet, how that must be weighing upon you.” He gave Jane a sympathetic look.

“No, no,” said Jane, “I don’t listen to it, truly. It is all nonsense, and it is beyond my control, besides.”

“That’s quite true,” said Mr. Bingley. “I admire that ability within you.” He smiled at her.

Jane smiled back.

Caroline huffed. “I’m sure the Bennets have a very busy schedule this afternoon. We mustn’t keep them here overlong. It would be ever so rude on our part.”

THE FOLLOWING DAY , Mr. Bingley called at the Bennet household, and he brought with him a man named Mr. Danning. Elizabeth remembered him from the ball. She had danced with him and he had asked her a number of questions and seemed very interested in her answers.

Well, truthfully, Elizabeth came away from the encounter thinking that he had feigned interest in her answers, that he was humoring her so that she might feel as if he thought her interesting.

However, this was exactly the sort of man she needed, she supposed, a man who would cater to her and do her bidding in the hopes of gaining her favor. He was only doing it because he wanted her dowry, she supposed. But that was all right. She didn’t need his true regard, not for this.

Jane, Charlotte, and Elizabeth received the gentlemen in the downstairs sitting room. Mary was shut up in her room, and said she could not come down. Elizabeth only hoped her sister was not writing out long essays to be published in a gossip rag. Their father looked in on them and greeted Mr. Bingley warmly. He did not seem to remember Mr. Danning (they had met ever so many people that evening, after all) but he pretended to, even as he made a number of mistakes.

“Oh, yes, Mr. Danning,” said her father. “How goes the silk trade?”

“I deal in lumber, sir,” said Mr. Danning.

“Yes, lumber,” said her father. “That’s what I said, isn’t it?”

Danning gave him a nod. “Of course, sir.”

But her father made excuses and left them to their own devices.

Charlotte immediately said (loudly) that she was quite interested in the book she was reading, and that if no one minded, she would adhere to it.

Danning smirked at this, raising his eyebrows meaningfully as he settled next to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth gave him what she hoped passed for a genuine smile.

“Miss Elizabeth, you are a vision,” said Mr. Danning. “I must say it’s been too long since we last saw each other. I was so very pleased when Bingley invited me along this afternoon.”

“Yes, it is good to see you, too,” said Elizabeth. She wondered what Bingley had told Mr. Danning. Was he aware of why he was here, or must she find some way to shoehorn her request into the conversation? Oh, this was awfully awkward, was it not?

“When we spoke at the ball, you were reading Cambrian Pictures ,” he said. “Have you finished it yet or are you still in the midst of it?”

He remembered that? “Finished, of course. It’s been some time.”

“And I would quite like to hear your thoughts on the book,” he said.

Would he really? She regarded him, unable to be sure. He was attending to her with singular interest, gazing at her as if he found her the most interesting thing in the room. It unsettled her. She wasn’t used to men treating her that way. “Have you read the book, sir?”

“No,” he said with a shrug.

“Then you can’t be that interested, can you?” She let out a nervous laugh.

“Oh, yes, I must know if you recommend it,” he said. “If it would be worth my time to read.”

That seemed reasonable, but… “I do recommend it, yes,” she said. She drew in a breath. “But we needn’t discuss things like that. We might discuss you, for instance. You are still in town in the late summer?”

“Oh, well, I have no seat in Parliament, of course,” said Danning with a shrug, “so it makes no matter to me when the session closes. I sometimes find the crush of so many people a bit stifling, truth be told. There is something about London in August, no one on the streets, no one out and about. It soothes me. That must sound odd.”

“No, I understand entirely,” she said with a little smile.

“Yes,” he said. “You wouldn’t mind, I suppose, as long as you had a book to read.” He waggled his eyebrows.

“I don’t spend all my time reading,” she said.

“I didn’t mean to imply that. I’m certain you have other pursuits. Ladies always do. Did you say you played the piano-forte?”

“I…” She hunched up her shoulders. “No, I’m not very skilled. I do not practice as I should, truly.”

“Yes, nothing duller than practice,” he said. “You may look back, after having practiced, and see that you have improved, but in the thick of it, it seems you are accomplishing nothing, does it not?”

“Yes,” she said. “Yes, quite.”

“So, what have you been amusing yourself with, then?”

Here it was, an opportunity. But her mouth felt dry, because of the nakedness of her need now, how she was laying bare the fact that she was simply asking him for a favor, when she really had nothing to offer him in return. Well, except her charms, and she was quite lacking in charm. “Truly, I suppose, it’s a bit maudlin, but I’ve been occupied in thinking about the rumors that are swirling about my mother and my family by extension. It unnerves me, I’m afraid.”

“Ah, yes,” he said. “Bingley did mention.”

“He did,” she said.

“You needn’t worry,” he said. “I am even now setting to work on the problem. I would have mentioned it right off, but I’m afraid I have nothing to show for my efforts yet, and I thought you might be disappointed in me.”

She was confused. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand, I’m afraid.”

“Well, Lady Benlolk does not own a house in town currently.”

“Oh, yes,” said Elizabeth. “ I am in her house.” She sighed heavily.

“She is, by all accounts, staying with her sister,” said Danning. “But she is still in London, by divine providence, for it would make sense for her to have scurried off into the depths of the country somewhere. Her sister’s husband often plays cards at a club where I frequent, and I plan to speak to him within the week. When I have done so, and gotten from him the permission, I shall conduct you there myself. With a proper chaperone, of course, our lovely reader, Mrs. Collins.” He nodded at Charlotte. “With luck, it will all work out swimmingly.”

Elizabeth winced. “I’m so sorry for asking you to put yourself out in this way. We barely know each other, after all.”

“Yes, but hopefully that will change,” said Danning. “We shall get to know each other over the course of all of this, and I rather hope we shall come to know each other quite well. I should be pleased to have a close association with you, Miss Elizabeth, from this point forward.” He smiled at her, and it was so like the colonel’s conspiratorial smile that it took her breath away.

Oh, so, they were all this way, were they?

Why was it that Mr. Darcy was never this way?

She liked it with the colonel, truth be told. She couldn’t say she didn’t like it with Danning either.

But it was beneath Mr. Darcy, somehow, and that stirred her elsewhere, stirred her in some other way. Mr. Darcy was haughty and proud but he was certain of himself. He didn’t feel the need to do things to impress her. He didn’t wish her to be impressed. He didn’t need that from her.

She gulped. “Yes, Mr. Danning, I should be ever so grateful to you, of course.”

“Good,” he said, smiling. “I want you to get used to that feeling, Miss Elizabeth, that feeling of being grateful to me. I want to make you ever so grateful. I want you to be simply overflowing with gratefulness to me.” His voice dipped suggestively.

She wasn’t entirely sure what he’d said there or what it meant, but she had a strange feeling it was some sort of innuendo, and it made her feel vaguely used and soiled in some awful way.

However, she must smile and laugh as if she had liked it.

In that moment, she despised Mr. Danning.

Yet, she needed him.

She laughed and laughed, her smile sharp.