Chapter 55

A few days after this visit, Mr. Bingley called again, and alone. His friend had left him that morning for London, but he was to return in ten days. Bingley stayed for more than an hour, and he seemed to be in very good spirits. Mrs. Bennet invited him to stay for dinner. But Bingley said again and again, with much regret, that he was already engaged elsewhere.

"I hope we may have better luck the next time you call," said Mrs. Bennet.

He said a few words about how glad he would be to come at any time. He said as well that, if she would allow it, he would call on them again very soon.

"Can you come tomorrow?"

He had no engagement at all for tomorrow. He accepted her invitation with eagerness.

He came. It was so early that none of the ladies had finished dressing. Mrs. Bennet ran into her daughters' room in her dressing gown, with her hair half done, and cried out.

"My dear Jane, hurry down at once. He has come. Mr. Bingley has come. He has indeed. Make haste! Sarah, come here this moment and help Miss Bennet on with her gown. Never mind Miss Lizzy's hair."

"We will come down as fast as we can," said Jane. "But Kitty must be more nearly ready than either of us. For she went upstairs half an hour ago."

"Oh, never mind Kitty! What has she to do with it? Come, make haste! Be quick! My dear girl, where is your sash?"

But when her mother had gone, Jane said that she would not go down without one of her sisters.

The same wish to leave the two of them by themselves showed itself again that evening. After tea Mr. Bennet went to his library, as was his custom. Mary went upstairs to play her instrument. Two of the five who might have been in the way were thus removed, and Mrs. Bennet sat looking and winking at Elizabeth and Kitty for a long while. But it was of no use. Elizabeth pretended not to see it. At last Kitty noticed it and asked innocently. "What is the matter, Mama? Why do you keep winking at me? What am I to do?"

"It is nothing, child. Nothing at all. I did not wink at you." Mrs. Bennet then sat still for about five minutes more. But she could not give up so precious an opportunity. She rose suddenly and said to Kitty.

"Come here, my love. I want to speak to you." Then she took Kitty out of the room. Jane instantly looked at Elizabeth. Her look said that she was pained by such open scheming, and begged that her sister at least would not give way to it. In a few minutes Mrs. Bennet half opened the door and called.

"Lizzy, my dear. I want to speak to you."

Elizabeth had no choice but to go.

As soon as they were in the hall, her mother spoke. "We had better leave the two of them by themselves, you know. Kitty and I are going upstairs to sit in my room."

Elizabeth made no attempt to reason with her mother. She stayed quietly in the hall until her mother and Kitty were out of sight, and then she returned to the drawing room.

Mrs. Bennet's plans for that day did not succeed. Bingley was everything that was charming, except that he was not a lover who had declared himself to Jane. His easy and cheerful nature made the evening party a most pleasant one. He bore their mother's senseless meddling. He heard all her foolish words and kept his face patient. For that the daughters were especially grateful.

He hardly needed to be pressed to stay for supper. Before he left, it was settled, chiefly by his own doing and by Mrs. Bennet's, that he would go shooting with Mr. Bennet the next morning.

After that day Jane said no more about having been indifferent. Not one word passed between the sisters about Bingley. But Elizabeth went to bed in the happy belief that everything must soon be settled, unless Mr. Darcy returned within the appointed time. Even after thinking it over carefully, she felt quite certain that all of this had been done with that gentleman's permission.

Bingley was exactly punctual to his appointment. He and Mr. Bennet spent the morning together, as had been agreed. Mr. Bennet was far more agreeable to him than Bingley had expected. There was nothing in Bingley of presumption or folly that could invite Mr. Bennet's mockery. There was nothing in him so unpleasant as to make Mr. Bennet fall silent in disgust. Mr. Bennet talked more, and was less strange in his ways, than Bingley had ever known him to be. Of course Bingley returned with him to dinner. In the evening Mrs. Bennet's schemes were at work again. She meant to clear everybody away from Bingley and her daughter. Elizabeth, who had a letter to write, went into the breakfast room soon after tea. All the others were going to sit down to cards. There was no need for her to stay and stand in the way of her mother's plan.

But when she had finished her letter and returned to the drawing room, she began to fear that her mother had been too clever for her. On opening the door, she saw her sister and Bingley standing together before the fireplace. They seemed to have been talking very earnestly. Even if this alone had raised no suspicion, the faces of the two of them, as they turned hastily around and moved away from each other, would have told everything. The two of them looked awkward enough. But Elizabeth thought that her own situation was worse. Not one of them said a word. Just as Elizabeth was about to go out again, Bingley suddenly got up. He whispered a few words to Jane and ran out of the room.

Jane was not one who could hide a happy thing. And still less could she hide it when the joy might be shared with Elizabeth. She embraced her sister at once and confessed, with a full heart, that she was the happiest person in the world.

"It is too great a happiness!" Jane added. "It is more than I deserve. I do not deserve such happiness. Oh, why can everyone not be happy?"

Elizabeth gave her congratulations with a sincerity, a warmth, and a delight that words could not express. Every kind sentence brought Jane fresh happiness. But Jane would not allow herself to stay longer with her sister now. And yet half of what she wished to say was still unsaid.

"I must go to my mother this moment," cried Jane. "I would not on any account make light of her kind concern. And I would not have her hear the news first from anyone else. He has gone to my father already. Oh, Lizzy. To think that what I have to tell will give such great joy to all my dear family! How shall I bear so much happiness?"

Jane then hurried away to her mother. Mrs. Bennet had broken up the card party on purpose and was sitting upstairs with Kitty.

Elizabeth, left alone, now smiled at the quickness and the ease with which a matter was at last settled that had given them so many months of anxiety and pain.

"And this," said Elizabeth to herself, "is the end of all his friend's anxious care and caution! Of all his sister's lies and schemes! It is the happiest, wisest, and most reasonable end of all!"

In a few minutes Bingley came in. His talk with her father had plainly been short and to the point.

As he opened the door, he asked in haste. "Where is your sister?"

"With my mother upstairs. She will be down very soon, I think."

Bingley then shut the door and came up to her. He asked for her blessing and her affection, since he was now to be her brother-in-law. Elizabeth told him honestly and sincerely how much pleasure the thought of their becoming relations gave her. They shook hands with great warmth. Then, until her sister came down, she had to listen to all that Bingley had to say of his own happiness and of Jane's perfections. Though he was a man in love, Elizabeth truly believed that the happiness he looked for stood on firm ground. That ground was Jane's excellent judgment and her most agreeable nature. The general likeness of their feelings and their tastes helped as well.

It was an evening of the greatest pleasure to them all. The happy heart of Miss Bennet gave her face a sweet and lively glow. Jane looked more beautiful than ever. Kitty smiled and simpered with a prim air, and hoped that her own turn would come soon. Mrs. Bennet spoke to Bingley of nothing else for half an hour. Even so, she could not give her consent and her approval in words warm enough to satisfy her own feelings. When Mr. Bennet joined them at supper, his voice and his manner plainly showed how truly happy he was.

But Mr. Bennet said not a word, not even a hint, about the matter until their visitor had said good night and gone. As soon as Bingley was gone, he turned to his daughter and spoke.

"Jane, I congratulate you. You will be a very happy woman."

Jane went to him at once, kissed him, and thanked him for his kindness.

"You are a good girl," he replied. "And I have great pleasure in thinking that you will be so happily settled. I have not a doubt that the two of you will do very well together. Your tempers are much alike. You are each of you so ready to give way that nothing will ever be settled, and so easy-natured that every servant will cheat you. And you are so generous that you will always spend more than your income."

"I hope that will not be so. If I were careless or thoughtless in money matters, it would be a thing that could not be forgiven."

"Spend more than your income! My dear Mr. Bennet," cried his wife. "What are you talking of? He has four or five thousand a year. And very likely much more." Then she spoke to her daughter. "Oh, my dear, dear Jane. I am so happy! I am sure I shall not get a wink of sleep all night. I knew how it would be. I always said that it must be so at last. I was sure that you could not be so beautiful for nothing! I remember that when he first came into Hertfordshire last year, I thought, as soon as I saw him, how likely it was that the two of you should come together. Oh, he is the handsomest young man that ever was seen!"

Wickham and Lydia were both forgotten. Jane was now her favorite child beyond all comparison. At that moment she cared for no other of her children. Her younger sisters soon began to make their court to her, for the sake of the happiness that she would be able to give them in the future.

Mary asked for the use of the library at Netherfield. And Kitty begged very hard for a few balls there every winter.

Bingley, of course, came to Longbourn every day from that time. Often he came before breakfast, and he always stayed until after supper. There was only one exception. It was a day when some barbarous neighbor, who deserved to be hated, had invited him to dinner, and he had thought that he must accept.

Elizabeth now had little time left for talking with her sister. For while Bingley was there, Jane could give her attention to no one else. But in the hours that the two of them were now and then forced to spend apart, Elizabeth found that she was of considerable use. When Jane was away, Bingley always kept close to Elizabeth, for the pleasure of talking about Jane. And when Bingley was gone, Jane always turned to her sister for the same comfort.

One evening Jane spoke. "He has made me so happy by telling me that he knew nothing at all of my being in London last spring! I did not believe that it could be so."

"I suspected as much," Elizabeth answered. "But how did he account for it?"

"It must have been his sisters' doing. They certainly were no friends to his growing close to me. I cannot wonder at it, since he might have chosen a woman far more advantageous in many ways. But when they see, as I trust they will, that their brother is happy with me, they will learn to be content. Then we shall be on good terms again. Though we can never be to each other what we once were."

"That is the most unforgiving thing that you have ever said," said Elizabeth. "Good Jane! It would vex me indeed to see you taken in once more by Miss Bingley's false affection."

"Lizzy, will you believe it? He tells me that when he went to London last November he really loved me. And he says that nothing but a certainty of my being indifferent would have prevented his coming down again."

"He was certainly a little mistaken. But it shows a modest nature."

This naturally led Jane into a long praise of his want of confidence and of the little value that he set on his own good qualities.

Elizabeth was pleased to find that Bingley had not revealed his friend's interference. Jane had the most generous and forgiving heart in the world. Still, Elizabeth knew that if Jane learned of it, she could not help being prejudiced against Darcy.

"I am certainly the most fortunate creature that ever lived!" cried Jane. "Oh, Lizzy. Why am I singled out from all my family, and blessed above them all? If only I could see you as happy as this! If only there were such another man for you!"

"If you gave me forty such men, I could never be as happy as you are. Until I have your nature and your goodness, I can never have your happiness. No, no. Let me shift for myself. Perhaps, if I have very good luck, I may meet with another Mr. Collins in time."

The state of affairs in the Longbourn family could not be long a secret. Mrs. Bennet had the privilege of whispering it to Mrs. Philips. And Mrs. Philips ventured, without any permission at all, to tell the same story to all her neighbors in Meryton.

The Bennets were soon declared to be the luckiest family in the world. And yet only a few weeks before, when Lydia had first run away, it had seemed generally proved that they were a family marked out for misfortune.