Sudden Awakenings (The Other Paths Collection)

Chapter 30

Jane returned Elizabeth’s call the following morning. “I am dreadfully sorry for having missed you yesterday,” she said. “Mrs. Jennings and I had been invited by Mr. Bingley and Mr. Rushworth to join them for a ride through the Park, and as it was such nice weather, we could not refuse. Besides, though I knew you were arriving, I had thought you would be settling into your new quarters, and would not be making or receiving calls for at least a day.”

“It is of no matter,” Elizabeth reassured her. “It was only my eagerness to see you which led me to leave the house, otherwise I would have been doing exactly as you suggested. So, you saw Mr. Bingley and Mr. Rushworth, did you? You have seen much of them lately, have you not?”

Jane nodded. “Indeed. Mr. Bingley calls regularly, and we often see him at our social gatherings. And as for Mr. Rushworth, Mr. Bingley seems to have taken him under his wing. Poor Mr. Rushworth was taken in by a fortune hunter who left him for another man. Sad to say, she got nothing out of the dreadful affair, for the fellow in question, though he was also rich, abandoned her soon after.

She went on, “I cannot say I feel terribly sorry for her, however. Mr. Rushworth is a most deserving man, though society has treated him abominably, as if being cuckolded were somehow his fault. Mr. Bingley and I are doing all we can to reintroduce him to society, in the hopes he might find a better wife in time.”

Jane’s use of “Mr. Bingley and I” was not lost on Elizabeth, but she allowed her sister to continue, uninterrupted. “Miss Bingley seems to like him. I think perhaps her sister hopes she may make a match; Mrs. Hurst hinted as much when last I saw them. It would be well for them, if she did, for the Hursts are still a young couple, and it must be tiresome for them, having an unmarried sister living with them.”

Elizabeth shifted her position. “You speak much of your friends, but what of you? How are you, Jane?”

“Oh, I am quite well! London is such a merry place! I am never without some form of amusement. Mrs. Jennings is well-connected and takes me to all the best places. One day we are at the theater, the next at some assembly or concert, and the next at a dinner or card party. There is much more to see and do here than there ever was in Hertfordshire, despite the number of families living there. I am as happy as I could ever be. In fact, city life suits me so exactly, that when I am married, I think I shall persuade my husband to live in town all the year round if his situation allows for it.”

“Have you thoughts of marriage then?” Her mind flew to the mysterious letter from Mrs. Gardiner, and she wondered if her aunt perhaps knew something that Jane herself was keeping a secret from Elizabeth.

“Certainly, I have thoughts– not that I have had any offers yet, mind you. But you, who knows me so well, cannot be blind to my desires. They are the same as they ever have been, since last autumn. Mr. Bingley has been the apple of my eye ever since I first laid eyes on him.”

“Do you love him?” Elizabeth probed.

“Of course, I do!” Jane laughed. “What lady who has met Mr. Bingley, with all his good-nature and pleasing manners, could not love him in an instant? ”

“But do you truly care for him? Will he make you happy, if he were to ask you to share his life with him?”

“I believe I have as much chance of happiness with him as with anyone else; perhaps more so, since I know his character and what a good man he is. A lady could do far worse than Mr. Bingley for a husband. Consider poor Mary, and what she must endure as the wife of Mr. Collins!”

Jane had a point, Elizabeth conceded. And Elizabeth was hardly an expert on love matches– she who had married a man she despised out of sheer desperation to save her own reputation. Who was she to judge the depth of love that Jane felt for Mr. Bingley?

Mr. Darcy entered the room and made his greetings to Jane, sparing Elizabeth from continuing the conversation, and after a few more minutes, Jane glanced at the clock and made her apologies that she had gotten carried away with the time, and must return home, for she and Mrs. Jennings were to attend a party at the home of Mrs. Robert Ferrars that evening, and as Mr. Bingley would likely be there too, she required extra time at her toilette to prepare.

As Jane rose to leave, Elizabeth made mention of the opera.

“Yes, of course, dear Mr. Rushworth has invited us to join him in his box,” Jane said. “I quite look forward to it, and am glad to hear you will be there as well. We ought to go shopping beforehand, for I should love to have a new set of gloves, but, ah! I do not know if I shall have the time. We are quite engaged every day until then! Call on me in Berkeley Street, all the same, and if I am able to spare the time, I shall join you at the shops for a while,” Jane said. “If not, au revoir until Saturday next!”

As soon as Jane had exited the house, Elizabeth excused herself to her chambers. The alterations to Jane’s personality were so great, Elizabeth hardly recognized her sister .

She wondered if the changes were due to Jane’s being in the company of Mrs. Jennings, her London friends, or some other influence.

S

Elizabeth had much on her mind as she traveled to Gracechurch Street that afternoon. Jane’s call, coupled with her aunt’s cryptic message, gave her an uneasy feeling which refused to settle.

Elizabeth’s little cousins all rushed into the hall to see her when she entered the door, with one of them wrapping their arms around her legs and another one clamoring for sweets. Elizabeth pulled a few lemon drops from her reticule and distributed them. The children eagerly grabbed the sweets before running off to play.

Mrs. Gardiner moved closer to receive her with a tight embrace. “Ohhh, my Lizzy! It has been far too long since I have seen you!”

The Gardiners normally traveled to visit them at Longbourn for Christmas, but the past holiday, Mrs. Gardiner’s expected confinement, coupled with the distance to Elizabeth’s new home, made travel impossible.

“You are looking well, Aunt Gardiner!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “How is the new babe?”

“Sleeping through the night, at last! It has been difficult, the past few months, in such a small house as ours. The other children had grown used to not having a baby around, until this one came along. We have all been a little out of sorts, but, as they say, patience is a virtue. Come and meet him.”

Mrs. Gardiner took her upstairs to a cradle in the corner of the children’s nursery, where a small, round baby lay sleeping.

“He looks so peaceful. Quite cherubic, if I may say so.” Elizabeth smiled down at the littlest Gardiner, inadvertently bumping the cradle with her hand, causing it to rock wildly. She tried to still it, but the motion caused the baby’s face to shrivel up, precipitating a loud wail.

“Oh dear, it seems I have woken him.”

Instead of swooping in to pick him up from his bed, Mrs. Gardiner made quiet shushing noises, rocking the cradle gently until her little boy calmed down and resumed his nap. Motioning for Elizabeth to be quiet, they exited the room and went downstairs.

“I find, sometimes, if I am not too hasty, he will return to his slumber for a while longer,” she explained.

“Now, my dear, I am so glad you called!” Mrs. Gardiner said as they settled into their seats in the drawing room. The children were playing in the garden, and all was peaceful for the moment. “Not the least because it has been so terribly long since I last saw you– and you are married now! I feel I have not properly congratulated you on your marriage.”

“I did receive the letter from you and Uncle Gardiner,” Elizabeth said, “along with the beautiful jewelry box you entrusted my mother to deliver to me at Christmas. Thank you very much for that.”

“I knew you might need something special to hold all those jewels you have as the new mistress of Pemberley,” her aunt smiled. “One can never have too many jewelry boxes, I say. And your uncle was keen to make you something in his shop. Too often, his time is occupied with business affairs, all the comings and goings, dealing with merchants and cargo vessels, managing books and the like. He much prefers to work with his own two hands, making things for people. But most of the craftsmanship is performed by his workers nowadays.”

Mr. Gardiner had made his mark on the world as a master cabinetmaker. His love for woodworking and carpentry, which began as a boy, led him to abandon his father’s plan for him to become a solicitor and join him at the law offices in Meryton and instead strike out on his own in the world.

His success was so spectacular that he soon had his own warehouses and workshops, where craftsmen worked under his tutelage, and a shop where he sold furniture orders to customers who came from all over London to purchase his wares. It was nothing to scoff at, in Elizabeth’s opinion, though many looked down on those whose fortune came from trade. Mr. Gardiner had enough money that he could have purchased an estate in the countryside, if he chose, but wanting to remain an active participant in his business affairs, he decided to remain in Gracechurch Street instead.

“I have seen Jane since my arrival in town,” Elizabeth said, changing the subject.

“Yes, Jane,” Mrs. Gardiner said, pressing her lips together. “How do you find Jane, since you departed from her last autumn?”

“Honestly, aunt, she is so altered, I do not know what to make of it,” Elizabeth admitted. “Her call was brief, however, so I have had little time to observe her. You must have called on her often since her arrival. What is your opinion?”

“I confess, I have seen Jane very little. My confinement kept me too preoccupied to call on her when she first arrived. And though she promised to call on me, she did not do so until my little one was already a month old. Her attitude, by then, was already so different, I could scarcely believe her to be the same girl I always knew, but I attributed it to her finally emerging from her shell, as is wont to happen in such a place as this. I returned her call a few weeks later, but she was on her way out the door to some such place or other and had only time for a few words with me, and when she called here again at Gracechurch Street, her visit was also brief, and she declined to take any dinner with us, on the pretext of some other engagement.”

“She may well have had an engagement,” Elizabeth pointed out .

“True,” Aunt Gardiner admitted. “But this does not excuse her refusal to accept an invitation for some other evening when her schedule permitted.” She shook her head. “Being too busy to see her aunt and uncle with a new baby and a house full of children is one thing, but I confess I was completely taken by surprise last week, when I received a letter from her friend, Miss Caroline Bingley.”

“Miss Bingley wrote to you?” Elizabeth exclaimed, in utter shock. “But you are not even acquainted!”

“Precisely. I am not even certain how she knew of us, except perhaps through mention by you or Jane.”

“What could Miss Bingley have possibly wanted to say to you?” Elizabeth asked, still astonished.

“I have the letter here. If you like, you may read it.” Mrs. Gardiner opened a drawer in her writing desk and retrieved a missive bearing Caroline Bingley’s neat, narrow handwriting on the outside, directed to Mrs. E. Gardiner of Gracechurch Street. Elizabeth read it.

Dear Mrs. Gardiner,

I know not how to properly address you, seeing as how we are not yet acquainted. I am sure you shall think me very impertinent.

I write to you out of concern for our mutual friend, your niece, Miss Jane Bennet. I first became acquainted with her when my brother, Mr. Charles Bingley, leased an estate in Hertfordshire and invited me to join him there. In that neighborhood, we often spent time with the Bennet family, and it was there that I first became concerned about Miss Bennet’s intentions towards my brother. Though not wishing to assume any mercenary designs on her part, I allowed the friendship between our families to continue, all the while observing the evident ardor forming on my brother’s part towards Miss Bennet .

Had their affection been mutual, I would have been quite content to allow their relationship to progress naturally for, as you will undoubtedly learn if you speak to your niece, our family fortune comes from trade, much like your own, and a union between our families would prove to be mutually beneficial, with the comparative social standing to be gained more than enough to compensate for any lack of dowry on Miss Bennet’s part, and my brother’s fortune more than equal to sustain them both.

However, circumstances arose, along with numerous public remarks from your sister Mrs. Bennet, which made it evident that Miss Bennet’s affections were unequal to my brother’s; that her primary object was his fortune, and that she would stop at nothing to acquire it. It pains me to say such things, knowing the love you must feel for her, but I owe it to my conscience to be forthright in my observations.

Following Mr. and Mrs. Darcy’s marriage, my sister and I took pains to remove our brother from Hertfordshire, in the hopes he would forget his infatuation with Miss Bennet. Nevertheless, Miss Bennet followed us to town and insinuated herself back into our brother’s life and he, like a blind puppy, continued as he ever did in encouraging her flirtatious behavior and openly courting her, despite my sister and I urging him to dissuade from it.

I hesitate to write you all this, not only for the esteem I feel for your family, but not wishing to suppose Miss Bennet’s motives to be so base, I gave her the benefit of the doubt, thinking perhaps, away from her mother’s influence, a tenderness of heart towards my brother might manifest. All this I did heartily wish, and hoped it may be true these past four months, until recent comments Miss Bennet made in my presence led me to believe her as unfeeling and ungenerous towards my brother as I feared; that, though she esteems him greatly, her heart as yet remains untouched.

Even then, had my brother been sure of his own love for her, and willing to accept that her affection did not equal his own, I might have been able to overlook the situation. For we all know many couples in whom there is a disparate, or even complete lack of affection, and such does not necessarily undermine happiness in a marriage, especially where such mutual benefit as I have described exists between the two parties.

But, as several months have passed, and my brother appears to be no closer to proposing to Miss Bennet than in the early days of their meeting, I now begin to wonder whether, despite all his attention towards her, he means to marry her at all, or whether he is stringing her along like one of the many “angels” he admired in the past. Not that I think my brother capable of willfully misleading any young lady; no, rather, I think he is perhaps not yet ready to settle down, and in his na?veté, is unaware of how his actions may appear to the public. In short, he does not realize the expectations he is raising, by courting your niece.

Miss Bennet’s behavior, in turn, has grown more provocative, to the point that I fear her reputation may be in danger should Mr. Bingley decide not to propose to her. And while I know my brother to be an honorable man, I would be sorry indeed if he were to suffer the fate of a marriage of honor, rather than one of his own choosing.

I contemplated many hours before deciding to write to you. Miss Bennet’s parents, I did not trust to act in her best interests– whether due to the indolence of one, or the cupidity of the other, and it pains me to say, even her own sister is not above such suspicions, due to the nature of her recent marriage. Though not wishing to insult you by saying such things, I appeal to your love for your niece, in the hopes you might act before irreparable damage has been done. Miss Bennet and Mrs. Darcy have often spoken of you with fondness, and if your affection for them is as great as theirs is for you, then I can trust you to respond accordingly to these concerns.

Yours, etc,

Caroline Bingley

Elizabeth needed to re-read the letter twice before she could find words to speak. At first, she was affronted, and communicated such to her aunt. But upon the third reading of the letter, felt more than ever the same genuine concern for Jane’s welfare that she experienced after meeting with Jane.

“I too, felt outraged by the gall Miss Bingley displayed in writing to me,” Mrs. Gardiners expressed. “She certainly does not hold our family in high regard, however much she might pretend to. I doubt the authenticity of her concern for Jane as well; I think it far more likely that it stems from a desire to protect her brother from her perceived threat of a fortune hunter.”

“But Jane is no fortune hunter!” Elizabeth exclaimed.

“Naturally, I could not take Miss Bingley at her word in regards to Jane. I had to see for myself. I had spent so little time in Jane’s company since her arrival, it was necessary for me to call on her, which I did about a week ago. I made no mention of Miss Bingley’s letter, but I did question Jane on a number of subjects, and I brought up, as tactfully as I could, my concerns over her spending time too frequently with Mr. Bingley and company and displaying too warm a sentiment towards him until a proper engagement had been formed. Jane dismissed it all, saying she had done nothing which was deemed improper in the eyes of her chaperone, Mrs. Jennings, and therefore I had nothing to be concerned about. But her language suggested a familiarity towards him which I did not deem entirely proper.”

Elizabeth was distressed. She rose from the settee and began pacing the room.

“You are acquainted with Miss Bingley,” Mrs. Gardiner began. “Do you think it likely that her letter holds some truth?”

“It is entirely possible she speaks only out of jealousy and a desire to drive Jane from her brother’s arms, as you suggested. But I must make my own observations, in order to garner the truth.” Elizabeth mentioned the upcoming opera, and the opportunity it would no doubt afford her to witness Jane and Mr. Bingley in public. “If there is any truth to what Miss Bingley writes, then what are we to do about Jane?” she asked.

“I do not know. I could write to your father or mother. Unfortunately, I think Miss Bingley is correct in assuming that they will be reluctant to do anything.”

“My father might,” Elizabeth said, recalling how he stepped up when her own reputation was at stake. “If I write to him and urge him to act, and impress upon him the severity of the situation, perhaps he might insist that Jane return home, or at the very least impress upon her the need to remedy her behavior, if she will not listen to you or I.”

“Make your observations first, before you write to anyone,” Mrs. Gardiner advised. “It does not do to act upon speculation. I think it wise not to put too much stock into anything Miss Bingley says, until you have seen for yourself whether Jane conducts herself properly.”

At that moment, one of the children came in from the garden, crying because her brother had pushed her into the dirt, causing her to scrape her knee. Mrs. Gardiner’s attention was therefore diverted in assisting the child and reprimanding the other. Meanwhile, the baby awoke upstairs and his cries could be heard. Mrs. Gardiner dispatched her eldest child to console him until she could make her way upstairs to tend to him .

Elizabeth, seeing her aunt was now fully preoccupied, excused herself, promising to call again another day.