Miss Bennet & Mr Bingley Read Free

remain aloof from the company.
    When eventually the evening ended and they returned to their carriages
he was pleased with the outcome of his first venture into local society. He was
determined to further his acquaintance with Miss Bennet and was hopeful that an
invitation to dine at Longbourn would arrive the following day. Indeed, he would
send his sisters to pay a morning call on the Bennets to ensure that this was
forthcoming.
     

Chapter
Two

 
    It was after midnight when the Bennet family returned to their carriage.
The distance to the village of Longbourn was short, but no one of any
consequence would consider walking to an assembly. Jane sat in the corner, Mrs
Bennet next and Elizabeth in the other. Kitty, Lydia and Mary occupied the seat
opposite.
    It was a sad squash. The rattle of the wheels over the cobbles as they
pulled away was accompanied by a continuous stream of chatter from the three
youngest Bennet girls and their mother. Jane and Elizabeth were happy to sit
quietly each lost in her own thoughts.
    Jane recalled every moment she had spent in the company of Mr Bingley
and the way he had smiled down at her. She felt her cheeks flush as she
recalled how particular he had been in his attentions. He had not danced twice
with any other young lady. The younger girls had danced every dance, not being
as particular in their requirements as Elizabeth and she, and Mrs Bennet had
not seemed to object.
      They descended from the carriage
in high spirits, to find that Mr Bennet was still up. If he was not exactly
eager to hear how the evening had progressed, he was at least willing to sit
and listen with a degree of attention.
    ‘Oh! My dear Mr Bennet,’ her mother trilled as she rushed into the
drawing-room. ‘We have had a most delightful evening, a most excellent ball. I
wish you had been there. Jane was so admired, nothing could be like it.
Everybody said how well she looked; and Mr Bingley thought her quite beautiful,
and danced with her twice. Only think of that to my dear; he actually danced
with her twice; she was the only creature in the room that he asked a second
time. First of all, he asked Miss Lucas. I was beside myself that he stood up
with her; but, however, he did not admire her at all; indeed, nobody can, you
know; and he saw our Jane as she was going down the dance. So, he enquired who
she was, and got introduced, and danced with her next. He also danced with Miss
King, with Maria Lucas, and the fifth with Jane again, and the six with Lizzy,
and than the boulganger …’
    ‘If he had any compassion for me,’ her husband said impatiently, ‘he
would not have danced half so much! For God’s sake, say no more of his
partners. Oh! That he had a sprained his ankle in the first dance!’
    ‘Oh dear,’ continued Mrs Bennet, ‘I am quite delighted with him. Mr
Bingley is so excessively handsome. His sisters are charming woman; I never in
my life saw anything more elegant than their dresses. I daresay the lace upon
Mrs Hurst’s gown… ‘
    Here she was interrupted again as Mr Bennet protested against any
further descriptions of finery. As he refused to listen to any thing more about
clothes she regaled him in great detail about the rudeness of Mr Darcy and how
everyone had thought him proud and far too high in the instep.
    When Jane and Elizabeth were alone in their bedchamber, Jane, who had
been cautious in her praise of Mr Bingley before, expressed to her sister how
very much she admired him.
    ‘He is just what a young man ought to be, sensible, good-humoured,
lively; and I never saw such happy manners! So much ease, and with such perfect
good breeding. Did you not think so, Lizzy?’
    ‘He is also handsome, which a young man ought likewise to be, if he
possibly can. His character is thereby complete.’
    ‘I was very much flattered by his asking me to dance a second time. I
did not expect such a compliment.’
    ‘Did not you? I did for you. But that is the one great difference
between us.