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Hertfordshire was full of bustle with the news of the arrival of the Bingley party. It was said that the man who leased Netherfield Park had taken off to town soon after he made his arrival but all in pursuit of a favourable cause for the genteel people of Hertfordshire. Perhaps, there were no happier people in Hertfordshire than the aspiring mothers of single ladies who were hopeful that the gentlemen in the party would not leave the countryside empty-handed. Mr. Bingley, as he was soon to be called by all, certainly was going to be a favourite of all- the news in circulation was that he had gone back to bring a veritable party of gentlemen and ladies to form his retinue with whom he was going to attend the assembly.
The ladies; the aspiring mothers had no issues with as long as they do not compete with their daughters for the favours of the gentlemen. The only use to which they could be put would be as companions and perhaps, an excuse to call on the gentlemen. Well, in other consideration, since the ladies were from town, perhaps, they might be likely to bring with them the latest style of fashion with them. But all in all, they weren't really so important as to garner much interest. However, the gentlemen were another issue in their own entirety. It was said that the men would be eight in all; inclusive of Mr. Bingley himself.
Mr. Bingley's first crime was to bring only two men along with himself to the neighbourhood- one was married to one of his sisters who formed part of the party and the other was unmarried. And therein again, laid his redemption- when the people heard through visitations and conjectures there that the other unmarried man in the company was worth a sum of ten thousand a year, the owner of his own estate and handsome to behold, they couldn't be more pleased. Why, those qualities were enough for the heart of any mother who loved their daughters, as many would lay claim to. Mr. Bingley himself was a delightful catch too with a sum of five thousand a year and so, the two gentlemen were expected to fulfill their fondest wishes.
It was only to be hoped that their wishes would be realized regarding that Fitzwilliam was highly unwilling to conform to their expectations. He had no love for the country life and country people; and he knew that no amount of handsome girls in Netherfield could tempt him to make a proposal to one of the ladies. Even as they prepared for the assembly, Fitzwilliam wished he could persuade his friend to permit him to stay back in the house and perhaps amuse himself with a drink or two- being without company in the entire Netherfield Park had to be better than having to suffer the attendance of the people in this place. More so, he dearly hated to dance, especially with those he wasn't personally acquainted with.
"No, you may not, my dear friend," Charles said to him as their chaise was brought forward.
Fitzwilliam sighed. As usual, his friend knew precisely what was on his mind.
Mr. Bingley, on his own part was in no way opposed to the opinions of the gentlemen and ladies of Hertfordshire. In fact, he saw no reason why his good friend could not find a suitable match for his continued single state in this fine countryside. It was his greatest hope that upon taking part in the revelry of the assembly, his friend may be acquainted with the fine ladies and take a preference to one. However, the foreboding look on his face suggested otherwise but Charles was quick to dispel with the suggestion of granting him the reprieve to stay back in the house.
"A man can hope, can he not?" replied Fitzwilliam stoutly, "though I can see that you truly mean to put me through the rigors of this evening."
"I see no reason why you would think the evening would be filled with rigor..." Only Charles held the opinion that the evening would be an absolute delight on their senses as evident in the opinions expressed by his sisters shortly. His sisters took that moment to emerge from the house and came upon the men with a great look of disturbance on their faces, effectively putting a stop to the reply he was about to utter to his friend.
"Do tell me, dear brother of mine- how do you suppose we will fare in the company of the local people of this place?" the younger sister, Caroline Bingley exclaimed for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day. "I shall not be surprised if the music at the ball was unpleasant and the fashion of the ladies highly dreadful."
"Of course, what do you expect in a place such as this?" Mrs. Hurst asked in a fatigued voice whilst latching onto the hand provided by her husband as if she couldn't stand the idea of the ball. "We only have to do this for our dear brother, so that he may fulfill the wishes of our dear dead father."
Indeed, Sir Bingley senior always wanted to buy an estate of his own but was unable to fulfill this ardent desire of his before death came upon him. His only son thus took it upon himself to bring this reasoning to realization, hence, the reason for leasing Netherfield Park in the hope that the place might come to his liking and possession.
Bingley looked upon his sisters both and made no answer. He knew his sisters well enough even though he loved them more than he understood them. They found great pleasure in arguing a matter to tatters but he had no doubt that they would not give up the chance to show their fineries to the less fashionable people of Hertfordshire. For the sake of a good laugh at what he imagined would be the disappointed looks on their faces, he was tempted to announce that they no longer had to accompany him to the assembly. Only Fitzwilliam's poor nerves discouraged him from making such teasing announcement.
By the time they were settled in the carriage, Bingley and Darcy in one with Miss Bingley and Mr. and Mrs. Hurst in another, the noise about the expectations for the assembly were over and Bingley could enjoy the ride while quietly inspecting the countryside to form an opinion about his ability to live there.
"I mourn that I shall not make a single worthy acquaintance of any respectable lady there," said Caroline Bingley; again raising the topic of the ball.
Fitzwilliam needed not to borrow a leaf from her brother's silent form to ignore the seemingly innocent remark. Indeed, the remark was directed at him by the direction of her affecting gaze. Since they had been acquainted by virtue of her brother, Fitzwilliam found it disturbing that Caroline Bingley attached herself to his person. On his own part, Fitzwilliam was not accepting of such attachment and engaged his best to discourage any sort of discourse that might be fancied to inspire her emotions in any way.
"You must absolutely dance with me once the dance starts, Mr. Darcy," she told him unrelentingly, "I fear that I shall become the belle of the ball and many men would want to dance with me; I do not want to be saddled with their attention and as such, you must save me from them."
"Oh, I am sure that you will do exceedingly well at the ball and that you will find a man to your liking to dance with," he replied.
"But, you must dance with me," she said as if it would be counted as a sin should he fail to do so.
"But of course," he agreed, "the evening would not be replete without me having done so."
His sarcasm was heavily lost on the young Bingley who nodded her pleasure and proceeded to indulge upon her brother's need for silence.
It was quite easy to turn the tables on a thought; given the right prod in the desired direction.
So was the case with Fitzwilliam Darcy upon the arrival of the Bingley party at the assembly. They were all rightly attended to and fawned over by all the foremost people at the assembly; Mr. Bingley doubly so in an attempt to lure him into securing Netherfield on a permanent basis and into choosing one of their daughters. Special attention was also accorded Mr. Darcy for his wealth and fine figure such that he was decided to be a better catch than their rightful neighbour. When the gentleman refused to remove his nose from the air the entire evening however, the benevolent thoughts in the minds of all about him flew out of the room to be replaced by one of contempt and outright disdain. His greatest transgression and perhaps the most unforgivable was his unwillingness to dance with any of their girls; for that alone, he had earned their eternal dislike.
The genteel people of Netherfield decided him to be proud and uncaring for them and so, they left him to wander about the room, as he was wont to do.
Bingley in the middle of a dance with the handsomest girl in the room, observed some of the talks about his friend. After the dance, he took a reluctant leave of the lady and walked up to Fitzwilliam in a bid to endeavour a correction to the impressions of the people about him. "Come, Darcy," he said when he read him standing alone at their table, "I must have you dance. I hate to see you standing about by yourself in this stupid manner. You had much better dance."
Fitzwilliam raised one black brow at his friend. He could not discern the nonsense about dancing in the least and he set about setting him straight and on his way. "I certainly shall not," he disagreed spiritedly. "You know how I detest it, unless I am particularly acquainted with my partner. At such an assembly as this, it would be insupportable. Your sisters are engaged, and there is not another woman in the room whom it would not be a punishment to me to stand up with."
"I would not be so fastidious as you are," his friend cried in opposition, "for a kingdom! Upon my honour, I never met with so many pleasant girls in my life as I have this evening; and there are several of them you see that are uncommonly pretty."
Fitzwilliam sighed. Whoever was only remotely acquainted with Bingley knew that he was not hard to please. The man treated everyone as though they were long term friends which Darcy found particularly unacceptable. Acquaintances should be chosen on some merit and not just allowed to waltz into one's life as they pleased. At times such as this, Darcy wondered how his friends and his sisters could ever be related.
"You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room," he settled to say instead of all the distaste on his mind.
At this, his friend brightened like the sky at dawn and he himself looked in the direction of the girl whom he had just left her company for his. "Oh! She is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld!" Charles agreed keenly as if he was singularly responsible for the deed of nature. "But there is one of her sisters sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and I dare say very agreeable. Do let me ask my partner to introduce you."
"Which do you mean?" Turning around, he looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his own and coldly said: "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me."
His cold words must have sent the needed message to his friend because he took his leave of him and ran back to his dancing partner for a second dance.
No doubt, Fitzwilliam thought, tongues would soon start wagging about the new gentleman in the neighbourhood dancing twice with one of the girls. However, the dance was the least of the preoccupations of his mind at the moment.
The young girl that Charles had pointed out to him was no other than the paramour he had met in the tavern last night. As a consequence of his wandering about the room and refusal to be introduced, he hadn't happened upon her and her family. One glance in her direction and he knew it was she. It was a shame that she could not however, recognize him. Something must have informed her about him because she had also stared at him wonderingly before dismissing him and looking upon the dance floor again.
It was she whom Charles wanted him to dance with.
Fitzwilliam was tempted to roar out an amused laughter at his friend's ill choice but he could not; lest the people decided that he was now more amenable and besiege him with their unwanted company. His remark about slighted ladies had been deliberately said out loud, just so she could hear and perhaps remember his voice but she gave no indication that he was familiar to her even though she must have heard him. She would have to be thoroughly pained in the ears not to.
He surreptitiously watched her and her family as the evening progressed and he deemed himself in possession about all there was to know about her.
She was Elizabeth Bennet. Her family was not one that was particularly well to do; she was the second of five girls in her family and less pretty than the first who Charles apparently had taken a liking to. In that wise, her prospects at securing a husband was slim and she must have taken to engaging married men in her favour. The act was quite despicable of her and he found himself thoroughly disgusted with her. There was absolutely no way he would deem to dance with one of such ill ilk as herself even if she was as pretty as the moon and with the largest dowry in the room.
With the exception of her older sister, Fitzwilliam observed that her family were most loud, especially the mother and the two last sisters. Elizabeth Bennet on her part was quite lively and smiled way too much- it was no wonder too, given that she was free of her favours with the men. She must be delighted that nobody knew of her secret affairs and he would not be sorry to disappoint her. If he hadn't experienced firsthand the difference between Charles Bingley and his sisters, Fitzwilliam would have wondered how the most handsome girl in the room could be related to the lot.
Fitzwilliam decided to warn his friend about her in the eventuality that she might set his cap for his brother-in-law.