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The friendship between the two gentlemen, Mr. Charles Bingley and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, was one that Bingley held in utmost regard. In spite or perhaps, because of the great difference in the character of the two men, they found themselves inordinately drawn to each other's personality and in turn, held a deep affection towards each other like brothers.
It did not matter that Darcy was twenty and eight years of age while Bingley was younger by four years, or that Darcy was more well-to-do than his young friend. Both men knew perfectly well their ages and circumstance before engaging in such enduring friendship. Bingley was most attracted to Darcy's ease of carriage, flexible temperament, and frankness in all matters, regardless of who was involved. As a result, he heavily relied on his friend's good sense of judgement and never passed the opportunity to avail himself of his pronouncement on matters he found too consuming to deliberate upon on his own- a reason he invited him to Netherfield Park.
He had come upon his inheritance barely two years ago when he heard about Netherfield Park. He had not tarried to rush over to see the place for himself; one look through the rooms and he liked it enough to lease it and stay in the house while he tried to see if he could make the place his home with the help of his friend and his sisters. It wasn't that he, Bingley, was a man without some cleverness in his head, but he was of the opinion that two heads were certainly better than one and Fitzwilliam indeed had a good head on his fine shoulders.
He would dearly like his friend's candid opinion about the place and its people. He also knew that he would take his friend's counsel without another thought whenever it was pronounced.
They were in the moment, seated in the breakfast room after breakfast the noon after the party. Fitzwilliam had since had his breakfast having woken before them all, despite the late night they all had but he had bestowed them with his presence nonetheless.
The manner in which Fitzwilliam spoke of the Meryton assembly was, however, not one that agreed with the opinions that he, Bingley, had surmised and he found that he could not disagree with his friend more.
"They are a bunch of ignorant people with little beauty and sense of fashion," Fitzwilliam declared quite callously.
In all honesty and with lack of pretence, Bingley pronounced that never had he met with more enjoyable company than the lot of people he encountered in the room at the assembly. There, he had received a warm welcome that made him feel at home and most pleased. Gone was the stiffness he had been so accustomed with living the town life and he appreciated the evident lack of pretention in the countenance of most at the assembly.
There also, he had the delightful opportunity to meet with Miss Bennet.
"I declare; what of Miss Bennet?" he argued with his friend. "You certainly can find no fault with her as she is the fairest of them all in handsomeness and grace."
"I daresay, that Miss Bennet is indeed pretty," he acknowledged "but she smiled too much."
Charles couldn't fathom how anyone could find fault with Jane Bennet and he turned to his sisters for support.
Mrs. Hurst and her sister supported their brother, but only with regarding to Jane Bennet.
"I certainly would like to know more about her—she is such a sweet girl of easy temperament," Caroline permitted cautiously for she took great care not to go against anything that Fitzwilliam declared. Her liking for the Bennet girl was quite natural but increased upon seeing Fitzwilliam's obvious disregard for her one way or the other.
And as such, Charles based his decision on this, totally ignoring the look of displeasure on his friend's face. It was decided by him than Miss Bennet was a good girl and he would not hesitate to call on her and her family subsequently.
He whistled away at the breakfast table, thinking about the beautiful smiles of the sweet lady in question. The same smile that his friend had found to be a point of discontentment was a source of pleasure for him.
In fact, he found that he liked Jane Bennet's smile quite very much.
Caroline Bingley found herself with nothing to do for the whole afternoon. The weather, though bright and warm, offered no solace for her unoccupied mind and she found herself wandering through the garden in Netherfield. Her plan had been to spend the whole day in the company of Mr. Darcy and so, she had refused Mr. Hurst's invitation to accompany him and her sister to see the countryside. But Mr. Darcy had outwitted her again, as she couldn't find him in the whole building and neither could Charles who was busy with some correspondence in the little room beside his bedroom—a room which he conveniently called his library, despite the obviousness that the room was not intended for something more than a store.
Caroline decidedly ignored any thoughts about the temptation to continue her dwelling on Mr. Darcy. Since they moved in, he always had one or more private business to attend and her curiosity was increasingly piqued by his continual absence in the house.
Sighing at the pain of her reflections, she turned her mind to the occupation with less aching matters. The more she thought about Mr. Darcy's indifference to her, the more she might allow it to hurt her fragile heart and ruin a perfectly good day—he must know that she liked him immensely. Why, she even had a good dowry to offer him though not much compared to his younger sister's, but it would do him good and he and her brother were good friends. It was a wonder, indeed, how he couldn't deem to ask her hand in marriage considering that she was very well pleasing to the eye, rich enough and highly fashionable to provide him with good company and children. She did not even want to think about how her immense accomplishments and travels could benefit him should they become tied in marriage.
Perhaps if Mrs. Bingley wasn't so conceited in her thoughts about herself and with a little affectedness in her behaviour, Mr. Darcy might bestow a pleasing glance in her favour, but alas, there was nobody to inform her of this. The young miss forgot that her riches and that of her brother were derived through trade and had nothing to do with title and such. Mrs. Hurst and she had so taken it into their heads and think themselves above all without at least equal or above their earnings in a year. Sadly, her air of arrogance was not so endearing to men in her acquaintance; not to Mr. Darcy especially.
Again, Caroline bid herself not to think about Mr. Darcy at all.
With much effort, she turned her mind to the Meryton assembly the day before. For all intent and purpose, she thought, the ball was the most dreadful thing she had ever attended in her life. Of course, she had danced every dance and rightly so—a handsome fashionable lady of substance such as herself cannot be left without partners for even a single dance. It would be the height of insubordination on the part of the gentlemen present and she was glad that at the very least, they knew their manners. As to the rest, she could only sigh in resignation. The music could be regarded as insipid at best and the company, dull. A tiny voice at the back of her mind reminded her that she could have had as much fun at the assembly had she allowed herself be drawn into conversation by the eager gentlemen and friendly ladies at the assembly but she assiduously ignored the errant voice and continued recounting to herself how much she despised the assembly.
Her thoughts flowed to Miss Bennet and she agreed a little that perhaps, the assembly hadn't gone for aught. For a girl in such a place, Caroline thought her exceedingly well behaved and adequately beautiful enough to wait on her. More so, it seemed as if Mr. Darcy was not favourable to her and for Caroline; that in itself was a reason enough to like her better. That her brother was highly inclined towards her was of no consequence; it was all simply to pass the time at Netherfield. Making up her mind to go in pursuit of this new interest, she decided to invite Mrs. Bennet to tea at Netherfield. On a charitable thought, Caroline decided that she might as well include the entire Bennet ladies.