Chapter 24 Happy Was The Day

Morning frost held fast to the flat, raw earth. The cold mist glinted in the early shards of light breaking open a new dawn. The sun had yet to enjoy two hours in the sky when the Bingley carriage rolled into the drive at Longbourn. But the Bennet household had been awake long before dawn in eager preparation for the unplanned journey up to London.

“Mr. Bingley, you are so punctual! Isn’t he, Jane?” Mrs. Bennet complimented the gentleman, her voice filled with frenetic energy. The poor man paused in his efforts to disembark from the carriage, blinking in surprise to see Mrs. Bennet standing in the doorway of Longbourn, with two footmen bringing trunks around the corner.

“Good morning,” he managed, before nodding to Jane and her mother in sequence. He gripped the leather strap nailed into the ceiling absently, losing himself in admiring Jane.

The party stood at a standstill as Mr. Bingley did not ask anything further right away. The driver yelled at a careless footman trying to push a trunk up before the Bingley staff could rearrange Miss Bingley’s luggage to make room. Mr. Bingley turned to look up, as though to assert himself as Master, but having no advice to fix the matter, he remained silent.

Mrs. Bennet began to shout to attract his attention again.

“Kitty joined her Aunt Phillips last evening, we are quite ready to leave,” Mrs. Bennet called, anticipating inquiries the affable Mr. Bingley might make. He suddenly remembered his manners and stepped down from the carriage properly. After strolling to the doorway and kissing the top of Jane’s hand, he addressed the woman that was to become his wife in less than a month’s time.

“Are you well, Miss Bennet?” he asked, earning a quick grin from Jane.

Jane blushed.

“Yes, I am,” she said, quietly.

Mrs. Bennet heard the small interlude and refused to be left out. “She is very well, indeed. I told her this morning how healthy and hale she appeared,” Mrs. Bennet remarked, filling the silence but ignored by all. After Jane accepted Mr. Bingley’s arm, he began to lead both ladies towards the carriage.

Miss Bingley leaned forward to frown at what was taking so long, before shrinking to the far corner of the carriage as the Bennets began to board the carriage.

After helping them both up, Mrs. Bennet stuck her head out the door before it could be closed.

“Mr. Bingley!”

The man halted in his tracks to attend to Mrs. Bennet’s needs. She waved at him to join them in the carriage.

“There is plenty of space on the bench next to Jane,” she said, as she had taken the open spot next to Miss Bingley, who shivered in the exposure to cold air.

Mr. Bingley quietly addressed the groom that had released his new horse from the post position. He gallantly mounted the steed, then the groom handed the reins up to Mr. Bingley.

“Thank you, but I enjoy a brisk ride.” The horse stamped his feet with impatience to have a rider, but not yet begin the journey. “This fellow and I have to get to know each other better,” he said, leaning forward to pat the horse’s neck. The beast snorted in response and shook his mane as Mr. Bingley quickly righted his posture and took control of the animal.

“But it’s nearly thirty miles to London! Surely you don’t plan to ride that far in the elements?” Mrs. Bennet exclaimed as Miss Bingley leaned forward to force Mrs. Bennet back into her seat.

Miss Bingley reached out to close the carriage door. “He does it all the time, Mrs. Bennet. Charles despises the carriage,” Miss Bingley said, before slamming the carriage door in aggravation.

Jane flinched, catching the eye of the woman who would soon be her sister by marriage. In response, Caroline Bingley pursed her lips in satisfaction, then jerked the fur wrap back around her shoulders that had fallen to her lap. She leaned as far away from Mrs. Bennet as she could.

Mrs. Bennet chattered on and on, trying to engage Miss Bingley in conversation about the delights and diversions of Town. Jane stared out the window and provided her mother a minimum number of required responses. Her eyes never ceased watching Mr. Bingley riding his horse outside, feeling nervous for his safety at nearly every bend. At the same time, she admired his bravery in riding alongside the two armed guards that escorted their carriage.

“I wonder if Mr. Darcy and Lizzy will wish to see the theatre again?” Mrs. Bennet mused, catching the sudden interest of Miss Bingley.

“Again? You mean they’ve already been?” Caroline asked, and Jane nodded her head.

“My aunt wrote to me,” she said, searching her pelisse for the carefully tucked note that Mrs. Gardiner had sent by a messenger asking for Jane to seek reconciliation with her sister as soon as humanly possible. As Jane began to scan the familiar lines, Miss Bingley casually leaned forward to tug the letter out of Jane’s unsuspecting hands.

Confused that Miss Bingley would encroach on her privacy in such a manner, Jane barely protested, allowing the woman to read Mrs. Gardiner’s lines uninterrupted.

“It says your sister is quite overwhelmed and nearly fainted while shopping!” Miss Bingley mocked the more judicious words of Mrs. Gardiner with her own revision and escalation.

“Fainted? That’s not Lizzy at all! Jane, Jane, what if there is sickness?”

Jane sighed and reached firmly for her letter back from Caroline.

“Lizzy did not faint, Mama. She was caught off-guard by my Uncle’s generosity.”

Mrs. Bennet ignored her eldest daughter about her second daughter to worry more about her health. “Have you heard of any illness spreading in London from your friends?” she asked Miss Bingley.

Caroline Bingley laughed a hollow, short scoff. As she caught Jane’s eye, her demeanor swiftly changed to a more polite charade for Mrs. Bennet’s benefit.

“No, Mrs. Bennet, my friends in Town have all assured me it is safe.”

Mrs. Bennet seemed satisfied with the answer and then began to fuss about when they would next stop at a tavern.

Jane unfolded her letter one more time to read the end of the missive:

…No matter what misunderstandings and frustrations have passed between you, your sister took a great risk in advocating on your behalf to bring Mr. Bingley back into your life. Please do not make the same mistake I did in allowing the stress and worry of a wedding to turn a fracture into an irreparable break. Marriage is often isolating and foreign; leaning on each other as you two have always done will see you both through many storms. Hurry here by any means possible, for your family and yourself.

To humor Mrs. Bennet, the Bingley carriage stopped at the next village to rest and refresh themselves. Once the horses were tended to and Mrs. Bennet and Miss Bingley were inside the tavern, Mr. Bingley invited Jane to stretch her legs.

“You must be sore from riding. Are you certain you’d care to walk?” she asked, with a twinkle in her eye.

Mr. Bingley assured her that if he sat down any longer, he would regret it. Jane giggled at his hinting at his posterior’s abuse from the saddle as they walked nonchalantly to a small path that was shielded by some trees and undergrowth. If the time of year had not robbed the foliage of its greenery, they could have enjoyed some privacy. Instead, they were still too much in plain view of travelers taking advantage of the convenient village on the outskirts of London. Despite this, Mr. Bingley happily took Jane’s arm and they enjoyed their time together as though no one else in the vicinity mattered at all.

“Has Caroline behaved?” Mr. Bingley asked, and Jane hesitated but eventually nodded.

Mr. Bingley frowned. “I struggle to understand the various disagreements you ladies have between you. There, just there, you nod but the moment you waited, I know you are placating me.”

Jane sighed as Mr. Bingley laughed. “Forgive me, Jane,” he whispered, leaning closer to her. “I know how beastly my sister’s manipulations can become,” he confessed. Gently, he squeezed her hand and then waited to hear what she would say.

“Once I would have said that Miss Bingley had a reason to write such a vicious, wicked letter,” Jane said, carefully looking over her shoulder as though the woman in question might come upon them. It was not merely her aunt’s letter that prompted the trip to London, but letters discovered by a housemaid from the local area who was more loyal to the future Mrs. Bingley than the unpleasant Miss Bingley. “But we cannot forget that she also conspired to separate us.”

Mr. Bingley nodded. “My friend, Darcy, may deserve the consequences of my sister’s quill, but your sister . . .” Mr. Bingley paused and Jane earnestly defended Elizabeth.

“Oh, how I wish Caroline had not been allowed so long to pour poison into your ear. How she took my polite conversations with her and twisted them to make Lizzy the villain to you . . .” Jane trailed off, recalling his earlier question. “That is why I hesitated to set you at ease about her behavior. I witnessed her change the words of my aunt’s letter to set my mother into a fit of fear about sickness!” Jane’s voice rose in volume as she began to express the anger and frustration she had to keep under good regulation in the carriage.

The couple paused as the path began to bend in a direction away from the inn and wordlessly, they both realized they ought to turn around and rejoin their party.

“Has she changed in her behavior towards you?” Mr. Bingley asked, seeking an answer to his fears about the ladies riding in the carriage without him.

Jane shook her head almost immediately. “She believes the sudden change to go to London is to shop for me, and I believe she might still have designs on Mr. Darcy, so she is content to be near him.”

“I don’t believe she doesn’t suspect anything. She would notice the letters are missing,” he reasoned.

“No, she won’t. I had others put into their place, so unless she opens to reread them, they appear on the outside to be the same,” Jane explained.

Mr. Bingley came up short in his walk, causing Jane to stop as well. He marveled at his future wife’s cleverness. “Again, the subterfuge of ladies, I tip my hat,” he said, with a smile, miming the action.

Ahead of them, they could spy the trailhead and the bustling activity of other travelers.

“Do you think we will arrive in London in time to prevent any harm?” Jane asked.

Mr. Bingley patted her hand as he could see Mrs. Bennet leaving the inn, calling after his sister who appeared very displeased as she marched toward their carriage.

“We should arrive in Cheapside shortly after noon,” he remarked.

Jane realized her question was quite silly as neither of them knew when Miss Bingley began her horrible correspondence with her friend in London. There was no telling how far the gossip and scandalous falsehoods about Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth had reached. They only had some understanding of what Caroline wrote based on the reactions of her confidants.

“How much longer, Jane? You have traveled this road many times? Are we near to London?” Mrs. Bennet asked, plaintively, holding her hand to her stomach.

Jane pitied her mother as she avoided looking at Miss Bingley.

“Very near, now, Mrs. Bennet. About one hour more,” Mr. Bingley explained, calling over a groom to explain he would not be riding outside the carriage, but instead ride the rest of the way with the ladies.

“Mama, ride on this bench with me,” Jane urged, as she took the backbench so that her mother would not have to ride with her back to the direction they were traveling in. The family line was her father could never stand to travel, but the truth was that neither of the elder Bennets enjoyed a long ride in carriages. Her father hated the people; her mother hated the motion.

Mr. Bingley smiled at Jane, realizing she was comforting her mother for the last of the leg. With a rolling of his hand, he encouraged his sister to get back into the carriage.

“Charles, it will be cramped,” she complained as she eyed the horse being led away.

“At least you will not be cold, Caroline,” he said, offering his sister his assistance, but she shunned it.

As Mr. Bingley plopped down on the bench and closed the carriage door, the vehicle became quite cozy, indeed. But unlike the ride thus far, the last hour passed with pleasant conversation and apart from Miss Bingley, satisfied all inside the vehicle. Mrs. Bennet laughed frequently as she traded anecdotes and short stories with Mr. Bingley. The affable man risked a wink in Jane’s direction once, while Mrs. Bennet was looking down for her handkerchief. Jane shared a wistful smile with him, feeling relieved to see him more like his old self than ever.

Not long after the sun reached its highest point in the sky, Jane began to recognize familiar buildings and streets. The first part of making it to London was nearly complete, and her stomach suddenly began to twist and turn as she was forced to face two realities. She would be away from Mr. Bingley for the most amount of time since their engagement, and keeping the concealment from Caroline Bingley was the easy part. The next stage meant she would have to face her sister. Jane hoped Elizabeth would accept her apologies and the warning she wished she didn’t have to give.