Pride and Prejudice and Superheroes

4. MR BENNET'S DISCOVERY OF SUPERHEROES

"MR BINGLEY, I presume," said Mr Bennet calmly with a dignified bow of respect.

"Mr Bennet, I presume," replied Bingley, returning the bowing gesture.

"And now we are both acquainted," confirmed Mr Bennet.

"And it is with my most agreeable pleasure, don't you know. Come, Mr Bennet, let me take you on a tour of Netherfield Park."

"I thank you. It has been a few years since I have had that pleasure." Mr Bennet turned to the stable master, "Thank you, Mr Jackson for tending to George."

Mr Jackson simply nodded his head and carried on brushing, perhaps fearing his voice would give away his guilty secret.

"Shall we?" said Bingley to Mr Bennet, gesturing towards the not too distant front door of the country house.

"We shall," replied Mr Bennet.

And so, the two men strolled along the gravel forecourt towards Netherfield Park's welcoming entrance.

"I never welcome my guests directly in the stables, myself," remarked Mr Bennet, fishing for clues behind the "secret" lurking in the stables.

"Oh, not all the servants are known to me. Thus, I wanted to welcome you personally at the earliest opportunity. You see, I have heard much of your scholarly papers, though I confess, I cannot fathom them to any depth. So, I did not want to risk giving an unfavourable impression."

"So far, you have succeeded in making a favourable one."

Bingley smiled.

"Did you arrive in your chaise and four, as you did on first viewing the property?" asked Mr Bennet, still fishing.

"A train of coaches brought many personal belongings and essential items for the house, but I travelled on my own."

"By horse?"

"No." Bingley looked as if he had been backed in to a corner.

It was obvious to Mr Bennet that a gentleman of Mr Bingley's standing and demeanour would find lying a difficult manoeuvre. And as the silence between them stretched, he knew that somehow Mr Bingley had arrived at the property in the "thing" he had earlier defined as "strangeness incarnate".

"Ah, I fathom you," said Mr Bennet reassuringly, "you mean, you came in a private carriage overnight to the town of Meryton, to give it a look over. Then you walked to Netherfield Park to get a feel for the layout of the surrounding English countryside. There are some fantastic places to charge around on a horse in these parts. That's exactly what I would have done in your position. I wish I was young again." Mr Bennet had given Bingley a way out of his corner.

"It appears, you have me a puzzle solved," said Bingley.

"Did you take the countryside path from Meryton or the road? I'm sure the path might have put you off, being as there are often wild animals that sometimes come across it." Mr Bennet was reeling in a slippery fish. He knew Bingley would not like to come across as a cowardly man.

"I took the path. I'm a country man, don't you know. Wild animals don't scare me. It's the other way around."

"Good, man," enthused Mr Bennet. "So you must have come upon the lake to the side of the path. Well, I say lake, but it's more of a huge pond. Still, great for fishing in. What did you make to that?" Mr Bennet's fish was nearing his keep-net. "It was beautiful, though fishing is not my forte."

Mr Bennet had caught his fish. There was no such a lake. He realised Bingley must have arrived in the strange contraption. But how could it have arrived without detection, as surely such an event would have been the news of the area? And how did it work? Then Mr Bennet thought of something that needed to be ruled out of the equation he was attempting to solve.