The Eldest | F. Darcy

Chapter 9: Failing

When the ladies withdrew after dinner, Adele immediately attended to Jane, ensuring that she was warm and comfortable before joining the others in the drawing room. She was welcomed by Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst with many professions of pleasure, and, to her surprise, she had never seen them so agreeable as they were in the hour before the gentlemen appeared.

Their powers of conversation were considerable—they could describe an entertainment with accuracy, recount an anecdote with humor, and laugh at their acquaintances with just the right degree of spirit. But when the gentlemen entered, Jane was no longer their chief object.

Miss Bingley's eyes turned instantly to Darcy, and before he had advanced many steps, she found something to say to him. He, however, addressed himself first to Jane, offering a polite congratulation on her recovery. Mr. Hurst merely inclined his head and muttered that he was "very glad." But all the warmth and diffuseness of manner belonged to Bingley. He was full of joy and attention, spending the first half-hour ensuring that Jane was perfectly comfortable. He ordered the fire piled higher, lest she suffer from the change of room, and even persuaded her to move farther from the door. Then he took a seat beside her and talked of nothing and to no one else.

Adele, seated in a quiet corner with her needlework, observed all of this with no small degree of satisfaction.

When tea was over, Mr. Hurst, feeling the absence of his usual amusements, attempted to rally his sister-in-law for a game of cards. But Miss Bingley, having learned that Mr. Darcy had no desire to play, quickly abandoned the idea. Even an open petition from Mr. Hurst was rejected, for no one else seemed willing to indulge him. Left with no alternative, he stretched himself upon a sofa and went to sleep.

Darcy, meanwhile, took up a book. Miss Bingley did the same but appeared far less interested in her own reading than in his. She frequently interrupted him with questions, glanced at his page, and, after some effort at pretending absorption, gave up altogether.

With a great yawn, she declared, "How pleasant it is to spend an evening in this way! I declare, after all, there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library."

Adele, glancing up briefly from her work, understood at once that Miss Bingley's gaze was not on the man, but on the position—on the house itself, and the mistress she wished to become.

Caroline yawned again, threw aside her book, and looked about for amusement. Catching the sound of her brother speaking to Jane about a ball, she turned suddenly towards him.

"By the bye, Charles, are you truly serious about hosting a dance at Netherfield? Before you commit yourself, I would advise you to consult the present company. I am much mistaken if there are not some among us who would consider a ball more of a punishment than a pleasure."

"If you mean Darcy," Bingley replied, "he may go to bed before it begins if he chooses. But as for the ball, it is quite settled. As soon as Nicholls has made white soup enough, I shall send round my cards."

"I should like balls infinitely better," she sighed, "if they were carried on differently. There is something insufferably tedious in the usual process. It would surely be far more rational if conversation, rather than dancing, were the order of the day."

"Much more rational, my dear Caroline," Bingley agreed, "but it would not be much of a ball."

Miss Bingley made no answer but soon after rose and began walking about the room. Her figure was elegant, and she walked well, but despite the many opportunities she gave him to observe her, Mr. Darcy remained inflexibly focused on his book. In mounting desperation, she resolved upon one final effort.