Kitty was partly consoled for the agony of quitting Desborough Park by
the prospect of a reunion of the family under such enticing
circumstances, and Georgiana was sensible of the advantage of having two
or more evenings of excitement to prepare for and look forward to, to
sustain Kitty's spirits, which might otherwise have suffered some
diminution of liveliness in consequence of Mr. Price's not having made
his offer before they left. Kitty talked of it, and of him, and of the
charades, incessantly and inextricably all the way home; and it was
fortunate that Elizabeth was alone when they arrived, for it was hardly
possible for Kitty to disentangle the three subjects in giving a
description of their visit. Elizabeth made her happy by a kindly
reception of the plan for the following evening, and a promise to invite
the Ferrars and Mrs. Jennings to witness the charades; and when she had
darted away to the nursery with some presents sent by Jane to the little
Darcys, Elizabeth smilingly asked Georgiana if, from her own
observation, she could confirm Kitty's eager anticipations. Georgiana
could only reply that she believed all was going well; that Mr. Price
was more charming than ever, and the only difficulty in the way of
forming a judgment was that he was equally charming to everyone.
"I suppose Kitty's preference for him was very clearly marked?" said
Elizabeth.
"Yes," replied Georgiana, "I am rather afraid it was; but he appeared to
accept it without any embarrassment, and the understanding between them
seemed so good that I do not think there _can_ be any fear of his
disappointing her; we were almost always all together at Desborough, and
I used to think he was only awaiting an opportunity of seeing her
alone."
"Or she used to think so, perhaps?" said Elizabeth. "Well, I trust it is
going to end satisfactorily; meantime, I am most anxious to see this
paragon, with whom Jane, for her letter, seems to be nearly as much
delighted as you and Kitty are."
Kitty was allowed to be the bearer of the note, conveying the
invitation, to the Rectory party the next morning; and while Mrs.
Ferrars was writing a reply in another room, the enthusiastic young lady
was able to pour out her heart to the equally enthusiastic old lady.
Mrs. Jennings received her with much warmth, and immediately began a
series of questions which she usually answered herself at the same time
that Kitty was giving a reply, so that the real and the imaginary
descriptions were inseparably mingled together.
"And how was the young officer, my dear? Ay, ay, you need not tell me:
as handsome and as attentive as ever, I can see by your eyes."
"Yes, just as handsome as ever, dear Mrs. Jennings, and
attentive--yes--but you see we were a small party, so he could not
devote himself entirely--"
"Ah, but I fancy he _did_--did he not now? You need not be so modest
about it; these small parties are the very thing for the right people
always to pair off together. Lord! how well I remember when Mr. Palmer
was courting Charlotte, and there was a young man, too, coming after my
niece, and my sister used to say: 'It won't be a match this time,
Sarah,' and I'd say, 'You wait and see Henrietta; each of the girls has
got her beau, and there's a room for each to sit in; and the weather's
very bad;' and sure enough, the very next Monday--did you not say you
had bad weather, too, my dear?"
"I did not say so, Mrs. Jennings, but we did have some rain and snow."
"I thought as much; well, well, you are a lucky girl, to have it all
your own way, and your friends liking him so much, too; I suppose he
will speak to Mr. Darcy when he comes over here, as your father is not
just at hand."
"Dear Mrs. Jennings, you are making too much of it; he has not spoken to
me yet, you know: it is only that we are good friends, and he seems to
enjoy talking to me, and Jane was so kind, and let us sit together."
"That is quite right, my dear, just as it should be; I'll warrant your
sister Jane is a very sensible woman; and these charades, too, just the
thing. There, I am downright pleased to think I shall see the finish of
it. This acting, I suppose was the young man's idea? he is a clever one,
I know."
"No, it was not his; though, of course, he does it better than anyone
else. It was Mr. Bertram's idea--his cousin, who came with him."
"His cousin! Ah, yes, the other young man, I recollect. He was invited
for Miss Darcy, wasn't he? Come, come, now, Miss Bennet, no secrets
among friends."
"There is no secret, ma'am," returned Kitty, laughing, "I do not think
he was invited for Miss Darcy, or anyone; my sister did not know him
before."
"You may be sure that was in her mind. Is he not heir to some great
property? It seems to me I have heard so."
"He is heir to his father, Sir Thomas Bertram, in Northamptonshire; I do
not know if it is a great property."
"You may make up your mind that it is, and that something will come of
it, my dear Miss Bennet. A baronet! the very thing for Miss Darcy. Her
brother and your sister would be sure to look high. Was he not a fine
young man, and did they not make a nice couple?"
"I do not know--I did not think of it; but, Mrs. Jennings--"
"No, no, indeed, of course not. We all know what your thoughts were full
of" (laughing heartily), "and very naturally, too. Never mind, my dear,
we shall hear all about it before long, and you shall see if I ain't
right. Lord! what a thing this will be to Elinor! She thinks no one is
good enough for Miss Darcy. Well, well, it will be an evening to look
forward to. Only come and tell me when I am to make my congratulations,
for they will be on the tip of my tongue, and monstrous glad I shall be
to get them off. Will it be to-night, I wonder, or to-morrow night?
These young sailors can't afford to let the grass grow under their feet.
And your dress, my dear, what did you say it was going to be?"
In such pleasant anticipations the time passed quickly until the
re-entrance of Mrs. Ferrars with her note, when Kitty felt obliged to
return to Pemberley, as their visitors were to arrive early, and there
were still many preparations to be completed. As she walked homewards,
she was in a glow of delight over the visions which their talk had
evoked, and Mrs. Jennings's prophecy with regard to Georgiana and Mr.
Bertram fitted into its place in the same cheerful picture. Undoubtedly
Mrs. Jennings was quite right; she so seldom erred in her judgments!
Kitty could not recollect that those two had ever seemed specially
pleased with each other, but in all probability they were, for, now that
she came to think of it, there was no one else for Georgiana, and Mr.
Bertram matched her as naturally as Mr. Price did Kitty herself. Yes, it
was most likely that they would soon be engaged, perhaps married, before
another, and to Kitty, a more interesting couple! No, that would
certainly not do. If the wedding at Longbourn must be a less magnificent
affair than the one at Pemberley, if Kitty could not aspire to a
wedding-dress trimmed with such lace as Miss Darcy had inherited from
her mother, at all events she would have the honour and importance of
being married first. With smiles of satisfaction, she pictured the
sending out of the invitations, and had decided on the form of them, and
the number of recipients, by the time she re-entered the house.
The same subject absorbed the attention of the two ladies she had just
left. Mrs. Jennings could not refrain from recounting to her hostess the
conjecture she had instantly founded upon her knowledge of Mr. Bertram's
existence; and though Mrs. Ferrars was well acquainted with her friend's
flights of imagination, she had no positive arguments to array against
this one, and was obliged to content herself with urging Mrs. Jennings
to let no hint drop of her suspicions until something should occur to
confirm them, as it would be so painful for both the young people. Mrs.
Jennings promised caution, at the same time being evidently unwilling to
relinquish an idea that pleased her so much, and Mrs. Ferrars perceived
that it would be necessary to repeat the warnings very often before the
following evening, when her friend and her husband would go to the
Pemberley ball without her, as she dreaded over-fatigue; on the first
evening, the occasion of the charades, she intended to be present, and
hoped to be able to control and check Mrs. Jennings's remarks, should
they threaten to become embarrassing. Knowing her intense and
freely-expressed interest in her fellow-creatures, Mrs. Jennings's
friends would have been glad to bargain for not more than _one_ love
affair to be in progress at one time under her eyes!
The arrival of the party from Desborough could not fail to bring, even
to dignified Pemberley, a pleasant sense of bustle and excitement; and
in the first flood of greetings, introductions, and inquiries, Elizabeth
and her husband were only aware of a generally agreeable impression of
Mr. Bingley's two young guests; of Tom Bertram, good-looking,
fashionable, easy and talkative, and of William Price, with his shorter,
sturdier figure, fine open countenance, and manners which, with no want
of animation, yet attracted by their quiet simplicity. Even in the short
time since the two sets of friends had been parted, a great deal seemed
to have happened which must be talked over. Bingley wished to narrate,
to anyone who would listen to him, the wonderful achievements of his
shooting-party yesterday, who had accounted for an incredible number of
pheasants; Mr. Bertram had taken possession of Georgiana, in order to
propound to her at great length a scheme for altering and improving
several of the charade scenes; and William Price, who was somehow
established on a settee by Kitty, was telling her how far he had
succeeded in the task she had bequeathed to him, of endeavouring to
teach Mrs. Bingley's parrot to talk. The whole party were comfortably
disposed round the drawing-room fire, and looked like remaining there
until it was time to dress for dinner; but Tom Bertram, not satisfied
with explaining, wished to demonstrate, and presently asked if he might
see the acting-room, after which he was not long in requesting the
presence of his whole company there, to see if they understood their
movements and positions on the new stage. Kitty had undertaken to show
him all their preparations, and had carried off William Price with her,
and Bingley followed, with many good-humoured grumblings, summoning his
sister, who was not anxious to break off conversation with Colonel
Fitzwilliam, in the course of which she was examining him closely as to
his reasons for quitting London so abruptly in the summer. It was
necessary, however, to assert her position as leading lady, so she
joined the others, Georgiana slipping in with her, and watching for
opportunities to make herself useful, while in the intervals she put the
final stitches in a head-dress for Kitty. Mrs. Bingley was allowed to
excuse herself, pleading fatigue, and the presence of a sufficiently
large number of persons at this informal rehearsal, a reason fully
justified by the bursts of laughter and sounds of prolonged argument
which occasionally penetrated through the folding doors.
When, after a hasty toilet, the actors returned to the saloon, the
dinner guests had already arrived. Kitty was so distressingly conscious
of the confidences she had so freely given, that she kept in the
background while the two young men were being introduced to Mrs.
Jennings, and avoided meeting her eye. Mrs. Jennings shook hands with
them both warmly, and congratulated them upon having discovered such a
delightful form of amusement for themselves and the young ladies as
acting charades, these long evenings.
"Madam," returned Tom Bertram, with a bow, "let us hope that the
amusement will not be entirely on the side of the performers, since the
hard work is not the exclusive share of the spectators."
"Oh, law, Mr. Bertram, you quite mistake me; as to amusement, I can
assure you it will be the greatest treat to me and Mrs. Ferrars; but you
must admit that the hard work is not just the sort a young fellow gets
soon tired of, is it, now?"
"You think so, because you cannot see behind the scenes, Mrs. Jennings,"
interposed William Price, assuming an air of solemnity; "I do not
imagine my cousin would care to have command of a troupe of actors, such
as we are, for long together; you have no conception of what amount of
trouble we give him, I mean, the unruly ones."
Mrs. Jennings highly appreciated the allusion which she supposed these
words to contain, and tapping William on the arm with her fan, she
exclaimed: "Ay, ay, Mr. Price, I understand you, but you and Mr. Bertram
will have the whip-hand by and by, and then you can get some of your own
back."
"I am sure Mr. Bertram is an excellent stage-manager," said Mrs.
Ferrars, who had not heard all that passed, but judged by Mr. Price's
puzzled look, and Mrs. Jennings's laughter, that it was time to
intervene; "I cannot think how you have been able to work up your
charades and be ready for an audience within so short a time."
"It can only be proved that the charades are sufficiently worked up,
when we see whether the audience are sufficiently perplexed by them,"
said Bingley. "If you guess the words at once, we shall feel that we
have utterly failed."
"Do not overestimate our intellects, my dear Bingley," said his host.
"As Mrs. Jennings says, these charades are sport to you, and as a
natural consequence they are presumably death to us."
"Nonsense, Darcy," exclaimed Bingley, in the midst of the storm of
laughing protests evoked by this remark, "think of the acting, and the
splendid _mise en scène_, if your heart fails within you. Besides, you
can always applaud. Nowadays it is the fashion to admire loudest what
one understands least."
Darcy led the way to the dining-room with Mrs. Jennings, and as the
ladies of the party out-numbered the gentlemen, William Price found that
it fell to his lot to escort both Miss Darcy and Miss Bennet. The
former, seeing this, stepped on for a pace or two in advance, and Kitty,
as she took his arm, murmured: "How _discouraging_ Darcy is! He always
manages to make one feel that he despises the things we are doing."
William glanced to see if Mr. Darcy's sister had heard, and rejoined, "I
should hardly have thought so. He is only teasing, I fancy, and you know
he was speaking to Mr. Bingley, and they probably understand each other
particularly well."
"Still," said Kitty, "I must say I do not like that sort of teasing; it
is very provoking to be continually laughed at, and for one's best
friend to do it makes it all the worse."
"No, no, Miss Bennet, I am afraid I can't agree with you there; one can
put up with anything from one's best friend, or at all events with
things which one would not stand for a moment from anyone else. I wonder
if Miss Darcy feels that too?" he added, as they settled themselves into
their places at the table.
"I am not quite sure," replied Georgiana, when the question had been
explained to her. "I think that ridicule may be harder to bear from our
friends than from an uninterested person, merely because one feels they
ought to know best what is painful to one--if it is of a painful kind;
but on the other hand, one may always feel sure that a real friend had
no intention of saying anything of the sort."
"That would not be much good to _me_!" cried Kitty. "I find it is too
late, when I have already been very much vexed with anyone, to remember
that they really did not mean to vex me."
"Of course, it is not much consolation, when the blow has been already
dealt," said Georgiana musingly; "I meant that when one has reason to
believe no unkind motive exists behind anything one's friend says, then
one is not expecting to be hurt."
Kitty did not want to seem inclined to pursue the subject, and William
Price, after a moment's pause, said: "I imagine that you mean, by a
motive, the general feeling of goodwill in your friend's mind towards
you. I should doubt if people really have a distinct motive for every
little thing they do and say--at all events, they would have some
difficulty in defining one. But perhaps you yourself, Miss Darcy, are a
student of motives--perhaps your own actions are determined by a clear
purpose?"
"Mine? Oh, dear, no," said Georgiana, looking up at him, and down again
with a bright blush. "I think it is rather interesting to speculate upon
other people's motives and to wonder what hidden impulses make them do
certain things which seem hard to account for; but as to myself--oh, no,
I never understand my own motives--I do not always know what they are.
Do you understand yours?"
"Well, yes, I think so; not that I have ever troubled much about it, but
on general principles, I think I always do things, or try to do them,
either because I want to very much, or because it is a matter of
professional duty."
"Then you are decidedly to be congratulated, Mr. Price," said Georgiana,
smiling. "I should--I mean, most people would think themselves
fortunate if they had two such burning lights to guide them. I suppose
the way is so clear that you do not need to seek any further motives, as
to why you want to do the thing so much, for instance?"
"Of course not," promptly replied William, "that would be looking back.
How would one ever steer a ship, unless one kept one's eyes fixed on the
course ahead? If you suspect there are rocks, you must avoid them, but
it would be a waste of time wondering how you came to be where you are.
You see that, too, do you not?"
"Yes, I see what you mean," replied Georgiana, "but I am afraid I have
not learnt to steer my ship quite so well, or perhaps I have too many
lights, and they are confusing."
William began to reply, but was interrupted by Kitty, tired of a
conversation in which she had no share. "Mr. Price, do you know what you
have done? refused the lobster sauce! What can you be thinking of? your
turbot will not be half so nice without it!"
William made proper apologies to the bearer of the lobster sauce, who
returned it at Kitty's summons, and she was pacified by Mr. Price's
applying himself to his dinner, and entering heartily into a
reminiscence of hers at a dinner-party at Mrs. Knightley's, when they
had met for the first time, and when there had also--strange
coincidence--been turbot for dinner.
Georgiana was glad to sit for a while in silent thought. Mr. Price's
suggestion, that her life was governed by a distinct purpose, appeared
sadly wide of the mark. Did not the mistakes she had made in the past
show that she was merely drifting, lamentably weak, and having no sound
judgment of her own? Whereas people like Kitty, who had given themselves
up to the guidance of a definite aspiration, and Mr. Price, too, who had
owned what lights he was steering by, would they not soon be in safe
harbour? It seemed so, and Georgiana almost envied them of that
delightful security, for of late she had allowed herself to wonder if
such heights of happiness would ever be attainable by herself, and a
longing had sometimes crept over her, since she had known and liked Mr.
Price, that she might meet someone who could be to her what he was to
Kitty.
Throughout the remainder of dinner she did not have any further
conversation with William Price, though occasionally appealed to by one
or other of them to give an opinion upon some point at issue, generally
connected with the charades. With Mrs. Ferrars, who sat on her other
side, she enjoyed a quiet little talk, and before they left the table
Elinor inquired casually whether Mr. Bertram was nice--whether they had
found him pleasant.
"Yes, I think so--I think we all like him very much," replied Georgiana,
who until that moment had not formed any estimate of him. "He is very
lively--and he has taken an immense deal of trouble about the
charades--and Mr. Bingley, I know, considers him an excellent shot."
"That is quite an adequate description of him in a few words," said
Elinor. "I wondered what you all thought of him, as I know you had not
met before. He is not much like his cousin, is he?"
"No, indeed," responded Georgiana, speaking with more animation. "Could
you imagine a greater contrast? One can see at a glance how different
their lives and professions have been, and how different their
characters must be."
"I should be interested to hear," said Elinor in a low tone, and with a
smile, "what you take to be the chief points of unlikeness in their
characters, if you were not sitting too near to one of them to tell
me."
Georgiana smiled and shook her head. "I could not very well, and I am
sure you can read faces as well as anybody."
"I understand," said Elinor, "that the one we mentioned first is heir to
a title and a large estate."
"I believe so," replied Georgiana, "but the other is fortunate in
needing neither titles nor large estates to recommend him."
Elinor needed nothing further to convince her that Mrs. Jennings's
suspicions, as far as Georgiana was concerned, were perfectly
groundless; what the Bingleys might be desiring of her, or Mr. Bertram
aiming at, was another matter. Certainly an onlooker could hardly help
thinking of the probabilities of the match, with a handsome and wealthy
young man on the one side, and a girl of Georgiana's beauty,
accomplishments and high birth on the other.