Pride and Prejudice

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Mr. Bingley felt himself to be on the razor's edge of progress or setback.

"Am I permitted to suppose that you are in fact willing to go there with me for luncheon, Miss Jane?"
 
"Then once more into the breach, dear friends, once more!" exclaimed Bingley. He cracked the carriage whip; but Jane noticed that he directed it out in the air where it could not actually strike the horse--it was only a signal. And they were on their way to Meryton.

That is, they WOULD BE on their way to Meryton, once Jane informed Mr. Bingley that he was driving the wrong way.
 
Mr. Bingley managed to turn his latest embarrassment into another chance to deliver a compliment, even as he turned the horse. "Miss Jane, I should not be surprised if, last night before sleeping, you prayed that on the next day you would have the opportunity to aid some lost wanderer in finding his way. Here is your answer...and NOW we are Meryton bound!"
 
Mr. Bingley wanted to go on showering Jane with gallantries; but he remembered their brief encounter with Captain Wickham. THAT self-conceited marionette probably spoke the same way to any woman he wanted to get on the good side of. Although in Bingley's case every compliment to Jane WAS meant at face value, still it might be better to make their driving conversation more substantial.

"Miss Jane, you and your parents and sisters heard a general overview back at your house about myself and my two sisters. Please be so generous as to reciprocate, and relate to me any facts which it may please you to tell about your own family."
 
Copperfox said:
Mr. Bingley wanted to go on showering Jane with gallantries; but he remembered their brief encounter with Captain Wickham. THAT self-conceited marionette probably spoke the same way to any woman he wanted to get on the good side of. Although in Bingley's case every compliment to Jane WAS meant at face value, still it might be better to make their driving conversation more substantial.

"Miss Jane, you and your parents and sisters heard a general overview back at your house about myself and my two sisters. Please be so generous as to reciprocate, and relate to me any facts which it may please you to tell about your own family."
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"well you may have noticed, Kitty and Lydia are loud. Mother even more so. Father and Mary seem to be the introverts, and Lizzie and I are very fond of eachother. If it weren't for her pert tongue we'd be nearly the same person."
 
Mr. Bingley smiled. "I'm just as glad for you and Miss Elizabeth to be separate persons. That way, some other man can have the delight of getting to know a girl who, by virtue of being YOUR favorite sister, must be ALMOST as captivating a creature as you are." Mr. Bingley was startled when his own words brought his also-unmarried friend Fitzwilliam Darcy to mind; he said nothing of this to Jane.
 
"Not Lizzy, no she has to have the most sensible, good natured man on the planet. There is no pleasing her."
 
Bingley took a deep breath, so forcefully as to be audible over the sounds of the horse and carriage. "Miss Jane, you have so nobly endured my innate awkardness up to now; I hope that you have not exhausted your patience with my babbled reassurances that I mean no offense by anything I say.

"When you say that Miss Elizabeth places high and adamant demands upon a prospective husband...would the criteria she maintains include, um, considerations of social class? Would she distance herself with a man she regarded as too far beneath, or too far above? I say this because you--I mean, because I--Oh, bother! I fear I shall dig a pit with my tongue, bury myself in it, and have you dancing a jig of celebration at my disappearance! Heaven help me, what I am trying to say is not really about your sister at all. Can you find it in you not to take offense if I make the most fleeting reference to the unmistakable fact that I happen to have been dropped onto this Earth in a wealthier family than yours? For my reference to this fact, is only meant to dismiss it from having excessive importance.

"Miss Jane..." He gulped, and wiped his brow again. "Miss Jane, if your father should see fit to allow it, would you object--and I abjure you to speak frankly--would you object to my becoming a regular caller? I mean, calling upon you in particular?"
 
Copperfox said:
Bingley took a deep breath, so forcefully as to be audible over the sounds of the horse and carriage. "Miss Jane, you have so nobly endured my innate awkardness up to now; I hope that you have not exhausted your patience with my babbled reassurances that I mean no offense by anything I say.

"When you say that Miss Elizabeth places high and adamant demands upon a prospective husband...would the criteria she maintains include, um, considerations of social class? Would she distance herself with a man she regarded as too far beneath, or too far above? I say this because you--I mean, because I--Oh, bother! I fear I shall dig a pit with my tongue, bury myself in it, and have you dancing a jig of celebration at my disappearance! Heaven help me, what I am trying to say is not really about your sister at all. Can you find it in you not to take offense if I make the most fleeting reference to the unmistakable fact that I happen to have been dropped onto this Earth in a wealthier family than yours? For my reference to this fact, is only meant to dismiss it from having excessive importance.

"Miss Jane..." He gulped, and wiped his brow again. "Miss Jane, if your father should see fit to allow it, would you object--and I abjure you to speak frankly--would you object to my becoming a regular caller? I mean, calling upon you in particular?"
Click to expand...

"Mr. Bingley! Of course. I'm flattered. I would very much wish you to call on me. And no your wealth has no meaning to me. A man's wealth is nothing compared to his kindness, as I often realize. And I'm afraid Lizzy is a bit of a snob with social class, not to anyone below our station, or nearly above it, but with very rich people. I dont undersand it, people are just people."
 
For the first time since he had helped her into the carriage, Mr. Bingley made so bold as to clasp one of Jane's hands--though the effort to do this while keeping control of the reins almost made him lose the whip over the side of the carriage.

"How perceptively you speak: the Greek philosopher speaking from the mouth of a Greek goddess! Miss Jane, the life I have lived has not done much to propel me into heroic accomplishments--as you may well have divined from the manner of our very first meeting this morning. I should say, my meeting with Mother Earth, and you and Miss Elizabeth discovering me flat on my back. But what the opinions of bored aristocratic peers did not achieve, the TRUE nobility of nature which YOU personify shall achieve: driving me onward, at least to TRY to be a better man than I have heretofore been."

He wanted more than ever to kiss her hand; if truth be told, he wanted to kiss HER. But this was, nonetheless, England in the very early 19th century--so he released her hand, though not releasing his thoughts.

 
Okay, Dayhawk's logged off, but I can at least bring us to our destination...

=====================================================



Meryton came into sight. But Mr. Bingley's eyes were fixed upon Jane for as much of the time as was possible without hazard to his safe driving. Another time would be soon enough to make acquaintance with mere buildings.

When they entered the White Owl Inn, the first person to react to their entrance was a cobbler from whom the Bennet family had bought many a pair of shoes. Recognizing Jane, he also recognized the general social status of the man escorting her. Not wanting to offend by not knowing the gentleman's name if it were someone he should have remembered, the cobbler took refuge in greeting the person actually known to him.

"Why, Miss Bennet! The best of the day to you! I hope that you and the good sir plan to eat here; I just finished some of their baked mutton--very good today."
 
Meanwhile, Mary sullenly looked around the ribbon shop looking for something suiting as Kitty and Lydia were looking over all the frilly ribbons that Mary thought were obviously flirty and would only catch a man's eye as opposed to gaining respect at the dance. "I don't see how you two can go on about like that when you two still haven't come out into society. Don't you think you have to be prepared for what's to come?"

Lydia looked at Mary in an odd manner and thought nothing of what she asked. Kitty just giggled and replied, "But don't you see? That's exactly what we're doing! If we don't prepare ourselves for men now, how else are we supposed to be able to know how to catch one quickly when we're in society?"
 
The storekeeper, for mercenary reasons, argued in favor of the girls buying even more frills--mentioning, as if he were the only man on Earth to know it, that an extremely eligible bachelor had just moved into Netherfield Manor. "ALL the girls will 'ave their caps set fer 'im, ladies, mark my sayin' it!"
 
(Since I'll be busy awhile, more with Jane and Mr. B. now)

But the same gentleman about whom the shopkeeper in Longbourne was holding forth, already had the lady of his interest with him in Meryton; and if she proved as good in temperament as his first impression of her, no other woman would have a chance. Walking arm-in-arm with Jane was such a pleasure for Mr. Bingley that he did not let it end too quickly by making straight for the door of the inn. First, he walked up the street and back again with his exquisite companion--relishing what was, by the standards of the time, an intoxicating degree of physical contact. At last, though, the stomach began to assert its ancient rights.

When the innkeeper saw who was patronizing his dining room--he had glimpsed Mr. Bingley once before, in the well-known Mr. Darcy's company--he anxiously glanced at the crowded space. An old candle seller and his wife were just being seated at the only vacant table, the one where the cobbler had finished eating only minutes before. The innkeeper bustled over to the startled couple, beginning to shoo them away so that the _gentleman_ and Miss Bennet would not have to wait.

But Mr. Bingley had seen this kind of obsequious favoritism to the wealthy class--to _his_ class--many times. He had allowed himself to gain by it on occasions when it did not seem to injure anyone. But elderly folk, having every cause to expect they were about to have their lunch in peace--

"Excuse me, innkeeper, wait!" Bingley said it just sharply enough to command the proprietor's attention. "I apologize for not making myself clear to you more quickly. What Miss Bennet and I actually wish to do is to place our orders in advance for luncheon--but then to pass half an hour or so inspecting the shops hereabouts. Allow us to see the menu, and we will be back at, hmmm..." He was catching the eye of the candle seller at the table. That old fellow still had the wits to realize that he was being invited to give a sign; so he used his fingers to sign out "twelve."

"We will be back and ready to eat at noon precisely," Bingley finished.
 
The nominally-Reverend Mr. Collins, ordained though he was, had never even seen the passage in The Acts of the Apostles where Saint Peter said to an inappropriately ambitious man: "Your silver perish with you, because you thought the gift of God could be purchased with money!" Indeed, no one in the Anglican Church of that era seemed to take any notice of that Scripture; those who did, had gone to join the Wesleyans, the Quakers or the Presbyterians. For Anglican parishes were commodities now, rather than callings. Collins, whose father had contrived his ordination and placement, barely knew Genesis from Revelation; he never even wrote an original sermon, but obtained copies of other men's sermons and read them aloud at services.

It was his true allegiance--to the silver, not to the anointing of God--which caused the Reverend Mr. Collins to be intrigued when he heard that the newest rich man in the neighborhood had gone inside the Bennet household, stayed inside there for over an hour, and then taken Jane Bennet with him on a carriage ride with the approval of the vicar's cousin Mr. Bennet. The vicar quickly resolved to see what advantage for himself might be derived from this turn of events.
 
Elizabeth and her sister where still shopping when Ladia stopped " I'm hungry can we stop and eat?," she asked.

Kitty-

" Yes, Yes can we Elizabeth?," she asked.

Elizabeth-

" Sure we can come on lets go," she told them, walking into a Inn.
 
OOC: It would probably take some time before they got there, so I will assume that the waiting time Bingley accepted for himself and Jane has already passed....


Upon entering The White Owl, whom should they see already sitting and eating fresh-made pot-pies, but Jane and Mr. Bingley! Between their obvious enjoyment of the food and the tea, AND their still more obvious mutual enjoyment of each other's presence, they didn't seem to notice who was coming toward them.
 
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