need maids, gardeners and stable-hands from the local
area.’
‘He will not find any difficulty in procuring them
from Meryton.’
‘What do you think, Darcy?’ asked Bingley, when we
had completed our tour.
‘The price is far too high.’
Mr Morris insisted it was fair, but he was soon
brought to realize that it was excessive, and a far lower
sum was settled on.
‘Upon my honour, Darcy, I would not like to try and
stand against you when your mind is made up. Poor Mr
Morris might as well have agreed with you straight away,
and saved himself the effort of trying to argue with you!’
said Bingley, when he had closed with the agent.
He might laugh, but he will thank me for my care
when he is well settled.
‘When do you mean to take possession?’ I asked him.
‘As soon as possible. Before Michaelmas, certainly.’
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‘You should send some of your servants down before
you, then they can make sure that the house is ready for
your arrival.’
‘You think of everything! I will have them here by the
end of next week.’
I was glad he had taken my advice. If not, he would
have arrived at the same time as his servants, and then
wondered why there was no dinner waiting for him.
Tuesday 24th September
‘Darcy, welcome to my estate!’ said Bingley when I
joined him at Netherfield Park this afternoon. His sisters,
Caroline and Louisa, were with him, as was Louisa’s husband, Mr Hurst. ‘The house, the neighbourhood, everything is exactly as I would wish it to be.’
‘The estate is well enough, but the neighbourhood is
small, with very few families,’ I pointed out. ‘I warned
you of it at the time.’
‘There are plenty of families,’ he said. ‘Enough for us
to dine with, and what more do we want?’
‘Superior company?’ asked Caroline satirically.‘Entertaining conversation?’
‘I am sure we will find plenty of it,’ said Bingley.
‘You should have let me help you choose the house,’
said Caroline.
‘I did not need your help, I had Darcy’s,’ said Bingley.
‘And a good thing, too. I was only saying to Louisa
this morning that you could not have found a better
one,’ said Caroline, smiling at me.
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‘Upon my honour, I can think of no finer country
than Hertfordshire,’ said Bingley.
He is delighted with the neighbourhood at the
moment, but I think he will find it dull if he settles here
for any length of time. It is unlikely, however. He is so
capricious he will probably be off again in a month. I said
as much to Caroline after dinner.
‘Very likely,’ she said.‘Until then, we must be thankful
we have each other’s company.’
Wednesday 25th September
This has been our first full day at Netherfield Park. Caroline has managed things well, and she was particularly
pleased when I commented that no one would guess it
was a rented house. She has had some trouble with the
servants hired from the surrounding neighbourhood, but
it is to her credit that the household is running smoothly.
Thursday 26th September
The neighbourhood visits have begun. It is a bore, but it
was only to be expected. Sir William and Lady Lucas
called this morning. Bingley thought them very civil, on
account of Sir William bowing every two minutes and
mentioning that he had been presented at St James’s.
Caroline suspected that their haste in calling marked
them out as the parents of an elderly, unattractive spinster
whom they wished to see married, and she told Bingley
so as soon as they had departed.
‘Depend upon it, they have a daughter nearing thirty
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and intend to pass her off as one-and-twenty!’ she
warned him.
Bingley laughed.
‘I am sure they do not have a daughter at all, and if
they do, I am sure she is positively charming!’
‘Caroline is right,’ said Louisa.‘One of the housemaids
told me the Lucases have a daughter named Charlotte.
Charlotte is unmarried, and is seven-and-twenty.’
‘That does not stop her being charming. I am sure she
is a delightful young lady,’ protested Bingley.
‘And I am sure she is a homely body who is always
helping her mother about the pies,’ said Caroline in a
droll voice.
‘Well, I think it was very good of the Lucases to call,
and even better of them to invite us to the Meryton
assembly,’ said Bingley stoutly.
‘The Meryton assembly! God save me from country
assemblies!’ I remarked.
‘You have been spoilt by superior company,’ said Caroline.
‘I have indeed. The London assemblies are full of the
most elegant people in the country.’
For some reason she did not smile at this remark. I
cannot think why. She smiles at everything else I say, and
she must surely have been thinking of my London
acquaintance, for whom else could she have meant?
Sir William and Lady Lucas were not our only callers
today.They were followed by a Mr Bennet. He seems to
be a gentlemanlike man.
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‘He has five daughters,’ said Caroline, when he had gone.
‘Pretty girls,’ said Mr Hurst, rousing himself from his
stupor. ‘Saw ’em in Meryton. Handsome, the lot of ’em.’
‘There you are!’ said Bingley. ‘I knew I had chosen
well in settling at Netherfield. There will be plenty of
pretty girls to dance with.’
‘I know what you are thinking,’ Caroline remarked,
on seeing my expression.‘You are thinking it would be a
bore to be forced to stand up with a country wench. But
you need not do so. Charles will make a spectacle of
himself, no doubt, but you need not. No one will expect
you to dance.’
‘I hope not,’ I said.‘The idea of standing up with people I do not know is insupportable to me.’
Bingley laughed.
‘Come now, Darcy, this is not like you. You are not
usually so stiff-necked. It is the weather. Only let the rain
stop and you will be as eager to dance as I am.’
Bingley is an optimist.
Monday 30th September
Bingley and I rode round part of the estate this morning.
It has been kept in good order, and if he
