Mr. Darcy's Diary

I am pleased he has expressed a desire to see Georgiana again. He has known her very much longer than he has known Miss Bennet, and a new acquaintance cannot be expected to hold the same place in his affections as an old, particularly when he sees how much Georgiana has grown. The match would be welcome on both sides, and I flatter myself that it would be a happy one.

December

Thursday 5th December

Bingley came to dine with me today. He has been busy this last week, but he arrived punctually this evening and was very much taken with Georgiana.

‘She is turning into a beauty,’ he said to me. ‘And she is so accomplished,’ he added, when she played for us after dinner.

She is. I had almost forgotten what it is to listen to excellent playing, and I could not help an inward shudder when I thought of Mary Bennet’s playing and compared it to Georgiana’s. Elizabeth’s playing was sweet, it is true, though it was not so accomplished as my sister’s, but there was still a quality about it that made me want to listen.

Friday 6th December

Caroline called to see Georgiana this morning, and I entertained her until my sister’s music lesson was over.

‘Charles was very taken with Georgiana last night,’ she remarked. ‘He said that Georgiana was one of the most beautiful and accomplished young women of his acquaintance.’

I was well pleased. Caroline seemed pleased, too. I think she would not be averse to a marriage between them.

‘Are you going to visit your aunt in Kent before Christmas?’ she asked.

‘No, I think not, though I will probably visit her at Easter.’

‘Dear Lady Catherine,’ said Caroline, removing her gloves. ‘How I long to meet her. Rosings is a fine house, by all accounts.’

‘Yes, it is, very fine indeed.’

‘Such a pleasant part of the country.’

‘It is.’

‘I suggested to Charles that he should look for a house there. I would be happy to live in Kent. But he felt Hertfordshire was better placed. A pity. He would have avoided certain entanglements if he had settled elsewhere.’

‘He is free of them now, however.’

‘Yes, thanks to your intervention. He is lucky to have such a friend. I would find it a great comfort to know that such a friend was looking after me,’ she said, looking up at me.

‘You have your brother.’

She smiled. ‘Of course, but Charles is still a boy. One does so need a man at times, someone of depth and maturity, who is used to the ways of the world and knows how to live in it.’

‘Have you no plans to marry?’

‘I would, if I met the right gentleman.’

‘Now that you are in London you will have more chance of meeting people. Bingley means to arrange some balls, I know. I have encouraged it. The more pretty faces he sees over the next few weeks the better. And for you, it will extend your social circle.’

‘It is not so very constrained. We dine with more than four-and-twenty families, you know,’ she remarked satirically.

I was reminded of the Bennets, as she intended I should be, but if she knew the exact form of my thoughts I doubt she would have been so pleased. No matter what I do, every conversation seems to remind me of them in some fashion. It is fortunate that I have stopped thinking about Elizabeth, otherwise the Bennets would never be out of my mind.

Saturday 7th December

Bingley occupies himself with business and is in good spirits, though now and then I catch a wistful look in his eye.

‘You are sure she felt nothing for me?’ he asked this evening, when the ladies had withdrawn after dinner.

I did not need to ask whom he meant.

‘I am sure of it. She enjoyed your company, but nothing more.’

He nodded.

‘I thought she could not…such an angel…still, I hoped…but it is as you say. She will marry someone from Meryton, I expect. Someone she has known all her life.’

‘Very probably.’

‘Not someone she has only just met.’

‘No.’

‘She will not miss me, now I am gone.’

‘No.’

He was silent.

‘There is a great deal to be said for marrying someone one has known all one’s life, or at least for a long time,’ I said.

‘Yes, I suppose there is,’ he said, but without any real enthusiasm.

‘Their defects are already known, and there can be no unpleasant surprises,’ I continued.

‘It is as you say.’

‘And it is as well to know, and like, their family. Georgiana will marry someone she knows, I hope,’ I said.

‘Yes, it would be a good thing,’ said Bingley, but without real interest.

A pity. I thought his affections were turning in that direction. However, I have made the point, and in the future he may remember it.

Tuesday 10th December