Miss Bingley’s letter finally arrived, and there was no longer any reason to hope.
The very first sentence made it clear that the Bingleys would be staying in London for the winter.
She also explained that her brother regretted not having had time to visit his friends in Hertfordshire before leaving.
Jane’s hopes were completely gone.
When she continued reading, she found very little comfort in the letter, except for Caroline’s repeated claims of affection.
Most of the letter was devoted to Miss Darcy.
Caroline went on and on about Georgiana’s beauty, manners, and other qualities. She happily described how much closer they had become and hinted that her brother might eventually marry Miss Darcy, just as she had suggested before.
She also seemed delighted that Bingley was staying at Mr. Darcy’s house.
Caroline even mentioned some of Darcy’s plans to redecorate and buy new furniture, as though this were extremely exciting news.
Jane soon told Elizabeth the main points of the letter.
Elizabeth listened in silence, but she was furious.
She felt sorry for Jane, but she was also angry with everyone who had played a part in the situation.
Elizabeth did not believe Caroline’s claim that Bingley had developed feelings for Miss Darcy.
She had never doubted that Bingley cared deeply for Jane.
What disappointed her most was Bingley himself.
She had always liked him, but now she was angry at how easily he allowed his friends to control him. He seemed too weak to make his own decisions and was willing to give up his happiness simply because the people around him wanted something different.
If only his own happiness were at stake, Elizabeth might have said that he had every right to make such a foolish choice.
But Jane was suffering too, and Elizabeth was sure Bingley must have realized that.
She could not stop thinking about it.
Had Bingley really stopped loving Jane?
Or had his feelings simply been buried under the pressure from his friends?
Had he ever understood how strongly Jane cared for him?
Or had he failed to notice?
The answer mattered to Elizabeth because it would change her opinion of Bingley.
But whatever the truth was, Jane was still the one who had been hurt.
A day or two passed before Jane finally found the courage to talk about it.
One day, Mrs. Bennet left the two sisters alone after spending an unusually long time complaining about Netherfield and Mr. Bingley.
Jane sighed.
“Oh, I wish Mother could control herself. She has no idea how much her constant complaints about him hurt me.”
“But I won’t complain. It cannot go on forever. Eventually, she will forget him, and everything will return to normal.”
Elizabeth looked at Jane with concern. She could hardly believe how calmly her sister was trying to accept everything.
Jane noticed her expression.
“You don’t believe me.”
She blushed slightly.
“But you have no reason not to.”
“He may always remain in my memory as one of the kindest men I have ever known. But that is all.”
“I have nothing left to hope for, and nothing to fear.”
“And, thank God, I have nothing to blame him for.”
“With a little time, I am sure I will get over it.”
Jane paused before continuing.
“There is one thing that comforts me. Perhaps I was simply mistaken about his feelings. If that is true, then no one was hurt except me.”
“My dear Jane,” Elizabeth said, “you are far too good.”
“Your kindness and selflessness amaze me. I hardly know what to say.”
“Sometimes I feel that I have never appreciated you enough or loved you as much as you deserve.”
Jane immediately rejected the praise.
“You are being too kind. You feel strongly because you love me.”
“No, that isn’t fair,” Elizabeth replied.
“You always want to believe the best of everyone. You are upset whenever I say something bad about another person.”
“I am simply trying to convince you that you are perfect, and you keep fighting me.”
“Don’t worry. I am not going to become as forgiving as you are.”
“There are very few people I truly love, and even fewer whom I actually admire.”
“The more I see of the world, the more disappointed I become.”
“Every day gives me another reason to believe that people are full of contradictions and that appearances cannot always be trusted.”
“I have seen two examples of that recently.”
“I won’t tell you about one of them.”
“But the other is Charlotte’s marriage.”
“I simply cannot understand it. No matter how I look at it, it makes no sense.”
“My dear Lizzy, don’t let yourself become so bitter,” Jane said.
“If you continue thinking this way, you will only make yourself unhappy.”
“You have to remember that people have different circumstances and different personalities.”
“Mr. Collins is respectable, and Charlotte is sensible, practical, and steady.”
“She comes from a large family, and financially this is an excellent marriage for her.”
“You should at least allow yourself to believe that she may have some genuine respect and affection for our cousin.”
“For your sake, I would try to believe almost anything,” Elizabeth replied.
“But no one else would benefit from me believing that.”
“If I truly believed Charlotte had affection for Mr. Collins, I would think even less of her judgment than I already do of her feelings.”
“My dear Jane, you know perfectly well what Mr. Collins is like.”
“He is proud, pompous, narrow-minded, and foolish.”
“You know it just as well as I do.”
“And surely you must feel that a woman who chooses to marry such a man cannot have very good judgment.”
“Even though she is Charlotte Lucas, I cannot pretend otherwise just to make you happy.”
“You must not change the meaning of good sense and honesty for the sake of one person.”
“And you must not convince yourself that selfishness is the same thing as good judgment, or that ignoring danger is the same as finding happiness.”
“I think you are being too harsh toward both of them,” Jane replied.
“I hope that, when you see them living happily together, you will change your mind.”
“But let’s leave Charlotte and Mr. Collins for now.”
“You mentioned another example.”
“I know exactly who you mean.”
“Please, Lizzy, don’t upset me by telling me that he is to blame or that you have lost all respect for him.”
“We shouldn’t always assume that people deliberately hurt us.”
“We also shouldn’t expect a young man to be careful and thoughtful about every little thing he does.”
“Sometimes we simply imagine that someone’s admiration means more than it really does.”
“And men make sure women are encouraged to think that way.”
“If someone deliberately misleads another person, then he cannot be excused.”
“But I don’t believe people are as deliberately cruel as you think.”
“I am not saying Bingley meant to hurt anyone,” Elizabeth said.
“But a person doesn’t have to plan to do something wrong in order to cause pain.”
“Carelessness, failing to consider someone else’s feelings, and not having the courage to make your own decisions can cause just as much damage.”
“Do you believe Bingley is guilty of one of those things?”
“Yes.”
“Of the last one.”
“But if I keep talking, I will probably say things about people you still respect.”
“So stop me while you still can.”
“You still believe his sisters influenced him?”
“Yes.”
“And I believe Darcy helped them.”
“I cannot believe that,” Jane said.
“Why would they try to control him?”
“They can only want what is best for him.”
“If he truly loves me, how could another woman make him happier?”
“That first assumption is wrong.”
“They may want many things besides his happiness.”
“They may want him to become richer and more important.”
“They may want him to marry a woman with money, powerful connections, and a high social position.”
“Of course they want him to marry Miss Darcy,” Jane admitted.
“But perhaps their reasons are not as bad as you think.”
“They have known her much longer than they have known me.”
“It is only natural that they might care about her more.”
“And whatever they personally want, I cannot believe they would deliberately go against their brother’s wishes.”
“What sister would feel entitled to interfere unless she believed there was some serious problem?”
“If Bingley truly loved me, they would not try to separate us.”
“And even if they did try, they could not succeed.”
“When you imagine that Bingley loved me, you make everyone behave badly and dishonestly.”
“And most of all, you make me unhappy.”
“Please don’t make me think that way.”
“I am not ashamed that I may have been mistaken.”
“Perhaps I was simply wrong about his feelings.”
“That would hurt far less than believing badly of him or his sisters.”
“Please let me see the situation in the kindest way possible.”
Elizabeth could not argue with her sister’s wishes.
After that conversation, the name Bingley was hardly ever mentioned between them.
Mrs. Bennet, however, continued to complain about his failure to return.
Elizabeth could usually explain exactly why Bingley had not come back, but her mother never seemed satisfied.
Elizabeth even tried to convince her that Bingley’s attention toward Jane had only been a temporary attraction that disappeared once he stopped seeing her.
Mrs. Bennet sometimes admitted that this explanation sounded possible.
But the next day, she would ask the same questions all over again.
Her greatest comfort was the belief that Bingley would certainly return in the summer.
Mr. Bennet looked at the situation very differently.
One day, he turned to Elizabeth.
“So, Lizzy, I hear your sister has had her heart broken.”
“I congratulate her.”
“After getting married, there is nothing a young woman enjoys more than being disappointed in love once in a while.”
“It gives her something interesting to think about and makes her stand out among her friends.”
“When will it be your turn?”
“You can’t let Jane have all the excitement.”
“Now is your chance.”
“There are plenty of officers in Meryton who are capable of breaking the hearts of every young woman in the county.”
“Why don’t you choose Wickham?”
“He is a pleasant fellow, and I am sure he could break your heart in a very respectable way.”
“Thank you, Father,” Elizabeth replied.
“But I would be satisfied with a man who is much less pleasant.”
“We cannot all expect to be as lucky as Jane.”
“Very true,” Mr. Bennet said.
“But whatever disappointment you suffer, you can always count on your loving mother to make the most of it.”
Wickham’s company helped lift the gloomy mood that had settled over much of the Longbourn household.
The family saw him frequently.
And now they had another reason to admire him: he seemed completely open about everything that had happened between himself and Darcy.
The story Elizabeth had already heard was now discussed openly.
Wickham spoke freely about his supposed claim against Darcy and all the suffering he said Darcy had caused him.
Everyone in the neighborhood was delighted to hear it.
They were especially pleased to discover that they had always disliked Darcy, even before they knew why.
Jane was the only person who wondered whether there might be another side to the story.
Her gentle and fair-minded nature always made room for the possibility that some facts were missing or that people might have made mistakes.
Everyone else, however, had already decided that Darcy was the worst man imaginable.