Elizabeth and Miss Bingley Face Off – excerpt from a WIP

Here, as promised, is part 2 of chapter 2 of my current work-in-progress – a variation of my own popular novel The Darcys of Pemberley, this time written entirely from Georgiana’s point of view. This is a flashback scene where Georgiana remembers what happened when Elizabeth (and the Gardiners) visited Pemberley, only to be met by Miss Bingley’s mean-spirited attacks. We’re not given many details in Pride and Prejudice, so this constitutes at least a partially missing scene. If you didn’t see part 1 last week, you’ll find it here. And if you’d like to start at the very beginning (or learn more about my books), read chapter 1 here. I’m having so much fun working on this book, and I hope you enjoy this excerpt!



 

I was very much gratified by the kind attention Miss Bennet and her aunt showed by waiting upon me the following day at Pemberley. They were ushered into the saloon when they arrived, where I had been sitting with Miss Bingley, Mrs. Hurst, and Mrs. Annesley. Once again, although I was anxious to please, my crippling shyness prevented me from receiving my guests as graciously as my conscience told me I should have. Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst, being barely civil, were no help at all in filling the awkward silence that followed. Thank heaven for Mrs. Annesley, who by her true cordiality proved her merit. She introduced some suitable topic of discourse, in which she was immediately joined by Mrs. Gardiner.

I am afraid I contributed very little. Elizabeth was not seated near enough for me to make myself easily heard by her. And every attempt I did make at distinguishing her by venturing a comment in her direction seemed to make the situation more uncomfortable by drawing some expression of scorn from Miss Bingley.

Miss Bingley and Mrs. HurstRelief arrived in the form of new employment for the whole party when the servants brought in a variety of refreshments for us – cold meat, cake, and a beautiful pyramid of the finest fruits. As hostess, I then had a clear duty to perform and the others did as well. Though it seemed we were not all able to talk, we were all able and willing to eat.

While we were thus occupied, the gentlemen (including Mr. Gardiner and my brother) entered the room, whereupon I exerted myself to ask, “Had you good fishing, Mr. Gardiner?”

“We had! Thank you, Miss Darcy,” he replied, giving me a little bow.

“It is true,” agreed my brother, directing his address very particularly to Elizabeth. “Miss Bennet, your uncle’s presence at the stream seems to have brought us all luck. I hope you have been getting on just as well here.”

Upon this marked attention, all eyes turned to Elizabeth in a way I should have found very distressing. But she, after only a moment’s pause to collect herself, responded with an air of apparent ease. “Very well indeed, sir. As you see,” she continued, gesturing to the elegantly laid table and the airy saloon as a whole. “Miss Darcy has received us in this delightful room and provided for our every comfort. I could not be more pleased.”

“Excellent,” he said, returning her contented smile and unwavering gaze.

While the two of them seemed hardly aware of anything beyond themselves, I felt most acutely the passing of every second of silence. Before I could contrive anything to say, however, Miss Bingley jumped in to fill the void.

“Yes, Mr. Darcy,” she said, interposing herself between them with a swish of skirts and a flutter of eyelashes. “But then your sister is always such a gracious hostess, no matter who comes calling. She does everything the best in the world, and I am forever boasting over her. ‘Miss Darcy is by far the most accomplished young lady of my acquaintance,’ I always say. I care not if my friends grow weary of hearing it.”

Though far from genuinely gratified by Miss Bingley’s pretty speech, I felt compelled to make some response. “You flatter me, Caroline, but this is much more credit than I deserve.”

“No, no,” she said resolutely. “I will not be talked out of my opinion on the subject. I am quite immovable, you see.”

My brother, whose attention had thus been demanded against his will, glared at Miss Bingley and said, “Yes, I do see. But you have been much at Pemberley before, Miss Bingley, and have become accustomed to treating it as your own. I do not, therefore, fear for your comfort. It is for Miss Bennet and her friends, who are new among us, that we must endeavor to make an effort.”

“It is just as you say, Mr. Darcy. And they being so far from home too!” Facing about, she continued, “Miss Bennet, you must be missing Hertfordshire dreadfully by now and anxious to return to your family.”

“Not at all, Miss Bingley,” Elizabeth answered with a decided spark in her eye. “I find that the glories of Derbyshire quite surpass my expectations, and I should not object to remaining here a good deal longer. I certainly could not hope to be half so well entertained a home.”

Miss Bingley vs Elizabeth“Poor Miss Eliza. I see what you are feeling, and I daresay it is true.” In a sneering civility, Miss Bingley asked, “Are not the regiment of militia now removed from Meryton? That must be a great loss to your family.”

Elizabeth looked momentarily distressed, and I was overcome with confusion. Though I did not fully comprehend Miss Bingley’s meaning at the time, I could not hear any reference to the militia without thinking of Mr. Wickham and all the alarming recollections necessarily attached to him. My brother’s heightened complexion seemed to confirm that he had the same idea in mind.

Elizabeth recovered quickly, however, and answered the ill-natured attack with composure. “As to the removal of the militia, your information is correct, Miss Bingley. But I consider it no loss at all. We shall go on very quietly and very happily without them, I assure you.”

I could not help but admire Elizabeth’s collected behavior, and I read approbation in my brother’s countenance as well. However, Miss Bingley, who apparently had no smart rejoinder at the ready, looked vexed and retired to another part of the room.

After the visitors shortly departed, Miss Bingley resumed her attacks on the now-absent Miss Bennet forthwith, criticizing nearly every feature of her face for want of character and beauty, and her air for an intolerable want of fashion. In this opinion she was joined only by her loyal sister, Mrs. Hurst. The rest of us observed a diplomatic silence.

Mr. Darcy glaresUnsatisfied, and driven on by jealousy, Caroline pressed blindly ahead, piling high her disparaging words in her case against Elizabeth. “I remember, when we first knew her in Hertfordshire, how amazed we all were to find that she was a reputed beauty! And you yourself, Mr. Darcy, made a very droll and cutting remark to that effect, I recollect. But later she seemed to improve on you, and I believe you even thought her rather pretty at one time.”

I saw my brother’s eyes flash as he was finally moved to retaliate on Elizabeth’s behalf.

“Yes,” he replied, “but that was only when I first knew her. For it is many months since I have considered her as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance.”

So saying, he left the room and left Miss Bingley to consider what her failed strategy has cost her. She had by her relentless provocation forced my brother into declaring what could injure no one so much as herself. Whatever hopes she had cherished with regards to him were surely put to a final death that day. I could sympathize with her to some degree, having already been made familiar with the pain of that kind of disappointment. Otherwise, I was delighted – that my brother had chosen far better than Miss Bingley for himself, and that I had been given these small glimpses into his courtship of Elizabeth.

I wish I could report that it was smooth sailing for the couple from that time on. As I now know, they had already overcome many obstacles, but there were other challenges to their happiness ahead. Miss Bingley’s interference was a mere trifle compared to Mr. Wickham’s… past, present, and possibly future.

23 comments

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  1. A wonderful chapter–I can’t wait to read this book when it’s published!! I really enjoy Georgiana’s POV because it is rather objective, giving us insight into an outsider’s view of Darcy and Elizabeth’s rather unconventional romance.

    Thank you for posting it for us! 🙂

    Have a lovely week!

    Warmly,
    Susanne 🙂

    1. My pleasure, Susanne! The book should be out later this year. 😀

    • Anji on March 30, 2015 at 4:03 am
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    I just love that set down to Miss Bingley. Every time I read it in the original, I think “Ha! Nice one, Darcy. She’s really opened her mouth and put her dainty little foot right in it!” That’s assuming Caroline Bingley had dainty little feet, of course. I daresay such an “accomplished” young lady wouldn’t dare to have any other sort!

    This alternative PoV looks as though it’s going to be a lovely read, Shannon. Thanks for brightening my Monday morning with it.

    1. Haha! I’m sure you’re right – Caroline wouldn’t dare have any other sort. Glad I could brighten your morning, Anji. 🙂

        • Julie on March 30, 2015 at 12:08 pm
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        Like the original stepsisters in Cinderella, she could have chopped her toes off to ensure the “dainty”.

        1. Pretty drastic, Julie, but it would be the only way I would ever have “dainty” feet!

    • Jennifer Redlarczyk on March 30, 2015 at 9:43 am
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    Aww, that was sweet getting Georgiana’s take on what happened. Thanks! ~Jen Red~

    1. Yes, Jen, it’s been fun to see things through her eyes. And we’re told so little about Georgiana that it’s left the field wide open for my imagination.

    • Sheila L. M. on March 30, 2015 at 11:06 am
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    I agree, Anji. I have always loved reading of and viewing on screen that well deserved put down to Caroline! I am so looking forward to reading this variation.

    Thank you for sharing, Shannon. Have a lovely day.

    1. I think it’s all the more satisfying because we have to wait for it. Caroline has already put her head so far into the noose by the time Darcy speaks up that there’s no graceful retreat for her. She’s done and she knows it.

  2. The point fo view from Georgianna reads like she is writing in her diary! I Love it! Exactly as I would picture her writing. You’ve captured her voice very well and I look forward to reading this one!! Great job!

    1. Thanks for the kind words, Angie! I really do enjoy writing in first person. I used it in “For Myself Alone” and also “The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen.” It’s limiting in that you can’t include anything beyond what that one person knows, experiences, and thinks. But that’s the way we all experience life, so it’s actually the most natural in that way.

    • Julie on March 30, 2015 at 12:11 pm
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    I have a confession to make – Caroline Bingley is one of my favorite characters. She’s so well-drawn in so few words by JA, that we all know just how nasty she is, yet, she smiles at you like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. I love what you’ve done here, to show how Georgiana knows very well what Caro is, while still being shy enough not to be able to do something about it. I love how she cheers when Elizabeth and Darcy both manage to handle Caroline!

    1. Glad you enjoyed it, Julie!
      Yes, where would we be without our favorite villains? I have a terrible habit of killing them off – satisfying, but then I regret that they’re not around to write for anymore!

        • Julie on March 30, 2015 at 1:00 pm
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        Ah, yes! It’s very hard to write for them when they’re mouldering in their graves, hahaha.

    • Stephanie Mudd Carrico on March 30, 2015 at 12:49 pm
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    Lovely chapter, and so looking forward to the book..While I adore Elizabeth I find I relate more to Georgiana, so nice to have a glimpse into her heart and mind…

    1. Thanks for the comment, Stephanie!
      I agree – would love to be an Elizabeth, but I’m more of a Georgiana (or perhaps an Elinor Dashwood). Anyway, it’s been fun getting inside her head and experiencing the world through her eyes.

    • Carol on March 30, 2015 at 1:17 pm
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    Wonderful chapter. Always love when Elizabeth puts her down. Of course, Caroline doesn’t really have much going on upstairs, besides fashion and ill stated comments about others she feels beneath her, and she always misses the put down because Elizabeth States them in the most clever way. Goes right over Caroline’s head. Cannot wait for the book. As far as Darcy is concerned, Caroline really never be a chance and now she just tightened the rope that she will hang by. Least favorite female character because, as women, we’ve all known someone just like her.

    1. Haha! I love what you say about Caroline not being bright enough to know when she’s been insulted. It reminds me of a bit I wrote in The Darcys of Pemberley. She says:

      “It is always so difficult to leave Pemberley, and this time we must go without having seen our dear Georgiana. It really is too cruel. You must tell her, Darcy, how sorry I am to have missed her. I do hope we will have an opportunity to correct that wretched misfortune before we return to town.”

      “As you wish, Miss Bingley. I shall be sure to tell my sister how wretched you were… at missing her I mean, of course.”

      Catching her husband’s eye, Elizabeth struggled to suppress a laugh at Miss Bingley’s expense. Caroline seemed blithely unaware of the joke, however.

    • Deborah on March 30, 2015 at 2:35 pm
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    Absolutely beautiful. I am so looking forward to the release of this book….love Georgiana’s POV. Lovely. Reading Darcy’s set down of Caroline makes me smile every time. And Elizabeth’s intelligent responses give me satisfaction. Thank you so much for sharing your WIP Shannon.

    1. My pleasure, Deborah! I’m delighted to hear how many people are intrigued by Georgiana and want to read more about her. I am happy to oblige!

  3. Really loving this Shannon and am always amazed at Caroline’s tunnel vision but it’s such fun.

    1. Thanks, Jean!

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