P&P: Prelude to Pemberley- Darcy Decides to Match Bingley and Georgiana

Welcome to our Pride & Prejudice prequel! P&P: Prelude to Pemberley tells the story of the time leading up to the events of Pride & Prejudice, including what Darcy and Elizabeth were doing and thinking, Georgiana Darcy’s story, the events of Ramsgate, how Mr. Bingley came to lease Netherfield, and much more! Join us on our journey as the Austen Variations authors post the events of 1811 in real time on the date they happened – 214 years in the future.

Darcy Decides to Match Bingley and Georgiana

September 17, 1811

And now almost two months had passed. Two months? It felt more like a year…maybe three. But, no. It had only been almost two months. Almost two months since his dear Georgiana watched as her ‘beloved’ rode away without a backwards glance. Almost two months since she had done more than picked at her food, cried for half the night or played anything on the pianoforte that wouldn’t sadden an undertaker. Almost two months. How was he to save his sister when for almost two months she had fallen into a depth of grief he had not known since losing his parents?  What was a man to do to help a fifteen year old girl return to her old spirits again?

He listened to the rain outside falling in a gentle rhythm and was grateful it was raining. He could not stomach it if the sky was cerulean and the birdsong floated through the air. No, the dreariness was how it should be; how it would be into perpetuity. There was no way to get her out of this pit. He had tried. Every ribbon in her favorite color had been purchased. Three new dresses with gloves, bonnets and slippers had been delivered. A favorite dessert prepared every night.

The ribbons lay untied, the dresses and accouterments unworn and the desserts uneaten. She was becoming a shell of herself, and there was nothing this twenty-eight year old man knew about cheering up a young girl, let alone a young girl who believed she was a loathsome unworthy creature.

How would I do it?  It is not in me to break her free from this sadness. If only there was someone whose natural joy could raise her spirits.

He glanced back out the window, silently cursing George Wickham, wherever he was, for once again controlling Darcy’s life and those he loved. 

There was a knock at the door.

“Enter,” Darcy called as the butler opened and came in. 

“Mr. Bingley is here, sir. Are you available for callers?”

Bingley? A small flicker of hope ignited in Darcy’s breast as he nodded at his man. “Yes. Show him in.”

In less time than it took for his Butler to announce him, Bingley was across the room and sitting in the chair in front of Darcy’s desk.

“Hello, old chap. I have just returned from some business that took me from London. How have you fared since we last met?”

There was a nervous energy about his young friend, which reminded Darcy of one of his best pointers as a pup. “I have been well. Merely seeing to my own business. How goes estate hunting?”

At his question, Bingley bounced from the chair and began to pace around the room. “Oh, Darcy. I have found the perfect estate. It is nothing to Pemberley of course, but it is all I would need to learn management. Say that you will join me. I am afraid I will fail miserably without you.”

“Now, Bingley, I—”

“It is called Netherfield Park, and I chose it because it is less than a half day’s journey to London. Caroline will like that, you know. I think she believes she is more prepared to live in the country than she truly is.” Here he paused and gave Darcy a direct look. “I am aware my sister would not do well too far from London, and would never expect her to marry a man who would take her away from the city.” His eyes bore into Darcy’s. “I hope you understand my meaning. I would never attempt to ruin a friendship for the selfish desires of my sister.”

In that moment, a new understanding dawned on the master of Pemberley. Bingley’s roots in trade, which had always been as a whisper in the back of his mind, completely fell away. That small ‘indiscretion’ mattered even less now than it ever had before. Instead, Darcy saw only a man. A good man who put the needs and happiness of others first. A man who was usually jolly and pleasant, only losing his temper after a long game of cards at Whites, and even then laughing off his bad luck only a moment later. 

Bingley was a man who…would be kind to his sister. Who would never speak down to her. Who would ensure her happiness above all things. Who would bring joy into Georgiana’s life. Darcy’s heart began to race as it always did when he had pondered a situation and finally found a solution. Bingley!  Bingley was the solution. 

A small voice whispered, “Are you not just like Lady Catherine?  Imagining your sister is now only desirable for a fortune hunter or someone less than she deserves?”

True, in his mind before Ramsgate, she would be wed to a Viscount or a Duke. She would have lavish coming out balls and numerous suitors attempting to gain her favor. But now?  Now he was uncertain those trappings still fit into his sister’s future. At this moment, in this time, all he wanted was to hear Georgiana laugh again. And if there was one person that could achieve that, it was Bingley. 

Darcy watched as his friend continued to walk around his study, excitement bubbling over, his hands waving through the air with every new pronouncement. Yet, Darcy heard nothing. His focus was so clearly on the rescue of his sister’s reputation and her happiness that Bingley’s words were lost to him. 

But could it last? Would this idea truly work?

Maybe in a week or two, Darcy would see the ridiculousness of his thoughts. When the memory of Ramsgate began to fade ever so slightly and the whispers of Bingley’s lineage began again.

But at this moment, this idea was the only thing that had given Darcy comfort the last few weeks. 

Actually, longer. 

It had been almost two months, exactly.

Read all the scenes in Prelude to Pemberley here!