What will Caroline Bingley think of Netherfield Park?
September 25, 1811
Note: This vignette follows one from last week, Bingley Takes Possession of Netherfield.
Caroline Bingley glared at her brother as their carriage rattled over the cobblestones of a little country town. “Charles,” she said in a deceptively honeyed voice, “you know I do not like surprises.”
Bingley rubbed his hands together gleefully. “You will like this one.” She had been trying to wheedle the information out of him since they had left London, but he was determined not to tell her until the last minute. He could not wait to see the look on her face when she realized that Netherfield was theirs! “We are almost there, in any case.”
“Good. I have had more than enough of being gawked at by the locals. One would think they had never seen people of fashion before. That woman—her dress must be at least five seasons old, and she has the audacity to actually point at us!”
Bingley glanced out the window and smiled at a particularly pretty girl. “I am given to understand that there are a number of excellent families in the area, but strangers must be something of a novelty.”
Caroline’s lips twisted, but she did not trouble herself to reply.
Ten minutes later the carriage pulled up in front of Netherfield. Caroline barely glanced at the house. “What is this place?” she asked scornfully.
“It is called Netherfield Park.” Bingley tried to suppress a grin of anticipation.
“My surprise is here? Charles, don’t tell me you have purchased another horse!” She curled her lip as the footman opened the carriage door for her.
Bingley hurried around the carriage to hand her out. “No, my dear. It is not that your surprise is here, but rather that here is your surprise!”
“What on earth do you mean, Charles? I see nothing but the house.”
“How many times have you said we must find a country estate? Well, here it is. I have signed the lease, and it is ours.”
She turned an ominous stare on him. “You leased an estate without discussing it with me first? Charles, what in God’s name were you thinking? This is in the middle of nowhere, and heaven alone knows what condition it is in!”
Bingley’s shoulders sagged. This was not at all how Georgiana Darcy reacted to surprises from her brother. Perhaps it was just the shock of the moment. “I showed the drawings and the estate books to Darcy, and he said it was a good idea.”
“One can hardly trust the word of two men in the matter of a household!” she snapped.
“Come, let me show you the interior before you say anything further,” he said, then played his trump card. “Darcy says he will come for a long visit once we are settled in.”
“Hmmph,” she snorted, but with a thoughtful look. “A long visit, you say?”
“Yes. Look, there is the housekeeper waiting for us.” He bounded up the steps, leaving her to trail behind him. “Mrs. Johnson, it is a pleasure to see you again! Allow me to introduce my sister, Miss Bingley, who will be acting as my hostess here.”
The housekeeper curtsied deeply, but Caroline barely spared her a glance. Instead, she looked around slowly, examining the hall. “I suppose this will do, although it could be larger, and the furnishings are hardly to the latest fashion.”
Bingley’s spirits brightened. From Caroline, that was practically praise. “The library is to our left, and a ladies’ sitting room on the right. But come through here—you must see the grand staircase and the drawing room. It is in the shape of an octagon, and I immediately thought of you when I saw it.”
Caroline rolled her eyes, but proceeded through the gilded doorway with him. He had hoped for a better response to the grand staircase, which was indeed of the caliber of anything seen at Pemberley, but she said nothing until they reached the drawing room. There she stopped in the center of the room and pivoted around, slowly nodding her head. “I suppose you could have done worse,” she said grudgingly, then turned to the housekeeper. “It will take a great deal of work to make this presentable.”
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Lord she is such a witch and not the good kind.
Author
You’re not wrong, Michelle! 🙂
What Bingley should have said is “if you do not like it I will release your dowry to you and you can find somewhere for yourself!” 🛖 I don’t know how he can stand living with her, no matter how amiable he is! 🤔😳😂
Author
Sometimes Bingley is altogether too nice!
I don’t understand how she has determined herself so high and mighty and is accepted in doing so. Any other family who has such strong ties to trade wouldn’t dare. I guess it’s all Darcy’s fault for being friends with Bingley and making her think it was ok.
Author
A good question! My only thought is that outside of the ton, money talks. And since Darcy accepts her, she thinks she’s better than other people in trade, like Sir William Lucas.
My first instinct is to feel bad for Bingley (he was so excited about his surprise!) — but I almost feel worse for Caroline, even though she doesn’t deserve it. She has consigned herself to a life of unhappiness–always wanting, never appreciating. Well, okay, I feel worse for Mrs . Johnson, who will have to deal with Caroline’s orders and demands! Thanks for this installment, Abigail!
Author
I would definitely not want to be Mrs. Johnson! Though, to be fair, I wouldn’t want to be surprised with a house I’m supposed to live in, either, LOL.
Is this going to be released as a book? I would rather wait for the whole story to be read at “one sitting” as I read so much I can forget the details of unfinished works, given chapter by chapter or installment by installment.
Author
We don’t know yet whether it’ll be released as a book, but this isn’t actually a story as such, more a compilation of scenes intended to complement P&P. Since they’re being written by different authors, there isn’t a coherent story line except in a few small cases, like this set of two scenes I wrote, or I have a series of 5 scenes showing a story line for Charlotte Lucas. But that’s the exception, not the rule. It really isn’t the kind of thing you’d read from start to finish. With the old published versions, people generally jumped around reading the scenes they were interested in.
The real point of posting it is to highlight the timeline, to give readers the feeling of how much time passed between one scene in P&P and the next. Hope that helps!
I love what you are doing, Abigail, along with all the other authors who are participating in this project. Jane Austen did not write P&P as a day by day diary. Days and weeks often go by from one chapter (or portion thereof) to the next. What you and the others are doing, as you said, are posting scenes/snippets that add to the story in the same timeframe as they occurred in the book. ..September 25, 2023 vs. September 25, 18– (I checked…in the original, Austen does not provide the year in which this all happened, only the month and day). Carry on… this is going to be fun!!!
A project at hand for Caroline.
But as one who does not like surprises myself, I feel her pain. lol
Looking forward to the LOOOONG visit~~~