Mr. Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange (books for students to read .txt) 📕

be bringing some of his own, but he will

need maids, gardeners and stable-hands from the local

area.’

‘He will not find any difficulty in procuring them

from Meryton.’

‘What do you think, Darcy?’ asked Bingley, when we

had completed our tour.

‘The price is far too high.’

Mr Morris insisted it was fair, but he was soon

brought to realize that it was excessive, and a far lower

sum was settled on.

‘Upon my honour, Darcy, I would not like to try and

stand against you when your mind is made up. Poor Mr

Morris might as well have agreed with you straight away,

and saved himself the effort of trying to argue with you!’

said Bingley, when he had closed with the agent.

He might laugh, but he will thank me for my care

when he is well settled.

‘When do you mean to take possession?’ I asked him.

‘As soon as possible. Before Michaelmas, certainly.’

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‘You should send some of your servants down before

you, then they can make sure that the house is ready for

your arrival.’

‘You think of everything! I will have them here by the

end of next week.’

I was glad he had taken my advice. If not, he would

have arrived at the same time as his servants, and then

wondered why there was no dinner waiting for him.

Tuesday 24th September

‘Darcy, welcome to my estate!’ said Bingley when I

joined him at Netherfield Park this afternoon. His sisters,

Caroline and Louisa, were with him, as was Louisa’s husband, Mr Hurst. ‘The house, the neighbourhood, everything is exactly as I would wish it to be.’

‘The estate is well enough, but the neighbourhood is

small, with very few families,’ I pointed out. ‘I warned

you of it at the time.’

‘There are plenty of families,’ he said. ‘Enough for us

to dine with, and what more do we want?’

‘Superior company?’ asked Caroline satirically.‘Entertaining conversation?’

‘I am sure we will find plenty of it,’ said Bingley.

‘You should have let me help you choose the house,’

said Caroline.

‘I did not need your help, I had Darcy’s,’ said Bingley.

‘And a good thing, too. I was only saying to Louisa

this morning that you could not have found a better

one,’ said Caroline, smiling at me.

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‘Upon my honour, I can think of no finer country

than Hertfordshire,’ said Bingley.

He is delighted with the neighbourhood at the

moment, but I think he will find it dull if he settles here

for any length of time. It is unlikely, however. He is so

capricious he will probably be off again in a month. I said

as much to Caroline after dinner.

‘Very likely,’ she said.‘Until then, we must be thankful

we have each other’s company.’

Wednesday 25th September

This has been our first full day at Netherfield Park. Caroline has managed things well, and she was particularly

pleased when I commented that no one would guess it

was a rented house. She has had some trouble with the

servants hired from the surrounding neighbourhood, but

it is to her credit that the household is running smoothly.

Thursday 26th September

The neighbourhood visits have begun. It is a bore, but it

was only to be expected. Sir William and Lady Lucas

called this morning. Bingley thought them very civil, on

account of Sir William bowing every two minutes and

mentioning that he had been presented at St James’s.

Caroline suspected that their haste in calling marked

them out as the parents of an elderly, unattractive spinster

whom they wished to see married, and she told Bingley

so as soon as they had departed.

‘Depend upon it, they have a daughter nearing thirty

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and intend to pass her off as one-and-twenty!’ she

warned him.

Bingley laughed.

‘I am sure they do not have a daughter at all, and if

they do, I am sure she is positively charming!’

‘Caroline is right,’ said Louisa.‘One of the housemaids

told me the Lucases have a daughter named Charlotte.

Charlotte is unmarried, and is seven-and-twenty.’

‘That does not stop her being charming. I am sure she

is a delightful young lady,’ protested Bingley.

‘And I am sure she is a homely body who is always

helping her mother about the pies,’ said Caroline in a

droll voice.

‘Well, I think it was very good of the Lucases to call,

and even better of them to invite us to the Meryton

assembly,’ said Bingley stoutly.

‘The Meryton assembly! God save me from country

assemblies!’ I remarked.

‘You have been spoilt by superior company,’ said Caroline.

‘I have indeed. The London assemblies are full of the

most elegant people in the country.’

For some reason she did not smile at this remark. I

cannot think why. She smiles at everything else I say, and

she must surely have been thinking of my London

acquaintance, for whom else could she have meant?

Sir William and Lady Lucas were not our only callers

today.They were followed by a Mr Bennet. He seems to

be a gentlemanlike man.

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‘He has five daughters,’ said Caroline, when he had gone.

‘Pretty girls,’ said Mr Hurst, rousing himself from his

stupor. ‘Saw ’em in Meryton. Handsome, the lot of ’em.’

‘There you are!’ said Bingley. ‘I knew I had chosen

well in settling at Netherfield. There will be plenty of

pretty girls to dance with.’

‘I know what you are thinking,’ Caroline remarked,

on seeing my expression.‘You are thinking it would be a

bore to be forced to stand up with a country wench. But

you need not do so. Charles will make a spectacle of

himself, no doubt, but you need not. No one will expect

you to dance.’

‘I hope not,’ I said.‘The idea of standing up with people I do not know is insupportable to me.’

Bingley laughed.

‘Come now, Darcy, this is not like you. You are not

usually so stiff-necked. It is the weather. Only let the rain

stop and you will be as eager to dance as I am.’

Bingley is an optimist.

Monday 30th September

Bingley and I rode round part of the estate this morning.

It has been kept in good order, and if he