“That’s quite long enough,” said Caroline.
Elizabeth had to admit that while she wished for her sister to be happy, she did not necessarily wish for her sister to move away and spend all of her time in London. On the other hand, if her sister were living in London, or even in Netherfield, it would mean that Elizabeth could escape to go and visit sometimes, would it not?
And also, Jane’s happiness was paramount. She would be happy with Mr. Bingley, Elizabeth thought, and so, if Elizabeth entered into this conspiracy with Caroline, she would be doing so for the sake ofJane.
“How would we matchmake them?” said Elizabeth to Caroline.
Caroline tapped her lower lip, drawing her eyebrows together, thinking very hard. “That’s a very good question.”
And so, the first match she and Caroline made together was a product of trial and error, mostly. It shouldn’t have truly been so difficult, for—as Elizabeth had pointed out—they had already matched themselves. They were quite clearly in love.
Even so, Caroline and Elizabeth each contrived to get their siblings to walk with them, and then accidentally-on-purpose ran into the other parties and then ran off, leaving Jane and Bingley alone. They urged family members to make invitations for dinners to the other family, and then, at the dinner table, made pointed comments about marriage and London and various other activities.
It shouldn’t have rightly worked, Elizabeth didn’t think.
But it did.
Who knew, in the end, if Mr. Bingley truly asked for Jane’s hand in marriage due to their interference or not? Elizabeth could not say.
However, it came to pass that their siblings were married.
The clear next step was to get themselves to London, and thus, they set about dropping broad hints to both of the newlyweds to go to London and take both Elizabeth and Caroline along.
In this attempt, however, they were stymied. Mr. Bingley declared loudly and often that he found the country quite agreeable and often said he was determined to stay here indefinitely. Jane was shy and had no deep love of London, or perhaps she was pleased by her husband being pleased, but whatever the case, she could not be prevailed upon to take their case up to her husband, which left Caroline quite displeased with everything they had wrought.
Elizabeth thought to herself that she and Caroline were simply two souls who’d been jostled together by chance, two souls who might not have gotten along otherwise. She thought to herself that neither she nor Caroline had any real skill at either matchmaking or at convincing anyone else to do their bidding.
She decided to detach from it all, not to take the idea of going to London very seriously anymore. It was a lark. It was out of their control. She would only make herself sick if she set her heart on it.
And then, at a public ball in Meryton, they met a man named Mr. Hurst. He danced with Elizabeth, but he spent all his time talking about cards. He seemed enamored with cards, in fact, ever so enamored with cards. He danced with a number of other eligible young ladies that night, and the truth of him, as far as Elizabeth could tell, was that Mr. Hurst loved cards more than women and more than dancing, which was something Elizabeth thought was amusing.
“We could match someone to Mr. Hurst,” Caroline said. It was the following day, and Caroline, Elizabeth, and another girl they knew named Charlotte Lucas, were sitting in the corner of the sitting room at Longbourn. Louisa, Jane, Mrs. Bennet, the other Bennet sisters, and Charlotte’s mother, Lady Lucas, were all discussing the ball in detail, and they were too busy talking to notice the other three girls withtheir heads together.
“Mr. Hurst?” said Elizabeth. “I think that might be a difficult task indeed. He does not seem to wish to do anything except play cards.”
“I’d marry a man who only liked to play cards,” said Charlotte with a shrug. “At least we should always have some amusement together, do you not think? We could play together in the evenings after dinner.”
“Yes,” said Caroline. “Just so. I am thinking of Louisa.”
“Your sister?” said Elizabeth. “Truly? He didn’t even dance with her, did he?”
“She was busy dancing when he was free is the only reason,” said Caroline. “Come now, Elizabeth, we know he must be in want of a wife. He is young and single and given to dancing, and he is too preoccupied with his cards to know what is good for him.”
Elizabeth laughed. “But what of poor Louisa? She might wish to be married to someone who finds her interesting, don’t you think?”
“We don’t know hedoesn’tfind her interesting,” said Caroline.
“Does it really matter?” said Charlotte. “If he proposed, he’s interested enough, I warrant.”
“Quite,” said Caroline, triumphant.
“Well, Charlotte seems to like him well enough,” said Elizabeth, nodding at her friend. “Let’s match him to her.”
Caroline glanced at Charlotte, furrowing her brow in that way she did when she was thinking very deeply. “We shall make a match for Charlotte, we very much shall. But I have spent too much time thinking about Mr. Hurst for Louisa, I’m afraid. I don’t wish to give him up.”
“Give him up?” said Elizabeth, laughing. “Why don’t we match him to you, then?”
Caroline shook her head. “No, no. I shall make a match at some point, yes, but not him.”
