Even only by the way Bingley rode his horse, Darcy understood that his friend had definitively changed. He, who used to be carried by his horse (or so he looked, even though he had never had any serious accident), now sat straight, dominating his horse, in charge of his destiny. Darcy didn’t know the way to the Gardiner’s but beforehand, that wouldn’t have prevented him from taking the lead in their ride. Every Londoner knew its way to Cheapside, even though from Mayfair, that was not a way to go. That day, he didn’t. He followed Bingley. And soon enough, without a single stop or even a remote hesitation, they were in front of a cosy house, in a clean street and Bingley stopped.

On getting down from his horse, his figure was even straighter than before. Darcy saw him take a deep breath, his face showing the tenseness he felt. He also noticed with some friendly amusement Bingley’s patting his chest pocket to check the presence of the letter and the promises he deeply hoped it held. To alleviate his friend’s uneasiness, he told him that it had been a very agreeable ride and that the winter seemed to begin to depart.

“Lovely ride, right… right,” was all the answer he got, while Bingley was knocking at the door.

A maid opened the door and, after a short while, Mr. Gardiner appeared and introduced them into his library.

The gentlemen bowed to each other.

“Mr. Bingley. I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”

“Mr. Gardiner… May I introduce my friend Mr. Darcy? Darcy, this is Mr. Gardiner. As I have already told you, Mr. Gardiner is both my plant reseller and the Miss Bennets’ uncle.”

Darcy was still not very comfortable with the mentioning of the Bennet name as his short “Mr. Gardiner,” proved it. Mr. Gardiner, though not a man to be prejudiced by the others, still had in mind the description that had been made of the man back in Longbourn. The curt salutation he had received tending to be in accordance with the said description, he decided to let the man speak and returned, as curtly, the salutation.

“Mr. Gardiner, Darcy called this morning before my leaving to call on you. As we both looked forward for some exercise, we decided to come together.”

Neither was deceived but all nodded. Bingley went on. “Moreover, Darcy’s estate is located in the wild North and I thought it might be interesting to let the two of you speak about it.”

Darcy was mildly annoyed at his friend but, for the sake of their friendship (endangered by himself over the past months), he decided to play the game. “Not so far in the North, Bingley.” Then turning to Mr. Gardiner: “In fact, Pemberley is in Derbyshire. It’s true that the main activity on the estate is sheep breeding but I try to cultivate the more fertile soils.”

Although plainly aware of the situation of Mr. Darcy and his properties, Mr. Gardiner entered the play too. “In Derbyshire? My wife is from there. She grew up in a village called Lambton. That’s were we got married too.”

That was news to Mr. Darcy. He genuinely answered, “Really? Lambton? It’s not more than 5 miles from Pemberley. I often walked there as a boy. My sister goes shopping there.”

“Then, you shall have to come back to talk about your countryside with Mrs. Gardiner. She would be very happy for we hardly ever go there and she is very fond of the happy years she spent in Derbyshire. But as I remember it, there were very few cultivated fields the last time we visited the shire.”

Followed an interesting conversation between the gentlemen about the improvements made by Mr. Darcy and the ones suggested by Mr. Gardiner. The eldest was pleased to see that a supposedly so proud gentleman was interested by his ideas. The youngest was surprised by the knowledge of the other. The pleasure for both was not faked and at first, Mr. Bingley was deeply satisfied to see that Darcy was able then to appreciate someone he would probably not have bothered to talk to a few days before. But he was not a man to triumph and he had a more important subject at heart. He soon after started to fidget on his chair and his impatience got more and more obvious. Darcy and Gardiner noticed it. The former decided to move on a more interesting topic in his friend’s eyes.

“What a coincidence that you are both Bingley’s plants reseller and the Miss Bennets’ uncle!”

“I must say it was quite a surprise to find out,” was all Mr. Gardiner dared to answer, as he didn’t know how far went Mr. Darcy’s knowledge of the previous day encounter.

Bingley lapped into the subject. With a straight look into Mr. Gardiner’s eyes, he took the letter in his pocket and handed it to him. “Here is the letter you authorised me to address your niece. May I ask how she is?”

Mr. Gardiner’s face took a more worried expression. “I must say I don’t know exactly. I haven’t seen her since yesterday at the warehouse and she was very upset when she came back. My wife has seen her several time, though, and she’s seemed to improved.”

Mr. Bingley’s demeanour had changed at the end of this answer. In a very worried tone, he asked, “What! Not even for dinner? What about breakfast this morning?”

With a soothing smile, Mr Gardiner answered: “She has kept to her room so far but I’m sure she will reappear soon. We even have a surprise for her. Mrs. Gardiner expects a new guest tomorrow at the latest. We have asked her sister to come.”

On hearing this, Mr. Darcy’s head jerked up. Come on Darce, Miss Bennet has four sisters. It might not be her... Of course it is her, she is her closest relative and I know the care she takes of her. He tried nevertheless to strengthen himself for the confirmation of his guess.

Mr. Gardiner noticed his behaviour and paid attention to his reaction on answering Mr. Bingley’s question about who was the one to come. “Miss Elisabeth is the one we invited. She is very close to Jane and she was bound to travel through London anyway in a few weeks to go to Kent. She just anticipates a little the first step of her travel.”

By chance, Bingley was also looking in Darcy’s direction during Mr. Gardiner’s answer. Therefore, the two of them witnessed the shock, then the anguish, then the struggle to finally regain a sterner countenance than normal displayed by his face even if neither of them commented on it. Darcy, unaware of the attention he had been paid, thought to himself I’ve not done so bad… I shall have to avoid the neighbourhood if she is to reside here. Not that it should be difficult, it’s not an area where I have a lot to do!

Still trying to make sense of what he had seen, Bingley nevertheless came back to his favourite subject. “I’m very happy to hear that. I used to often marvel at the closeness of the relationship between them. I’m sure this will help her very much.” After a while and some hesitation, he added: “I wondered if my sisters could call on Jane in the next few days? … I’d like them to come and see her… if she agrees, that is.”

Deciding to think about Mr. Darcy’s reaction to his news later, Mr. Gardiner answered: “I cannot answer for her but you are most welcome to try your luck!” Seeing that Mr. Bingley obviously waited for more details, he added: “I don’t think I’ll see her this morning, so I shall give her your letter this evening. I plan on telling her that you remained to talk with me yesterday and that you called this morning without revealing what was said. Is that fine with you?”

Bingley’s anxiety seemed to come back. His face was more serious when he only nodded his agreement. Taking a deep breath, and after a quick glance at his friend who seemed to be still out of spirit, he informed their host that it was time for them to leave. Sincere salutations were exchanged and the younger gentlemen exited the house and left Cheapside.

By then, Darcy had regained his composure and was able to agree immediately to Bingley’s proposal to stop by White’s. The latter wanted to get his friend’s opinion of Mr. Gardiner and try to change it, would it not be what he thought it should be. If, by the way, he could try and understand his behaviour in the last part of their interview with Jane’s uncle, so much the better!

As soon as they were settled in their favourite armchairs, a tea by their side (as it was still too early to go for something stronger), Bingley commented on their call in Cheapside: “So Darce, what do you think of the man? Isn’t he as interesting as I had told you?”

“Indeed he is. I found him very clever. He has a very good knowledge of the soils in England and what can be done in all of them. He gave me some ideas my own steward hadn’t thought about!”

“Yes, and he knows about people too, his whole staff is very well-informed!”

“I must say that, at least in your case, he has been very sensible.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… obviously he regards very favourably your attention to Jane!” Seeing his friend frowning, he quickly added: ”Don’t misunderstand me! A week ago, I might have said that it is due to your worth as a husband for such a family but I know now better. He obviously knew of our interaction with the Hertfordshire people but he hasn’t tried to take benefit of it.”

Smirking Bingley commented: “Oh, that’s for sure! He has even spoken to you even though he knows you’re partly responsible for my not coming back to Netherfield in December.”

“Really? I must say that I wouldn’t have known… He’s the Miss Bennets’ uncle by their mother, isn’t he?”

“Yes, I believe he is Mrs. Bennet’s elder brother. Ja… Miss Bennet explained once to me that he had got married late, unlike her mother.”

Darcy couldn’t stop himself: “That’s not the only point where he is unlike Mrs. Bennet!”

“I understand your meaning Darcy, but I cannot agree with your behaviour… True some of the Bennets do not always act sensibly…”

“And that is a euphemism,” interrupted Darcy.

“… but some others always do.” Bingley’s tone was impatient by then. “And you already acknowledged that to me, this very morning! Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth Bennet have the same sense as their uncle, you cannot blame them for their mother or their sisters’ behaviour… Do you blame me for Caroline’s constant flattering towards you? Could I blame you if you had…, let’s say … an aunt, snobbish and disagreeable?”

Well done, Bingley… Do you know Aunt Catherine? ”Of course not.”

“True, the men who shall marry the eldest Bennets sisters will have to manage their in-laws but is this really a high price to pay to share the life of some very worthy ladies?”

“I get your point Bingley. You’re right of course…” Had Darcy stopped there, Bingley would have probably forgotten about his second goal in speaking with his friend. But the former added, in a falsely detached way “… not that I shall comment on the worth of Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”

A pause in Bingley’s conversation made Darcy aware that he ought to justify himself on his last comment. “I mean… who am I to make a judgement on someone I hardly know?”

Bingley was still not able to figure intelligibly his friend’s attitude and deciding to gather some more pieces before confronting him, changed the topic of their conversation. A short while after, they parted.

Sow Potatoes, See What you Shall Reap, Chapter 10