Re: For every Willoughby...

Hi, Little Nell.

No, I didn't really mean to imply Bingley asking Jane anything directly, just going back and trying to gauge her reception towards him (which we know would have been positive even though he didn't). Since not a word of love had been spoken and not even a hand touch beyond the dance floor, how would it be different if he just accepted Mrs Bennet's invitation to dine with the family? That broached no protocols or social customs. In fact, but for Bingley being almost Shanghai'd away from Netherfield by Darcy and his sisters, that's probably how events would have unfolded gradually. Bingley had already ridden into Meryton on the way to the manor house to enquire after Jane's health. He was smitten. Darcy knew this and was afraid his friend would fall into the clutches of the Longbourne Munsters. It's easy for us to see, in retrospect, what Darcy's objections were, because who would want a Mrs Bennet and her frightful daughters as in laws? Perish the thought! But none of that had to matter if Bingley felt he was in love with Jane. We know all about Jane's anguish and her own feelings of rejection, but what of Bingley's feelings?

All that was different when he next saw her was that he'd wasted eight months when he could have acted as he did right then? When he finally returned, did he not ride up to Longbourne Manor, knock on the door and tell Jane of his feelings?