“I dare say I would have been obliged to stand up with Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst for a set. But I always found it insupportable to be expected to dance with any woman with whom I was not particularly acquainted.”
“Ah, so you would then have conversed with everyone garrulously, until you were well acquainted with all the ladies in the room, at which point you would have begun to dance only during the latter part of the night.”
She grinned at the way Darcy’s nose wrinkled and he drew back in response to that suggestion, but somehow Darcy felt as though he was included within the humor, rather than the objectofthe humor.
“One cannot become particularly acquainted with anyone in the course of a single night.”
“You would not have danced at all.” She raised one fine eyebrow, her eyes dancing with a look as though she were laughing at him again. Yet there was a warmth… nearly approval to that laughter.
“No… I do not believe I would have acted differently in essentials at all. I prefer a smaller party at home to such a crush — I attended for Bingley’s sake, more than my own… I confess I had rather forgotten in the year I have been shut up convalescing how little I enjoy such amusements.”
Elizabeth laughed. “That is an excuse which cannot be impeached.”
“Further…” Darcy frowned and tilted his head side to side. “How might I say this without seeming ungentlemanlike? Hmmm…”
“With an introduction such asthatI am exceedingly eager to hear what shall follow.”
Darcy flushed. “If one suspects that one will offend, one ought not speak at all — yet the sentiments I mean to express are ones that I cannot repent, so I shall simply attempt to say it directly: The Darcy name is a great one, my estate is wide and fine, and there are few in England whose consequence is superior to mine. My fortune likely outweighs that of everyone else in that room tallied up on one side together. Not that such a situation justifies therudenessI displayed to you — you correctly identifiedthatas a behavior which was inconsistent with my character as a gentleman. But I possessed insufficient cause to rationally expect any conversation to be of interest.”
“Ah. Now I understand.”
Darcy had a sensation from the way her eyes were dancing with amusement that she had switched to laughing at him rather than simply laughing. “Ah! Rudeness is never justified, but contempt and a disinterest in conversation with ones who areinferioris always rational.”
He groaned. “I knew that what I would say would offend. That is not what I meant.”
“Not atall.” Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. “Then what, pray, did you mean? No—” She raised her hand, as though to stop herself from speaking. “I shall not become missish. Nor offended. You are vain of your name and position. But you cannot help it. The blame, no doubt, lies with your parents, and none of us can choose them.”
“My parents were the best of persons,” Darcy replied sharply, rather offended himself.
“So then who taught you to think meanly of the worth of those without sufficient wealth or position?”
No reply immediately rose to mind.
They were silent and looked at each other directly. Miss Elizabeth then flushed and said, “I do apologize, I fear that despite your apology, some resentment due to your words the other night remained, and I have perhaps sought a dispute with you to give vent to my feelings — might you forgive me?”
The look that she gave him was so sweet that it was impossible for Darcy to do anything but smile at her.
She smiled back.
Darcy then surprised himself. “I certainly was mistaken in what I said to Mr. Bingley—” He looked to the side and felt his face heat. “You are handsome enough to tempt any man.”
She blushed and looked down, clearly pleased. “No flattery!”
He smiled back at her.
“I suspect,” Elizabeth suddenly said, “that we may have both wholly mistaken the matter. You are awkward in company, are you not?”
“No?” Somehow Darcy’s voice made his intended statement into a question.
“I think you are.”
“Perhaps I do not have that ability that some are blessed with, of easily catching the tone of a new acquaintance and sympathizing with their interests and speaking to them within five minutes as though we were deep friends.”
“Perhaps you ought to practice — you heard me at the piano, my fingers did not run so flowingly as those of many other women, because I do not put myself to the trouble to practice sufficiently. But—”
“That is not true. I have seldom watched anyone play with more pleasure.” Darcy spoke with complete sincerity and seriousness, and their eyes met as he said that.
She flushed again, and then looked down.
