There wasn’t a promise of anything more than conversation.
Elizabeth wants to see me.
Slowly, like the sun coming out from beyond the clouds after a terrible storm, Darcy felt his heart quickening and lightening.
She wanted to see him.Andshe clearly meant to give him an opportunity to show her that he had improved. That would be enough. That must be enough.
He would court her, he would show her that he had listened to her reproofs, he would show her that he was worthy of her… andmaybe… maybe she could come to love him.
He could not wait for her to come to London for the wedding. He wanted to see her now. Today.
Of coursethatwas impossible.
She had written several times that she hoped to see him again soon.
She had suggested a plan for when and where they might meet.
That was enough hope for his heart.
Darcy was too agitated to sit, and he strode around his study ten times, pausing to look out the window at the incongruously rainy day outside. The sun was only in his heart, the London weather was as smoggy, muggy, and unpleasant as ordinary.
He loved it.
The weather was beautiful.
He had hope.
But there were practical matters to think about.
If Elizabeth came south, this close to the season, it would make sense for them to stay at Netherfield for a few weeks, and then return to London at the beginning of the season — a period Darcy tended to avoid.
In Darcy’s view spending a period of time every year in town was salutary and warranted, and even liked. London had that rare ability in locations to wear out its welcome. Three months was the limit which Darcy liked, and he thought this was a reasonable preference.
Man was meant to live in large spaces. Field, forest, hill and mountain. He was meant to live amongst the livestock he raised, and the crops that fed and clothed him. Humans were not meant to spend the bulk of their time with endless sounds at all hours of the night or day, endless lights that made it hard to see the heavens, and endless parties that made it hard to think.
At six months the season was simply too long. Those men who perpetually spent that much time in London gained a sort of tension to their frames and an emotional strain which must worsen the state of the heart, increase the likelihood of apoplectic attacks, and lead to a variety of ailments both of the spirit and body.
Any more time in a great city than that, and a man ought to be bled regularly for prophylactic purposes.
As for the question of whether Georgiana should bebrought into the same neighborhood as Mr. Wickham, Darcy’s first instinct was that it was absolutely not to be allowed. Even if he respected Elizabeth’s judgement, he could not forget that Georgiana had said that she still loved the man, and he could not forget that she had guarded his portrait and sobbed at its destruction.
There also was a twinge of dislike at the prospect of introducing his sister to Elizabeth’s youngest sister — was it not Miss Lydia who was the youngest?
He must trust that Georgiana’s character would not be harmed by the influence of a wild girl a year younger than her. He wouldnot offerhis wife the insult of saying that her sisters could not meet in terms of equality with his own. And Elizabeth’s hope that they would all exert a positive influence on each other might even be realized.
At this point Darcy’s introspections were interrupted by the butler giving him the card of his wife’s father, Mr. Bennet. After examining the card, Darcy put the letter from Elizabeth into his coat pocket — next to his heart.
“Show them all to the drawing room,” Darcy said. “And have Mrs. North cut up another pineapple, and whatever she thinks is best from the kitchens to offer as a light luncheon.”
“It is only the gentleman who is present.”
That surprised Darcy. “Only Mr. Bennet? — then have him brought up here. I am always at home to any member of my wife’s family.”
When he’d dined two days before at Mr. Gardiner’s, he had been informed that the Bennets would arrive the next evening to stay with the Gardiners. Though he did not look forward to it, he planned to call on them tomorrow, thinking that the most appropriate way to show respect was to give them only one day to recover from the rigor of travel before imposing himself.
And apparently Mr. Bennet had made it his first matter of business after coming to town to call on him.
As soon as the two gentlemen had made their bows, Darcy gestured for him to sit and poured a glass of brandy, and pushed it towards him, and offered a fine box of snuff.
