“I would offer you a cigar, but as I dislike the scent, I do not keep any.”
Mr. Bennet waved off the snuff saying, “No, no. Snuff makes me sneeze.” He took the glass of brandy and sat down.
As he studied the gentleman, Darcy felt a surge of resentment towards him on Elizabeth’s behalf. It was strange, as Darcy knew himself to be more centrally involved in Elizabeth’s unhappiness than her father.
Bennet’s manner suggested that he was uncomfortable as well. Bingley’s insistence that the gentleman could be terrifying was quite odd to Darcy. “I heard you were to arrive yesterday. I hope everyone is healthy from the trip? I meant to call to offer my respects tomorrow.”
“You did?” Bennet smiled at him, in a sly way, as though his answer amused him.
“Chiefly of course for the pleasure of your family’s company,” Darcy replied, “but I confess that I also wished to show respect to my wife by doing so.”
“I thought as much — if I might offer advice, come around eleven. It is early for a call, but youarefamily, and they will be eager to leave for the shopping, rather than keep you in conversation for an hour.”
“You mean to suggest that I might not wish to speak to your wife for the longest time possible?” Darcy asked, unable to keep his tone from becoming wry.
“Jealousy, Mr. Darcy. Jealousy. You are her favorite now. Far above me in her esteem.”
It was difficult to not laugh, and to not start to like thegentleman.
“But I wanted to speak to you in private first,” Mr. Bennet added.
Darcy sat straighter.
Mr. Bennet picked up the brandy that Darcy had offered him, sniffed it, and then put it back down on the desk. “I had to come to town to keep my wife in some restraint as she purchased Jane’strousseau— your fault. If you hadn’t been in such a hurry, she’d have spent this enthusiasm on Lizzy, andsheis sensible enough to have managed Mrs. Bennet better than Jane does.”
Darcy did not trust himself to reply. Elizabeth’s voice saying that she’d sworn she would not spend more than fifty pounds a year on her clothes, to prove her father wrong about her, echoed in his head.
“You do not look at me with a favorable mien,” Mr. Bennet said dryly.
“Elizabeth mentioned an argument that she had with you — I ought naturally take the side of my wife.”
“Ah.” He took a gulp of the brandy. “You are not the sort of husband who thinks that men should stand together when faced with the displeasure of a woman, simply as a matter of course? — but I no longer take myownside in our dispute. A rare case where one side of an argument was wholly correct, and the other wholly wrong. I am fortunate to have observed such a fantastical event, but unfortunate in that I was the person who was wholly wrong.”
Darcy could not keep from smiling. “It is hard to admit being wrong.”
“An awful difficulty. Not a pleasant thing at all. I was most convinced of my own self-righteousness — and I did not aid my daughter when she needed my help. That is what torments me… but now we come to the main reason why I called — besides of course for the opportunity to taste your fine brandy.”
Darcy tilted his head.
“I had hoped to convince you to intercede for me, to speak a good word to Lizzy on my behalf.”
With a sigh Darcy said, “I do not believe that I am at present a person whose counsel she would listen to in such a matter.”
“You quarreled,” Mr. Bennet said with a slight tone of satisfaction to his voice, as though he had settled a bet with himself favorably. “I thought I’d make my effort to reconcile you two — of course solely for the sake of finding another person to speak my case to Lizzy.”
“You ought to speak your own case,” Darcy replied flatly.
“Advice that is very much like how I expect you to speak.” He shrugged. “I already have, and I have received some amount of forgiveness. More than I deserve. But you are still here in London when you should not be.”
“Where should I be?”
“With your wife — to withdraw after a quarrel is not unreasonable, but to stay withdrawn for nearly a month is begging the quarrel to never be resolved.”
“It was not a quarrel. She told me—” Darcy swallowed. He had hope. She’d written that she wanted to see him. He had already decided that he would start back for Pemberley the next day, after calling on the Bennets and Gardiners, and collecting anything they wanted to send on to Elizabeth. He did not need to feel as though there was no hope anymore. “I do not know what information you have about this matter, and I do not wish to tell you things Elizabeth told me which she may not wish you to know.”
“See, I even approve of that delicacy. Though it does stab my heart that Ideservesuspicion in such a matter.”
Darcy added, “I do not disagree with you.”
