“No. Not I. Duty.” He half smiled. “You are not the only one.” Then shrugged. “I like her. She is quick on her feet, clever. Pretty as well. And she has… there is something… more than most women. On the other hand, you know that my parents will not be impressed.”
“I know.”
“Protect her from them — make sure she knows that she can rely on you. That you will support her, even against yourown family.”
“What?” Darcy blinked at the odd idea. His aunt and uncle could be difficult, but ultimately, they wished for what was best for him.
“How are you so obtuse? Did you hear how she spoke of her knowledge of French? She is as worried as you are that she will be seen as insufficient for the high role of being married to you” — Colonel Fitzwilliam sneered — “and you are inclined to tell her that you fully agree that she is insufficient.”
“Sheisinsufficient — and she is unwilling to listen to corrections. I tried to tell her to go to Lady Susan’s dressmaker, and she directly refused me.”
“You—” Colonel Fitzwilliam’s mouth hung open, aghast. He snapped it shut. “You what?”
“I suggested to her that while her dress today was lovely, it was not sufficiently sophisticated for theton— you saw it. Surely you cannot disagree. I don’t even know what is missing, maybe lace? Or the sleeves are wrong. Something… it has a look about it of the clothing of the daughter of a country attorney, or maybe Cit. It is not tip top. You know what I mean.”
“You told her that?” Wide eyed question.
“Why wouldn't I?”
“Why — I am, I confess, astonished that Mrs. Darcy accepted you. What did you say when you proposed?In vino veritas? No — it must be the opposite for you.In vino eloquentia.”
Darcy frowned, trying to remember just what he’d said.
“Come, now what were your words?”
Now it was Darcy’s turn to feel shocked.
“I cannot recall,” Darcy said, flushing. “It was not… I think it was a matter of gesture more than word.”
He had never asked Elizabeth to marry him. They had kissed… she had not stopped him from kissing her… and thatmeant that she wished to marry him, but… he had not in fact asked.
“Gesture more than word? You never actually asked her after you kissed her, did you? Just negotiated a settlement with her father and assumed all was settled?”
That… that was in fact what had happened.
“Unsound. Very unsound.” Colonel Fitzwilliam shook his head. “I must watch you someday become so drunk as to make gestural love to a wholly unsuitable young lady. You clearly become a different sort of person. I’d like to see — by George. By Jove! Soften your truth telling. Do not, I beg you, do not criticize your wife’s taste in clothing. Certainly not for Lady Susan’s sake — ah, here we are. Where our roads part. But for God’s sake, promise me, be lesshonestto your wife. She does not deserve it.”
“I do not understand what you really mean to ask, but I am above disguise.”
“Above disguise? — be tactful. And perhaps, sometimes, do not say anything at all.”
“I thank you kindly, for your advice,” Darcy replied coldly. “But as you have never been married, I shall keep to my own counsel. In any case, in my opinion the generality of marriages are plagued by little lies, insincerity, and an inability for the parties to speak their true thoughts to each other, and I think this comes because many couples use the policy you just suggested, rather than being forthright and honest with each other.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam laughed, shaking his head. “Did you tell her directly that you’d ignored your good judgement when you asked Mrs. Darcy to marry you? I mean kissed her into a marriage?”
Darcy nodded, feeling rather shamed.
“And at present you are describing the course your ‘good judgment’ leads you down — do not glare at me that way.You look as though you mean to hurt me.” Colonel Fitzwilliam laughed and backed away. “But I tell you, you have married her, and youshouldtalk to her, and deeply. Learn her character, what it really is, and find the things you can like in it. But I know nothing, not being married. Unlike you, oh wise married man of nearly twenty-four hours.”
And with a wave, Colonel Fitzwilliam was off, leaving Darcy standing next to the tall marble columns fronting the bank of England and giving him the peace necessary to contemplate the wisdom brought by two and twenty hours of marriage.
Chapter Four
Elizabeth ground her teeth and glared at the plump velvet cushions of the Darcy coach.
Send me Georgiana’s master to teach me French will he.
Make me use his cousin’s dressmaker will he.
