“Well, Mr. Darcy?”
“I meant merely to say that I judged that the general population, and specifically Mr. Bingley, would name her such — I did not mean to imply I prefer her to you.”
“Very good.” She smiled at him.
“I do not at all. She is not to my taste… Miss Bennet smiles too much.”
“Smiles too much!” The woman grinned at him delightedly. “You also are not supposed to tell me that you dislikemy sister’sappearance! You are an original. Mr. Darcy, you are not at all what I expected you to be.”
He flushed. “I hope I have not disappointed you.”
“No, no, I like you far more than I had expected.”
“What had you expected?”
Now it was Miss Elizabeth’s turn to flush. “Oh — I assure you that I have only heard good things about you. Caroline and Charlie sing your praises like you were God, or the King, or St Francis. It hardly would be possible for you to be such a paragon as I was promised.”
“However you said that youlikedme more than you expected.”
“I do not likeparagons. I expected you to be a paragon. But you’ve got odd manners.”
“I do not,” Darcy replied haughtily. “My manners are unobjectionable, and properly bred. I make it a point to not do anything out of order.”
She laughed. “Except you’ve no sense of how to manage a conversation with a woman. I like that in a gentleman.”
“I know exactly how I ought to behave.”
Her smile was bright, and left Darcy yet more convinced that she was laughing at him.
The dance was soon over, and Darcy fell into a silence, as he was not quite sure what to say next, but certain that whatever he would say would have again been not quite right.
However, he simply could not keep his eyes from following Miss Elizabeth Bennet around the room for the rest of the night.
Chapter Four
“Oh, I hardly know! I can hardly tell.” Caroline pressed her hands against her cheeks and shrugged sweetly at the same time. “No, no — I’ll not say that. I must remember that my certainty will draw him to me. So I can hardly tell if he isyetenthralled with me.”
With that Caroline smiled and nodded firmly.
The tall, elaborately arranged pile of hair atop her head swung back and forth ponderously. When they’d entered Lucas Lodge, the big hairpiece had been nearly knocked askew by the door frame.
Elizabeth really wishedshecould carry off such a style the way Caroline did. It was quite impressive. But even when Caroline’s maid Aliette had fixed up her hair in a similar way, Elizabeth had been quite dissatisfied, finding herself to generally prefer her ordinary locks, and perhaps some flowers woven into the hair piece.
“Iperceived no partiality towards you in Mr. Darcy,” Charlotte said to Caroline. “He listened to your teasing presently with every appearance of composure, politeness, and resistance to your charms.”
“Now, now!” Lizzy exclaimed. “No one can resist Caroline’s charms. That is a lie.”
Except, unfortunately, Charlotte wasonesuch person. Elizabeth knew perfectly well that Charlotte did not find Caroline charming.
“That is the way he is.” Caroline said, “He is a reserved man.”
The expression that crossed Charlotte’s face had a meaning clear enough to both the other girls: She thought that Caroline had determined to make the idiot of herself.
“He is! — even with his sister, you can only see from his eyes how fond he is of her. How can the rest of us know what he thinks?”
Charlotte shrugged. “Complete impassivity and apparent insensibility hiding deep feelings? I do not doubt thepossibility.”
“I have shown myself to my best effect with him,” Caroline added, “and he shall see that eventually.In fact, over the past days he has softened towards me.” Caroline looked at Elizabeth, her bright eyes serious and a bit begging. “He has! Truly. Truly, he has. Not merely imagination.”
