Bingley growled at Colonel Fitzwilliam, who laughingly raised his hands. “So you do not think of her as only a sister?”
“What? Do not be absurd. I think of her as Jane. She is simply Jane.”
Darcy was beginning to realize that Bingley’s attitude towards the eldest Miss Bennet was in fact different and more intense than how he thought of the pretty women that Darcy had seen him flirt with before.
Such a match was a sensible one. Jane was a dear family friend who he had known for so very long, and the daughter of his father’s old business partner. Such a marriage would be to the satisfaction of everyone, were it to occur.
Darcy grabbed a sugary lemon tart from the table and went to lean against one of the windowsills to watch the two of them argue.
In response to Bingley’s glare, which was considerably more determined than Darcy was used to seeing his friend ever act, Colonel Fitzwilliam said, “Well then, it appearsIam to have nothing to do with Miss Bennet. Pity though — sick girls are always the prettiest. Everyone says so. But I suppose I’ll have to content myself with bothering Miss Elizabeth, even though she seems to radiate good health. More's the pity — but I think she is more to my taste in any case.”
Bingley laughed at that, showing that his defensiveness only extended tooneof the Bennet girls. “Lizzy is too clever for you.”
“I like clever women.”
Darcy felt a sort of anxiety, and he looked at Colonel Fitzwilliam who had his ordinary mocking grin. Did heactuallymean to take a serious interest in Elizabeth?
She really couldn’t like him. Colonel Fitzwilliam was losing his hair.
But Darcy knew that his cousin was a confident, vigorous man, with a sort of easy charisma.
There was a laughing reply from Bingley that Darcy barely heard over his mounting anxiety.
“Miss Elizabeth is a great reader,” Darcy suddenly heard himself saying. He was pressing his neatly trimmed nails into the palm of his hand. The lemon tart he’d just eaten mixed acidly with the strong coffee. “You hardly could get along very well with such a person.”
“Ah, simple soldier you mean? But even the simplest soldier might wish to have some touch of higher thoughts and interests to enliven his life.”
Darcy frowned.
It would be a reasonable match for his cousin. Heoughtto be happy at the thought of his cousin fixing on someone to at last marry. He shouldnotfeel a gaping anxiety that verged on terror at the thought of Elizabeth marrying someone else.
Colonel Fitzwilliam looked at him in a peculiar way. He added in a far more serious voice, “I do not think that Miss Elizabeth has any interest inme. Though she is a very fine woman.”
“No, no,” Darcy said. He stood and with effort unclenched his jaw. “You must not judge yourself beneath your desserts — she spoke chiefly with you all last night. That sort of persistence must mean she has some interest in you.”
Tilted head, too clever eyes. His coat finely fitted around wide muscular shoulders. Darcy hated the way his cousin made him feel transparent and as though he had no depths to hide his thoughts within.
Bingley laughed. “I don’t know about that. Lizzy seemed to simply enjoy herself. And you as well. Nothing there, I think.Notthat I would be offended, Colonel Fitzwilliam, if you and Lizzy made a match of it. I’d be rather happy about it. I just don’t expect it from last night.”
“Oh?” Colonel Fitzwilliam raised an eyebrow. “See, Darcy, Miss Elizabeth has no interest inme. Nothing is clearer than that a woman speaking to a man does not mean that she is in love with him. For example, Miss Bingley spoke toyoueven more persistently than Miss Elizabeth spoke to me, and I cannot imagine thatshehas any interest in you.”
Bingley coughed.
Darcy flushed, and in response to the felt heat in his face, he sat up straighter and prouder. “I have not sought any interest from that source, and I shall not. I assure you that at present I have no intention to flirt, to prance, or to interact in any particular way with any woman. I certainly at present have no plans to marry, nor any interest in any particular woman.”
“Ah!” Colonel Fitzwilliam then replied, “I’d suspected that you had an interest in Miss Elizabeth — something about how you looked at her. But in this case I’ll have no compunctions about monopolizing her attention if she throws them on me again.”
The worst of it was that Darcy could not even glare at his cousin, because that would simply prove his suspicions.
The day was long, and tortuous, as Darcy eagerly wished to see Elizabeth’s face again, but she remained steadily in attendance on her sister. Elizabeth only came down from the sick room in the evening.
Bingley leapt from where he’d sat at cards with Mr. Hurst, Mrs. Hurst and Colonel Fitzwilliam. He exclaimed with real feeling, “How does Jane? Is she any worse in the last three hours?”
Elizabeth shook her head and smiled. “Sleeping now. Still warm, but less than earlier.” She then stretched her arms above her head, pulling the cotton fabric of her dress taut around her bosom, and tilted and turned her head about. “I’ve sat in one posture reading to her for too long.”
It was impossible for Darcy to not shift in place, and orient himself towards her. He was suddenly aware of all his own aches and pains from sitting in one place as he had written his letter to Georgiana. Half consciously imitating her, Darcy also stretched, turning his torso side to side.
“Join us.” Mrs. Hurst offered to Elizabeth, “We just talked about switching the game to loo. We can accommodate you and Caroline.”
