“Collins?” Bingley sighed, tossing his gloves onto a side table. “Yes. He admitted it this afternoon, and I do not think he regrets it.”
Darcy’s jaw tensed. “I expected as much,” he said. “Did he… say anything else? Tothem, I mean.”
Bingley hesitated. “I am not sure that he even knows the full truth, but he certainly hinted. Nothing explicit. Nothing that would make too many ripples in polite society, but enough that Miss Bennet looked ready to bite through her teacup, and Miss Elizabeth was set to lob hers at his head.”
Darcy frowned. “I expected he would scold or insult—he is always insufferable—but nothing more.”
Bingley hesitated. “Therewasmore.”
Darcy’s head turned sharply. “More?”
“Not about you, this time, but about Miss Elizabeth. He was rather put out that she defended your honor in public, so he decided to attackhercredibility.”
Darcy stiffened. Elizabeth had… defended him? That almost pained him more than if she had denounced him outright. “What did Collins say?”
“He said,” Bingley began, choosing his words carefully, “that he never believed she was a Bennet cousin. Claimed Daniel Bennet never wrote of children, and that Miss Elizabeth’s manner did not match her supposed upbringing.”
Darcy stared at him. “He said that in front of the family?”
Bingley nodded grimly. “In front of everyone. Loudly enough that Mrs. Bennet nearly choked on her tea.”
Darcy’s gaze darkened. “And how did that fall upon Mrs. Bennet’s ears?”
“She was ready to throw him out of the house,” Bingley said with a small, dry smile. “Well, that was how we found matters when we came back. I am afraid I quite lost my temper as well, and the ladies and I… we took some air for a bit.”
Darcy swallowed the rest of his drink without tasting it, without even seeing the glass. “Well? Where stand matters?’
“Oh, Mr. Bennet smoothed it over. Something about Elizabeth being sent to live with some wealthy aunt as a child because her mother’s health could not manage the raising of a small babe, and that she had only lately returned. It was nonsense, but plausible nonsense. Enough for Mrs. Bennet, for she was instantly distracted by the notion of a ‘wealthy aunt’ she never heard of before and forgot entirely about the lady’s parentage. I doubt Collins will actually accept that, though.”
Darcy turned away, pacing a step. He had counted on Collins’s ignorance. That veil was now torn. “What of the sisters? Will any of them talk?”
Bingley’s smile gentled. “The younger sisters? They believed what their father told them. But Miss Bennet already knew.”
Darcy whirled. “How?”
“She is more perceptive than either of us gave her credit for, I suppose. She said she always knew something was off. But today, when we were out walking, Miss Elizabeth told her everything.”
Darcy’s brows lifted. “Everything? As in…everything?”
“Everything pertinent, I suppose.”
Darcy heaved a sigh. “So. You know the truth, too.”
Bingley chewed his lip and sucked in a breath. “Yes.”
Darcy nodded and paced away.
“You need not have hidden so much,” Bingley said softly. “I would have helped you more, had I known.”
“I know.”
“But I understand why you did. The more people who know…”
Darcy nodded once. “Indeed.”
Then Bingley chuckled. “Well, I suppose one good thing came of today… I have changed my mind.”
Darcy blinked and turned around. “About what?”
