“My tongue is always curbed.”
“Your tongue is always quick, as is your wit and your judgment,” Charlotte countered.
“But they are so easily judged.” Elizabeth lowered her voice further as they drew nearer to the Bingleys and Mr. Darcy. “They offer up such ready evidence of their snobbery and disdain.”
“Perhaps it is simply their London ways.”
Elizabeth snorted. “I have met other people from London, you know. They were not such as these.” Still, she joined Charlotte in greeting Mr. Bingley with a curtsy and a warm regard, then did her best to maintain the expression as Miss Bingley and Mr. Darcy joined them.
“Did I hear some mention of people from London as I approached?” Mr. Darcy’s eyes shone bright with interest. He looked about, as if someone worthy of his notice might appear.
Elizabeth was dismayed by, and impressed with, his keen hearing. Hopefully he hadn’t picked out many more words.
“Miss Lucas, Miss Elizabeth, a pleasure,” Mr. Bingley said, apparently happy to ignore Mr. Darcy. “How fortuitous to come upon you. Would you care for a stroll? We are taking in the village.”
“Wehavetaken in the village,” Miss Bingley observed, waspish. “One need not even walk. It is possible to take in the whole of Meryton from any point along this street.”
Mr. Bingley’s smile hardened, but did not waver. He turned to Charlotte and presented his arm. “Miss Lucas?”
She cast Elizabeth a quick look.
“We would be more than pleased to walk with you,” Elizabeth allowed, and deliberately added, “We make our way to the far end of the village, to my aunt and uncle’s.”
“You have relations who livehere?” Dismay scoured the veneer of civility from Miss Bingley’s tone.
“Indeed, I do.”
Rather than offer Elizabeth or Miss Bingley his arm, Mr. Darcy continued to peer about. His eyes narrowed, glinting.
Elizabeth followed his gaze to the strand of chipped cobbles alongside the inn. Did he find Meryton’s alleyways not as auspicious as London’s? By her reckoning, Meryton’s were cleaner.
“Here in this village?” Miss Bingley pressed. “How is that possible?”
“My uncle is an attorney and prefers to live above his office,” Elizabeth said blandly.
“An…attorney?” Miss Bingley cast her brother a quick, intent look. One that shouted, ‘I told you they are not suitable company,’ but to which he replied with a defiant frown.
“Oh yes,” Elizabeth said with deliberate unconcern. “Both of my uncles on my mother’s side are in trade. Uncle Phillips purchased his business from my mother’s father, and my uncle in London is in…imports and exports.” Uncle Gardiner was quite reputable, in fact, and his goods and advice sought after. Enough so that even Miss Bingley might recognize his name, so Elizabeth withheld it. She wanted to test Mr. Bingley’s resolve when it came to Jane, not to sound as if she boasted.
Mr. Darcy turned his attention on her. “Exports?” he asked, a strange sharpness in both his voice and his keen blue eyes. “Shipping, is it?”
They were nice eyes, Elizabeth decided. Kind, even, as were the lines of his face. Nearly all turned upward, as if he smiled a great deal, yet she had not seen him once do so. Perhaps some recent burden rendered him so insufferable?
Mr. Bingley cleared his throat. “Let us not speak of shipping.” He cast Mr. Darcy an almost pleading look.
“Heaven forbid,” Miss Bingley said in agreement.
Why did the siblings not wish to speak of shipping? Elizabeth looked from one to the other, confounded. Did they despiseties to trade so excessively? Good that she had informed them of Mrs. Bennet’s connections now, then, before Jane could become even more smitten, though who hated shipping? Many gentlemen invested in such ventures, their fortunes made or ruined in the dark, heaving waters of far-off seas.
They were so odd, these newcomers from London.
“Walk with me, Miss Elizabeth?”
She turned from regarding the siblings to find that Mr. Darcy now studied her. With a shrug, she nodded, moving to place her hand on his arm.
“Oh, but you would forsake me so quickly, Mr. Darcy?” Miss Bingley gave a fluttering laugh. “How fickle you are.”
“Never that,” he said, and proffered his other arm to her. “I am fully capable of walking with two ladies.”
