“Lady Rebecca proposed to him? Oh, Ishalllook forward to my cousins’ account of such a creature – but did you say that Mr. Bingley returned to Netherfield?”
“Yes, he departed this morning with Rebecca, who is to keep house for him so that he need not suffer the machinations of his sisters.”
“This morning! He leftthis morning?We called on his sisters three days ago!” Elizabeth gaped, glowered, and glared at Mr. Darcy, until a neighboring couple nearly collided with them, and they recollected their steps.
“Perhaps he had not yet told them of his plan, which was hastily contrived on New Year’s Eve – or rather, New Year’s Morning.”
“But he was in London when we called! They knew of his plans, but they gave us the impression he had departed already – though they said only that he was traveling.”
Mr. Darcy clenched his jaw, silent for a moment as he considered this. “They undoubtedly meant to deceive you; I shall speak to them, if you desire it. Amongst all my relations, it is probably my turn to remind them that their behavior is far from attracting the sort of connections that would benefit them the most – people of good sense.”
Mr. Darcy laughed a little at his own jest, but Elizabeth was not amused. “You might have spoken to Mr. Bingley, after dining with us last night – you might have told him before his departure this morning that Jane is here in London.”
"You presume a great deal in supposing that she is the reason for his return.”
Elizabeth returned his grimace, her ire seeping into the movements of the dances. Her eyes flashed wide as she stared up at him, wishing herself a Medusa. “Tell me I am wrong, then.”
“You are not,” he admitted, looking as if she had tortured the confession from him.
“Then why…?”
“I did not think of it,” he said hastily.
Again the dance separated them; when they came together, Elizabeth shook her head with disbelief at Mr. Darcy. “Try again.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Your relations claim you have praised me, yet you will not pay me the respect of an honest answer. Why did you not tell Mr. Bingley that Jane is in London?”
“Because it is all over London that your sister is to inherit Longbourn, and that you both have come into a great fortune. What, and then Bingley suddenly appears, again? How would it look?”
“It would look like an amiable man visiting a friend he had made in the country,” Elizabeth hissed.
“Would it, truly? Or would your friend Mrs. Jennings instantly inform your sister that Bingley had sought her out at the news of her inheritance?”
“That is a wicked assumption," Elizabeth snarled at him, still managing to furiously go through the motions of the dance.
Mr. Darcy began to grow heated, as well. “Your sister has more confidence than anybody I have ever known, if she would not experience the slightest doubts on the matter.”
The dance obliged them to move closer, their hands pressed together as they turned. Elizabeth was fairly panting with rage as she made the figures. “And this is for you to decide? Not Jane, or Mr. Bingley – you.”
“I am his friend, and the person he most looks up to, since the loss of his brother. I wish him every happiness and success in life, and his best chance of that is in applying himself at Netherfield.”
“Well, it is fortunate, then, that he need not rely on his trusted advisor for information; he will learn from my family that Jane is in London; I daresay he must have discovered it already.”
“He shall assuredly hear of it, just as he shall hear my cousins advise him to stay at his estate and improve himself; she is not gone forever, after all. I wrote to Richard and Rebecca this morning, advising them to give him such counsel, for without any distraction, I believe he will learn a great deal about the estate.”
“And nowyoupresume too much, sir,” Elizabeth cried. “Perhaps my sister may forget him while she is in London; I fear she will not, but it would surely be the most prudent course of action.”
“Yes, exactly,” he said in a throaty voice, missing one of his steps as he moved closer to her. He looked at her hopefully, as if they had somehow reached an accord. “She may, indeed. If their attachment is as deep as it ought to be when considering marriage, if he goes months without seeing her and still cannot cease to think of her every smile, every laugh, if he still imagines her waiting for him in every room he enters….”
Mr. Darcy ran his hands down her shoulders, slowly drawing her closer – and then he pulled her out of the path of the other couples. They had abandoned any pretense of dancing, and simply stood together, inches apart, locked in a fiery glare.
He cleared his throat, finally removing his hands from her as Colonel Brandon began to stalk their way with a look ofconcern. Elizabeth offered the colonel a grateful smile, for she was seconds away from strangling the man before her.
Mr. Darcy looked between the colonel and Elizabeth, and took a step back. “Perhaps she may forget him, too,” he said softly. “Perhaps she may indeed find a better match in London.”
Elizabeth scoffed. “I saw your face when the viscount asked about her, so you cannot be thinking to separate Jane and Bingley for your cousin’s sake.”
