“What did your aunt do?”
“Oh! I had forgotten that you had already left the area when my aunt staged a compromise.”
“What! With her own daughter!”
Mr. Darcy told the story of the carriage ride, as Elizabeth listened, her hand to her mouth. When he finished, she shook her head. “I have never heard the like, Mr. Darcy.”
“Sadly, I have. I was almost compromised at a friend’s house a year ago. I was saved only because my valet, Evans, is a light sleeper.”
“I hope this person is no longer a friend,” she said, sharply.
“No, he is not, as he was complicit in the attempt.”
“I have heard rumours that Miss Bingley, Charles’ younger sister, has hopes of you,” Elizabeth said.
“She does, I am sorry to say, though I have done my very best to discourage her.”
“I am surprised that she has not made it her business to seek you out here in Meryton.”
“Shhh, Miss Bennet,” Mr. Darcy said, his finger at his lips. “She will hear you!”
Elizabeth laughed, leading Mr. Darcy to think that he could spend the rest of his life hoping to hear that merry sound! “I have met her, you know,” she said, her eyes twinkling.
“Oh, of course; at your sister’s wedding.”
“Yes; she did not like me, I fear.”
“Alas! What did you do to earn her disapprobation?” Mr. Darcy’s tone was teasing.
“Nothing but be my usual charming self,” was her impish reply.
“I cannot imagine any world in which you and Miss Bingley could be good friends; you are too dissimilar.”
“No, and I am sorry for it, as I would not wish to be the means of Charles not seeing much of his sister. But today I find that I am not so sorry, as having Miss Bingley at Netherfield would make you uncomfortable.”
He thanked her for her kindness with his words and his eyes, and the two lovers gazed at one another for many minutes. Then there was a great caterwauling from the stone bench on which the two youngest Bennet girls sat; one had evidently slapped the other, resulting in loud remonstration and hair pulling.
“I am mortified, Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth groaned, as they hastened to the source of the disturbance. “I would not have you see such behaviour for the world.”
“Nothing could make me think less ofyou, Miss Bennet,” was his staunch reply.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Miss Caroline Bingley nibbled on her scone. Her hostess, Lady Daniels, had already consumed her second scone and was reaching for a third. Had the woman never learnt that it was bad manners to eat so much at tea? Really, it was astonishing that Lady Daniels had managed to secure a baronet! Caroline was glad she had been taught better manners at Miss Minchin’s Seminary for Young Ladies.
She was also glad she was wearing one of her new gowns, created by Madame Belle on Bond Street. Madame Belle had assured Caroline that Coquelicot was the latest fashionable colour, and one that only ladies with red hair could wear successfully. Caroline had seen Lady Daniels’ eyes widen when she had sailed in, head held high, in her new gown. Lady Daniels, with her dark curls, doubtless knew that she could not possibly wear Coquelicot.
Caroline had been rather wrapped up in her own thoughts as the tea and scones were served and consumed, but was pulled out of those mental meanderings sharply when she heard Lady Daniels say “…and Mr. Darcy was seen at Darcy House.”
“Is it certain?” she asked her hostess, sitting forward abruptly. “I cannot recall when Mr. Darcy was last in Town.”
“Oh, quite certain,” Lady Daniels replied, waving a languid hand. “Though I know not how long he plans to remain. Say, did you hear that Lord Easton has made an offer to Susan Carmichael? I must say, I did not expect that!”
Try as she might, Caroline could learn no more about Mr. Darcy, as her hostess was now determined to regale her with the latest on-dits.
But as her carriage headed home, Caroline had a sudden thought. She had never been bold enough to call on Mr. Darcy, but surely it would not be amiss for Caroline to pay a visit to Darcy House pretending to ask for his sister, Georgiana; with any luck, she would find Mr. Darcy in residence.
***
