“Mr. Collins!”
“Mr. Collins proposed to you? He actually thought you and he would be a good match? Astonishing!” Mr. Darcy was amazed.
Elizabeth’s face was aflame. “Lydia, why did you have to bring this up?”
“Because it is so very funny! He proposed to Lizzy, and when she turned him down, he went out the very next day and proposed to Charlotte Lucas! We could not stop laughing, could we, Kitty?” She turned to her sister for corroboration.
“I did notice him giving you the occasional odd look, Elizabeth,” Mr. Darcy said. “Well, he has good taste if not good sense.”
Everyone at the table liked that, and applauded his choice of words.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Miss Bingley was indeed already gone by the time Mr. Darcy returned to Netherfield Park. He was happy to share the news of his engagement to Miss Bennet, and the congratulations – along with Bingley’s best brandy – flowed long as the Bingleys sat with Mr. Darcy in the drawing room.
“We will be brothers, Darcy!” Bingley exclaimed, happily.
And Mrs. Bingley added, beaming beautifully, “I could not be happier, Mr. Darcy.”
“I thank you, Mrs. Bingley,” Mr. Darcy replied. “Nor could I.”
“Though,” she added, her face falling a bit. “I cannot help but think that Caroline pushed you into something you might not otherwise have done.”
“In truth, Miss Bingley pushed your sister, not me. I have been ready for a betrothal for some weeks now.”
“Ohhhh,” she breathed. “Well, that does make sense.”
“Does it?” His tone was a bit odd.
Mrs. Bingley saw that he had been a bit hurt by Elizabeth’s hesitation. “Mr. Darcy, my sister has taken the example of our parents very much to heart.”
“She mentioned them as an example, yes.”
“My father has confided in her perhaps more than he should have, as it was Lizzy who learnt that our mother’s pretty face, blonde curls, and flirtatious manner led our acerbic, scholarly father into marriage. His mother, my grandmother Elizabeth – yes, my sister was named for her – counseled Papa not to marry Miss Gardiner, but he was blinded by his infatuation. As a result, he has lived these many years with a woman he cannot esteem, while she has lived these same years with the knowledge that her husband finds her wanting.”
“That is indeed a hard lesson to learn from one’s parents.”
“It is, and one that Lizzy has sworn not to repeat.”
“I will love her always,” Mr. Darcy promised.
“Yes, but you see, that is what our father thought about our mother as well.”
“But Elizabeth is not your mother and I am not your father.”
“And that, I do not doubt, is why Lizzy agreed to the match.”
“I am off to London in the morning, Mrs. Bingley; with your kind permission, I will return within a week.”
“You are always welcome here, Mr. Darcy. And since we are to be brother and sister, might you not call me Jane?”
“I would be honoured, indeed. And my name is Fitzwilliam, though your sister says it is too long a name, and she will call me William.”
Mrs. Bingley – Jane, now – laughed. “I can just picture Lizzy counting off the syllables in Fitzwilliam and then shaking her head. She has always been envious of me for having a one-syllable first name, while hers is four.”
“Thus she goes by Lizzy; but I shall always call her Elizabeth! Such a lovely name!”
“He is besotted indeed,” Mr. Bingley said to his wife, smiling widely. “You are off to London for the marriage articles, Darcy?”
