The look on Mr. Darcy’s face caused Elizabeth to add, “He was not best pleased at the assignment, I take it?”
“Once I explained the necessity, he complied willingly enough.” Mr. Darcy stared hard at Elizabeth, willing her to understand thatshewas the reason for the necessity.
Mary reappeared with Kitty; the news of Mr. Darcy’s search for Lydia had been explained to her. “I can draw pictures of Lydia,” she said immediately. “I do not know how good they will be, though.”
“What I have now is simply her name,” Mr. Darcy said. “Any likeness, no matter how imperfect, would help.”
Kitty promised to have at least one drawing completed by the following afternoon, and Mr. Darcy was invited to return to see it. Mr. Darcy agreed, adding, “May I be permitted to see Mr. Bennet before I leave for Netherfield?”
“Oh, of course,” Jane said, and led their guest to Mr. Bennet’s study. She knocked on his closed door, heard him bid her enter, and ushered Mr. Darcy into the room. “Papa, Mr. Darcy asked to see you.” She curtsied to her guest and left.
Mr. Bennet scowled at Mr. Darcy.
“I deserve your enmity,” Mr. Darcy said at once.
“In that, we are in agreement,” Mr. Bennet said, bitterness lacing his voice. “You separated Jane from Mr. Bingley; you kept your knowledge of Mr. Wickham’s villainy a secret. Do you deny any of this?”
“Not at all; I am entirely at fault.”
“Then what have you to say for yourself?” Mr. Bennet demanded.
“Only that I am doing my best to remedy my faults. I told Bingley that I had been entirely wrong about Miss Bennet, and I apologised sincerely. He immediately returned to Netherfield, as you are doubtless aware.”
“None of that alleviates Jane’s months of suffering!” Mr. Bennet said, slapping a hand down on the table.
“No; there is nothing I can do to alter the past,” Mr. Darcy said. Leaning forward, he added, “Mr. Bennet, have you never done something that you deeply regretted? Few of us are so fortunate.”
Recalling the conversation he had had with Jane about his treatment of Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Bennet’s scowl softened. He leaned back in his chair and said, quietly, “A direct hit, Mr. Darcy.”
“I had no intention of wounding you, sir; only to remind you that to err is human.”
“Not being divine, it is not incumbent upon me to forgive; but I will only ask what you can do to repair your other error.”
“Miss Lydia? I left Pemberly to go to London with the express intention of finding her.”
Mr. Bennet scoffed. “Find her in London? Like finding one drop of water in the ocean!”
“I cannot disagree, but I am attempting it nonetheless.” He recounted again the actions he had taken on Lydia’s behalf, including his visit to the Gardiners and his enlistment of Colonel Fitzwilliam. “Miss Kitty has promised to draw Miss Lydia’s likeness and show me the drawing tomorrow.”
“Kitty is the best artist in the family, and she and Lydia were close; I do not doubt that she will do a creditable job.”
“There is another thing, Mr. Bennet.”
“Is there, indeed?”
“Yes; I am in love with Miss Elizabeth and hope to make her my wife.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Mr. Bennet stared at Mr. Darcy. “Marry? Lizzy? But – I understood that the two of you did not like one another! What was it you said at the assembly? Something about her being merely tolerable? I heard the story repeated again and again.”
Mr. Darcy reddened. “That was long ago, Mr. Bennet. My opinion is now much altered.”
“But when did you see one another? Ah, yes, at Rosings.”
“Yes, and then again at Pemberley, when she came with the Gardiners.”
“And these interactions have resulted in a change of opinion, has it?”
