Page 55 of Sweet on Mr Darcy

Mr Darcy followed his gaze. “Oh no.”

“Heavens.” Bingley was transfixed. “Is that Miss de Bourgh? She looks so different! Why has no one informed me that she is so lovely?”

Darcy sighed in resignation. “You were preoccupied.”

“Apparently in the wrong direction. And I thought you my friend, Darce.”

Before Darcy could object, Bingley was already moving. Anne was seated near her uncle and watching the dance with interest.

Bingley approached with the radiant earnest smile of a man discovering a new purpose.

He bowed. “Miss de Bourgh.”

“Mr Bingley.” Her countenance brightened.

He smiled. “I hope I am not too bold in requesting the honour of this dance? Or perhaps the next?”

Anne blinked in surprise, then hesitated. “Oh.”

“I apologise if I have presumed...” Bingley’s face fell.

“No. It is just that…” She appeared mortified. “I do not dance.”

This was not the reply Mr Bingley expected. “You do not dance?”

“My mother never permitted me to learn.” Anne shook her head.

“Never?” Bingley looked horrified.

Anne’s face reddened. “She was persuaded that my health would not support the exercise.”

Bingley sat down at once beside her, entirely abandoning the possibility of dancing. “This is an absolute crime. I hesitate to criticise your mother but…”

“By all means, criticise my mother all you like.” Anne looked amused. “It is how I get by.”

“May I ask…do you wish to learn?”

“Yes.” Anne did not hesitate. “I think I should like it very much.”

Bingley gazed at her, his brow furrowed in concern. “But are you sure that it will not strain your health?”

“I see no reason why it ought,” said Anne. “I believe that it suited my mother for me to be too weak to learn anything. I fear my education is quite incomplete. My family is going to help me.”

Something about the quiet honesty of her admission struck Bingley to his core.

“Then you absolutely must learn,” he insisted.

Anne giggled. “Must I?”

“Yes!” he exclaimed, taking her hand quite forwardly. “You must learn everything you ever wished to learn. It is settled.”

“It is?”

“May I call upon you at Darcy Cottage?” he begged.

Anne blinked in surprise.

“I shall instruct you myself, if you will allow me the privilege.”