Page 5 of The Longbourn Bloodline

“I do not doubt it, sir. Derbyshire must be full of them, especially in your close vicinity.”

“Fewer than you might imagine.” His gaze held hers long enough for Elizabeth to feel the warning beneath the courtesy. “I find the local difficulties far more… engaging.”

“Oh, but Mr. Darcy, you must not leave so soon!” Mrs. Bennet practically pushed Jane into him. “You must stay for dinner. We dine at five, nothing grand, but Cook does an excellent roast, and my Jane⁠—”

“Mr. Darcy has business to attend to, my dear.” Mr. Bennet drew on his pipe, observing the scene with the satisfaction of a man watching an amusing theatrical performance. “Mice to evict. Roofs to assess. The cottage will not improve itself.”

“But surely he must eat! A gentleman cannot subsist on⁠—”

“I am most grateful for the invitation, Mrs. Bennet.” Darcy retrieved his hat from the hall table. “But I shall not impose upon your hospitality until I am properly settled.”

“Will there be balls?” Lydia pushed forward, nearly treading on Kitty’s foot. “If you are to improve everything, there must be balls. Netherfield had a ball, and⁠—”

“And officers!” Kitty added breathlessly. “Will you bring officers as part of your improvement endeavors?”

“I want a dancing master,” Lydia declared. “Kitty and I are shockingly neglected in our accomplishments.”

“I hardly think Mr. Darcy has come to provide us with dancing masters, Lydia.” Mary’s voice cut through her sisters’ clamor. “Fordyce writes that young women ought to cultivate inner refinement rather than⁠—”

“Nobody asked Fordyce,” Lydia shot back.

“Girls, girls!” Mrs. Bennet flapped her hands. “Mr. Darcy will think us savages! Jane, come forward and make your curtsy properly. Mr. Darcy, my eldest daughter is considered quite the beauty of the county, and her temperament is⁠—”

“I am sure Miss Bennet’s qualities speak for themselves.” Darcy inclined his head toward Jane, who had gone very pink. “Ladies. Mr. Bennet. I shall leave you to your fascinating greenery.”

His gaze lingered, briefly, on Elizabeth before he vanished through the door.

The silence lasted exactly two held breaths before the room exploded.

“Ten thousand a year, Mr. Bennet! Ten thousand! And you sat there with your newspaper and your smirking and never once thought to mention it.”

“I mentioned a gentleman of consequence, my dear. I believe those were my exact words.”

“You said nothing of the sort! You said ‘a third cousin with removes’ and let me imagine some ancient toad-creature when all along it was Mr. Darcy!”

“It is a most extraordinary development, isn’t it?” Mr. Bennet said dryly as the entire family made its way to the drawing room to dissect the day’s catastrophic events.

“That Mr. Darcy of Pemberley is the heir?” Mary asked in her unctuous tone. “Why does he need Longbourn when he already has Pemberley?”

“I believe it is due to him as your father’s third cousin,” Jane said. “Perhaps he might be agreeable to changing the entail, as I have heard there are families that include females in the line.”

“Oh, if only he would.” Mrs. Bennet fluttered to the sofa and prostrated herself. “He seems rather determined to manage our estate as if he already owns it. The gall of that despicable man.”

“But Mamma,” Lydia interrupted. “He has offered to improve all of us. I, for one, would request new gowns and ribbons. That would be a worthwhile improvement.”

“Lydia, you are speaking of a man who is shortly to control the future of every woman in this room,” Elizabeth said, pulling off her ruined gloves with more force than the leather deserved. “Perhaps the question is not whether he brings dancing masters but whether he intends to stand over us with a ledger and tick off our deficiencies.”

“And to think of the way he treated us at the assembly!” Mrs. Bennet threw her handkerchief onto the settee as if striking a blow for queen and country. “Refusing to dance with our Lizzy when she was sitting right there with partners lacking, and glowering at poor Mary as if her playing the pianoforte was a capital offense! He looked at every soul in this room as though we were so much ditch water!”

“A very accurate description of his manners, my dear,” Mr. Bennet observed, turning a page of his book with infuriating serenity. “Yet I take it you still intend to invite him to dinner on Friday?”

“Well, of course we must!” Mamma snapped, snatching the handkerchief back to dab at her heated brow. “He is a gentleman of ten thousand a year, and the rightful heir to Longbourn besides. Even if he is an odious, haughty troll who deserves to be horsewhipped, he has eyes in his head, and Jane is looking particularly blooming this morning. If he has half a brain, he will see past his own grand connections and realize what a bargain he is getting in this family.”

“And what a bargain we shall receive.” Mr. Bennet polished his spectacles with a silk cloth. “He intends to bankrupt Pemberley to remedy all of Longbourn’s defects. Waxes eloquently on the beauty of Longbourn’s descriptions. Strange that I did not see such evocative prospects in my copy of the entail documents.”

“Perhaps his copy is a forgery,” Mrs. Bennet exclaimed. “We can have it overturned, and then Jane can inherit. She is a true Bennet, after all.”

“Not until Mr. Darcy has spent his fortune on improvements.” Mr. Bennet rose from his armchair. “I see no reason to object, though I should like it noted that I have managed this household for five-and-twenty years without the assistance of any gentleman from Derbyshire.”