Page 136 of Near Pemberley

She frowned thoughtfully.

At the Netherfield ball… had he not danced only with Mrs. Hurst, as courtesy required, Miss Bingley… but then with Lizzy?

Mrs. Bennet blinked. How had she never thought that rather remarkable?

Then everything else had followed. He had found Lydia. He had taken her into his own home. He had protected her. He had cared for her when her own family had been powerless to do so. And he had asked for nothing in return.

Mrs. Bennet sighed. “I do not understand gentlemen at all,” she murmured.

Her thoughts turned, unwillingly, to Mr. Wickham.

He had carried Lydia away with every appearance of affection, only to abandon her. Her dear child.

Mr. Darcy, whom Wickham had described as proud, selfish, and hard-hearted, had quietly done everything that a truly honourable gentleman ought to have done.

Mrs. Bennet pursed her lips. “Well,” she muttered to Mary, who sat next to her, “I never truly believed all those dreadful stories Mr. Wickham told.” She reflected for a moment. “Not all of them.” The qualification satisfied her conscience surprisingly well.

Then her attention drifted across the drawing room. Elizabeth had at last yielded to everyone’s entreaties and taken her place at the pianoforte. Presently, she began to sing.

Mrs. Bennet’s eyes wandered towards Mr. Darcy. He had been speaking to Georgiana only a moment before. Now he seemed to have forgotten every person in the room.

He neither spoke nor moved. His whole attention rested upon Elizabeth.

Mrs. Bennet looked back at her daughter. Then again at Mr. Darcy. Then once more at Elizabeth.

A slow smile spread across her face. “Oh...”

Nobody heard her.

She leant back in her chair, folded her hands with great satisfaction, and continued watching. At length, she gave the tiniest nod to herself. “So that is it.”

For perhaps the first time in her life, Mrs. Bennet reached the correct conclusion immediately.

Mr. Darcy was quite desperately in love with her Lizzy.

And, she reflected with increasing delight, if there was one thing she had always understood, it was gentlemen in love.

Chapter XXVIII

When Darcy reflected upon the evening, he realised that it was not the Bennets themselves who had surprised him. Nevertheless, it was fascinating to watch them among themselves.

He had seen them at assemblies, at Netherfield. He had seen Mrs. Bennet in transports of excitement, Mr. Bennet retreating behind irony, Lydia laughing too loudly, Miss Kitty, well, had scarcely left an impression upon him at all, nor had Miss Mary, unless that Miss Mary played the piano forte rather ill.

But within the walls of Longbourn, something altered. Or perhaps nothing altered at all. Perhaps this was simply who they had always been.

The family reunion was noisy and chaotic, but also a display of true affection. Mr. Bennet tried a dry comment, but Darcy could tell he was affected just as well. Mrs. Bennet had no will of pretence. She cried and scolded at the same time, all the way hanging on to her wayward daughter.

Conversation wandered wherever it pleased. One sister interrupted another without offence being taken. Mr. Bennet delivered observations which made Miss Bennet smile despite herself and caused Miss Elizabeth to laugh aloud. Mrs. Bennet complained of her nerves only to forget them entirely moments later when Lydia began recounting some harmless adventure from childhood. Even Miss Mary joined the conversation more naturally than Darcy had ever witnessed before.

Yes, there was disorder, there was noise, and there was affection. It was unlike anything he had known growing up at Pemberley.

His thoughts turned naturally towards Georgiana. He had watched her throughout the day and the evening with quiet satisfaction. He wondered, not for the first time, whether she had been lonelier at Pemberley than either of them had ever admitted.

Her natural shyness gave way to ease rather smoothly and quickly. Mrs. Bennet, after hearing what the Darcys had done for her daughter, seemed to accept them almost as members of her own family. This was nowhere more evident than in the way she embraced Georgiana. She first did not know how to return the outflow of affection, but very soon he saw that Georgiana no longer hovered at the edge of conversation, waiting for permission to speak. Kitty had drawn her into one discussion, Mary into another, while Lydia, with characteristic decisiveness, simply assumed Georgiana wished to accompany her wherever she dragged her. The remarkable thing was that Georgiana appeared perfectly content to do so.

No ceremony had attended her acceptance. The Bennet sisters had simply made room.

Darcy had caught sight of Elizabeth once, watching Georgiana laugh with Lydia. She had smiled without saying a word.