Page 2 of Mr. Darcy’s Diamonds

“Then may I have the fourth?”

“Very well,” Elizabeth said with some exasperation.

The corners of Mr. Darcy’s lips turned up a fraction before he bowed fully and walked past her. It was these odd behaviors that had always confused Elizabeth about whether Mr. Darcy considered her a friend. They had not seen each other for more than four months, and their parting had been painful, yet he had nothing to say to her now? Only then did Elizabeth remember that the fourth was the supper set. She wished she had not answered so quickly. She could have offered him the final set and then returned to Longbourn early. After all, she had nothing to say to him, either.

It was fortunate that Mr. Bingley was her next dance partner, as he was too focused on Jane beside her to care that Elizabeth was not inclined to talk. Her thoughts were on one of the last times she had seen Mr. Darcy, in June. He had invited her to join him in viewing an exhibit at the British Museum three days hence.

“Were you able to obtain tickets?” Elizabeth had asked excitedly. She and Mr. Darcy had spoken of the exhibit before, and she had lamented the difficulty her Uncle Gardiner had had in attempting to secure admission.

“I have five tickets for this Friday at eleven o’clock. Bingley and I will meet you and your aunt and uncle in front of the museum, if that is convenient.”

“Oh, yes! Thank you. They will be nearly as happy as I am when I tell them your news.”

She had learned about the exhibit months before and had been disappointed to learn it would not be easy to see it. On the morning of the excursion, Elizabeth had barely been able to eat any breakfast, so excited was she. She had traveled with her aunt and uncle to the museum, arriving a few minutes early. When no Mr. Darcy or Mr. Bingley appeared, her uncle had walked around the museum and even tried to look inside the entrance but had been denied. Finally, when their two-hour viewing time had nearly expired, they had returned home, hot and disappointed.

Elizabeth had urged her uncle to return home earlier, as she suspected she knew why Mr. Darcy had changed his mind about meeting them. She could not argue her point too strenuously, however, as that would require her to reveal their final conversation the morning before. That she would never do. Her uncle had sent a note to Mr. Darcy when they had returned home and was confused by the lack of a reply.

It was not until the following Monday that she received a note from Caroline Bingley that satisfied her aunt and uncle and confirmed her own suspicions.

Dear Miss Eliza,

It is unfortunate that you missed the excursion on Friday. With your scholarly interests, you likely would have appreciated it far more than the rest of us did. We waited at home for as long as we could, but my brother did not wish to miss the entry time. Once it was clear you would not join him, he invited Mr. Hillyerd, Mr. Hurst, Louisa, and me. We were together already, and we thought it better to go than to waste all of the tickets.

My brother asked that I inform you Mr. Darcy left in a hurry Thursday afternoon, stopping only long enough to send the museum tickets here. We do not know why he left. He said only that he had to go to Kent with all haste. He must have had news from his aunt that caused his rush. We are not concerned that the news was dire, as he expected his stay in Kent to be quite brief.

I should imagine we will see each other at some card party or ball soon enough.

Regards,

Caroline Bingley

Chapter Two

Elizabeth returned to the present when she found herself joining in the applause for the musicians without knowing what she was doing, just as she had performed two dances with little attendance on her surroundings. With a quick look to confirm Mr. Bingley had not minded her inattentiveness, she went to drink some lemonade and then spent the next half hour more focused on the dance and on her partner, Mr. Lucas’s younger brother John.

She barely reached Mary after the set when Mr. Darcy appeared. With no words and a piercing look, he extended his hand as though he were owed a tribute and expected it in the form of Elizabeth. Frustrated with the man anew as she had gone over in her mind the way she had felt at missing the museum exhibit and subsequently being abandoned by another person who claimed to be a friend, this act of superiority did nothing to endear him to her. Still, she had agreed to this set, so she placed her gloved hand in his and allowed herself to be gently pulled toward him and escorted back to the dance floor.

Mr. Darcy was a remarkable dancer. This was not news to Elizabeth, as she had partnered him before in London, but this time seemed different. Elizabeth wanted to ask him what had happened in June. Why had she been left out of the museum excursion? Had he any hand in it, or was it Miss Bingley’s doing? Why had he not come to speak to her personally, as she felt sure she was the reason he had obtained the tickets in the first place? Why had he not formally revoked his invitation if her words of the morning before had bothered him so much?

Elizabeth could ask none of these questions, however, as Mr. Darcy’s eyes bored into her own with an intensity she had never seen from him in all the years she had known him. For once, she was utterly speechless. It was not until the second dance of the set that she found her voice.

“You left rather abruptly in June.”

“I did.”

Elizabeth shook her head lightly and resumed her silence, focusing instead on the way he shifted through the figures more expertly than any other man she had ever danced with. After a few more minutes of effortless movements together, Mr. Darcy finally spoke again.

“I heard positive reviews of the Egyptian exhibit. I trust it was all you hoped it would be?”

“How should I know? I was not so fortunate as to attend.”

At this Mr. Darcy broke from his careful reserve. “What do you mean? I obtained the tickets specifically for—Did you fall ill?”

“No, sir. The Gardiners and I waited outside the museum for nearly two hours, but neither you nor Mr. Bingley ever came. Three days later, I learned that the meeting place had changed to Mr. Hurst’s home and that you were not of the party.”

At his obvious surprise, Elizabeth realized what she had long hoped but had not let herself quite believe. Mr. Darcy had not been the one to exclude her.

“Miss Elizabeth, I do not know what to say. I am stunned, appalled. I had thought Bingley…”