Page 40 of Mr. Darcy’s Diamonds

“No. I do not think so. Is it someone Caroline knows?”

“No, only a name I heard,” Elizabeth said.

“Mmm,” Jane murmured. “We have arrived. Be sure you act with propriety, and do not monopolize Mr. Darcy’s attention again, or Caroline will be upset.”

“Mmm,” Elizabeth replied. If it was good enough for Jane, she could be unhelpful, as well.

As it turned out, Caroline was more vigilant than ever that morning in keeping Mr. Darcy to herself. Elizabeth was seated between her friend and her cousin and tried to talk with Mr. Bingley and Jane, but they could spare little attention for anyone. Mr. Darcy spoke little, giving one-word replies to Caroline whenever possible. Elizabeth found herself feeling sorry for them both, in turn. She had become a grasping fortune hunter, and he had become a taciturn curmudgeon. She chuckled quietly at her own designations of them.

“Miss Elizabeth, what diverts you?” Mr. Darcy asked drily.

Elizabeth felt her cheeks heating. She obviously could not tell them what she had been thinking, and she found she was now ashamed of herself for even having such thoughts. What else could she say had made her laugh?

“Oh! I was merely reflecting on the book I was reading last evening,” she said.

He still looked grave, but his eyes lit up. “What book was that?” His tone gave no indication of interest.

Elizabeth glanced at Caroline and saw a warning look on her face. She offered a conciliatory look and spoke to both of them, knowing she could not have an open conversation with only Mr. Darcy today.

“Evelina,” she said. “Have you read it?”

“A novel! Why, Eliza, you shock me,” Caroline said. Elizabeth knew Caroline read novels, though her tastes ran more to the scandalous.

“I found Evelina to be quite entertaining,” Mr. Darcy said. “Which of the heroine’s capers did you recall?”

Caroline’s face fell, but she recovered quickly and turned back to Mr. Darcy.

“I was thinking of the part in which Evelina avoids dancing with Sir Willoughby by claiming a prior engagement with Lord Orville,” Elizabeth said.

“How is that amusing, Eliza?” Caroline practically sneered.

“Evelina has no arrangement with him and is being presumptuous in implying the gentleman would have any interest in dancing with her,” Elizabeth said. She kept her eyes on Caroline, but she saw over her shoulder that Mr. Darcy’s lips began to twitch. “In fact, Evelina has thus far had too little interaction with Lord Orville to think he would rescue her.”

“Perhaps if Evelina had not been such a sweet, innocent girl, he would not have,” Mr. Darcy said.

“Perhaps not, but he showed his good character in coming to her aid despite her foolishness,” Elizabeth replied.

Caroline’s head bounced back and forth between them as they spoke.

“And she charmed him with her honesty,” Mr. Darcy said. Despite an enigmatic look in his eyes, he still appeared grave and distant.

Caroline had been excluded long enough. “As you are inclined to laugh at private memories, Eliza, it really is unfortunate you cannot join us at Vauxhall Gardens this evening. You must add it to your list of places to see when you are older—or perhaps your relations will take you some morning. When you see it for yourself, you will find much to amuse you and to think on during your solitary evenings.”

Elizabeth offered Caroline a startled smile and then retrieved her sewing from a basket on the floor beside her.

That afternoon, Darcy sat at his desk, but he had been unable to focus on the letter from his steward. He felt a slow smile spread across his face as he allowed himself to remember Miss Elizabeth’s words that morning. Had she meant to make sport of Miss Bingley when she spoke of a young lady who assumed more than she should about a man’s feelings and forced herself upon his company? Of course she had compared them on purpose; that was why she had chuckled. That meant she had been comparing him to Lord Orville, and he had then turned the story to compare Evelina’s better qualities to Miss Elizabeth. Had she noticed the compliment he had paid her?

What was he doing? He had no wish to encourage an affection for him he would not return. And he certainly would not return it. Even if he had been interested in seeking a wife already, their difference in ages was too much, though she moved ever nearer to her own come out.

He had heard so much good of her—even before he had met her—that he could not help but admire her. Then in his few interactions with her, she had carried on more mature, witty conversation than many of his acquaintance could manage.

It was easy to forget she was only sixteen. It was even easier to imagine age to be unimportant in someone whose company he valued. Could she be thinking that even now? He had no intention of courting her, naturally. He would be happy, though, to continue building a friendship. Georgiana had been disappointed not to have seen her again when she discovered it may have been possible in January, but she was back in school this week. Perhaps in June, when his sister’s current school term ended.

The next morning, Darcy had not yet overcome the annoyance he had felt the night before at Vauxhall Gardens. He was unsure whether Miss Bingley’s grasping had really been worse or his patience for her had diminished without the prospect of seeing and speaking with Miss Elizabeth to lighten the atmosphere.

Miss Bennet had monopolized Bingley’s evening, and the Hursts had wandered off together for much of the night, neglecting their roles as chaperones. That left him at Miss Bingley’s mercy, and no matter how little he spoke or how much he frowned, she would not be dissuaded from holding his arm possessively and behaving as though they were courting. Darcy had no interest in the entertainments that night.

He did, however, intend to call on Bingley at eleven o’clock, as usual. His friend had been correct that he had spent little time in London the past year, and as he had only a few more days in town, he could pass an hour or two each day with his friend. That still left him plenty of time to manage his business affairs and see his family. His cousin, Major Fitzwilliam, was somewhere up north training with his men, but he would visit Pemberley as soon as he had leave. Darcy planned to visit his sister Saturday and start his journey home on Monday. He had three days, then, including today, to be in his friend’s company.