AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“When you have killed all your own birds, Mr. Bingley,” said Mrs. Bennet and her voice was unpleasantly shrill. “I beg you will come here and shoot as many as you please on Mr. Bennet’s manor. I am sure he will be vastly happy to oblige you and will save all the best of the covies for you.”
Elliot’s mortification did not abate. Mrs. Bennet clearly did not see that such officious attention would not help matters! And yet, Bingley merely nodded at her words and asked Jack a question about the local fish, which Jack was in no way qualified to answer but attempted to do so anyway. The next ten minutes passed in such a fashion, Bingley attempting to converse with Jack, Mrs. Bennet talking over them both with her own opinions, and on the sidelines Elliot and Christian silent and Darcy too for that matter. The gentlemen rose to take their leave before tea was even finished, but Mrs. Bennet however did not let them go before issuing her invitation to dine at Longbourn in a few days’ time.
“You are quite a visit in my debt, Mr. Bingley,” she added, “for when you went to town last year, you promised to take a family dinner with us, as soon as you returned. I have not forgot, you see, and I assure you, I was very much disappointed that you did not come back and keep your engagement.”
Bingley confirmed that he would be delighted to dine with them later in the week. Mrs. Bennet was manifestly satisfied with that, so much so that she extended her invitation, albeit grudgingly, to include Mr. Darcy. He inclined his head and confirmed he too would be happy to dine with them.
Elliot’s heart raced as he considered that Darcy would be returning to Longbourn, and he tried, once again, to catch the other man’s eyes, but Darcy remained looking out of the window, silent and forbidding, and not at all as Elliot remembered him being in Pemberley.
What was wrong with him?
Why was he acting this way?
And why had he even come to Longbourn if he had no intention of conversing?
Elliot folded his arms around his book as the very wretched prospect that Darcy was at Longbourn only for support to Mr. Bingley occurred to him. If that was so then…Elliot lowered his gaze…then there was little he could do about the fact! But his heart hurt immensely, and he said as much to Jack as they escaped to the river, Mrs. Bennet’s instructions on preparations for the dinner ringing in their ears.
“I do not know what to make of it,” he said.
“I think you are making too much of it all entirely,” Jack replied, arms crossed, and face set in what Elliot supposed was meant to be a neutral expression. “They came to satisfy convention, nothing more.”
“Convention? Despite the fact papa did not visit first?”
“Perhaps they think not on that and instead are thinking that it would be odd if they did not pay us a call.” He shrugged. “And I am glad of it for now this first meeting is over, I feel perfectly easy. I know my own strength, and I shall never be embarrassed again by his coming. I am glad he dines here on Tuesday. It will then be publicly seen that, on both sides, we meet only as common and indifferent acquaintances.”
Elliot looked at her brother in not a little astonishment. “Yes, very indifferent indeed!”
Jack, at last, scowled. “After all that has happened you cannot think me so weak, as to be in danger now?”
Elliot sent the stone he had picked up skimming across the river. It skipped only twice before plummeting to the murky depths below. “I think you are in very great danger of making him as much in love with you as ever!”
“And Mr. Darcy?” Jack demanded. “Will he be as much in love as ever?”
Elliot played the image of Darcy over and over in his mind and his heart ached for that very knowledge.
“I do not know,” he eventually said. “But I hope that we might all soon discover the truth of our situations.”
“Once and for all?” Jack asked.
And Elliot nodded as he skipped another stone. “Once and for all.”
Fifty-Six
Dinner at Longbourn was just as tortuous as Darcy had known it would be, and if not for the inducement of seeing Elliot once more nothing but the hounds of hell on his heels could have convinced Darcy to attend.
He half suspected Mr. Bennet felt the same way as though he was present at the dinner, he looked as though he would rather be anywhere else, and answered most of the questions sent his way with a vague response or when prompted something deeply philosophical which added little to the conversational flow. Darcy suspected he would likely remove himself before they reached dessert.
Mrs. Bennet was as grating and lost to propriety as usual. She was all pleasure and delight with Bingley, as she should be, and all frosty civility with him, which he supposed she should be as well, as she knew almost nothing of him and perhaps it was a point in her favour that she was not willing to act pretty simply due to his fortune.
Darcy was aware that he was trying his best to stack the deck in the Bennets’ favour with that quite generous thought, but he could not help himself, there was little choice anymore.
Marc, the middle brother who Darcy had always liked well enough and was currently sat next to, was perfectly well behaved as was Christian, now the youngest brother. He looked quite lost without Louis sat next to him smirking, but Darcy wondered if the lack of his brother’s presence might be to Christian’s advantage. He was a good-looking young man and would have a chance to grow up some and find his way.
Jack Bennet was perfectly proper as always though Darcy noted he had taken to wearing a full beard which poorly impacted his general attractiveness. He had that same smile, the one Darcy had always attributed to indifference, but which he realised now was simply a smile and there was little more to it than that. He spent quite a bit of his time looking at Bingley, smiling at Bingley, laughing at Bingley’s jokes and before the evening was halfway through Darcy began to realise that there was some partiality there, it was slight, very slight, but it existed.
As for Elliot Bennet… he had been quiet ever since the dinner began, exchanging only greetings and the barest of pleasantries. He was sat next to Mrs. Long who made up the party alongside and Mr. Goulding. Darcy had met them both last summer and was impressed by neither. Mrs. Long was a widow of indeterminate age who lived in a genteel kind of poverty. Ordinarily Darcy would have admired her forbearance with that, as such a life was not an easy one, but she was prone to chattering away at speed, and Darcy found it quite difficult to listen to her. Mr. Goulding was also a widower and though a pleasant enough sort of chap he was not easy to be around given that he smelled quite mustily up close. He was two seats down from Darcy now and already Darcy could detect the stale odour moving along the table. He would have liked to have Elliot sat next to him to mention it. Elliot would likely tell him why Mr. Goulding was unable to keep to proper hygiene and likely chide him for not being considerate of whatever the reason might be or else come out with some interesting fact or another.
Darcy looked across at the other man.
