His Good Opinion: A Mr. Darcy Novel (31 page)

Mr. Gardiner bowed, and Darcy saw a hint of a smile on his face, but it did not bother him to be seen through so easily. He strode quickly through the trees and saw that the Gardiner's carriage was indeed parked in the drive. Thus assured that Elizabeth was inside, his pace quickened even more. Once inside the house, an inquiry of Mrs. Reynolds gave him the location of the ladies.

When he joined them in the large salon his sister favored, tea had just been set out. He quickly took in the seating arrangements and sighed; Elizabeth and his sister were seated on opposite sides of the room. Miss Bingley and Mrs. Annesley sat on either side of Georgiana, and Mrs. Hurst and Mrs. Gardiner beside Elizabeth.

How am I to encourage their conversation?
He took a plate for himself and sat down near his sister. He soon saw that with his presence, her own reserve eased and she was able to present herself to better advantage. He equally saw that Elizabeth and her aunt were very much impressed with her.

Miss Bingley had sat up quite straight when he walked in and her glance over at Elizabeth did not need any interpretation. He immediately realized that his actions made his intentions clear to more than just Mr. Gardiner, and he wondered if he should have been more discreet. A quick look over at Elizabeth showed no discomposure on her part, however, a fact which eased his mind as much as it quickened his pulse. If she did not object to his intentions, then perhaps her feelings toward him were not as wholly set as they had been in months past. Perhaps...

Conversation started once more and did not allow him to ponder these thoughts any longer. Darcy sought a topic that would lead to conversation between Georgiana and Elizabeth, and eventually he turned to his sister and said, "Have you told Miss Bennet of your new pianoforte?"

She smiled and said, "No, we had not gotten to music yet. Do you play, Miss Bennet?"

"Not as well as I should like--I ought to take the time to practice." The smile she offered Darcy held no reprimand, and he took it as an olive branch.

"I am sure you do not give yourself enough credit. I confess, music is one of my greatest joys. My brother was good enough to have a new instrument sent to me this last week. Perhaps when you are with us for dinner tomorrow night you might play for us."

"If you would like."

"Oh yes, very much so."

Darcy leaned back in his chair, a smile on his face. Even if his dreams did not come true and Elizabeth never accepted his hand, he could not think of a better friend for Georgiana. Elizabeth was as open and vibrant as his sister was quiet and reserved, and she had a quick understanding of people and their motives that would do his innocent sister well.

Before he could congratulate himself too greatly on securing their friendship, Caroline Bingley's voice ruined the moment. "Pray, Miss Eliza, are not the -shire militia removed from Meryton? They must be a great loss to
your
family."

Georgiana paled, and Darcy cursed the impulse that had led him to disclose Wickham's membership in that corps. However, before he could deliver a stunning retort to Caroline, Elizabeth took the matter calmly in her own hands. "Of course we were as sorry as any family to find the diversity of the company materially diminished, but I daresay we have been able to cope well enough. After all, we managed without the militia for many years, and we shall continue to do so."

Her answer quickly put paid to any notion on Miss Bingley's side that she missed Wickham, and that lady colored when her insult was so easily rebuffed. Darcy could easily guess what her intent had been--to cast Elizabeth as a lady with poor discernment, who was not above befriending a common soldier.
A year ago, that might have made a difference in my opinion of her, but today, nothing Caroline Bingley says could sway my affections. Were Elizabeth to tell me her own sister had actually married a soldier, I would not love her any less.

It was but a few minutes later when Mrs. Gardiner indicated to Elizabeth that they would soon need to return to Lambton in order to meet their afternoon appointments. Darcy rose when they did and offered to escort them to their carriage.

After he had handed them up into the carriage, Mrs. Gardiner smiled down at him. "Thank you very much for your hospitality, sir. If you would be so kind as to tell Mr. Gardiner we have returned to the village, I would appreciate it."

"Of course, Mrs. Gardiner."

"Then we shall see you tomorrow night for dinner."

Darcy smiled, and his eyes drifted to Elizabeth. "I greatly look forward to it."

Elizabeth blushed, and Mrs. Gardiner nodded to their driver. Darcy stepped away from the carriage, and this time, he did not turn until it had disappeared down the lane.

When he returned to the salon, he found Caroline abusing Elizabeth in the strongest language she dared use. "How very ill Eliza Bennet looks this morning, Mr. Darcy! I never in my life saw anyone so much altered as she is since the winter. She is grown so brown and coarse Louisa and I were agreeing that we should not have known her again."

She clearly expected some kind of response from him, some token agreement perhaps. It was foolish on her part, he reasoned, for she obviously was driven to speak thus because she had seen his regard for Elizabeth had not faltered.
Why then does she expect me to join in her censure?

He could not leave the sentence hanging, however, and he said, "I perceived no other alteration than her being rather tanned, and that is no miraculous consequence of traveling in the summer."

Miss Bingley flushed beneath her own tan, but she was not quieted. "For my own part, I must confess that I never could see any beauty in her. Her face is too thin; her complexion has no brilliancy; and her features are not at all handsome."

Mrs. Hurst tried to catch her sister's eye, but either Miss Bingley did not notice or did not care to be stopped, for she tilted her head slightly and continued with her litany of Elizabeth's perceived flaws. "Her nose wants character; there is nothing marked in its lines. Her teeth are tolerable, but not out of the common way; and as for her eyes, which have sometimes been called so fine, I never could perceive anything extraordinary in them. They have a sharp, shrewish look, which I do not like at all; and in her air altogether, there is a self-sufficiency without fashion which is intolerable."

Darcy had maintained his composure as well as he could, but these sly remarks on Elizabeth's
fine eyes
raised his ire past what he could conceal. He had long regretted making that comment within Miss Bingley's earshot; he was beyond tired of hearing her bandy it about.

She was not done, however. "I remember, when we first knew her in Hertfordshire, how amazed we all were to find that she was a reputed beauty; and I particularly recollect your saying one night, after they had been dining at Netherfield, '
She
a beauty! I should as soon call her mother a wit!' But afterwards she seemed to improve on you, and I believe you thought her rather pretty at one time."

This was the outside of enough. He could bear Miss Bingley's mockery of his good opinion of Elizabeth with fortitude. But to hear his mistaken first impressions displayed before his sister, who was now looking at him with mild reproach, infuriated him.

"Yes, but
that
was only when I first knew her, for it is many months since I have considered her as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance."

Miss Bingley snapped her mouth shut, and Darcy stood and bowed with severe formality. The gentlemen were still fishing at the river, and he felt quite sure that they would be better company than Caroline Bingley.

Agitated as he was on quitting the room, he could not help but realize he had just made his feelings abundantly clear, and it struck him that perhaps it was time he made his intentions likewise clear to Elizabeth.

Nothing stopped him from declaring himself but an uncertainty of her own heart. That she had softened toward him was obvious. He recalled, with gratitude and pride, her manner in quelling Miss Bingley's inappropriate reference to Wickham. Clearly she no longer held Wickham in any esteem. But had she transferred that regard to him? He could not say, and after his disastrous proposal in Kent, he was unwilling to venture a guess.

He resolved, therefore, to return their visit with one of his own on the morrow. The company of Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner he had found enjoyable, and any time spent with Elizabeth was greatly to be desired. During this interview he would attempt to gain, by some measure, a sense of her opinion of him. If it had indeed improved, he would, in the manner befitting her station, ask her uncle for permission to court her.

He blushed when he thought of the impropriety of his addresses toward her in Kent. Not only had his words been insulting, the very manner of address had been indecorous. He had not sought permission from anyone, for he had not believed his attention would be anything less than desirable to the interested parties. He would not make that mistake again.

And if he found Elizabeth alone? He remembered their private conversation in the Hunsford parsonage and shifted uneasily. He had thought then that he had gained a suitable understanding of her wishes, and he had been wrong. However, in this setting he thought it unlikely, and he had some certainty of her approbation to at least assure him she would not be adverse with sharing a few words with him in private. From there... well, fate had brought her as far as Derbyshire. Surely fate could do a little more for him.

Darcy was already awake when the sunlight crept through the closed curtains into his bedchamber. The similarity of this day to the one in April did not escape him, and the lingering fear that Elizabeth might once more repudiate him checked his impulse to ride to Lambton at first light.

That caution could not curtail his wildly tumbling thoughts, however. Darcy looked out at the grounds, lit as they now were by the early morning light. "I might yet bring Elizabeth here as my wife," he murmured. He let the curtain fall and rang for Vincent.

His valet turned him out in short order, and Darcy went downstairs. He was glad to find the breakfast room empty; he wanted no company on this visit to Lambton, nor the questions that might attend such a request for solitude.

He tapped his fingers against the side of his coffee cup, his eyes never leaving the clock. When at last it read eleven o'clock, he could wait no longer. He went to the stables and saddled his own horse, over the protests of the stable hand.

The ride to Lambton proved little enough time to calm Darcy's mind. What kind of fool was he to once again declare himself to the woman who had once refused him--and in terms so violent they still left a mark in his heart? He checked the reins and the horse pulled back, confused. Darcy glanced over his shoulder at Pemberley. "What purpose can there be for such an interview?"

He turned around, but then he remembered Elizabeth's smiles in the last few days--sweet, genuine smiles that were so much more inviting than any he had ever seen from her before. His pulse raced and he knew, foolish though it might be, that he could not let her leave Derbyshire without making one more attempt to win her heart.

The serving maid at the inn met him with a slight smile, and he knew it was not only the members of his own party who had gathered his feelings toward Miss Bennet. Not even this lack of privacy could squelch his excitement, and he returned her smile with one of his own before he took the stairs.

At the top of the stairs, a door swung open and Elizabeth burst out of their private rooms. Her cheeks were pale, and he thought he spied unshed tears in her eyes. In her hand she clutched a letter, but before he could ask her what was the cause of her distress, she exclaimed, "I beg your pardon, but I must leave you. I must find Mr. Gardiner this morning, on business that cannot be delayed; I have not a moment to lose."

"Good God! What is the matter?" Darcy took a breath and collected the emotions roiling inside him at the sight of her obvious agitation and said, "I will not detain you a minute, but let me, or let the servant, go after Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. You are not well enough; you cannot go yourself."

Elizabeth took another step forward and he detected a tremor in her step. She put a hand on the doorframe, and just when he would have insisted she sit down, she pressed the letter to her heart and drew a shaky breath. "John!" A manservant appeared at the foot of the stairs. "Please fetch my aunt and uncle for me - they are walking in the village. Go, and do not tarry a single moment!" she commanded, and the catch in her voice made Darcy's heart ache. The man nodded and dashed off.

Elizabeth moved back into the parlor and sat down, and though propriety would have ordered Darcy to leave her alone, her pale features and watery eyes made it impossible for him to do so. He sat down in the chair beside her, and nothing but a doubt of her feelings kept him from taking her hand in his.

"Let me call your maid," he offered, desperate to be of some use. "Is there nothing you could take, to give you present relief? A glass of wine; shall I get you one? You are very ill."

She swallowed hard, and he could see the effort with which she held back tears. "No, I thank you," she replied. "There is nothing the matter with me. I am quite well; I am only distressed by some dreadful news which I just received from Longbourn."