She grinned and giggled at him, and Darcy flipped her back right side up, and held her in Emily’s normal position against his side.
“I would not worry too much upon the matter,” Miss Bennet said. “Especially not now. In my view, disciplining a child before they can speak and understand distinctly the purpose for which the discipline occurs makes little sense.”
Darcy looked down at his daughter who grinned back at him. “She understands a great deal, far more than she can say. It is simply… I cannot bear to punish her when she looks at me with mischievous joy. If I was certain that it would benefit her, I could, but not when there is so much that is uncertain.I do not like Rousseau, but what he wrote, about how there is no certainty of the future reward we hope to gain by raising our children strictly struck me strongly.”
“I begin to understand you better.” Miss Bennet’s eyes were warm.
“And I believe,” Darcy replied, “that I have fallen into my usual habit of chiefly speaking about my daughter rather than topics of general interest.”
“Oh, it turns out we have a connection,” Miss Bennet said in reply to that. “One I would not have expected. My cousin Mr. Collins—”
“Your father’s heir?” Darcy asked to specify.
“Yes. And who married my sister Jane. He is the rector of your aunt, Lady Catherine, who I understand is also Emily’s grandmother.”
“Ah.” Darcy frowned at that information. He also was slightly annoyed, wondering if Miss Bennet had mentioned this in hopes of gaining particular favour with him. If so, it was a wholly misaimed attempt, as Lady Catherine was the least liked member of his entire acquaintance.
“I must ask,” Miss Bennet studied Emily closely, “Has your daughter begun to give a great deal of helpful and sensible advice that no young wife would possibly wish to ignore, not even in the smallest particulars?”
It was impossible for Darcy to not begin laughing. “I now know there is no mistake, and it is the very same Lady Catherine.”
It struck Darcy once more that Miss Bennet was a very pretty woman. She smiled back at him.
“I hope your sister has not found her advicetoooverbearing.” Darcy then remembered something from their first conversation. Something she had said had shown a real worry for her sister’s wellbeing.
“Jane is content. She is always content. And she will never be anything but content. She is content to receive all advice, and from what she has said, there were items in it that she in fact found helpful.”
“Overbearing, annoying woman,” Darcy said with a frown.
He put Emily down onto the divan. Emily grinned at him as she sat.
“You dislike your aunt?” Miss Bennet’s voice was serious.
“I ought not speak of such business.”
“She is still Emily’s grandmother, you must wish for them to have a happy connection.”
“I do not wish for her to have any connection withmydaughter.” He felt that rage upon Anne’s behalf that often came when he thought about his aunt.
He looked at Miss Bennet, her pretty face, the face he’d examined earlier. Her serious expression now made her something different than pretty. It made her beautiful. “I do not know what is the cause, but when I speak with you, I lose my ordinary control of myself, and say things that I ought not.”
She met his eyes, and Darcy could not look away for a span of heartbeats.
Miss Bingley approached them, and begged Darcy, “My dear Mr. Darcy, do tell, what has you both so intent.” She placed her arm briefly on his, and looked at Miss Bennet with a superior smile, as though she wished to mark him.
Miss Bennet’s eyes danced. “We spoke chiefly about the raising of children. Mr. Darcy gave me to understand it is a favourite topic of his.”
“Mr. Darcy is the greatest father in the world!” Was Miss Bingley’s immediate response. She then tapped him on the arm twice again, in a manner that Darcy found obnoxious. “You think I jest, but I am wholly serious. You are so careful with everything about her! I adore Emily so much.”
“Oh,” Miss Bennet replied with a hidden smile, “Iknow you do not jest. Mr. Darcy is a paragon.”
“Not only Mr. Darcy!” Miss Bingley cried. “I speak from real feeling now, Emily is the most exceptional, clever, and fascinating girl to watch. And so even tempered!”
“I dare say,” Miss Bennet replied, “that you mean to say it would be no difficult task to be her mother, when she is of such an easy temperament. Any woman might manage.”
The way that Miss Bingley stared at Miss Bennet’s calm wide eyes in reply nearly made Darcy choke with laughter.
“No ordinary woman could take the place that belonged to Anne Darcy,” Miss Bingley replied, speaking in the not quite resonant tones of an actor in a halfpenny theatre. “For a woman to deserve to be Emily’s mother, she must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing and the modern languages. And besides all this, she would need to possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions.”
