His mind wandered back to Elizabeth. Her slender frame. She had an almost underfed look to her. The way that she smiled at him. The way that her hair had been more ragged today, with a few locks escaping the severe bun.
Had that really been a copy ofThe Iliadthat she had brough with her?
No,thatwas unlikely.
She had looked almost confused by her presence at the dinner table. The memory of her voice echoing from the balcony,I think he is a much more interesting person than Mr. Bingley.
He thought far too much about her.
But it was difficult to stop. She had said she found him interesting. That combined with her regular refusal to dance with him, was perhaps the source ofDarcy’sown fascination.
Another notion crossed his mind: It was a thing sometimes mentioned by writers, the idea that two persons, separated by station, consequence, life situation, and perhaps even temperament might find some sort of connection between the platonic forms of their souls.
Absurd.
After dinner Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst went up the stairs to help Elizabeth entertain the invalid for a little.
Darcy had a general feeling of wellbeing at the thought that Elizabeth Bennet was in the same house as him, and that he was likely to see her during the course of the evening.
To Darcy’s strong disappointment, she did not appear when the party was called together for coffee in the drawing room.
Miss Bingley said to Bingley’s worried inquiry that Miss Bennet was quite miserable at present, and that Elizabeth had not wished to leave her charge alone. This made Bingley almost moan with worry, which made Darcy almost roll his eyes.
After a little, Darcy sent a maid up to the sickroom with a cup of coffee for her to enjoy, saying that the beverage must be of more use toherin her present work than to them.
He still hoped to see her tonight. Hours of this tense waiting continued. Eventually, Darcy felt rather silly about having expected her.
The way that she had behaved when called down to dinner showed that she had not expected any such recognitionfrom them—sheoughtto have, as she was a gentlewoman. She had been uncomfortable at dinner.
When they all played loo, Darcy found himself making frequent small miscalculations. It made no sense to him.
He wanted to see her again.
After a while with a sober mien Darcy said to Miss Bingley, “Do you think it is possible Miss Bennet has fallen asleep? I worry that Miss Elizabeth will make herself sick if she never takes a break from attending on Miss Bennet. Perhaps it would be good to invite her down.”
“You are all attention to her,” Miss Bingley said with a close look.
“I always am all attention to anything which is a matter of what is proper and right.”
“The poor girl must hardly expect so much condescension from us,” Miss Bingley said seemingly satisfied by Darcy’s manner, “She very much considers her sole task here to be to see to Jane’s well-being. I dare say we shall treat her better than she is used to at home.”
As Miss Bingley went up to call the lady down, Darcy wondered at himself.
There was a wrongness in the lack of attention to her comfort and interest that Miss Elizabeth received, and it was right for him to show her what attention he could. Even though they were wholly unconnected, this was what any upstanding and uninterested gentleman would seek to do.
Those frequent words of his father came back to him again:A man can always do his duty.
These thoughts flew away when Elizabeth entered the room with Miss Bingley.
There was an anxious look to her eyes. She’d pulled her hair back into its usual severe bun, which pulled the skin taut around her cheeks and kept as much softness away from herlooks as possible. She wore a shawl that covered her whole neck up to the chin. It struck Darcy as rather unnecessary in this weather.
Her cheeks were pale, and there was an uncertainty in the way that her eyes darted around the room.
Darcy smiled at her and she came towards them at the card table, and Mr. Hurst asked if she would join them at cards.
“Oh, no, I would much prefer books,” she said and looked at a table with some books on it.
“You prefer books to cards,” Mr. Hurst said. “Singular.”
