“You enjoy studying characters and you cannot be well-entertained while I am in bed all day and asleep half the time.You could take this time at Netherfield to study him.”
Elizabeth nearly laughed aloud.“Study Mr.Darcy?What do you suppose I would find?A deeper well of hauteur beneath his arrogance?”
Jane sighed and looked heavenward.“You are so very determined to dislike him.Would studying him not be more entertaining?I never understood why you took against him as you did.”
Elizabeth had promised Mary she would not make Mr.Darcy’s insult to her public knowledge, but surely she could tell Jane?Their eldest sister was hardly one of the matronly gossips.She decided Jane might find it useful to know—especially if her relationship with Mr.Bingley progressed as Elizabeth thought it would—and quickly told Jane the story of Mr.Darcy’s insulting behavior at the assembly and Mary’s crying over it.
“I can hardly believe it!”
“I know.Such rudeness does not cross one’s path every day, but that is what Mary told me.You cannot deny it is true.Mary never lies, and we all saw how he behaved at the assembly.He sat next to Mrs.Long for nearly a half hour without uttering a single word to her!She was terribly offended.”
Jane scrunched her nose up in a thoughtful expression.“He must be a complicated man.”
Elizabeth snorted.“If you prefer to think of him as complicated, go ahead.But I will continue to think of him as one of the rudest men of my acquaintance.”
Jane swatted her sister’s hand as she tucked in her blankets.“I was not finished!I was going to say that the sort of man who helps a distressed child—a child who obviously knows him and is comfortable in his presence—is not the same sort of man who insults a lady in a ballroom.”
“And yet, he did both of those things!”
“Exactly!”said Jane with a triumphant look.“Complicated.Just think what an interesting character study he shall make.”
Elizabeth shot her a look.“Very well.I shall study him and report back to you, but only because the library is nearly empty, and the residents of Netherfield are duller than a Sunday sermon.”
“Lizzy!”
“What?I am doing as you requested.”
Jane rolled her eyes and Elizabeth smiled.“I must dress for dinner.”
“I will expect a full report on what you learn this evening!”Jane called as Elizabeth disappeared into the adjoining bedroom.
Chapter 5
A Complicated Man
Elizabethwentintodinner prepared to watch Mr.Darcy as her sister had suggested.As much as she liked to argue, Elizabeth had to admit that Jane may be correct.Only a complicated man would behave as Mr.Darcy had done since he arrived in Hertfordshire.Perhaps hewouldmake an interesting study.
She sat next to Mr.Hurst who seemed more interested in his food than anything else.She almost mentioned to him that she had met his son earlier in the day, but she did not wish to get Peter’s nurse into trouble for allowing him to escape the nursery.She shared fewer than three minutes of conversation with Mr.Hurst, which consisted of his food preferences and his surprise at hers, and then she turned her attention to the other guests.
Miss Bingley was angling hard for Mr.Darcy’s attention, and she harangued him endlessly.The man bore it with surprising patience.Elizabeth would have liked to hear his inner monologue as he listened to his hostess prattle on about the gowns she had ordered and how much the lace had cost at her exclusive modiste.Elizabeth had a slight interest in fashion, and even she was bored by Miss Bingley’s monologue.
Mr.Bingley was his usual jovial self.The table was small enough that they were all able to share conversation if they wished.He asked Elizabeth how Jane was doing and hoped she found her room comfortable.Elizabeth assured him that both she and her sister were as comfortable as they possibly could be, and he proceeded to indirectly ask her about Jane.
“Do you and your sisters enjoy riding?”
“Jane is the most accomplished of all, though my sister Mary enjoys it as well.”
“Do you not ride, Miss Elizabeth?”asked Mr.Darcy.
She turned toward him, surprised that he had joined their conversation.
“I can ride when necessary, but I am no horsewoman.I prefer moving about on my own two feet.”
His mouth twisted in a way she almost thought was amusement, and he quickly hid behind his wine glass.
“Do you drive at all?”asked Bingley.“I have considered ordering a small phaeton for Caroline now that we are in the country.”
Elizabeth saw Miss Bingley drawing breath and her irritated expression, so she spoke before the other woman could.“I do not have a conveyance of my own, but the previous resident of Netherfield, Lady Whitcombe, had a small phaeton.She taught me to drive it some years ago.I was the only one of my sisters who wished to learn.Jane would often ride alongside whilst I drove.”
