Elizabeth smiled.“Yes, she was two and ninety.”
“That is impressive!”cried Bingley.“Are many in your family so long-lived?”
“Charles!”hissed Caroline, but she was ignored.
“Her sister lived to be seven and eighty and her brother nine and eighty.We cannot be certain if her children inherited her old age.Her daughter died in childbed and her younger son in the army, though my grandfather was two and seventy and in excellent health when he was thrown from a horse.”
The table stared at her in astonishment, and Elizabeth went back to neatly cutting her meat and eating the delicate bites.It was not entirely proper to speak of such things at the dinner table, but they would insist on questioning her quite specifically.She knew the Bingley parents were dead, and she thought she had heard the same of Mr.Darcy’s family.Their parents could not have been much more than fifty when they passed and possibly younger.Her family must seem like an anomaly to them.Perhaps that was why she was receiving such odd looks from everyone.
Finally, dinner ended, and Elizabeth excused herself to check on Jane upstairs.She silently hoped Jane would need her to stay so that she might avoid spending the evening with them.They were an exhausting bunch.Alas, Elizabeth’s wishes were not to come true.Jane was sleeping peacefully when she entered the room.She could have stayed, but there was a maid sitting in the corner and Elizabeth was sure she would say something to the other servants—who in turn would tell the mistress—that she would rather read silently in a room with her sleeping sister than spend the evening with her hosts.
With a sigh, she took up her book and removed to the drawing room.The card table had been brought out.Mr.and Mrs.Hurst, Miss Bingley and Mr.Bingley were playing whist.Mr.Darcy appeared to be writing a letter at the small desk in the corner.Elizabeth wondered at him writing while everyone was socializing.Had he not had the entire day to see to his correspondence?Then she thought he might be attempting to avoid Miss Bingley’s company and could not blame him.She settled onto the sofa far enough from the card table to be peaceful but close enough not to be considered unsocial.Miss Bingley was telling some awful story about one of her supposed friends in London, and Elizabeth did everything in her power to ignore her.
She had read through the next chapter when she felt the cushion move beneath her.She looked up to see Mr.Darcy had sat on the other end of the sofa.
“Do not let me interrupt your book,” he said politely.
She placed the ribbon between the pages and closed it.He would not have sat so near her if he did not wish to speak.“It is no trouble.I have read it before.”
“I had not known you had relations in Scotland.”He leaned toward her, looking entirely too eager for the topic.
“Yes,” she answered with confusion in her voice.“We do.Though I do not know how you should have known it.We have never spoken of our families before.”
He seemed surprised at that statement and his brow wrinkled.“I suppose we have not.Do you have any other notable relations?”He smiled, but she could not tell the meaning behind it.
“It depends on what one considers notable.”
He nodded, his expression impossible to read.
“Why the sudden interest in my connections?”she asked bluntly.It was not exactly lady-like, but her patience was wearing thin.
Mr.Darcy’s cheeks pinkened ever so slightly and she wondered if she had embarrassed him.“Forgive me, Mr.Darcy.I am a little tired and too apt to tease.I did not mean to discomfit you.”
“There is nothing to forgive.Please excuse my intrusive questions.I had only meant to…” He looked down, then back at her.“Of course, you are tired.Do not let me keep you.”He rose and moved to observe the players at the card table.Elizabeth saw Miss Bingley looking at her with narrowed eyes and thought it the perfect opportunity to retire for the evening.She quickly said good night and made her way to Jane’s room.
Her sister was sleeping soundly, so she entered her own room through the adjoining door and prepared for bed.What had Mr.Darcy meant by inquiring into her connections?And why had he seemed so uncomfortable when she asked him of it?
As she slid beneath the counterpane and turned down the lamp, she knew her sister was right.Mr.Darcy was a complicated man.
As Darcy prepared for bed, he felt oddly excited.He did not have to think long to understand the cause of the sudden lightness he felt.Elizabeth Bennet was within his grasp.As soon as the thought passed through his mind, he clutched at it and fought himself between smothering it and holding it close.
She was still nearly without dowry, though he could weather that if necessary, but the greater problem had always been her lack of connections.Her family was entirely unknown to the ton, and more importantly, to his family.His extended Darcy family was spread across the country and, while wealthy, they were a relatively unpretentious bunch.They would accept a country bride with little fuss.But his Fitzwilliam relations!They would not be easily persuaded to accept an unknown lady and a penniless one besides.
But if Elizabeth were not entirely unknown—that changed everything!He did not know of the Lady Whitcombe she spoke of, but his aunt would likely know of her if she was the least bit active in society.Having established acquaintance in Town would be a great help to Elizabeth when she entered society.Depending on how well the Whitcombes were known, they might even be of some assistance in easing her way.And her cousins!If she was in fact a Gordon, and he had no reason to think there were two Greenbriar Halls in southern Scotland, she had at least one well-placed relation, even if it was a distant cousin.
He paced his room until hope lifted him up as if he weighed nothing, and he felt as if he were floating across the carpet.“Stop it, Darcy.You are acting like a green schoolboy,” he murmured to himself.But he could not quell the excitement that took hold of him at the idea that Elizabeth was perhaps not as unsuitable as he had thought her.
Chapter 6
Uncomfortable Musings
Darcyawokewithasmile, then felt like a foolish sop.What was he thinking?One wealthy relation and a friend in thetondid not make a lady suitable to be Mrs.Darcy.His desires had run away with his good sense.Equal feelings of shame and sadness settled over him.It had been such a lovely idea while it had lasted.
He must be careful to avoid Elizabeth while she remained at Netherfield.It would not do to raise expectations he could not meet.
Elizabeth awoke with a start.Her heart was pounding.She placed her hand on her chest and forced herself to take deep breaths.It was still dark in her room and the fire had gone down.Throwing back the counterpane and letting in the cool air helped to calm her.She had never had a dream like that!It had been so real.So very detailed.She had felt his hands on her skin.She had felt the hair on his chest beneath her fingertips.Her entire body felt flushed and alive, every nerve at attention.Her heart still beat too quickly, and her breath came too short.Hesitantly, she raised a hand to her lips.They still tingled from his kisses.
If she had doubted her dreams before, this is the one that would have convinced her.She had nothing to compare it to, no experience to draw from.She could not have created the scenario on her own.
