“It was amusing last autumn,” replied Bingley. “Darcy ignored her, disagreed with her when she least expected it, spent an inordinate amount of time on his horse, and often used the excuse of business to sequester himself in his room.”
Bingley laughed, adding: “I specifically recall one instance in which Caroline had taken up a book to emulate your cousin’s propensity for the written word. Coincidentally, it was the second volume of the book Darcy was reading.”
Darcy remembered that incident, shaking his head in exasperation. “It was clear Miss Bingley had never read the first, let alone any of the book she had nominally begun to read. She asked me several questions, but when I referred her back to the book in my hands, she eventually desisted.”
“And none too graciously as I recall!” exclaimed Bingley, much to Fitzwilliam’s amusement. “I say, Darcy, was that notwhen Miss Elizabeth was staying here?”
“Oho!” exclaimed Fitzwilliam. “I have heard nothing of this. Are you telling me that Miss Elizabeth Bennet stayed in your house for a time? That is no less than astonishing.”
“A matter of five or six days, as I recall,” said Darcy.
“Miss Bennet had come to Netherfield to dine with my sisters,” explained Bingley, “and had taken ill during supper. The next morning, Miss Elizabeth marched across three miles of sodden terrain, for it had rained so much the night before that I feared a second flood. All this she did as she thought no one could nurse her sister back to health so well as she.”
“That does not surprise me,” replied Fitzwilliam, “for Miss Elizabeth is the most intrepid young lady I have ever had the good fortune to meet.”
Then Fitzwilliam turned a speculative look on Darcy. “Does your admiration for the fair Miss Elizabeth stem from that time?”
Hearing that, Hurst sat up straight. “YouadmireMiss Elizabeth Bennet?”
One look at Darcy’s reaction must have informed Hurst of the truth, for he broke out into laughter, such that Darcy thought he might roll on the floor with little provocation.
“This is admirable, indeed, Darcy!” chortled Hurst. “I had not thought Caroline’s concerns anything other than paranoid delusions predicated on her desperate need to attach herself to you. It seems she is correct to concern herself, though I will own I saw nothing of preference on your part when she stayed here in the autumn.”
“My fascination with her stems from even earlier than that,” said Darcy.
“That is a surprise, Darcy,” said Bingley. “I specifically remember a comment about the fate of young ladies slighted by other men directed at Miss Elizabeth. I also recall you suggestingher mother was more likely to be a wit than to allow Miss Elizabeth to be one of the local beauties.”
“That is right!” agreed Hurst. “I do not remember the first, but the second exchange was the night of the assembly.”
“Were you not asleep?” asked Darcy.
Hurst shrugged. “When in company, I am not sleeping nearly so much as you might think. Too much racket and Caroline has an especially piercing voice.”
“Come, Darcy,” said Fitzwilliam, “you cannot think to remain silent. If you said such things, I must think you are out of your wits, and Iknowyou are not deficient.”
“I said them,” confessed Darcy. “In my defense, I shall only say that certain events immediately before my residence at Netherfield rendered me unfit for company.”
“Andas cranky as a bear woken from its winter sleep,” added Bingley.
While Fitzwilliam grinned at Bingley’s jest, the significant look he directed at Darcy spoke to his understanding of Darcy’s meaning. That was not a subject to discuss outside the family, however, so he did not press the issue.
“It was not long after that,” said Darcy, “when I began to understand that what I said of Miss Elizabeth was the grossest of falsehoods. Soon thereafter I realized she was among the handsomest women of my acquaintance.”
“I remember something about fine eyes,” supplied Bingley.
“That came from an incautious remark I made during Sir William’s gathering in October.”
“There seems to be a story here, Darcy,” prompted Fitzwilliam when Darcy did not elaborate.
While Darcy was of two minds about speaking further on the subject, he could not refuse to speak now that Bingley had brought it up.
“I do not recall the exact sequence of events,” said Darcy.“Sir William—a local knight—had, as I recall, presented Miss Elizabeth as a desirable dance partner, but she declaimed any interest in dancing that night. That was perhaps the first time I realized how foolish my earlier comments were.
“Miss Bingley came close thereafter and suggested it was an insipid affair, insinuating that I might wish to be somewhere else; unfortunately, she caught me at a moment of inattention. As I recall, I said something to the effect that I was admiring Miss Elizabeth’s fine eyes without considering how she would take it.”
Bingley and Fitzwilliam looked at each other and howled with laughter, while Hurst grinned, shaking his head at Darcy’s faux pas. For several moments, none of them could speak for their mirth, so Darcy focused on the game, sinking three shots in succession.
“No wonder my sister hates Miss Elizabeth!” cried Bingley.
