“That is a sad story,” said Elizabeth.
Lady Catherine, she noted, was sitting near Mrs. Bennet speaking in her usual instructional tones, pulling a nearby Mrs. Hurst into her need to educate others. To Elizabeth, Lady Catherine had always been a meddling, irascible termagant, a woman intent upon browbeating everyone about her to do as she wished. This new information gave the woman a softer, more human side. While she still could not agree with oppressing a child to the extent Lady Catherine had repressed Anne, she could understand her a little better now.
“What of you, Elizabeth?” asked Anne. “Are there any sorrows that affect your family?”
“Nothing of that sort,” replied Elizabeth, “for we Bennets are not only of hardy constitution; we are fortunate to enjoy good health. I dare say the only sorrow is the lack of a son to inherit Longbourn.”
“Thus, Mr. Collins’s position as your father’s heir,” said Anne.
“Yes,” replied Elizabeth. “Much of what my family is today directly results from that absence, for our situation is more precarious because of it.” Elizabeth paused and shrugged. “Yet I cannot say we are not a happy family.”
Though Anne responded readily enough and changed the subject to other matters, Elizabeth noted that Mr. Darcy’s reply was more muted, and thereafter his gaze found Mrs. Bennet more often than she might have expected. Mr. Darcy had known about the entail, but he had not thought of it in such terms before, given the lack of a similar restriction on his own property. Mrs. Bennet was still a tiresome woman to endure, even for her daughters, but perhaps Mr. Darcy would now look on her with a friendlier eye. And well he might, for if he persuaded Elizabeth and obtained what he desired, her mother’ssupport would devolve to him should her father predecease her mother.
With the morose subjects of death and the lack of heirs canvassed, they moved to other, more cheery subjects, and Elizabeth found herself well entertained. The obvious discussion topic was Miss Bingley’s sudden appearance, but that was low-hanging fruit. As Elizabeth felt she already understood why Miss Bingley had come and what she hoped to accomplish, there was little reason to belabor the point. Mr. Darcy and Anne did not seem interested in raising the subject.
“If you will excuse me, Elizabeth,” said Anne after a time of conversing pleasantly, “I do not see your youngest sisters. Are they engaged in some other activity?”
While it might be cause for mortification, Elizabeth now had a sense that Anne would not hold two spirited sisters against her, and that Mr. Darcy’s opinion had largely altered. Thus, she allowed a wry smile to form on her lips.
“They left for Meryton soon after breakfast.” She directed a sly look at Mr. Darcy and said: “You must remember how enamored with the officers they are.”
“I do,” said Mr. Darcy. “Though I will say that Fitzwilliam quite took me to task on the subject. It had come up between us, but Fitzwilliam told me he saw nothing of such tendencies in them.”
“Then you simply need to inform the colonel that he need only appear in his regimentals if he wishes to provoke them. Within the next few days, the regiment will depart for their summer quarters, so he will be their full focus should he deign to show them the sight of a full colonel of the regulars resplendent in his uniform.”
“I shall be certain to inform him,” said Mr. Darcy, looking at his cousin where he stood speaking with Mr. Bennet.
“As for your particular question,” said Elizabeth, “They feelthey have not an instant to waste, given the inevitable sundering that must occur. Mrs. Forster invited Lydia to spend the summer in Brighton, but my father deemed it inadvisable.”
The way Mr. Darcy regarded her, Elizabeth was certain he was thinking of a recent member of that corps. The gentleman nodded at her, confirming their aligned opinions.
“Then I am sorry for their pain,” said Anne, clearly amused by it all. “As I boast a long acquaintance with a man of the scarlet, I am not at all impressed by nothing more than the addition of such ostentation to a man’s wardrobe.”
“Nor am I,” replied Elizabeth. “There are interesting men of the local regiment, but I cannot say that I will repine their loss when they depart.”
The arrival of Lydia and Kitty punctuated this discussion, bringing grins to the faces of all three participants. The girls’ lamentations about what they found in Meryton fueled their amusement.
“All the officers are too busy with their preparations,” bemoaned Lydia. “We barely saw Sanderson, and Denny was completely absent.”
“The regiment is to move to summer quarters?” asked Colonel Fitzwilliam. “Of course, they are, for it is the season for such a move. Having been part of such relocations in the past, I can attest to the necessity of focusing on the task at hand. It is no small endeavor to move a regiment of soldiers across fifty miles, even if the roads are excellent and the weather good.”
This reasonable explanation did not fit Lydia’s mood, for she continued to sulk, her position on the sofa far too near Miss Bingley for the woman’s taste. Miss Bingley was still near enough to hear Lady Catherine’s pontificating, though she did not appear to be taking part to any great extent. The looks she kept directing at Mr. Darcy suggested she wished to be the focus of his attention, but Elizabeth did not think she would dareinsult Lady Catherine by excusing herself from her company.
“I can see what you mean, Elizabeth,” said Anne in an undertone.
Elizabeth gave a nod of longsuffering. “I hope that with the regiment’s departure, we will see some improvement in them. My father is still considering our options.”
With a nod, Anne again changed the subject. There were about fifteen minutes left in the morning visit, and Elizabeth felt no compunction at all about continuing to keep their company for herself. It was odd, she supposed, but she felt far more comfortable with Mr. Darcy than she might ever have thought possible. The gentleman spoke to her showing far more interest than he had before, such that she thought her mother would notice if it continued much longer. For the moment, Lady Catherine had her attention, thus allowing Elizabeth to escape her mother’s awareness.
Perhaps Anne facilitated their discussion to a certain extent, but Elizabeth had the sense that she and Mr. Darcy were coming to know each other. That she had not understood him nor known much about him beyond her assumptions was a truth of which Elizabeth was painfully aware. The question of whether she could come to esteem this quiet gentleman enough to accept a proposal from him was yet open to Elizabeth’s mind, but as she took these few tentative steps, she felt it was possible.
A little later, Anne left them to approach her mother, informing Elizabeth how much she had enjoyed their discourse. That she gave Mr. Darcy a significant look as she excused herself spoke volumes as to her good information about the gentleman’s attraction. Mr. Darcy, however, ignored her, instead intent on focusing his attention on Elizabeth. The subject about which he spoke, however, was another one of those matters that had previously stood between them.
“Unless I miss my guess,” said he, “I do not think Bingley andyour sister have been apart for more than a few minutes in all the time since their reunion.”
“Jane has not confessed her feelings to me, Mr. Darcy,” said Elizabeth. “Yet I can see them. There was a want of happiness in her behavior all winter—the return of Mr. Bingley brought life back to my sister; I have never seen her this incandescent.
“And before you say anything,” said Elizabeth, not wishing the man to apologize yet again, “we exchanged all that we need to on this subject.”
