His friend seemed to sag with relief. “Do not think that I easily disregarded the counsel you and my sisters so kindly offered. I could not, and I would not. But then I realised something I had not before considered.”
“What was that?” Darcy asked.
“None of you—not you, not Caroline, not Louisa—could have known or comprehended any of my more private meetings with Miss Bennet, the conversations between the two of us, or the things of that nature. You believed her heart was not easily touched?—”
“I did, that is true, but I do recog?—”
“I think she merely had a lady’s proper reserve—perhaps more than most, I shall grant you that.” Bingley raised hisempty tankard to his lips again, then set it down, signalling to the manservant to bring another. “Only I knew what had passed between us, the words that were said, the quiet looks…things which to me indicated that she did hold me dear. None of you knew anything of those.”
“That is true,” Fitzwilliam interjected, and Darcy gave him a black look.
“But you thought her indifferent to me, and I thought she loved me. The only way to know the truth of it, I reckoned, was to go and see her. So I went back to Hertfordshire. I needed to meet with Morris again about Netherfield, so it was not a wasted trip—only I arrived to find she was right here in London! Has been since after Christmas.”
Bingley fixed his eyes on Darcy, his gaze level as he said, “But I think you knew that.”
The manservant came then, bearing fresh tankards of ale. While he placed them on the table and gathered up the emptied ones, Bingley’s gaze did not falter, and Darcy resisted the urge to squirm beneath his friend’s cool blue stare.
The servant gone, he admitted, “I did know it, and I have nothing to say for it but that I pray you will one day forgive my unpardonable interference in the matter. It was badly done.”
“It was,” Bingley acknowledged. Then, with a dizzying shift towards geniality, he smiled broadly. “But I can offer my forgiveness if you will offer me your blessing.”
Relieved, Darcy mirrored his smile. “You do not need my blessing, but if you want it, then of course you shall have it. I am happy for you, and wish you and the future Mrs Bingley every happiness.”
Fitzwilliam offered his own good wishes, and both men shook Bingley’s hand in turn. There were, then, some minutes spent in rhapsodising about Jane Bennet, the love affair between them, and the like.
“Knowing you are engaged to a daughter of the county, I am surprised you did not wish to purchase Netherfield yourself,” Darcy said when it was done.
“Are you?” Bingley took a long draught of ale and quirked a brow. “Given your opinion of my future family, I should think it perfectly obvious why I want to give the place up. Even Lizzy has said that a lady might be settledtoonear her family.”
Bingley laughed even as Darcy felt his heart leap at the mention of her. He bowed his head, conscious suddenly of Fitzwilliam’s gaze upon him.
“But it was Jane who did not have a mind to settle there,” his friend continued. “Who was I to argue?”
“Indeed,” Fitzwilliam replied warmly. “Hardly seems a right way to begin. If the lady wishes to be gone from the neighbourhood, then I say be gone.”
Darcy shot his cousin another look intended to be quelling, then said, “Bingley, I truly am very pleased for you. Pray do not doubt it for an instant. I do not have any ill feeling towards your future relations.”
“Thank you.”
“Where will you live, then? Much as I dislike to meddle in your affairs?—”
Bingley raised his brows, which Darcy acknowledged with a rueful grin.
“That is to say, meddlefurtherin your affairs. I do know of a situation near Pemberley. Splendid land, lovely parks, although it must be said that the house itself is in woeful need of modernising. Unless Miss Bennet prefers the fashions of the Stuart era?”
Bingley laughed. “I should think not! Thank you. Perhaps I can persuade her to go and see the place.”
“Do you plan for a long engagement?” Fitzwilliam asked.
“My wedding is scarcely a month from now,” Bingley announced, naming a date in the middle of June.
“So soon?” Darcy asked.
“Soon? Being that I have loved her since the first day I saw her, these nuptials feel insufferably delayed.”
“No, no, I only meant that…” Darcy shook his head. He was surprised, that was all. “I wish you well, Bingley.”
“Well enough to…” Bingley stopped, shaking his head. “No. I cannot ask it of you.”
