“You must have had one in mind, otherwise why would you ever have refused an offer from the heir to your family home?”
Elizabeth could feel her mother’s eyes on her and prayed she would not speak out to worsen matters. “The answer is very simple. As I said to Mr Collins at the time, I did not believe we could make each other happy.”
“And who was it, exactly, you believedcouldmake you happy?”
“I assure you, I had nobody particular in mind.”
Everybody began to speak at once—Mrs Bennet to lament the sorry truth of Elizabeth’s claim, Jane to try and change the subject, Mary to sermonise about the perils of insincere regard, and Mrs Gardiner to restore them all to calm. Mr Collins made a noise that might have been choking on his own mortification as he attempted to shrink into the crack between the cushions on the sofa.
“I do not believe you,” Miss de Bourgh said angrily over them all. “I have shown you all the condescension you could have wished for, Miss Elizabeth. Now you will do me the honour of being honest. Did you or did you not refuse your cousin because you hoped to receive an offer from?—”
“Mr Darcy, ma’am.”
All eyes turned to the housekeeper, who had entered the parlour at some point during the argument and evidently did not think the announcement could wait any longer.
Behind her, Mr Darcy stood tall, imposing, and motionless. His eyes were fixed unblinkingly upon Elizabeth, and an infuriating smile played about his lips as though he were vastly satisfied to have found her and all her family behaving exactly as he had expected.
Elizabeth could have screamed. Ofcoursehe would arrive at that precise moment, when her relations were giving their worst performances, and she was arguing heatedly with his enfeebled future wife. She turned fully to face him and curtseyed, refusing to be unsettled by the intensity with which his presence filled the room.
“Thank you, Hill,” said Mrs Bennet, recovering her voice. “Mr Darcy, you are very welcome. Pray, come in. Your cousin is here.”
“He knows that, Mama. That is why he is come,” Elizabeth said crossly.
Miss de Bourgh held out her hand. “Darcy, what a delightful surprise!”
It did not seem as though he meant to acknowledge any of them. Mrs Bennet waited, her hands fussing fretfully with her handkerchief. Miss de Bourgh’s raised arm drooped back into her lap, her complacency shrivelling with it. Jane looked anxiously at Elizabeth, and even Mrs Gardiner seemed uneasy. Indifferent to it all, Mr Darcy maintained his silence.
Elizabeth suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. “I shall be terribly disappointed if what you say next does not have all the éclat of a proverb, sir.”
Mr Darcy’s slight smile abruptly broadened in a manner that made Elizabeth feel absurdly flushed and therefore, even more provoked. “Ought I to fetch a pen and paper so it can be written down?”
“I defer to your judgment on the matter, Miss Elizabeth,” he replied in a wholly unperturbed and discomposingly resonant tone. To her mother, he said, “I beg you would excuse my unannounced visit, madam, but it could not wait. My cousin and I shall need to make haste if we are to return to London by nightfall.”
“Come now, there is no need to rush off,” Mrs Bennet replied. “You must stay for dinner.”
Elizabeth stared at her mother, knowing she disliked Mr Darcy as much as she did his cousin. Inviting either to dine with them seemed an entirely avoidable punishment. Mrs Bennet’s reasoning soon became clear, however.
“When Mr Bingley went to town last winter, he promised to take a family dinner with us as soon as he returned, and you would naturally have been included in his party. Therefore, you are as much in our debt as he. I have not forgot, you see, and I assure you I was very much disappointed that he did not come back and keep his engagement.” She paused, but just as Mr Darcy opened his mouth to reply, she added, “Does Mr Bingley have any plans to come back, do you know?”
“None of which I am aware, madam,” replied Mr Darcy, after which he closed his mouth and ventured no more.
A brief glance at Jane revealed her misery. With pain and mortification hewn into every line of her rigid pose and her smile so brittle it looked liable to shatter at any moment, she refused to meet Elizabeth’s gaze and stared instead at a point in the middle of the floor.
“What are your plans for Christmas, Mr Darcy?” Elizabeth asked in a wild attempt to direct the conversation away from Mr Bingley. It failed.
“My sister and I planned to spend it with Bingley and his sisters.”
“I hope they will not mind an addition to the party,” Elizabeth replied, indicating his cousin.
He smiled again and shook his head. “I am sure there will be no objection.”
Miss de Bourgh, Elizabeth noticed, wasnotsmiling but glaring at Mr Darcy with undisguised displeasure. Which could most likely be attributed to the fact that he had not said a word to her since he arrived. Elizabeth could not but think that odd. It showed a peculiar want of affection on his part. Perhaps in cases such as these, it was not expected that there should be any affection, though if that were true, she thought it prodigiously sad.
“Bingley rarely objects to anything,” Mr Darcy went on. “He is entirely too good-natured.”
Would that he cease mentioning his friend! Does he not comprehend how it will distress Jane?
“May I introduce my aunt, sir?” Elizabeth asked almost desperately. Consent was given and the introduction made. “Before she was married, Mrs Gardiner spent some considerable time in Lambton, which I understand is near Pemberley,” she explained. Better to mentionhishome than subject her aunt to any more scorn for hers.
