“I should rather not, if it is all the same,” Miss Darcy replied.
Mrs Annesley’s gentle but firm encouragement was interrupted by Miss de Bourgh’s firm and not at all gentle rebuke.
“Why would you refuse? Believe me, you have nothing to fear. I heard everyone here play yesterday, and you are by far the most talented among them.”
Curious, the way anger honed Mr Darcy’s features. Elizabeth found herself rather caught up in the way his clenched teeth accentuated the line of his jaw, and his furious glare made his dark eyes gleam. It afforded him an air of restrained potency that gave an exhilarating contrast to the sweetness she had observed earlier in his friend.
“Lizzy?”
“I beg your pardon?”
Mrs Gardiner smirked at her disconcertingly. “I asked whether you would play for us instead. Miss Darcy is a little shy.”
Elizabeth regarded the young lady to assesshowshy. “Shall we play together?” she ventured. “Your cousin is right. I am not very accomplished. You cannot fail to impress everybody by comparison.”
They played, and they pleased everyone who wished to be pleased, despite Elizabeth’s making twice as many mistakes as even she expected. She could not seem to attend to the music. It had been a trying four-and-twenty hours, she was tired, and though she was determined not to look lest it put her off altogether, she felt Mr Darcy’s eyes upon her from the moment she sat at the instrument to the moment her father announced it was time to leave.
“Has your evening turned out well after all?” she said quietly to Jane as they donned their coats in the hall.
“Better than I dared dream,” her sister replied, smiling more broadly than was her wont.
“The perfect Christmas gift?”
“Absolutely! I shall have to think of something very special to give Mr Darcy next year to repay him.”
Elizabeth screwed up her face in puzzlement. “I meant Mr Bingley.”
“Oh yes! He was the gift. But Mr Darcy was thegiver.” After a quick glance over her shoulder to ensure they would not be overheard, Jane lowered her voice further still and said, “Mr Bingley has explained—or tried to explain, as far as he is able on so delicate a matter—that in essence, he left because he misjudged my affections, but he came back because Mr Darcy sent him an express on Christmas Eve, telling him that his hopes were not in vain or words to that effect. It sounds as though it may have been rather less sentimental than that. Either way, it worked, for he is here, and I have Mr Darcy to thank for it.”
Elizabeth was not often speechless, but she had still not found the words to express her astonishment when the carriage was pronounced to be ready, and her family was ushered out into the night. When Mr Darcy stepped forward to say goodbye, she wished she could replicate her farewell smile from the previous day that had seemed to please him so well but found she was only capable of staring at him in wonder. He was a man too proud to marry, dance with, or ofttimes speak to anyone outside his own circle, yet he had reunited his oldest friend with a woman he considered wholly unsuitable because they werein love. What a wonderful thing to do! It made her question whether she knew him at all.
“Goodbye, Miss Elizabeth,” he said with peculiar finality, then he bowed and walked into the house.
12
Elizabeth’s delight for Jane increased further still when Mr Bingley called on them the very next day. It seemed he intended to make up for lost time, and he would receive no resistance from anyone at Longbourn.
“We had a wonderful time at dinner yesterday. I hope you will allow us to return the honour soon,” said Mrs Bennet. “You are still quite in our debt when it comes to family dinners.”
“I should like that very much, madam, though I am come with an invitation that might put me even more in debt. But you first. I should hate to offend,” replied Mr Bingley.
“Well, if we must get in first, how are you fixed for tomorrow evening?”
“Done!” Mr Bingley exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “I say, Caroline always makes a mountain out of this entertaining business, but there is nothing to it. Right, now it is my turn. In an ideal world, I should be inviting you all to a lavish Twelfth Night ball.”
Lydia and Kitty began cooing excitedly until he grimaced apologetically and said, “Alas, I have not the time to arrange one at such short notice, and my sisters are engaged for other parties in London on the twelfth. But I thought it would be nice to have a smaller gathering the following day, when they are able to join us. I mean to invite the Lucases as well. What say you? Are you amenable to a Three Kings feast?”
The invitation was readily accepted for everyone but the Gardiners, who were due to return home on Tuesday. After that, Mr Bingley was drawn into a description of the sorts of balls and soirees he and his sisters usually attended when they were in London. Elizabeth wondered whether Mr Darcy’s engagements were of a similar kind or whether he preferred quieter events. She fancied he might appreciate the theatre, though if he practised dancing with his sister, perhaps he enjoyed theoccasionalball. It was a shame he was not there to tell them.
Indeed, it was a shame he was not there anyway, for it would have given Elizabeth somebody else to talk to whilst everyone vied for Mr Bingley’s attention, and he vied solely for Jane’s. She smiled to herself as she reflected that Mr Darcy probably would not have said very much anyway, but she had begun to rather enjoy his quiet attentiveness. She liked the consideration he gave to all that was said, even if he did not always remark on it. She supposed it was what Miss de Bourgh had meant by ‘companionable silence.’ Whatever it ought to be called, it was an improvement on her father’s method of only joining a conversation to make sport. She contented herself with her aunt Gardiner’s company, each of them stealing surreptitious glances at Jane to see how she fared throughout the remainder of the call.
“Until tomorrow evening, then,” said Mr Bingley, donning his hat and coat.
“What time shall we expect you all? Shall we say seven?” enquired Mrs Bennet.
“Ah—no, not all of us! Darcy has left to take his cousin back to Kent. How dashed silly of me, I almost forgot to mention it! I do beg your pardon.”
Jane assured him no harm was done, and Elizabeth stepped back, along with her mother, to afford them a more private farewell. It surprised her how greatly the news disheartened her.Just as I was coming to dislike him less.
