Elizabeth let out a sharp exhalation. Dismay and bitter disappointment herded her thoughts in the only direction they could now go.
Darcy had broken with his cousin.How could he?
“Oh, I detest it when men ignore me,” said Mrs Bennet, determined to have her share of the conversation. “Mr Bennet does it all the time. You ought not to stand for it. But I am glad you came here today, forweshall not ignore you.”
“Be fair, Mama. The gentlemen were obliged to see to the stable repairs. I am sure they did not mean to ignore anyone,” Jane said.
“Mr Darcy might have meant to,” Lydia argued. “Lizzy said he ignored her for a whole day when she was staying at Netherfield.”
“I assure you my brother has not ignored either my cousin or me today. He is only helping his friend. He truly is exceptionally good,” Miss Darcy said.
“Indeed,” Miss de Bourgh added, still looking pointedly at Elizabeth. “Exceptionally goodandunencumbered by honour.”
Elizabeth could scarcely unclench her teeth enough to speak, so turbulent were her sentiments. Had Mr Darcy not seen the pain caused when he separated Jane and Mr Bingley? And they had known each other for but a few months. Miss de Bourgh and he had been engaged their entire lives.
For weeks now, Elizabeth had witnessed the desperate jealousy with which Miss de Bourgh sought to protect that connexion. Could he be ignorant of the strength of her feelings—or worse, indifferent to them? It mattered not how dearly she had come to think of him, Elizabeth would not,couldnot be party to Mr Darcy’s callous abandonment. And neither could she forgive him for it, for despite all her good fortune to have evaded Mr Wickham’s duplicity, she still found herself in the unenviable position of being in love with a scoundrel.
She looked Miss de Bourgh in the eye and nodded. “Entirely without it, it would seem.”
“I hate to interrupt what looks like a scintillating exchange, my dear,” said Mr Bennet, appearing in the doorway, “but unless Miss de Bourgh and Miss Darcy wish to stay for dinner, supper, and breakfast too, they might like to consider leaving us now. At this rate, the lane will be impassable within a quarter of an hour.”
The ladies all turned in unison to look out of the window. The snow had indeed begun to settle at an alarming rate, but the horses had not been unhitched from the carriage for that very reason, and thus the business of departing took very little arranging. Less than five minutes after it was suggested that they leave, Miss Darcy and Miss de Bourgh had gone.
“Would that all your visitors were as efficient, Mrs Bennet,” said her husband. “I confess I am surprised they came at all.”
“I am not,” she replied. “You can ignore all that nonsense about delivering the message of Mr Bingley being delayed. He could have sent a note with a servant to let us know that. They talked around the houses a bit, as these high and mighty folk often do, but it was as clear as day to me that they were here to discuss Mr Darcy.”
Elizabeth kept her lips firmly closed, though she was grateful when Mary expressed the same doubts as to her mother’s reasoning that she felt unequal to articulating herself.
“Oh Mary, you can be thick-headed!” Mrs Bennet replied. “Only consider it. First, Miss de Bourgh discredited Miss Bingley. That gives us leave to overlookherdisapprobation. Then she talked about Mr Darcy’s visit to my sister yesterday, and she was adamant that we should not mistake his intention in doingthat. Then Miss Darcy and her cousin both gave a glowing account of Mr Darcy’s character, assuring us that he is exceptionally good—particularly in his friendship towards hisfriend.”
She paused to look at everybody and seemed disappointed when they did not instantly pounce upon the conclusion to which she had evidently meant to lead them. “It is obvious! As his cousin and sister, and therefore the best people to speak on his behalf, they came to let it be known that Mr Darcy commends the union between Jane and Mr Bingley!” She clapped her hands together and veritably wriggled with glee.
“Well then, Jane,” said Mr Bennet after a pause of palpable astonishment, “if your mother is right, your Mr Bingley ought to appear at any moment through the snow to ask one or both of us a question. You may tell him I await his presence with bated breath in my library.”
He departed to begin his vigil, leaving behind a clamour centred mostly around Mrs Bennet’s anticipation for the imminent sound of wedding bells and Jane’s attempts to moderate her expectations.
It allowed Elizabeth to escape unseen to her room, where she curled up on her bed and told herself repeatedly that it did not matterwhyMr Darcy had broken his engagement. He was promised to Miss de Bourgh and ought never to have forsaken her. It was immaterial, therefore, that Elizabeth’s heart yearned for him to have acted thus because he wished to marry her.
* * *
Darcy stamped the snow off his boots and shrugged off his greatcoat into the hands of the waiting footman. Behind him, Bingley issued instructions for hot drinks to be sent out to the men still at work on the stable roof.
“Fancy a drop of something warming yourself, Darcy?” he enquired. “You have earnt it.”
“Tea will suffice, thank you.”
“Right ho,” his friend replied, nodding at the footman to see to it. “You go ahead and find the ladies, then. I shall join you as soon as I have dashed off that report to the agent. Good advice, that. Thank you.”
Darcy gave his best estimation of a smile. He did not begrudge helping his friend, but he was tired, cold, and bitterly disappointed to have lost the chance of seeing Elizabeth. He left to seek out his sister and cousin but found only Mrs Jenkinson in the parlour.
“Have you been abandoned, madam? That seems ungenerous.”
“Mrs Annesley is resting, sir. And Miss Darcy and her cousin have gone out.”
“Out? Where?”
“Longbourn.”
