“I did not need another excuse to do that, as you would understand if you would only—blast it!” He muttered this last under his breath as he comprehended, too late, that they were being approached by one of his own acquaintances. Elizabeth looked behind her to see what had silenced him and gave an impatient sigh, but to her credit, she observably checked her temper and forced a cordial smile to her face.
The Countess of Rothersea reached Elizabeth’s side and looked between her and Darcy with a small but expressive smile. Her retinue of ladies fanned out around her, all of them mirroring her curiosity.
“Mr Darcy, I am surprised to see you. I did not think you favoured this part of town.”
“Nor I you, my lady.”
“Oh, I come here all the time. It is absolutely the best place for knick-knacks. Now, I hate to interrupt your little”—she waggled a pointed a finger between him and Elizabeth—“tête-à-tête, but I must be on my way, and I should not like to miss this opportunity of making the acquaintance of your…friend. Would you do me the honour of introducing her to me?”
Darcy tried to catch Elizabeth’s eye to at least give the pretence of asking her permission, but her gaze remained obstinately fixed on the countess.
“Of course,” he replied. “Lady Rothersea, Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”
Elizabeth curtseyed. “It is an honour to meet you.”
“I have heard a great many things about you, but not nearly enough to satisfy me. You must come to my soiree a week today and let us interrogate you.”
Darcy was dismayed that the rumours Elizabeth had, moments before, despaired of encouraging should be so openly acknowledged. He worried she would say no to spite him, but he ought to have known better. She had never flouted proprietyto his knowledge, and she was not swayed by pettiness to do so now.
“Thank you. Your ladyship is very kind. If my aunt is not otherwise engaged that day and able to accompany me, I should be happy to?—”
Lady Rothersea waved a hand dismissively. “Never mind about that. Only ladies will be in attendance—you will not need to be chaperoned. Where ought I to send a note?”
Elizabeth gave her uncle’s direction, pointing down the road towards the house in question and casting Darcy a pointed look in the process. Lady Rothersea did not so much as blink at the address, proving that thetontruly had lost their minds over Elizabeth.
“I shall look forward to it, Miss Bennet. Now, if you will excuse me, I shall leave the two of you to finish your lovers’ tiff in peace.” She walked away, laughing with her ladies at her own joke.
Elizabeth’s civility dissolved the instant the countess’s back was turned. “Is there nowhere in the whole of London that a person can remain inconspicuous?”
“Not if one is known, no,” Darcy replied, hoping churlishly that she was beginning to comprehend his world at last.
It only infuriated her.
“I am onlyknownbecause of you! If you would only leave me alone, I could go back to beingunknown!”
Darcy held himself still until the sting of her words passed. When it did not seem as though it was going to, he forced himself to say, “I can get you out of it, if you would like.”
“What I would like, sir, is not to be the currenton ditof a society in which women with more money than sense think it is amusing to gossip people who have nothing in common into relationships to which neither of them are even remotelyinclined. But we both know I must go. I will not risk my uncle’s hard-earned reputation on the whims of such a woman.”
She began to leave but changed her mind and turned back. “You must not worry. No amount of gossip could persuade me to marry a man who disdains everything and everyone I hold dear. You are quite as safe as Mr Bingley.”
Darcy made no attempt to prevent her from walking away. With his heart now thundering so powerfully it had begun to hurt, and his ire burning so hot it made him want to throw his coat into the gutter, he mounted his horse and urged it homeward.
22
THE AWFUL TRUTH
Elizabeth was convinced Mr Darcy would not come to dinner. No man as proud as he would volunteer to dine in a part of London he openly scorned with a woman who had abused him in the street. She therefore passed the remainder of Saturday, all of Sunday, and the chief of Monday in a determined state of righteous indignation, satisfied that she need not examine her own conduct in a quarrel that was never again to be mentioned by anybody.
Yet, as the evening approached, no note of apology had arrived, and Jane began to grow nervous. “Surely he cannot mean to still come?”
“Absolutely, he cannot,” Elizabeth assured her without looking up from the letter she was writing. “Do not waste another moment worrying about it.”
“But what if he does?”
Elizabeth dipped her pen in the ink, glancing at Jane as she did so. “If you would allow me to tell Aunt Gardiner what he said to you, she would cancel the dinner herself.”
“No, Lizzy. You said yourself you are obliged to attend Lady Rothersea’s soiree to avoid drawing her displeasure upon ouruncle. I have just as little wish to upset Mr Darcy. He may not be titled, but he clearly has influence.”
