“You think I am being impertinent,” she persisted. “I am, of course, but a gentleman would never point out a lady’s weaknesses. So, I ask again, what is preventing you from marrying Miss Bennet?”
“Sheis,” Darcy said brusquely. “Marriages are surprisingly difficult to bring about when one party is opposed to the union.”
There was a pause. An involuntary glance showed him Lady Rothersea with a small, half-smiling frown. “What makes you think Miss Bennet is opposed?”
“She…” He faltered. This was insupportably humiliating—yet there was just enough hint of something resembling good news in Lady Rothersea’s confusion as made him willing to lay himself bare. “She told me so herself. She thinks I am proud and conceited.”
“Are you sure? That is not quite consistent with how she talked about you to me.”
“Is it not?”
“No, she was decidedly more complimentary—and much better disposed to the idea of marriage.” Lady Rothersea broke into a broad, self-satisfied smile. “May I take it Her Grace will be gratified with your attendance after all?”
Darcy shook his head—partly in amazement at such a serendipitous discovery of Elizabeth’s esteem, but mostly to contradict her ladyship’s assumption that this removed every barrier to his happiness.
“That is the very opposite of what Miss Bennet would want,” he told her. “To stand up at such an assembly as that, to have her worth judged by people so wholly unconnected to her, would represent everything she detests about fashionable society.”
“You are right. She said something in that vein to me as well. This affair has rather betrayed our worst side, has it not?”
“The very worst. The most ridiculous part being that never was any woman more worthy of such universal admiration.” He cleared his throat and added hastily, “Present company excepted, I am sure.”
“Oh no, you were right the first time. Miss Bennet is a far better woman than I. Witty, handsome, and principled. I am not sure why I like her really. I usually try to avoid women who do not make me look wonderful by comparison. But you think her distaste for our sphere will prevent her from accepting a proposal?”
“I hope not, but she could win the heart of any man she chose. She does not need anything I have to offer, least of all this degree of controversy.”
“Then give her something shedoesneed. There cannot be much that is not within your power to secure.”
“You have mistaken her character entirely if you think her good opinion can be bought.”
“And you have mistakenmeif you thought I was suggesting that you buy her a trinket. Come, Mr Darcy, use that famed intellect of yours. What does she need?”
Put like that, the answer was simple: Elizabeth needed her mother to go home.
“There! You have thought of something, have you not?”
Darcy chuckled. “Yes, I believe I have. I shall have to find her mother’s friend to arrange it, but that ought not to present a problem. I know someone who is likely to have her direction.”
“If you mean Mrs Randall, I know where she lives. I found that out for Miss Elizabeth before she left London.”
Darcy remembered Elizabeth breathlessly explaining that a friend had found Mrs Randall’s address for her. He had wondered who at the time, but events at the Four Feathers had overtaken them, and he had forgotten to ask. “I am indebted to you, my lady. Truly.”
“Oh good. There is nothing quite like having devilishly handsome men indebted to me to keep Rothersea on his toes.”
Darcy was quite sure she could manage that without his assistance. Her sportive manner reminded him of Elizabeth; he could see why they had hit it off. He could well imagine her and Rothersea visiting him and Elizabeth at Pemberley, and the two women running rings around both of their more-than-complying husbands. Then he berated himself for getting carried away with an outcome that was far from being certain enough to justify such reveries. Even so, he could scarcely keep his elation under good regulation as they rejoined the others, for he was far more hopeful of achieving it than at any point before.
32
AN ARISTOCRATIC AMBUSH
Not long after Elizabeth arrived in Kent, a summons was received for their party to dine at Rosings Park. Mr Collins’s raptures at the opportunity of displaying the grandeur of his patroness were unabating, but Elizabeth could not overcome her anxiety, nor hide it from her friend, who insisted that she confess what troubled her.
“I cannot help but think it would be an unpardonable affront to Mr Darcy to visit his aunt when he has made it abundantly clear he does not wish me to be a part of his sphere.”
“I thought you said he had shown you great kindness.”
“He has, and I dearly hope that means he does not bear me any ill will—but he consistently refuted every rumour linking us together. It is difficult to interpret it in any other way than that he does not want to marry me. How, then, could he not be angered by my intruding into his family circle?”
Charlotte shrugged. “He is a sensible man. He knows that Mr Collins is your cousin and that Lady Catherine ishisbenefactress. It would be unreasonable of him to expect you to refuse the wishes of either. And refusing her ladyship’s invitation would surely only offer a different form of affront.”
