Yet, time cared for no man’s pain; thus, he persevered without her, reasoning that perhaps, if he kept moving, his heart would have no choice but to keep beating. In that vein, he expended a good deal of energy on the hunt for Wickham. He co-ordinated every aspect of the search and paid every bribe until he was found. The temptation to deliver the news of his capture in person, to obtrude upon Elizabeth’s notice one more time, was compelling. Such was just the sort of imperious, selfish thing he might have done before. It was not something Fitzwilliam Darcy,gentleman, had any intention of undertaking. Elizabeth could never wish to see him again; thus, he stayed away.
Indeed, now that Wickham was in custody, and for as long as Bingley tarried over securing himself a wife, Darcy could claim no further connection to Meryton or Elizabeth whatsoever. His life marched inexorably farther away from that juncture when she had almost been his, and there was naught he could do but march with it, hoping the pain would eventually ease. Hence, this afternoon, with noexpectation that his anguish would be in any way alleviated by the endeavour, he was off to his club, to do whatever it was gentlemen were supposed to do in such places.
“I say, Darcy! What a pleasant surprise!”
Darcy looked up from his paper. “Montgomery! I had not realised you were back in England.”
He called for more drinks, and his friend joined him at his table, regaling him with tales of his recent travels, the small fortune he had amassed while he was at it, the sad business of his wife’s passing and the vexing business of hiring a decent nanny for his young son.
“Are you enjoying being back?” Darcy enquired.
“Scarcely. London still brims with immoderation and staggers under the weight of its own pretension. I cannot say I have missed it overmuch.”
Darcy smiled, having found little pleasure in Town himself of late.
“That reminds me,” Montgomery added. “Did you ever hear of the debacle with that turd Wrenshaw at Covent Garden?”
“I have heard nothing of Wrenshaw in weeks.”
“No, no—this happened in April, but a day or two after I arrived home.”
“I was away for much of April.”
“Ah! Then you must allow me to tell you the story.”
Darcy listened indignantly to Montgomery’s account of Wrenshaw’s calumny, tired of worthless men maligning his good name. “Was he overheard?”
“I’ll not lie—there were a fair few eager ears. But here’s the thing!” He jabbed Darcy affably on the arm. “That night, you had a champion. She reduced all Wrenshaw’s claims to a bag of moonshine! Damned fun to watch, too.”
“She? It was not Miss Bingley, was it?”
“Ha! God forbid! No, this was an altogether different sort of creature. I did not catch the introductions, but she was quite magnificent.”
Darcy’s thoughts were drawn immediately to the only magnificent woman of his acquaintance, and despite knowing it to be absurd, his insides jumped at the thought of Elizabeth having said anything in his favour. Frustrated by the foolishness of such a notion, he informedMontgomery more curtly than was necessary that he knew not of whom he spoke.
“That is a shame, for I intended to ask for an introduction. She was quite something. I know not how, for it was subtly done, but with just a few remarks, she had Wrenshaw tied in knots and unable to speak unless it was to accede to his own depravity. It was extraordinary. I do not think I have ever seen a woman so deftly turn a conversation to her advantage.”
Darcy had. His heart pounded so loudly he wondered that Montgomery could not hear it.
“Well, whoever she was,” his friend concluded, “I believe you are very much in her debt.”
Darcy sat perfectly still, fighting prodigiously against a swell of false hope. Elizabeth was as likely to defend him as to marry him—and yet…
“You say you did not hear her name?”
“I said I did not hear the introductions,” Montgomery replied, looking as though he was enjoying the suspense far too much. “But I was close enough to hear her tell her friend that she was ‘very wrong about you’ and that you are ‘not a bad man.’” He paused to sip his drink, his eyes twinkling at Darcy over the rim. “And to hear her companion call her Lizzy.”
It was all Darcy could do to keep his tone even. “What did she look like?”
“Ah, yes! For who has use of an ill-favoured heroine?” Montgomery replied with great amusement. “You are in luck, though. Yours was really rather handsome—about yay high with dark hair and the most exquisite eyes. Do you think you know her, after all?”
Darcy felt winded. “I believe so.” God, he hoped so.
“Then you shall have to introduce me. I should dearly like to make her acquaintance.”
“If the opportunity arises, I should be delighted.”
Darcy was almost run down as he hastened across the busy thoroughfare, but he scarcely noticed the driver’s angry shouts above the clamour of his own thoughts. If ithadbeen Elizabeth, if she truly now thought him a good man, then there was a chance—a small one,it was true, but a chance nonetheless—that he might yet make her love him.
