The notion of being furious with the Titan was so absurd Bingley almost laughed. “I cannot pretend not to be shocked that you concealed Miss Bennet’s presence in Town, but you have ownedyourself your inducement was to protect me. How could anyone fault you for as much?”
“I daresay it is easier than you think,” he snapped then, in a more reserved tone, added, “To persuade you against a course of action before you even sought my advice was…it was arrogant.”
“But you gave more reasons to leave than her indifference. What of your other objections—connections and fortune and the like?”
“They stand.”
“Then dash it if I am not utterly befogged! If your opinion of the match has not changed, why are you here?”
“I came to inform you I was mistaken as to Miss Bennet’s regard.”
“Then, you now believe there is sufficient inducement for the match?”
“I no longer believe I should be the judge of the matter.”
“But you do believe she loved me?”
“Yes.”
“You think, then, I ought not to have left?”
“I think I should not have advised you to leave, which is a very different matter.”
“Then you still think I was right to leave?”
Darcy looked as though he would speak but then, very unhelpfully, did not.
Bingley huffed his frustration. “You think I ought to have stayed?”
“It matters not what I think! Make whatever decisions you will, but pray, do not ask that I advise you.”
“That will not do at all! Where would I be without you to tell me what to do?” Bingley replied, only partially in jest.
Darcy’s voice took on an edge. “You ought to have more courage in your convictions.”
“Perhaps, but it is much easier to have courage in yours. You are an excellent friend, master of your own estate, you have lived in the world. It is surely to my advantage that you offer advice so freely and so often.”
Having thought it a handsome compliment, Bingley could not comprehend why it should make his friend scowl so. Not knowing what else to do, he stood and rang the bell for tea. It was while his back was turned that he could have sworn Darcy murmured, “I am Lady Catherine.”
By the time he returned to his seat, silence had taken command ofthe room. Silences made Bingley excessively conscious, yet Darcy’s sullen glare was not conducive to intrusion. Resigned to waiting for him to cease brooding, he slumped into the corner of the sofa and did what people were supposed to do in moments of quietude: he reflected. The more he thought about Miss Bennet, however, the more confounding the situation seemed, and he was grateful when Darcy eventually roused himself to speak.
“It seems I have mistaken friendship for patronage. I had not considered my advice officious, but I see now that it was.”
“Indeed, it was not. Your observations of Miss Bennet’s reserve were perfectly reasonable. Despite her sister’s claims, one wonders what strength of feeling existed beneath so composed an exterior.” Bingley could not but smile at the irony of having such a conversation with Darcy, of all men. “Though I must be allowed some reassurance from your example.”
“Meaning?”
“If we are to dub inscrutability the harbinger of indifference, you could be labelled the most unfeeling of all men. My knowledge to the contrary ought to give me hope that Miss Bennet’s affections were merely under similar regulation.”
Bingley was vastly pleased with this bit of logic; Darcy seemed less impressed. He took so long to answer that a footman arrived, received Bingley’s request for refreshments and went away again before he responded—and then his answer made no sense.
“She never knew.”
“Never knew what?”
He gave no answer at all this time and, as though to disprove Bingley’s reasoning, now looked profoundly troubled.
“Come, Darcy, you cannot have the blame for all the wrong in the world, you know. You were not the only person who suspected her of indifference. Besides, was it not you who accused me of yielding too easily to persuasion? It seems I have succeeded in proving your argument admirably, despite Miss Elizabeth’s best endeavours to defend my character.”
