The sisters exchanged glances with each other, and the Gardiners before Jane answered for all of them. ‘I suppose that we have nothing better to do at present.’
~T~
19Musings
Darcy had returned home and was considering the happenings over a cup of coffee since he wanted to keep a clear head.
Today, had been the worst day of his life.
It was the culmination of several months which started at Ramsgate, continued at Meryton, and came to a climax at tonight’s dinner.
After his delayed return from Hertfordshire, he had gone to Gracechurch Street to apologise to Miss Elizabeth. Even after having his own shortcomings as they pertained to manners pointed out quite forcefully, he still dreaded meeting an unmannered tradesman. Yet when he arrived, neither the man nor Miss Elizabeth were in residence, which left him wondering if her father had deliberately sent him to the wrong address. Considering how Mr Bennet had drawn out telling him that his daughter was in London, he would not put it past the man to have sent him on a wild goose chase.
Having dealt with that situation he had encountered Bingley who had his own tale of woe. For the first time in Darcy’s memory, Bingley was still in love after more than six weeks of knowing a lady. He usually fell out of love within two to six weeks of meeting his latest angel.
When Bingley related his sister’s account of seeing Miss Bennet, Darcy had started to wonder if there could be any truth in Miss Bingley’s insinuations. It could explain why Miss Elizabeth was not in Cheapside.
But surely, as he explained to his friend, Miss Bingley was wrong. She had never made a secret of the fact that she had no wish for her brother to be associated with that lady. And yet, there was a lingering doubt niggling in the back of his mind.
He was still trying to reassure his friend and himself when he received his aunt’s summons.
Being already in an unsettled state of mind, he wondered what could have put his aunt into such a snit. She only adopted that cold tone when she was seriously displeased.
While Darcy would have preferred to arrange for a search for Miss Elizabeth so that he could settle his obligations, he nonetheless knew that it would be wiser to accede to Lady Matlock’s invitation.
His mind was still busy with trying to find a way to track down the location of Miss Elizabeth when he walked into Matlock House and was confronted by the sight of the lady.
Having spent most of the previous thirty hours trying to speak to the lady without success and then encountering her in the last place he expected to see her, caused his words to run away with him without conscious censorship.
While the words themselves were not offensive per se, he realised that his tone of voice had been and the moment those words passed his lips he was mortified and regretted his lapse. He really did not need Richard’s forceful objection to his lapse in judgement.
But he put on a good face and apologised for his blunder. He was pleased when Miss Elizabeth’s stance towards him softened, at least slightly.
Darcy relaxed a little more when he met the genteel aunt and uncle with whom the sisters were staying. Perhaps not all the sister’s relatives were as bad as he had been led to believe by Miss Bingley.
Since he had been presented with the opportunity to apologise to Miss Elizabeth, he did so, only to mangle his words and insulting her further. He felt humiliated again when the lady responded in such a manner that it had taken him a while to realise his latest mistake.
It seemed that every time he was around Miss Elizabeth, he somehow said the wrong thing. Eventually he managed to get that straightened out but the strain of eating so much humble pie was wearying.
Despite that, he was determined to speak to Miss Bennet and smooth the way for his friend.
He was shocked when the lady declared that she had never had any interest in his friend and even thought him to be something of a rake.Darcy thought Bingley to be somewhat immature, but the evaluation of Miss Bennet did not sit well with him.
Since the dinner table was not the place to get into an argument, he let the subject drop and tried to focus on his other dinner partner.
He discovered that Miss Elizabeth was not only exceedingly pretty but also intelligent and well educated. And even though she always remained polite, she was also quite forthright in stating her opinions… even when they disagreed with his own.
While under normal circumstances he would have rejoiced in having an intelligent conversation with a lady, his enjoyment was tempered by his awareness of Miss Bennet’s interactions with Deveril.
He observed that the two appeared exceedingly comfortable in each other’s company.
Feeling anxious because of everything which had happened to him recently, that niggling doubt he had had earlier grew, particularly when he remembered Deveril’s younger brother.
While James Deveril was the same age as Richard, with whom he had been friends most of their lives, Gregory, the youngest Deveril had been Darcy’s age and in the same year at school with him. Darcy and Gregory always clashed because Gregory became friends with Wickham. There were rumours that Gregory had ruined several young ladies until he perished in a most convenient accident.
Darcy had wondered whether there was any similarity between the brothers, but that James was simply more discreet.
By the time the gentlemen retired to the library, Darcy had convinced himself that he needed to protect Bingley’s lady love from Deveril.
