He flushed slightly. “It is a small backgammon set, suitable for travel. My parents enjoyed it in the carriage, when they travelled together. On occasion I play both sides, when I am away from my home and at loose ends. It is not as entertaining as playing another, whose moves cannot be easily predicted, but it is something with which to occupy oneself when not in the mood for a book. And perhaps if Miss Bennet is feeling well enough, you might enjoy some games together.” He stopped abruptly, as though embarrassed to have said so much at once, and indeed she rather thought it was the longest speech she had ever heard from him.
She smiled. “I thank you, sir. It was kind of you to think of my comfort, and I shall be delighted to take your suggestion.”
He returned her smile awkwardly, as though he were not quite sure he was performing the action correctly. He bowed again, bid her a good evening, and departed. Elizabeth returned to the room, puzzling over the startling notion that perhaps Mr Darcy, with his ten thousand a year and Cambridge education, was uncomfortable in company and unsure of how to converse with young ladies.
“What is it, Lizzy?” Jane croaked from the bed. Elizabeth went to her and explained that Mr Darcy had offered the use of his backgammon set for their amusement. They then opened the box to find that it was a fine old set, with a playing surface of tooled leather, and pieces of carved and stained ivory.
“This is a handsome thing indeed!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “I am surprised he is willing to lend it to anyone, much less someone he knows so little!”
“It is very kind of him,” Jane remarked. “I am not tired—shall we play?”
“Certainly,” Elizabeth agreed, and they set up the board and passed one of the most pleasant hours of their stay at Netherfield with Mr Darcy’s backgammon set.
CHAPTERFOUR
Waking the following morning,it was all Elizabeth could do not to recoil when she first caught sight of her sister. The bumps of the rash, which had only the previous day begun to burgeon with fluid, had swelled immensely in the night, and the face she knew almost as well as her own was now unrecognisable. Jane’s hands and wrists, the only other parts of her visible above the nightgown and blankets, were at present only rather red, but she knew from Mr Jones’s information that this, too, would soon change. Giving silent thanks that her sister yet slept, she took a moment to accustom herself to the radical changes in Jane’s appearance, that she might disclose no sign of dismay when her sister awoke.
She was glad she had done it, for when Jane did awaken, her first words were, “Lizzy, I do not feel well at all, and I am so very thirsty.”
“It is as Mr Jones predicted,” Elizabeth said soothingly as she spooned broth into the sickroom funnel for Jane to swallow. “The rash is taking fluids from you. Oh, I know it is painful, dearest, but you must keep drinking.” Jane nodded her acquiescence and reclined heavily, as though the mere ingestion of broth had sapped her strength. Soon she drifted off to sleep again, and Elizabeth decided to try Mr Darcy’s suggestion of playing both sides of a backgammon match. In this manner she amused herself for half an hour, the dice almost silent on the soft leather, before a knock sounded on the door.
She hurried to see who it was, and upon spying Mr Bingley in the hall, she whispered, “I will be out in a moment, sir.” Pocketing Jane’s note, she joined him in the passage.
“How is Miss Bennet?” he asked anxiously.
Trying not to alarm him, she answered, “Her illness is progressing as Mr Jones predicted.” Her delicacy had the opposite of its intended effect, as he clearly sensed she was withholding bad news and became alarmed. She hastened to reassure him, “She is more unwell today, it is true, but it is nothing we did not expect. Nothing has happened yet to indicate that she is in more than the usual danger.”
This he accepted with good grace, though sensing he was not entirely reassured, Elizabeth chose to change the subject.
“Now, Mr Bingley, I must speak to you on a serious matter.” He looked startled, and she continued. “My sister has replied to your note of yesterday. I will have your word as a gentleman that you will exercise the utmost discretion. My dearest Jane will be facing changes enough after this illness has passed. I am trusting you to ensure that her reputation will not be among them.”
His expression was all surprise and delight. “Indeed, Miss Elizabeth, you may rest assured that I would do nothing to harm Miss Bennet in any way. You have my word as a gentleman that your sister’s reputation is safe with me…whatever the consequences.”
She inclined her head. “Very well, then.” Elizabeth produced the note from her pocket and handed it to the eager gentleman. “Naturally, I have read it.”
“I expected nothing else,” he replied distractedly, turning the paper over and over in his hands. “If you will excuse me?” He hurried off to read his letter, leaving Elizabeth chuckling behind him.
* * *
Bingley came from the house that morning smiling over a piece of paper which he hastily stuffed into his pocket with an expression of consciousness. His actions instantly raised Darcy’s suspicions.
“What have you got there, that makes you so cheerful?” he enquired. “I had not thought the post had come yet.”
Bingley, as incapable of dissembling as he was of sustaining anger, reddened and admitted, “I sent Miss Bennet a note yesterday, expressing my wishes for her quick recovery, and she was so kind as to reply. Her hand is very elegant…” he concluded dreamily.
“Bingley,” Darcy said sharply. “You cannot be exchanging notes with a young lady. Aside from being improper, it is far too intimate. You have known her but a month, and—” He steeled himself to say what must be said, unkind though it was. “It is likely she will be quite altered by her illness. You must not raise expectations you may not wish to fulfil.”
His friend’s amiable features took on a mulish cast. “I know that I am a shallow, trifling fellow. Or such I have been. But she…” He drew an agitated breath and seemed to grope for words. “She sees more in me. It is there in the way she looks at me, how she speaks to me. It is in every way apparent that she believes me to be a man of character and determination. She makes me wish to be that man. Ishallbe that man, even if…even if she is not there to know it. Her face, Darcy, is not what I love most about her.” Having said this, he turned his attention to checking his mount’s tack and saddle, his jaw clenched with strong emotion.
Darcy was taken aback to understand just how far his friend was indulging his infatuation. He must tread carefully, he apprehended, lest he drive Bingley into further rash acts from sheer rebellion.
“I do not deny your feelings,” he said carefully, much as he wished to do just that. “I only ask that you consider your actions. Such a correspondence is improper—you must acknowledge that.” Bingley nodded once, sharply, and Darcy continued. “What is done is done, but it cannot continue.”
“I will take your advice under consideration,” Bingley said, and at that moment the door to the house opened and Captain Carter emerged.
Frustrated by the untimely interruption, and very much afraid that Bingley would reject his advice forthwith, he turned to greet the soldier. As they all set off down the drive, Carter and Bingley chatted about the friends they expected to meet with that day, while Darcy stewed over the likelihood that the illicit correspondence would continue, and his friend would be further drawn in.
His own loan of the backgammon set to Miss Bennet’s sister was, of course, a completely different matter. There was little of intimacy in the loan of a useful possession to an acquaintance in their time of trouble, he told himself. It was a courtesy he would be happy to offer anyone of whom he thought well; it was no different from lending a book. He had brought a number of volumes with him, knowing that Bingley’s library would be inadequate at best. Should he…? No. No, absolutely not. He would not make a habit of catering to Miss Elizabeth’s every imagined want.
