“All women are that sort,” Saye replied scornfully. “Allpeople, come to mention it. See how tightly twisted your unmentionables are over her partnering with Hartham. Now let us sit so we can get this party started.”
Darcy followed his cousin the short distance to the whist table and took his seat between Elizabeth and Hartham, across from Saye. A chair had been placed close beside his and, with a swish of her skirts and a press of bosom against his arm, Miss Larkin took her seat there.
“This is a fine group,” Hartham exclaimed, looking round at them all. “I have the prettiest partner, but we will see if she can hold her own against the men.”
Elizabeth laughed. “I shall do my best, sir.”
Darcy heard a little scraping sound as Miss Larkin slid her chair to be even closer to him. He resisted the urge to immediately move away; he would wait until a less obvious moment.
“What stakes?” Saye asked.
“Pence a point with a shilling on the rubber?” Hartham proposed.
Saye rolled his eyes at him. “Is this a ladies’ saloon? I say pound points with five on the rubber."
“Good lord, do not be ridiculous,” Darcyinterjected with a look at Elizabeth. She seemed mostly unperturbed, but he would not see her thrown into an untenable situation for Saye’s nonsense.
“It seems fair to me,” Miss Larkin interjected, rather boldly for one who was not playing. “I despise how gentlemen always suppose a lady does not enjoy a good wager.”
“How is this for a compromise?” Saye offered. “Shilling points with a pound on the rubber.”
“Fortune favours the bold,” Elizabeth interjected. “Perhaps we should begin low and move higher as we proceed?”
Darcy looked at her worriedly. She was an heiress now, yes, but gambling away her aunt’s fortune at the whist table would do her no good at all. “I would not say a shilling a point is low, Miss Bennet, with all due respect.”
“You are quite wrong,” Saye replied. “Itislow. But we may begin there and see where things land.” With that, he began to deal the cards.
Darcy had played whist with Elizabeth before, at Rosings. She was far from deficient, but she likely had never gone up against those who enjoyed playing high, or who had frequented the gaming hells of London.
At once he knew what he must do. He would lose to her and Hartham. Saye would be angry with him but so be it. He could not see her lose her money, certainly not to himself and Saye. Whatever they lost, they could win back once the ladies were sent home.
The game began in a usual enough way; sometimes they took a point, sometimes he and Saye took the point. Throughout, Darcy had the irritation of Miss Larkin in his ear, crying out theatrically when he madeeither a bad move or a good one, and offering terrible advice on his hand. He wished he might see that the lady’s fawningdidmake Elizabeth jealous in some manner, but she behaved as amiably as ever. Worst of all was that Miss Larkin and she began to be friendly; unlike Miss Bingley before her, it was apparent that Miss Larkin did not consider Elizabeth a rival.
As the game went on, Elizabeth played increasingly boldly, almost wildly, making plays that should have failed spectacularly. Time and again, Darcy countered her moves with dreadful choices of his own that invariably lost him and Saye the point.
At length, and through gritted teeth, Saye said, “Darcy, you are making some singular choices this evening.”
“Sometimes one must sacrifice the certain for the possible,” he replied smoothly, accepting new cards from Hartham, who was taking his turn as dealer. He glanced towards Elizabeth to see if she comprehended him, but her eyes were on her new hand.
Saye insisted they play for the best of three games, and with each successive game, Elizabeth’s recklessness grew. So too did Darcy’s attempts to help her. During one hand, he leant over, ostensibly to murmur quietly to Miss Larkin, “You are enjoying yourself, I hope?”
While she blushed and assured him in a little whisper that indeed she was, he took stock of Elizabeth’s hand, committing enough to memory to be able, he hoped, to guide her. He straightened to find her eyes steady upon him, her dark gaze plainly displeased. He offered a faint smile, but she only gave a tight frown and dropped her eyes to the cards.
Despite every attempt to guide her—adjusting his cravat, hoping she would understand she must choose acard that lay in that direction or drumming his fingers in a pattern that indicated what rank of card ought to be laid—she continued to play almost nonsensically. And he grew ever more nonsensical with his moves in response, repeatedly throwing the game in his opponents’ favour. Hartham seemed bemused by it but not unduly alarmed. Saye was uncharacteristically agitated and kicked him several times beneath the table. Miss Larkin yelped when, once, he caught her shin by mistake, but she was easily appeased by Darcy’s solicitude.
“You are having remarkable luck tonight, Miss Bennet,” she said after a brief pause.
“Yes,” Elizabeth replied, watching as Darcy deliberately played a low club. “Quite remarkable in fact.”
By the time the final trick approached, almost two hours since they had sat down, Elizabeth and Hartham were ahead by a considerable margin, Saye was no longer on speaking terms with Darcy, and Miss Larkin had been kicked one too many times and gone off to plague one of the titled gentlemen across the room. Hartham seemed jovial, no doubt revelling in his success both at the table and with his pretty partner.
As Elizabeth played her last card, she caught Darcy’s eye and held it steadily as the others took their turns. It was a move that was not as easily overcome as those prior to it, and Darcy reflected that it was almost more difficult to intentionally lose than it was to win.
“Well, the moon will walk in daylight next time I partner with Darcy,” Saye announced as they all stood from the table. “Miss Bennet, Mr Hartham—it has been…illuminating. Hartham, the men will remain later tonight, and we will see how things fall out once Miss Bennet is gone.”
“I anticipate it with pleasure,” Hartham replied gallantly and then asked Elizabeth if she would like to go to the refreshment table.
“No, thank you,” she said, her eyes still trained on Darcy. “Pray go ahead, I must speak to Mr Darcy.”
