I believed you both to be gentlemen.
Elizabeth may not consider him a gentleman, but he would not do such an ungentlemanly thing, not in front of Miss Bennet. He was not so lost to propriety. He would wait until the two men were in Netherfield and talk to Bingley privately.
Bingley put out a hand to him.
“Do you need help standing up? Has Miss Elizabeth gone for help?”
“It is nothing. A momentary weakness,” Darcy replied. The concern on Bingley’s face reminded him of how Elizabeth had taken his concern for her and spat it in his face.
Another surge of anger swept through him. It gave him the push he needed to jerk to his feet.
“Miss Elizabeth is indisposed. She would like us all to turn back. If you could call the others, Bingley?”
Darcy would make sure Bingley did not spend another moment with Miss Bennet. The very sight of the Bennet sisters sickened him. He hoped never to set eyes on them again. It was a very good thing this had happened. It gave Darcy the much-needed incentive he had been lacking.
He would depart at dawn and never set foot in the neighborhood again in his life.
Chapter 8
Odious man, thought Elizabeth,odious, disagreeable, arrogant man! And he believed himself a gentleman? Ha!At least she had the satisfaction of telling Darcy her opinion of him.
She ran down the path, a feeling of outrage choking her. Once she was out of sight, she stopped and gave vent to her frustration by kicking at a log.
She regretted it instantly as pain shot up through her toe and up her leg. She hopped about on one foot, groaning.Bother, bother, bother!If she ended up not being able to walk properly for the rest of her life, it would all be Mr. Darcy’s fault.
When she had envisioned telling him the truth, she had not expected that he would react quite that way. Obviously, she did not think he would be happy to know that he had been tricked, but she had not anticipated the poisonous words he had uttered.
They had wounded her to the core. How dare he pass judgement in that pompous, supercilious way? How could he insult her and her family so completely, assuming the worse, when he had not evenaskedto hear the whole story? And then to accuse Jane of all people, who did not have a deceitful bone in her body! Jane, who loved Bingley with all her big heart. Jane who had always been uncertain of Mr. Bingley’s affection, and now it turned out she was justified. The insufferable Mr. Darcy had admitted that he and Mr. Bingley were planning to leave Netherfield for London without a backward glance.
That had been the final straw. He hadkissedher yesterday. She had tried and tried not to think about it, not to give it any importance. Admittedly, it had not been a big kiss – a mere peck, to be precise. She did not want to make too much of it, but young ladies had been forced to marry for less.
And today, without the slightest bit of remorse, he had announced that he did not have the least intention of staying. How very fortunate she had stopped him and not allowed him any further liberties. Because there were not two ways about it. He had deceived her. He may not have promised her anything, he may have not meant anything by kissing her, but he had not told her they were about to abandon ship, either.
It had been a terrible mistake to tell him the truth. How naïve she had been to think a man like Darcy – who did not have an honest bone in his body – deserved to hear the truth. A man who did not care a fig for her.
Elizabeth felt all her energy drain out of her with a whoosh. She still felt angry at Mr. Darcy, but she also felt angry at herself. She had humiliated herself completely, and for what? She had told him the truth and he had kicked her in the teeth with it.
