He looked in Georgiana’s direction. She seemed to be happy here. She was watching the children playing, and talking to Mrs. Gardiner, who had kindly taken her under her wing and was doing her best to put her at ease.
His gaze returned to Miss Bennet. Like her uncle, she was making no effort to draw his attention. She was quietly working on an item of embroidery. He examined it more closely. It was a new piece, with barely half a dozen stitches. He could have sworn she was working on something more advanced when hehad entered. He shrugged mentally. He must have mistaken the matter.
Still, it gave him an opening to talk.
“Do you enjoy embroidery, Miss Bennet?”
She gave a little snort. “I was afraid you would ask me that question, Mr. Darcy. I would dearly like to declare that I am accomplished in every type of needlework, but sadly, I am not. Despise me as you will.”
He smiled. “I cannot despise you, Miss Bennet, when you have been so candid. I admire your honesty.”
She laughed. “Faint praise, indeed, when you have nothing better to admire than my honesty! Particularly when you know very well that I am capable of falsehood.”
“Those were mitigating circumstances,” he replied. “I will not hold you accountable when you were working under duress.”
“You are determined to come to my defence, I see.”
He thought of how it felt to carry her to the bank and he was annoyed with himself. Why must this memory constantly intrude on his thoughts?
“I hope as a gentleman I will always come to the defence of a young lady,” he replied. “However, I sense that you do not needit very often, and I certainly hope you will never need it in the future.”
“So do I.”
He could tell she was thinking of that moment in the lake as well. Their gazes met and she looked away hastily, her cheeks stained in pink.
They fell into another awkward silence. He should not have brought up the scene in the lake. He strove valiantly to change the direction of the conversation. He wanted to satisfy his curiosity about her parents, in any case, though he needed to be tactful in the way he asked it.
“Miss Bennet, have you always resided in town?” There, that was a very good way to phrase it.
“Not at all, sir,” she replied. “My uncle was so good as to invite me to stay here over the winter months, and I was very happy to accept. I love spending time with my cousins, and I am very fond of my aunt and uncle.”
She was probably from somewhere in the north, like Bingley. Judging by her manner of speech, her father, like her uncle, was well educated.
“And is your father a solicitor?” It was a clumsy guess, but it was better than asking outright if he was in trade.
Elizabeth blinked. “Papa? Oh no, sir. My father is a gentleman.”
Darcy stared. Whatever he had expected, it was not this.
“A gentleman?” he said, faintly.
“From a very old family,” added Mr. Gardiner, joining in the conversation unexpectedly. “The Bennets have been at Longbourn for generations.”
“Longbourn?” he echoed.
“It is an estate in Hertfordshire,” said Elizabeth.
“Hertfordshire,” he repeated, rather stupidly. It seemed all he was capable of at the moment. His mind was struggling to absorb this extraordinary piece of information.
She was a gentleman’s daughter. Her father was in possession of an estate. In his prejudice, he had assumed she was too far beneath his social position to merit consideration. How could he have leapt to so many wrong conclusions in such a short period of time?
All because he had not wanted to seek an introduction!
His discomfort increased as he realized Mr. Gardiner was watching him, bemused, as if he knew exactly what Darcy was thinking. It was beyond embarrassing that he had revealed hisastonishment in such a blatant, incoherent manner. He winced inwardly. What must Miss Bennet think of him?
Now he really had no idea what to say next. He was completely tongue-tied.
This time, it was Elizabeth who rescued him from his blundering. “We have only just been introduced, Mr. Darcy. There is so much we do not know about each other, even the most basic things.”
