The servant then showed in a fashionably dressed woman with a little girl, and Darcy and Bingley took their leave. Mrs Gardiner invited them to dine later that week, and they accepted with alacrity. Bingley eagerly asked to call on Miss Bennet in the interim. Not until Darcy was ensconced in his library that evening did he realise Elizabeth would return to London in time for his dinner engagement at the Gardiners’.
* * *
When she andMaria Lucas arrived in London, Elizabeth remained unsure what to communicate to Jane about Mr Darcy’s proposals and his letter. If she mentioned his involvement in detaching her from Mr Bingley, it might wound her sister’s spirits further. She did not want to grieve Jane by mentioning Mr Bingley if he never called—although she trusted Mr Darcy would tell his friend that Jane was in Gracechurch Street—so she said nothing about it.
She thought of Mr Darcy’s letter often and read it frequently, and every other free moment was spent passing a retrospective glance over the whole of their acquaintance. His manners were proud, and he was reserved, but with his friends, he was amiable. He was a clever, handsome man who had loved her enough to cast aside every family obstacle.
Her behaviour toward him was more to be abhorred with every recollection, and now she would never be first in affection with Mr Darcy. She could not feel disappointed in refusing his proposal, but on reflection, Elizabeth better understood what she had given up. Hopefully, Mr Darcy would not become an object of regret.
That first evening at the Gardiners’, her aunt said with a smile, “Lizzy, we have had a steady stream of gentlemen callers this week, and I believe it to be your doing.”
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.
“It has been an agreeable week,” Jane said after she described Mr Darcy’s first visit, and then, with more animation, her two times meeting Mr Bingley.
Elizabeth and Mrs Gardiner exchanged a look.
“Lizzy, you must not suspect me. I can enjoy Mr Bingley’s conversation without wishing beyond it.”
“His agreeableness will make him a favourite among us, but if he were your professed lover, we would enjoy him all the more!”
Elizabeth took delight in the prospect of their relationship and was pleased that Mr Darcy had kept his word to tell Mr Bingley that Jane was in town. She was amazed to learn that Mr Darcy had become a favourite of her cousins.
“Mr Darcy was amiable and courteous,” said her aunt. “From your description of him last Christmas, I feared he would be silent and solemn. Jane said he seemed altered from the last time she had seen him.”
Elizabeth listened, wondered, and was impatient for more, but she could not bring herself to ask. She said, in as guarded a manner as she could, that after their encounters in Kent, she found his manners were by no means faulty, and that Wickham’s were not as amiable as they had been considered to be in Hertfordshire.
It had once been her firmest opinion that Mr Darcy was not a good-natured man. Why was he so altered?It cannot be for me. My reproofs could not work such a change.“Perhaps Mr Darcy improves on further acquaintance.”
“He was rather serious at first, I suppose. All he wants is a little more liveliness, but perhaps, should he marry prudently, his wife may teach him.” Mrs Gardiner gave her a look, and Elizabeth feared her aunt might suspect that Mr Darcy at one time held tender feelings for her. “You may determine Mr Darcy’s amiability for yourself when he and Mr Bingley join us to dine.”
Elizabeth could not be certain whether seeing Mr Darcy answered all her hopes or gave her reason to fear. She suspected the answer would be clearer once she saw how Mr Darcy behaved in her presence.
The bell rang promptlyat six on the appointed day, and the gentlemen were interrupted by a troop of little Gardiners whose eagerness for their appearance would not allow them to wait inside the drawing room. For a moment, Elizabeth was immovable as she and Mr Darcy gazed on one another.
Edward tugged on Elizabeth’s hand and called out, “Lillibet, look! Midter Dawcy is here!”
Mr Darcy recovered first and greeted everyone with perfect civility, and Elizabeth received his compliments with relative ease. The children bustled around them before being taken to the nursery, the activity giving Elizabeth a moment to reflect, but the tumult of her mind did not allow her to think long on any one subject.
By the time the first course was removed, it was clear that Mr Bingley would be inattentive to everyone but Jane and that she was eager to receive his attentions. The remaining company did not feel the slight, and to Elizabeth’s surprise, Mr Darcy took up the conversation and asked Mrs Gardiner whether she planned to return to Derbyshire to visit her friends.
“Our intentions were to take a tour of pleasure this summer to the Lakes with Lizzy—”
“I am delighted to go! I shall not tire of speaking of it when I return,” Elizabeth interjected. She looked at Mr Darcy, impatient to include him in pleasant conversation. She was still grieved over every ungracious sensation she had previously directed toward him. “I certainly shall be able to recollect to you an accurate idea on everything I shall see.”
Mr Darcy smiled, but she could not be sure whether he smiled at her enthusiasm for travel or her implication that they might see one another again. It was strange to think that she had once been pleased for any opportunity to avoid him.
“I hate to disappoint you,” said Mr Gardiner, “but my business may prevent us from setting out until the middle of July instead of June. I also must return to London again within a month, so it is doubtful that we shall be able, in that short a period, to travel as far as the Lake District.”
Elizabeth was saddened but was resolved to be satisfied. “Will a more contracted tour be planned instead?”
“The present plan is to give up the Lakes and go no farther north than Derbyshire. There is enough in that country to occupy the chief of our time, as Mr Darcy would no doubt concur, and Mrs Gardiner has a strong attraction to the area.”
“Lizzy and Mr Gardiner will want to take in all the celebrated beauties of the country,” her aunt said, “but the greatest object of my curiosity will be to visit Lambton. I have several old friends I long to see again.”
“And I am fond of fishing.” With a smile to his wife, her uncle added, “I hope my wife allows me time to pursue the activity if she does not schedule our entire tour to be spent at the homes of her friends.”
Mr Darcy extended an offer for him to fish as often as he liked at Pemberley and even offered to supply him with fishing tackle. “If I am in the country at the time of your visit, I will point out those parts of the stream where there is usually most sport,” he added.
