He had intended to behave with courteous dignity toward Bingley, for there was a steady friendship between them. But upon seeing Bingley’s composed features as he gazed out the window, and remembering Jane’s sorrow, Darcy could barely control his anger.
“What the hell have you done?”
Bingley let out a groan at the sound of his voice and sank farther into his chair. “I have done what is in the best interest of my family and my reputation.” He leant on the chair arm and rested his head on his hand.
“I am not convinced that this is in the best interest of your reputation!”
Bingley stood to face him. “There is nothing you can say to change my mind. I am resigned to my fate. Jane”—he cleared his throat—“Miss Bennet generously offered to release me from my promise in the face of the scandalous nature of Miss Lydia’s situation.”
Darcy shook his head. “I have no right to interfere, and I am sorry to have done so in the past. I am simply trying to understand how you could have done this. You were an engaged man who has jilted a respectable lady. You know Jane is nothing like Lydia.” Darcy was struck by another thought. “Have your sisters convinced you to give her up?”
“I did not give her up to oblige Caroline and Louisa. I am not so easily persuaded, at least not any longer. I was warmly attached to Jane, and it will be some time before I see another woman whom I think to be her equal. I had to consider my respectability.”
“A gentleman’s respectability is intrinsically linked to the dependability of his word.” Darcy tried to keep his voice calm.
“I am not as fortunate as you.” Bingley spoke without any hint of malice. “I wish to make my way in the world as a gentleman, and if I marry the sister of a fallen woman with a natural child, the disgrace would be insupportable. A fortune made from trade already speaks against me. I am not blind to Miss Bennet’s connexions, and the behaviour of her family is—well, perhaps there cannot be too little said on that subject. Miss Bennet’s attractions do not outweigh the denigration of Miss Lydia’s situation. She has caused me to doubt Miss Bennet’s respectability. How can I enter into a marriage with that sort of doubt?”
If society learned that Elizabeth gave herself to me, it would hardly matter in their minds that we are engaged, and she would be thought morally weak.
His reputation would not suffer at all, but they would condemn Elizabeth nearly as much as Lydia. The unjustness of the woman bearing all of the criticism and consequence for an act that took two people to complete weighed on Darcy’s mind. Wickham, as a man, would be received anywhere with no disapproval for his role in the affair, but the scandal and shame would ruin Lydia for the rest of her life.
“Jane would have given more consequence to your character and more usefulness to your habits and pursuits.” Darcy now feared that Bingley would do nothing with much zeal but sport and society, and his time would otherwise waste away without the benefit of books or the company of a refined partner. “She would have been a respectable wife.”
Bingley shook his head. “Mrs Goulding has already stopped receiving the Bennets, and it won’t be much longer before other families shun them. It might be a temporary ostracism until the next public scandal, or it could be irreparable. I have to think of my credibility and that of my own sons as they become gentlemen. What if you cannot find Mr Wickham and make him marry Miss Lydia? You will have no other options left to maintain the Bennet family’s honour, short of calling him out. I am grief-stricken and will not soon recover.”
“You will return to good spirits before the summer is out, I have no doubt,” Darcy reflected coolly. “Your autumn will be spent in sport, and then you will throw yourself into the pleasure of the Season. Undoubtedly, you will find a young lady with the usual stock of accomplishments who will be fashionable, pretty, and fortunate enough not to have a sister who was seduced by a scoundrel.”
Suspicion was not in Bingley’s inclination, and he gladly accepted Darcy’s view of his future without hearing the acrimony in his voice. His friend could not be that racked by grief if he was already imagining a revival of his spirits. Bingley would recover in due time, find some beautiful girl of good family, marry her, and be reasonably content. To Darcy, Elizabeth was irreplaceable. His heart ached at the thought of ever separating from Elizabeth, but Bingley, although dispirited now, would leave Hertfordshire and never look back.
“I ought to find enough company and recreation in town to keep me thoroughly engaged,” Bingley said in a more hopeful tone. “I shall fall into melancholy and drink should I remain idle. I will be in better spirits when I next return to Netherfield.”
“You are joking, Bingley!” It was incomprehensible to Darcy that Bingley would consider remaining anywhere near Hertfordshire, but then it was also unimaginable to him that a gentleman would abandon his betrothed. “You must give up Netherfield.”
“Miss Bennet would not begrudge—”
“Your jilted intended and her family live three miles away!” Darcy’s anger at Jane’s suffering boiled anew. “If you remain, Jane will always wonder whether you are going to renew your addresses. You cannot place her in a situation where you might be tempted to bestow affection and confidence on one who must now be nothing to you but the object of distant civility. I will not have you torment a respectable lady who will be my sister.”
“Yes, you are right. I shall give up Netherfield.” No debate or conflict was worth Bingley’s attention. “In any event, I shall leave in a few days to escort Caroline and Louisa to Hurst in Bath.” Bingley paused and, after looking away embarrassed, said, “I know you will still marry Miss Lizzy, and of course you must consider her feelings, but I would regret to lose our friendship.”
Darcy made some short, polite wish for the same and then took his leave. While he hoped that his friendship with Bingley could be maintained, he knew that, no matter the result of his search for Wickham, he would align himself with Elizabeth and her family. His loyalties ought first to be given to his new family, and this, Darcy felt, was where he and Bingley would never be of a similar mind.
Darcy’s eagerness tosee Elizabeth had him stalking the edge of Mr Bennet’s property the following morning before dawn. Elizabeth’s eyes squinted against the morning sun, but that did not keep her from giving him a dazzling smile as she approached him. Without hesitation, she put her arms around his neck and pulled him close. Nothing seemed more natural than to have her pressed against him, and Darcy softly laughed.
Elizabeth missed nothing akin to amusement coming from him. “You may have convinced everyone else that you are stern and reserved, but I know the truth. I require that you tell me all.”
“I am remembering,” he said with a smile. “I recall a time in Georgiana’s sitting room when I was both eager and uneasy to put an arm around you. I was certain that my heart would burst from my chest—it was pounding so hard at the thought of touching you, let alone waltzing with you. And now there is nothing more calming and more necessary to me than to hold you as close as possible.”
“My dear Fitzwilliam, that was nearly your prettiest speech yet.”
“Only nearly? Do you challenge me to improve upon that? I would compose a few lines in your honour, but I remember how you oppose the pairing of poetry and love.”
“I was terribly misguided to think so, and you must not hold it against me,” she replied with mock seriousness. “Your task, while we are parted, will be to write me a sonnet to feed our fine, stout, healthy love!”
By unspoken agreement, they walked in the general direction of the empty tenant cottage. Darcy looked at her, intending to continue their conversation but was distracted by her straw hat. Its wide brim might be useful for keeping the sun from her face, but it inhibited an intimate tête-à-tête. He stopped and plucked the ribbon beneath her chin that held the bonnet in place, and pulled it off her head.
“You disapprove of my hat?”
“I have no opposition, but it prevents me from viewing your face.” He was about to press on when he looked at it again. Darcy felt a twinge of sadness when he remembered that the last time he had seen her wear this bonnet was in the grove of Rosings Park when he had handed her his letter.
