“I must try to—that is, he… Some exertion of politeness on my side would be welcomed by Miss Darcy. I shall return in time to leave.”
“You do not mean to call by yourself! And it is too early. Miss Darcy may keep late hours.”
Elizabeth would not be dissuaded; she called her uncle’s manservant to hire a hackney while Jane gaped at her. Elizabeth suddenly wished she had been less secretive about Mr Darcy. She pulled Jane to the vestibule and hurriedly explained about Mr Darcy’s proposal, her refusal, their resolve to act better, and her newfound interest.
“Do you not see? He will think me indifferent and will not come to Hertfordshire with Mr Bingley. I am wretched!”
“You are joking! Mr Darcy proposed to you and you do not regret refusing him in April, but now you wish to make known to him that you no longer dislike him? It is impossible.”
“I speak nothing but the truth. He may still love me, and perhaps I could love him, but our chance at happiness will be lost if I do not call on Miss Darcy.”
“You will use poor Miss Darcy very ill indeed if you use her to get to her brother.”
“It is not like that!” she cried, realising how her visit could be misconstrued. “I would be happy to call on Miss Darcy in any event. And I shall probably not even see Mr Darcy, but Miss Darcy will tell him of my visit, and then perhaps he will come to Hertfordshire. It will be the work of a moment to tell him my feelings are changed.”
“How little you have told me of what passed in Kent. Why have you been so secret with me?”
“I shall tell you all, but please do not ask me of it now.” She had never so honestly felt that she couldlove Mr Darcy.
Jane sighed. “At least take the maid with you.”
Elizabeth embraced her sister, and soon she and a maid climbed into a hackney on their way to Charles Street.
Darcy wassure there might have been a little fever of admiration for him in Elizabeth’s countenance when they last spoke, but he doubted she loved him. Butcouldshe? His pursuit of Elizabeth had not been an easy one, although he freely admitted that was his fault and not hers. His own conceit and arrogance worked against him, but his character was better for attending to Elizabeth’s reproofs.
Elizabeth could not have failed to understand his wishes when he asked to call on her in Hertfordshire. She did not say no; she did not say yes. Elizabeth was too generous to trifle with his emotions. Perhaps allowing Elizabeth the advantage of time and distance would be better suited to his purpose.
“Did you hear me?” his cousin said, startling him. They were seated in his library, and Darcy’s mind had wandered. “I said I enjoyed our sojourn to Rosings this Easter. Our three weeks there passed in more pleasant company than in other years, would you not agree?” his cousin asked.
Darcy nodded, but felt too much to speak.
“Lady Catherine no doubt believes that your attachment to Rosings increases, and the deferral of our departure so many times must make her think you sorry to leave cousin Anne.”
Darcy gave a short laugh and lifted his eyes. Fitzwilliam was intimate enough with him to know how to nettle him.
“I should tell you, I was partial to Miss Bennet,” Fitzwilliam said while gazing into his glass. Darcy stared at him, hoping his expression did not betray his alarm. “I trust she found me agreeable, but she was not unhappy when I made it known to her that I had no intentions at all. A younger son, you know, must marry with some attention to money.”
Darcy closed his eyes. How could he bear it if his cousin, his intimate friend and partner in the guardianship of Georgiana, loved Elizabeth?
“You need not harden yourself to any such circumstance.” Fitzwilliam spoke with such sincerity that Darcy opened his eyes. “I admired her well enough, but I was not in love with Miss Bennet. You are a man who will either be made or marred by his choice of a wife. Miss Bennethas an admirable inner strength as well as a great sense of joy. Do not allow any misguided sense of familial duty or the opinions of the fashionable world hinder you in forming your future happiness.” Fitzwilliam emptied his glass and left the house without a word.
Darcy sighed, knowing his cousin was right, but Elizabeth felt differently. He would not join Bingley in Hertfordshire this summer and would instead travel to Pemberley with Georgiana.
He tried to focus on his work, but the sound of the tittering young ladies engaged in dance lessons in his drawing room distracted him. He could hardly discern the music of the waltz over the laughter. The waltz was becoming popular at the highest social levels, and Darcy had allowed Georgiana to attend lessons with a Viennese master along with several of the other young ladies in the square. No doubt they giggled at the thought of clasping a young man for an entire dance while they twirled about the room in practice.
The music ceased, and he heard whispering and suppressed laughter as the girls tramped down the stairs. The dance master would escort them home, and he had only to hide in his library a few moments longer to be assured of not having to greet them. He wished to avoid their false smiles and unsubtle survey of his home and wealth.
Darcy’s library faced the street on the ground floor, and he could easily hear a knock, the front door open and close, and then quieter footsteps enter the hall. “Damnation,” he muttered. He meant to tell the footman to remove the knocker from the door since he and Georgiana were not available to callers today. Darcy decided to remain ensconced within the walls of his library until the visitor left.
ChapterFour
Elizabeth and her maid alighted from the hackney at an impressive house near Berkeley Square and were admitted into a handsome hall with a grand staircase. A door on the right was closed, and down the hall she could see into the dining room. The furnishings were suitable to the fortune of the proprietor; Elizabeth saw, with admiration for Mr Darcy’s taste, that they were neither gaudy nor uselessly fine.
She asked whether Miss Darcy was at home to visitors, and the footman replied in the negative. Disheartened, Elizabeth folded the corner of her card and placed it on the silver salver. All she could hope for now was that, when Miss Darcy reviewed her cards, she would mention her visit to Mr Darcy and he would know what she meant.
Elizabeth then realised she had neglected to ask the driver to wait and, mortified, was about to ask the footman whether he would go to the cross street and hail her another hackney when Miss Darcy appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Good morning, Miss Bennet,” she said softly. “I am surprised but pleased to see you.”
