“What do you mean?”
“I think, at my age, I should give up dancing. I shall sit to the side and watch the younger girls.”
“You must dance. We are welcoming you to the neighbourhood.” Elizabeth hopped from her chair to sit on the chaise next to her sister. “And eight neighbouring families is not the social event of the Season.”
“Very well, but only because you and your husband have already gone to the trouble. I am so glad to see you and Darcy happy together.”
“Oh yes, our attachment has not grown less fervent with time and familiarity,” Elizabeth offered flippantly. She could not express such private feelings to anyone other than Fitzwilliam, not even to Jane. “I daresay he would admit that he is happy in his choice of a wife.”
“Do be serious, Lizzy. If you are not in the room, Darcy raises his eyes every time the door opens. It would take a fool not to realise that he is hoping that it is you who will walk in.”
“Since you give me leave to say so, I am richly blessed,” she said softly. “I have no weariness of his society, and he has none of mine.”
“Darcy gives every appearance of being thrilled with your joyous news. I daresay he will think it the finest child in the world—son and heir or not.”
Elizabeth merely nodded in agreement. Knowing that her husband would be mortified if she spoke about the animated conversations he had with his unborn child, she changed the subject. “You have spent a lot of time in conversation with Colonel Fitzwilliam. What do you think of him?”
“His manners are to be admired,” she answered primly.
“What a dull description of a man who seeks every opportunity to join you on a walk around the garden, who keeps a chair by himself for you wherever we are, and is all animation when you join him and speak with him.”
Jane’s cheeks turned pink. “I must be—that is, I shall not be disappointed again. In the past, I have been blind to the true character of people who ultimately do not deserve my concern. Darcy’s cousin is pleasant company that I might enjoy while I am at Pemberley.”
“I am pleased that you are more willing to be critical of people, but how do you honestly feel about the colonel? You must have no reserves from me.”
“He is not handsome, but he has a pleasing countenance and an intelligent and lively eye. He gives every appearance of preferring my company, and I believe he is genuinely interested in what I have to say. I enjoy dancing and speaking with him very much. I shall even go so far as to say I shall regret his leaving next month.”
Elizabeth had thought there was a depth of attraction on both sides. “Perhaps you should make him aware of your attachment.”
“No, Lizzy,” she said, shaking her head. “How awful it would be if a persuasion of my partiality for him had been the only cause of his giving me a serious thought.”
Elizabeth suspected her husband’s cousin already harboured a tender regard for Jane. It had been a rather long time since she had seen Jane so animated about anything or anyone.
* * *
Darcy lookedout the window and watched Jane and Georgiana ambling across the lawn. Aside from the Gardiners, whom he really did love, all the people for whom he felt a strong regard were with him in the place that meant the most to him. His wife was radiant with happiness, his sister and Jane were cheerful and loving, and his cousin’s safe return from the Peninsula was a blessing.
Fitzwilliam joined him at the window. “Miss Bennet is not as despondent as you made her out to be.”
This drew Darcy’s surprise. “I wrote that I suspected her attachment and regrets regarding Mr Bingley had, for a long time, clouded her nearly every enjoyment.”
“You made it sound as though she had suffered a loss of bloom and spirits and that it would be of a lasting effect. Her face and figure are perfection.” Darcy pulled his gaze away from the ladies to glare at his cousin. He coughed and looked away before adding hurriedly that he also found Miss Bennet’s manners to be pleasing.
“I shall thank you not to speak in such a familiar way about Jane,” Darcy said. “She has patience and humility, she is everything that is good and lovely, and she is dear to my wife. I suggest you keep your flirtatious tendencies under good regulation.”
“I am offering my observations—nothing more. Her understanding is excellent, and her manners captivating,” he answered in a tight voice as he turned from Darcy’s stare and moved into the billiard room. “There are few in my rank of life who can afford to marry without some attention to money.”
Elizabeth had observed to him that his cousin admired her sister and that those sentiments could be returned. Until now, Darcy had not considered that Fitzwilliam’s interest had been stronger than enjoying pleasant conversations while he and Jane resided in the same house.
Darcy followed his cousin to the billiard table where Fitzwilliam aggressively took his shot, missing his target. He suspected the failure had nothing to do with the French musket that had left a long scar on his leg. To speak about his cousin’s affections seemed entirely unfitting, but he knew Fitzwilliam’s adroitness. If the colonel did not wish to acknowledge his interest in Miss Bennet, he would have kept his opinions to himself.
“What attention to money do you need? Your situation in life is eligible.”
“A woman like—a gentlewoman would not wish to follow the drum. I am sure symphonies will be composed extolling our victory, but it is a matter of time before I return to the Peninsula.”
“Perhaps your wife would be content to remain in England and wait for you. Then you can return to London, retire from active service, and live on half-pay with your wife.”
Fitzwilliam considered this but shook his head and turned his attention back to the game. After grossly missing his shot again, he answered, “A thousand a year would not keep a wife in Mayfair.”
