“Ah, but in this case, I think I can,” she murmured, still with an unyielding look in her eye.
This was not a conversation he could continue. However, Elizabeth was content to say no more about it, and it was now up to him to fill the awkward silence.
“Are you eager to see the panorama? Have you ever been before?”
She took the hint that the subject of Bingley and her sister was closed. “I have never visited,” she said. “Are you here to see and be seen by good society, or to see far-off places?”
He smiled. “The far-off places, certainly. While I am there, I forget everything and everyone around me. It is a curious and incredible experience to feel immersed in a distant place while still being in London. I hope you enjoy the sensation.”
She looked a little surprised, like she did not know what to say. To his great relief, the carriages arrived and everyone parted. Rather than join him back to the house, Bingley rode with his sisters. Darcy was glad he was not in that carriage; he could avoid a little longer the same reckoning Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst were experiencing.
He still thought Miss Bennet disinterested and motivated by fortune—or at least, her mother was motivated by fortune, and her daughter was complacent enough to go along with it. Darcy could admire her for not wanting to humiliate Miss Bingley in front of her brother, but he could not think less of Elizabeth for speaking the truth.
Their manoeuvrings mortified Miss Bennet, but that did not mean she loved Bingley.
If I cannot keep Bingley from Miss Bennet, it is likely I would often meet with Elizabeth.
Parting from Elizabeth should have afforded him some comfort, but the hope of seeing her again reached his heart and made it beat faster. Darcy sighed to himself as he looked out the carriage window. He ought not to put himself in a situation where his admiration for her could grow stronger than it already was.
When he arrived in Charles Street, he asked if there were any letters, and to his relief, there was one from the office in Bishopsgate. Darcy went into his library with a request not to bedisturbed and eagerly opened it. Thank goodness his candidness did not alarm the lady.
Now the endeavour felt more real. The lady’s name began with an L, and the sporting tone of her letter charmed him. She wanted to know about him, and to his pleasant surprise, she too was conducting this business out of curiosity and to prove a point to a friend rather than from a desperation to be wed.
Now that Elizabeth had arrived in town and her sister reacquainted with the Bingleys, it was even more important to throw himself earnestly into his correspondence with his new friend.
Chapter Four
Saturday, February 1, 8 o’clock in the evening
Dear Friend,
It is a relief to me that your opinions about the matchmaking endeavour coincide with my own. I appreciate you are as cautious as I am in this venture. For the present, I will enjoy our letters and the opportunity to become acquainted.
You commanded me to ask you about music, but talking by rule does not appear to be your natural style, so I will wait for another time to learn if you like Beethoven or sing duets. For me: yes, and no. Musical talent is something I admire in others, and particularly respect because I have no such skills myself. I would rather know how you are spending your time in town. I presume you are staying with friends since you are leaving so early. Perhaps you are in the company of your sister for whom you hope to prove this matchmaking business a respectable option? Are you visiting the shops and the public places as much as you would like?
I keep a house in town and have been here since before Christmas and will stay until Easter when my cousin and I visit our aunt. He is the one who convinced me to undertakethis project, and he is also writing to ladies through the subscription agency because he knew I would never agree if he did not also take part. I am not a man guided by others. I keep my own counsel and am decided in both my opinions and actions. However, writing to you will be a more pleasant use of my time rather than spending the rest of the season arguing with him, so I conceded.
You might ask why he thought it necessary at all, and you also asked if I was a shy man made nervous talking to ladies. My cousin thinks me a better letter writer than a speaker, but I think his true concern is that I am too forthright for the world, and he is not wrong. My sister is shy, a quiet, self-conscious girl who has been timid all her life. She has a genuine fear of saying and doing wrong that prohibits her from joining a conversation. I admit I do not have the talent of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation or appear interested in their concerns. However, I am not shy and am quite disposed to share my opinion.
If you present to me any subject in these letters, I will try to argue you out of your opinion if I disagree, and I hope you will do the same with me. I have no patience for coyness or undue deference.
To that end, I will ask if you have seen this season’s scene at Mr Barker’s panorama? Some call it a triviality, a contrivance, but I look forward to the spectacle every year. I could spend an hour on the platform with the information sheet that describes every sight, being sure to walk all round and take in every view. One is transported to faraway places that one might never otherwise see. Now that you know my opinion of it, you must share with me your own. If you have seen them, do you think them ridiculous or enjoyable? If not, does the idea appeal to you?
Your friend,
F
Monday,February 3
Dear Friend,
I have done fewer activities than I might have liked since I arrived in town, but I am not here for my pleasure, or even for the pleasure of the friends I am staying with. I am here for the sake of my sister, who I mentioned is disappointed in love.
She is not shy like your sister, but mild-tempered and full of every one of her friends’ merits—and blind to their faults. Are you a doting older brother who spoils his little sister, or are you the younger brother who desires to take the action a man is expected to, but is thwarted by an older sister who knows all his childhood misdeeds? I am guessing the former, given how resolute and, perhaps I might even add, unyielding you seem to be. You have the manner of an older sibling and eldest son rather than one in the middle or youngest. Now I give you leave to guess where I fall in birth order and if I have any siblings other than the sister mentioned.
I admit to some satisfaction that you are not a shy man. It is difficult to engage with a diffident person. One could do it more easily in person with smiles and gestures, but in a letter, it would be trying. A serious or reserved person, I think I could draw out in person, and you do not seem reluctant toward conversation. Hopefully, you have the patience for playful discussions as much as rational ones.
You begged me to argue with you, and I suspect an opportunity will present itself, but not regarding the panorama. I hate to agree with you so early in our acquaintance, but it was like being in the scene depicted. I went for the first time recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. Do not fearthat I am deferring to you or flattering your good taste. Women are instructed that is the way to gain a man’s respect, and I am sorry to disappoint my newest friend, but I would never agree with you simply for the sake of catering to your taste. Let us hope I detest the next thing you say you enjoy.
