“People are drawn to him,” Darcy murmured as he watched his cousin and Mrs Sullivan stand in a group of a few men and several ladies. He realised Elizabeth might find him tiresome, or perhaps not want to be forced to talk with him alone. “Would you like to join them? I can introduce you to anyone you wish to be known to.”
“I am happy to sit here with you and await the lecture,” Elizabeth said emphatically. “Is Colonel Fitzwilliam particularly interested in any of those ladies?” she asked in a teasing voice. “He seems remarkably friendly, but he might provoke their jealousy.”
He could not admit that his cousin was betrothed, and Mrs Sullivan must not have admitted it either. “My cousin is actuallya subscriber to the matchmaking subscription, so he is only talking to those ladies out of politeness.”
He expected her to look surprised at his admission, but she showed no reaction to this news at all. “Has he found anyone?”
“I could not say,” he said firmly. Realising she might misconstrue his abruptness as rudeness, he added, “He joked about having dozens of correspondents, but I do not believe him.”
Elizabeth laughed, and then her expression sobered. “From what I recall you saying at dinner last week, you approve of the enterprise? Would you…” She looked away and blew out a breath. “Would you ever hope to find a wife through such a means, granted she was honest enough?” she added awkwardly.
He looked at her a moment before answering. She sounded remorseful for some reason, but perhaps she was just embarrassed by the topic of the matchmaking subscription. “I see the appeal of writing letters to get to know a person without the expectations of one’s friends getting in the way.” He was not near to ready to admit that he had subscribed but been spurned. “They can decide on their own if they suit and could have, as you said at dinner, a affectionate marriage.”
“I am not in society as much as you are,” she said, “but I have heard little talk about it lately. Do you think the talk has died down because it has become accepted or because the venture is unsuccessful?”
This pressed uncomfortably close to his own experience, and he did not want to think about his failure with L. “Why are you curious about it?” The alarming thought that Elizabeth might use the matchmaking subscription to find a husband turned his stomach.
“I have been thinking about this subscription service and the agency it gives women,” she said slowly. “It allows women an active role in courtship.”
Darcy turned to look at where Mrs Sullivan, a long-widowed banker’s daughter with fortune but no connexions, stood cheerfully next to the younger son of an earl. He wished them both happy and knew they would not have had the opportunity if not for the subscription. “I know some are calling it a new aggressiveness, but women corresponding with would-be beaux is hardly as insulting as how some women use cunning to court a man in a drawing room. I suppose they are the same goal, so if one method is acceptable, why not the other?”
He turned back to look at Elizabeth and was surprised to see that she looked embarrassed. When had she ever used arts to captivate a man? He could not believe her to be cunning; she was so sincere.
“I think women use their gifts, influence, and charms to captivate men, if they can,” she said carefully. “You might say their time is better spent on serious reading or domestic or charitable pursuits. But there is more at stake for women than men when it comes to matrimony.”
“I think both men’s and women’s happiness are at stake. You cannot value the happiness of one gender above the other.”
Elizabeth gave him a long, sad look. “How could you know what it is like?” she asked. “To be a woman on a small income, how expenses like buying clothes and tea are carefully counted, that even receiving a letter can be a financial burden? If you did, you would be more patient with the women who court you.”
He narrowed his eyes in confusion, curious about what she meant. “Why is that? When I have given them no encouragement to court me in the first place?”
“Mr Darcy, if you lost everything, if all the Pemberley estates and your investments were lost to you, I am confident you could begin again. You are a man, and a clever, well-connected one with a fine education. I am certain there is nothing you could not do.” His heart beat fast to hear any praise from her lips. “ButI lose everything when my father dies, and I am a woman with no resources. There is far more at stake for women, so while I cannot approve of a woman throwing away her pride for a man, I understand it. Think about what women have to sacrifice to have room and board.”
The idea of a woman trading autonomy, their bodies, for the security provided by a man struck him to his core. He would never put his sister or his daughters in that position, but men often left their female relatives in dire circumstances. The world left women with few options for their own maintenance.
“I do not mean to be unkind toward women in such a precarious position.” If Elizabeth disliked him before, she must have lost all respect for him now. “You must think me a complete fool.”
She placed a hand on his arm. “Never,” she said firmly as she removed her hand. Darcy wanted to grasp it and hold it tight. “I only wanted you to consider it from my point of view, all poor ladies’ point of view, really. I will have little to live on, and no accomplishments to be a governess, and no connexions to become a companion. But I still won’t marry without affection and respect. However, I have sisters and an uncle I could rely on if I never marry. Not every woman has that support.”
“I hope you are not confined in such trying circumstances to risk an unhappy marriage,” he said with his voice catching. “You deserve someone who admires how vivacious and caring and witty you are.”
She looked into his eyes. “I am hopeful.”
When their eyes met, he felt the connexion deep into his bones.
Was the gulf between them still impassable? He had misunderstood her archness and playful spirits before. But he had not heard one mocking aside or sardonic speech from her all evening nor at the ball earlier. And there was no mistaking theaffectionate look in her eyes, the smile playing at the corner of her lips, her complete attention.
“Who are we hearing tonight?” Mrs Sullivan asked as she sat next to Elizabeth. Fitzwilliam followed down the row to join her. Whatever had passed between him and Elizabeth in that moment was gone as their friends took their seats.
Darcy tore his eyes from Elizabeth and pulled a pamphlet from his pocket and thrust it across her to Mrs Sullivan. “Mr Accum is speaking. He is a chemist and believes they can use the gas produced during the heating of coal as an illuminate.”
Mrs Sullivan exclaimed her disbelief and entreated Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam to agree with her. His cousin indulged her, but Elizabeth smiled and said she could be convinced before she turned back to him.
“So, do you now approve of women who pursue a partner for their own happiness and security, regardless of the medium, if they at least admire the man for his good character and merits?” Elizabeth said to him quietly as everyone took their seats.
When their eyes met again, he could believe that she felt something for him. Was Elizabeth Bennet flirting with him? Had she come tonight for him? For the first time, he could perfectly imagine a life of domestic tranquillity with a loving wife by his side. He had never felt that certainty while writing to L.
I love Elizabeth better than any woman in the world.
