“Oh for goodness’ sake Darcy,” Richard paced angrily, “When you have a problem at Pemberley, what do you do? When you have a fire or a flood, do you just sit there and say, oh well, the fire has destroyed everything, there is nothing a man can do now. Is that it?”
“No!” Darcy said tersely, “I fix it. But Elizabeth is not a fire or a flood; she is a woman, a beautiful woman who has deemed me the worst man of her acquaintance. I ask you again, what can I do?”
“Well, sitting here moaning about it will certainly not fix anything. You are a man of action, are you not? So start from the beginning. First of all you need to talk and recognise that she is, in fact, the expert on her sister. You need to ascertain if the situation is as you assumed, in other words; if the lady has no deep feelings for Bingley, or you were mistaken. For my part I can guarantee that Bingley is still moping around at the loss of his latest angel. Or at least he would have been at the time of your interference.”
Darcy sat up, “Right.”
“Then,” Richard continued as if his cousin had not interrupted him, “you get Bingley and Miss Bennet together and leave them alone to decide whether they want to end their forced separation… forced by you, by the way. Or maybe they have bynow moved on and all this is a great waste of time and effort.” Richard rubbed his chin in thought, “after all, we are talking about Bingley who falls in and out of love almost every day.”
“Wait a minute. I did not force Bingley to leave Miss Bennet, and the decision not to pursue her was his.” Darcy said defensively.
Richard shook his head incredulously, “You are such a hypocrite Darcy. A few days ago you told me quite proudly, I should say, of how you turned Bingley against the lady by just dropping a few hints about her unsuitability. Today you shift the blame to Bingley’s shoulders as if you had nothing to do with it.”
Darcy looked properly rebuked. “Yes I did and now I am really sorry that I made him so unhappy.”
“From where I stand it seems your interference caused more damage than just Bingley’s unhappiness. Apparently you broke the lady’s heart as well, and now it cost you your own Miss Bennet, your own happiness hanging in the balance.”
“Yes…” Darcy said miserably, “the only people made happy by my interference were Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst. What was I thinking siding with them?”
Richard’s mouth dropped open in wonder, “I never thought it possible that you would take Miss Bingley’s side in anything. For all we know she might at this very moment be buying her trousseau to marry you.”
“No!” Darcy got up and paced the room in despair, “No matter how Elizabeth responds to my affections, Miss Bingley will never be a contender to be Mrs Darcy. Never!” Darcy spat the last word with passion.
Richard chuckled, “Yes I know, calm yourself cousin. Now focus. What are your plans regarding Miss Bennet?”
Darcy walked towards the window and looked out searchingly, as if the answers he needed were out there. Then his eyes hardened, “I will go and talk to her.” He straightenedhis waistcoat. “Yes, I will say nothing about my feelings for her at this time. She must not know about it yet. I must woo her first. I must undo all the damage that I did so thoughtlessly both in Hertfordshire and London in separating Bingley from her sister.” He turned and looked at his cousin, “I have no other option Richard, I need to make her fall in love with me just as much as I am with her, and for that I must tell her all about Wickham, including Georgiana’s part.”
Richard inhaled sharply, “Do you trust her?”
“Yes I do.”
“Why? I cannot understand your blind trust in her, since she is so angry with you that she might see the perfect chance for revenge by spreading that information far and wide.”
Darcy looked out the window again, “I do not think so. She is angry with me for a very good reason; it is not out of malice. She is not vicious; in fact it is quite the opposite as I know she is a righteous lady and a very sweet one at that.”
“Sweet? How can you say that? I saw no sweetness this morning. Actually, I think if you had been there when she found out about Bingley’s reason for desertion, she might have scratched your eyes out for your part in it.”
“I doubt that very much.” Darcy sighed deeply, “in Hertfordshire she had on more than one occasion the chance, even the excuse to lash out in anger against Miss Bingley… she never did. Instead she always used wit to thwart Miss Bingley at every attempt to intimidate her. She rose to the occasion most magnificently.” Darcy finished this little speech and puffed up his chest with pride.
Richard laughed, “I can see I am wasting my time. Are you absolutely certain you want to pursue her? It is not going to be easy, you know.”
“Yes I have never been more certain about anything in my life before… I want her.” Darcy smiled, “and Richard, nothing that is worth fighting for should be easy.”
“In that case, go to it.”
“Does that mean I have your support?”
Richard sighed, “When have I ever denied you my support in anything?”
“Thank you, cousin.”
“Of course,” Richard nodded, “actually, I think the challenge will do you good. It is about time you have to work hard for something in your life, something which is not offered to you on a platter.”
Darcy chuckled, “you have it all wrong cousin, nothing comes easy to me. I have to work extremely hard for everything I have.”
“Hummm…” Richard hummed dismissively and they both laughed.
Chapter 3
