“Well, I suppose that doesn’t make me happy,” I said.
“No, of course, you see, it would not.”
“Yes, for it’s awful for anyone to be ill,” I said.
“But what of their closeness?”
“What do you know of their closeness?” I said.
“Oh, my brother tells me everything,” she said. “He is my dearest friend and confidante, and I his. So, you needn’t worry. I am quite trustworthy in that respect, and I shall remain so, even though I am worried about the two of you toying with my brother. He has never really done anything like this before, not with gentlemen, not with—”
“Wait a moment,” I interrupted. “You think that I—”
But I broke off, because a servant was there, bearing a folded-up letter. “Ah, there you both are,” said the servant. “I am bringing this from the master. He wished me to give it to you, sir, Mr. Darcy, to give to Miss Bennet, but I suppose I can put it directly into her hands now, can I not?” He gave her the letter.
“Yes, I shall take this to my brother,” said Elizabeth, shaking her head at me. “I do not understand what game you are playing at here, Mr. Darcy.”
I let out a little noise of dismay. She thought that I was like Mr. Bingley, that I was interested in men in that way. She must have thought that because I now realized that conversation I’d had with James Bennet had been becausehehad thought that. He had thought that Mr. Bingley and I were involved.
Then Bingley had come to speak to me to try to ascertain whether or not I was, in fact, interested in men, and he had concluded I wasn’t, and that was why he’d said all of those strange things to me.
And now, Bingley had either done nothing to disabuse Mr. Bennet of the truth about me, or Mr. Bennet had not disabused his sister, I did not know which. At any rate, I could not tell her that I was not some lilied sodomite in front of the servant, could I?
“Not at all what you think, madam,” was all I said in response to her.
“I hope not,” she said. “I shall take my leave.”
I watched her go, disliking this quite a lot. I did not wish Miss Bennet to think of me in that way. I absolutely did not.
Bingley was better enough within a week to be up and out of bed, and he told me I could be on my way at any point, though I said that he and Bennet were going to have to be careful if they were going to be sharing each other’s colds in that way and he saidthat I was right, and that it was a bit odd that no one else had come down with the sickness and he did wonder if Mr. Bennet should be coming and going from Netherfield at all hours after we left.
“I had thought it would be fine,” said Bingley. “We could simply claim to be friendly, but now, if you are all gone, I am unsure that it won’t look suspicious. Perhaps I should have a ball.”
“A ball?” I asid.
“Yes, here, at Netherfield,” he said. “And James could help me plan it. He knows everyone in town and all the people who need to be invited, that sort of thing. Of course, if I’m giving a ball, then I shouldn’t send my sisters away. But you could go, I suppose.”
“Well, how am I to go now?” I said. “Too much time has passed since the time we were walking together, and I cannot claim that is when I got news that I needed to go back to town. I suppose I could say that someone came to me just now. I could go on a walk, I mean, and claim it happened.”
“I suppose,” said Bingley.
I went on a ride instead. I ended up riding into town.
On the ride into town, I saw that Miss Bennet was there, walking with Miss Lucas, and I observed her being introduced to Mr. Wickham.
She smiled at him in a way that I did not like.
I did not think that Miss Bennet should be left to the wiles of Mr. Wickham. If the story I’d heard about her was true, she was being left alone by all the eligible men until she had that inheritance from Lady Susannah, and Mr. Wickham would easily latch onto her and happily wait until she had the money. Mr. Wickham might hasten Lady Susannah’s death, for all I knew. He was not a man of scruples.
I thought that Miss Bennet ought to know what sort of man he was. Of course, I probably could not give too many specifics if I wished to preserve my sister’s reputation, but I could say enough to give Miss Bennet pause when next she spoke to Mr. Wickham.
I went to possibly speak to her then, but as I advanced upon Mr. Wickham, he looked up and saw me and we simply glared at each other for several moments, whilst I became, by degrees, more and more angry with the man.
I knew then that I would not be able to speak to Miss Bennet with any level of calmness or clarity, so I retreated. Mr. Wickham seemed similarly affected, for he took his leave of Miss Bennet and Miss Lucas and went on his way.
I went back to Netherfield and said I would stay until the ball.
Look, I did not knowwhyI decided to stay, and it certainly couldn’t have been only because I must find some time to speak to Miss Bennet and to clear up the fact that I was not at all attracted to men, only women, and to warn her off Mr. Wickham. That was a stupid reason to stay. I’m certain I had a better one. Positive of it, in fact.
