But my visit the following day—yes, my calls had become habitual—did not go quite as planned. Miss Elizabeth was nowhere in sight, and Miss Mary went with Miss Bennet as we put Bandit through his training. I decided that such a half-wit animal should probably be trained to good behaviour no matter with whom he went, and so I began to initiate Miss Mary into the astringent tone and lead pressure required to force him to heel.
Mary Bennet seemed a closed book to me. She was circumspect almost to the point of incivility, and she could not possibly shine when positioned next to the beauty of one sister and the outright brilliance of the other. But to my way of thinking, modesty was never a fault, and rather than resent her place in the constellation, Miss Mary simply shone in her subdued way.
It was to her advantage that she was just as intelligent as Miss Elizabeth. She took direction with instant understanding but did not trouble me with expressionson her face of scepticism, or of droll, quizzical, or even risible ideas when attending to my instructions.
After my lesson, Miss Bennet and I walked companionably along behind Miss Mary as she learnt to hold Bandit’s lead.
Jane Bennet was perhaps my ideal woman, and I might have begun to consider her in another light altogether but for the fact that I could never quite bring my attention fully to her qualities. My mind was forever leaping around to locate, to engage, and simply to look at her devilish counterpart.
“Where is Miss Elizabeth today?” I asked with laudable disinterest.
“Lizzy? Today is her day to spend with the cottagers. She is teaching the youngsters who are not working the harvest their letters. And today, she has a special errand which has satisfied my sisters and me quite completely.”
“Oh?”
“We have sewn all the children new flannels for the coming cold,” Miss Bennet said, gracing me with a look of pleasure.
“That is thoughtful. Do you do so every year?”
She paused. “This is our first, sir,” she said with a modest, downcast look.
Again, I felt as though there was a fact related to this family I knew nothing about. “Then your sister will bemet with double the excitement if this is not a traditional gift.”
She rallied and said, “Just so. We drew straws to decide who would have the pleasure.”
“And Miss Elizabeth won?”
“Well, no. Mary won, but she conceded that walking the entire estate with such a bundle was perhaps more than she could manage. Lizzy, you see, is a strong walker.”
I did not doubt it. We paused at the little wilderness area behind the house. Bandit was made to sit like a gentleman, which he would never do as long as he wiggled like a puppy and shifted his weight from paw to paw as though bitten by ants. Still, he was making progress, and I thought perhaps we should begin to give him a little trial of heeling off leash as we went back to the house.
I began to feel quite satisfied with myself as the mongrel, thick-skulled and excitable as he was, walked sedately beside us. His good behaviour came to an end, however, when upon nearing the house, Bandit first smelled and then spotted Miss Elizabeth in the distance, returning from her errand.
He bounded away from us and nearly knocked her down. After a second’s hesitation, I kicked into a run after him, bellowing at him to stay, but to no purpose, since the lady was forced to drop her depleted bundle offlannels in order to fend him off. Amidst her objections and attempts to dissuade him otherwise, Bandit joyfully leapt in the air to slurp at her chin. When I reached them, I grasped the scruff of his neck and wrestled him into submission.
“Forgive me,” I said, panting. “I thought he was ready for a trial off his lead. Apparently,” I said sternly, eyeing the miscreant, “he is incapable of anything but jumping on people and yelping as though he is being murdered.” I then shook his scruff to emphasise my displeasure.
She swiped at her sticky chin with her handkerchief and brought her eyes up to mine. They sparkled and shone, and I felt slightly disoriented.
“You are forgiven,” Miss Elizabeth said archly.
“Am I?” I asked, in the style of a dazzled fool.
“Well,” she said drily, “there is always tomorrow if you would rather be at daggers drawn with me.”
“A difficult choice.”
“You like vexing me, do you?”
“Very much. Yet, I have not earned a single word of approbation from you, and perhaps I would, for the sake of novelty, rather be in your good graces for once.”
“Dull but vaguely possible. You have made Mary smile, and for that, I suppose I can be as docile as a lamb where you are concerned.”
I took her bundle, and she allowed it, though notwithout a hint of impatience. “You resent assistance, I presume?”
“By no means. Onlyyourassistance, Mr Darcy.”
Why this vile statement thrilled me, I cannot explain. “How so?” I asked, feigning boredom with the topic. “Why am I to be singled out for your displeasure?”
