She slanted her eyes at me and said, “I have heard from my aunt Philips that you had met.”
I walked along and began to seethe as I did so.
“Your silence speaks volumes, sir,” she said crisply.
“If I am silent,” I said finally, “it isbecause I cannot believe you wish to confront me in this way. What am I to say? Hmm?”
“Why, if you are sincerely interested inmywishes, you would say something resembling the truth.”
“Such as?”
“Such as you were dismayed to make their acquaintance and by association, would rather not befriend us so completely as you already have! You might not cut us overtly, but you shall retreat by degrees and your warmth in our society will gradually turn a little chilly. When we part, which I am sure we shall, you will be glad of your escape, and we shall be relieved of all of our apprehensions as to how to regain your full regard. In time, none of us will remember we were once on the verge of being very good friends.”
“And your conclusions as to how I should feel, what I should think, and whom I should choose to know are based on what precisely?”
We had pulled Bandit to a stop and faced one another.
“They are based on what I have learnt from my aunt Philips and from Lady Lucas—your maternal uncle is an earl, his sister is a baroness, your estate is worth a fortune, and your society is coveted in the highest circles.”
“You assume a great deal with regard to my preferences based on my history alone.”
“I do not, sir. You have always impressed me with your sense of superiority, of entitlement, and of your very lofty place in the hierarchy of society.”
“How have I done so?” I barked, and then, from an excess of frustration, I bellowed at her restless dog, “Lie down!”
“By your every tone and gesture. By that tone of voice alone with which you have just subdued Jane’s dog. By force of habit—by privilege alone! You are who you are.”
“I fail to understand why a sense of self-command condemns me to the ranks of those who refuse to visit a country gentleman who happens to have uninteresting relations.”
She paused rather dramatically. “I wonder, Mr Darcy, whether you shall continue to visit us when I tell you that my other uncle is in trade and lives within sight of his warehouses in Cheapside.”
By the grace of God, I did not gasp in horror. But like any man who has had a glove thrown in his face, some vein of grisly resolve burst and warmed me with righteous anger. I would prove this woman so far in the wrong her head would swim. I would serve her an enormous helping of humility and positively choke her with civility. How dare she assume I was such a small-minded man!
With my jaw firmly shut, I willed my bodyto shrink to normal proportions after having swelled in protest. I calmly took her arm and Bandit’s lead and moved us forward. When I spoke, I did so with careful, smouldering dignity.
“As you see, I am still here.”
“Apparently so,” Miss Elizabeth observed blandly, looking at me head to foot before offering me a pert little smile. Clearly, she was as unconvinced of my sincerity as she was of my longevity as her family’s acquaintance.
