“You are rather desperate if you must gloat over disconcerting a mere youth.”
“Do you suggest that if I were to disconcertyou,Mr Darcy, I would have cause to gloat?”
I chose to ignore that question. “If you would like to gloat this evening, which I believe you came here to do, I will tell you that my coach is travelling north as we speak.”
The steps of the dance parted us more than I would have liked throughout this conversation. It was a frustrating fact that an exchange that might take three minutes in any other setting requires three times as long when dancing. I did not have the luxury of time to speak to the lady at length as I would have liked, and when we came together again and waited to go down the line, I said, “I am feeling slightly guilty.”
Miss Elizabeth smiled so tenderly at me as to momentarily make me forget where I was. “I confess, I too have suffered a twinge of conscience in the matter.”
I lowered my voice to be assured we would not be overheard. “A merciful confession. It allows me to point out that the scoundrel in question is of the very same ilk as the rake who made mischief with your sister. Wickham deserves to suffer the consequences of his iniquity.”
“I know you are right. I only wonder whether my plan was in error. Perhaps he should have been dealt with honourably. Should a dishonourable deed be met with another dishonourable deed?”
The woman was impossible! Should I send an express up the road to abort my plan?I wondered. We stood face-to-face, ready to pass down the line, and it was then that I caught sight of a peculiar light in her eyes.
“You are tormenting me for your private amusement,” I growled.
“Your punctiliousness demanded I tease you a little,” she said with specious innocence.
“She-devil,” I whispered when we came together, and though what I said was not meant to endear me to my partner, I could not escape the feeling I had uttered seductively into the ear of a lover. Her blush confirmed it, and it was then my turn to gloat.
I danced next with Mary Bennet, then took Miss Lucas out onto the floor, and partnered her younger sister for the supper set. After we dined, I sat out the rest of the evening with Mr Bennet and even took him to view the pitiful contents of the house’s library. I thought that by not dancing a second time with any lady, I was being crafty and deflecting speculation regarding my preferences for any one of them.
Unfortunately, sitting for the last half of the evening with the father of three of my partners rendered me twice as interesting as I would have been had I simply indulged myself and danced again with the ladies in question.
I was blissfully unaware of the stupidity of my plan until the morning after the ball. Bingley came down to breakfast, looking sleepy and slightly puffy around the eyes. He was in a complacent, satisfied mood, having received such heaps of praise for his ball as to set him up in perpetuity as a star in the firmament of the localsociety.
We talked in the desultory fashion of men who have slept too little and imbibed too much. The ball, the neighbourhood, the militia, and Colonel Forster were canvassed.
And then he said, “I say, Darcy.Youwere the talk of the night.”
“Me? How so?”
“There is no call to be sly. I am your friend. By rights I should be the first to be told.”
“I am not being sly. You must speak plainly, I am afraid, for I do not understand you at all.”
“Why, the neighbourhood is in full expectation you will make an announcement. They half expected you to do so last night, and more than one person pulled me aside to press me for intelligence on the matter.”
A tendril of dread crawled up my spine. “What sort of announcement is the neighbourhood expecting, Bingley?”
“That you will offer for Miss Bennet, you dolt. It is no secret hereabouts you are at Longbourn every day, and you went even before they were formally receiving visitors.”
I sat back in my chair with a thud. “Mr Bennet is my friend, Bingley.” As I spoke, I heard the gravity, dismay, and even the regret in my voice.
“If you say so,” he said, striving not to snicker. And then, in a more commiserating tone, he said, “Cheer up,Darcy. You look positively downcast. I have heard that the parson’s mousetrap is only temporarily painful. You shall adjust to captivity in no time at all.”
