Darcy held onto his temper, reflecting that Bingley had warned him that Mr Bennet’s manner was sarcastic. He sat, and Bingley sent a meaningful look Darcy’s way as he excused himself and left.
Carrying on with the words he had expected to say, despite Mr Bennet’s ill behaviour, Darcy said, “It is a pleasure to meet the father of Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Sir, I wished to apprise you of the fact that I asked Miss Elizabeth if I might call on her, and she has agreed to my calls.”
Mr Bennet chortled. An insufficient bow and eye movements that may or may not signal contempt were as nothing compared to being the object of laughter.
Darcy decided against his original plan to be as cordial and friendly as possible, and he drew himself up even more rigidly than his wont as he donned an expression of hauteur. “Is therehumour in the situation of which I am unaware?” he asked in a cold voice.
Still chuckling, the country squire said, “In my view, there is indeed. My daughter is twenty, and in all these years she has had not one suitor. But this morningtwomen have come to me asking if they may call upon her. I suppose you claim to have honourable intentions? If you and my Lizzy decide the two of you suit, you would wish to marry?”
“Of course. Do not insult me by hinting otherwise; I believe that a man wishing for a brief tryst or planning to take a mistress does not apply to a lady’s father for permission.”
“You may be right,MrDarcy.” Mr Bennet pronounced the honorific as if Darcy did not deserve it. Sarcasm, indeed. “Ilittle know of such things,” Elizabeth’s father continued.
“And I know nothing at all of such things,” Darcy interjected, “but common sense would tell me that a supplicant for a father’s permission, after obtaining the lady’s approval, would be concerned with courtship and possibly marriage rather than any other outcome.”
“Well, I suppose that is correct, Mr Darcy. Still, Mr Goulding asked if he may call before you did. It was a close race, but he won by a nose.”
“I have never courted a woman before, Mr Bennet, but even I know that more than one man may call on a lady. I wished to come in to meet you, as a matter of courtesy and respect for your role as Miss Elizabeth’s father.”
“Very good,sir—” and again, Mr Bennet managed to make the wordsirhighly caustic. “However, I am far more favourable towards Mr Goulding than towards you. And I have two reasons. First, you appear in Meryton apparently almost the moment my daughters are at Netherfield, and you spend several nights under the same roof as them, and not an hour after they return you ask to call on one of them? Does that not seem questionable to you?”
Darcy shook his head. “I arrived before either of your eldest daughters, and neither Bingley nor I arranged for your daughters’ arrivals nor knew that they would visit or stay. A married couple was in residence the entirety of their visit. And—let me be clear here—it was a matter of sheer accident that they were even there while I was—nobody could have planned nor wished for Miss Bennet to become sick.”
Mr Bennet seemed to recognise the sense in what he said, whether or not he agreed; he merely lowered his eyes and refused to look up again until Darcy said, “What is your second reason for preferring Mr Goulding?”
Shrugging and smiling a bit for the first time since his laughter, Mr Bennet said, “Your friend lives very nearby; if he marries my Jane, she will not be far, and I will continue to see her. She is my first child but my second favourite; my very favourite child is Lizzy, and I do not wish her to run off to Derbyshire, where I will not be able to visit. Mr Goulding lives but four miles away, but you live more than a hundred miles away.”
Remembering Elizabeth speaking of her father’s dislike of travel, Darcy did not bother to dispute the man’s words that he would not “be able” to visit; he clearly could, but perhaps would not wish to….Darcy also decided not to ruin Bingley’s chance by pointing out that his friend, even if he were to marry Miss Bennet, would not necessarily stay nearby since Netherfield was only a yearly lease.
Instead, Darcy asked, “Has Mr Goulding approached Miss Elizabeth with words or actions that let her know his regard? Ihavespoken to her of mine.”
Mr Bennet’s sardonic smile transformed into a frown. “I do not believe he has consulted Lizzy. But I will remind you—and, later, her—that we have known Mr Goulding his entire life and do not know you at all.”
Darcy got to his feet and said, “I look forward to getting to know you better.”
As he left the bookroom, he thought to himself,You plural. Mostly Elizabeth.
He had no intention of bowing out just because his love’s father had declared another suitor his own favourite.
Darcy re-entered the parlour; Elizabeth was there, now, and she immediately stood and came to him, whispering, “I did not know you were going to go see my father. What did you say? Or…I suppose, actually, I am wondering whathesaid.”
“He said he prefers you to be courted by your neighbour, Mr Goulding.” Darcy kept his voice to a murmur, as well.
“What? Why would he mention Mr Goulding?”
“Apparently, when we arrived, Mr Goulding was in your father’s bookroom, letting him know that he wished to call on you.”
“But then he left without speaking to me?” Elizabeth said, with as much spirit as a whisper can express, “It makes me wish to turn him away if he ever deigns to call on me!”
Darcy looked at her steadily. “I am not positive,” he murmured, “but he arrived before we did, and he may never have learnt you were back. That said, if you truly do not wish to receive calls from Mr Goulding, you should tell your father.”
“What was Papa’s reasoning for preferring Mr Goulding?”
“The Gouldings live near Longbourn, he said, so your father would still see much of you if you married him.”
“Well! We shall see about that! I am of a mind to go to London, where my father will not see me, starting right now.”
“If you do, I will go there as well, and call on you at your uncle and aunt’s home.”
