Page 29 of Master of Himself

“I might consider it,” Darcy said, knowing she hated the idea. “Perhaps when Miss Bennet is fully recovered.” In any case, he certainly couldn’t host an event in his present condition.

“You must forgive Lydia for harassing you about a ball,” Miss Bennet said. “She thinks of little else but ballgowns and dancing.”

He waved off her concerns. “She’s still young.”

“Younger sisters can be both a joy and a trial, can’t they?”

Darcy feigned shock. “How uncharitable, Miss Bennet, since you’re the eldest,” he said in a teasing tone.

She laughed softly. “I love all my sisters, Mr Bingley, but we’re all very different.”

“I suppose you must be the wisest.”

“If I were so wise, would I have ridden out in the rain?” she said with a pensive air.

This admission impressed him. “Why didn’t you return home?”

She released a weary sigh. “I wish I had, then I wouldn’t have put you and your sisters to so much trouble.”

Although she hadn’t answered his question, he couldn’t allow her assumption. “You shall always be welcome at Netherfield,” he said, certain that Charles would strongly refute her claim in the nicest possible terms.

He resolved to commit their conversation to memory, knowing Charles would want to hear every word uttered by his angel.

After the ladies had retired for the evening, Darcy recounted his conversation with Miss Bennet to Charles, who listened in rapt attention.

“She is extraordinary, is she not?” Charles said with a faraway gaze.

Darcy agreed, as did Hurst.

“And, if you’d like to pursue her, Charles, I suggest we go outdoors now and see what we can do,” Hurst said.

“I suppose we should consider every possibility, even though there’s no storm,” Charles said.

Hurst scratched his head. “I’ve been thinking – if you angered the weather gods, why should they be appeased by thunder? I should think they’d be in a better frame of mind when the sun shines.”

Charles groaned at this suggestion.

“You’re trying to make sense of a senseless situation, Henry,” Darcy said, irritated by the absurd direction of the conversation.

“Well, it makes just about as much sense as the rest of it, which is none at all,” Hurst said, then drained his glass and rose to ring for a servant. “There’s no use in dithering about. Let’s get our coats and set off.”

Darcy also requested three lanterns from the answering footman, and when they were ready, the three men left the house and trod down the driveway in search of an elusive solution.

“It’s downright balmy tonight,” Hurst said.

Agreeing that it was unseasonably warm, Darcy unbuttoned his greatcoat and stowed his gloves in the pockets. By the time they reached the gates, he was already overheated.

An owl hooted overhead, and something skittered across the lane.

“What was that?” Charles asked in heightened alarm.

“Just a mouse, or maybe a hedgehog,” Darcy said, soldiering on.

“A rat, more like,” Hurst said with a raucous laugh. “How far should we go?”

“I have no idea,” Charles said with a defeated air.

The lantern light reflected in the eyes of a small herd of deer, and they bounded away. A bird swooped down, captured something on the ground, and carried it off.