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“Does he think we all know who he is?”
Elizabeth pondered this point.
“I suppose he must. In London society he must be well known. Charlotte told me this morning that he is from Derbyshire, it was mentioned when she was introduced to him. I presume he is well known in that county as well.”
“So you do not know much about the gentleman?”
Elizabeth shook her head.
“No. What are you getting at?”
“The rumour went round the room that he had £10,000 a year. You heard that as well, yes?”
“Yes I did.”
“Who started the rumour, if no one knew him? Miss Elizabeth, you have lived in London for four years and devour newspapers on a daily basis. If you did not know, then who else at the Assembly would know such a thing?”
Elizabeth had no immediate answer. Then it struck her; his own party. She started laughing.
“What is so funny?”
“There is an obvious suspect and I had a vision of Miss Bingley as Lady Macbeth holding the bloody dagger.”
They all laughed anew.
“She got it out into the community while at the same time trying to stake her own claim.”
Elizabeth was not convinced this was a clever tactic regardless of its inappropriateness but it no longer mattered.
“He has set himself up as far above his current company by his actions and the rumours now circulating. And he will get away with it because he is a rich gentleman. Despite the fact that we know he is not a true gentleman based on his words to my sister.”
“It is pointless to ask if she was upset, of course she was upset. Maybe a better way to ask the question is how upset was she?”
“Initially she was mortified, and rightly so. What you probably do not realise is that Mrs. Bennet has a marked preference for two of her children, Jane and Lydia. This is something in which Kitty, Mary and myself are blameless, it is something that our mother has spoken of all our lives. Both Mary and I have been unfavourably compared to Jane, me more than Mary although I suspect Mary has borne the brunt of it the last four years. I grew inured to it but I would be lying to say that it did not sting at times. I do not think Mary is so thick-skinned. Mr. Darcy making such a comment was like a knife through her self-esteem. But I was able to calm her down and focus on something more outrageous.”
“What?”
“Me. I made an even more inappropriate comment about Mr. Darcy. Although I was careful to ensure that we were not overheard.”
“May we ask what you said?”
“I started by calming her and stating that nearly all men were idiots, a lot of them were cruel, society dandies most of all. I called him handsome but then twisted his comment back at him. ‘He is handsome but not enough to tempt me. His stony façade is a reflection of his heart of stone and because of that he will have to buy consequence with his alleged £10,000 a year. In fact, I am going to stand close to him and let him inhale my stench from trade.’”
“Oh my! How did Miss Mary react?”
“She was so startled that she stopped feeling sorry for herself and turned to abrade me instead. I had an unrepentant smirk on my face and just hugged her. Mary then laughed and threatened to find her old copy of Fordyce’s Sermons and read them all to me.”
“So what you said to Miss Mary, did it drag her out of her doldrums?”
“Yes, but only to an extent. Mary is like me, she thinks about things. She has, what, at least 10 years of comments from our mother. My being outrageous got her through the evening but she will still believe what Mr. Darcy said.”
“You have recounted what you said in the moment. Is that what you really think about him?”
“The only thing that I can be sure about is my first sentence. Yes. he is a handsome man, but it is also true that it is not enough to tempt me. Other than that, everything else is conjecture. That he does not even pretend to be amiable is a mark against him. We were not introduced and I hope that I can avoid an introduction before he leaves the area forever. I suspect that is wishful thinking on my part but I can but hope.”
Little did she know.
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